I built an armada.

Chapter 972 The Great Powers' Desire to Destroy China Remains Undiminished, and the Scene Boils Over
Anthony ended the call and leaned back wearily in his chair.

A moment later, he waved to Richard: "Go and inform them... release them according to the original plan. Be polite."

“Yes, Prime Minister!” Richard bowed and quietly withdrew.

Only Anthony remained in the office.

Prime Minister Antony put down the encrypted telephone receiver, which still held the warmth of his palm. His knuckles, pale from being gripped for so long, trembled slightly.

Although the video conference was brief, the undercurrents and mutual probing during it consumed a great deal of his energy.

He knew perfectly well that the hasty G7 summit had only reached a fragile and suspicious consensus under the overwhelming threat of the Longxia Navy.

Self-preservation is the top priority in the hearts of every leader, and any so-called alliance promises seem pale and powerless in the face of an absolute power disparity.

He must immediately conduct a thorough clarification and set the tone within his own ranks, and guard against certain radical factions blinded by a sense of honor making a misjudgment that could drag Britain into the abyss.

He knew that although the hasty meeting had temporarily unified the pace of "letting things go," the mutual suspicion and self-preservation mentality had not been eliminated.

He must immediately conduct an internal clarification to prevent some radical misjudgment from leading to disastrous consequences.

Without a moment's hesitation, Anthony immediately gave orders to his secretary, his voice hoarse with urgency: "Immediately! Summon all core cabinet members, as well as the Secretary of Defense, the Chief of Naval Staff, and the First Sea Lord..."

"All high-ranking military officers who can arrive immediately, in ten minutes, in the underground emergency conference room! Top secret!"

The staff member immediately replied, "Yes, Prime Minister."

Ten minutes later, in an emergency meeting room deep underground on Downing Street, capable of withstanding heavy bunker buster attacks, the atmosphere was so tense it was almost palpable.

The heavy alloy door closed silently, completely isolating the outside world.

The oval conference table was filled with figures from the core of British power.

Several high-ranking military officers, dressed in crisp general uniforms, especially the naval commanders known for their toughness, had horribly gloomy faces. They pursed their lips tightly, their eyes filled with suppressed humiliation and anger, clearly feeling deeply ashamed of the Longxia naval fleet's "arrogant" behavior of running so close to the British territorial waters.

Anthony sat in the main seat, his hands resting flat on the cold table, his gaze sweeping over every face like a hawk's.

He didn't beat around the bush; he went straight to the point, his tone unusually serious and resolute, even carrying a hint of unquestionable sternness.

"Gentlemen, time is of the essence, so I will get to the point. Here, I must make one thing clear: this is also the supreme decision of the British tribe, which is beyond question and cannot be disobeyed!"

He paused deliberately, making sure every word struck the hearts of everyone present, "We, the British tribe, have no intention of, and absolutely will not allow—to repeat, absolutely will not—"

"Any individual, any department, or any military unit that takes any form of hostile action against the Longxia Naval Expeditionary Fleet, which is currently outside the borders of our country's territorial waters!"

"This includes, but is not limited to, provocative navigation, fire control radar lock-on, live-fire exercises as a deterrent, and even any military movement that could be misinterpreted by the other side as a prelude to an attack!"

He looked around at the crowd, his gaze lingering especially on the faces of the generals whose expressions were the most unpleasant: "I know that some people see this as cowardice, while others feel that they have been provoked and humiliated like never before!"

"As Prime Minister, I feel the same way! This feeling is absolutely terrible! The centuries-old glory of the Royal Navy seems to have been tarnished in this moment!"

His voice suddenly rose, carrying an almost cruel analytical quality: "But gentlemen! Please set aside your personal sense of honor and anger for now, and tell me with the reason you have for this country what the consequences of a direct confrontation would be?!"

Anthony slammed his fingers on the table. "Is it to lure those cruise missiles and even hypersonic weapons from Longxia, with ranges far exceeding our imagination and terrifying accuracy, to our London, Manchester, and Liverpool?"

"Are we to send our precious HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, and the brave officers and men who accompany it, to risk being sent to the bottom of the sea immediately by the enemy's mysterious and powerful 10,000-ton destroyers and their attack nuclear submarines hidden in the deep sea, to fight a 'battle of honor' with little chance of winning?!"

The meeting room was deathly silent, except for the echo of Anthony's excited voice.

"Look at the Eastern Wilderness Tribe! Their navy was once considered one of the strongest in the region, but what about now? Under Long Xia's merciless attack, they were almost completely wiped out!"

"What kind of pressure and isolation are they facing in their homeland right now? This is a lesson from the past! The Longxia people came here this time, ostensibly to receive people and conduct a friendly visit."

"If we take the initiative, even if it's just a minor skirmish, it will give them an absolute reason and excuse to take stronger and more thorough measures!"

"At that time, we will lose more than just face; we will lose real national security and economic interests, including financial market collapse, supply chain disruptions, and direct military threats to our homeland! Who will bear this responsibility?!"

This blunt, even somewhat cruel, analysis silenced the generals present who were still harboring resentment.

They may crave glory, but they cannot ignore the potentially devastating cost to the nation.

Seeing that a preliminary consensus had been reached internally, Antony held another emergency meeting with the other six heads of state. This time, he emphasized that "avoiding conflict is in the common interest" and that "any unilateral and irrational behavior will harm all parties."

After confirming that Britain had no intention of provoking any trouble, the leaders' last doubts were dispelled, and a fragile alliance of "joint response" was formed once again.

Soon, the seven countries reached an agreement.

A nationwide notice is issued, allowing all Longxia students, high-level talents, and other relevant personnel who wish to return to the Longxia tribe to leave the country, and prohibiting any obstruction.

However, with the compromise came hidden tricks.

In their internal directives, the seven nations unanimously added various "backup plans."

For example, restricting re-entry would create extremely high barriers for those who choose to return to their home country this time, making it much easier for them to apply to study, work, or settle there in the future, or even put them on an unwelcome list.

The honors and benefits will be revoked, the honorary titles and awards previously granted to the relevant talents will be stripped, and all preferential treatment such as research funding and special allowances will be cancelled.

For talents in key fields who are still hesitant, efforts should be intensified to retain them, offering more generous salaries, positions, and research conditions in an attempt to control the number of people returning to China, especially the rate of loss of top talents.

This is a strategy that combines both soft and hard tactics. It satisfies Longxia's requirement to "receive people" while avoiding direct conflict, and at the same time tries to minimize its own loss of talent and technology, while laying the groundwork for possible "retribution" in the future.

After reaching an agreement, Anthony summoned Richard and gave the order: "Rescind all overt surveillance and restrictions on all targeted personnel, and release the information through official channels."

"Inform those Longxia people who wish to return that they can take this opportunity to leave on a Longxia navy 'hitchhiking boat'. Let them proceed to the designated port to assemble."

He paused for a moment, then added, a cold glint in his eyes: “A necessary ‘reprimand’ and ‘explanation of the pros and cons’ are needed to make sure the relevant personnel… understand.” Richard understood immediately: “Understood, Mr. Prime Minister. We will make it clear to them what choosing to leave means.”

Just as Richard was about to leave to carry out the orders, he seemed to remember something and turned around to report another piece of intelligence: "Prime Minister, there is one more thing."

“We have observed a recent surge in the number of foreign delegations visiting the Longxia tribe.”

"Besides those oil-rich countries in the central region, their target is clearly the 'Fukuni' aircraft carrier that Longxia is about to auction. There are also many other countries that seem to have their eyes on the Type 052C guided-missile destroyers and their accompanying frigates that Longxia Navy is pre-selling."

"It seems that the military trade market in Longxia is extremely hot."

This news instantly made Anthony tense up again, even though he had just relaxed a little!

His complexion changed visibly.

Why are 052C sales remaining high?
This means that Longxia is rapidly expanding its military influence through military trade and earning huge amounts of foreign exchange to further support its naval development.

What worries him even more is that this will affect the market for "sellers" of Britain's own decommissioned warships!
Many small and medium-sized countries were originally potential buyers of Britain's retired warships, but now that they have access to newer, more advanced, and potentially more competitively priced warships from Longxia, who would still be interested in those old, secondhand vessels?

This directly impacted Britain's military trade revenue and supply chain.

And the potential buyers of the aircraft carrier "Fukuro"...

Regardless of which country acquires it, it will form a formidable naval force in the region, potentially posing a direct challenge to the Royal Navy's traditional influence in certain key sea areas!
Both the economy and the military have been subjected to real threats and impacts.

"Should we... consider increasing our orders for the 052C?"

An official from the finance department tentatively suggested, "This could both enhance our own naval strength and also serve as a kind of... indirect containment?"

Anthony was struggling internally.

From a purely military perspective, the introduction of several Type 052C destroyers could indeed rapidly enhance the Royal Navy's ability to respond to regional threats.

However, psychologically, it is difficult for him and many conservative forces in the country to accept that a traditionally powerful naval nation now has to rely heavily on ships from Eastern countries to maintain its image.

Moreover, large-scale procurement inevitably leads to dependence on others, and subsequent maintenance, upgrades, and ammunition supply will become dependent, resulting in huge strategic uncertainties.

After much deliberation, Anthony finally shook his head, his tone heavy: "This matter... will be put on hold for now. Our focus should be on gathering information and understanding its specific performance and trading conditions."

"We can discuss this further once the two Type 052C destroyers we ordered arrive and are fully evaluated and ready for combat operation."

He chose to be cautious and wait and see, but the helplessness and anxiety he felt were obvious.

Soon, the official news channel of the British Tribes and major mainstream media outlets released a seemingly generous but actually malicious announcement.

"At the request of the Longxia tribe and to facilitate the movement of people, all Longxia natives currently within our tribe's territory who wish to return to the Longxia tribe may gather at XX port within the designated time and board the Longxia naval visiting vessel to return. This is hereby announced."

The notice deliberately blurred the target audience, using the phrase "all people of Longxia origin" instead of specifically referring to "international students" or "highly skilled personnel".

This was an extremely insidious move—they wanted to see if the Longxia Navy would really, or rather, be able to, take away all the ordinary Longxia people who wanted to go back, including those who might just be working, traveling, or even settling down there long-term.

If Longxia only accepts elites and ignores ordinary people, it will undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to Longxia's "patriotism" propaganda in international public opinion and make him look bad.

Seeing this, the other six countries followed suit, and their official media and major newspapers published news with similar wording in a short period of time, ostensibly "advising all the Longxia people in the countries surrounding the European seas to go back."

In reality, they also wanted to see Long Xia make a fool of himself and tried to create trouble for Long Xia's logistics and acceptance capabilities.

This news spread like wildfire throughout the European maritime region, sparking explosive discussions online.

"All Longxia people can go back? Is this an attempt to expel them?"

"The Longxia Navy has come to pick them up? Really? What a huge entourage!"

"Haha, let's see how the Longxia people handle this. Are they going to take all their overseas citizens away? How many ships would that take?"

"This is a conspiracy by Western countries to embarrass us!"

In reality, the effects were immediate. After the news spread, countless Longxia people studying, working, and living in Europe began to take action with mixed feelings.

Some international students packed their bags without hesitation, eager to return home.

Some highly skilled individuals, after weighing the pros and cons and communicating with their families back home, also made up their minds to embark on their journey home.

Many ordinary workers, small vendors, and even tourists were also stirred up by this news, and with doubts, expectations, or herd mentality, they flocked to the designated port.

Meanwhile, a large number of local residents and media reporters who had come to watch the spectacle also flocked to the scene, eager to witness this "historic" moment.

Within just a few hours, several designated major entry and exit ports and port areas were already packed with people and bustling with noise.

A group of people with dark complexions dragged their suitcases, craning their necks in anticipation.

The local police officers maintaining order were drenched in sweat.

The media, with their long lenses and microphones, searched everywhere for the focus.

The crowd of onlookers discussed the matter animatedly, and the scene became somewhat chaotic at one point.

Just as the chaos and anticipation reached their peak, the outline of a majestic fleet gradually became clear on the distant horizon.

The silver-gray hull gleamed with a cold light in the sunlight, and the flag of the Longxia Navy fluttered in the sea breeze!
This also signifies that the Longxia Naval Expeditionary Fleet has officially arrived in Britain, the old stronghold of this long-established imperialist power!

(End of this chapter)