1890 King of Southeast Asia

"The Chinese organized airships to carry out air raids on Tokyo? So what?" Asquith asked nonchalantly and even a little irritated.

The first Gallipoli campaign failed, and the attempt to break through the Dardanelles also failed. The British and French coalition forces suffered more than 100,000 casualties, which represented the failure of the attempt to drive the Ottoman Empire out of the war and open up the Mediterranean-Black Sea lifeline.

This was not only a military and political failure of the British Empire, but also a strategic failure of the Allies.

The Russians have repeatedly put pressure on Britain and France to open up supply lines and provide Tsarist Russia with sufficient weapons, ammunition, food, medicine and other supplies.

The war lasted only more than a year. Tsarist Russia was the first to run out of supplies, and its bloated and corrupt imperial government could not fully utilize the capabilities of its incomplete industrial system.

Germany carried out many air raids on Britain, but did not cause much damage to Britain.

Instead, facing the British anti-aircraft firepower, aircraft and airships, the Germans paid a heavy price.

So Asquith didn't care about the Huaxia Empire bombing Tokyo. How much actual damage could a few bombs cause?

Indeed, in the cost comparison of aircraft, airships are more expensive. In a battle, even if an airship carries several tons of bombs, the damage caused is limited. Shooting down an airship will directly make money back.

Britain has developed armor-piercing incendiary bullets and equipped them with anti-aircraft machine guns. In the German bombing, Britain can be said to have not lost anything, and even made a small profit.

"According to reports from Tokyo, the bombing caused a fire that could not be extinguished with water, which in turn caused a fire that spread throughout Tokyo."

"According to reports, according to incomplete statistics, at least 50,000 Japanese died in the fire caused by the air raid, more than 100,000 were injured, tens of thousands of houses were burned, and direct losses amounted to hundreds of millions of pounds."

"Including the Japanese emperor's palace, most buildings within a three-kilometer radius of Tokyo's core circle were destroyed, and government departments lost their offices and all stored documents."

"It is said that Tokyo is in a state of anarchy and chaos, and the Japanese emperor has ordered the army to come out to maintain order." The secretary read the losses to him directly.

Asquith was stunned, looked at the secretary, reached out, took the telegram, and wanted to see if it was true.

He felt very demonic, after all, the Germans had bombed before, and had caused fires, but the losses were very small.

For example, a few days ago, the Germans organized more than 20 airships to bomb, dropping dozens of tons of bombs, killing more than 60 civilians and injuring more than 1,300 people.

(The British anti-aircraft firepower forced the German airships to bomb at high altitudes. Before high-altitude bombing matured, this tactic was extremely inefficient, not to mention at night.)

As a price, the Germans left three airships. Although Asquith felt pain for the dead, he still admitted in his heart that this exchange was better than the British.

"A fire that cannot be extinguished by water? Is it gasoline?" Asquith immediately noticed the key words, water cannot extinguish.

This thing is not a high-tech thing for Britain and France. Semi-solid gasoline has already appeared, but it is not very stable and the cost is high.

Flame throwers also appeared, mainly using gasoline as fuel, used to clean trenches and caves. Asquith heard from the generals that the effect is very good.

Gasoline also meets the characteristics of being unable to be extinguished by water.

"Gasoline... notify all cities to build firebreaks, be careful of fires, and stockpile fire-fighting equipment such as sand. Sand can extinguish fires caused by gasoline."

"Let the technical research department study a device that can quickly extinguish fires caused by gasoline or alcohol to prevent the Germans from launching air raids on London or other cities."

Asquith immediately thought, will the Germans know the news? Will the Germans use this trick?

If you think of it, you must take precautions. As for the feasibility of the Germans using this trick? As long as it is possible, he must prevent it.

"Yes, Prime Minister, Prime Minister, do you need to remind the generals and French on the front line? And the Russians." The secretary asked before leaving.

"Yes, there was a fire there not long ago. Remind them that they must guard against the Germans using this trick."

"In addition, let the commander of the airship unit demonstrate the feasibility of this trick in Germany. Can we speed up the war by setting Berlin on fire?"

Asquith immediately thought of Napoleon's burning of the city and said immediately.

The Russian Empire is already very fragile now. If there is another fire, Asquith is afraid that the Tsar will really have to stop the war and fight for internal affairs.

Without the containment of the Eastern Front, the millions of troops on the Eastern Front of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire will be free, and Britain has no way to deal with it.

"Prime Minister, Sir Hake is waiting in the lounge." The secretary just went out and came back immediately.

"Please let him in." Asquith nodded.

"Prime Minister, have you heard about the fire in Japan?" Hake asked hurriedly as soon as he entered the door.

"I heard that the situation is very bad. I have ordered local cities to establish isolation belts and prepare fire-fighting equipment such as sand and soil. In addition, I have asked the technical department to develop fire-fighting tools." Asquith replied.

"Prime Minister, this fire reminds me of some bad things." Hake looked serious and stared at Asquith.

"What?" Asquith asked curiously.

"Napoleon!" Hake said.

"I know, I've thought of that, and I've sent someone to inform our allies." Asquith breathed a sigh of relief and said.

"No, that's not enough." Huck also breathed a sigh of relief, and then said.

"What do you think?" Asquith asked.

"The situation in the Russian Empire is very chaotic, and we must be prepared for them to withdraw from the war at any time." Huck said bluntly.

Asquith sighed, and visibly wilted.

Britain and France knew that the situation in the Russian Empire was not good, with a huge loss of supplies, and the only supplies had to be supplied to the war, and food was scarce. If nothing unexpected happened, there would be famine by the end of this year.

This was the driving force behind Britain and France launching the Dardanelles Campaign, and it was also the reason why Tsarist Russia could control Constantinople without protesting when Britain and France might.

After all, the Slavs are not the Japanese, so tolerant, so... enslaved.

"So, Prime Minister, we should try to win over some allies as alternatives!" Huck rested his hands on the table and looked at Asquith with a sharp look in his eyes.

"Ally? Are you talking about the Huaxia Empire?" Asquith frowned.

"Not only that, there is also the Kingdom of Italy. All they need is benefits. We can promise them the benefits of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire." Huck smiled.

Asquith was stunned, then his mouth curled up slightly, and he nodded with a smile.

"Then go and try it. The Kingdom of Italy has not joined the war yet. There should be a reason to give them an offer that cannot be refused."

"If the negotiations are difficult, you can appropriately add some of the interests of the Mediterranean. Except for the canal and the strait area, everything else can be discussed!"

Asquith gave the bottom line of the offer very generously, although what was reported was the interests of France.

After all, Mediterranean hegemony is what France pursues, and the role of the British Mediterranean Fleet is to maintain colonies and block the Mediterranean outlets.

This is clearly stated in the sincere agreement.

As for whether it would be bad for Britain to exchange France's interests for the Kingdom of Italy's efforts? It can only be said that the British have always been like this.

"By the way, the Japanese emperor is alive, right?" Asquith shouted to Hack who was about to leave.

"No, he left as soon as the air raid started." Hack said with some doubt and sarcasm.

"Then let the ambassador tell the emperor that ending the war as soon as possible is the best option. They have lost the capital to continue fighting."

"Also, tell the Chinese about this matter. We can't just win over the Italians. The Chinese have been entrenched in the Arabian Peninsula for so long, we should find something for them to do."

Asquith wanted to drag the Chinese into the water.

At present, France's military strength is close to the limit, and Britain has also maintained a large army. It will not be able to provide enough officers if it continues to sign.

Therefore, the British have set their sights on China's huge manpower, which is even larger than that of Tsarist Russia.

In addition to the locational advantage of Britain and France in winning over Tsarist Russia, the huge population of the Tsar can bring huge pressure to Germany and Austria.

At present, the Tsar may be unusable, so naturally we have to find a replacement, and China is the best choice.

The French were also willing to pay for it. In fact, in the negotiations for China to join the Allied Powers, France had been making concessions. The only requirement was that China should send troops within three months of joining and participating in the war, and should send more than 500,000 land forces to participate in the battle within a year.

China did not give a positive response because the British had not agreed to many conditions. In other words, the two allies who were fighting side by side had differences in dealing with China, and they did not hide their differences.

The reason why the British disagreed was simple. They hoped to leave a loophole for future trouble, including mergers, including Japan, and many places.

Britain did not want to see the rise of another huge empire, which was a challenge to its hegemony.

Moreover, this huge country with rich human resources was only a line away from India, the pearl on the top of the British Empire.

If India was lost, could the British Empire still be called the British Empire?

However, at this point in the war, the failure of the Dardanelles Battle indicated that Russia might withdraw from the battle at any time, and in order to win, it might have to make concessions.

"Tell Winston that I will support him and launch another offensive. This is the last time." Asquith thought for a long time and decided to grab it with both hands.

What if the Ottoman Empire can no longer hold on?

"Yes, Prime Minister." Huck nodded, pushed open the door and left.

He didn't ask. As a cabinet secretary, he knew why Asquith made this choice.