The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 340 The Key Land
At 4:16 in the morning on April , as a burst of passionate military music sounded, a routine flag-raising ceremony of the Qi people was being held in the military camp inside the Kerch Fortress.

On the wide playground, soldiers lined up neatly, dressed in gorgeous uniforms, marching in unison, with solemn expressions. A huge red rising sun and yellow dragon flag slowly rose up with the movement of the flag-raiser. In the breeze, the flag fluttered, and a golden dragon appeared lifelike in the morning light, leaping into the sky.

Several officers in military uniforms, holding sabers and looking determined, stood solemnly beside the flagpole. The soldiers held their muskets upright, watching the flag slowly rise, their faces filled with immense pride and loyalty. Their eyes flashed with determination, as if the determination to defend the country's honor to the death had been engraved deep in their souls.

"The ceremony is over!...Everyone take a rest!"

"Please give me some advice, sir!"

The whole ceremony was filled with solemnity and majesty, as if it was a carefully choreographed military ceremony. When the flag was finally hung on the top of the pole, the officer on duty loudly issued a series of commands, and the soldiers changed their muskets from being held vertically to being placed at their sides, with their legs slightly apart, their eyes looking towards the platform, and listening carefully to the officer's instructions.

Many city residents gathered outside the military camp. With the tacit consent of the guards, they climbed on the walls, squatted on the trees, and stood on the roofs, all looking up and watching the flag-raising ceremony of the Qi people.

The stirring military music, neat military appearance, solemn atmosphere... all shocked the residents of Kerch. Everyone seemed to be infected by the scene. During the entire flag-raising ceremony, no one made loud noises, no one whispered, and no one showed any blasphemous expressions.

They had never seen such a scene before, nor had they experienced how a simple flag-raising ceremony could shock everyone's mind.

The demeanor of a great country and a mighty army!
It's no wonder that the Qi people's actions made the residents of Kerch feel inexplicably safe. They looked much better than the Tatar cavalry wearing sheepskin coats.

Yes, the entire Kerch Peninsula, including the Kerch Fortress, covering more than 3,000 square kilometers of land, has been under the jurisdiction of Qi State since this month.

In order to "maintain" peace and stability in the Sea of ​​Azov and to "ensure" safe shipping in the Kerch Strait, the Crimean Khanate leased the Kerch Peninsula to the State of Qi for thirty years at a price of ten thousand gold yuan per year.

What is even more unimaginable is that the Crimean Khanate made this decision without seeking permission from its suzerain, the Ottoman Empire.

Crimean Khan Kaplan Glei I signed a lease agreement directly with Qi's chief representative in Europe, Xie Daoren, in the Khanate's royal capital of Bakhchisaray, in exchange for a package of economic aid from Qi.

After so many years, the Crimean Khanate has long realized that the biggest financial backer of the Ottoman Empire is definitely Qi State, and every year it obtains more than one million gold yuan from Qi State through syndicated loans, government aid and other means. If there are unexpected changes in the country or a major defeat on the European battlefield, the people of Qi will also provide special emergency assistance to the empire, and every time the empire is in crisis, it can safely overcome the difficulties.

As a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate did not actually gain much benefit from the Ottoman Empire. Instead, it had to frequently send troops to follow the empire to conquer Europe or attack Russia in the north. If it wanted to obtain some necessary population and material replenishment, it could only do so through battlefield spoils.

If we suffer a major military defeat, we will have to suffer a complete loss and endure a few years of hardship before we can recover.

The military support provided by the Ottoman Empire, as the suzerain state, were all junk that had been eliminated after the imperial army was equipped with Qi's new weapons. There were even a large number of weapons with obsolete performance and damaged parts, just like giving them to beggars.

The Crimean Khanate had actually wanted to establish relations with the Qi State a long time ago, trying to get some benefits from them. Even though they did not receive hundreds of millions of dollars of financial support every year like the Ottoman Empire, a little bit of money that slipped through their fingers, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, was enough for the Crimean Khanate to eat its fill.

After all, the economic pillar of the entire Khanate was too single. It was impossible for the Khanate to achieve substantial development relying solely on the slave trade and livestock trade. In addition, in order to deal with the threats from the Russians and Cossacks, the Khanate had to maintain a large number of armaments for a long time. Life was always dull, and sometimes there was even no food to eat.

Moreover, as the Russian power gradually expanded southward, and the other side built a large number of fortifications in the southern border area, the task of capturing slaves became increasingly difficult, greatly affecting the financial income of the Khanate.

Therefore, the Crimean Khanate dreamed of getting close to the wealthy and generous Qi State to improve its poor life. Decades ago, the Qi people bought a large number of female slaves from them, which was considered to be a preliminary friendly relationship. However, at that time, the Qi people only had eyes for the Ottoman Empire, and all their energy was invested in them, and they did not pay much attention to the Crimean Khanate.

Think about it, it is impossible for the Qi people to establish a close cooperative relationship with a Tatar Kingdom across the vast Mediterranean and Black Sea, skipping the Ottoman Empire. If they have any problems, they can just greet the Ottomans and solve them. Why would they lower themselves to deal with a vassal state?

However, as Qi's influence gradually extended to the Caucasus and the Black Sea region, the Crimean Khanate suddenly became worthy of investment in the eyes of the Qi people, and they began to cooperate with it to a certain extent in business affairs.

For example, in order to exert Qi's influence in Poland and Southeast Europe, the Crimean Khanate is the best fulcrum.

For example, in order to curb the southward expansion of the Russian Empire and prevent them from invading the Caucasus and Caspian Sea regions, thereby "maintaining" the security of the northern territories of the Persian Safavid Empire, the Crimean Khanate could pose a certain military deterrent to Russia from the flank.

Three years ago, the Torghut tribe in the lower reaches of the Volga River broke away from Russian control with the support of Qi State and established its own territory. In order to gain a firm foothold and jointly deal with the threat from Russia, the Crimean Khanate was its natural ally.

Previously, when Qi State was cooperating with the Crimean Khanate in a series of political, economic, and military aspects, it was more considerate of the feelings of the Ottoman Empire. Before advancing certain matters, it would always inform and explain them to Istanbul in detail, and only implement them after obtaining the other party's consent.

After all, the Crimean Khanate was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, so it had to give some face to the Ottoman Empire and not "kidnap" its little brother away in private.

However, in recent years, a crack has appeared in the relationship between Qi and Ottoman Empire. Not only did Qi stop its economic aid to the empire for several consecutive years, but it also unprecedentedly cut off the annual special financial aid to the Ottoman royal family, which greatly dissatisfied the sultan and the government of the empire.

The reason for this is that four or five years ago, Qi State requested to build a naval base on Crete to maintain Qi’s maritime trade routes in the Mediterranean region.

However, the imperial government, which had just experienced a military coup, rejected the Qi people's request in order not to overly stimulate the many opposition forces and avoid giving others an excuse. It also rejected the Qi people's plan to build a railway from Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) to Istanbul.

In the eyes of the Ottomans, Crete was not only a relatively prosperous province of the empire, but also had a very high strategic position and was of great symbolic significance to the authority of the empire. It should be noted that in order to fight for Crete, the Ottoman Empire spent more than a hundred years, countless efforts, and paid the price of hundreds of thousands of lives to seize the island from the Venetians.

If the Qi people were allowed to build a naval base on the island, it would not take long for their forces to invade the entire island. In time, they might even "steal" this Mediterranean treasure island from the empire.

Egypt is a lesson for us. Although this overseas province still belonged to the empire in name and received a certain amount of tax every year, the entire Egyptian state, from the governor to the common people, acted according to the orders of Qi and did not take the orders from the sultan and the grand vizier seriously.

As for the rejection of the plan to build a railway between Smyrna and Istanbul, it was simply because Qi's conditions were too harsh. Not only did they want to control the operating rights of the railway, they also wanted to obtain the right for ships to freely enter and exit the port of Smyrna.

This is not possible. Smyrna is the empire's most important trading port in the Mediterranean region. It is also close to the core area of ​​the empire. Foreign ships cannot be allowed to enter and exit freely. Although Qi has always maintained a friendly attitude towards the empire, as the situation changes, if the two countries become hostile, wouldn't the empire face unpredictable dangers?

We don't even allow you people from Qi to get your hands on the Island of Crete, so how could we allow you to control an important commercial port in the core area of ​​the empire?
The people of Qi originally thought that by temporarily cutting off economic aid to the Ottoman Empire, they could force the other side to agree to their conditions and successfully establish a naval base on Crete.

However, they never expected that the Ottomans seemed to be angered by Qi's economic threat. They refused to show any weakness and successively stopped many economic and military cooperation with Qi to express their dissatisfaction.

At the same time, the Ottoman Empire also deepened its diplomatic relations with France and sent a large delegation to visit Paris, promising to give French merchants preferential trade conditions that were once only enjoyed by Qi merchants.

Humph, if the east is dark, the west will be bright!

When Qi saw the Ottoman Empire's actions, it was shocked and secretly laughed at the Ottomans' willfulness and perversity.

Do you think that strengthening the alliance with France can save your Ottoman Empire from its devastating financial crisis?

How much financial aid can the French give you?

I'm afraid you don't have enough money in your pocket!
However, although the Ottoman Empire turned its head and ignored the Qi people in anger, it did not dare to completely ruin the relationship between the two sides. After all, it still owed the Qi people tens of millions of gold yuan. If it was forced to pay back the debt, it would not be able to pay it back even if it sold the entire empire.

Moreover, given the strength of Qi's navy, if they were really offended, the coastal areas of the empire would probably be devastated by the other side.

Not to mention, the Persian Safavid Empire to the east of the empire was almost a vassal of Qi and could mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to attack at any time.

Therefore, Qi's goods still enjoyed the most preferential policies, the Black Sea Strait continued to be open to Qi's ships, and of course, Qi people living and doing business in the empire still enjoyed the protection of extraterritoriality.

Under such circumstances, the State of Qi broke away from the Ottomans and directly contacted and joined hands with the Crimean Khanate.

First, he brought together the Crimean Khanate and the newly born Astrakhan Khanate to form a military offensive and defensive alliance, creating the Caspian Sea-Black Sea defense chain to jointly deal with the expansion of the Russian Empire.

After the Polish succession crisis broke out, he encouraged the Crimean Khanate to invade northwards into the southern Russian steppes in order to contain and mobilize the Russian army so that it could not concentrate on its actions in Poland.

At the beginning of this year, the people of Qi just casually said that the Kerch Strait is the only channel connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov, and it has a very important strategic position. Nearly 200 ships pass through this golden waterway every year. If it is controlled by the Russians, it will inevitably threaten the trade and shipping in the entire region, especially the slave ships and grain ships of the Crimean Khanate.

As a responsible major country committed to maintaining the global maritime order, Qi has the obligation and ability to eliminate this potential maritime risk. If a small-scale naval fleet can be stationed here, it will surely make due contributions to the peace and stability of the entire Black Sea region.

The Crimean Khan Kaplan Gera I understood the intention and immediately leased the Kerch Fortress on the west side of the strait to Qi State so that Qi could build a naval base and station naval warships there.

After inspecting the Kerch Fortress, the Qi Navy believed that an isolated fortress alone was not enough to ensure the safety of the entire naval base. If the enemy attacked from behind, they could surround the fortress in an instant and even cut off the water supply, making it impossible to hold out for long.

Well, it just lacks the necessary strategic depth.

Kaplan Glei I immediately and generously ceded the entire Kerch Peninsula to the Qi people.

You should be satisfied now. The depth is more than 90 kilometers and the width is more than 30 kilometers. This is enough for you Qi people to build several sturdy fortresses to protect the entire naval base.

Faced with the knowledgeable and sensible Tatars, Qi was very satisfied and immediately stated that it would provide the Crimean Khanate with a total of 500,000 gold yuan in financial assistance in the next three years to enable the Khanate to purchase Qi's military equipment and corresponding production and living materials as well as improve domestic transportation facilities.

In terms of background, the Crimean Khanate is much stronger than the Torghut people. If it is given a certain degree of support, it will definitely cause considerable trouble to the Russians.

"The weather is getting warmer, and the Eastern European battlefield, which has been quiet for many days, should be moving." Xie Daoren, Qi's chief representative in Europe, stood by the side of the ship, looking at the gradually moving Kerch Port, and muttered: "Then, our Qi country uses the Crimean Khanate and the Astrakhan Khanate to kick the Russians hard, which should have a certain impact on the entire Polish situation."

"Well, it would be best if we could use the Polish succession crisis to stir up the geopolitics of the entire Europe, so that Da Qi can reap huge benefits from it!"

(End of this chapter)