Czak Sierkin was a Jew, a Dutch mixed-race Jew. At that time, Jews had a very low status among Westerners. At first, he was a pure Jew. When he was young, he fell in love with a Dutch girl. Later, he settled in the Netherlands for the girl and became a small businessman in the Netherlands.
It developed into the hands of Chai Kiselkin, a Dutch businessman of medium size. Later, Chai Kiselkin followed the Dutch expedition fleet to the Nanyang area and shipped the goods brought to Nanyang by Ming merchants to Europe for sale. After Tang Qi and his men occupied Nanyang, they basically monopolized the foreign trade of Ming Dynasty together with the Zheng family. Under such circumstances, Chai Kiselkin established a relationship with Hei Pi and his men, and started to operate the Tang family's highly profitable products, from glass mirrors to cigarettes, from soaps to perfumes, which made Chai Kiselkin's wealth develop rapidly and also led some small Dutch businessmen to secretly contact Hei Pi and his men.
This time, as an envoy of the Netherlands, Chai Kiselkin did not have much idea of seeking benefits for the Netherlands. In the past few years, Chai Kiselkin had long realized one thing, that is, the Tang family of the Ming Empire was a remarkable family, and its personal strength seemed far greater than that of a country like the Netherlands. Therefore, as a Jew, Chai Kiselkin was unwilling to offend such a big family that could destroy a country for the benefit of the Dutch.
Chai Kiselkin was not very familiar with the situation in the Ming Dynasty. In his opinion, the class hierarchy in the Ming Dynasty should be similar to that in Europe. The Netherlands was a principality, so a big family like the Tang family of the Ming Empire might also be a principality under the Ming Empire. Then the head of a big family like Tang Yu would be a prince or duke under the emperor.
Chai Kiselkin felt flattered by Tang Lu's warm welcome. Although he was doing well as a Jew, his status was definitely not important in the eyes of those nobles. As a man with an army of hundreds of thousands, Tang Lu was definitely a great noble in Chai Kiselkin's eyes. Being personally welcomed by such a figure made Chai Kiselkin so excited that he had already put aside the interests of the Netherlands, which was not his own country.
"Respected Lord Tang, it is a great honor for me to meet you. This time I come to visit you on the order of General Lei Yuez. Please forgive me for any intrusion." Chai Jisir Jin said with emotion.
"Haha, Mr. Tsai Kiselkin, although this is the first time we meet, my subordinates have had many dealings with you. They often talk about you in front of me, saying that you are a talented and enthusiastic person. In a sense, you are also our friend. I hope that our friendship can be further strengthened by meeting you this time." Tang Qi has been in a high position for a long time now, and he can speak political diplomatic rhetoric fluently.
Chai Kiselkin is also an old businessman with many years of experience and has some social skills. After the two sides exchanged some irrelevant diplomatic rhetoric, Chai Kiselkin talked about the purpose of his visit. Chai Kiselkin also wanted to participate in Tang Qi's plan to open up trade with India. Since the Netherlands was defeated by Tang Qi, the Dutch fleet in the South China Sea was almost wiped out. The commander of the South China Sea fleet, Lei Yuez, was able to escape because Tang Qi gave him a break.
After the Dutch seized the South Sea Fleet, most of their interests in India were occupied by the British. They only managed to hold the island of Sri Lanka. Now that Tang Yi wanted to conduct armed trade with India, it would inevitably damage the interests of the British to a certain extent. However, the fleet under Tang Yi was too strong, so the British chose to retreat temporarily. This was another opportunity for the Dutch to re-participate in India's interests, or in other words, it was an opportunity for Dutch merchants like Chai Kiselkin to re-participate in India's interests.
The Netherlands is a tiny country with a population that limits its national strength. The Dutch overseas colonial fleet has historically been so powerful because it relied on merchants like Czak Kiselkin to fund it, which gave these overseas colonial fleets sufficient funds to recruit mercenaries. When Donald Trump's fleet rapidly rose between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, merchants like Czak Kiselkin had no choice but to set their sights on Donald Trump's fleet. For merchants, especially Jewish merchants, the greatest interest in the world is their own. They seek benefits for themselves and their families, and many of them are not in the country.
Just as many Shanxi merchants offered their full support to the Jiannu, people like Chai Kiselkin didn't mind whose ship they boarded, as long as it brought them significant profits. Tang Lu welcomed Dutch merchants like Chai Kiselkin. As long as it benefited him, his country, and his nation, he didn't care what kind of person they were. Whether they were Japanese or Western traitors, Tang Lu would treat them with preferential treatment.
Tsai Kiselkin finally reached an agreement with Tang Wo. The Dutch could symbolically send a few individuals to participate in this trade operation with India. Tsai Kiselkin and the merchants acted swiftly. Within ten days, they had organized over a thousand men and seven warships to participate in Tang Wo's operation. These seven warships were genuine Dutch production, but the thousand-man force consisted of a motley crew of various races, effectively a ragtag army of slaves.
Tang Qi's fleet landed at what would later become Nagercoil, across the sea from what would later become Sri Lanka. Unaware of the place's name, Tang Qi gave it the name Zheng He Xinzhou, meaning to celebrate the success of the voyage by drawing on Zheng He's fame. Later, Zheng He Xinzhou City was established here, also known as Zhengzhou City.
This area had a relatively high Indian population and was also home to Indian garrisons. However, after Tang Li's men fired a few shots, the Indian defenders retreated obediently. This area was originally occupied by the Dutch. After the Dutch retreated, the area became a sphere of activity for the British. However, at that time, the British were not yet sufficiently powerful to control such a large area. Thomas, the British, could only temporarily tolerate Tang Li's landing here.
After Tang Yu stationed his troops in Zheng He's Xinzhou, he sent envoys to negotiate a concession with the then-emperor of India, Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan ascended the throne in 1628. His second wife had died a few years earlier. It was said that she was incredibly beautiful, with translucent skin. The mausoleum she built after her death is the famous Taj Mahal.
He seized Shah Jahan's throne and imprisoned him in a place of seclusion. This was the final moment of their love, a moment that moved many lovers (the Taj Mahal).
Shah Jahan always thought that he was the emperor of the world. He was quite annoyed by Tang Yu's behavior and brazenly mobilized an army of 300,000 to attack. This arrogant man never thought that the combat effectiveness of the Indian soldiers was very low, and it was ranked among the worst in the world. The 300,000-strong army looked extremely powerful, but in terms of combat effectiveness, it was not much better than the Indians. Tang Yu knew this clearly from history books.
It is said that some things in history books are not credible. In fact, the fighting power of the Indians is definitely stronger than that of the Indians. The reason why the three thousand Westerners were able to destroy the Golden Empire with a million-strong army was not because the fighting power of the Indians was too weak, nor was it because the Westerners were too powerful, but because the Westerners used extremely despicable means to bring infectious diseases such as smallpox and plague to the American continent, causing more than half of the Indians who had no antibodies in their bodies to die or be injured, and the Golden Empire was destroyed.
Westerners would never write about such despicable and shameless things in history books. Instead, they portrayed the Indians as incompetent and ignorant, deceiving many people like Tang Xi. It's just like in history, when the Jiannu killed all the people in Sichuan but put the blame on Zhang Xianzhong. Although Zhang Xianzhong was not a good person, the charge of killing all the people in Sichuan was unjust. However, the Jiannu compiled a few so-called history books and deceived many people, directing their hatred towards Zhang Xianzhong.
Mobilizing 300,000 troops was no easy task. For such a large-scale movement, there was no need for spies. Tang Qi had already received the intelligence. By the time the 300,000-strong army arrived at Zheng He's Xinzhou after a long journey, Tang Qi's men had already built battle fortifications by the sea and collected many local small boats. After the battle started, the first to show their power were the artillery equipped on the fleet. Hundreds of artillery pieces plowed through the entire team of Indian soldiers rushing up.
Just this one blow crippled the vanguard of the Indian soldiers. Afterwards, the Indian commander did not dare to let his soldiers go forward to die like this. The two sides were deadlocked. Tang Qi then sent 10,000 Japanese soldiers in small boats along the river to the rear of the Indian army. Under the double-sided attack, the already frightened Indian army collapsed in an instant.
There was almost no suspense in this battle. Only 50,000 to 60,000 of the 300,000 Indian troops escaped in the end, and most of the people were captured. Britain, Spain, and the Netherlands all sent military observation groups this time. The main goal was to observe the power of the artillery equipped on Tang Li's fleet. When the military observation groups of these three countries saw that the shooting power of these new artillery was far greater than that of their own country, they became even more worried. The Spaniards, who had always had a good relationship with Tang Li, directly sent people to Tang Li, hoping to buy this kind of artillery from Tang Li.
This most advanced artillery naturally cannot be sold. Like the breech-loading rifle, Tang Qi has always strictly required his subordinates to manage the secrets of the breech-loading rifle and has established strict discipline. In the past few years, the Westerners have not discovered the secrets of the breech-loading rifle, but the artillery on the warship is too obvious a target. Anyone who is interested will eventually find that this artillery is much more advanced than that of the Westerners.
After his defeat, Shah Jahan seemed to have remembered that the Ming Empire was the Celestial Empire in the world. Without waiting for Tang Qi to send people for negotiations for the second time, Shah Jahan sent envoys to negotiate with Tang Qi. Under Tang Qi's pressure, Tang Qi successfully obtained a concession of 300 square kilometers. Tang Qi also released the hundreds of thousands of Indian prisoners and asked Shah Jahan to pay a compensation of 500,000 taels of silver. Generally speaking, Tang Qi's demands were not too harsh.
After Tang Qi signed an agreement with Shah Jahan's ministers, he left Zhao Yapeng to lead the troops stationed in the concession. He also selected some students from the Tang family school and some merchants from the Ming Dynasty to form the administrative agency of Zheng He's Xinzhou City, while Tang Qi himself returned to the Ming Dynasty City.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
