Iron Dynasty

Chapter 1130

Walking on the King-Class ironclad warship, Victoria was filled with a sense of awe by the hurried glance she had caught yesterday of these steel warships.

Now that she was personally on the warship, she could more clearly feel the formidable combat power of these ironclads.

“No wonder our Great Britain’s fleet suffered a series of devastating defeats in Asia. If we had warships like these, we could also sweep the seas.”

Victoria sighed as she said this to Prime Minister Murphy.

“That’s why, Your Majesty, the Chinese Empire is so formidable. The fact that they can build these steel warships is enough to show their powerful industrial capacity.” Murphy sighed, shaking his head.

Victoria said with worry, “If that’s the case, we must be even more united in improving Britain’s industrial capacity.”

As she spoke, the two of them walked toward the gigantic cannons on the ironclad. However, when they tried to get a closer look, they were stopped by the soldiers.

Yue Yun explained, “My apologies, Your Majesty the Queen, some parts of the ironclads are state secrets of the Empire and cannot be shown to outsiders.”

Victoria and Murphy exchanged glances, both feeling a little disappointed. They then walked around the warship and stopped, as there were very few places they could observe closely.

Murphy then looked at Butler in the crowd.

Butler understood. He turned to the protesting crowd and discreetly made a coughing gesture.

At that moment, the previously noisy protesting crowd suddenly became agitated. They charged at the protective circle formed by the imperial soldiers, shouting slogans.

Yue Yun and Liu Chen frowned at the sight of this. They had no idea what these British people were up to.

When everyone’s attention was diverted to the protesters, the crowd suddenly began pushing and shoving frantically. It became very difficult for the imperial soldiers to maintain order.

Just then, a crisp gunshot rang out, and the entire port fell into a dead silence.

Hearing the gunshot, Yue Yun’s expression changed dramatically, because it was clearly the sound of a Han-style rifle.

Before he could react, the protesting crowd immediately became agitated. The protesters shouted slogans like, “Someone’s been killed!” and “Drive out the invaders!” as they frantically charged at the imperial soldiers.

Seeing the situation become urgent, the imperial soldiers all aimed their guns at the protesting British.

“General Yue Yun, you are truly rude! How dare you kill people on our British soil! You must pay the price for your foolish actions!” Victoria said in a furious tone.

Yue Yun knew that this was a British conspiracy, but his soldiers had indeed fired a shot. He said, “Your Majesty the Queen, the truth of the matter needs to be investigated. If it is the imperial soldiers’ fault, we will surely punish them according to military law, but right now, no one knows what happened.”

“Is it not clear what happened? You shot a British civilian, General Yue Yun. You will ignite the wrath of the British people.” Murphy’s gentle demeanor changed, and he looked like a snarling beast.

Liu Chen could no longer stand it. He shouted loudly, “General, why are you wasting your breath on them? We’ve been tricked! They are clearly trying to frame us, fight our way out, and take them on.”

Hu Chuan naturally did not translate Liu Chen’s words. Yue Yun frowned tightly. It seemed that the British clearly wanted to use this incident to escalate the situation.

But they were now facing a very real problem. Without supplies for the warships, they would have no way to return to the Empire.

Moreover, it would take time for the steel warships to start. If they were to act recklessly, they would not be guaranteed a victory, because he saw a dense crowd of Redcoats pouring in from all directions.

On the road of the port, the British had aimed their field cannons at the warships docked in the harbor.

“General Yue Yun, you must cooperate with our investigation. As long as the investigation is clear, we will allow you to leave.” Victoria glanced at the assembled British soldiers, a triumphant smile on her face.

This was the scheme she had meticulously designed. It did not matter whether the imperial soldiers fired on their own accord or whether a protester ran into the line of fire.

Now they had a reason to temporarily detain the Empire’s warships and soldiers. During the investigation, they could openly study the Empire’s warships and firearms.

At the same time, her action of detaining the imperial soldiers would establish a tough image for herself in Britain, and the death of the protester would make the British people more united.

Most importantly, her reason was righteous and honorable, and the Eastern Empire had no way of refuting it.

“Your Majesty the Queen, you must understand the consequences of doing this. Our Emperor is not a person with a good temper. Even if your conspiracy is flawless, it could still bring you trouble.” Yue Yun warned.

“I am, of course, aware of that. But if you are so rude, you will also let all of Europe see your true colors.” Victoria said calmly. “From now on, they will firmly stand on Britain’s side.”

“Alright, we’ll see.” Yue Yun said in a cold voice.

Victoria chuckled softly. She said, “My apologies. Please have all your soldiers hand over their weapons and follow our soldiers to the military camp to wait for now.”

Yue Yun, suppressing his anger, stopped Liu Chen, who was about to draw his gun, and ordered his soldiers to comply with the British’s arrangements.

Although he wanted to kill all of these British, they could not defeat all the British soldiers. The ultimate outcome would be for all of them to die, and for their warships and weapons to become the British’s spoils of war.

“This is too much! This is too much!” Hu Chuan’s chest heaved violently at the sight of the imperial soldiers being so humiliated.

Kang Ming then said, “We demand to be part of the investigation. You must give us a result as soon as possible.”

“That is, of course, not a problem.” Murphy walked past the two of them with a smile on his face.

The imperial soldiers, one by one, got off the warships upon receiving Yue Yun’s order. When all the soldiers on the forty-two warships were taken to the military camp, Victoria said to Codian, “We can only buy you half a month at most. In this half a month, you can study these steel warships and their weapons at will. To achieve this goal, we have taken a huge risk. I hope you will not disappoint us.”

Codian said, “Your Majesty, I have already gathered the most excellent scientists in Britain. We will do our best.”

“I hope so.” Victoria touched the giant cannon on the imperial warship and sighed. “It is truly magnificent. It’s a shame that it is not ours.”

“It would be very simple to make them ours.” Butler said in a sinister tone.

Victoria understood what Butler meant. She said, “Now is not the time to openly break with the Eastern Empire.”

“Then when will it be? They are already trying to divide Britain, and this is bound to happen sooner or later.” Butler said urgently.

“We will drag it out for as long as we can.” Victoria said. She had her own plan.