I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1421 Veteran Player of Indian Games

Lord Hawkesburg bowed solemnly and said, "Indeed, something serious has happened, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

Little Pete frowned slightly and gestured for him to come into the office: "Please sit down and let's talk."

"A civil war has broken out in the Maratha Union," the Foreign Minister said anxiously. "Latraocindia, in the name of Peshva, has sent troops to sack the city of Indore."

In mid-July, Yeshwantholkar assembled his army and declared war on Cindia.

"Currently, more than 8 troops from both sides are engaged in fierce fighting in southern Ujain. King Bajirao II has requested reinforcements from other states of Maratha to aid Sindia..."

Pete quickly made a pause gesture, then signaled his secretary to bring a notebook from the bookshelf, which he then carefully flipped through.

That's not entirely his fault. There are dozens of different factions in India, with very strange names, and even the Governor-General of India can't remember them all.

After a short while, with the help of Lord Hawkesburg, he finally got a general idea of ​​the situation within the Maratha Alliance.

The Maratha Union is the most important state in southwestern India, composed of five major powers, and its ruler is known as the Pishwa. The current Pishwa is Bajirao II, a weak and incompetent ruler.

The Cindia, one of the two strongest military powers in the alliance, seized control of the capital, Hidal, three or four years ago. Since then, Bajirao II has become a puppet of the Cindia family.

Afterwards, Cindia attempted to gain complete control over the other three major families in the name of the Peshwa. This provoked strong opposition from Holkar, another powerful military family in the alliance.

Therefore, Cindia sent troops to launch a surprise attack on Indore, the core city of Holkar.

Holkar then rallied his troops and launched a counterattack, pushing the front line back to the vicinity of Ujain, the core city of Cindia.

Little Pete suddenly lost his previous ease and confidence.

The Maratha Alliance was Britain's most powerful ally in India, and they would provide more than 70% of the British forces in the war with Mysore.

At present, Mysore's army is preparing to launch a fierce attack on British-controlled territory, while the Maratha Alliance has begun to fight among itself.

This would instantly reduce the number of troops Britain could mobilize by more than half.

He looked at the Foreign Secretary and asked, "Has the East India Company attempted mediation?"

“We tried. King Bajirao II agreed to all our demands, but Cindia and the Holkar family simply wouldn’t listen.”

Lord Hawkesburg took a report from his pocket: "This is Lord Barlow's report."

"The East India Company demanded that Parliament send at least 9 additional expeditionary troops and provide £80 in aid in order to possibly defeat the Mysores."

George Barlow is the current Governor-General of India.

Pete's face began to turn pale.

He did have 9,000 soldiers—the British army that had just withdrawn from Porto numbered over 20,000, but moving these troops to India, thousands of nautical miles away, would cost £60,000 to £70,000 just to assemble the necessary transport ships.

Then there are weapons, logistics, compensation, and so on; it would take hundreds of thousands of pounds to stop them.

In addition, there was the £80 allocated to the East India Company...

He took a deep breath, his eyes involuntarily glancing at the drawer of his desk.

There were also more than a dozen applications piled up there, including from important research and development institutions such as the Fuel Committee, the Steam Engine Company, and the Railway Association, all eagerly awaiting funding.

Of course, the biggest money-guzzler was the Admiralty. To reclaim the Mediterranean, the annual shipbuilding budget of over £110 million was non-negotiable. This didn't include the substantial costs of supporting equipment and crew training… Meanwhile, the Treasury's money was being poured into sugar and grain subsidies, forcing Parliament to approve one proposal after another to increase the money supply in order to cope with various fixed expenses.

Now, millions of pounds of paper money are being issued almost every two months.

Little Pitt knew that if things continued this way, Britain's economy would collapse sooner or later, but in order to blockade French ports in the Mediterranean, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and persevere—this was the only hope for restoring the balance of power in Europe.

He frowned in thought. If he were to allocate more than £150 million to the East India Company now, he would have to get Parliament to approve a share issuance plan of at least £1 million.

However, at the beginning of the month, Parliament was still arguing fiercely over the previous £65 additional issuance proposal. If another issuance is proposed, the Whigs will definitely take the opportunity to cause him trouble.

Or, how about issuing a batch of government bonds?
He immediately shook his head. The interest rate on the 800,000 yuan worth of government bonds issued at the beginning of the year had already exceeded 10%, but it still took a full four months to sell them all.

He stood up irritably, thinking to himself: Damn Marata Alliance, after we defeat Mysore, I will definitely punish these guys severely!
Wait a minute. He suddenly remembered something.

Since the Marata Alliance will definitely be punished, why wait until later?

They caused this mess, so they must bear the consequences.

That's right, that will solve all the problems!
Little Pete quickly made a plan, then slowly sat back down in his chair and looked at the Foreign Secretary, saying, "Perhaps we can do it without spending a penny."

“No, no, the Mysores recently received a batch of weapons, presumably from France. If Lord Barlow cannot get reinforcements, he may very well be…”

"What if we join forces with Mysore?"

"Join forces? With Mysore? What are you talking about? They could never agree to that!"

“That depends on what we can offer,” Pete said with a smile. “For example, giving them the banks of the Raichur River and the Desh area.”

Lord Hawkesburg was stunned. The Prime Minister was referring to the southern region of the Maratha Union.

"You, you want to..."

Little Pitter nodded: "The Marathas are at their weakest point because of internal strife."

"If we and Mysore attack Marata at the same time, they will surely collapse quickly."

“But this would cause us to lose India’s most important vassal.”

"What does it matter? We can directly control the lands of Maratha, and the princes there will work even harder to provide our staffs and collect more taxes. As for vassals, why can't Mysore become our vassal?"

Lord Hawkesburg hesitated, "What if Tip refuses?"

“Then give him Bijapur and Gulboga as well, until he can’t refuse.”

The places he mentioned could instantly expand Mysore's territory by nearly 50%, which would be tempting to anyone.

The Foreign Secretary raised another concern: "Won't this make Mysore too powerful, to the point of being uncontrollable?"

“The southern part of Maratha is relatively stable. Tell Tip that if he wants more land, he should go and fight for it himself,” Pete said. “We can enter the battlefield a little later.”

Cindia and Holkar are both located in the northern part of the Maratha Union, closer to British-controlled territory. Mysore, on the other hand, is to the south of the Maratha.

(End of this chapter)