Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1934 Diu Island and India ([-])

India at the end of December and early January has been completely shrouded in the power of the northeast monsoon.The power of this monsoon is so strong that the "Dash Champion" class immigration transport ship carrying Shao Shuguang can comfortably sail along the strong counterclockwise ocean current, sail all the way to the northeast along the west coast of India, and finally berth at the port of Diu.

The port of Diu is located in the city of Diu in the Goa-Daman-Diu district of India, a city full of Portuguese style.Of course, after people from the east coast entered Diu Island for several years and experienced large-scale construction throughout last year, today’s Diu Port has some more east coast elements, and the architectural style of the entire city is also more colorful.

You see, next to the St. Paul's Church built by the Portuguese is the Qingyang Temple with cornices and corners, a building affiliated to the Taoist Federation.Compared with the Baroque-style stone reliefs and colonnades of St. Paul's Church, the Qingyang Temple is made of blue bricks. On the outer wall is a group of murals of Tianzun riding a green bull to the west. Inside is a huge courtyard. The carved beams and painted buildings inside are very exquisite.

In order to build the first Taoist temple in the Indian subcontinent that embodies the majesty and love of heaven, the Taoist Federation invested a lot of money in Qingyang Temple. Not only the bricks, tiles and cement were specially transported from Xinhua Island, but the The wood is also high-grade tropical wood imported from Ceylon Island at a high cost, which is expensive.

Of course, the above are not all the expenses of Qingyang Temple.In fact, the interior decoration of this view is also very elegant, reflecting a low-key luxury atmosphere everywhere.Just like the couplet at the door, it was paid a lot of money in Ningbo to hire famous handwriting, and then hired top craftsmen in the industry to carve it, which fascinated the Portuguese and Indians who had seen it on Diu Island.

It is worth mentioning that, not far from St. Paul's Church and Qingyang Temple, there is actually a Buddhist temple.The Buddhist temple was also funded and built by the local Buddhist association on the east coast, which was expensive.Perhaps it was for the sake of making a difference in India, the birthplace of Buddhism. Although their financial resources were far inferior to those of the Taoists, they still managed to scrape together the funds and built this building called Guoxing Temple. It's not easy either.

"The worries of the world are eliminated, and when you arrive at the most beautiful place, you will be relaxed and happy. What is the name, what is the benefit, what is the value of the article, let go of your eyes, enjoy the moon by the stream, the breeze outside the threshold, the bell in the courtyard, and the slanting light in front of the embankment. ;The light of the lake is under the control. When it is blissful, it sings wildly and is drunk. Yuanpu Jinghong. The couplet is a good couplet, the characters are good characters, Guoxing Temple really has some connections, not bad, not bad!" Today is January 1686, 1, in front of the main gate of Guoxing Temple, and I just disembarked at midnight yesterday Shao Shuguang, who landed, looked at the long couplet in front of the door, and said with admiration: "Guoxing Temple has really made great efforts to spread the mysteries of Chinese culture and Buddhism. India is the birthplace of Buddhism, but it is a pity that it declined early. , Guoxing Temple is determined to revive Indian Buddhism, whether it succeeds or not, this ambition is always admirable."

In fact, India's native Hinduism is more beneficial to the rule of foreign colonists.They are docile, tolerant, pursuing the afterlife, and have a weak spirit of resistance. They are simply the religious system that any ruler—including foreign colonial rulers—dreams of.The Buddhism that came to India from China's "export to domestic sales" also emphasizes non-conflict with the world and cultivating the afterlife, but it is not as extreme as Hinduism. As far as the ruler is concerned, it is actually not very suitable.

However, who made the new owner of Diu Island be a person from the east coast?This variant of Chinese culture on the east bank is relatively close to and appreciates Buddhism that has been integrated with Chinese culture. This can be seen from Shao Shuguang's praise of the couplets of Guoxing Temple. After all, it is in his blood. The innate things are indeed more suitable to my taste than the Indian Asan's set.

In later generations, there were a large number of Catholics on the island of Diu, and their number was no less than that of Hinduism and other miscellaneous religious believers. This shows the profound influence of the Portuguese colonial rule for hundreds of years.And the Portuguese can do this, so are the people on the east coast worse?There are only a few thousand Indians on the island of Diu—this still includes a large number of seasonal workers from the other side of the river. It is not impossible to change species, as long as the people on the east coast are willing.

"Master Zhifa of Guoxing Temple is an eminent monk who has practiced Taoism for many years in Ningbo Prefecture. He didn't want to go to sea at first. Later, he also considered the promotion of Buddhism, so he boarded the boat and went west to Diu to prop up the country. The facade of Xingchan Temple. Today is a bit of a coincidence. Last month, Master Zhifa went to Goa with Zhou Hesheng, Station Master Zhou, for business and cultural exchanges. The speaker is Huang Jiandong, just 30 years old this year, the new commander of the East-Portuguese United Fleet, the grandson of Huang Yang, an early naval veteran on the east coast, and a graduate of the nautical school.

Huang Jiandong had been serving in the First Fleet before. Before he was transferred to Diu Island, he was the captain of a "Star" class light cruiser. He did some work in arresting smugglers off the coast of Brazil, and his resume was not dazzling.But in the end, he was born well, had a strong background, and was born in a professional class, and he was just at the right age, so he was promoted to the first level, and he became the commander of this miniature fleet with only a few ships in place. 's jumped.

The home port of the East-Portuguese United Fleet was finally decided on Diu Island after repeated research by both parties.For this reason, East and Portugal also jointly invested (the Portuguese had no money, so they could only provide land for free) to carry out a modern transformation of Diu Port, which mainly involved the construction of military docks (separated from civilian ones), The construction of the naval special dock, the repair of the lighthouse and the fort, the dredging of the waterway and the expansion of the breakwater, of course, the purchase of dock loading and unloading equipment is also a sum of money. In short, a lot of money was spent, which surprised the Portuguese. , It sold a lot of land to the people on the east coast.I don't know how much land the Portuguese, who are financially difficult, will have to sell as more and more projects will be built in the future. I am afraid that the land on Diu Island will be sold out in a few years.

It is believed that the news of the establishment of the East-Portuguese United Fleet has not yet spread to the Dutch East India Company.But this kind of thing probably won't be hidden for too long, especially when they officially start cruising in the West Indian Ocean, the Dutch will sooner or later know about this naval fleet that is obviously coming towards them.At that time, the relationship between the two parties will inevitably fall into a relatively tense stage, and no one can predict what will happen.

"This Portuguese man is better than a monkey when he sticks his hair! He hugged his thighs so tightly, which is amazing." Shao Shuguang laughed and said, "But to be honest, the Dutch East India Company really has that energy. Are you coming to Northwest India to trouble you? I can’t see it, they are also in a lot of trouble now.”

Afterwards, Shao Shuguang briefly told Huang Jiandong about many things that had happened in the four feudal domains of the Far East in the past two or three years, and he focused on the southward trade plan that the Southern Exploration Team was planning.Once this plan is formed and stabilized, it will inevitably greatly reduce the profits of the Dutch East India Company's Taiwan business station-such as importing copper from Japan and selling them to Vietnam to cast guns and money for them. Are you the Dutch? Do it - it's no wonder that the Dutch East India Company is not in a hurry to jump!

As soon as they are in a hurry, they must find a way to solve the crisis faced by Taiwan's commercial stations. This undoubtedly requires Batavia to focus on investing funds, personnel and ships in this direction. It won't be too much, that's why Shao Shuguang asked just now.

Although Huang Jiandong also knew some basic information about the Far East, it was not as good as the first-hand information that Shao Shuguang told him personally. Therefore, he was also a little surprised at this moment, and his brows were furrowed.According to what Shao Shuguang said, the so-called southward trade plan of the Southern Pioneering Team did have a lot of overlap with the business of the Dutch East India Company, and the competition in it is self-evident.

A behemoth like the Dutch East India Company not only has nearly a hundred large ocean-going ships running to Europe and Batavia, but also has a large number of small ships doing trade in the coastal waters, especially in the Indian subcontinent, the East Indies and the Indochina Peninsula. .Now the Southern Pioneering Team has brought together the Portuguese, the Spaniards, and the Zheng regime in Fujian to start planning trade between mainland China, the Indochina Peninsula, and the Philippine Islands. It is indeed troublesome for the Dutch, and it is something that they have to face up to. .In this way, the pressure faced by Goa and Diu will indeed be much smaller in the future, which is undoubtedly good news for them.

"If that's the case, it's really good news. Zhou Hesheng, Station Manager Zhou, will be very excited when he hears it." Huang Jiandong said with a smile after hearing this: "However, the facilities to be built still have to be completed on schedule, and the materials have been transported from thousands of miles. Indian laborers have also recruited a large number of workers, and it would be a great loss if they stop. Moreover, unfortunately, the formation of the Diu garrison has just been completed, and all the posts of [-] officers and soldiers have been fully recruited. It’s a pity that I can’t save it later.”

It is said that as the main armed guard force of Diu Island, the Diu Garrison was finally formally formed three months ago, with Echto, who had just been promoted to lieutenant commander, as the commander.The equipment of this army is not bad, at least muskets, cannons and other equipment are fully equipped, but the personnel is quite painful: out of the 1000 people in the Diu garrison, there are less than 500 experienced officers and soldiers. They are from Xinhua Island, mainly reserve soldiers; there are also about [-] Indo-Portuguese soldiers, most of whom were defeated by the people on the east coast back then. The nearly [-] people are all Rajputs recruited on the spot, and they have zero military experience. Fortunately, their morale is not bad, and they have a certain martial spirit. If they train for a long time, they should not be too bad.

But in any case, such an army with great differences in race, nationality, religion, and culture, and it can even be said that it is extremely chaotic, may be good for suppressing and suppressing places at ordinary times, but if it really encounters hard-pointed enemies landing and besieging, I am afraid that it will kneel .If the people on the east coast are still interested in going north to the old land of the Gurajput Kingdom in the future and conquering more Indian lands, then they must carry out vigorous rectification: if the Indians are not good enough, they will be replaced by other people, and if they are not trained enough, they will have to work harder Strengthening, in short, is to do everything possible to improve its combat effectiveness, not only to resist the possible invasion of the Dutch, but also to prepare for future expansion in India.Although the current emperor of the Mughal Empire, Aurangzeb, seems to be very strong, and the empire under his leadership is also at the stage of prosperity, but who can say for sure what will happen in the future?What if something happens to India?This is the opportunity for the East Coasters.

"Let's set up the defense team, anyway, it will be used in the future." Shao Shuguang smiled slightly, pointed to the west, and said: "On the other side of the distant sea, there is a **** country, that's right. , the Muscat Sultanate of the Omanis. This country used to have a good relationship with us, but since we extended our sphere of influence to the Swahili coast of East Africa, they have been greatly stimulated, and they quickly turned cold and even turned against us. .Now, the relationship between this country and us can even be said to be in a state of hostility. Commander Huang, you are a navy, and the situation will only be clearer than me. The Omani offshore has become a paradise for you to have fun. If we go further, the army may be sent to land for combat, and you—the Diu Island Garrison, are likely to be one of the troops sent to land.”

What Shao Shuguang said was really novel to Huang Jiandong.Moreover, what he said does not seem to be completely nonsense, but is quite possible.For a barbaric country like the Muscat Sultanate, in addition to naval strikes, sending troops to land is also a good choice.Although the East Coast Republic of China does not have much interest in landing on the Arabian Peninsula at present, the future may not be certain!In order to fight the nomads on the Arabian Peninsula, a large army is obviously inevitable, and Rajput, which is rich in human resources and has a little martial spirit—compared to other places in India— The region is bound to be one of the main sources of such army personnel.Therefore, they must establish the "seeds" of this colonial army now, otherwise they may have problems in the large-scale formation of colonial legions in the future.

In the Arabian Peninsula, people from the east coast will go there sooner or later!This is the collective decision of the members of the executive committee, although there is no attractive wealth in the land full of deserts.

The * in the text is the four words *************.I'm so convinced, is this shit also a sensitive word?How sensitive the Moors are.

(End of this chapter)