The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 406: The Intentions of the Marathas

December 12, Jalna, the capital of the Maratha Empire.

Compared with the empire's previous capital, Pune, Jalna was undoubtedly smaller in size and population, but its city defenses were much stronger than Pune.

The walls of Jalna are tall and built with large blocks of stone. There are also powerful cannons installed on the top of the city, emitting a faint cold light, as if they are ready to deal with any possible enemies at any time.

"If the people of Qi come to attack, how long can this city hold out?" Baron Pierre Jean Puyol, the French special commissioner for Indian affairs, patted the gun barrel gently and asked with a smile.

"If the Qi people put all their efforts into attacking this city, they should be able to capture it within two months." Trevor Clivenot, the Frenchman and the chief trainer of the new army of the Maratha Empire, thought for a while, shook his head and said, "If the Qi people don't care about the cost, they may be able to capture the city of Jarna in a month."

"Wow, the Qi people are so powerful!" Baron Puyol spread his hands exaggeratedly, "So, in India, if the Qi people want to capture a city, they can do it easily? ... Are they really that powerful?"

"Sir, we have learned from different channels that Qi has 15,000 to 20,000 troops stationed in India. Together with the Indian native vassal troops they recruited, the total force may exceed 100,000." Clivenot said solemnly: "Although in India, whether it is the Mughal Empire, the Maratha Empire, or even the Mysore Kingdom and the newly rising Sikh Kingdom, they can mobilize more than 100,000 troops. However, these local powerful armies only have advantages in numbers, and their combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning compared to the Qi people. From weapons and equipment to training level, and even organization and coordination, they are far inferior to the Qi army."

"The Qi army is certainly much stronger than these powerful Indian armies, but the Qi people need to take care of a very vast colonial territory." Baron Pujol said: "The Qi people's colonial power extends from the Bay of Bengal to the east coast of India, from the southernmost tip of India to Balochistan in the north, spanning thousands of kilometers. In order to defend these colonial territories, they have to spread 100,000 troops in these areas like pepper. It is reported that the Qi people stationed in the west coast area near the Marathas have less than 20,000 troops. Moreover, in order to support the war in the Mediterranean region, they seem to have drawn another 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers from there. So, the number of Qi troops facing the Marathas may be only more than 10,000."

"Sir, the Marathas do not dare to initiate a military attack on the Qi people." Clivenot immediately understood what Baron Puyol meant from his words.

Provoke the Maratha Empire to attack the Qi people!

This was too crazy and too risky, and the Marathas would definitely not take this decision.

The Maratha Empire had suffered two devastating defeats at the hands of the Qi people in more than 40 years, which had long left them with psychological trauma.

Even in the west coast area near Maratha, the defense of Qi State seemed a little weak after part of its military force was withdrawn to the Mediterranean Sea, but the people of Qi State could completely hold the fortress, kill a large number of attacking Maratha soldiers with powerful firepower, and wait for reinforcements from other regions to arrive.

Because the Qi people controlled almost the entire Indian coast, it was difficult for the powerful factions in various parts of India to obtain advanced weapons imported from abroad. They could only recruit some adventurers and poor craftsmen from Central Asia and Europe to cast cannons and produce muskets in the most primitive and clumsy way. Under such circumstances, the Marathas lacked the necessary siege artillery and were certainly unable to knock down the fortress built by the Qi people.

Therefore, unless the Marathas are stubborn or have lost their minds, they will provoke the Qi people at all costs.

That's just plain uncomfortable!

"The Marathas dare not attack Qi, but after Qi has recovered, they will definitely turn around and attack the Marathas." Baron Puyol snorted coldly and turned to look at Clivenot. "The ambition of the Qi people is very obvious, that is to gradually annex the whole of India and completely bring this rich land under their colonial rule. Over the years, how the Qi people have gradually expanded from coastal ports to the inland hinterland and occupied one piece of territory after another should be obvious to everyone. If they are not curbed, the Qi people will eventually swallow India into their belly one day."

"…In the past, the Mughal Empire was so glorious and powerful, but after being attacked and weakened by Qi, it no longer had the power it once had. Governors in various places established their own kingdoms, and the decrees of the Mughal Empire could only reach the vicinity of Delhi. More than 20 years ago, the Marathas led the main force of the army northward, intending to destroy the Mughal Empire and unify India again. However, this move was blocked by the Qi people, who joined forces with the Mughal Empire and the Karat Khanate on the banks of the Kharmanwati River to severely defeat the Maratha army, shattering the Maratha Empire's dream of unifying India."

"Let me ask you, do the Marathas feel resentful about this? Are they willing to accept this? Are they just going to sit there and wait for the Qi people to attack and eventually become their loyal slaves?"

"..." Clivenot swallowed a few times after hearing this, and said with embarrassment: "Baron, what you said is very reasonable and forward-looking. However, I think we may not be able to convince His Majesty the Emperor. Because he does not want to waste too much strength on the Qi people, so as not to be coveted and attacked by forces in other places. You know, in addition to facing the threat of the Qi people, the Marathas also have to guard against the military threats from the Kingdom of Hyderabad and the Mughal Empire. Compared with the latter two, the Qi people are undoubtedly the most powerful. If the Marathas suffer too much loss when attacking the Qi people, I believe that the Mughal Empire and the Kingdom of Hyderabad will not sympathize or support it at all, but will take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the Marathas."

"Stupid! ... Short-sighted!" Baron Puyol heard this and immediately said angrily: "Don't these indigenous kingdoms know that after Qi destroyed the Maratha Empire, they will be the next to fall?"

"Yes, sir." Clivenot nodded with a wry smile. "In India, many princes are extremely short-sighted, and even extremely selfish. They always care about their own interests. As long as the Qi people do not harm their interests too much, or even protect their interests, they don't care who is the owner of this land."

"But we need to do our best to change their thinking and cowardly behavior," said Baron Pujol. "I remember that the Oriental Institute in Paris translated many oriental classics, which contain many philosophical proverbs and revelations. One of them is that once the lips are rotten, the teeth in the mouth will not be protected and will soon rot along with the lips. Throughout India, whether it is the Maratha Empire or the Mughal Empire, as well as those powerful princely states of all sizes, should rely on and protect each other like lips and teeth, so as to prevent the invasion and destruction of the 'virus'."

"Sir..." Clivenot scratched his head and said in a disappointed tone, "I think this is difficult to accomplish. No one wants to expose their lips to the outside world. They may think that the harm from the Qi people is far away from them."

"Although it's difficult, we need to try hard." Baron Pujol noticed a grand team coming outside the city, with colorful flags and bright armor, just like the royal guards returning from hunting. "For France and His Majesty the King, we must cause some trouble for the Qi people. I believe that the Marathas must have several smart and wise ministers and generals."

"Well, maybe..." As a senior mercenary general who had been in India for more than ten years, Clivenot had a certain understanding of the affairs in the Indian region. Therefore, he was not optimistic about Baron Puyol's plot.

The power of the Qi people in India is far stronger than imagined, and the Indian natives are more cowardly and selfish than they appear.

Those opponents who dared to challenge Qi all suffered heavy losses, some even died and their country was destroyed, and disappeared into the dust of history.
-
December 12, Pune.

"Are you there?"

As the carriage suddenly stopped, Cao Xuan, who was dozing off, shook his body and woke up immediately.

He rubbed his eyes, lifted the car curtain and looked out. It seemed that he had arrived at a city gate and was following a group of local merchants and civilians queuing to enter the city.

"Yes, sir, we have arrived in Pune." Anwar, a hired broker from Shanghai, responded respectfully from the seat opposite.

"My waist is almost broken from all the shaking!" Cao Xuan stretched out his arms and stretched his muscles a little, then complained: "Tell me, why didn't the train go directly from Yunyang (now New Mumbai District) to Pune City, but stopped at Pingshan (now Khopoli Town, southeast of Mumbai). The remaining long distance relies entirely on packhorses for transportation, which really takes a lot of effort!"

"Sir, our Guangwei Governorate originally planned to build a railway to Pune City, but this move was strongly opposed by the Maratha Empire, and they refused to cooperate with the construction of this railway line." Anwar also had a bit of regret on his face.

"Why?" Cao Xuan asked curiously, "With the railway built to Pune, it will be easier for the Maratha people to transport their goods to Shanghai, and then transport them to our Qi State and even all over the world by sea. For them, it is a hundred benefits and no harm!" "Sir, the Marathas are afraid that our Qi State will transport troops via railways and directly attack their inland hinterland." Anwar explained, "You know, Pune was once the capital of the Marathas and has a political and economic status that cannot be ignored. Moreover, once Pune is captured by our Qi State, they will face the vast hinterland of the Maratha Kingdom, and they will have almost no strategic locations to defend."

"Tsk..." Li Dewu, who was sitting next to Cao Xuan, found it strange and funny to hear the dark-skinned native man keep saying "our Qi State" and could not help laughing out loud.

"Why are you laughing, uncle?" Cao Xuan turned around and asked.

"Uh..., nothing, nothing!" Li Dewu waved his hands repeatedly and said politely: "I just thought of an embarrassing thing that happened in the past, and I couldn't help laughing."

"Oh..." Cao Xuan didn't ask any more questions and continued to turn his head to look out the car window.

When their vehicle stopped at the city gate sentry post for inspection, a young Maratha officer simply looked into the car, saw two people with oriental faces sitting inside, immediately smiled, then waved his arm, signaling the soldiers to let them pass immediately.

We can't afford to offend the people of Qi!

After Cao Xuan and his party entered Pune, they first found a clean hotel to rest. Anwar, the broker, drank a few sips of tea despite the long journey, and took a few of Cao's men to the commodity trading market while it was still early to find a local broker to purchase a batch of cotton and saltpeter in short supply.

The former supplied countless local cotton textile mills, while the latter supplied domestic military industrial enterprises, stockpiling sufficient military supplies for the ongoing Qi-French War.

As long as these materials are brought back to the country, they can be sold at a good price.

Although it is winter now and the time for cotton to be put on the market has passed, there must be local Indian merchants who have stockpiled a lot of raw cotton in the hope of getting a good selling price during this time of scarce supply.

However, when the broker Anwar returned to the hotel in the evening, he told Cao Xuan some bad news.

"What, cotton and saltpeter are all out of stock?" After listening to the report, Cao Xuan stood up from his chair in surprise.

"What's going on? Could it be that the local merchants want to hoard the goods so that they can sell them at a high price?"

Hey, these Indian natives, are they going to blackmail us Qi people?

"Sir, I don't think those local merchants are deliberately holding back on selling in order to make huge profits." Anwar shook his head and said, "I visited seven or eight commodity brokers in the afternoon, and they all claimed that the local raw cotton and saltpeter were bought up by several inland merchants, so that there is almost no stock in Pune."

"Merchants from the inland?" Cao Xuan was a little surprised. "Who else would actively buy the raw cotton from India except for us Qi people? Haha, could it be that the Marathas have built many cotton textile factories in the hinterland, preparing to spin yarn and weave cloth to compete with our Qi country's cotton cloth market?"

"Sir..." Anwar hesitated for a moment, then said, "Sir, I have a guess about this matter, but I don't know if it is close to the truth."

"Well, tell me about it." Cao Xuan looked at him encouragingly.

This broker was found by Li Yanliang through his connections in the Customs Office. He was experienced and loyal, and had helped many Qi traders to close numerous deals. He had a good reputation and was very worry-free to use, as he only had to deal with the relationship between road transportation and customs declaration.

"Sir, I suspect that the driving force behind the purchase of raw cotton and saltpeter in the market should be the Maratha government." Anwar said, "Otherwise, it would be impossible for the entire market to be out of stock just by the operations of individual merchants."

“Why did the Maratha officials do this?”

"I guess they want to gain some pricing power." Anwar said with a smile, "Sir, you know that in the entire Indian region, almost all commodity pricing power is in the hands of Qi merchants, which has caused huge losses to various Indian forces, including the Marathas. The Marathas may want to change this situation and hope to gain more profits from exporting goods. After all, the Marathas have to maintain a large army and frequently engage in wars and conflicts with surrounding forces. The treasury must be very empty and urgently needs a large amount of funds to fill it."

"Damn it!" Cao Xuan cursed softly, "The Marathas have no access to the sea. I wonder how they are going to sell all the supplies they have stored!"

As he spoke, Cao Xuan paced back and forth in the room somewhat anxiously.

I didn’t expect to be hit by a blow as soon as I arrived in India. I couldn’t even purchase local goods!
"Oh, yes, sir." Seeing this, Anwar said quickly, "However, the local commodity broker mentioned that the Marathas are purchasing large quantities of steel, hardware, iron farm tools, alcohol, sugar and other commodities, and the prices are slightly higher than a month ago. If we have a large supply of such goods, we will definitely be able to make a huge profit."

"Oh, really?" Cao Xuan became interested immediately after hearing this.

"Yes, sir." Anwar then added: "A commodity broker also said that if we can get a large number of firearms and military supplies such as swords and spears, the Marathas will also be open to purchasing them. Of course, if there are cannons, they don't mind giving a higher price."

"Why, the Marathas are going to fight with someone?"

"Well, I think we should use force against Hyderabad in the south," Anwar said uncertainly.

"Heh, they won't buy military supplies to fight us Qi people, right?"

"How is that possible?" Anwar said with a smile, "The Marathas dare not come to fight us. At most, they will threaten the surrounding local forces, but they will never dare to go to war with our Qi State. Because they cannot bear the consequences of war."

(End of this chapter)