Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1515 - 1421: Veteran Players of Indian Games

Lord Hawkesburg bowed gravely and said, “It is indeed a serious matter, Your Excellency, the Prime Minister.”

William Pitt Junior frowned slightly, gesturing for him to enter the office: “Please sit down and speak.”

“The Maratha Confederacy has erupted into civil war,” the Foreign Minister said anxiously. “Raghunath Rao Scindia, in the name of the Peshwa, has sent troops to sack Indore City.

“In mid-July, Yeshwant Holkar assembled his army and declared war on Scindia.

“Currently, over 80,000 troops from both sides are engaged in fierce combat south of Ujain. Baji Rao II is calling for reinforcements for Scindia from the other states of the Maratha.”

William Pitt Junior quickly made a pause gesture, then motioned for the secretary to fetch a notebook from the shelf, which he flipped through carefully.

This couldn’t really be blamed on him. There are dozens of forces in India, each with peculiar names, even the Governor-General of India can’t remember all of them.

After a moment, with Lord Hawkesburg’s help, he roughly understood the internal situation within the Maratha Confederacy.

The Maratha Confederacy is the most important state in southwestern India, composed of five major forces, with the confederacy ruler called the Peshwa. The current Peshwa is Baji Rao II, a weak and incompetent figure.

One of the two military powers within the confederacy, Scindia, had taken control of the capital Idar some three or four years ago. From then on, Baji Rao II became a puppet of the Scindia family.

Then Scindia attempted to completely control the other three families in the name of the Peshwa, which aroused strong opposition from another military stronghold, Holkar, within the confederacy.

So Scindia sent troops to launch a surprise attack on Holkar’s core city, Indore.

Subsequently, Holkar regrouped and counterattacked, pushing the battle line back to the vicinity of Scindia’s core city, Ujain.

William Pitt Junior was no longer as relaxed and confident as before.

The Maratha Confederacy is Britain’s most powerful ally in India, expected to provide over seventy percent of the military force in Britain’s war with Mysore.

Currently, Mysore’s vast army is preparing to launch an offensive against British-controlled territories, while the Maratha Confederacy is starting an internal feud.

This will instantly reduce the British Army available by more than half.

He looked at the Foreign Minister and asked, “Has the East India Company attempted mediation?”

“They have tried. Baji Rao II agreed to all our demands, but the Scindia and Holkar families wouldn’t listen at all.”

Lord Hawkesburg took a report out of his pocket: “This is Lord Ballo’s report.

“The East India Company requests that Congress dispatch at least 9,000 additional expeditionary troops and provide 800,000 British Pounds in aid to possibly repel the Mysoreans.”

George Ballou is the current Governor-General of India.

William Pitt Junior’s face began to turn grim.

He could provide 9,000 soldiers—over 20,000 British troops had just been withdrawn from Porto—but deploying these troops to India, thousands of miles away, would cost 60,000 to 70,000 British Pounds just in transport ships.

Then there are the costs for weapons, logistics, allowances, and without hundreds of thousands of British Pounds, it would not be possible to stop them.

And the 800,000 pounds allocated to the East India Company…

He took a deep breath, involuntarily glancing at the drawer of his desk.

Inside were still over ten applications, including important research institutions like the Fuel Commission, Steam Engine Company, and the Railways Association, all eagerly awaiting funding.

Of course, the biggest gold-eater is still the Navy Department. To regain control of the Mediterranean Sea, more than 1.1 million pounds in annual shipbuilding funds is mandated. This also excludes large sums for complementary equipment and crew training funds…

While the Ministry of Finance’s funds were all poured into sugar and grain subsidies, Congress had to approve proposal after proposal for currency expansion to cover various fixed expenses.

Now, every two months, an additional million British Pounds in banknotes must be issued.

William Pitt Junior knew that, continuing like this, Britain’s economy would eventually collapse, but he had to grit his teeth to maintain the blockade of France’s Mediterranean ports—this was the only hope to restore balance of power in the European Continent.

He frowned, considering: to allocate over 1.5 million British Pounds to the East India Company now would require Congress to approve an expansion plan of at least 1 million pounds.

It’s just that at the beginning of the month, Congress was already squabbling over the 650,000-pound expansion proposal. If more is to be issued, the Whigs will certainly seize the opportunity to cause trouble for him.

Or perhaps issue some bonds?

He immediately shook his head. The 800,000-pound bond at the beginning of the year already had an interest rate of over 10%, yet it still took four full months to sell out.

He stood up irritably, thinking to himself: damn Maratha Confederacy, once Mysore is defeated, they must be severely punished!

Wait. He suddenly thought of something.

Since the Maratha Confederacy will certainly be punished, why wait until later?

They caused the mess, so they must bear the cost.

Yes, this will solve all problems at once!

William Pitt Junior quickly planned and then slowly sat back in his chair, looking at the Foreign Minister: “Perhaps, we won’t have to spend a single penny.”

“No, no, the Mysoreans recently received a batch of weapons, likely from France. If Lord Ballou doesn’t get reinforcements, he might be…”

“What if we join forces with Mysore?”

“Join forces? With Mysore? What are you saying, they wouldn’t agree to that!”

“That depends on what bait we can offer.” William Pitt Junior smiled, “For instance, giving them the lands along the Raichur River and in Desh.”

Lord Hawkesburg was suddenly stunned. The Prime Minister was referring to the southern region of the Maratha Confederacy.

“You mean…”

William Pitt Junior nodded: “The Marathas are embroiled in internal strife and are at their weakest.

“If we and Mysore simultaneously attack the Maratha, they will definitely collapse swiftly.”

“But, this would cost us India’s most important vassal.”

“So what? We can directly control Maratha’s land, where the princely states will work harder for our wand and collect more taxes. As for vassals, why can’t Mysore be our vassal?”

Lord Hawkesburg hesitated: “What if Tipu refuses?”

“Then we give him Bijapur and Gulbarga, until he can’t refuse.”

The places he mentioned together could instantly expand Mysore’s territory by almost 50%, which would tempt anyone.

The Foreign Minister raised another concern: “Wouldn’t this make Mysore too powerful and uncontrollable?”

“The southern Maratha is relatively stable, tell Tipu if he wants more land, he must conquer it himself,” William Pitt Junior said, “We can enter the battlefield a bit later.”

Scindia and Holkar are both in the northern part of the Maratha Confederacy, closer to British-controlled areas, while Mysore is in the south of Maratha.