Fox and Pitt frowned, pondering how to deal with the current situation.
The crucial point was that both Fox and Pitt couldn't understand how the situation had devolved into this mess.
King George III's sudden madness to attack France was the beginning of the problem, but it wasn't a major issue; Fox and Pitt still had a chance to salvage it.
Queen Charlotte's collusion with that doctor from the Ming Empire, cuckolding George III, didn't seem too serious either;
The doctor bringing in Toujou Nijuhachi as the military commander also didn't seem like a huge problem?
So, the crux of the matter was that George III sent people to eliminate the Ming doctor?
The more they thought about it, the more certain Fox and Pitt became of their internal suspicions.
That's right, if George III hadn't killed the doctor, Toujou Nijuhachi, that lunatic, wouldn't have completely lost control. Although Toujou Nijuhachi dared to defy George III's orders and even persuaded Edward and Richard to disobey, if the Ming doctor had given the order, Toujou Nijuhachi would never have dared to disobey.
The problem was that the doctor had already been killed by George III's men, and it was too late to say anything.
After racking their brains for a long time, Pitt tentatively said, "Our communication with France has been cut off by Toujou Nijuhachi. Either we send people to Xikunlun to notify the Ming navy base stationed there, so they can find a way to inform the Ming Emperor? Or, we send people to that fool Eagle's territory to relay the message through them?"
Fox shook his head and said, "Whether we send people through Xikunlun or try to send a message through that fool Eagle, it will be too late to stop Toujou Nijuhachi from going mad, let alone stop Napoleon."
After Fox finished speaking, George III and Pitt fell silent.
As Fox had said, whether it was through the Great Ming military base in Xikunlun or through that fool Eagle, the message would be too slow. By the time the message reached the Great Ming, Toujou Nijuhachi might have already been chopped into meat paste by Napoleon.
This meant that England had completely lost this war for national destiny. Even if they could ask the Great Ming to mediate, they would have to pay a heavy price, not only for compensating France's military expenses but also for the Great Ming's mediation fee.
Pitt became more and more distressed and couldn't help but sigh, "What a pity, we expelled the French ambassador as soon as the war started. Otherwise, we could have relayed the message through the French ambassador."
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Pitt's eyes lit up, and his gaze towards Fox was filled with admiration: "You mean, we can resolve Toujou Nijuhachi through the Great Ming's ambassador to England?"
King George III's eyes also lit up.
Indeed, no matter how crazy that short, scrawny Toujou Nijuhachi was, he wouldn't dare to lay a hand on the Great Ming envoy. He didn't even dare to defy the Ming doctor's orders, so would he dare to defy the Ming ambassador?
However, to George III and Pitt's surprise, Fox shook his head and denied Pitt's statement: "It's too late."
"Even if the Great Ming's special envoy to England is willing to step forward, he may not be able to reach France before the decisive battle."
"Especially since His Majesty the King killed that Ming doctor without informing the Great Ming ambassador, it's still unknown whether the Great Ming ambassador would be willing to step forward and resolve it."
Fox's statement was actually giving George III some face. When George III first went mad and wanted to attack France, the Great Ming ambassador to England had tried to stop him. However, the mad George III had not given the Great Ming ambassador to England any face, and had even sent people to drive the Great Ming ambassador to England out of Buckingham Palace.
If it weren't for the fact that Fox, Pitt, and other important figures in the English court had not completely lost their minds, George III, this idiot, might even have expelled the Great Ming ambassador to England.
In other words, from the very beginning, George III had thoroughly offended the Great Ming ambassador to England. Now that disaster was imminent, and they wanted to ask the Great Ming ambassador to England to mediate?
Heh~
After understanding the key point, Pitt looked at Fox with a dumbfounded expression: "You mean, we can only wait stupidly for the final decisive battle?"
Fox sighed and said, "Perhaps, we have no other way now, and can only place our hopes on Toujou Nijuhachi."
The atmosphere fell silent again.
After a long while, George III finally rubbed his face and said, "We absolutely cannot place all our hopes on that madman Toujou Nijuhachi."
"Whether it's sending messages through Xikunlun, that fool Eagle, or asking the Great Ming ambassador to step forward, or sending people to take a detour to France, we must send people to try these methods."
...
As the plenipotentiary ambassador of the Great Ming to England, Gou Lei knew that King George III had gone mad, and he also knew about the news that the doctor King George III had brought from the Great Ming had gotten involved with Queen Charlotte and cuckolded King George III.
Gou Lei also knew that the doctor had sent people to bring in a short, scrawny Japanese man to command the English army, and he also knew about the doctor's death and Toujou Nijuhachi's complete madness.
But what did these things have to do with Gou Lei?
From the moment he was driven out of Buckingham Palace by King George III, Gou Lei had been very displeased. After King George III killed the doctor without informing him, Gou Lei had decided to watch the show and see how England was digging its own grave.
Therefore, when facing the English Prime Minister Pitt, Gou Lei's expression was very indifferent: "His Majesty King George of your country had already said that England is his England, and I am merely an envoy sent by the Ming Emperor to England, and should not interfere in England's affairs."
And Pitt, as the Prime Minister of England, had to humble himself and speak kindly to the sarcastic Gou Lei: "Mr. Ambassador, although King George's attitude was unfriendly at the time, you should know the situation then—King George was having a manic episode, and the doctor he invited from the Great Ming also gave a diagnosis, didn't he?"
"As for what happened later, I believe you should also understand, after all, King George's condition suddenly improved, and the doctor was trying to poison King George through Queen Charlotte—even so, King George didn't intend to kill the doctor, it was just that the soldiers sent to kill Queen Charlotte accidentally caused injuries during the execution of their orders."
Gou Lei let out a cold snort and retorted, "So what? What does your King George of England want me to do? Who can guarantee that your King George will not suddenly have an episode again?"
Pitt's face turned ashen from Gou Lei's retort, but he was speechless.
It was King George III who had the episode first, it was King George III who first provoked Gou Lei, the Great Ming ambassador to England, it was King George III who sent people to kill the doctor, and it was King George III who sent him to fawn over the Ming ambassador—forget about the soldiers who were executing orders accidentally killing the doctor, everyone knew that such an excuse was bullshit.
Helplessly, Pitt could only force out a smile that was uglier than crying and said to Gou Lei with a fawning smile, "Mr. Ambassador, none of us want what happened before to happen again, but now that things have reached this point, shouldn't we first solve the problem?"
Gou Lei let out a chuckle and retorted again, "So?"
Pitt cautiously began to probe: "How about this, could you send someone to France to recall Toujou Nijuhachi?"
Gou Lei shook his head and sighed, "Although the Wa country is a vassal state of the Great Ming, and Toujou Nijuhachi is a samurai of the Wa country, I, as the ambassador, can order Toujou Nijuhachi. However, the condition for me to order Toujou Nijuhachi was when he was still in India and was just an ordinary samurai of the Wa country—now that he is commanding your English army, even if an order needs to be given, it should be from your King George III, not me."
Pitt once again fell silent, and after a long while, he raised his head and looked at Gou Lei, saying, "Then, let's not talk about Toujou Nijuhachi for now, let's talk about the copper mine in Sri Lanka?"
Gou Lei glanced at Pitt, signaling him to continue.
Pitt gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, saying cruelly, "We English are willing to send an additional fifty thousand laborers to the Sri Lankan copper mine to try to increase copper production."
Gou Lei let out a chuckle and said, "Toujou Nijuhachi is just a mere samurai of the Wa country, can't you deal with him? He's like a dog, kill him if he doesn't obey, no one will say anything."
Hearing Gou Lei's words, Pitt finally understood what it meant to not show the hawk until the rabbit was caught, and he hated that he couldn't just spit a mouthful of phlegm onto Gou Lei's face—kill Toujou Nijuhachi? Yes, Toujou Nijuhachi could indeed be killed, and no one would say anything. The problem was, was Toujou Nijuhachi so easy to kill? That bastard had fooled Edward and Richard!
Helplessly, Pitt could only throw out his final trump card: "I heard that your Royal Highness Prince Qin and Royal Highness Prince Jin are going to enfeoff in the continent of Yindi'an?"
After Gou Lei nodded, Pitt said through gritted teeth, "We English still have some colonies in the continent of Yindi'an, and these colonies are of no use to us English. Therefore, His Majesty King George III of England intends to gift these colonies to your Royal Highness Prince Qin and Royal Highness Prince Jin?"
Hearing this, Gou Lei couldn't help but secretly calculate.
A stable Europe did not align with the interests of the Great Ming, but a highly chaotic Europe also did not align with the interests of the Great Ming. If Europe fell into chaos, the Great Ming's exports to Europe would inevitably be affected, and the Great Ming's treasury revenue would decrease. This was not cost-effective for the Great Ming, which was short of money and labor.
If Toujou Nijuhachi were to be eliminated, not only could the situation in Europe be kept in balance, but it could also expand the fiefdoms for Royal Highness Prince Qin and Royal Highness Prince Jin...
Thinking of this, Gou Lei no longer played coy and directly asked, "Is there still time? Are you sure that short, scrawny Toujou Nijuhachi hasn't started fighting with Napoleon yet?"
Seeing that he had finally persuaded Gou Lei, Pitt breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he was secretly worried: "I'm not sure, we can only try now."
When Pitt finally persuaded Gou Lei, the Great Ming ambassador to England, Toujou Nijuhachi, leading the English army, had already advanced twenty li, only about ten li away from the French army.
Ten li was not close, but it was not far either. If ordinary people walked, ten li would take several hours, but for the army, ten li was a distance that could be covered with a fart.
Especially with cavalry on both sides, ten li was even less of a distance.
What was more critical was that both the English and French armies had a large number of officers who had studied at the Great Ming Military Academy, and the weapons and ammunition equipped by both armies were similar.
This meant that the combat modes of both armies were actually similar.
The first was reconnaissance warfare.
Both Toujou Nijuhachi and Napoleon sent a large number of scouts to gather intelligence on the other side, and both sides tacitly sent small cavalry units to harass the other side. A distance of ten li and cavalry, these two conditions combined, basically meant cavalry skirmishes.
The open space of ten li between the two armies became a meat grinder for English cavalry and French cavalry.
Following this was the further advance of both armies.
Napoleon wanted to continue advancing using his logistical advantage, and Toujou Nijuhachi also wanted to advance with the morale of fighting with his back to the river.
The result of pushing closer and closer was that the positions of both sides were infinitely close, and the shells of both sides could even reach the front of the opponent's formation. The English army and the French army also began tentative attacks.
This tentative probe was not a small matter, and Toujou Nijuhachi, who was originally full of confidence, suddenly became a little timid.
"The French army on the opposite side is even more formidable than we had previously estimated."
After summoning all the English generals, Toujou Nijuhachi directly stated, "Due to logistical supply reasons, we cannot continue to drag this out with the French army on the opposite side. We can only launch a decisive battle before they are fully prepared."
...
When Toujou Nijuhachi was preparing to launch the final decisive battle in advance, Napoleon was discussing the final decisive battle with Xiao Dai: "I know that we are not fully prepared, and launching a decisive battle now is somewhat hasty."
"But you know, the participating parties in any war cannot be fully prepared—no matter when, preparation work can never be completed, and no matter how you do it, you will feel that something is missing."
"In other words, if we are not ready for the decisive battle, those rose beef steaks on the other side cannot be fully ready either."