I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 635 Chittagong

(I’m working overtime today, so I’ll give you an update)
Chittagong.

This place belonged to the Arakanese people earlier. Because of its unique seaport advantages, it soon developed into an important maritime trade port. Even Arabs and Persians were willing to come here to do business.

Then, he was robbed by the Bengalis next door.

With the advent of the European Age of Discovery, the Portuguese were the first to discover this place. They once tried to capture Chittagong by force, but failed. In the end, they could only establish a colonial stronghold here in the form of lease.

Moreover, those Arakans also entangled the Burmese pirates and came back again to control the waters surrounding Chittagong.

The Mughal Empire also sent troops to drive away the Arakan pirates here, but with little success.

The entire Chittagong port is still officially under the jurisdiction of Bangladesh, but in fact it is governed by the governor of Bengal, the Arakan pirates, and the British colonists.

At the beginning of spring this year, Tang Tongjiang of the Fujian Navy received the emperor's imperial decree and immediately ordered more than 80 warships. Several of the main flagships were second-generation Ming-style warships, and they were all equipped with the latest ship-borne artillery (Huahua bomb).

This powerful naval fleet arrived in Chittagong in early summer. When they saw pirates entrenched in the nearby waters, they bombed them indiscriminately.

It was really indiscriminate bombing. Where had those Arakan pirates seen the Ming army's explosive bombs?

Today's Ming Dynasty has made great progress in iron and steel smelting technology. This is because Zhu Yijiong kept his promise before and actually awarded a number of craftsmen including Huang Wu generous rewards.

Although Huang Wu is the only one who can actually inherit the title, this is enough to cheer up the craftsmen.

It turns out that if you do this menial job as a craftsman well, you can have a future.

The technological progress of iron and steel smelting has brought about the further improvement of the stability of the gun barrel, and then it is possible to tentatively manufacture explosive shells that can be used in medium and long-range actual combat.

When those Arakan pirates saw the Ming army fleet, they wanted to rush up and start a fight. After all, there must be more pirate ships than Ming army warships.

Pirates don't understand wolf pack tactics, but they know how to attack in a swarm.

As a result, it was completely useless. The Ming army's warships were faster than them, and the Ming army's artillery had a farther range than theirs.

"Boom boom boom!"

The pirates' artillery fired continuously, but they all hit the sea, and even the tail of the Ming army's warship could not be touched.

There was a pirate fleet that rushed forward. With good luck, they actually caught a few "slow" warships.

As a result, before they could adjust their angle to fire, the opponent's artillery fired first.

"Boom boom boom!"

Some of the cannonballs fell into the sea, and some hit the pirate ships.

But all the shells, without exception, exploded.

"Bang bang bang!"

The power is quite powerful, and the amount of gunpowder in the shells has obviously increased.

For a moment, the sea was filled with turbulent waves, and the cannonballs that hit the pirate ship were even more exaggerated.

There were no bones left of the pirates located in the local explosion area, and the entire hull was blown to pieces. The fire and broken boards were flying everywhere with thick smoke.

The power of simple explosive shells is certainly not that exaggerated, but the quality of these pirates' warships is so poor. Many of them are parallel cargo ships, and robberies of merchant ships usually rely on numerical superiority to win.

There are many pirate ships, even small boats, that rely on their bravery to engage in boarding battles with merchant ships.

The targets of these pirates who rob merchant ships are often those who travel alone by sea. Pirates will not take the risk of provoking a truly large-scale fleet or the official fleet of European colonists.

Now, the Ming Navy is completely using faster speeds, longer range artillery, and even explosive ammunition equivalent to the black technology of the era.

What a fart!
Countless pirates rushed to flee, and the explosive shells that blew up the pirate ship in one shot were too terrifying for them.

Even those red-haired ghosts had never had such an incomprehensible weapon. Many pirates even believed that it was evil witchcraft from the Eastern Empire.

The souls of those pirates killed by cannonballs will not be able to go to the Buddhist world, but will be damned forever.

The state religion of the Arakanese is Buddhism, and the entire country, including the pirates, are all Buddhists.

The Ming army's fleet had not really exerted its strength, and the pirate fleet had already collapsed.

After defeating the pirate coalition in the first battle, the next step was to slowly eliminate the small and scattered pirate groups.

When these pirates gathered together, they did not have the courage to fight to the death with the Ming Navy, let alone dispersed.

It just took some time. The Ming army directly divided into several fleets along the waters around Chittagong, swept back and forth to attack, and attacked the pirate fleet when they saw it.

Such raids continued for more than half a month. Not only were the pirates in this area completely eliminated, they were completely disabled.

The large groups of truly organized pirates no longer exist at all, and even the slightly larger pirate ships are no longer visible.

After solving the pirate problem in Chittagong, Tang Tongjiang led the fleet to Chittagong and formally handed over to the British.

British Governor Drake had already sailed south in advance, leaving only Ed Howe to receive Chinese officials and generals here.

Adehao bowed to Tang Tongjiang and said: "Friends of Ming Dynasty China, welcome to your arrival! I am Adehao, the acting official of the Governor staying here. I will hand over to you next."

"That's very good." Tang Tongjiang nodded slightly, stretched out his hand and introduced to his side, "This is Xu Fengjun, the governor of Chittagong, appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of China in the Ming Dynasty."

Ai Dehao quickly greeted Xu Fengjun politely, and Xu Fengjun also returned the greeting. After some simple politeness, he went straight to the topic.

The handover ceremony was not complicated. Ed Hao and Xu Fengjun each took out a handover document. The documents on both sides were even stamped in advance with the seal of the Chinese Emperor and the autograph of the British Governor.

After signing the mutual documents, the contract came into effect, and the British Chittagong colony was officially handed over to China.

Before Adehao left, he did not forget to remind: "In two months, we will join the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark to declare war on the French fleet."

It is really just a reminder that for the British, as long as the Chinese fleet comes to Chittagong, it is equivalent to announcing to the outside world that Ming China will stand on a united front with Britain.

So, whether the Chinese fleet will participate in the war or not is actually not a big problem.

The French in India could not stop the British, Dutch, Portuguese and Danish coalition forces. After all, unlike the East India Company in other European countries, the French East India Company was just a toy for the nobles to cater to the royal family and compete for power and profit.

Even if the East India Company went bankrupt, it would not cause much loss to the French nobles.

In fact, since the death of the Sun King, this company, which was established to please the Sun King, has lost its existence value.

Ed Howe stood on the deck of the company's merchant ship, using a telescope to look at the distant waters of Chittagong. The port piers were densely packed with Chinese warships. Even if their merchant ships are not far away, they can still see patrolling Chinese warships.

In the naval battle more than half a month ago, Ai Dehao was also watching the battle from the port fort, the crushing naval battle between the Chinese fleet and the Chittagong pirates.

There was no skill at all, just relying on faster speed and stronger cannons to kill the pirates and flee.

Even the most elite Royal Navy in the Kingdom of Great Britain would not be able to achieve such a beautiful record.

The power of the Chinese has become more and more powerful. Originally it was only their army, but now even the Chinese navy is difficult for the British to match.

Ed Howe is now quite worried. He is afraid that in a few decades, or even just a dozen years, even if the British bring in the Portuguese, Dutch, and Danish, they may not be able to stop the Chinese army from moving south from northern India.

By the way, Portugal has always been leaning towards China, and the Netherlands has been defeated by China several times. There is a high probability that these two countries will not be able to count on it by then.

Ai Dehao shook off the terrible thoughts in his mind. He was just an ordinary employee of the company. At best, he had made several missions to China on behalf of the company.

As for the future of the kingdom, that is at least something that the company's senior management should be concerned about, not something that a small employee like him should worry about.

……

Murshidabad.

Shugardin looked confused: "What, you said the British ran away? And before they left, they also packaged Chittagong and sold it to the Chinese emperor."

His son Salfa said: "Father, the British are despicable and shameless Westerners. They are no different from the red-haired ghosts decades ago. Now these British people actually arbitrarily Our ports and land were sold to those Chinese people from the east. This is a contempt for you and our Bangladesh!"

This time, even Shugardin, who has always been conservative and non-war-minded, felt a little angry.

Although nominally Bengal was still a province of the Mughal Empire, it was actually an independent kingdom. Even Shujadin considered himself the king of Bengal, not the governor of the Mughal Empire.

But now, he feels that his sacred "royalty" has been challenged. He can tolerate the transactions between the British and the Chinese, and can even tolerate the Chinese emperor's actual control and occupation of a piece of land in the north in the form of exiled criminals.

Shujadin nodded: "Sarfa, my son, you are right. The British and the Chinese privately traded the lease rights of Chittagong. This is a serious contempt and provocation to Bangladesh."

When Salfa heard this, his face suddenly became excited. His father finally recognized his point of view. Then he said even more impassionedly: "Father, we should immediately launch a war against the Chinese who came from the east and take back our ports and land. Especially those Chinese who came from the north. They sent out troops to forcibly occupy the place by exiling criminals. , we should drive them all out and defend Bangladesh’s territorial integrity.”

Shugardin shook his head: "It doesn't have to be like this. The port can continue to be leased, as long as the Chinese recognize and pay the rent. As for the Chinese criminals in the north, since they were exiled by the Chinese emperor, there is no need for us to provoke the powerful Chinese emperor. ."

One second he was clamoring for war, and the next second he was cowering.

Historically, it was precisely because the British clearly saw the fierceness of the Bengalis that they directly dispatched 1000 British troops and 2000 Indian mercenaries to form a 3000-strong coalition.

The march was unstoppable, and in less than a month, Bangladesh was destroyed. Even the king and the commander-in-chief of the army were captured and killed by the British.

The Mughal Empire behind them was even worse. Tens of thousands of coalition troops were directly defeated by the British using a "big army" of 850 people in one battle.

This is the excellent matching mechanism of the Indian region, which is amazing!
Moreover, the father and son were simply overthinking it. What China and the UK transferred from beginning to end was not the lease right.

Ming China directly annexed Chittagong as an overseas territory. It had no intention of paying a penny of rent to Bangladesh, nor did it intend to return Chittagong to the Bangladeshis.

The envoys sent by Shu Jiading soon arrived in Xinmin City.

This was originally Calcutta operated by the British, but was renamed New Fujian by Xu Fengjun, the governor of Chittagong, because the fleet set out from Fujian.

The envoy kept Shujadin's advice in mind and was very cautious: "Master Tianguan from China, Chittagong and Calcutta are leased to the British by me in Bangladesh. The annual rent here is not much, as long as..."

Xu Fengjun slammed the table and shouted: "What Calcutta? This is the new Fujian city of Ming China. The governor is the Governor of Chittagong appointed by His Majesty the Ming Emperor. What does it have to do with your Bengal? And Bengal is nothing more than the Mughal Kingdom." For a province, if you want rent, ask your Mughal emperor to personally issue a letter of credence to my Majesty, the Ming Emperor."

The envoy said with a sad face: "But this is the place where Bangladesh was previously leased by me and the British..."

Xu Fengjun sneered: "You can talk to the British about this. Anyway, this is now our land in Ming China. If you want rent, no problem, either let the Mughal Emperor do it, or go to the British , or you can choose war."

After the words fell, Xu Fengjun waved his hand and drove the Bangladeshi envoy out.

He couldn't stand the so-called Bengal, because in his opinion, the other party was a traitor and traitor.

In particular, the Lord of Bengal also calls himself Nawab, which when translated basically means the king of princes.

If Bengal is really short-sighted and dares to start a war, then he can kill this "rebellious minister and traitor" on behalf of the foreign emperor Mughal.

If you have a big fist, you can be unreasonable.

When the Bengal envoy returned to Murshidabad, Shujadin was furious after receiving the reply.

His son Sarfa continued to add fuel to the fire, inciting his father to start a war against China.

Shujadin was furious... and then calmed down.

The long-term power and peace have already corroded his will. At best, he is called the Lord of Defeat, at worst, he is cowardly and timid.

The previous Bogra was defeated by Zhang Guangsi's group of exiled troops. The Ming Dynasty even established the Governor's Palace of Bengal here. Shujadin knew about it and tolerated it.

Nowadays, Chittagong Governor Xu Fengjun's arrogance also makes him worried. The Chinese are so unscrupulous, is there really something they can't rely on?

Moreover, China has tens of thousands of troops in Bogra (exaggerated by the nobles), and the army in Chittagong is not yet known. If they start a war rashly, it will be okay to win... No, it will be useless to win. China is strong and will definitely make a comeback.

He had heard from the Chinese businessmen who were dealing with him that the Chinese emperor was the most petty and face-saving (in fact, it was the Chinese businessmen who wanted to protect themselves).

If the Chinese emperor is angered by this, Bengal will inevitably fall into a quagmire of wars in the future.

Once the war continues and Bangladesh's maritime trade is affected, those Chamindars and Jagat Seths who make money from maritime trade will no longer support their family's rule.

Shujadin repeatedly weighed in: "China is so powerful that it will be difficult for Bangladesh to defeat Bangladesh if it rashly starts a war. Moreover, those Chamindars and Jagat Seths will not agree to us going to war with China."

Is this over?

It was agreed that the Chinese should not be allowed to provoke Bangladesh, and this has been revealed.

Salfa looked at his father in disbelief. He didn't expect his father to be so cowardly, but he was angry and he didn't have enough strength to resist his father.

Otherwise, when he was fighting for the Nawab, he would have "killed his relatives out of righteousness".

He had no choice but to endure it for now. His father had been in poor health in recent years. As long as his father died, he would be the new Nawab.

By then, we must go to war with China, recapture Bogra and Chittagong, and rob the wealth of those Chinese businessmen.

(End of this chapter)