Seven Seas Beacon Fire

In the end, it remains to be seen whether the gains from Barat will offset the costs in Barat. After all, not all colonies in the world can make money indefinitely. Just look at the Letanians in this regard. Although Barat is a fertile land, the pressure from its northern neighbor is simply too great.

Therefore, the Victorian Empire now seems prepared to shift this cost by adopting a high-handed approach to grant the Baratians the independence they desire.

So, after Bharat gained independence, could the Victorians still profit from Bharat? As one of the world's most notorious troublemakers (scratch that)... a famous manipulator, the Victorian Empire was generally quite rational and astute in international politics, as long as it didn't involve the navy.

(Here I want to call out a fat guy for the stupid thing he did for a boat.)

“Of course I’ve heard about it. And it seems the Victorians are preparing to help the newly formed Bharat fully establish its own defense capabilities. They’re even planning to sell a large number of warships to Bharat at extremely favorable prices.” Li Che said with some emotion, “According to some sources, these warships may even include two Bavaria-class battleships from the Leitanian High Seas Fleet. These are among the best battleships in the world, even excluding our Longyuan. If all of this is true, the Bharat Navy is starting from a very high level.”

"Have the Victorians lost their minds? Why did they let Barat become independent and give the Barat people such good ships?" Zhu Miaoyun listened to the conversation between the father and son. At this moment, our princess's little head was full of questions. From Zhu Miaoyun's perspective, the Victorians' current actions were somewhat incomprehensible.

"Of course it's for us."

Li Renchi glanced at the former princess next to his son with a somewhat complicated look. She practically had "Crown Prince's Consort" written all over her head. To be honest, our Crown Prince really thought Zhu Miaoyun's mental state as a former princess was... a bit too carefree. Of course, that's a high-EQ way of putting it; a low-EQ way would be that this girl was a bit silly.

However, since it's their own pigs rooting up other people's cabbages, even if they don't quite understand why the cabbages are so happy to be rooted up, the pig farmer doesn't care since their own pigs are happy too.

"The Victorians made Barat independent to target us?" Zhu Miaoyun's mind still hadn't quite caught on. Mainly, as someone who had transmigrated, the mention of the Barat people's fighting strength...

I couldn't figure it out even after thinking about it for three days and three nights. How could someone have come up with the idea of ​​using Barat to counterbalance Dongda University?

"To be precise, the Victorians are deliberately adopting such a high-handed attitude, and even helping the Baratians build up their army and navy. All of this is aimed at us." Li Che patiently explained to Zhu Miaoyun, "Yunyun, you also know that the Baratians often have a mysterious self-confidence. Britain's colonization of the Baratians has integrated so many local tribes on this continent, giving them a Baratian Kingdom that is quite large in terms of both land area and population."

Building on this, the Victorians also left the Balatians with a relatively abundant transportation infrastructure and a certain level of industrial capacity compared to other Third World countries. Add to that a fleet that the Victorians provided to the Balatians after clearing out post-war surplus resources, and how do you think the Balatians viewed Britain? It's almost certain that the Balatians would maintain a very good relationship with Britain in the future, and the Victorians would almost certainly incite the Balatians' ambition to become the hegemon of South Asia and even the Balat Sea.

Li Che said, his left hand forming a palm and his right hand forming a fist, and they met together: "Balat will naturally run into us, and the Balat people will become a great help to restrain us for the Victoria people. Although there are certainly some insightful people in Balat who can see the clues, Eli and the others may not necessarily object even if they can see it. Secondly... they probably don't have any capital to object."

In reality, based on the limited intelligence available, the so-called independence of Bharat is not entirely autonomous. The newly formed Bharat is heavily dependent on Britain for its economy, industry, and even energy, especially its domestic energy supply. The entire Bharat subcontinent has virtually no large-scale coal mines worth mentioning; it can be said that Britain holds the energy lifeline for Bharat's future industrial development.

Zhu Miaoyun now understood somewhat: "So, in reality, Britain is just putting on a show to manipulate the Barat people?"

“PUA?” Li Renzhi was a little confused by this unexpected term. He could roughly understand what Zhu Miaoyun meant, but he didn’t know what PUA actually referred to.

Li Che gave Zhu Miaoyun a look, and Zhu Miaoyun, realizing she had said something wrong, quickly waved her hand: "I misspoke just now. What I meant was that although the Victorians made Barat independent, they still had a noose around the Barat people's necks."

"That's roughly the idea." Li Renzhi nodded: "The Victorians have already begun to plan for the future. Although the resources the Victorians will obtain from Barat after its independence will certainly not be as plentiful as before when Barat was treated as a colony and they plundered and exploited it, Barat's characteristics as a source of raw materials and a dumping ground for British products will not change in the next one or two decades. In the long run, this will only add a huge problem for us."

A country with a population of 2 million... Besides us, it's the country with the richest human resources in the world. If this country produces a few insightful individuals, by the middle to late 4,000st century, Bharat might become our biggest rival. These troublemakers are truly disgusting.

Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun could both understand Li Renzhi's concerns. From a normal perspective, the country of Bharat does indeed possess extraordinary development potential. As long as the country can become independent, it will have almost all the elements to become a major power that can influence the direction of the world situation.

However, for some reason, both Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun now have a feeling that "although this matter should indeed be quite urgent, there is just no sense of urgency."

After all... that's Barat. Many elites, including his own father, were largely misled by the upper echelons of Barat by the highly educated intellectuals and upper-class people cultivated by Britain.

The future of Bharat is not determined by people like Tagore or Gandhi, but by the lowest-ranking people, the untouchables.

Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun both knew very well that what Bharat lacked was far more than just independence. If the Bharat people had truly won a revolution through armed struggle against the Victorians, then perhaps the situation would be better. But this independence granted by the Victorians, coupled with Bharat's caste system... it was truly unimaginable how abstract the future of this country would be.

Li Che, in particular, was quite concerned about the possibility of a formidable adversary emerging in the Balat Sea in the future. However, Li Che could only express his regret and heartache for the Leitania-Bavarian-class battleships from the perspective of a military enthusiast.

What a fine ship! How did it end up in the hands of the Barat people?

Imagine the Balat in another timeline, those frigates that capsize while under repair in the docks; imagine how the Balat people could sink their own submarines; imagine their warships that could explode even in the toilets...

No, I can't think about this anymore, because if I do, I'll burst out laughing.

"Alright, these aren't things we need to worry about right now. These will probably be problems for you to solve later. The most important thing right now is the peace talks with the Federation. Your idea is really brilliant. By mixing in the Victorian public opinion and throwing mud at the Colombians, the Colombians must be suffering in silence right now."

Li Renzhi patted his son on the shoulder with some relief. Although the boy had never disappointed him before, the surprise he brought to himself and the country in the negotiations this time had indeed exceeded expectations.

Li Che smiled. There was no need to be overly modest in front of his father. He naturally accepted his father's affirmation and praise.

That's right, just like that, give it lots of praise!

"It's getting late, you should drive home as soon as possible."

"Father, why don't you go back and rest? You've been spending all your time in the palace dealing with government affairs lately. You should pay attention to balancing work and rest."

“Now is the crucial time. We’ve always gotten by this way, so it won’t make a difference if we wait a little longer.” Li Renzhi shook his head. “It will be better after the war ends. Then I’ll be able to go fishing when I have some free time. Since the war started, I haven’t even had the chance to go to the lake to cast my line.”

Just as Li Che was about to say something after hearing a fisherman's heartfelt sigh, someone suddenly jogged in, pushed open the door, and rushed in.

The guards around instinctively tried to stop the man, but after seeing who it was, the intelligence officers no longer had any intention of intervening.

Because this guy is Secretary Cheng, and everyone knows he's the Crown Prince's personal secretary. In ancient times, that would be equivalent to a retainer of the Crown Prince, so their relationship is naturally extraordinary. Generally speaking, these are the most reliable people in politics. (A bald guy: I think it depends on the situation. My secretary here isn't particularly reliable.)

"Xiao Cheng, what happened?"

Li Renchi asked.

"Breaking news just came back from North America." Secretary Cheng jogged up to Li Renzhi and Li Che, still slightly out of breath, and said, "Last night yesterday, federal time, a large-scale fire broke out in Frederick, Maryland."

"Why are you so anxious about the Colombian's fire?" Li Renzhi said with some dissatisfaction. In his opinion, Secretary Cheng was still a bit careless.

"Your Highness, the main problem is that the Fort Detrick biological laboratory was destroyed in this fire."

Li Che: ?

Zhu Miaoyun: ?

no????

How come there's actually a Fort Detrick biological laboratory in this day and age?!

Chapter 217 No, I was just making this up, why are you taking it seriously? (2)

As refugees from the 21st-century federal TikTok community flooded into Xiaohongshu, and ordinary people from Dongda and Xida engaged in enthusiastic and friendly exchanges online, a naive federal netizen asked a somewhat awkward question.

Why do people from Tokyo University like to offer others hot water so much?

In response to this sincere question from our federal friend, some enthusiastic netizens replied: "It might be a little embarrassing to say, but the reason we have the habit of drinking hot water is because you used biological weapons against us in the past."

This is America.

After returning to her residence and dismissing all other visitors, Zhu Miaoyun immediately spoke up, filled with great doubt: "This timing is not right, is it? I remember that the biological laboratory in Fort Detrick is in another world, so it shouldn't have been established at this time."

"From a timeline perspective, it does seem a bit off, but we can't simply compare our two worlds so crudely, given the many differences between them." Li Che felt that this outcome was indeed unexpected, yet also quite reasonable.

"In terms of organized and large-scale use of biological weapons for genocide, the Federation of Colombia may be the first country in the world to attempt such an act at the official level. I don't think it's surprising that a country like this has such a laboratory."

"Although I know that Colombians using smallpox against Indigenous people is despicable, I feel that such primitive methods and this organized research supported by modern technology are not the same thing..." Zhu Miaoyun shook her head. "And if we're going to go by that logic, the earliest country to use biological weapons should be the Mongol Empire, right? Using catapults to throw corpses into the city..."

“That’s true, but that doesn’t stop us from promoting it this way.” Li Che nodded. “Moreover, given the Colombians’ dark history in another world, I think we should have plenty of material to use if we dig deeper. Before this, we fell into a certain misconception, thinking that the current Federation was a bit too naive. Now it seems that a leopard can’t change its spots.”

"A leopard can't change its spots?"

"Yes, the Colombians dropped biological weapons in a village during World War II and then observed the experimental data on the people in those towns after they were infected by the biological weapons. Using their own people to conduct biological weapons experiments without their knowledge, they are a force to be reckoned with." Li Che rattled off the Federation's dark history, all of which he had found while surfing the internet and chatting with people in another world.

So sometimes you can't blame the federal public for being "anti-intellectual," and some federal citizens even refuse to get any vaccines. You laugh at these people for not understanding science, but these federal citizens laugh at you for not understanding the federal government.

Zhu Miaoyun had obviously never been exposed to these things before. While Li Che was engrossed in online arguments with people on her phone in another world, Zhu Miaoyun was often catching up on sleep. After all, as a girl, she didn't have much interest in engaging in online politics.

Zhu Miaoyun's previous negative impression of the Federation was largely based on the disgusting things Colombians did in the process of pursuing hegemony. The more she volunteered in UN agencies, the more she realized that many of the world's sufferings were deliberately caused by certain countries.

I never imagined that Colombians could still push the boundaries like this.

"Why do I feel like the Federation is almost sitting at the same table as the fascists in my mind now?"

"How do you think fascism grew in your world?" Li Che smiled and shook his head. "However, it's not very meaningful for us to discuss the Federation's dark history here. Most of this dark history is still in a state of not having happened for the current Federation. But from yesterday's strange fire, I think there are many things in the current Federation that are worth exploring."

At this point, a sense of frustration, like someone wanting to know more but unable to, appeared on Li Che's face, and he habitually started scratching his head. Clearly, the Colombians had already revealed just the tip of the iceberg of their dirty laundry, but the Tang Dynasty's intelligence network in North America... was simply too weak to effectively address their concerns.

"I don't think you need to rush." ​​As the girl who probably understands Li Che best in the world, Zhu Miaoyun could tell from his current expression that he was anxious: "Don't rush now. After all, rushing won't help. Didn't you say before that what we're doing with the Colombians isn't a 100-meter sprint, but a marathon? From now on, you have enough time to plan for the future. The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, and the second best time..."

“I know that right now.” Li Che nodded in agreement. “However, our negotiations with the Colombians are at a critical juncture right now, and I have a feeling that if we don’t make good use of this opportunity… we’ll be at a huge loss.”

"Isn't that simple?" Zhu Miaoyun said with a confident expression. "Just keep making things up, right? In another timeline, the Colombians have used this trick on us quite a few times. It's easy to spread rumors, but it's exhausting to refute them. It's time to let the federal government experience what it's like to refute rumors. Besides, I think if we can get it right once, maybe we can get it right a second or a third time?"

"That's right." Li Che's eyes lit up, and he excitedly picked up Zhu Miaoyun and spun her around the room several times. "This is like saying, 'If Kou can go, so can I!' Let's give the Colombians a taste of a boomerang from another world in advance! Haha!"

In the courtyard outside, the guards who had escorted the two back stood at a distance, watching the shadows of the two figures cast on the curtains by the lamplight. After a long while, one of them, filled with great curiosity, asked another guard, who was slightly older and had a beard, standing next to him: "What are His Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess doing?"

The middle-aged guard glanced at him: "What else could a lone man and woman be doing together?"

"But...we shouldn't turn off the lights, and then after getting into bed..."

"You don't know anything. Rich people sometimes enjoy this kind of fun. Just wait until you find a wife..."

Before the middle-aged man could finish speaking, he glanced at another room in the courtyard out of the corner of his eye, and swallowed the words that were already on the tip of his tongue. As a guard who had been by the Crown Prince's side for quite some time, he could certainly recognize that the woman who had come to the corridor in front of the side room in the courtyard at this moment and was standing there quietly watching the figure in the room was none other than the little princess of the Yingzhou Shogunate.

After watching quietly for a while, Tokugawa Akiko left as quietly as she had come into the courtyard. Only after the little princess of the Yingzhou Shogunate disappeared did the young man who had also witnessed everything sigh, "You know, this little princess of the Yingzhou Shogunate is really pitiful. She has been by our Crown Prince's side for so long, but she has never had a single day of being favored. She just met Princess Yongning, and she is overshadowed by Princess Yongning in both status and appearance... When she left just now, her back looked really pitiful."

"Who gives you the right to pity her?" The middle-aged man looked at the young man with disdain: "She is, after all, a princess of the Tokugawa Shogunate. She will be a concubine in the future. And you're pitying her?"

The young man shrank back: "You're comparing me, a grown man, to a woman. We may not be good enough now, but maybe in the future I can also achieve great things alongside His Majesty."

After the young man stubbornly tried to save face, he was somewhat surprised that the bearded man didn't mock him this time. Instead, he silently took out a cigarette from his pocket, smelled it, and put it back: "You've caught a lucky break. If a young man said something like that to me back in the Ming Dynasty, I would have spat on him. All the young men with such ideas became cannon fodder. But now that His Highness Prince Jin is the emperor, you might actually get what you want."

-------------------------------------

Listening to the sounds of protesters outside the White House, Wilson rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

Why do I keep running into all these unlucky things?

Moreover... President Wilson now feels that his subordinates are all pigs, especially the two officials who were ordered to "clean up the mess"—they really are two idiots, two idiots who could go to a museum!

Why don't you just have them clean up a lab, and secretly find some people to remove and destroy the sensitive materials inside?

I don't know if these two people have read too many novels, but they actually tried to imitate the plot of some novels and made a very flamboyant preparation to burn everything down. However, they didn't expect the fire to get out of control. The laboratory was indeed burned down, but it also burned down the surrounding residential houses.

Well, what was originally just a simple matter of taking out the trash at night turned into something quite different. This guy set off firecrackers while taking out the trash, instantly making his "trash bag" visible to the whole world.

Although there is no substantial evidence from the outside world right now, you can imagine how frustrating it is to have this matter taken place.

Of course, there are things that are even worse than that.

That is the various conspiracy theories that are becoming increasingly prevalent in the media. Although the federal government has increased its censorship of domestic newspapers, newspapers outside the federal government are obviously beyond its control. With so many civilian ships traveling back and forth across the Atlantic every day, news from other countries' newspapers can be quickly transmitted back to the federal government, sometimes even without waiting until the next day.

In this situation, federal domestic news censorship is like a sieve, seemingly comprehensive, but in fact full of loopholes.

If given the opportunity to be interviewed, President Wilson would have many things to explain, the first being to defend himself—that the super flu that is now infecting the expeditionary force on a large scale was not created by the Fort Detrick biological laboratory that was burned down.

At most, the Fort Detrick biological laboratory only managed to obtain some virus samples to take back for research after this super flu outbreak began.

But if the Fort Detrick biological laboratory is actually opened and inspected, in the eyes of outsiders, your laboratory has the same strain as the one on the front lines. Then you can still say that you did not develop this thing.

Add to that what those two idiots did today, and even if the government comes forward to clarify, it's doubtful many people will believe them now.

Wilson had actually learned from an expert that the characteristics of the biological weapons they were researching had absolutely no connection to the current pandemic.

What is the most terrifying thing about a super flu? Is it the mortality rate of the flu? Never. Even the Black Death and the plague in Europe in the past, there are many diseases in reality that are more terrible than those two, but those viruses never caused the same consequences as the Black Death.

Because diseases with high mortality rates are not conducive to transmission. Some viruses may not be very deadly in themselves, but their high transmissibility can allow them to quickly overwhelm medical resources in a short period of time. High transmissibility is the essence of a super infectious disease. On this basis, lethality cannot be too high, because if lethality is too high, then the virus will die before it can spread to other places. A typical example of this is Ebola.

This is actually contrary to the requirements of biological weapons. Biological weapons are designed to effectively kill people within their range. Although high infectivity is also a consideration, for biological weapons, even the transmission route is more important than lethality.

President Wilson really wanted to give those journalists a good crash course in this area, but the problem was... these things couldn't be made public.

So now, facing the large crowd outside the White House holding signs and chanting slogans, demanding to know the true situation on the front lines, Wilson was genuinely unsure how to deal with these people and give them an explanation...

Chapter 218 Pretending to be Loyal (1) The Infiltration of a Small Person

As Mason Bushnell watched the protesters outside the White House in the drizzling rain, he silently lit another cigarette.

The demonstrators were noisy, and their purposes for fighting the pandemic outside the White House varied. Most of them were family members of military personnel who had been suppressed previously.

Their protests had previously been silenced by a combination of coercion and deception. Now, they either realize that the government was merely stalling for time, or they are angry about the government's cover-up after learning the truth. In any case, they demand that the federal government rescue the expeditionary force officers and soldiers who are trapped in the encirclement and suffering from disease as soon as possible.

Besides these family members, those protesting together included university students, a veteran with a white beard and white hair, workers who came to show their support, and farmers from the surrounding countryside...

Their current demands are mostly focused on the officers and soldiers of the Federal Expeditionary Force, asking the government to find a way to rescue them; at least for now, they have not risen to the point of demanding an end to the war.

However, this is clearly not a good sign for the federal government, because if the federal government cannot address the demands of these people, given the current uproar in public opinion, people will likely start demanding an end to the war.

Feeling the nicotine seeping into his lungs, Bushnell felt more energized. He was employed by the U.S. Army Intelligence Service and had been working as an undercover officer to monitor the demonstrators and deal with any potential emergencies.

It can be said that the federal government is now at a critical juncture. If it cannot weather this crisis smoothly, President Wilson may tarnish his reputation in his later years.

"What are you thinking about now, Mason?" A greasy middle-aged man with a receding hairline, carrying a coffee, appeared beside him at some point. Bushnell knew this was his partner, Mark Crooks, who was also one of the many plainclothes officers outside the White House today. Despite his somewhat overweight middle-aged appearance and balding hair, this guy had one of the best marksmanship skills in the Army's intelligence processing department.

“According to the rules, now is not the time for us to chat.” Mason, after confirming that no one else was around, said expressionlessly, “Your surveillance point should be across the street.”

“There’s no coffee shop there,” Mark Crooks clicked his tongue. “You seem to be in a good mood.”

“Really?” Bushnell’s right eyelid twitched slightly, out of Mark’s sight. “What’s there to be happy about? These guys are not only causing trouble for the President, but they’re also forcing us to work overtime. I can’t be happy about our overtime pay, can I?”

“I was just saying it offhand because you seemed really relaxed.” Mark took a sip of his coffee. “I’ve been studying psychology with a teacher for the past two months. Sometimes people are actually very happy inside, and they might not even realize it themselves… For example, if you’ve won over a pretty girl, the next day when you go to work, you’ll unconsciously show that relaxed and happy side. You didn’t actually manage to hook up with a girl, did you?”

Mark's expression turned serious as he spoke. Although he and Bushnell had a good relationship, there was a saying: "I'm afraid my brother is suffering, but I'm also afraid my brother is driving a Land Rover."

Mark, who is now 38 and still unmarried, is a little jealous that his good friend found a partner before him.

After a moment of silence, Bushnell slowly curled his lips into a smile: "I didn't manage to pick up any girls, it was just a one-night stand last night."