Thomas knew very well what this meant. Not only was Britain's steel production far greater than Europe's, but the quality of its steel was also clearly far superior to Britain's. From another perspective, Britain's industry was likely far superior to Britain's. Of course, Thomas was not very clear about the concept of the word "industry", but he knew in his heart that in this era, the strength of a country depended largely on the technology and scale of its factories. Once a superpower like Britain surpassed Europe in industry, it would be a terrifying existence.

At this time in Britain, the bourgeois forces were rising rapidly, and the whole of Britain was facing a bourgeois revolutionary struggle. Tang Tong could not remember the exact time of this incident, but he remembered that it was around this time. This was why Tang Tong wanted to intervene in India's colonial interests at this time, so Tang Tong did not express a warm welcome to Thomas's arrival.

"Oh, dear Lord Tang, I am so happy to see you again." Since ancient times, weak countries have never been bullied by outsiders. Now, China is still a superpower in the world. The military force displayed on Tang Tong's warships made Thomas ignore Tang Tong's indifference. No matter how polite a strong person is to a weak person, it is not polite.

"Haha, I haven't seen you for a few years. Sir Roy is still as energetic as ever. I wonder what I can do for you this time." Tang Tong smiled and sat down with Thomas as host and guest.

Thomas didn't show any sign of being abrupt when Tang asked him directly. He politely thanked the maid for the teacup she brought him, and then said, "Master Tang, I wonder what has brought your country such a large force to India this time?"

Over the past century, Britain's national strength has been growing, and it has already shown some of the shadows of the later British Empire. Therefore, the British now have some pride in being a great and powerful country. This pride makes Thomas feel that his country is equal to the British Empire, and naturally equal in foreign relations. So when Tang Tong asked directly, Thomas directly told him the purpose of his visit.

"Well, Sir Roy, are you here just for this? I just brought 10,000 or 20,000 people to India to expand the scope of trade. Can this be considered a major military campaign? Sir Roy, our country has a population of 200 million and millions of troops. How can a mere action of 10,000 or 20,000 people be considered a major military campaign?" Tang Tong picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, speaking lightly. Although what Tang Tong said was the truth, it also meant to show off the military power of the British guy Thomas.

Thomas found it hard to believe what Tang Tong said. What kind of concept was it to have a population of 200 million and an army of millions in that era? Wouldn't the whole world be at the mercy of the Great Empire? Thomas didn't know that Great Empire did have a reserve of millions of troops, but compared to Tang Tong's army, there were only nearly 30,000 people, and the rest did not have much combat effectiveness at all.

However, although Thomas did not believe what Tang Tong said, he had to admit in his heart that the Great Britain was a little stronger than his British Empire, and Europe was now in the quagmire of war. His Britain really had no power to take care of overseas colonies. Thomas could only smile at what Tang Tong said.

"Sir Tang, if your country is only here for trade, I would still welcome it. I just hope that Sir Tang will remember the agreement between us and not create unnecessary misunderstandings." This is what Thomas is most worried about.

Tang Tong led his troops to invade their East India Trading Company and gained benefits. Because of the ship, Thomas really had no way to guarantee this benefit.

"Haha, Sir Roy, don't worry. We are also a legal trading company this time. As for the warships, they are just to prevent pirates." Tang Tong emphasized the word "legal" on purpose. Thinking back to the past, Britain also used the banner of legal trade to blast open the door of the Qing Dynasty with cannons and dumped opium into the Qing Dynasty. Tang Tong couldn't help but feel resentful about this kind of thing.

Now Tang Tong knew that his own forces were not strong enough, otherwise he would have used cannons to blast open the door to British trade. Thomas didn't know what Tang Tong was thinking. He felt a little relieved when he heard Tang Tong say this. He nodded and smiled and said, "I have to say that your country is a vast country with abundant resources. No country can compare with your country in trade. In terms of trade, almost all the silver and silver owned by our European countries has flowed into your country. However, I am still very grateful for the trade with Lord Tang in the past few years. It has enabled our East Indies to develop rapidly."

Since Tang Tong did not allow his subordinates to grow opium, and even tobacco was grown very little, the cigarette factory under Tang Tong had to import a lot of opium and tobacco leaves from Thomas every year, which naturally made Thomas's East India Company earn a lot of money. Since the cigarettes produced by Tang Tong's cigarette factory were sold to dozens of countries including Europe, Africa, and West Asia, the sales volume was so huge that the opium and tobacco leaves of Thomas's East India Company were in short supply.

One of Tang Tong's goals was to develop opium and tobacco planting business in India. It would be unfair to let the British make this money. After he had tobacco plantations, he could fundamentally cut off the development of the British East India Company. At the same time, he had basically controlled the South China Sea, so he didn't have to worry about a large amount of these harmful things flowing into Malaysia. As for smuggling from land, Tang Tong felt that there shouldn't be too much traffic, and Tang Tong's power was also expanding from the Malaysia Peninsula to Southeast Asia. Once Southeast Asia was under his control, smuggling from land would not be a problem. It was just that Southeast Asia was mountainous and jungle-filled, which made the expansion of Tang Tong's power relatively slow.

After hearing what Thomas said, Tang Tong smiled and nodded. He said, "Over the past few years, our trade has been conducted in a friendly atmosphere. I have always been very satisfied with this and have always hoped that our friendship can continue to develop well. I heard that the Puritans in your country have been very restless in the past two years. Many Puritan underground organizations in your country are deliberately trying to overthrow your current rule. A member of Parliament named Cromwell once asked my men to secretly purchase guns in preparation for an uprising. I wonder if His Majesty the King of your country is aware of this? As a friend, I hope that the impending unrest in your country will not affect you, Sir Roy."

The British bourgeois revolution is also called the Puritan Revolution. Cromwell's military talents played an important role in it. Cromwell's greater role was that after the victory of the British bourgeois revolution, he led the rapid development of British industry and provided the most solid foundation for the British Empire.

Since Tang Tong existed in this world, he naturally did not want Cromwell to be alive, and even more so did not want the British Industrial Revolution to start, so Tang Tong turned the topic to this aspect. Of course, Tang Tong did not expect that he could take Cromwell's life by saying this, but it would be good to remind the British rulers and create some trouble for Cromwell and others.

Thomas's brow twitched. He was deeply uneasy that Tang Tong had learned about the situation in Britain, and that having had contact with the Puritans there, he seemed to harbor ill intentions towards Britain. However, Thomas then thought that Britain was so far away from the Great Britain. Even if he had any ill intentions, it would be impossible for him to bring the war to British soil. He smiled and said, "Lord Tang, I am very grateful for your kindness. What you are talking about is not a big deal. It's just a few small businessmen and small farmers getting together to complain. It's not the rebellion you mentioned. Even if these are individual rebellions, the powerful army of the British Empire can quickly suppress them."

"Oh, haha, then, I don't want this kind of thing to affect the trade between us." Tang Tong didn't say anything else when he heard the other party say this. We are all smart people, and it is enough to just wake up to some things.

After Tang Tong and Thomas exchanged some irrelevant chats, Tang Tong invited Thomas to a banquet on the ship. After Thomas left, the Spaniards also came. Like Thomas, they also wanted to find out the purpose of Tang Tong's action. Later, the Dutch also sent people to meet with Tang Tong.

In recent years, the Dutch and Tang were in a hostile relationship. Although the Dutch were later forced to sign a peace agreement, it did not change much of the hostile relationship between the Dutch and Tang. The loss of huge interests in Southeast Asia was a big blow to the Dutch, and they were always thinking about regaining their interests in Southeast Asia.

However, contrary to expectations, the strength of Tang Tong and his group was developing at an astonishing speed. Tang Tong had the support of Datong's huge population base and the thousands of years of advanced culture of the Han people. Under Tang Tong's correct guidance with the insights of later generations, the speed of development was bound to be fast. However, it was impossible for the Netherlands, a small country with a tiny territory, to achieve such explosive development. As time went by, the Dutch gradually realized that they were no match for Tang Tong and his group. Now the only hope they could have was a true reconciliation with Tang Tong and his group.

Later generations thought that Sri Lanka was now in the hands of the Dutch. Tang Tong had long wanted to take this place for himself so that he would have a good supply point when sailing to Africa by sea. However, Tang Tong's target was India, so he did not intend to turn against the Dutch right away. Instead, he warmly received the Dutch envoys.

In recent years, the glass mirrors manufactured by Tang Tong and his team have been dumped in large quantities into Europe. This has brought huge profits to Tang Tong, but has also caused huge losses to Venice, which has mastered the glass mirror manufacturing technology. However, for the Dutch, some Dutch merchants who secretly traded with Tang Tong and his team have benefited greatly from this. The envoys sent by the Dutch this time are actually these merchants who secretly traded with Tang Tong and his team. (To be continued. For more information, please log in to nm for more chapters. Support the author, support!)

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