Chapter 677: Stopping the Expansion of Ming Dynasty (First Update, Please Subscribe)
It was of course Sassoon's right to appeal.
As a country ruled by law, the Ming Dynasty will certainly guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of every criminal suspect.
But everyone knows what the final result will be. It will definitely uphold the original verdict. After all, the law is the law. The law is absolutely impersonal.
Besides, sometimes the law needs to be based on politics, just as Sassoon said.
The Ming Dynasty needs to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys.
If the chicken is not killed, the monkeys will never obey. Therefore, for the daimyo, killing the chicken is necessary to scare the monkeys.
Although Sassoon was arrested in the British Concession in Haizhou and brought to the Ming Dynasty, and the British reaction was extremely angry, so what?
Although at the request of Edward Sassoon, the Rothschild family also tried to put pressure on the Ming Dynasty through their official connections, it did not have any effect.
It was their attempts and efforts that ultimately contributed to Jacob Sassoon's death. As Jacob Sassoon said before - they were killing the chicken to scare the monkey.
After finally catching a big sand grouse, of course we have to kill it and warn the world. Otherwise, wouldn't we miss such a perfect opportunity?
Thus, Sassoon's fate was sealed from the beginning. His head was to serve as an example to others, whether he wanted to or not.
After all, it was Britain, so no matter how angry they were, it would be useless. To a certain extent, the British anger was just symbolic, after all, Sassoon was just a British Indian, not an Englishman at all.
But one thing is certain: the trial of Sassoon terrified the opium dealers from India to Hong Kong, and from Hong Kong to Haizhou. They almost immediately warned everyone not to sell opium like the Ming Dynasty.
Otherwise the price would be too heavy for them to bear.
Sometimes people are always like this. Only when the knife is at their neck and there is no chance of survival, will they feel afraid.
For a long time afterwards, the Ming Dynasty and its overseas territories were forbidden areas for opium traders. They were all well aware of the cost of selling opium to the Ming Dynasty. This also allowed the Ming Dynasty to become a pure land while opium was rampant in the Chinese homeland.
However, the "Sassoon case" still caused a political turmoil in Britain. Although he was a British Indian, he was arrested in the British concession, which directly led to the British people believing that this was a violation of British dignity by the Ming Dynasty. The relationship between Ming and Britain became further tense.
"We must show our attitude to the world!"
At the Prime Minister's official residence at 11 Downing Street, Benjamin, the Prime Minister of the British Empire, almost roared after learning that Sassoon was sentenced to death.
"The Ming people are challenging our bottom line again and again. They are not challenging us, they are testing us. They are testing where our bottom line is!"
Benjamin, who just became prime minister again in February this year, has repeatedly attacked William Ewart Gladstone's Liberal Cabinet for its lack of vision and disregard for the interests of the empire in the past few years.
"All of this was caused by the Liberal Party Cabinet. We kept silent when they annexed Argentina. We also kept silent when they teamed up with Brazil to divide up Uruguay and Paraguay. It seems that for Britain, South America is too far away from Europe. It is our silence that has led to the continuous expansion of the Ming Dynasty's desire for expansion. Now they have even begun to challenge Britain! Damn it, God can testify that I must cut off their claws completely!"
After becoming Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli made it his mission to actively expand abroad and establish a powerful British colonial empire that dominated the world.
For this typical imperialist who tried to build the glory of the British Empire, the expansion of the Ming Dynasty had seriously damaged Britain's interests, and the trial of Sassoon was more like a loud slap in the face, making him feel loud slapping sounds.
"This is simply the biggest diplomatic failure in British history!"
Foreign Secretary Lord Derby said bluntly.
“Many observers thought that if Britain could not protect a British Indian, how could it possibly protect the interests of the British?”
India in 1874 was just India. Even the Queen of England had not yet worn the crown of the Indian Emperor. In another world, two years later in 1876, at the suggestion of Disraeli, Parliament passed a resolution to confer the title of "Empress of India" on Queen Victoria. A grand coronation ceremony was held in Delhi, the capital of India, on New Year's Day 1877. Victoria's dream of becoming the Queen for many years finally came true.
Therefore, the name "British Empire", which was originally only used verbally, became one of the official names of the United Kingdom and appeared in official documents.
It is for this reason that, strictly speaking, British India was just a colony, and Sassoon was just an "Indian".
"Everyone is angry, but we must realize that he is just an Indian. The reason why people are angry is not because we can't save him. After all, no one in London cares about the life or death of an Indian. But what they care about is that the Ming Dynasty rejected us. Not only did they refuse to release Sassoon, they also sentenced him to death! Even the damn guy was arrested in the British Concession!"
Even when he mentioned this matter now, Benjamin's tone was full of anger.
But what's the point of being full of anger?
He could not send a fleet to the Ming Dynasty just because of an Indian. If a conflict occurred, he would have no way to explain to the parliament why a war should be started because of an Indian.
No one in Britain cares about the life or death of an Indian, even if he is a Jew.
But this does not mean that everyone does not care about the face of the British Empire, like what is the reason for their anger now?
Isn’t it because the Ming Dynasty has no face to lose?
"If he were English, we would spare no expense, but he is Indian..."
Benjamin said helplessly.
"We can't start a war for an Indian. No country would do that. Even this incident makes all of us feel unprecedented anger."
Benjamin was also helpless. This time, the Ming Empire put Britain in an extremely embarrassing situation - they could neither ignore it nor threaten war with a tough attitude.
Because no British person would go to war for an Indian!
But this did not prevent them from feeling that Britain had lost face. The British Empire was thus humiliated by the Ming Dynasty.
How could Benjamin, as Prime Minister, not be angry?
"Mr. Prime Minister, it is just as you said before. We must express our attitude in some way to cut off the claws of the Ming Dynasty that are eager to reach out to all parties."
Foreign Secretary Lord Derby had certainly noticed where the Ming had extended its hand over the past few years, so he immediately spoke up.
"We have reason to believe that in the 'Quadruple Alliance', they may have reached some secret agreement with the Russians regarding Japan. They have been sending troops to Ryukyu since the beginning of the year, and Russia's ambitions for Japan are well known. We must prevent their expansion in East Asia, which may affect our interests in Qing."
A secret treaty caused the British to have all kinds of doubts. They didn't know the specific content of the treaty at all, nor did they know who the treaty was aimed at. They must have guessed that it had a lot to do with Turkey, but they could not deny that they would reach some consensus elsewhere.
Faced with the Foreign Secretary's suggestion, Benjamin pondered for a moment and then spoke.
"Japan, what is your suggestion about Japan?"
In response to the Prime Minister's inquiry, Lord Derby gave a straightforward answer.
"If we allow the Ming Dynasty to extend its hand to Japan, then they will inevitably affect our sphere of influence in the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, they must have ambitions for the Qing Dynasty. Our task now is to completely cut off their ambition to expand into Japan."
To Lord Derby's reply, Benjamin nodded in agreement, and then he said.
"In that case, let's make a plan. We must stop their further expansion there. We failed to stop them last time in America, but now - we must stop their ambition to expand together with Russia!"
(End of this chapter)
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