Chapter 679: Lobbying

"Britain is truly a friend worth entrusting," Watanabe said with a light laugh.

Jack said, "That goes without saying, and our interests currently align with the interests of Dongying."

Some time ago, when Dongying touted the threat of Yan Wang to him, he did not take it too seriously, only feeling slightly vigilant.

But now, this Yan Wang actually possesses more than thirty Sailing Warships, and has even destroyed the Dongying Navy.

He cannot afford not to take it seriously.

Because this exceeds the naval power of Britain in Dongtu.

He must report this news back to Governor Bolt, so that he can adjust the strategy for Dongtu according to the situation.

After all, Britain's next step in strategy is to first subdue the Liang Family of Da Song—which is now Wu—through war, letting Wu become a colony of Britain just like Tianzhu Guo.

But if this Yan Wang has the ambition to unify Da Song, they will have a conflict of interest.

Therefore, his promise to Watanabe was ultimately for the sake of Britain's own interests.

Just as Watanabe said, Dongying is a dynasty in Dongtu with a population of thirty million.

At present, it has also had a serious conflict with this Dayan Wang.

Without a doubt, such a Dongying is very suitable to serve as Britain's henchman in Dongtu.

After all, Britain is too far from Dongtu, which is disadvantageous for the war against Yan Wang.

But Dongying can make up for this disadvantage.

Moreover, he has another layer of worry: this Yan Wang has built more than thirty warships in a short period of time.

He does not believe that this Yan Wang only intends to use them to deal with Dongying.

If this Yan Wang declares ownership over Dongtu, just as Sam Country declared ownership over the New Continent when it was founded, and competes with them for interests in Dongtu.

Then Tianzhu Guo, which is closer to Da Song, will be threatened.

Among the many assets of Britain overseas, Tianzhu Guo is the colony that Britain values the most.

So when the sphere of influence of Ross reached deep into Zhongtu, Britain chose to contain it everywhere, fearing that Ross would compete with them for interests in Tianzhu Guo.

Now, this Yan Wang seems even more threatening than Ross.

He must be even more vigilant.

This caused the anger he felt because of Dongying establishing contact with Sam Country to be temporarily suppressed as well.

However, he still decided to sow discord in the relationship between Dongying and Sam Country, so he said, "If Dongying can sever its dealings with Sam Country, I believe Governor Bolt will be more willing to provide help to Dongying."

When Watanabe went to the British Consulate, he had already thought of this question and had an answer in his heart long ago. He said, "We are forced by necessity to deal with Sam Country. You must have heard the sound of the cannons from Sam Country's warships. At present, Dongying already has Da Song as an enemy; it is clearly unwise to provoke another powerful Sam Country, unless Britain is willing to expel the people of Sam Country."

Jack was instantly speechless. Watanabe's meaning was very clear: he wanted them, Britain, to use force to expel the people of Sam Country.

This was, of course, impossible.

Sam Country had been independent from Britain for more than fifty years.

At the beginning, in order to suppress Sam Country, they had indeed fought a war with Sam Country for decades.

But due to the support of countries like Frank and Stedan for Sam Country, their suppression failed.

Afterward, they had to recognize Sam Country.

Now, although the relationship between Britain and Sam Country remains poor, the war between them has ceased, and sometimes there is even cooperation on certain common interests.

At present, it is impossible to go to war with the people of Sam Country again for the sake of Dongying.

He smiled awkwardly and looked at Watanabe, discovering a hint of cunning in Watanabe's eyes.

He felt a burst of anger in his heart; it was very clear that Watanabe was playing both sides, seeking benefits from both Sam Country and Britain.

But he had to admit that Watanabe was a smart man, and regarding this, he truly had no way to deal with it.

Britain cannot abandon Dongying.

Because it is obvious that compared to Dongying, the threat of Da Song is greater.

Furthermore, there are no eternal enemies or eternal friends between countries; the only eternal thing is interest.

The existence of the people of Sam Country in Dongtu might not be a bad thing.

Perhaps in dealing with Da Song, they can find common interests once again.

After chatting casually for a few more sentences, Watanabe left the British Consulate and headed to the Sam Consulate to meet Aierxun.

After the shelling of Edo last time, Aierxun had remained in Edo, serving as the Sam Country Consul to Dongying.

According to his understanding, among the countries of the Western Lands at present, Sam Country ranks first in the production of Sailing Warships, because Sam Country possesses a large amount of high-quality timber.

Moreover, the shipping route from Sam Country to Dongying is shorter.

More importantly, because Sam Country is a nation established only recently, the goods it sells are cheaper for the sake of trade.

He believes that Sam Country would be more willing to sell them warships.

However, the firearm craftsmanship of Sam Country is still slightly inferior to that of Britain.

This is the reason why he buys warships from Sam Country, but buys firearms and Artillery from the British.

"Consul Aierxun, once Yan Wang defeats the Anti-Yan Coalition, his next step will be to cross Jiujiang and attack Wu. I believe you would certainly not wish to see this Yan Wang occupy Wu, would you?" Watanabe deliberately sowed discord.

Aierxun's complexion was somewhat pale; the news of the Dongying Navy suffering a sneak attack made him somewhat alarmed.

Like Jack, he also did not expect that this Yan Wang of the North Territory of Da Song would grow so quickly.

However, because he did not have any colonies in Dongtu for the time being, he was not as nervous and urgent as Jack.

It was just that during this period, in order to win them over to contain the British, Wu had conceded many interests to them in trade.

If Yan Wang conquered Wu, their trade interests would be damaged, which was something he did not want to see.

And this rising Yan Wang was indeed something that caused worry and unease.

It was obvious that it would threaten the interests of the countries of the Western Lands in Dongtu.

However, he believed there was no need to directly clash with Yan Wang.

But there was indeed a need to hold onto a piece that could curb Yan Wang, to implement a balance-of-power strategy.

Clearly, Dongying is very suitable to act as this chess piece.

On the premise of not directly clashing with Yan Wang, they can arm Dongying and utilize the struggle between Dongying and this Dayan Wang to extract greater benefits.

Thinking of this, he said, "I will report this matter to the Congress; the General-in-Chief only needs to wait for news."

Watanabe was overjoyed; his lobbying this time was exceptionally smooth.

Then, a bolder idea was born in his mind.

Establishing an alliance with Dongying as the core, with the Northern Barbarians and the various countries of the Western Lands participating, is not impossible.

The Dongying Navy was destroyed; to say he was not afraid at all in his heart would be impossible.

But if he could facilitate this alliance, Yan Wang would have to think twice if he wanted to deal with their Dongying.