Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1534 Occupying Surat Port
"The East India Company is back!"

After the port of Surat was blocked by eleven armed galleons, the Indian, Arab, and Persian merchants stranded in the port fell into a huge panic. They panicked and rushed to tell each other.People on the street are no longer doing business, they have hurriedly moved the goods from the stalls back to the houses, and closed the doors and windows.

There are many vegetable leaves and fallen fruits on the originally unclean streets. Some homeless people who can't eat enough take advantage of the chaos to pick up these things that can fill their stomachs for a living.

The last time the South Sea Fleet led the East India Company to evacuate from Surat Port, it ransacked the government office in Surat Port, causing Surat Port to fall into a brief chaos, and many pirates even fished in troubled waters in that chaos , causing many businessmen to die in the chaos.

Now all officials and businessmen in Surat Port are full of fear of the East India Company, which loots the port and the government at every turn.

The East India Company, controlled by the British before, was still very docile, dealing cautiously with the Mughal Empire and competing with the Portuguese and the Netherlands.

Later, after the Chinese people reorganized the East India Company, the strength of the East India Company increased a hundredfold, and successively pulled out the strongholds of Portugal and the Netherlands on the Indian Peninsula. They were invincible in this continent, and their reputation spread in Surat Port .

Eleven armed galleons fired several rounds towards the port, and ten small boats each carrying a dozen soldiers docked, easily occupied the crude fort in Surat Port, and captured a dozen large and small guns. Artillery, of which there are three brass cannons.

The government of Surat Port was terrified of these outsiders. They didn't dare to resist at all, and rushed to escape this bustling port with gold, silver and jewels.

Hundreds of soldiers landed in Surat Port one after another, only 100 of them were regular imperial navy soldiers, and the rest were servants recruited in India.

When they came to the streets of Surat Port, almost all the residents closed their doors and windows tightly, looking at these outsiders with horrified eyes from the dilapidated windows.

Chen Bangyan didn't pay attention to what the merchants and residents in the port thought about their arrival. He immediately led the soldiers who landed to chase after the fleeing government.

The Surat government used a horse-drawn cart to carry the treasures and goods confiscated in the warehouse, and wanted to go to the Deccan Plateau to seek refuge with the third prince Aurangzeb.

However, the gold, silver, jewelry and goods carried by the horses were too heavy, and many of the carriages were caught up by Chen Bangyan before they could go far.

Hundreds of soldiers used muskets to easily scare away the soldiers escorting the gold, silver and jewelry, and once again captured the customs duties received by the Surat Port government from merchants from various countries, and captured a group of officials alive.

The local government of Surat Port is also really unlucky. This is the second time they have been robbed of tax revenue.

However, the emperor of the Mughal Empire no longer cared about the affairs here, and these officials would not be punished even if they lost Surat Port and the taxes that should have been handed over to Agra.

"This port has been protected by our East India Company. We will build a castle here to protect the safety of Surat Port. From now on, it is no longer the territory of the Mughal Empire, but the territory of our East India Company." Jurisdiction! This matter has been approved by the current emperor of the Mughal Empire, Shashuja the Great.” Chen Bangyan asked the soldiers to gather all the Indian, Arab and Persian merchants in the port, and publicly announced to them that the East India Company owned Port of Surat.

Almost all the prosperous foreign trade ports on the Indian peninsula are controlled and occupied by the East India Company, and no outsiders will be able to rescue them. The coastline will be blocked, and they will be manipulated by the East India Company.

"We Persians can still come here for trade? Will we be treated unfairly by you?"

"What organization should we be governed by? To whom should we pay our taxes?"

The Arab merchants and Persian merchants who came to trade from the Arabian Sea were jealous when the East India Company took over the most prosperous Surat Port. No matter who they changed to control the Surat Port, they cared more about their business here. .

"The Customs Committee of the East India Company will set up a customs office in Surat Port to unify customs duties with Mumbai and Goa customs. Any ship trading in India must consciously pay customs duties to our customs, otherwise our armed merchant ships will be patrolling In the process of discovering smuggling ships, they have the power to sink them. As for the specific tariffs, there will be detailed tariff regulations, and before that, taxes will still be paid in accordance with the regulations of the Mughal Empire." Chen Bangyan continued to announce to these businessmen new regulations.

Almost all ports are in the hands of the East India Company, and the customs are unified. The annual customs duties paid by maritime merchants from various countries are a considerable amount of income.

The two important merchant groups, Arab merchants and Persian merchants, also had to act in accordance with the rules of the game set by the East India Company, otherwise they would lose the huge market of India.

Chen Bangyan led soldiers to plunder the government office in Surat Port, and then began to recruit refugees to dig and move bricks and stones, planning to build a bastion in the core area of ​​Surat Port with its back to the sea.

Population is the most indispensable thing in the South Asian subcontinent, especially the poor and homeless of the lower castes. As long as they are given a bite of food and a very meager wage, they will be willing to work for their employers.

"The range of the bastion wall needs to cover the entire area from here to there. Even if an army of [-] attacks us, it will not be able to capture Surat Port." Chen Bangyan directed labor to build the bastion.

Bastions and artillery are good things for building overseas strongholds, and their combination is enough to make all feudal kingdoms that are still transitioning from the era of cold weapons to hot weapons feel desperate.

The Portuguese built castles in Mumbai, Goa, and Malacca, and the castles became better and better as the age passed. They used their bastions to block the counterattacks of countless natives.

However, Surat Port had been under the control of the Mughal Empire before, and the Mughal Empire obviously knew the horror of the bastion and did not allow any Europeans to build castles in Surat Port.

Therefore, Surat Port, which has no castle, cannot resist the attack of the Mughal Empire, and the army of the Mughal Empire can expel the merchants here at any time.

After occupying the port of Surat, the first thing to do is to learn from the Portuguese to build the castle first and gain a firm foothold.

Now the Indian peninsula is in chaos, and the princes are busy dividing their territory, so they can't pay attention to Surat Port for the time being.

While they are still battling for the land on land, a bastion will be established on the west coast, guarding the most prosperous area of ​​commerce.

(End of this chapter)