Chapter 980

The river wind from the Thames blew, and Nick’s eyes were deep.

He said to Murphy, “I agree with your idea. In addition, shouldn’t we also consider improving our relationship with France? This Eastern Empire is very difficult for us to deal with on our own.”

“For hundreds of years, Europe has been fighting with each other. The fundamental reason is that Europeans arrogantly believe that Europe is the center of the world and European civilization is at the top of the world. Outside of Europe, we have no opponent who is worthy of a battle. Obviously, the situation is different now.” Murphy said with emotion, “I hope that this time our envoy to the Great Yu Empire can make progress, otherwise we will have constant trouble all over the world.”

Nick nodded solemnly when he heard this.

While the two of them were talking, the Cao family father and son had already taken a carriage to their residence by the Thames.

In the carriage, Cao Zheng-tong looked a little worried. He asked, “Father, do you think the British will raise the status of the people of the Great Yu Empire in Britain?”

Cao Kun was resting with his eyes closed. He said slowly, “Victoria has no choice. If the British are still so proud and arrogant, they will lose more.”

“I hope so. In this way, we will no longer be ridiculed by those British people in Britain,” Cao Zheng-tong said through gritted teeth.

Although they had been in Britain for a long time, life here was not pleasant at all. The white supremacists here would often find trouble with them for no reason. If it weren’t for the soldiers sent by the parliament to protect them, they would probably have become slaves.

Because of this, they would take the opportunity to propose raising the status of the people of the Great Yu Empire so that they would have the same rights as the British by law.

“The next step, we have to propose to the parliament to get a piece of land to build a settlement for our people of the Great Yu Empire. In this way, we will be able to gather the people of the Great Yu Empire and re-establish our parliament,” Cao Kun said, still not reconciled to his failure in the south.

And through their understanding during this period, they found that there were still some slaves from the Great Yu Empire in Britain. These slaves were trafficked by the British from Asia.

If he freed these people from slavery, these people of the Great Yu Empire would be grateful to him and join his cause.

Cao Zheng-tong nodded slowly. This was an opportunity for them. Even if they could not return to the Great Yu Empire, they could still live a wealthy life in Britain.

Because the British needed them.

…

France, Paris.

Here, they were experiencing the same turmoil as in Britain. After the two surviving British warships returned to London, they quickly received the news of the combined fleet’s disastrous defeat.

For the newly established French Republic, this was undoubtedly a heavy blow.

After receiving this news, many nobles in Paris gathered at the office of the executive and Lord Protector André.

He was the number one person in French military and politics.

“We shouldn’t have agreed to form a combined fleet with the British in the first place. Now that only their fleet has returned, no one knows whether our fleet was annihilated by the British or the Great Yu Empire,” Duke Adrian said loudly. He had never liked the British.

This island nation outside the European continent had always been unwilling to see France become strong.

“That’s right, this is likely a British conspiracy.”

“An order should be given to investigate this matter immediately.”

“…”

The nobles were clamoring.

André leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead in pain. The formation of the combined fleet was personally approved by him, and now the disastrous defeat made him lose face.

For France, the number one power on the European continent, to suffer a disastrous defeat in the East was a disgrace to anyone.

“Silence, silence!” André knocked on the table.

He looked up at the many nobles. These nobles were all capitalists who participated in overthrowing the feudal dynasty of France, and the ruling class of the current French Republic was also composed of them.

“On this point, the British have no need to deceive us. It will not benefit them in Asia. The current strength of the Great Yu Empire is now obvious to all, and the technology obtained from the Great Yu Empire has already proven this point. The failure of the combined fleet just shows this problem. If we continue to fight with Britain, we will lose more overseas colonies. After all, we have a firm agreement with the British to divide Asia, but not with the Great Yu Empire, and it is especially unfortunate that the Great Yu Empire is so close to our Indochina.” As the leader who overthrew the French monarchy, André had enough wisdom and courage.

He was not afraid of the nobles’ questions, and this was also the origin of his nickname, “the dictator.”

“If it’s not a British conspiracy, then we are probably facing an even worse situation now. We must now find a way to protect Indochina,” a nobleman said in horror.

André’s brows furrowed even more. This was exactly what he was worried about. Compared to Britain, their colonies were too close to the Great Yu Empire.

The appearance of the combined fleet put them and the Great Yu Empire in a state of war, and the Great Yu Empire could take any action.

And once they lost Indochina, his reputation would be damaged, which would be very detrimental to his position.

“We must be the first to send a delegation to the Great Yu Empire to seek peace,” André said to the crowd. “At least, we must avoid war until we have thoroughly researched the Great Yu Empire’s technology. What we need now is time. Once the steam engine is widely used in France, we will also have the ability to manufacture excellent weapons, and that will be the time to defeat the Great Yu Empire.”

The nobles all nodded when they heard this. They had all met the technical talent from the Great Yu Empire. In the past two years, with his help, French industry had made significant progress.

The proposal of various scientific theories also shocked the French scientific community. Now, scientists in Paris were working day and night to turn these theories into reality.

“This is the most sensible choice right now,” Duke Adrian said. “Temporary concessions will give us time to win.”

André nodded. He then said, “However, we must also consider the worst-case scenario. If the Great Yu Empire rejects peace talks, we will be unable to avoid fighting them in Indochina. Therefore, while sending the delegation, we must actively train the indigenous people of Indochina to help us fight and at the same time send new firearms to the front to stop the Great Yu Empire’s expansion.” André said.

He believed that countries with colonies in Asia would all be very worried now, and Britain should also take similar countermeasures.

After all, in terms of actual overseas interests, Britain had much more than they did.

Seeing that no one objected, André said to the diplomat standing on the right, “From now on, you will select the envoys and have them depart in a week.”

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair