UK, London, Prime Minister's residence, No. 10 Downing Street
The latest owner of this official residence, the leader of the Conservative Party, Earl Stanley Baldwin, stretched out his hand to rub his temples, feeling that his head hurt.
Not long ago, he had just defeated his old political rival for more than a decade, the grassroots Labor leader James Ramsay Macdonald, the former Prime Minister, and became the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But he also inherited a mess left behind by MacDonald.
Among these troublesome messes, the most conspicuous one is the ambiguous relationship between the Crown Prince Edward, who loves beauty rather than his country, and the American widow Mrs. Simpson - this dishonorable relationship quickly makes the Crown Prince and his father Relations with King George V were extremely rigid. Edward's parents refused to accept Mrs. Simpson, and his brother Prince Albert also repeatedly suggested that Prince Edward find another good match. The influential Anglican Church also expressed strong opposition But the problem is, Edward and Mrs. Simpson did not Always unmoved!
If this family dispute continues, it may eventually affect the ownership of the throne. Therefore, although he is not good at dealing with such family disputes that are constantly being resolved and turned into chaos, out of the duty of a courtier, Stanley Baldwin The Prime Minister still reluctantly walked around and negotiated several times in an attempt to reconcile the relationship between the royal father and son. In the end, he found that he was not the material: this seemed to be the job of a priest!
Of course, although the family disputes in the British royal family have been exaggerated in the tabloids, they have not harmed the vitality of the country. What worries politicians even more is the current sluggish economic situation - the capitalist world economic crisis has lasted for six years, causing indescribable horrific disasters to the British Empire, as well as serious social and political turmoil, although it has since eased slightly. , but has not yet returned to ideal levels.
And the various overt and covert struggles between the United States and Britain for world hegemony have made Britain increasingly feel overwhelmed by its responsibility to lead the world, and it is starting to feel a little powerless Fortunately. The long-term economic depression has also severely restricted the United States' ability to intervene in foreign affairs, forcing the United States to conduct a global strategic retreat in recent years and fall back into isolationism. It also gave the United Kingdom a temporary breather.
Regrettably, the global competition between the United States and Britain has just come to an end, but the haze of war is rising on the horizon.
In Europe, the danger of war is not yet obvious. Although Hitler of the Nazi Party had taken over the power, the weak German Army was not enough to launch a large-scale foreign war. Although the Soviets took advantage of the economic crisis to acquire a large number of industrial machinery from the United States and Europe, which greatly improved their industrial capabilities, their national borders were still far away from the hinterland of Europe and were not enough to truly shake the Pax Britannica.
However. In Asia, Britain stepped into the fire pit of war on its own initiative and has fully felt the pain of war.
¡ª¡ªThousands of British warriors and precious ships with a total displacement of more than 300,000 tons were lost because of a "police action"!
The old and sick former Prime Minister Macdonald was completely shattered mentally and physically by the various bad news coming from the Far East battlefield, and had to hand over the throne of Prime Minister to his old rival Earl Baldwin. However, the newly appointed Prime Minister Baldwin established a wartime cabinet. However, it is also at a loss for the Far East intervention operations that have repeatedly failed. And the latest horrific information coming in made him feel like he was trapped in hell
At this moment, he was discussing the latest intelligence on the Far East battlefield with Winston Churchill, who had just been promoted to Lord of the Admiralty.
"The entire urban area of ??Hiroshima disappeared in the big explosion. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of people were reduced to ashes. At least several hundred acres of land were burned into glass. Eda, across the water from Hiroshima City The Island Naval School and the Wu Gang Fortress not far away were almost razed to the ground."
While smoking his pipe, Churchill pointed to the map of Japan on the table and said, " Sasebo, Kure Port, and Yokosuka, three of the four main bases in the Japanese naval empire, have been destroyed, leaving only one with the most important status. The unimportant Maizuru Base. Even the Etajima Naval Academy, which trained talents for the Japanese Navy, is finished In the foreseeable future, we no longer need to worry about the threat of the Imperial Japanese Navy."
"Instead of it, there is the threat of the Bolsheviks to all civilized countries in the world! An atomic bomb that can destroy a country in one shot Damn it! How did these yellow-skinned monkeys who just cut off their braids do this? A super weapon that threatens world peace? This is unscientific!"
Prime Minister Baldwin said gloomily that this out-of-control situation of "whacking a mole to bring out a big tiger" really made him feel terrible - while attending the Manila meeting. Signed the Far East AllianceWhen the Anti-Communist Pact was signed, most British gentlemen thought it was just a security operation to suppress colonial unrest and defend commercial interests. Unexpectedly, it was only after the war broke out that the British government discovered what a mistake it had made in underestimating the enemy. .
So far, the losses incurred by the Royal Navy in China have exceeded that of the Battle of Jutland!
And all the interests of the British Empire in China's Yangtze River Basin were completely wiped out when the Chinese Bolsheviks blocked the Yangtze River Estuary.
What¡¯s worse is that this is just the beginning - the British Empire¡¯s forces and strongholds in other parts of China are also being gradually destroyed.
"Whether it is scientific or not, these red elements are destroying our Far Eastern sphere of influence step by step, Mr. Prime Minister."
Churchill blew a smoke ring and said, "Another latest news is that China's Red elements have completely destroyed the local government army in Guangdong Province, China, and raided the provincial capital Guangzhou. They used force to capture Guangzhou without any regard for international influence. After entering the British Concession and the French Concession on Shamian Island in downtown Guangzhou, our country's garrison surrendered after a symbolic resistance - because they only had a total of six Scottish officers and 80 Indian soldiers; while the French took the opportunity to sit down The ship slipped away. As a precaution, the British expatriates in the Gulangyu Public Settlement in Xiamen also spontaneously organized an evacuation and retreated to Hong Kong together with the British expatriates in other parts of China The next battlefield is Hong Kong, which is almost undoubtedly "
" How prepared is our army for the upcoming war in Hong Kong? Is there any chance of winning?" Prime Minister Baldwin asked.
"the Imperial Admiralty has mobilized a second large-scale expeditionary fleet: the aircraft carriers Arenas and Glorious, the battleships Royal Oak and Revenge, six cruisers, twenty-two destroyers, and fifteen auxiliary ships Ships, 120 aircraft of various types, and 25,000 army troops, mainly indigenous troops - for this purpose, almost all the empire's assets in India and Malacca were emptied"
Churchill replied slightly melancholy, "as for the oddsbefore I learned that the Chinese red elements had the atomic bomb, I might have said 'yes' with confidence. But nowwell, no matter what, I I only understand one thing - England will never be allowed to retreat easily!"