1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3671

"Master Dong, how are you?"

Dong Shangyi, who was lying on the bed, heard the call and hurriedly tried to prop himself up, but he was too weak to sit up.

Qian Tiandun stepped forward and gently pressed his shoulder, saying, "You haven't recovered from your serious illness yet, just lie down, don't force yourself."

Dong Shangyi replied weakly: "I am sorry to see you look so embarrassed, General!"

Qian Tiandun said: "This is malaria, ordinary people can't stand it. You can get better so quickly, it's already very good!"

Dong Shangyi said, "I also know that there are many strange diseases in Southeast Asia. Since I went on this visit, I have been careful about my diet and abstain from eating raw or cold food, for fear of getting sick. But what I feared came true, and I still got sick!"

Qian Tiandun said: "This disease has nothing to do with diet. It should be transmitted by mosquito bites. It is hard to prevent. You don't have to blame yourself. Take the medicine on time and have a good rest. You will be cured in three to five days."

Qian Tiandun's face did not look relaxed after visiting all the patients. He ordered his men to go to the local market to buy more livestock, poultry, eggs and milk to ensure the nutrition of these patients during their recovery period.

This is not the first time that such a situation has occurred in the special operations division. Since moving south, there have been several waves of similar epidemics in the military. However, the previous ones all occurred while the troops were stationed, and the medical treatment conditions were much better. However, this time the epidemic broke out while they were away from home, and the conditions were far worse than at their own base, and it was more troublesome to treat the patients.

Fortunately, malaria is mainly transmitted through mosquitoes and blood, and its infectiousness is still controllable. In addition, isolation and treatment measures were taken in a timely manner, and the epidemic did not break out on a large scale in the military.

But after all this trouble, a lot of the medicinal materials brought with the army were consumed. These medicinal materials are difficult to replenish overseas, and we can only pray that there will be no more accidents like this in the future.

After the fleet stayed in Mumbai for a while, the epidemic finally subsided and most people were cured, but three people eventually died of the illness locally.

Qian Tiandun was unwilling to bury his men in a foreign country, so he had to cremate their bodies and take the bones away.

Although Dong Shangyi's illness was cured, his body would inevitably be in a weak state in the short term after this epidemic.

Qian Tiandun originally wanted him to stay in Mumbai to recuperate, and after he recovered, take a Portuguese merchant ship back to Ceylon, but Dong Shangyi felt that this opportunity to travel with the special operations division was a rare opportunity, and he was unwilling to give up halfway, so he insisted on following the main force.

After all, according to the plan made before departure, we have only completed less than one-third of the journey. It would be too early to back out at this time. We can't return to Fujian later and say that we quit halfway due to illness.

After the fleet left Mumbai and set off again, Qian Tiandun specifically ordered to slow down the speed to reduce the workload of the sailors.

After two days of continuing northward, the fleet arrived at a small port called Surat.

The port here is not as big as Mumbai, but the envoy sent by the Mughal Empire finally caught up with the fleet. According to the envoy named Singh, he was appointed by the Mughal King Aurangzeb to meet with Qian Tiandun. But when he arrived in Goa, the Hai Han fleet had already left many days ago. When he caught up with them in Mumbai, he was still a step too late. After chasing all the way, he finally caught up with them in Surat Port.

Singh had two things to do on this trip. One was to clarify the arrangements and purpose of the Hai Han fleet's march along the coastline of the Indian peninsula. The other was to make some demands to Hai Han on behalf of the Mughal Empire.

When Qian Tiandun visited Goa earlier, he had learned from Fernandez that the Mughal Empire had been in political turmoil in recent years, the royal family had been caught in a civil war for two years, and the new king Aurangzeb had deposed his father, the old king Shah Jahan, a few months ago and had just come to power.

At this time, the newly-crowned king would naturally be alert when he discovered that the armed fleet of the Hai Han Kingdom suddenly appeared at his doorstep, and he would worry that foreign enemies would take advantage of the chaos to sneak in.

Aurangzeb’s attitude was clear: if Hai Han came with ill intentions, then the Mughal Empire would respond accordingly to any hostile behavior. If Hai Han came for peace, then the Mughal Empire would also remain friendly and be willing to discuss establishing formal diplomatic relations with Hai Han.

Qian Tiandun had never considered the Mughal Empire as a target, and naturally had no intention of going to war with it. He then told Singh that Hai Han’s trip was just to visit the ports along the way and explore the way for future commercial trade, and it had no other intentions.

As for diplomacy, Qian Tiandun of course agreed without hesitation. However, he thought that the other party's domestic situation was in a period of turmoil, and it was uncertain whether the new king could sit firmly in the position. Therefore, he did not take on too much responsibility and only asked the other party to send an envoy to Hai Han to discuss the establishment of diplomatic relations.

What Qian Tiandun didn't know was that King Aurangzeb was a strong man who would rule the Mughal Empire until the beginning of the next century. During the decades of his rule, the Mughal Empire would be at its most powerful.

After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal Empire quickly fell apart and then began a period of gradual colonization by Britain.

Qian Tiandun might have missed the opportunity to deal with King Aurangzeb for the first time, but for the king who had just come to power, the sense of distance shown by the Hai Han people might not be a bad thing. At this critical juncture, he should hope that other countries would not be interested in the Mughal Empire so that he could concentrate his energy on domestic politics.

As for whether the Hai Han people really intend to come here to do business, Singh's statement probably also represents the attitude of the Mughal Empire. Merchants from many countries including Portugal, the Netherlands, Persia, Britain, Aceh, Siam, and Myanmar have already come to the Mughal Empire to do business, and of course they don't mind having another Hai Han country.

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As long as the Hai Han merchants who came to the Mughal Empire paid taxes according to the law and did not collude with the rebellious Marathas in the south, they would not encounter any trouble.

Singh also presented Chan Tiandun with a local specialty of Surat as a gift. This was an embroidery made of silk threads made of gold and silver, with beautiful patterns embroidered on silk. It looked very gorgeous and was said to be sold at a high price if it was trafficked to Europe by the Portuguese.

Qian Tiandun gladly accepted it and also gave Singer some Hai Han handicrafts in return.

He showed the fabric to Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi for appraisal, and both gave it high praise.

Li Yuande said: "Although there are similar embroidery techniques in China, the styles are completely different. This kind of exotic handicraft should have a good market in China."

Dong Shangyi also said: "As long as we add some interesting rumors and anecdotes to this thing and package it a little, we can definitely sell it to the rich in the country at several times the price."

The two smiled at each other, knowing that the other's business sense was not inferior to their own. They had to go around the city and place some orders to test the waters.