On the autumn day of light rain, the whole of London was filled with mist, as if it was a hazy illusion. The British had long been accustomed to this climate, with traffic and people coming and going on, and the Buckingham Palace, which was flying with the king's flag, was also unchanged and solemn.

In the garden of this palace, King George V of England, who was over 50 years old, walked along the path of the garden with a cane and a black umbrella in one hand, walking alongside the candidate for the Irish throne who had just celebrated his 25th birthday. Obviously, it was because of the blows and troubles caused by the defeat of the war. The once energetic King of England has grown much older in just one year, his pace is no longer as strong as before, and his strong chest is not as high as before, but the majesty and momentum naturally revealed remains the same.

"Inviting Your Highness to visit the UK was a decision unanimously adopted by the Cabinet. However, on the issue of timing, the ministers had different views. A very critical factor is that many British people are unable to accept the current situation of Ireland's independence. They feel that whether Ireland is independent or not should pass a referendum, rather than the means of war in which the German team was involved. Military victory cannot represent the will of the people. Of course, since the Kingdom of Ireland has become an internationally recognized independent country, we do not need to pursue its legitimacy. Respect and recognition are the best gifts given to the Irish brothers by the British company. Now, our concerns are on the local security of the UK. The large number of German teams stationed in Ireland have disturbed our people. The Belfast area under the control of the British team is equivalent to a watchtower and a military buffer zone, which is very important to us."

"But it is an integral part of Ireland." Natsuki argued, "whether the people living there are Catholic or Protestant, whether they like Ireland or England, they are part of Ireland, and no one has the right to strip them out of Ireland."

George V did not refute: "You are right, Your Highness, no one has the power to do this. The laws of history determine the complete unity of Ireland, but in a certain historical period, such as now, its temporary state is not ideal, and this is also part of the laws of history."

"Your Majesty, please be honest, the Irish people's desire to take back the Belfast area is like parents retrieving their lost children. The intensity of this emotion is far greater than the British people's guard against the German troops stationed in Ireland." Xia Shu only said half of the words. As for the hidden part, George V, who had been crown prince for 18 years and then succeeded to the throne for five years, would not be confused.

"Your metaphor just now is very good. The Belfast region is the blood of Ireland, but don't forget that Ireland is also the blood of Great Britain. We endured great sorrow and witnessed it separate." George V expressed the heavy "pain of losing his son" with emotion. Although this is exaggerated and artificial, as the king, when he saw a group of people independent without any nostalgia, he had no way to keep it. Anyone would feel sad.

Xia Shu felt a little bit of empathy for the troubled British king in front of him. In fact, the conflict between Ireland and Britain was becoming increasingly fierce at the beginning of George V's ascension. George V's view was quite similar to the Swedish king who was in the same era. He tried his best to avoid the threat of civil war. Shortly after the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Ferdinand, at the suggestion of George V, the British government representatives met with representatives of Ireland and Northern Ireland at Buckingham Palace, trying to reach an agreement on Ireland's autonomy so that Britain could not be dragged down by the Irish issue in a war that could break out at any time, but the meeting was not successful.

"This is the free will of four million Irish people. Your Majesty, you have done nothing wrong. On the contrary, your attitude has played a key role in the UK being able to live in peace with Ireland. Because of this, I think I should say thank you to you on behalf of all Irish people, and sincerely hope that you will fulfill the long-lasting wish of the Irish people for hundreds of years and make Ireland a truly complete and independent country. In that case, the Irish will always remember your kindness."

George V smiled bitterly and shook his head, "If all this is in full control of my personal will, I would not mind making such concessions, but did Your Highness ever think that that would make me Louis XVI of England?"

It is well-known allusion to Louis XVI was sent to the guillotine by the French people, and it happened not long ago. To be fair, Louis XVI's character is much better than those unforgivable tyrants, and even a little innocent. In modern French history, there were many kings of decay, extravagant, squandering, and incompetent. The fatal problem of this lock-making king was that he was weak in character but actively promoted reforms. His reform failed to change the situation of France's many ills, but instead triggered fierce conflicts between the nobles and the people, causing the French Revolution to break out. The people sent Louis XVI to court for conspiracy to treason, and eventually cut off his head with his queen.

In fact, from the perspective of power, the king is the person who is the least likely to betray the country.

Xia Shu was not in a hurry to respond, but carefully thought about the intention of George V's words that the king should be complementary to the people's will. If the king's power is tough and violated the will of the people, it may cause strong dissatisfaction among the people and even overthrew by the people. In the history of Britain, there have been precedents of cutting down the king's head. Although it originated from a war between the bourgeoisie and the new nobles against feudal kingship, the charges of the king's death were tyrants, traitors, murderers and public enemies of the people, which seemed to be more explanatory than the example of Louis XVI.

However, with the political significance of the Belfast dispute itself, even if Britain loses another city, it will not allow George V to lose his crown. However, the defeat of the war has caused unprecedented shock to the prestige of the British royal family. In addition, there is a grudge that George V does not want to make explicit: Since 1714, the ancestor of the royal family in Britain was George I, and George I was a German, the granddaughter of King James I of England and the son of Sophia, the wife of the electorate of Hannover. At that time, in order to prevent the British throne from falling into the hands of Catholics again, the British parliament invited his Protestant descendants to come to Britain to inherit the throne according to the law of succession of the throne. The German bloodline of the British royal family has been continued since then and has not yet been broken. The current British royal family is called the Saxony-Coburg-Gotta dynasty, and King George V's surname "Witdin" is also a standard German surname.

After thinking about it, Natsuki chose a very special way of expression: "Compared with Your Majesty, I may be a little lucky in this regard."

There was no sign of envy on George V's face.

"Simply holding a referendum in the Belfast region will undoubtedly lead to an unacceptable result. A war will inevitably be inevitable." Natsuki said this extremely heavy sentence in a peaceful tone.

George V turned his head and asked in a hurry: "This is what you said, would you rather make Belfast become a desert than see it separate from Ireland?"

Xia Shu avoided the important things and said: "That was just an exaggeration. Our force was not strong enough to turn the entire area into a desert."

"With His Highness's military talent, I must be very sure to capture Belfast." George V said with a calm expression.

Natsuki paused for a moment and whispered, "Yes."

George V shook slightly and stopped.

"Your Highness isn't you worried that you will lose all your strategy after winning a tactical victory?"

"Why did Your Majesty say this?" Xia Shu expressed his incomprehension.

George V did not explain, and he continued to walk forward.

Xia Shu walked slowly next to the King of England, silent for a moment, and said: "Military means will be the most forced consideration after we have used all the methods, but even if there is only one percent chance of success, for the integrity of Ireland and for the untainted Irish crown, I will devote myself to it without hesitation."

"Which one is more important?" George V asked.

Xia Shu didn't think about it: "Both are the same."

George V said coldly: "Sometimes, stubbornness can be understood as courage. Sometimes, stubbornness is stubbornness, and it is an unwise choice."

Xia Shu replied with a domineering and sharp words: "Military victory can often make up for political failures, but political victory does not always make up for military failures."

George V stopped again, this time when he turned his head, what Natsuki saw was a pair of cold eyes.

"In the past hundred years, Britain has experienced much more wars than Prussia and Germany. We have encountered all kinds of opponents, except for the major defeats in the 1914 war against Germany, but the rest are victories, especially those weak countries, and we are never ruthless."

The British King's implication was to remind Xia Shu that his former victory was achieved by relying on Germany's strong military strength, and Ireland was just a small European country that was not as good as the commander and the strategy was exquisite, it was impossible for a group of sheep to defeat the lion.

Xia Shu replied with a pride: "Have you forgotten the most important battle for the British Empire to dominate the ocean?"

In 1588, the relatively weak British fleet defeated the powerful Spanish Invincible Fleet mainly because of technology, system, strategic advantages and unnegligible luck factors. This is what Xia Shu wanted to express. Of course, Britain's light industry was very developed at that time, and its comprehensive national strength had actually surpassed Spain. If we strictly explored the logical relationship, George V could have grasped this point and made a fuss, but he did not.

"The residents of the Belfast region have learned that the referendum is going to be held. There is no legal problem with this. Since your Highness is confident of winning all military operations, why not treat this referendum as a war without gunpowder and try to win with your superb wisdom?"

George V's suggestion sounds like concessions that Natsuki can think of can be used in fact, it is to get him around. Unless you cheat, the possibility of changing the referendum results is very slim. Once the referendum results are obtained and announced to the public, Ireland will seize the Belfast region through military means, and Britain will stand on the moral high ground. Ireland, with weak national strength, will take on the reputation of the invaders again, and even if it wins tactical victory, it will inevitably become a strategic loser.

Xia Shu had already considered these things, and he calmly replied: "Thank you for reminding me that, no matter what, since the referendum process has been started, we will solve this difficult problem before the referendum is over in any case."
Chapter completed!