1635 Han style rises again

On September 1684, 9, Fengyuan (now Chennai, India, also known as Madras).

"Lord Ike, that majestic castle is the former Fort St. George of our East India Company." Thomas Hudson, a senior manager of the British East India Company, pointed forward and introduced the honor to the visiting special envoy, Earl William Ike. Regarding the situation in Yuancheng, "the people of Qi took this castle over 20 years ago (1659) because of an unexpected conflict with our East India Company. Although we finally reached a settlement with the people of Qi, they Refusing to return Fort St George to us and simply paying thousands of pounds as our compensation."

"Oh, the Qi people are really domineering!" Earl William Eck had a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "Could they be so strong in the entire Indian Ocean region?"

"Lord Ike, the Qi people have preliminarily established their supremacy in the Indian Ocean region as early as more than ten years ago." Thomas Hudson carefully reminded: "According to our estimation, the Qi State Navy possesses all kinds of professional There are no less than one hundred warships, and they have deployed more than [-] warships on the east and west coasts of India alone. In the Gulf (Persian Gulf), Red Sea, West Indian Ocean, and South African waters, there are warships of Qi State everywhere. A few months ago, Qi The Chinese navy took advantage of the war between the Portuguese and the Omanis to seize Zanzibar, Mombasa and other East African coastal islands in one fell swoop. Together with the Comoros and Southwest African territories they previously occupied, it can be said that the vast Indian Ocean into their arms."

"That is to say, the entire eastern trade has been completely controlled by the people of Qi?" Earl William Eck frowned and asked.

"Yes, Lord Ike." Thomas Hudson nodded and said, "In a sense, the Qi people do control the entire eastern trade. But they are different from the Ottomans, and they will deliberately hinder or destroy the east and west. Trade and cultural exchanges between them. They are more like the leaders and order maintainers of regional trade affairs. They advocate trade freedom and oppose any trade restrictions. The most fundamental reason for the Zimo War that broke out a few years ago is The Mughals implemented a policy of trade discrimination against Qi’s merchants. They recklessly raised tariffs and imposed restrictions on the import of Qi’s goods in order to reverse the trade imbalance.”

"Oh, is it?" Earl William Eck smiled and said thoughtfully: "In Europe, the country with the most trade restrictive policies is France.... You say, the people of Qi have the guts To challenge the power of Louis XIV?"

"Lord Ike..." Thomas Hudson was stunned for a while when he heard the words, and then said with a wry smile: "Lord Ike, Europe is too far away from the mainland of Qi, and they will not try to open up the French market. And to cross tens of thousands of miles, take five or six months, to attack mighty France. . . . Oh, God, that would be crazy!"

"However, the Qi people dared to send an expeditionary fleet to attack the Spanish mainland." Earl William Eck said: "It seems that their emperor and the cabinet government are quite clear-headed, knowing who is strong and who is weak, and specially Pick the weakest opponent. Oh, poor Spaniard."

Earl William Ecke and his delegation visited the Qi special mission at the invitation of the General Representative of Qi State to Europe to participate in the 50th National Day Ceremony held by Qi State in June next year--the date that Qi State landed on the Hanzhou Continent (1635 June 6th) is the National Day.At the same time, in order to show the "long history" of its own history, it also took advantage of the trend to set this day as the date of the founding of the country.

The time for the British fleet to go to the East generally chooses to set off in autumn or winter. If all goes well, it will arrive in India in about six months, that is, before the rainy season in June.The British mission to Qiqihar arrived in Surat in mid-May.They rested here for a full month, and then they visited Delhi to meet Shah Alam I, Emperor of the Mughal Empire.

Taking advantage of the domestic and foreign difficulties of the Mughal emperor, the British obtained many preferential trade policies that only the people of Qi could enjoy. For example, the British East India Company was allowed to build more business houses, and British merchant ships were allowed to sail along the inland river to Inland and British merchants can set up corresponding guards by referring to the Qi State Merchant Group.

In return, the British promised to privately sell European firearms and the Mughal Empire, and send professional European military officers to teach the Mughal Empire army organizational skills and combat methods in Europe.

Judging from the attitude of the Mughals, they seem to be sufficiently vigilant and wary of Qi.Although, their emperor did not show the psychology of revenge for the defeat of the empire by Qi.But the shrewd British still caught a trace of hatred for the Qi country and concerns about the current situation of the empire from the emperor's few words.

The British are very sure that as long as the Mughals reinvigorate and restore their national power, they will definitely challenge Qi again.The death of the previous emperor, the defeat of as many as 20 troops, the looting of more than a dozen wealthy towns, and the cession of a large number of lands and huge indemnities, such shame must have been deeply engraved in their minds .

Then, the only way to wash away the shame can only be another war, defeating the people of Qi on the battlefield and expel all their forces from the empire. Only in this way can the shame buried in the bottom of my heart be completely thrown away.

The British have reason to believe that the rebel forces in the north are likely to be secretly supported by the people of Qi.Because, for Qi, it is in their best interests to maintain a Mughal Empire with a balance of power and mutual restraint.

Speaking of which, the British are full of jealousy for all the achievements Qi made in the Mughal Empire.According to conservative estimates, the trade volume between the Qi State and the Mughal Empire doubled rapidly in the few years after the war to more than 5000 million rupees (1 tael of silver is approximately equal to 3 rupees).In the trade between the two sides, Qi State is in an absolute superior position, and the trade surplus obtained from this country exceeds 4000 million rupees every year.

oh god! More than 1 million rupees, what an amazing amount.

You must know that the annual trade volume between the East India Company and the Mughal Empire is only 70 pounds (1 pound is approximately equal to 5 taels of silver).As for the trade profit earned, it was less than 20 pounds.And a considerable part of the goods came from the Qi State for entrepot trade, which meant that the gold and silver spent by the British might flow back to the Qi State.

Since the trade cake in the Indian region is so big, it should not be exclusive to the Qi family.If we can secretly support the Mughal Empire and make it gradually increase its strength against Qi, then our England will gain the sincere friendship of this empire, which will play a positive role in expanding the trade share of the East India Company and increasing the influence of the Kingdom of England role.

Therefore, when the East India Company received the British special envoy Earl William Ike, he generously gave a sponsorship of [-] pounds to lobby the mission to visit Delhi and meet the Mughal Emperor, so as to obtain more benefits for the East India Company. for favorable terms of trade.

After the visit to the Mughal Empire, the mission went to Bengal under the escort of the East India Company to visit this semi-independent province of the Mughal Empire, hoping to obtain some Additional business benefits.
-
Hooghly Estuary, October 10.

Two galleys sailed into the mouth of the Hooghly River one by one, along the wide channel, and headed upstream with difficulty.On the deck, a group of well-dressed British gentlemen were lying on the railing, blowing the pleasant sea breeze, and admiring the autumn scenery on both sides of the river.

"Does that fort on the south bank belong to the people of Qi?" Earl William Eck spit out a smoke ring from his mouth, pointed in the direction of the south bank, and asked curiously: "I saw a cloud of the Qi country flying over that fort. banner."

"Yes, Lord Ike." Thomas Hudson glanced at it, nodded and said, "That fort is indeed the stronghold of the Qi people. Five years ago, they obtained the lease right of this site from the Governor of Bangladesh, and then In a short period of time, the fortress at the mouth of the river was built and named Yongtai Fort. It is said that the implication of this name means eternal security and peace.”

"Oh, Yongtai." Earl William Eck put his pipe in his mouth again, and muttered, "Do people in Qi love peace very much?"

"No, the people of Qi will never love peace. They are very aggressive just like the French." Thomas Hudson shook his head and said, "I'm sure the reason why they want to build Yongtai Fort at the mouth of the river , in order to control the Hooghly River, and more importantly, to ensure the safety of Jiangling Fort (now Calcutta), more than 30 miles upstream."

"So, we are about to go up to the Damoder River tens of miles ahead. Are there any Qi people's strongholds along the river?"

"Not yet, Lord Ike." Thomas Hudson said: "You know, in order to avoid the threat and control of the Qi people, the Governor of Bangladesh deliberately moved the Governor's Mansion from Dhaka to Asan on the upper reaches of the Damoder River. Sol. Under this situation, the local government of Bangladesh should no longer give Qi people too many privileges on both sides of the Damoder River."

"So, the Governor of Bangladesh is as vigilant as his Majesty the Emperor to the people of Qi?"

"Lord Ike, when the Qi State attacked the Mughal Empire, the first target of the attack was Bengal. The degree of wealth here is unimaginable. In this area, nearly [-]% of the cotton textile products of the entire empire were produced. , and [-]% of jute products. In addition, Bangladesh is also the largest granary of the Mughal Empire. The rice here can be harvested three times a year, easily feeding tens of millions of people. How can such a rich place not let Qi Is there a covetous heart in life?"

"Mr. Hudson, I have a question. As a local province, after refusing to serve the emperor of Delhi, the governor of Bengal dares to rely on a corner of his land to fight against the mighty Qi?"

"Lord Ike, the Governor of Bangladesh is a very wise old man. He is also the uncle of the previous emperor. He has a lofty status and rich connections throughout the empire." Thomas Hudson said: " However, he is very old now, he seems to be in his 80s. Now, the entire Mughal Empire is uncertain and has fallen into a de facto division. We believe that the Governor-General will definitely carry out the affairs of his death. After some serious consideration, whether it is for the arrangement of his descendants or the future of the entire Bengal region, he certainly does not want the power of the Qi people to continue to expand indefinitely. The Dutch, Portuguese, French, and even the neighboring As for the Burmese in Bangladesh, he tried to maintain a friendly attitude and actively wooed him. Therefore, we believe that His Excellency, on behalf of the British royal family and parliament, will pay him a friendly visit, which will definitely be highly valued by them."

"What will the people of Qi do when they find out about our behavior of poaching corners?" Earl William Eck asked with a smile.

"..." Thomas Hudson thought for a while, shrugged his shoulders, and murmured: "The worst result is nothing more than being squeezed out of the Indian market by the Qi people. But if we let the East India Company seize the opportunity , Obtaining even a small half of the business share owned by Qi State is enough to make all investors' income more than ten times."
-
Dhaka, January 10.

Abul Kalam Abdul, with his wife and young son in his arms, left the factory very disappointed.The cotton factory that had served it for eight years finally closed down.

Of course, before the factory closed, it was not without the slightest clue.Seven years ago, after the war between the Empire and Qi ended, all imperial markets, including Bangladesh, began to be fully opened to Qi cotton textiles, and the import tariff was reduced to 5.00%.

As a result, the cheaper cotton fabrics from Qi State swarmed into the Mughal territory, which had a severe impact on the medium and high-end cotton fabrics produced locally in a short period of time.

Until three years ago, low-grade cotton cloth produced locally also began to be affected.What puzzled all the Mughals was why the cotton cloth produced by the Qi people was sold cheaper than the cotton cloth produced locally?You must know that the people of Qi State import a large amount of cotton from the empire every year, and then transport it back to the mainland of Hanzhou for thousands of miles, and then process it into bolts of beautifully colored cotton cloth, and finally transport it to the Mughal Empire for sale.

It stands to reason that under the premise that the people of Qi State spent a lot of transportation costs, the overall cost of their cotton cloth should be much higher than that of the cotton cloth produced nearby in our country, and the price should also be more expensive.

Faced with lower prices and better quality cotton cloth from Qiguo, those Europeans first changed their purchasing sources and abandoned the many local factories that had cooperated for decades.

As early as hundreds of years ago, the cotton fabrics produced in India were brought to the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and Asia by the Arabs, Persians, Abyssinians, and Malays, making the cotton textile industry in India It has developed rapidly and created countless wealth.

However, due to the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the sea and land trade routes between India and Europe were blocked. If you want to pass through, you often have to pay high tolls, which greatly impacted India's cotton textile trade.

It was not until the opening of new sea routes in the 16th century that India's cotton textile trade ushered in a new spring.

At that time, the British and Dutch East India Companies all had a strong interest in cotton fabrics produced in India.After they brought these cotton cloths painted with Indian mythological figures and local Indian flower patterns to Europe, they quickly set off a wave of shopping.In 1621, the British East India Company only imported about 5 pieces of cotton textiles to Britain, and in less than 20 years, the number of imports increased fourfold.

Even though, in order to protect the domestic wool textile industry, the British government once restricted the domestic sales of Indian cotton cloth and imposed high tariffs on Indian cotton cloth.But all of this cannot stop the continuous expansion of Indian cotton sales.

The prosperity of Indian cotton fabrics lasted until 1660. After the rise of the cotton textile industry in Qi State, it began to face the impact of the other party's price and quantity scale.

East Indies, Malay Peninsula, Persia, Arabia, Ottoman, and East Africa, these consumer markets have shrunk to completely lost in just ten years.

Before the war, not only the huge European market faced fierce competition from Qi State’s cotton textiles, but even the local market was fully invaded by Qi State.The precarious local cotton fabrics, after the emperor successively raised the import tariffs of the Qi State and adopted import quotas, could barely hold his breath and continue to survive.

Today, the empire was defeated and forced to fully open the market for Qiguo cotton textiles.In less than five years, Abul Kalam Abdul has seen dozens of hundreds of cotton factories close down.In order to survive, the factory where he worked also suppressed the salaries of all the workers and tried their best to support them.

However, the last straw that broke the factory soon came.The price of cotton, which is the main raw material of cotton fabrics, has tripled in the past five years under the crazy driving up of merchants in Qi State, which further squeezed the production profits of factories, so that countless factory owners can only choose to close their doors and close their businesses. .

With the cotton mills in ruins, without the jobs he needed to live on, and without an inch of land to his own, Abul Kalam Abdul didn't know how his life would go on in the future.

Could it be that he wants to be recruited by the people of Qi for overseas colonization, go far away, and go to remote Africa to make a living?