1635 Han style rises again

September 1676, 9, Bengal, Gangneung Fort (now Calcutta, India).

Rao Yonggui stood on the watchtower and carefully observed the movement of the Mughal army outside the city with a telescope.After a while, he put down the binoculars, handed them to the vigilant guards nearby, then turned around and went down the watchtower, walking towards the official office.

"What's the matter with the Mughals?" Jiang Boxiang, the shopkeeper, was lying on a rocking chair, fanning the wind with a folding fan in his hand. Although it was not the hottest season, the weather was still hot and humid. It's unbearable.

"The Mughals don't have any plans to attack by force, and they probably want to trap us here." Rao Yonggui grabbed a cup of tea on the table, drank it in one gulp, and then picked up the teapot and poured another cup.

"Damn it, the Mughals are very patient. They saw that our Jiangling Fort has insufficient material reserves, and tried to force us to leave the city and surrender by means of siege." Jiang Boxiang put away the folding fan and cursed bitterly.

"That's right. After taking in more than a dozen people from nearby trading stations and their families, the population of the entire Jiangling Fort has soared to more than 300. In addition to the Mughal merchants, employees, handymen, and coolies in the city, Such a small fortress is filled with almost 2000 people. This daily consumption is not a small number!"

"...You mean, drive out all those Mughal merchants and employees and let them fend for themselves?" Jiang Boxiang heard the subtext in Rao Yonggui's words.

"Keeping the six or seven hundred Mughals will not only consume our few supplies, but also have to send out some guards to watch them. In case, they cooperate with the Mughal army outside, they will If this Jiangling Fort is sold, we will all be prisoners of the Mughals!"

"Kick those Mughals out, and we will lose the hearts of the people here in the future!" Jiang Boxiang was a little hesitant. Almost all the businessmen and guards in Jiangling Fort raised one or two Mughal women. The father, brother or relatives of the Qi people also became the product agents of the Qi people or hired helpers and coolies, earning a far higher income than ordinary Mughals.

"Well, we can also give them a severance pay, and let them come back after the situation eases." Rao Yonggui saw that Jiang Boxiang was a little embarrassed, so he suggested.

"Even if we give them a severance pay, after they leave Jiangling Fort, it will not be cheap for the Mughal army outside the city." Jiang Boxiang shook his head and said with a wry smile: "If this is not the case, first send those helpers and coolies who have no background first." Send them out of the city and see how the Mughal army treats them, and then decide where the rest of the Mughals go?"

"...Just as the shopkeeper said." Rao Yonggui nodded, then got up and went out to handle the matter.

"Has there been any relaxation in the Mughal blockade on both sides of the Hooghly River?" Jiang Boxiang asked suddenly.

"No." Rao Yonggui shook his head and said, "The Mughals set up several artillery positions on both sides of the river. With the strength of the armed merchant ships under our trading company, it is estimated that if we venture in, we will probably not be able to please them."

"Hey, I don't know how the other sites of the trading company are? Are they trapped by the Mughals like us?"

"It's hard to say what happened to other commercial stations, but Chittagong should probably be able to resist the Mughal attack like us and keep the personnel of the commercial station safe." Rao Yonggui thought for a while, then said with a wry smile.

Four years ago, Shaista Khan, the governor of Bangladesh, was ordered by the emperor to impose high special taxes on cotton fabrics from Qi merchants, and took measures to limit the sales of cotton fabrics in Qi.However, in order not to offend the Qi people too much and appease their anger, he also granted Qi merchant ships the privilege to trade along the Hooghly River up the Shuo to Jagdha without approval, and at the same time authorized the Qi merchants to go to Hooghly, which is 80 kilometers away from the Gulf. Establish a new trade post on the east bank of the river.

After some inspections, the Qi State Bangladesh Trading Company finally chose the location of Jiangling Fort to build a trade base.

To the west of Jiangling Fort is the Hooghly River, to the north there is a bend in the river, to the east is a salt lake a few kilometers away, to the south is a forest, and there are barriers on all sides. The whole terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack.Moreover, the Hooghly River flows through Jianglingbao with a wide surface and deep river water, which can pass through large merchant ships of the thousand-ton class.

However, the only disadvantage is that there are depressions and swamps in this area, and there are many mosquitoes, which are prone to breed malaria and other tropical diseases. There are certain health threats to the businessmen and their families in Qiguo.

Fortunately, the Mughal Empire had endless human resources.In two years, Jiangling Fort spent tens of thousands of Hanzhou silver dollars to gradually fill up all the depressions and swamps within one kilometer.And the large forest on the south side of the castle also cleared a large open area, greatly reducing the breeding environment for mosquitoes and poisonous snakes.

In fact, after more than four years of construction, Jiangling Fort's various facilities are not particularly perfect, especially the peripheral defenses are relatively simple.Except for the core castle with a radius of less than 200 meters, which is constructed of masonry and cement, most of the outer city walls were built with giant wood and rammed earth. The Mughals, with tens of thousands of troops at every turn, besieged and bombarded with artillery. Regardless of the casualties, it can be conquered completely.

But for some reason, Shaista Khan, the governor of Bangladesh, seems unwilling to kill Qi. Not only did he act very slowly when attacking Qi’s business stations and strongholds in Bangladesh, so that many Qi’s businessmen could evacuate in time. Moreover, when sending troops to besiege Jiangling Fort, only more than [-] troops were mobilized.

After some persuasion failed, the Mughal army tried to launch an attack on Jiangling Fort, but was repelled by the Qi people with fierce artillery.After that, the Mughal army did nothing, but stationed far away in the open area to the south, monitoring and besieging Jiangling Fort.

Two months ago, Emperor Aurangzeb learned from various channels that Qi State was about to attack the Mughal Empire across the sea.For this reason, the emperor of the empire decided to pre-emptively strike, and ordered the governors of various places to immediately attack the various commercial stations and strongholds of Qi State in the territory, and wanted to capture all the merchants of Qi State and take them as hostages.

That's right, the emperor's order is indeed a bit surprising, requiring the governors of all regions to try not to kill or injure Qi merchants when they attack the strongholds of Qi merchant stations, and it is best to capture them all alive.

The governors from all over the country privately speculated that His Majesty the Emperor might not want to completely tear himself apart from the Qi State. Apart from being afraid of the other party's tyrannical sea power, he was also greedy for the huge amount of taxes provided by the other party and a wide variety of practical commodities.

Qi’s steel bars and iron products are not only better in quality, but also cheaper in price. They are the strategic materials that the Mughal Empire relies on most; the tea they provide has become one of the main drinks for the middle and upper nobles and wealthy businessmen of the empire to show their status. [-]. Exquisite porcelain and delicate and neat cloisonne are the main collections of the palace and noble mansions; the supply of sugar in the Mughals is also fully monopolized by merchants from Qi.

Pearls, lacquerware, silk, perfumes, oils, leather goods, etc., countless commodities with exquisite functions made the Mughals dazzled and couldn't put it down.

Oh, and their much-debated cottons.To be honest, the cotton fabrics produced by the Qi State are thinner, more transparent, and the printing and colors are more vivid, which are far superior to the cotton fabrics produced by the Mughals themselves, and are deeply loved by princes, nobles and wealthy classes.

However, the large influx of Qi State cotton fabrics dealt a heavy blow to the pillar industries of the Mughal Empire, affecting tens of millions of people, and the collection of imperial taxes and fees was even more fatal.

Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor had no choice but to take some tough measures to increase the import tax rate of Qi's cotton fabrics and limit the import quantity in order to protect the Mughals' own cotton fabric industry.

However, Qi was preparing to launch an invasion war against the empire, citing trade disputes and discriminatory treatment by the Mughal Empire.His Majesty the Emperor naturally had to confront him, and it was impossible for him to succumb easily to the military threat of Qi.

However, based on various considerations, His Majesty the Emperor may still hope to avoid a huge war with Qi, and the two sides can sit down and have a good talk, eliminate differences, and restore the old situation of friendly cooperation with each other.Therefore, the governors of all places were asked not to kill and injure Qi businessmen, but to try to take them hostage, so as to facilitate negotiations with Qi people in the later stage.

Since His Majesty, the great emperor, was unwilling to completely tear himself apart from the Qi State, Shaista Khan, the governor of Bangladesh, did not want to have a direct confrontation with the Qi State.Acting for Bangladesh affairs for more than ten years, Shaista Khan has dealt with Qi, Dutch, British, Portuguese and French countless times, and knows the background of these foreign forces and the powerful sea power behind them.

Especially Qi State, not only has the largest commercial power, but also has a powerful naval fleet deployed in the Indian Ocean region to protect their commercial interests in the region, which is really not easy to mess with.

However, due to the emptiness of the national treasury, coupled with the impact of Qi's cotton fabrics on the local cotton spinning industry in the Mughal Empire, His Majesty temporarily ignored the threat of Qi, and increased the import tax rate of Qi's products year after year, making the other party unable to hold back The dissatisfaction and resentment that have long been accumulated in the heart.

Of course, Shaista Khan also wrote a letter to persuade His Majesty the Emperor not to force the merchants of the Qi State repeatedly and impose heavy taxes, so as not to annoy them.Even if a commodity import tax is to be levied, it should treat all foreigners equally, not just Qi people like this.

However, His Majesty the Emperor was also in a dilemma. In the Mughal Empire, the annual trade volume was roughly estimated at 9000 million to [-] million rupees (too many smuggling trades could not be counted), and the Qi family accounted for more than [-]%.The rest is the trade shares obtained by businessmen from Europe, Persia, Arabia, and Malay regions. The more are only a few million rupees, and the less are only hundreds of thousands. If all taxes are collected, they will definitely be scared. Running away and transferring to Persia or several southern kingdoms will have a serious impact on the foreign trade of the Mughal Empire.

And Qi State occupies such a large share of the trade volume, and the profits it must have earned are also astronomical. It is only natural to levy some taxes on him. If there is no such loss, he will leave and abandon the Mughal Empire. this huge market.

Now, the Qi people are really annoyed, and they want to use violence for it.Those Dutch, British, and Malays all claimed with certainty that Qi had assembled a huge expeditionary fleet and was going to come to the Mughal Empire to ask for an explanation.

Shaista Khan is extremely panicked about the upcoming military strike against Qi.As the richest province in the empire, almost all the essence of Bangladesh is within the attack range of Qi’s navy. Except for several coastal towns, Dabu, an important town along the Jamuna River, Ganges River, Hooghly River, and Damoder River , will also be attacked by Qi Navy gunboats.

In this situation, how can the Bangladesh region be fortified one by one to prevent Qi from landing and raiding places?

Therefore, after he dispatched several troops to besiege the commercial stations and strongholds of the State of Qi in Bangladesh, he tried his best to concentrate the limited forces in various regions in several important cities such as Dhaka, Hooghly, Budwan, and Khulna. The local people stepped up to repair the city defenses in response to Qi's attack.

Shaista Khan only hoped that by virtue of his superior force and solid city defenses, he could force back the invasion of the Qi people and make them realize that the entire Bengal region has already done a complete battle preparation, so that the opponent can retreat in spite of difficulties. Raid Bangladesh again.

Qi's expeditionary fleet arrived in Bangladesh earlier than Shaista Khan expected. On September 9, he received two warnings at the same time.

On September 9, the people of Qi State led ten gunboats on the east bank of Hooghly, and after destroying the artillery positions set up by the Mughal Empire on both sides of the strait, they launched a landing campaign and defeated the Mughal army that was besieging Jiangling Fort.Then, after only one day of rest, the Qi army went up the Shuo River along the river and continuously shelled the towns of Balanagar, Thidhagar, Baidia Bati, Hooghly and other towns, causing hundreds of military and civilian casualties and countless property losses.

On September 9, another fleet of the Qi people went up the Shuo River along the Pusur River. It first broke through Mengla Port and plundered for a day, then continued to attack southward and arrived at Khulna, an important town on the west bank of the Pusur River.While the local defenders struggled to resist the siege of the Qi army, they sent messengers to Dhaka urgently, asking Shaista Khan to send reinforcements to rescue the siege.

"Jahira, go and find people from Qi." In the main hall of Bala Katra Palace, Shaista Khan looked at the big Bangladeshi businessman who had a close relationship with Qi in front of him, and said solemnly: "You Go ask them what it will cost us to stop attacking Bangladesh."

"My lord governor, I am happy to serve you." Jaheira bowed his head respectfully and said, "But I hope to obtain the necessary conditions for a truce from you. You know, running back and forth takes a lot of time and energy. I can't guarantee that the Qi people will continue to attack our rich Bengal region without satisfying the conditions."

"..." Shaista Khan frowned, took a breath, and said in a deep voice, "50 rupees, and the safety of all Qi people in Bangladesh."

"Your Excellency, I think the two conditions... may not meet the requirements of the people of Qi." Jaheira said with some embarrassment.

Everyone is a sensible person, and everyone knows what the purpose of the Qi State's call from thousands of miles away is.If the Governor-General wants to exchange only 50 rupees for the Qi people to give up attacking Bangladesh, I am afraid it is not realistic.

"Although I am the governor of Bengal, I manage the richest province in the empire. But I am 74 years old, and I will be called by Allah at any time to go to heaven. Under this situation, my influence on His Majesty the Emperor and the policy of the empire , It’s already very weak.” Shaista Khan’s face was a little silent, “I only hope that in my last days, the Bangladesh region can be saved from war and more lives will be saved.”

"But, my lord governor..."

"Go and tell the people of Qi." Shaista Khan waved his hand and interrupted Jaheira, "If you want to influence Delhi's policy and change His Majesty's mind, it is best to let them go to Gujarat. Of course, in the When they leave the Bengal area, I will guarantee the safety of all Qi people in the territory. Go ahead and tell them that even if Bengal is smashed, there will be no results, and it will only make His Majesty even more angry."

"...As you order, my lord governor." Jaheira stroked his chest with his right hand and bowed in agreement.