Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1338 Asking for protection money from pirates
On the fifth day when Tunisia was blocked by the United Fleet, after the pirates went through a painful ideological struggle, they finally agreed to pay a protection fee worth 100 million taels of silver to the United Fleet in exchange for the safety of Tunisia.

The Tunisian Pasha was asked to sign an unequal treaty with the tripartite coalition forces on the ironclad ship.

Because the precedent of Algiers Pasha's surrender is there, the Tunisian Pasha is not worried that the United Fleet will detain or kill him by signing the unequal treaty.

Even so, he boarded the ironclad ship with trepidation, and what awaited him was a group of high-level officials from the United Fleet.

In the eyes of the Tunisian Pasha, these guys are jackals who eat people without spitting out their bones. They came to Tunisia not long after the sea battle ended and asked for 100 million taels of silver!

The Tunisian Pasha limped to his seat at the negotiating table, dragging his disabled leg from the naval battle.

Sun Xu, Sir Pennington and others all noticed the Tunisian Pasha's lame leg.

"This leg was injured not long ago when I was fighting with you. I can only guarantee that the pirates under our Tunisian jurisdiction will not plunder your ships and merchants. Barbary pirates operating outside the scope of our Tunisia, they will not listen Mine." Tunisian Pasha said to the group of wolves in front of him as if accepting his fate.

"Murat in Algiers has already signed the same agreement with us, and there will be Tripoli and Cairo next," Sun Xu said.

"It seems that you are planning to blackmail all the big strongholds in North Africa." The Tunisian Pasha understood the other party's intention, and the corners of his eyes twitched.

Algiers, Tunisia, Tripoli, and Cairo, each stronghold where pirates gather, extorts 100 million taels of silver, and the four strongholds combined can get 400 million taels of silver!

Black and white, this kind of business is even more profitable than being a real pirate!

"The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. There is nothing to say." The officers of the Fourth Fleet put on a cold face.

"Then you specially confronted the Imperial Fleet in the Tunis Strait to destroy our foreign aid..." Tunis Pasha suddenly seemed to have an epiphany.

Had they known the true intentions of the Combined Fleet, the Imperial Fleet might have adopted a different strategy.

The Imperial Fleet could avoid fighting instead, using guerrilla tactics to threaten the Combined Fleet.If the Fourth Fleet fears an attack by the Imperial Fleet, it will be powerless to plunder Tunisia and other places.

"It's too late to understand now. Remember your failure today, and act carefully according to the treaty. If you violate the treaty, we will make a comeback next time, and we will completely destroy Tunisia." Sun Xu waved his hand and ordered a soldier to make three copies The treaty is put away.

The unequal treaties have nothing to do with the Knights of the Hospital. The Chinese merchant ships and the British merchant ships are protected by the treaty.As for the Knights of the Hospital, they and the Barbary pirates hated each other and attacked each other, so they didn't want peace talks.

"Come here, send this Lord Pasha away. By the way, give him a box of tea. If he thinks it tastes good, he may become our tea agent in Tunisia." Sun Xu said to the soldiers under him.

The Tunisian Pasha who signed the unequal treaty also received a box of tea as a "gift" when he left, and he showed a wry smile.

This box of tea is worth 100 million taels of silver, which is too expensive.

After the Tunisian Pasha left, the three parties began to divide up the 100 million taels of silver that was about to be obtained.

"Our Fourth Fleet contributes the most. You have [-]% of the contribution, do you have any objections? Next is the Royal Fleet, you share [-]%, and the Knights also contribute, and they will provide us with a winter port, and the remaining [-]% ​​will be given to you." As the commander-in-chief of the United Fleet, Sun Xu said to his allies.

"No comment." The Royal Navy and the Knights Hospitaller replied.

The Tunisian pirates wanted to let the United Fleet leave immediately and lift the blockade of the Venetian waters. The pirates quickly went bankrupt and collected treasures and goods worth 100 million taels of silver, and even used slaves, ships, and tobacco to pay off debts.

For the non-cash compensation, the United Fleet gave a valuation to lower its value as much as possible. Among them, the slaves used for repayment were only counted as 10 taels of silver per person.

Still, the pirates were more than happy to pay their debts with the slaves they crushed, surrendering more than 2000 of them.The bulk of the debt was the goods they plundered from merchant ships bound for the Mediterranean, including silk, precious stones, and carmine pigments from China.

These commodities surprised Li Jinde slightly.

Although he hadn't seen any records of famous Chinese merchants coming to Europe before him, Chinese products were so popular in Europe.

It took some effort to move the large amount of gold, silver and goods from the city of Tunis to the ships of the United Fleet.

The United Fleet does not trust the pirates in Tunisia. Their ships do not want to enter the shelling range of Tunisia's coastal defense forts, but let the pirates drive their own pirate ships to continuously transport the gold, silver, treasures and goods from various countries to the warships. .

"War is indeed more profitable than ordinary business." Netherlandish businessman Reuter survived the sea battle, and was shocked to see the Barbary pirates who were aggressive in the Mediterranean offered 100 million gold and silver and property.

"Leuter, are you interested in joining our Fourth Fleet? What's so good about being a businessman? A real man should conquer the sea." Zheng Zhibao spared no effort to attract Leuter.

"Being a naval soldier..." Luyter, who had participated in the sea battle, recalled the sea battle and found himself a little excited.

"Captain, the commander has ordered, we will go to Tripoli and Cairo next!" the adjutant said to Zheng Zhibao.

The battleship Shuhan has already hoisted the flag of departure.

"Think about it again...we are ready to set off! All our crew members have contributed a lot this time, and there will be rewards when we return to our homeland!" Zheng Zhibao yelled at the crew on the deck to prepare to set sail.

After the Combined Fleet blackmailed the Tunisian pirates, they ran east along the coast of North Africa.

The pirates in Algiers compensated 110 million taels, and the pirates in Tunisia compensated 100 million taels. Tripoli originally didn’t want to pay high protection fees, but after the United Fleet bombarded Tripoli’s forts for three days and three nights, the psychological defense gradually collapsed. The pirates handed over gold and silver worth 130 million taels and the supplies of the imperial fleet here.

The United Fleet, which received a total of 340 million taels of compensation, originally planned to continue to put pressure on the Egyptian governor after the surrender of Tripoli, but the Egyptian governor was a bit stubborn and did not intend to pay protection fees and planned to survive the cold winter.Seeing the coming of winter, the United Fleet returned to the island of Malta, intending to teach the Egyptian Pasha a lesson after spending the winter.

(End of this chapter)