Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2172 Planning in the Rajput Region ([-])

On the west coast of India in February, it rains heavily.

The three-masted sailing ship "Rose Wall" owned by Edward Hampton slowly sailed into Mumbai, a port city where the Portuguese princess Catherine entered the United Kingdom as a dowry.

At first the city undoubtedly belonged to the Crown of England, more precisely to King Charles II of England.In 1668, due to the financial difficulties of the royal family, the English East India Company provided Charles II with a loan of 6 pounds at an annual interest rate of [-]%, on the condition of obtaining the perpetual lease of the port of Mumbai, which could be granted by the king. Appoint the governor, set up the army, execute the judiciary and other privileges.Charles II agreed to the East India Company's request and charged the company a nominal rent of ten pounds a year to show that the deal was concluded.

After the East India Company acquired the port of Mumbai, it immediately built a large-scale construction on it, which lasted for 20 years.At present, the Port of Mumbai has largely replaced the Port of Surat, becoming the first stronghold of the English East India Company on the west coast of India, and also the largest source of trade profits.

As a business family that has risen rapidly in recent decades, the Hampton family naturally also took a share of the Mumbai Port business.For this reason, they also invested and became the second-level agents of the East India Company, specializing in the large triangle trade route between England-East Coast-India, and their foothold in India is the most important port of Mumbai.

As a trading center, the main goods provided by the port of Mumbai are calico, muslin, fine soft cotton cloth - used by Indians and Green Christians to make turbans - pearls, gemstones, rice, spices, coconuts, palm oil/wine, betel nuts and other commodities.Especially those textiles, which are of good quality, plentiful, and most importantly, cheap!Very cheap!It is cheaper than the woven cloth of the people on the east coast, and the quality is not at the same level.It's no wonder that sometimes people from the east coast of Xinhua Island will also buy some high-quality Indian soft cotton cloth, which is really very good.

The Hampton family currently operates three merchant ships dedicated to India. Every year, a large amount of cotton cloth is shipped back to England for sale, earning huge profits.For this reason, they even reduced the purchase quota of woven fabrics on the east coast, and tried to use more funds to buy cheaper and better Indian fabrics. It can be seen that the Indian industry is powerful-more than 1 million "livestock" are working hard Speaking of it, its cost is even cheaper than that of cloth produced by machines, which is really speechless.

There were many other people in the same business as the Hampton family, and even the East India Company itself was a very large buyer of Indian cotton cloth.After these massive Indian cloths flooded into England, they undoubtedly seized the market for the booming domestic cotton textile industry, which aroused great dissatisfaction.It should be said that the influence of these local capitalists in England is still very strong, and the power in the Congress is also very strong, so the East India Company also had to compromise and negotiate with them to reduce the import share of Indian cotton cloth in order to ease the conflict as much as possible. .

As the company's second-level agent, the Hampton family was hit hard. Gein's share of imports was cut, and they were the first to be slashed, so that Edward had to come to Mumbai from the port of Beira urgently. See if there is any turning point in the matter, or see if you can increase the import of other commodities and open up new sources of income.

The Edward Hampton family had a small warehouse in the port of Bombay, so he went straight there as soon as he landed.The warehouse was the same as when he came last time. Two Indians wrapped in turbans stood guard on the left and right, and there were snack sellers and snake players beside them. According to Edward, these snake-playing Indians came from the wild. Capture wild snakes and enchant them so they can dance to music.

"Sir, you are here." A tall white man greeted him.He used to be a navy soldier. He was kicked out of the army because he owed a butt of gambling debts. Finally, he had to join the Hampton family and lived in Mumbai to manage warehouses for them.

"God bless, I managed to break out of a storm, George, you almost lost sight of me." Edward Hampton handed the umbrella to George, and strode into the warehouse.

A batch of firearms produced on the east coast were stored in the warehouse, which were purchased by the Hampton family at Zhenhai Port and sold to Indian maharajas or landowners.Recently, the Mughal Empire has been in some chaos. The central government has gradually been unable to suppress the local power factions, and signs of warlord separatism have begun to appear. Therefore, weapons and ammunition are very easy to sell.The original buyers of the weapons stored in the warehouse of the Hampton family have been wiped out, but they are not worried at all that they will not be sold.The quality of muskets, cannons, and armor produced on the east bank is very good, and they have always been popular in the market, so there is no need to worry about finding buyers.

The person in charge of the warehouse told Edward that the Moors came to the door a few days ago and said they wanted to buy these weapons, but they temporarily put them on hold because the price was not negotiated. They may come over to continue the negotiation after a while.In the past, the Moors bullied the Indians really hard. Not only did they openly discriminate, they charged heavy taxes, and even demolished a large number of Hindu temples. Up to now, 168 Hindu temples have been demolished by the Moors. How can this hatred be not big?

In the past, it might not have been a big deal for the Delhi government to suppress it, but now Emperor Aurangzeb is not in charge of things, and he is focused on fighting, and his control over various parts of the country has dropped to the lowest level in history.The Moors were not fools, so they naturally felt this kind of malice and hostility, so they subconsciously wanted to buy weapons to protect themselves. It is understandable that the weapon business is so hot.

After seeing such a chaotic local situation, the English East India Company naturally had some ideas, planning to start controlling some warlords or small forces and expand their influence.It's just that they didn't choose Mumbai as their breakthrough point, but near the Bay of Bengal. They wanted to build a fort far away from the emperor on that high mountain, just like Fort George in Madras, expanding step by step and finally grabbing excess profits.

Edward Dian Hampton can understand the decisions of the upper echelons of the company.The people on the east coast are becoming more and more powerful in the Rajput area, and even the Portuguese who are mixed with them are trembling in a fake way, and gradually they don't pay attention to the Dutch, let alone the English East India Company.Therefore, it should be a good idea to avoid the relatively powerful northwestern region of India on the east coast and turn to the Bay of Bengal area, and Edward can understand this.

It's just that, after all, there is still some reconciliation!Mumbai and Surat have been in business for so long and have such a good foundation. Are they going to give up in the future?Are the "rules" set by the people on the east coast as undeniable as God's will?Edward sighed, gently stroking the wooden boxes where the muskets were placed, feeling very melancholy for a while.

"Is Mr. Michel still in town?" Edward Hampton asked George.

"He followed the governor to the Bay of Bengal." George replied: "Recently there are rumors in Mumbai that King William III intends to harm the company, so the company urgently needs to make changes to cope with the possible storm."

Edward Hampton nodded upon hearing the words, his brows furrowed even tighter.William III was born in the Netherlands, and he had never had much contact with the East India Company. On the contrary, he had a hot fight with the local factory owners.The upper echelons of the East India Company have reason to believe that William III may soon be against them, or that even if William III does nothing, the local wealthy congressmen will do something against them.The previous easing was only temporary, and the confrontation between the factory owners and the East India Company has never stopped, not to mention that there are still many local traders who stand on the opposite side of them because they are envious of the huge profits of the East India Company. .

One year later in history, the famous "Red Bridge" event will break out, that is, the East India Company seized a non-corporate ship "Red Bridge" that was going to trade in the East, which instantly ignited the conflict between the local capitalists and the East India. Intense conflict between companies.The Congress controlled by local businessmen publicly declared: "Any British citizen has the right to trade with the East", and the contradiction between the two parties entered a stage of intense wrestling.

Later, in order to win the support of the royal family, the East India Company was forced to subscribe for a huge national debt of 70 pounds as a condition for its continued monopoly of Eastern trade.But the wealthy members of the Congress were not to be outdone. They directly subscribed for 200 million pounds of national debt, overwhelming the East India Company in one fell swoop, and thus gained the right to operate Eastern trade.

Although the upper echelons of the East India Company at this time did not know what happened in history, they still smelled something ominous with their detailed information and keen sense of smell.Therefore, they intend to take advantage of the internal turmoil of the Mughal Empire to expand their land bases and gather more forces so that they can still have an absolute advantage in business after domestic competitors also come to India in the future.

After being warned by the people on the east coast, the Dutch are now concentrating on managing the East Indies, Ceylon and a few Indian strongholds. The Portuguese are burning incense if they can maintain their original territory. The French came too late. Although they now have a stronghold in India, The strength is not strong enough.The only threat can only come from the east coast, but they currently mainly operate in the Rajput region in the northwest. India is so big that the two sides will not become competitors at all in a short time.Therefore, now is really a golden opportunity for the English East India Company to expand, and it would be a pity not to make good use of it!

Thinking of this, Edward Hampton felt, should his family also invest in the Bay of Bengal as soon as possible?There is an old saying in the east coast, "the hand is fast and the hand is slow", ah, it is really time to seriously consider it!

(End of this chapter)