Chapter 1366: We Are Peace-Loving Englishmen

"Two million shi a year?" Li Jicheng looked at Gu Conglong and asked. "Is Aurangzeb willing to give us that much?"

Gu Conglong laughed. "Imperial Lord, if he won't give it, we'll just go take it! The coastline of Bengal and Orissa is so long, and Chittagong borders Bengal besides. We can also march in by way of Manipur and Möng Tun Shun Han. How many troops can Aurangzeb station in Bengal and Orissa? There's simply no way he can hold it!"

Li Jicheng turned his head again to look at Song Yaowen and Luo Ke.

Song Yaowen said, "Imperial Lord, the Timurid Empire is close to the English and on bad terms with the French and the Dutch, and won't allow them to open trading posts on its territory. I reckon the French and the Dutch want to use us to pry open the Timurid Empire's door."

Luo Ke said, "Imperial Lord, the coasts around Fort St. George are all wealthy, producing spices, gems, and cotton cloth, and they lie on the route merchant ships must take. Moreover, those places don't belong to the Timurid Empire, and they have no strong troops, so the French and the Dutch could easily beat them into submission. I figure those Westerners just want us to fight the Timurid Empire while they go south and enjoy the good life!"

"And the English and the Portuguese?" Li Jicheng asked. "Whose side are they on, anyway?"

Sea power in the Indian Ocean was actually shared between the Dutch and the English; the French had a weak naval force, not worth mentioning. And the Portuguese had long since collapsed and couldn't get back up, so Li Jicheng didn't care whom the Portuguese backed. But whom the English backed was a very big question!

Niu Quan, who was in charge of receiving the French and Dutch missions, said, "According to the French and the Dutch, England and Portugal are in league with them."

"Then why haven't any envoys come from England and Portugal?" Li Jicheng frowned. "Zhu Cilang and I are both Han Chinese, and we're still sworn enemies! There are so many Western nations; they can't all be one solid bloc, can they? That Fort St. George was originally English territory, and it was the Dutch who dragged us into taking it! I don't believe the English can really swallow that insult."

The English attitude was extremely ambiguous. They seemed to have accepted French hegemony on the European continent and to have swallowed the bitter loss of Fort St. George.

But Li Jicheng kept feeling the matter was not that simple.

Niu Quan said, "The English have done a great deal of business these past few years and have profited handsomely in India and in the remnant Ming. Perhaps they don't want to fight."

After France and Holland colluded, England appeared to be shut out of the European continent, and because of the emergence of the Kingdom of New England it had also lost its colonies on the east coast of North America, as if it were in decline. But in reality English overseas trade was flourishing day by day. In India it had won the support of the Timurid Empire, and in the territories of the Celestial Empire it was also thriving, showing clear signs of replacing Holland, the sea coachman — because world empires had now appeared on both the eastern and western ends, the country that traded in the middle was best served by a neutral course.

And the Puritan Commonwealth of England, having no friends in Europe either, had become a neutral country quietly making a fortune.

While overseas trade flourished, the pace of England's internal unification was also steadily advancing thanks to the Puritan policies of the younger Cromwell's regime. Moreover, England's domestic industry and commerce, benefiting from foreign trade and internal unity, were developing very well.

Li Jicheng did not know England's true situation, but he still did not believe the English would hand over the gains they had worked so hard to win just because business was booming.

"We must send someone to sound out the English!" Li Jicheng said. "If the English resent us over Fort St. George and end up going over to the remnant Ming, that would be trouble!"

"Imperial Lord," Gao Yidao said, "I'll set out for Haidu at once. The English East India Company has a trading post there."

"Good!" Li Jicheng nodded. "Go quickly and return quickly!"

The head of the English East India Company's trading post in Haidu Prefecture was named William Beckett, a fair-skinned, plump English merchant of about forty who always wore a gentle smile. In his youth he had spent many years at sea, working his way up to captain in the East India Company, but now he no longer went to sea much and had begun living a settled life on land.

Before Haidu (formerly Syriam) was opened as a port, he had worked for several years at the East India Company's trading post in Surat (the Timurid Empire's largest trading port), where he had personally witnessed the grand spectacle of Princess Nisha's wedding. From that he had concluded that the Great Ming Empire was about to enter the Indian Ocean.

The entry of the Great Ming Empire, that colossal entity, into the Indian Ocean would of course displease all the maritime powers that held a place in the Indian Ocean, England included.

But Beckett advised London not to lightly join the French-led "Anti-Ming Alliance," and instead to continue a low-profile, neutral stance. His reasoning was that the more low-profile England remained, the easier it would be to reap enormous profits.

The younger Cromwell, who was never much inclined to stir up trouble, was clearly quite willing to heed this advice about quietly making a fortune, so while applauding Louis XIV, he continued to maintain neutrality.

Still, the Lord Protector of England could not ignore the upheavals that might occur in the Indian Ocean, so he dispatched his good friend — the son of the late English admiral Robert Blake — Rear Admiral George Blake, at the head of a small English expeditionary fleet, to the Indian Ocean.

In the third month of the first year of Nanping, this fleet arrived at the port of Haidu Prefecture under the pretext of delivering a letter for the English East India Company (the treaty by which the East India Company ceded Fort St. George). Now George Blake sat inside the East India Company's trading post, a cup of Mancini milk tea in his hands, listening to William Beckett analyze the situation in the Indian Ocean and its possible directions.

"... The main risk at present is that the Celestial Empire may seek to establish a naval base on the territory of the Timurid Empire! Only in that way could the Celestial Empire truly unite with the Timurid Empire and sweep Western naval power completely out of the Indian Ocean."

"Therefore we should not prevent the French and the Dutch from strengthening their military presence along the southeastern coast of India. This does us no harm. For their military presence can block the Celestial Empire's westward advance, while also steadily increasing the Timurid Empire's hostility toward France and Holland. That works in our favor as we further raise our share of the Timurid Empire's foreign trade."

"Then is it possible for us to use this opportunity to increase our share in the Pacific?" Rear Admiral George Blake interjected.

Finding a way to raise the English East India Company's share in the western Pacific, and even to squeeze the Dutch East India Company out entirely, was also part of Rear Admiral George Blake's mission in the East.

The younger Cromwell, though lacking his father's grand vision, was nonetheless a shrewd ruler. In his view, the Great Ming Empire and the Franco-Dutch alliance would sooner or later fall out over the interests of India — neither France nor Holland would ever give up India, that great slab of fat!

And the purpose of the marriage alliance between the Celestial Empire and the Timurid Empire of India was plainly to reach into India as well, so conflict between the two sides was unavoidable.

Once France and Holland fell out with the Great Ming, wouldn't the Dutch East India Company be out of the great East-West trade market? That was an enormous market, one that brought Holland millions in profit every year. If those profits could belong to England, then the younger Cromwell's power in the British Isles would grow more secure, and England's internal unification would accelerate! England would also have the financial means to build a navy capable of dominating the Atlantic.

William Beckett thought for a moment, then frowned and said, "Rear Admiral, I think that will not be easy. Although the Dutch East India Company has lost a good deal of its share of East-West trade to our English East India Company, they still hold enormous advantages in trans-Pacific trade, spice cultivation, mineral development, and the operation of colonial cities. In fact, the Dutch East India Company's operations since the Battle of Malacca have been better than before the Battle of Malacca!"

"Unless we can obtain the support of the Celestial Emperor, it will be very difficult for us to compete with the Dutch in the Pacific market!"

(End of Chapter)