Iron Dynasty Chapter 978

London.

Come Monday, Murphy showed up at the Tulip Palace bright and early, ready to meet Queen Victoria. Different from before, his complexion looked somewhat ashen that day, and the palace maids could easily spot the intense concern etched in his eyes.

Moments later, the door of the Queen’s chamber eased open, and Victoria stepped out, glowing with her typical brilliance, right in front of Murphy.

Yet Murphy wasn’t in the right frame of mind to admire her today. He hurried over to Victoria and murmured something quietly.

Upon hearing those words, Victoria’s expression grew ashen, with every bit of color vanishing from her pale complexion.

“Your Majesty, the Conservatives are using the failure of the combined fleet to attack our foreign policy, and their voices have gained the support of many moderate members of parliament. We are in trouble this time,” Murphy expressed, his voice heavy with worry.

Right now, the Liberal Party held just a narrow edge over the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, and this disaster was all the Conservatives needed to flip the situation. Should that occur, the Queen’s authority would face curbs from the Conservative Party—precisely the outcome Victoria dreaded most.

“How could the combined fleet lose so badly? This is simply unbelievable.” Victoria’s frustration boiled over. As she uttered those words, she and Murphy made their way outside.

Once inside the carriage, she and Murphy sped off to the parliament building. Already, the chamber buzzed with assembled members, underscoring the massive fallout from this defeat.

This stemmed from the fact that, over the past decades, they had never endured a loss so devastating.

“Your Majesty the Queen, just three hours ago, two almost-broken warships arrived in London. It can be confirmed that these two warships belong to the East India Company. The pitiful soldiers on the warships recounted the failure they suffered in the Great Yu Empire. As was the reason we opposed this plan in the first place, we have now lost most of our naval power in Asia, and we have also provoked a powerful enemy .” A gray-haired, skinny parliamentarian in a gray waistcoat, who was the leader of the Conservative Party, Nick Timothy, stood up from the Conservative Party’s seats just as Victoria sat down.

As Victoria entered, her gaze locked onto a cluster of naval soldiers positioned in the parliament’s center. Clad in tattered uniforms and gaunt as skeletons, these soldiers bore clear signs of the hardships they’d faced sailing back to Britain from the Great Yu Empire.

“Earl Nick, first of all, I feel very sad for what these naval soldiers have gone through, but I do not think the original decision was wrong. Everything I did was for the benefit of the British Empire. Only by destroying the Great Yu Empire’s soldiers can we have more time to realize the technologies we have obtained one by one. As you said, the Great Yu Empire is a powerful enemy, and for now, they are only in Asia. When their tentacles reach North America, South America, Africa, and even Europe, it will be too late for us to restrain them.” Victoria met Nick’s eyes steadily, refusing to yield.

“Shhh…”

Victoria’s words had barely faded when jeers erupted from the Conservative Party’s benches. Ever since the “Bill of Rights” took effect, the Queen in Britain held a ceremonial role without true governance, with actual authority resting in the House of Commons.

That said, Victoria had astutely leveraged her sway to align with the Liberal Party’s prime minister, thereby amplifying the Queen’s clout and giving the impression she’d reclaimed Britain’s reins.

In truth, from Nick’s perspective, it was merely the Liberal Party borrowing the Queen’s prestige while she tapped into their might—a partnership that didn’t truly intimidate them.

“Your Majesty the Queen, look at these poor soldiers. These two warships originally had more than a thousand soldiers, but after returning to Britain, there are only more than a hundred left. Most of them starved to death at sea or died from illness. This is the price of fighting in the distant East, and most importantly, your decision did not protect Britain’s interests. Next, we may have to face the Great Yu Empire’s retaliation. India, Australia, these are our important colonies, and they may be lost as a result .” Nick stated evenly.

Victoria pressed a hand to her forehead, gripped by a throbbing headache. She had never encountered such a blow during her reign. Just as she prepared to respond, another figure rose—her uncle, the Duke of Paston.

He cut off Victoria’s rebuttal and declared, “Your Majesty the Queen, now we must improve our relationship with the Great Yu Empire to avoid losing more, otherwise the Liberal Party will lose the support of many nobles. These nobles have a lot of interests in India. You don’t want to see the Liberal Party being driven out of power, do you?”.

“That’s right, Your Majesty, it is very unwise to continue to provoke a war, especially in such a distant place. Since the combined fleet has failed, we must change our strategy,” Murphy added in agreement.

From the moment she’d learned the news, Victoria had felt a surge of unease. Against Nick’s accusations, she’d only been justifying her error.

With Paston and Murphy weighing in like that, enlightenment struck her. Persisting in clashing with Nick would only weaken their position further. Appeasing the nobles was key to gaining breathing room, yet she needed to propose a solid plan now to demonstrate that she, the Queen, could steer Britain through this crisis.

Regaining her composure, she rose and announced, “I feel very sorry for the failure of the combined fleet, but this also allows us to see the true strength of the Great Yu Empire, which prevents us from making bigger misjudgments in the future. Therefore, through this matter, we should adjust our relationship with the Great Yu Empire. We should now send a delegation to the Great Yu Empire to ease the relationship.”.

Pausing briefly, she went on, “At the same time, we must invest more manpower and financial resources to accelerate the research of new technologies so that we can defeat the Great Yu Empire’s army in the next war. Moreover, we must also support the Great Yu Empire’s enemies. I suggest selling steam engine technology to Tsarist Russia and helping Tsarist Russia popularize steam engine factories. They will effectively contain the Great Yu Empire’s military strength.”.

Following Victoria’s address, the Conservative Party members held back from mocking her. Their earlier jeers had simply vented frustration at the Queen’s evasions. Deep down, amid Britain’s reversal, they too yearned for Victoria to deliver viable solutions.

Noting the positive reception to her words, Victoria pressed ahead, “Ideas are sometimes more effective than weapons. The Great Yu Empire is still an imperial power state, and we are moving from imperial power to popular election. It is often easier to make an empire collapse from within than to destroy it from without. On this point, our parliamentarian Cao Kun knows better than we do.”.

During her speech, Victoria glanced toward the Liberal Party’s corner seats, where Cao Kun and his son Cao Zheng-tong occupied the spots.