Chapter 784 Diplomatic War
"Mr. Norman, are you saying that there will be problems among the Indians?" The intelligence officer asked with a little surprise after hearing what Norman said.
"Haha, even the powerful British Empire will have problems, not to mention India, which is already a mess." Because he was in a good mood after completing the mission, Norman McKellen smiled and explained to his men: "What do you think my purpose is in taking the initiative to find Prabati?
Only when Gandhi's men took the lead in provoking the armed faction, those local forces in India hidden in the dark will not be able to help but show their feet.
Rajputs, Indians and Sikhs, as well as those chaotic and messy caste systems, oh, they will be busy at that time."
Having said this, Norman McKellen Lun couldn't help but smile, and said with a little pride: "Just imagine, when all parts of India began to arm their own armies, how would the British clean up this mess?
When Gandhi, who was supported by the Indians, could no longer stop the armed rebellion throughout India, perhaps the bright jewel in the crown of the British Empire would be broken."
"Are you saying that Gandhi was supported by the British? Didn't Gandhi's movement affect the British rule?" The subordinates were a little puzzled. Gandhi seemed to be hostile to the British, so why did Norman say that the British supported Gandhi?
"Why not?" Norman McKellen said mysteriously, "Don't you think that only people like Gandhi who advocate absolute non-violence can save the British rule in India while rebellion is going on all over India?
If Gandhi is gone, no one can suppress the armed rebellion in various parts of India.
Even if the British can suppress these rebellions, they will have to spend a lot of energy on Indian affairs. For us, the time Britain spends in India is a great opportunity for us to solve the war in South America and seek more to fight against the British."
When it comes to national interests and politics, the relationship between people and factions becomes very complicated.
Although Gandhi's purpose seems to be to resist the British colonial rule, his means are undoubtedly biased towards extreme moderates compared to other anti-British forces in India.
If they have to choose a leader to lead the Indian rebellion in India, the British will naturally choose an extreme moderate like Gandhi, rather than a rebel who advocates the use of force.
Although Gandhi would also pose a threat to Britain's colonial rule in India, and might even directly destroy Britain's colonial rule in terms of public opinion.
But at least, as long as the British Empire is strong, there is no need to worry about India's independence. If the forces that advocate the use of force are allowed to lead the Indian revolution, I am afraid that the British Empire will be forced to let India become independent and lose the bright pearl on the crown in addition to investing a lot of physics and manpower in the rebellion in India.
Under Norman MacLaren's expectations, the French government also took action soon. First, it promised to lend Prabhati a loan, and the French provided a full 500 million francs.
Although 500 million francs seems a lot, if you know the exchange rate of world currencies at this time, you will understand that this is just a fairly normal low-interest loan to foreign countries.
The current exchange rate of currency: 1 pound = 2 Australian dollars = 14.57 US dollars = 327 rupees = 209 francs = 178469 marks (only in some areas, most areas cannot be estimated)
Although 500 million francs seems a lot, after conversion, it is only 2.392 million pounds, about 4.784 million Australian dollars.
This is the result of the French trying their best to control the exchange rate of the franc and barely making the value of the franc recover a little.
If it was at the lowest point of the franc's value, 1 pound could even be exchanged for more than 300 francs, and the franc currency system had collapsed by half at that time.
It is precisely because of these reasons that after the demise of the United States, the world's universal currencies are only the pound and the Australian dollar.
Other currencies, including the franc and the new version of the US dollar, can only be circulated in some regions.
After all, compared with the pound and the Australian dollar, the value of other currencies is not so stable. If other currencies other than the pound and the Australian dollar are used for international trade, it is easy to cause unnecessary losses, which is something that companies engaged in international trade do not want to see.
Although the loan is less than 5 million Australian dollars, it is still possible to buy a batch of weapons and equipment produced in France.
At this point, the French also adhered to the practice of foreign loans by European powers, that is, requiring the borrowing country to use the loan on itself.
Prabhati can use this loan to buy the necessary weapons and equipment from France, as well as food, medical and other supplies, but he cannot keep the money for other purposes.
After this operation, the French seemed to have lent out a debt, but in fact they still kept the money in the country.
Prabati's transfer of money not only increased some income for France, but also made the Indians owe him a debt. It can be said to be a win-win situation - he won twice.
After the loan was obtained, Norman MacLaren immediately began to enthusiastically introduce the weapons and equipment produced by France to Prabati.
In other words, the French actually have considerable achievements in weapons and equipment. The French artillery is also very famous, and the production of various weapons is also world-class.
At the instigation of Norman McLaren, Prabhati purchased a large number of weapons and equipment, including a large number of rifles, bullets, and some small-caliber machine guns with relatively fast firing rates.
With these weapons and equipment, Prabhati was able to quickly arm a powerful army and become the most powerful force in the resistance against the British.
He was even able to compete with the famous figure Gandhi for the right to speak in the Indian National Congress with the army in his hands.
Just as Norman McLaren was immersed in the joy of successfully provoking the Indian War of Independence, his men brought him a bad news, that is, there was a problem with the Lone Star Republic.
To be precise, it was not only the Lone Star Republic that had problems, but also Mexico, which had always coveted the Lone Star Republic.
Although Mexico was not strong, it was not so easy to deal with it because of its unique geographical location and its origin with Texas.
Mexico has a population of only more than 16 million, less than half of the total population of France. Whether in terms of military strength or economic industry, Mexico will never be a match for the French.
But the problem is that compared to Mexico, the Lone Star Republic is more repulsive to French rule.
Many areas of the United States, including the Lone Star Republic, actually have a large Mexican population.
If the United States had not expelled some illegal Mexican immigrants after World War I, I am afraid that the Mexican population in the entire United States would be even larger at this time.
You know, Mexicans have a characteristic, that is, they can give birth and love to give birth. While the fertility rates of other ethnic groups in the United States are generally low, the fertility rate of Mexicans still ranks first among all ethnic groups in the United States.
It is precisely because of such a high fertility rate that not only the population of Mexico has been rising steadily, but also the Mexican population in the United States has been rising steadily.
In addition to solving the problem of Mexico, the Lone Star Republic must also find a way to solve the problem of the Mexican population in the Lone Star Republic.
After all, as long as these Mexican populations are in the Lone Star Republic for one day, they can have a profound impact on the entire republic, thereby interfering with the political and diplomatic choices of the Lone Star Republic.
This is the same as the vast number of British immigrants in Australasia. Although everyone is very obedient to Arthur's rule, most people still have a good impression of Britain.
Although they are still loyal subjects of Arthur, this does not prevent them from preferring Britain in some choices.
This is actually a headache for Arthur. Because of the existence of these British people, Australasia is basically impossible to actively oppose Britain, and it is even more impossible to challenge Britain for world hegemony.
This is also the reason why Arthur formulated a strategy of cooperating with Britain and then looking for opportunities to inherit the British legacy.
Compared with directly challenging Britain, gently inheriting the power and status of the British is a better choice for Arthur.
After all, in terms of the ethnic composition and political structure of the two countries, Britain and Australasia are highly similar.
If it is done well, Australasia does have the hope of inheriting the British world hegemony, and in a more peaceful way.
But all this has a premise, that is, the British have been too weak in the war, and are willing to inherit everything they once had to Australasia.
It is for this reason that Arthur is actually capable of preventing countries including Germany and Italy from rising again, but Arthur did not.
Only by allowing these countries to stand up again and challenge the hegemony of the British Empire will Britain be weakened in the next war, and Arthur will have the opportunity to inherit the interests of the British.
If the British have no challengers, it will not be a good thing for Arthur. After all, Australasia is strong enough to threaten the status of the British.
"What's going on?" Norman McKellen looked a little gloomy, looking at his men in surprise.
"There is news from the country that Mexico has been frequently maneuvering on the border with the Lone Star Republic, and there is a possibility of invading the Lone Star Republic." The men laughed bitterly and reported the news they had just received to Norman McKellen.
"Damn, how dare those Mexicans?" Norman McKellen asked in disbelief.
Although it seems that Mexico is only targeting the Lone Star Republic, the Lone Star Republic is backed by the powerful France.
"Aren't those damn Mexicans afraid of provoking a war with France?" Norman McKellen asked his men with some doubts.
"According to speculation from domestic sources, there is a high probability that the British are behind Mexico.
It seems that the British have also taken action during this period. The domestic government asked you to take action in India as soon as possible to make Britain give up its support for Mexico." The subordinate continued.
Although it is not yet certain whether the British are behind Mexico, referring to the British's previous actions, there is a high probability that there are British behind such things.
What's more, aren't they also making trouble in the British's India? This kind of thing is already commonplace for European countries. The competition is nothing more than who can destroy the enemy's interior faster.
"I understand." Norman McLaren nodded, calmed down his mood, and ordered his subordinates: "Tell Prabati that if he can take action within half a month, I can decide to change his loan from low interest to interest-free.
At the same time, the McKellen family is willing to reach further cooperation with him, including the support of more weapons and equipment, and their willingness to support him in becoming the prime minister of the new Indian Empire. "
At present, the Indian Empire only has the position of Governor-General, and there is no permanent Prime Minister position in a monarchy.
The Governor-General of India represented the British King and could exercise the power of the British King in India.
In other words, no matter how hard Indians work, they can only become the middle class of the Indian Empire, that is, officials in small places.
The highest government of the Indian Empire, including the Governor-General of India, which symbolized the highest power, was mostly composed of British people.
Including commissioners responsible for contacting various Indian states, as well as commanders and commanders of the military system, etc., all are gilded positions held by the children of British nobles and politicians.
Most of the time, these positions have nothing to do with Indians. It is difficult for Indians to even meet British people sitting in these high positions, let alone occupy these high positions.
"Yes!" His subordinates nodded and quickly retreated to convey the order.
Because of threats from Britain and Mexico, the French spent a lot of money to urge Prabhati to act faster.
Prabati was very happy about this. After all, it is only a matter of time for him to act early or act late, but if he can get more assistance from France for this, including waiving interest on his own loans, that would definitely be good news.
However, in line with the mentality of being a bastard but not taking advantage, Prabati still requested more weapons and equipment, including food and medical supplies.
Although India is an important food import region for the UK, this does not mean that ordinary Indians have enough food surplus in their homes.
In fact, in this era, most of the people who had enough to eat were the upper castes in India. As for the lowly lower castes, in addition to facing exploitation by the British, they were also exploited by the upper castes in the country.
Prabati asked for more food because he hoped to use food to attract more Indians to join his army.
After all, all the funds in his hands were used to purchase weapons, equipment and supplies, and there was not much money to pay salaries.
If you want to attract more Indians to participate in your actions, in addition to money, only food related to daily life can make Indians excited, and even abandon Gandhi's thoughts and join their own forces.
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