Chapter 1296 – India-Pakistan War

“I want to wear a handsome military uniform in the future too.” Albert looked at Mountbatten’s tall figure and waved his fists, as if he had already found his goal in life.

“I want to be a scientist, a teacher, and a doctor when I grow up.” As soon as Alan Wilson heard his son’s bravado, he couldn’t help but think of his own naive, uninformed, expectations of the future when he was a child, and couldn’t help but be dumbfounded, according to the age of his eldest son from the army, then it should be? The war on the Isle of Man ……

If the occasion were not so solemn now, Alan Wilson would surely hang his son and beat him, so that he would know the perils of society in advance. But with Her Majesty here, he couldn’t do that.

The Cabinet Secretary at this time had already made up his mind to nip his son’s dreams in the bud, comprehensively and mercilessly.

“You will make a handsome soldier.” Pamela Mountbatten’s encouragement nearly sent the head of the family into a fume of exasperation.

“My brother will be a general.” Pamela giggled, wrapping her arms around her brother, who was already the same height as herself, “Be a navy? become a captain.”

“Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions about the future.” Holding his face red, Alan Wilson managed to find a gap to interject and hurriedly turned the page.

“I think being a soldier is just fine.” Great-aunt Patricia served to add fuel to the fire at this point, stroking her sister-child’s head, “Albert will be a war hero for sure.”

Until the investiture was complete, Alan Wilson was sullen, thinking of ways to kill his son’s dreams, at odds with his happy family atmosphere. Pamela and Patricia, gathered around their father, and although tomorrow was not the day of Field Marshal Mountbatten’s official retirement, the two daughters, were already discussing their father’s future life for themselves.

“Perth is very nice and mother is comfortable where she is, and the local winters are not too cold. I think it’s age-friendly for parents. Here in London, it’s pretty average.” Pamela Mountbatten gushed, “There are plenty of friends there as well, and I can fulfill my father’s hobbies. Whether it’s horse racing, or polo, it’s easier to get venues than here in London, and there are many old friends who live there permanently, the Duke of Norford, and the Duke of Richmond are there. The Duke of Manchester is very fond of horse racing.”

“Pamela, I certainly don’t doubt your financial resources in the slightest.” Patricia said with some envy, “But father should still prefer the surroundings of London.”

“Where are the surroundings in London.” Pamela Mountbatten couldn’t help but bristle, “Perth is much better built up than dead London, which just looks run down.”

“My dear, that is merely a common problem with building first, and Perth will get old later.” Alan Wilson had to speak up for the capital of the British Empire, but turned the conversation around and said, “I’d also recommend staying in Perth a lot, as your mother is used to the local life. You can be looked after.”

It was best not to stay in London; a man like Field Marshal Mountbatten was a valuable asset to any family, and could be of great use as long as he lived. But Alan Wilson remembered that Field Marshal Mountbatten had been blown up by the IRA, and now there was no telling what the future would hold, and Perth was certainly safer than the British mainland.

Historically, the royal families of Europe have formed a network of members with a very complex structure through marriages, and outsiders generally have a hard time figuring it out. And Mountbatten had a penchant for organizing his archives, and like his forebears, he kept every scrap of paper related to the family. As a result, he became an authority on identifying the authenticity of those descended from European royals who had been overthrown by the revolution.

Pamela Mountbatten could not only be the spiritual leader of the English nobility, but also collected a group of French nobles, and Junkers in Germany, all thanks to Mountbatten’s help.

“Consideration can be given to building a new manor house, so that the marshal can build it according to his own ideas.” Allen Wilson opened his mouth to raise the stakes, and said with an air of thinking about his father-in-law.

Mountbatten immediately endorsed his son-in-law’s suggestion, and he had even begun to think out loud, exercising a particular fondness for formulating plans and schemes, drumming up a plan beforehand for everything from buying and selling a farm to renovating an outhouse as if he were preparing for war.

Patricia’s husband, John Brabourne, was very much in favor of a reunion of the Mountbatten couple, in which case the estates left in England would surely come under the use of the couple.

Broadlands Manor, for example, was in Hampshire, and it was one of several estates built during the lifetime of Edwina’s maternal grandfather, Sir Kessel. After Sir Kessel’s death, the estate went to Edwina’s name, and once Mountbatten and the Edwina’s left for Perth, it was only right that the estate should be taken care of by the couple.

“If you stay in England, with the Marshal’s prestige, you’re likely to be asked by the government to come out from time to time and take on some special job on the side, which can’t be good for an old man. Don’t think I’m going overboard, you have to realize that those people in the cabinet are capable of anything.”

Alan Wilson was beginning to throw dirt on the government, and it was not alarmist talk, Montgomery was, and after his retirement, the British government felt that it could not let him receive a generous pension for nothing, and that it had to capitalize on his extremely high reputation and connections with acquaintances and friends all over the world to make him an indispensable expert and unofficial emissary of the country on troublesome issues. As a result, he was frequently called out of his home to extend British influence in a “private” capacity.

This was at the root of Mountbatten’s decision: “It’s right, now that I’m retired, I can’t have the government bothering me all the time. There’s no such worry in Perth.”

As is the process, Mountbatten will have his last day tomorrow and also hand over to his successor, with Sir Hull, the next Chief of Defense Staff, ready to go.

Alan Wilson arrived at the Ministry of Defense early the next day, with not much to do anyway, as a way to watch how Mountbatten’s last day was going to go, and in the process to get on good terms with the new Chief of Defense Staff.

Field Marshal Mountbatten’s last hearing of his military career rippled through, and on the contrary was happy to talk to his son-in-law about life in Australia, “I wonder how it is over there.”

“In a sense, much easier than life in England.” Alan Wilson was very happy to answer, there is no foreign immigrant threat, although there is Indonesia on the side, but to be honest the Indonesian threat is all blown out of proportion, it is not a threat to the British Royal Navy, “There is also a British military garrison near Perth, the marshal can go and take a look if he’s not doing anything.”

Australia would all be a lot less of a problem than the US if it had better natural conditions, but it was sparsely populated and it was nice to be a carefree mine of the world.

“Sounds good.” Mountbatten was happy to go around the barracks if he missed military life after a long break.

Mountbatten decided to go around the place where he had worked for many years, leaving his office to the new British Chief of Defense Staff, Sir Hull, and his son-in-law, so that Whitehall and the military could familiarize themselves with each other.

Mountbatten was about to finally say goodbye to forty-nine years of military service and leave the Ministry of Defense. The news spread, and many journalists and a few curious passers-by came to gather around the entrance to the Ministry of Defense, and Mountbatten came downstairs and saw the scene outside through the window and said happily, “Ho! How satisfying that there are still so many people at the gate.”

Inside the office, Sir Hull, on the other hand, conversed with Alan Wilson, “The Secretary General and the Marshal are more affectionate than an ordinary father and son.”

“Pamela is my wife, of course I am grateful to the Marshal, it is my duty.” Alan Wilson answered the other party’s question without being condescending, then his words changed, “Just like my obligation to the military, Britain’s overseas interests, still need the military to guard. I have always been very supportive of the military’s construction, and although some projects were inevitably axed after evaluation, it was never my intention, but rather my inability to convince the cabinet to pass them.”

Whitehall is the center of power in the UK, and while the MPs who are elected to it don’t see it that way, it’s a fact of life, and Whitehall rightly has influence over any number of departments. For example, Makins, now the Permanent Under Secretary of Defense, is controlling the direction of the Ministry of Defense.

On this day Mountbatten rarely left work on time and walked out of the Department of Defense under the flashing lights of many onlookers and journalists, unbeknownst to these, Mountbatten was about to embark on the next phase of being the bridge between Australia and the UK.

Alan Wilson witnessed the whole process of the famous historical figure from the front of the stage to the back of the curtain, also can not help but launch a sigh of relief.

The rekindling of the war between Pakistan and India was just like Alan Wilson predicted, after India lost its adults in the Himalayas, now even Pakistan feels that it can compete with India.

In the beginning, it was only Kashmiri guerrillas who attacked Indian posts and some supply depots, and it was only later when the war expanded that Pakistan sent a large number of armed men into Kashmir. The Indian side even amassed more than six divisions in the ceasefire line zone in one fell swoop and launched an attack directly toward Pakistani soil.

It was only a short time before Aidan swore to send his foreign secretary to mediate, and the two countries were back at it again, leading to Labour accusing the Conservatives in the House of Commons of a whitewash, much to Aidan’s annoyance.

“Being in our traditional relationship with India, theoretically we should side with India, but I believe that the United States, being in the consideration of balancing India, will definitely side with Pakistan. The scale of the war is now large, but the battle lines have not yet changed significantly enough for us to take a position in haste.”

Alan Wilson, who had arrived at 10 Downing Street with the latest diplomatic intelligence, advised Aidan, “And it would be better for us to exert influence without stepping in ourselves; Pakistan is a pacifist country, so could we not see what India is up to by exerting pressure on the Arab world’s influence?”