Tianyi No. 1

In short, the captains successfully sold the high-priced tickets, and then everyone shared the money with the passengers of high status. After that, the ship left the port and headed towards India.

In this deal, the captain and the high-ranking passengers made money, while the ordinary passengers successfully gained the opportunity to return safely to India. Although they were ripped off, as long as they could reach India as soon as possible and then find an opportunity to bully the Indians, they might still be able to recoup their losses. So it was truly a classic win-win-win situation.

The various exploration data sent back by the France were all submitted to the Academy of Sciences. After careful study, the Academy of Sciences generally agreed that a huge gold mine existed in southern Africa.

"Based on the available data, it's likely larger than the two gold mines we discovered in North America combined. Of course, it's buried a bit deeper than the two in North America, but the mining difficulty isn't particularly high. It has great development value," Joseph said to Napoleon, putting down the documents in his hand. Then, unsurprisingly, he noticed that Napoleon's eyes had turned completely yellow.

"Damn it, we need to end the war as soon as possible, crush the Britain, and then... um, Lucien, any news from the Britain on your end?"

"Britain can hardly sustain this situation for long. Recently, inflation in Britain has remained at a remarkably high level—far exceeding our situation in 1993—and some regions are experiencing severe food shortages. The Britain have implemented measures such as rationing food and cracking down on speculation. It must be said that the Britain government's execution in this matter is quite good, at least much better than during our Directory period. Just last week, they even chopped off more than twenty heads in front of the London to appease the public."

"Haha, the Britain still have quite the guts, don't they?" Napoleon laughed.

Generally speaking, Napoleon, when mentioning the Britain, primarily offered praise. This was undoubtedly because he felt victory was assured, and praising his opponent appropriately enhanced his own prestige. Otherwise, like in later anti-Japanese war dramas, the Japan were portrayed as mentally challenged, as if this demonstrated contempt for the enemy. But if you think about it carefully, if the enemy is mentally challenged, and you were invaded by such mentally challenged people for over a decade, what are you then? Therefore, now, Napoleon would praise the Britain whenever he had the chance. And the basic argument was:

"The England slave-owning genocidal gang was the most powerful, evil, dangerous, and efficient armed criminal organization in human history. Compared to it, even Genghis Khan paled in comparison. As for Attila and Tamerlane, they were like harmless kittens compared to it. This was the first industrialized mega-gang in human history, even the great red dragon in the Book of Revelation."

Since the Bible and the Book of Revelation have been mentioned, the Rome Holy See, the foremost authority on interpreting the Bible, naturally stepped forward to lend its support. The great scholars of the Rome Holy See, citing numerous scriptures and engaging in a lengthy and elaborate theological discourse, spent enough space to fill a room, systematically and rigorously proving, through Britain, that ever since Henry VIII, driven by his sordid desires, betrayed his God-blessed marriage, "Satan entered his heart." From that moment on, the Britain monarchy was no longer of the blood of Jesus' anointed one, but rather of the blood of the cursed Satan. Satan used the Britain king to deceive the Britain people, leading Britain down a Christ, beastly path.

After the Rome made his statement, the next step was to address the Protestantism issue. Protestantism has many denominations, such as Lutheranism, Calvinism, and countless others. Strictly speaking, the Anglican Church of Britain is also Protestantism.

However, within Protestantism, the Anglican Church is the least Protestantism. Aside from the Pope changing from the Pope of Rome to the King of Britain, it is almost indistinguishable from Catholicism in every way—especially in its persecution of Protestantism. In fact, weren't those people in North America back then Calvinists persecuted by the Anglican Church Calvinism?

Therefore, the general view among Protestantism on the Europe continent is that the Anglican Church is inherently evil. Their practice of appointing a king as pope further contradicts the teachings of Jesus. They are considered a cursed, Satan cult. (Of course, the same applies to Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Lutheranism (Calvinism), except for myself...)

"They're just scapegoats, white gloves. The real investors are probably the ones who stand on the grandstand, righteously denouncing their crimes and sentencing them to death in the name of God and the King. But speaking of which, when we let the mob hang those Jews, they had no idea who was really responsible for the stock market crash. Heh..." Lucien sneered.

Napoleon couldn't help but frown. He knew, of course, who was behind the stock market crash. The key force was the entire "Roman Empire," and almost all "Roman Citizen" played a role, at least in fueling the storm. The real masterminds behind it all were the Emperor and his entire family.

Subconsciously, Napoleon didn't think this was anything to be proud of, so he was genuinely uncomfortable when Lucien said such things so unreservedly, even with a hint of sarcasm.

"Lucien, why are you bringing this up?" Napoleon said.

"Of course, it's to remind you," Lucien said. "Napoleon, you know our propaganda is all about guiding others, using hope, even illusion, to lure people, or to put it more bluntly, to deceive them. But we ourselves must understand who we really are, and what we are doing all this for. Napoleon, I think you have a weakness."

"What?" Napoleon asked. Napoleon was very concerned about the claim that someone had discovered his weakness.

"You have dreams, and your dreams give you strength and the courage to do things that many people cannot. But as Joseph said, nothing is without its advantages and disadvantages. Your personality is like that too; you are easily misled by lofty goals and by external vanity, to the point of losing your way. To put it more bluntly, Napoleon, you must remember that gaining the people's cheers is merely a means, not an end. And I feel that you seem to have confused them a bit lately."

Napoleon stared at Lucien for a moment, then suddenly laughed, "Lucien, I've actually stooped so low as to need you to find fault with me. However, as Ministry of Truth, it is indeed your duty. Besides, I must tell you that I do enjoy seeing the people cheer for me, but I'm not so foolish as to sacrifice practical interests for that. Alright, let's continue with the situation in Britain."

"Britain's security problems are getting worse because of high unemployment, forcing the government to use the army to maintain order. Napoleon, you said before that using the army for these kinds of things would reduce its combat effectiveness. Furthermore, to prevent too many unemployed people from rebelling due to hunger, Britain have greatly expanded their army, especially in recent months. In the last month alone, approximately 150,000 men have been recruited into the Britain Army. Britain now has an army of about 650,000 men. This is unprecedented in Britain history."

"Britain has never had so many rabble before," Napoleon said dismissively, arms crossed. In his view, the Britain army, hastily assembled and poorly trained and equipped, posed no threat whatsoever.

"Napoleon, they are prepared to fight to defend the country. As long as the Britain propaganda is effective, their morale should be quite good—just like ours back then," Joseph said. "Therefore, we cannot underestimate them. You must know that an army, even if poorly equipped and poorly trained, is still a formidable army as long as it has enough courage and is willing to sacrifice."

"Joseph, you are as cautious as ever. But what you said isn't entirely without merit..." Although Napoleon didn't entirely agree with Joseph's statement, Napoleon attitude towards Joseph was different from his attitude towards Lucien.

"Joseph, you may be worrying too much," Lucien said. "From what I understand, the Britain government has no real hope for these newly expanded armies. They're even making them use old, unrifled guns. The reason for this expansion is more to confine the most energetic young people in society to the army, then disperse them, keep them under control, and at least ensure they have food, preventing them from becoming a revolutionary factor. As for the war with us, the key is still the Britain navy. As long as we defeat the British Navy again, we won't even need to land in Britain. Britain will either negotiate with us and submit to us, or a revolution will break out. Therefore, the Britain have no intention of investing resources in the army. The army's existence is mostly just for maintaining stability."

"Yes, some of our intelligence even suggests that although the Britain Army's numbers have increased significantly, the military budget allocated to it has actually decreased. Joseph, you know that even propaganda consumes resources. It's already difficult enough to keep this army from mutinying without investing resources. From what we understand, many newly formed troops aren't even getting enough to eat."

"In that case, the Britain are just quenching their thirst with seawater," Joseph said. "Such an army is itself a breeding ground for revolution. The Britain couldn't possibly be unaware of this, and this action only indicates two things. First, a revolution is so close to breaking out in Britain that the Britain have to resort to such measures to temporarily delay it; second, the British Navy will definitely be making some moves soon. Hmm, do you have any intelligence about the British Navy?"

"A month and a half ago, the Britain moved two newly launched battleships to the Irish Sea. Well, they just named them Cressy and Poitiers," Lucien replied.

Cressy and Poitiers are both place names in France. During the Hundred Years' War, the Britain achieved brilliant victories in these two locations. In the Battle of Cressy, the Britain longbow inflicted heavy casualties on the foolish France knights attempting to cross the muddy terrain, causing their rout. In the Battle of Poitiers, Edward the Black Prince of Britain decisively defeated the French Army with fewer troops, even capturing King John II of France. The fact that the Britain named their new battleships after the locations of these two battles speaks volumes.

Lucien continued, "As for more details, we don't know much. These two battleships haven't been in service for very long, so their actual combat capability is still a question."

"I have some other intelligence here, also about the British Navy, well, it was obtained by the Ministry of Ministry of Police. You can all take a look." Napoleon said, taking out a document and handing it to Joseph. Lucien, with Steadfast, leaned over and looked at it with Joseph.

This intelligence report was quite detailed, analyzing various signs of Britain production preparations and personnel mobilization, and then concluding that the Britain fleet was likely to leave the Irish Sea within the next week or two to undertake a risky operation to break the blockade.

"The Irish Sea has two exits, one in the south and one in the north, far apart. We can't predict which exit they will use," Joseph said. "Currently, our navy has launched five Augustus-class battleship, but only three have entered service and completed basic training. Of the other two, one has been in service for less than a month and hasn't completed most of its training, so it's practically combat-ready. The other has only just been launched, and many parts are still not installed. So we can only send a maximum of three new battleships, plus the existing Caesar, for a total of four battleships, plus the newly commissioned supercruiser Hermes and HMS Artemis. In terms of strength, we are clearly superior to the enemy. However, if we want to block both exits at the same time, we will have to divide them into two squadrons. In that case, our advantage will not be obvious. Especially since we only have three new battleships, it's not easy to divide them."

"Two new battleships, along with a number of armored cruisers, will form a squadron to block the St George's Channel. A new battleship, along with the Caesar and two supercruisers, will proceed to the Islay Anchorage to block the North Sea Strait. (Islay is an island at the exit of the North Sea Strait. The Britain hadn't had time to upgrade the island's coastal defenses, and as a result, the France army, with the support of the battleship Caesar and other ships, seized the island a year ago. Now, the island has become one of the important anchorages for the French Navy.)"

Napoleon said, "I think this should be good. No single squadron is weaker than the enemy, and even if they are outmaneuvered, it is still a strategic defeat for the Britain. The Britain are no longer capable of building another fleet."