Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1105: Chapter 119: See Through

London

“Prime Minister, has the Empire prepared to declare war on the Holy Roman Empire, with parliamentary approval?”

“Prime Minister, why provoke this war? What can we gain from it?”

“Prime Minister, is the Empire ready? What are our chances of victory?”

…

Upon waking, a still groggy Prime Minister Campbell encountered a media siege as soon as he walked out the door.

...

A barrage of questions furiously swept over him. Among them lay countless traps, and with his seasoned experience, Campbell knew the reporters were up to something.

For these unscrupulous media folk, anything that made big news and boosted newspaper sales was fair game, regardless of whether Britannia would actually go to war with Shinra or not.

Having become adept at handling media antics, after a brief pause, Prime Minister Campbell waved his hands and said, “The government will address these questions in a special press conference that will follow.

For now, I can only tell you that the government has no plans to declare war on the Holy Roman Empire, but we are not afraid of war either.

I urge everyone not to believe the rumors circulating in the market. Great Britain is a peace-loving nation, and we are willing to maintain world peace together with all other peace-loving nations around the world.”

After shaking off the reporters, Campbell’s expression darkened significantly. The reporters’ prompt arrival was a clear sign of scheming behind the scenes.

Had he not reacted quickly, managing to bluff his way out on the spot, he might well have been deeply ensnared by now.

The system in Britannia was already very well-established; the government simply had no authority to wage war against a major power without Parliament’s approval.

On matters of protecting their own power, members of Parliament had never let their guard down. Rumors of any kind would mean trouble for Campbell.

Exhausted by the shameful tactics of his competitors, Campbell had no energy left for condemnation. The immediate issue was that the situation was exposed, pushing Britannia to the edge of a cliff.

“Surprise attack,” “enticing the enemy,”—there was no point in even contemplating such strategies. If the reporters knew about the impending war between Britannia and Shinra, it meant the whole world did.

…

In a state of fury, Campbell convened an emergency Cabinet meeting.

“The news is out, and public opinion is heavily against us. Our recent proposal to bolster strategic resource reserves is also being seen as evidence by the outside world.

The opposition will not let this opportunity slip by. Following the usual pattern, journalists come first, then comes parliamentary questioning.

Without a reasonable explanation, our days ahead will be difficult. To prevent the situation from worsening, we must come up with a plan today.”

Internal strife is an indispensable part of British politics, a reality only they understand, not perceived by the opposition.

Unlike the high echelons of the Shinra Government, who climbed up step by step, those in the higher ranks of the British Government were catapulted there through elections.

Even if there was a transition, it was but a few days of ranting in Parliament. Only a few had actual government experience.

Even those with experience on their record were more about prestige than practical implication. For the most part, it was a matter of holding a title without fulfilling any specific duties.

Of course, this didn’t mean that the government’s top brass were idiots. To emerge victoriously from the complex political struggle and stand out from the elections, one had to possess exceptional abilities.

The only thing they lacked was experience in governance, Generally, after being elected, there would be professional teams to help disseminate relevant knowledge and advisory teams to assist in handling government affairs.

How effective it was could be understood by the number of bizarre policies introduced during their term. Generally, the worse the Prime Minister’s personal abilities, the greater the appetites of interest groups, and the more haphazard the policies that were introduced.

If one had strong learning capabilities, or had been exposed to related knowledge in advance, shaking off these advisory groups filled with interest groups was also not a problem.

Anyone who wanted to achieve something had to break free from dependence on advisory teams and step out of the circles drawn by interest groups.

However, these issues were all post-election concerns. Ordinary politicians, when not in power, simply didn’t have access to relevant knowledge and thus didn’t need to consider so much.

This is also why political dynasties were more likely to succeed. They were inherently not on the same level in terms of insight.

Now was no exception. In the eyes of most British people, the Royal Navy remained invincible across the seas, and the Great Britain Empire continued to hold its glorious position as the sun never set.

The rise of the Holy Roman Empire was indeed a problem, but it was just that, a problem. With the Royal Navy, Britannia feared no enemies.

As for the deeper issues of the disparity in national power, industrial gap, population gap… none of this was within the knowledge scope of the people.

It’s not as if there were no “enlightened individuals” coming out to educate the public, but this was Britannia’s most splendid era, and everyone was immersed in the glory of The Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets, blind to the imminent crisis.

Ignorance is bliss. Unaware of the power disparity between the two sides, people still thought of Britannia as the once mighty empire; naturally, there was no pressure dragging at the rear.

Foreign Minister Adam, “The news of our preparations for war should not have leaked out, otherwise the Opposition party would have already made a move, and it wouldn’t be this peaceful on the outside.

From the current situation, it’s most likely that someone deduced we were going to start a war with Shinra based on the current international situation.

Or perhaps the Vienna Government sensed our intentions and deliberately released the news to disrupt our strategic planning.

The Opposition party is just taking advantage of this opportunity, using the power of the media to stir things up from behind. If they really had proof of our war planning, they would have gone to Parliament to start an impeachment process.

In a sense, this situation is actually good for us.

By directly making the conflict between the Empire and Shinra public, we can also take the opportunity to promote the Shinra threat theory, getting ready for the upcoming war.

As of now, the Foreign Office has received several letters of inquiry from many countries in Europe, including a peace proposal led by the Dutch Government.

On the surface, this seems like the European countries do not want this war to break out, but the deeper reason is perhaps their wariness of the Holy Roman Empire.

Keep in mind that during the European wars, the Vienna Government was able to call upon an alliance against France without much cost.”

Though Adam’s analysis was methodical, deep down he was extremely anxious. No matter who had released the news, the enemy would be on guard.

He was already worried about how to cheat the Shinra Navy Main Force into revealing itself; now with the enemy alert, it had become even harder.

Unable to severely damage the Shinra Navy at the onset of war meant their plan for a quick and decisive victory was ruined.

Once the war dragged on, Britannia’s good days would be over. Not to mention anything else, the European market would be completely lost.

Just look at the reactions from the European countries. Their opposition to the belligerence between the two nations stemmed not only from the fear of choosing the wrong side but, more importantly, from concern over the war’s continuation.

In the eyes of the outside world, Holy Roman Empire held the advantage on land, while Britannia held the advantage at sea; if a war really broke out, neither side would be able to overcome the other for a while.

The Netherlands’ reaction was the most intense, due to their geographical position, but most importantly because of their heavy dependency on maritime trade.

Once Great Britain and Shinra’s war entered a tense state, mutual blockades were inevitable, and the interruption of maritime trade was certain.

If it were a short-term friendly competition lasting three to five months, that wouldn’t matter much; everyone could endure it until it was over.

But if the war were to last three to five years, there was no doubt that countries like the Netherlands and Portugal, which heavily depend on overseas trade, would find it difficult to avoid collapse.

Under these circumstances, there was only one path for everyone to take, and that was to help one side win the war and end the trade blockade as quickly as possible.

Either the European countries would band together with Great Britain to drag Shinra down, or everyone would follow Shinra’s lead, desperately building warships to topple the Royal Navy.

There was no doubt that regardless of who they sided with, everyone would suffer heavy losses. Especially for the Netherlands, which was very likely to become a battlefield, it would incur losses, even if they chose the winning side.

Don’t expect to compensate for the losses with war spoils; that’s just wishful thinking. The previous Anti-French wars are an example, where ostensibly everyone received huge reparations, but in reality, the French government had no money to pay.

When there’s no money, there’s no money. No matter your myriad abilities and methods, the French government still couldn’t conjure up the funds.

Like Belgium, the pitiful, if it wasn’t for the fact that they recovered some territory from France after the war, they would have completely lost out.

Small countries have limited capacities, and their strength cannot support their ambitions. It seems that the only entities possibly profiting from the Anglo-Austrian war, other than the Tsarist Government, might be the United States, thousands of miles away.

Whether other countries have ambitions doesn’t matter, as their stomachs are weak and they can’t handle greasy food. Even with meat delivered to their mouths, they can only savor the scent.

As Great Britain’s Foreign Minister, Adam’s personal abilities were quite formidable. Unfortunately, reality was in front of him, and for all his ability to cheat, he wasn’t confident in pulling everyone to his side.

Of course, they could also imitate the original timeline’s flexible diplomatic strategies, allowing countries to remain neutral and engage in overseas trade.

However, this required the cooperation of the opponent. If the Vienna Government refused to agree and insisted on recruiting allies, everyone still had to choose a camp.

Could the European countries withstand the diplomatic pressure of the Holy Roman Empire?

No one could answer that question. In theory, as long as the European countries united and remained neutral, the Vienna Government would have no choice but to accept it grudgingly.

But this likelihood was too low. Not every country had the courage to do so. Without unity, as soon as a few countries took the lead to take sides, the rest would have to follow suit.

The situation for Great Britain was already extremely dangerous. Any misstep could result in opposition not just from the Holy Roman Empire, but from the entire European world.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Asquith spoke, “Sir, the European countries are like fence sitters; their stance has never been firm.

Due to geopolitical reasons, our influence on the European Continent is simply incomparable to that of the Holy Roman Empire.

Relying purely on political means, we might not necessarily be at a disadvantage; but once the Vienna Government adopts military measures and directly threatens with force, we’ll find it difficult to compete with them.

Unless we can draw Russia and Spain to our side, only if these two countries take the lead will the European countries possibly withstand the pressure of the Vienna Government.

Considering our relationships with both Russia and Spain, I don’t think we can pull them to our side now. If we could keep them neutral during the war, that would be a blessing from God.”

Asquith was not being pessimistic; it’s just that the previous few Cabinets had left too much of a mess. They had enjoyed themselves without considering the consequences, leaving behind a huge mess to clean up.

There was no helping it; Great Britain’s world hegemony was achieved by stepping over Spain. Ten years ago, during the Philippine campaign, Spain was once again badly harmed by Great Britain’s junior partners.

New hatreds and old grudges combined, with the sovereignty dispute over the Strait of Gibraltar in the mix, the Spanish Government would have to be collectively out of their minds to get involved with them.

The state of affairs between Britain and Russia need no elaboration, with the Indian issue being an intractable deadlock for both sides. The current Russo-Japanese War is just new animosity added on top of old hostilities.

Even if the Tsarist Government holds an immense wariness of Shinra, the idea that they would go bankrupt to support Britain is still out of the question.

Without a leader, the European nations accustomed to being fence-sitters naturally wouldn’t dare to oppose Shinra outright.

Of course, there was the Nordic Federation which could potentially be swayed, a party with enough strength to maintain neutrality.

Unfortunately, their political influence was limited; they couldn’t become the ringleader, let alone dare to.

Europe was unreliable, no one was willing to be a pawn at such a time, and winning a war against Shinra was incredibly challenging.

…

Ultimately, wars still had to be fought by the military, and Campbell could only pretend not to hear the complaints of the government officials.

The arrow was now on the string, it had to be shot. War was difficult and formidable, but could that mean it shouldn’t be fought?

If the war efforts were halted now, the Vienna Government would likely be ecstatic. They wouldn’t need to do anything; drag it out for ten to twenty years, and hegemony would fall into their lap.

“Does the Ministry of the Navy have any plans?”

When strategy falls short, tactics must compensate. If Britain could not compete in overall national power, then the Royal Navy must rise to the occasion and continue to create miracles for Britannia.

Navy Minister Swindon picked up a pointer stick and walked toward the world map hanging on the wall. “The main force of the Holy Roman Empire’s navy may be hunkering down in the Mediterranean, but they still have several squadrons overseas.

Although these squadrons have few capital ships, the combined tonnage is not insignificant, nearly making up forty percent of the entire Shinra Navy’s tonnage.

In the absence of luring the enemy’s main force into a decisive battle, the Ministry plans to first eradicate these overseas nuisances.

The other squadrons are hardly worth mentioning, with the main targets being the Austrian Nanyang Fleet and the Central American Fleet. Not only do they have Dreadnoughts as flagships, but most of the accompanying warships are also modern.

These warships have one thing in common—they are fast.

Clearly, the enemy is well-prepared, planning to use these high-speed warships to attack our merchant ships once war breaks out.

Our plan is to strike these two squadrons immediately upon the outbreak of war, preemptively eliminating the threats to our trade routes.

In this regard, the Japanese have done it quite well; they have successfully launched surprise attacks against Spain, the Far Eastern Empire, as well as Russia. We can certainly follow suit.”

Morality doesn’t exist in this context; Swindon didn’t mind breaking convention for once if it meant victory in war.

After all, history is written by the victors. Defeat the Holy Roman Empire, and all bad behaviors can be whitewashed.

Taking out the enemy’s squadrons first is always better than waiting to have our merchant ships attacked after war erupts.

As for the Royal Navy, that started from piracy, there was nothing too unfamiliar about these tactics. So much so, that with just a cursory glance, Swindon understood the Vienna Government’s intentions.

If left unchecked, it was feared that Britannia’s maritime trade routes would suffer heavy blows right at the start of the war.