Wellesley and Foreign Minister Lord Grenville exchanged glances, and the latter immediately agreed:

“The most favorable way forward for our nation at present should be to swiftly end all conflicts on land.

“Afterwards, our main objective should be to strive to unite the German states, await their recovery, and then plan a siege against France.”

William Pitt Junior tiredly rubbed his forehead, his bloodshot eyes looking out the window: “This amounts to admitting our defeat…”

Admiral Jervis, Chairman of the Sea Battle Committee, said:

“No, Prime Minister, it’s just Prussia and Austria who have been defeated.

“Our nation can continue to utilize naval advantages to blockade trade along the French coast. This way, the war can drag on indefinitely.”

William Pitt Junior took a deep breath, intending to make another attempt to struggle, when he heard the Minister of the Interior, Duke of Portland, say: “Prime Minister, our nation’s financial situation is very difficult to support a large-scale war.”

William Pitt Junior looked at him and said: “You know, we have already opened large sugarcane plantations from Punjab to Bengal in India, and Prussia is experimenting with beet planting, so the financial issue can soon be alleviated.”

Indeed, as the price of cane sugar skyrocketed, the profit from planting sugarcane became enormous, and many British people who previously planted sugarcane in the Caribbean Region flocked to India to resume their business.

The climate in northern India is very suitable for sugarcane growth, only yet to be developed. Even without the sugar crisis, in another two or three decades, India would become one of the world’s most important sugar-producing areas.

As for Prussia, after the defeat, they also set their sights on the profitable cane sugar business.

Historically, this place was the birthplace of beet sugar production, so planting beets naturally posed no problem.

However, France has hundreds of thousands of farmers planting beets, making it virtually impossible to prevent the leakage of beet seeds.

At the same time, Prussia also poached some workers from French sugar factories with high salaries to start trial production of a sugar refinery in Potsdam.

The Duke of Portland sighed: “India will take at least another year before it can yield results, and Prussia’s beet production is even less certain.

“If our nation’s financial situation cannot be alleviated in the short term, I fear the Whig Party might launch an attack against you in Congress.”

Previously, William Pitt Junior had levied individual income tax across the nation, causing widespread dissent among the British people. Now, his support in Congress has dropped to a nadir. Fortunately, George III has been supporting him tirelessly, preventing impeachment.

With the unfavorable course of the war, if the economic situation continues to decline, he could be ousted at any time.

The room fell silent.

After a while, William Pitt Junior looked around at the group again and said in a hoarse voice: “Does anyone have a different opinion?”

Silence continued.

“Alright. Let’s end here.” He nodded slowly, glancing at Lord Grenville, “Please head to Vienna and negotiate for an armistice as gracefully as possible…”

Just as he finished speaking, Second Foreign Minister Canning knocked and entered, placing a document in front of him.

William Pitt Junior frowned: “What’s this?”

Canning glanced at the other ministers and said softly: “Prime Minister, this is a urgent report just sent from Lisbon. Their envoy is still waiting in my office.”

William Pitt Junior immediately felt a bad premonition, quickly opened the document, skipped the diplomatic formalities, and soon saw the critical words—Spain has mobilized 30,000 troops to attack the Almeida Fortress. Portugal, due to lack of preparation, is in a precarious situation.

He quickly turned to the last page and saw the date was four days ago.

This meant the Almeida Fortress might have already fallen.

William Pitt Junior’s face instantly turned pale as he handed the document to Lord Grenville: “It seems we need to first discuss reinforcing Lisbon.”

Portugal is the foothold for Britain’s projection of power onto the European Continent; losing it would mean halving Britain’s influence over Europe, so it must not be lost.

William Pitt Junior then turned to Duke of Portland with a smile: “The financial issue will probably have to be dragged on further. After finalizing matters to assist Portugal, I will immediately resign.”

…

Birmingham, England.

In the No. 2 workshop of the Bolton-Watt Steam Engine Company, Sandler pointed at a row of instrument panels, excitedly calling out to the company’s directors in front of him:

“Do you see? Gentlemen. I’ve said it before, as long as I’m here, the high-pressure steam engine is no problem!

“With an output power of 51 horsepower, it has been running normally for over 30 hours. In terms of weight, size, and coal consumption rate, all indicators exceed the French goods, haha!”

Bolton glanced at the silent Watt beside him, stepping forward to embrace Sandler first:

“Congratulations to you, and congratulations to our company!”

Forkner also picked up two glasses of wine from a servant and handed one to Sandler:

“Thank you for your outstanding work. With this machine, we can fulfill the Navy’s order.

“150,000 pounds. God, can you believe it? We’re going to earn 150,000 pounds!”

His last words were directed at Watt. Until a few days ago, the original chief engineer of the company was still questioning Sandler’s high-pressure steam engine, but the facts finally shut his mouth.

——————

There’s a bit more at the end.

Firstly, funding, Professor Blake provided some help, but more funding came from John Roebuck. Roebuck was a successful entrepreneur, the owner of the famous Karen Steel Factory. With Roebuck’s sponsorship, Watt began the trial production of a new steam engine and became a partner in the new company. The main difficulty in the trials still lay in the processing and manufacturing technology of pistons and cylinders. At the craftsmanship level of the time, steelworkers were more like blacksmiths rather than mechanics, so the manufacturing results were very unsatisfactory. Additionally, due to the patent application at the time requiring Congress’s approval, most of the funds were spent on related procedures. Due to the lack of funds, Watt had to find another job as a canal surveyor, which he worked for 8 years. Afterwards, Roebuck went bankrupt, and the related patents were taken over by the owner of a Birmingham foundry, Matthew Bolton. Watt and Bolton thus began their successful 25-year cooperation. The Bolton-Watt steam engine invented by James Watt and Bolton’s cooperation gave Watt better equipment funds and technical support, especially in the processing and manufacturing technology aspect. A major difficulty in the new steam engine manufacturing was the fit between the piston and large cylinder, which was finally solved by John Wilkinson. He proposed a new precision boring technology during the improvement of cannon manufacturing, which could be used in steam engine manufacturing. In 1776, the Bolton-Watt steam engine was first displayed to the public in its working condition at the Bolomfield Mine.