Qianlong: Qing Dynasty?What about my Daqing?

Chapter 162 The private plunder of British traditional arts

The warm and humid Indian Ocean monsoon hit the towering Himalayas head-on.

Created your wet and rainy Ganges Great Plains.

In the river delta area with a dense river network in Bangladesh, abundant water and abundant sunshine have given birth to this fertile and densely populated estuary delta.

Calcutta, the notification center of the British Empire in British India, is located in this area.

The British Empire at this time did not completely occupy the whole of India.

The Indian colonies of the British Empire in later generations eventually included India, Bangladesh, the northwestern part of Myanmar, Pakistan, etc., and almost covered the entire South Asian subcontinent.

But now the core of the British Empire's rule in India is the Bengal area, and then along the coastline from north to south, it occupies the entire east coast of India and part of the southern section of the west coast.

In the northwest of India, there are also the Mughal Empire established by the globalized Mongols, and the last Hindu state, the Maratha Federation, the two major powers in the Indian region are resisting British colonial aggression.

Among them, the Mughal Empire was an empire established by Babur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, who invaded India from Afghanistan.

"Mughal" means "Mongolia". In the heyday of the empire, its territory covered almost the entire Indian subcontinent, as well as Afghanistan and other places in Central Asia.The official language of the empire is Persian, but its rulers are Persianized Mongols who believe in Christianity, have noble blood from the Chagatai Khanate, and belong to the Timurid dynasty.

After the death of Babur, his son Humayun was defeated by Sher Shah of the Sur Dynasty in 1540 and was expelled from India. .

After the decline of the Mughal Empire, colonial empires such as the British Empire, the French Colonial Empire, the Dutch Colonial Empire, and the Portuguese Colonial Empire competed for colonies in India. In the end, Britain won, and the Mughal Emperor became a puppet from then on.

In 1858, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom was awarded the title of Queen of India, and the British Raj was established, and the Mughal Dynasty completely perished.

And the Maratha Federation.

Once known as the Maratha Empire.

It is a modern regime on the Indian subcontinent and the last Hindu empire in Indian history.Beginning in 1674 and ending in 1818, its territory at its peak once covered the entire northern part of India.After the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, it expanded its territory considerably, losing only the third battle of Panipat in 1761.Subsequently, the empire was changed to a confederation until its defeat by the British in the Maratha War in 1818 and its demise.

If there is no rise of Ming Dynasty.

The expansion of the British in India will gradually bring the entire South Asian subcontinent under British colonial rule in a step-by-step manner.

Eventually, the entire South Asian subcontinent will be brought under control.

And now.

The Governor's Office of British India in Calcutta had no time to look around at this time, but withdrew the British troops to the Bengal area.

This is because the new Indian Governor Richard Wellesley arrived in India and brought more than 7000 British troops, as well as a large Eastern Intervention Fleet.

The main strategic direction of the United Kingdom has changed from expanding towards the West India to being vigilant against the Ming vassal state of Myanmar, the Gongbang Dynasty in the east, and more and more Ming businessmen bypassing the southern tip of the South Asian subcontinent and conducting large-scale trade with the northwestern states of India. .

The trade brought by these Ming merchants not only impacted the market of British goods in India.

It also objectively strengthened the strength of the northwestern states of India, especially the Maratha Federation and the Mughal Empire.

This made the British Indian authorities even more unbearable.

therefore.

On the third day of the new Governor's arrival.

The moment has finally arrived for many British businessmen who came to India for trade from thousands of miles to shout long live.

The Governor-General of India has issued a privateer order!
As long as any British businessman spends money to buy a privateer license, he can freely attack and plunder all merchant ships flying the sun and moon flags in the Indian Ocean.

"John! John! Get rid of that batch of cotton! Big sale coming!"

David Klein rushed in holding a document stamped by the Calcutta Governor's Office.

This is in a tavern in Calcutta.

There are many British businessmen who have lost their money here.

Many businessmen only found out after shipping the cotton cloth to India that the price of cotton cloth in the Indian market had dropped to a point where they could not bear it at all.

If it is sold at that price, almost all cotton merchants will go bankrupt!

The reason for all this is the influx of unbelievably cheap Chinese cotton cloth-although the Governor-General of British India banned Chinese merchant ships from docking on their territory.

But that doesn't help at all.

on the one hand.

The merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty could trade with the Indian merchants in Maratha, and imported a large amount of cotton cloth into the Indian market.

on the other hand.

The British ruled in India by compradors.

In other words.

Smuggling cannot be stopped at all.

Why do those compradors put away the high-quality and cheap Chinese cotton cloth and buy the expensive British cotton cloth?
Price has always been the magic weapon of dumping.

So in this case.

The only way to prevent Chinese cotton cloth from entering the Indian market seems to be one remaining—violence!
Many countries in Europe have done the issue of privateering licenses.

Since the profession of privateers emerged from the Age of Discovery.

"Legal use of piracy" is a means that many European countries are very interested in.

Among them, the originator of the mountain is undoubtedly Daying, who lacks great virtue.

In 1243, King Henry III of England first issued a "commission" to allow private ships to attack and rob enemy ships.In return, the privateers had to hand over part of the spoils to the state.

In the hundreds of years after this.

Although European countries are trying to sign various treaties to abolish this immoral behavior of "legal robbery".

But helpless.

The cost of private plundering is too low, the profit is high, and the operation is convenient.

So these signed contracts don't work at all.

Repeatedly prohibited.

Now Great Britain will not even be able to keep its own Indian colonial market in terms of legal trade.

Therefore, it is only natural to sacrifice this ancestral magic weapon again.

David Klein was not tall and had served in the Royal Navy, but because he had no money to buy an officer, he didn't go any further.

After coming out of the army.

I borrowed a sum of money with John Klein, rented an armed merchant ship, and planned to ship a batch of cotton cloth to India for sale, in exchange for local Indian spices, gems, ivory and other local products.

Make a fortune.

It's just that it took them almost half a year (mainly because their ship was too old) to arrive in India, and then they found that the British cotton cloth on their ship was no longer in India.

Because the price is too expensive, no one is willing to trade at a loss.

So this trip down.
The Klein Brothers went bankrupt.

If they go back to England, all their property will not be enough to pay for it if they mortgage it.

Like most British people, the Klein brothers who couldn't go back to the UK had to wait for the opportunity here in Calcutta, and drink away their worries by the way.

"Private! Privately! We're going to issue a privateer certificate! We're going to attack Chinese merchant ships!"

Hear what David Klein said.

The frustrated tavern where the quasi-bankrupt British businessmen gathered suddenly became a sensation.

"Damn it! It's long overdue!"

"Kill them!"

"Grab! Grab!"

"Praise God!"

"Go to hell! Chinese!"

John Klein hurriedly stood up and pulled David aside.

'what happened?Going to war with the Chinese? '

"There is a high probability that it is, otherwise what will the Eastern Intervention Fleet send over?"

David Klein lowered his voice.

"You can buy a privateer certificate for only [-] pounds, and you only need to hand over [-]% of the spoils to the Governor's Mansion! We want Nan to sell all the cotton cloth as soon as possible, so let's lose money! Go recruit a group of adventurers, This is the real big business with high profits!"

Robbery, can the profit not be high?

Calcutta Governor's Palace.

Richard Wellesley sat opposite Nelson, and Richard poured a cup of black tea for Nelson.

Nelson frowned after taking a sip.

"Excellent Chinese tea, unfortunately. We can't get any kind of tea until now."

"Both the Qing Empire and the Ming Empire strictly control the outflow of tea seedlings and tea seeds, and we have nothing to do about it." Nelson said, "Hundreds of private plunder certificates have been issued, and the merchant ships of the Ming Empire are very They will be driven out of the area soon."

"So, how will the Ming Empire react to this? Will they organize an expeditionary force or send a fleet to escort them?"

"Expeditionary Army?" Nelson shook his head. He never thought that the Ming Empire would send troops to India.

"They might send a naval escort," Nelson said.

"In this case, isn't our chance coming?"

"Attack their escort fleet?" Richard Wellesley nodded slightly, and then said solemnly: "This needs to be controlled well. Our purpose is to force the Ming Empire to submit, not to start a full-scale war!"

The Indian Ocean is about to start a war.

And at this time at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The busy Yangtze River route has fully resumed operation.

The port of Suzhou at the mouth of the Yangtze River was perhaps the busiest port in the world at this time.

Ships traveling from north to south meet here.

At this time, Zhu Daohua and Sun Shiyi, who were about to go south by boat, were standing on the edge of Suzhou Port.

The recent truce between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, both sides are repairing their internal affairs, while the Qing court is busy sending green flag soldiers to block Tongguan.

On the other hand, practice the Eight Banners.

And with the unhappiness on Daming's side, they broke up.

Missions from Britain, Spain, and Russia went north along the canal in an attempt to contact the Qing Empire.

"Your majesty, don't you worry about these western barbarians going north?"

Sun Shiyi couldn't help asking.

Zhu Daohua shook his head and said, "There's nothing to worry about. The world is so big, how can I block the way for Qing Da to contact Xiyi?"

The Qing Dynasty in the later generations had a smooth way of contacting the West, and they didn't get anything out of contact.

Just now.

A dilapidated Dafu boat creaked and prepared to dock.

Comprador merchants waiting on the shore swarmed up.

But soon there was a sigh of disappointment.

"Is it rice, or rice!"

"Why is Nanyang rice so cheap?"

"Farmers in the south of the Yangtze River no longer grow rice."

"It's a loss to grow rice."

Arguments erupted one after another.

Sun Shiyi looked at Zhu Daohua, hesitant to speak.

(End of this chapter)