Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 810 Gunboat Diplomacy ([-])

The wait is extremely long.

From the end of February to the end of March, the people on the east coast waited for nearly a month, but there was still no news from the Persians.But it's normal to think about it. Although it doesn't take too long to travel from Bandar Abbas to Isfahan, but the family is a feudal dynasty, and it is normal to be less efficient.If there is a response within a month, it is definitely a rare high efficiency.It is normal for them to delay one thing for several months.

However, the time of the people on the east coast is precious, and Major Guo Zili intends to put a little pressure on the Persians. On March 3, the battleship "Free Trade" conducted an artillery shooting training in the waters south of Hormuz Island. The 25-pound, 12-pound, and 18-pound artillery fired in turn, and the ejected projectiles shocked the sea. The water column rose to the sky, which made people fascinated.At the end of the training, the 24 artillery pieces of the whole ship fired a volley. The deafening sound of the guns, the mist of gunpowder smoke and the water columns of different sizes scattered on the sea made the faces of the Persians who were watching here nervously look ashen.

At that time, the Portuguese could beat the Persians, Ottomans, Indians, and Malays in the Indian Ocean with some small-tonnage and average-firepower Carrack sailing ships. The island of Hormuz, which guards the country, was even occupied by Portugal. Hundreds of years and unable to recover.Nowadays, these people from the east coast of the New World are driving powerful warships that the Portuguese cannot match, and it is really not too much to ask the Persians for a status and interests commensurate with their own strength.

People who lived in the 17th century had a deep-rooted awareness of strength.Therefore, after the "shooting training" of the people on the east coast ended, the Persian defenders on Hormuz Island immediately sent someone to notify Bandar Abbas. As for what the Persian officials in Bandar Abbas would do, do you have to ask? ?Of course, it was reported to the capital of Isfahan as soon as possible. Do you want these people on the east bank to bombard Bandar Abbas because they waited too long?The Persians dare not bet on whether the people on the east coast will do this!The Portuguese did this and occupied Bandar Abbas, which was still a small place at that time. It is really hard to say whether the people on the east coast will follow their example.Because according to the Dutch and British businessmen in the city, the people from the east coast of the New World are extremely "cunning and cruel" heretics. Go to the door, so it's better to focus on appeasing them.

The time soon came to April 1650, 4, and Guo Zili did not throw so much money into the sea for nothing. On this day, the envoy of the Persian Kingdom finally rushed from Isfahan to Bandar Abbas on horseback. Take a boat to the island of Hormuz.At this time, the defenders of Hormuz Island also opened the port to people on the east coast, allowing naval warships on the east coast to berth for supplies, and sailors can also go ashore to rest.

Guo Zili thanked the Persians for their kindness, and then sent Lieutenant Ji Wen to go to the island to negotiate with the Persians on his behalf.Anyway, the last time I came to Persia, Second Lieutenant Ji Wen acted as the negotiator, and it was perfect for him to act as the agent this time.As for Guo Zili himself, he sits on the warship and resolutely does not take risks lightly, lest there be any troubles from the Persians.

The negotiations between the two parties lasted for several days. During this period, the two sides had a fierce confrontation over whether to transfer the manufacturing technology of professional naval warships to Persia. None of them agreed, and the negotiations between the two sides were once on the verge of breaking down.

Persia is different from Ottoman. Ottoman’s shipbuilding technology and industrial foundation are far from comparable to those of the Persian Kingdom. In addition, the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the French Kingdom is good (during the siege of Vienna, France even planned to attack the rear of Austria to take advantage of it, and by the way, support the Ottoman Empire ), the Ottomans will get these key technologies sooner or later, so selling technology to them by the East Coast people only speeds up the process.What's more, there were also requests from the Ottomans at that time, one was to relieve the pressure imposed on them by the Spaniards, and the other was to open up a huge commodity dumping market.

But now and then, in Persia today, shipbuilding technology is extremely weak.They can only build some Arabian sailboats and sail as far as the coast of East Africa for trade. Therefore, the advanced shipbuilding technology from the West is actually a super pill for them, which will greatly enhance the country's maritime strength.The transfer of technology to Persia is something that the wise will not accept.

Besides, when the people from the east coast arrived in Bandar Abbas on the first day, the British clearly pointed out the so-called "principle of unification of civilized countries" that everyone needs to abide by, that is, any country that intends to sell shipbuilding technology or more than three masts When ships are given to the Kingdom of Persia, they must obtain the unanimous consent of several civilized countries (Portugal, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain) that have strength in this sea area. The purpose is to prevent barbarians from having powerful sea warships comparable to civilized countries. .Otherwise, it would be hard to see the shocking scene of the Portuguese Carrack sailing boat returning home with one enemy and one hundred victories.

Therefore, after all considerations, the people on the east bank did not have the guts to break the rules that everyone obeyed tacitly, so they resolutely rejected the Persian proposal, which obviously annoyed the Persians.They have invested a lot of money in the British, but the British have always refused to transfer shipbuilding technology; the same is true for the Dutch, and they are even planning to close the trading station in Bandar Abbas now; Reluctant to stick to hard and soft, and resolutely refused to sell technology, it is useless.

Of course, it is not true to say that the people on the east coast did not spread sailing ships from the West in the Indian Ocean.Over the years, as the scale of slave business with Muscat merchants has grown, the Xinhua Shipyard in Xinhua Port has also sold two flute-shaped transport ships to these slave traders to facilitate their boarding To capture slaves, but that's not humane - and no one warned the East Coasters not to sell their ships at the time.

On April 4, Major Guo Zili, who was dissatisfied with the prolonged delay in the negotiations, decided to transfer the negotiation venue to the battleships of the East Coasters, and at the same time sent three other ships to patrol the Persian Gulf.This act of deterrence made the Persians extremely angry, but the second lieutenant Ji Wen who participated in the negotiation found out the essence of their cruelty, so he took the opportunity to chase after them.At this time, the Persians also understood that they could not get any benefits, so they made some concessions. The two parties finally reached an agreement on April 22, which was the "Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between the Eastern Coast Republic of China and the Kingdom of Persia" (alias "Huo Treaty of Armuz).

To be honest, in this treaty, the benefits obtained by the people on the east coast are far less than those of the British East India Company. After all, the British were conditional on helping the Persian Kingdom to retake the island of Hormuz at that time, so it is normal to get a lot of benefits.Among them, after arriving in Persia, the ships on the east coast can only stop at Bandar Abbas, and cannot stop at any port like the British; Khan and Tabriz live and do business in four places, and they cannot pass through the whole territory of Persia like the British, but they can keep their original beliefs like the British, and they don’t need to pay extra taxes, and their private property is also protected by the Persian Kingdom In addition, people from the east bank are not allowed to set up factories in Persia, and the shape and scale of business stations are also strictly restricted; finally, and most importantly, the Kingdom of Persia imposes a unified tariff on goods from the East China Republic at a rate of 7 %, far greater than the 2.5%-3% of the British.

"The conditions are not bad." This was the first evaluation of Major Guo Zili who got a copy of the "Treaty of Hormuz".With this treaty, the huge market of the Persian Kingdom with a population of more than 1000 million (of course, the population with consumption capacity is much smaller than this number) opened a gap to the East Coast Republic.If we make great efforts to operate well, we may not be able to occupy all of this market in the future. This is definitely a boon for industrial companies on the east coast that currently have a relatively single export market (mainly concentrated in Europe in the Old World).

By the way, in the appendix of the treaty signed by Second Lieutenant Ji Wen and the Persians, there is another clause that is extremely important to the East Coast: The East Coast Republic of China can purchase all military equipment (including weapons, protective gear, baggage, etc.) ) to trade raw silk with the Kingdom of Persia, the upper limit of the transaction is 90 tumans (equivalent to about 1400 yuan in silver dollars on the east coast), which is roughly equivalent to 1 dan of raw silk (100 dan is approximately 3000 kg) based on the current market conditions.Although it is not as good as the British can buy up to [-] dans of raw silk per year (in fact, the British East India Company has never used up this quota for some reason), but it is quite good. Army weapons were much to the satisfaction of the Persians.After all, their current land border defense pressure is still not small. None of the Ottomans, Uzbek herdsmen, Mughal army, and unruly Turkmen can make them take it lightly.

It is conceivable that after the Turkmen tribal cavalry in the Kingdom of Persia and the new "Ghuran" troops (complete with infantry, cavalry, and artillery) used weapons from the east bank, they would become more and more dependent on them. Long term business.Now they are very unhappy with the Indians about the ownership of Kandahar, and they almost fought each other. I believe that after the arrival of these equipments, they will always boost the Persians' ambitions.

After reaching an agreement with the Persians, on April 4, Guo Zili ordered the entire fleet to pull anchor and raise sail, and then headed for the Ottoman port of Suez.According to the plan, they will meet there with the ships from the East African Transport Company, and then load the remaining Polish prisoners of war and female slaves who have been stranded there for a long time.This year's trade in Europe on the east coast has been frustrated, and Mo San may not have enough funds to buy prisoners of war. At present, the population that needs to be removed from Suez Port may not be too many, and it should be able to be loaded at one time.

(End of this chapter)