New Shun 1730

Dupleix knew that this kind of whispering must be something in Dashun, so he didn't ask too much.

But Liu Yu told him the news of the British fleet coming directly, and asked: "What does France think about the war between Britain and Spain?"

Dupleix frowned.

His father was a director of the French Oriental Company, and he was basically designated as the next governor-general in India. The competitive relationship between India and Britain made Dupleix have no good feelings towards Britain.

"The British have always used this kind of bandit logic. Jenkins is a smuggler. There was a Treaty of Seville between Britain and Spain. Jenkins was caught in Spanish waters, so of course Spanish law must apply."

"If British missionaries disregard the orders of your emperor and forcibly spread the gospel in your country, how will your country treat it? Is there any difference?"

"This war was just forced by British merchants to start the parliament. It was just to seize the right to trade in the Atlantic. Britain has news control and even strict "Censorship Acts". The British have advanced methods of controlling public opinion. All newspapers must pay high [knowledge tax] uniformly and equally, but the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs controls [newspaper subsidies]. If you don't take subsidies to pay knowledge taxes, you can only go bankrupt; and if you want to take subsidies, you must be obedient."

"If someone didn't condone it, how could such inflammatory texts be spread so widely?"

France and Britain are birds of a feather, both are hooligans, and the eldest brother doesn't say anything about the second brother.

But at this time, under this situation, Dashun is not easy to provoke, and it also involves huge interests, so of course it is "reasoning".

"It is not a wise choice for your country to open its ports for the British to dock and resupply. Moreover, Spain must have a lot of opinions."

There is something hidden in his words. Dashun actually seems to be a bit biased in this matter. Spain does not need to dock at Dashun's ports, but Britain needs to resupply in Guangzhou. Dashun said that both sides can dock, which is obviously biased.

However, Dupleix can understand it.

Although Britain was used as a gun by the Dutch and robbed Chinese merchant ships, it was a matter of the previous dynasty after all.

Now Dashun prohibits religion, Spain is fanatically preaching, and Spain itself is engaged in the kind of official monopoly trade and does not have direct trade with Dashun. The Chinese in Luzon are not living well there.

For various reasons, there is no tearing of faces, just taking sides, which is enough to give the other side face.

Liu Yu smiled and said, "There is a Chinese saying that when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. When the British and the Spanish went to war and hijacked each other's ships, France stayed out of it and made a fortune."

"That is good for the West Indies, not the East Indies. Our French diplomatic strategy is problematic. The navy is insufficient, the military expenditure is insufficient, and there must be a clear direction. Is it to occupy the lowlands? Or dismember Austria? Or the West Indies? Or India? Or North America?" Dupleix couldn't help but complain to Liu Yu about France's foreign policy. In his opinion, if India could be ruled and head taxes and land rents could be collected in India, it would be a huge fortune.

Unfortunately, France is not very interested in India.

This idea of ​​"direct rule, head taxes and land rents" to increase fiscal revenue seems very difficult to France, and even a little bit whimsical. Moreover, the French East India Company is not doing well. It has no money and can't make money. Its voice is not as good as its counterparts in the Netherlands and Britain. Therefore, the French court has been warning these people stationed in India not to provoke conflicts with Britain.

Dupleix has ambitions for India. Since the court does not support it, he hopes to have a good relationship with Liu Yu, and then use the power of Dashun to squeeze Britain in India.

And Dashun wants to go to India, and there is also Nanyang. If Dashun goes to Nanyang, it will definitely lead to a Sino-Dutch war, and it will also make Britain worry that the Sino-French alliance will come together to oppose Britain.

In any case, it is extremely beneficial to cooperate with China temporarily. Obviously, Liu Yu's idea of ​​learning from the Eastern Tartars, Dupleix also knows that this is to make the French fight against Britain and the Netherlands. But the alliance is to use each other, and now both sides have benefited from the mutual use between China and France-not only the Netherlands, France has been instigating Sweden to go to war with Russia, and Dashun directly cooperates with Sweden, so that the Swedes who were still wavering before have completely chosen the route of allying with China, France, and opposing Russia.

Although the two people communicated like old friends, they kept their eyes on each other.

Liu Yu certainly wanted India, but he didn't show it at all. Dupleix knew that Liu Yu had brought him such great benefits, and he must have had selfish motives, but he didn't expect to go to India so far away.

After sighing, Liu Yu glanced at Dupleix who was ready to cheat in the future, and said: "Forget it, let's not talk about these annoying stupid decisions. Now the British are still waiting outside, I have to deal with this matter first. Regarding the hiring of people for ginseng and pearls, let's talk slowly. Mr. Dupleix, as a friend, I invite you to go and see the British."

"My honor, Marquis."

Knowing that the word "friend" was just Liu Yu pulling him to show the British. But Dupleix also hoped to be pulled by Liu Yu to show the British at this time.

Under common interests, one called a friend and thought about how to suddenly give blood transfusions and then suddenly cut off the firewood to kill France's power in India in the future; the other called it an honor and considered how to instigate trade relations between China and Britain.

Each of them had their own ulterior motives in their hearts, but on the surface they were like a pair of old friends.

The two of them left the French trading house, and the people at the British trading house had been waiting for a long time.

Fazaklai, who had just received tens of thousands of taels of silver from the Chinese rebels in Macau and negotiated a low price with the higher-ups to get a kickback of nearly 2,000 pounds, saw Liu Yu and hurried over to pay his respects.

"Meet the Lord Marquis of Siberia."

This strange title is the title given to Liu Yu by the British side. Because it involves China's abbreviation of Britain as Britain, and Dashun has hereditary British Dukes, when translating, some titles that are easy to cause ambiguity, especially when it comes to official names and official positions, will be translated in a free way.

Liu Yu's title is Marquis of Whale Sea. If it is directly translated as "whalesea", it is really a bit weird.

So I asked the translator here where the Whale Sea mentioned by the Han people was. Comparing it with the map, I found that it was clearly East and West Siberia, so I used the free translation of "siberia".

After greeting, Fazaklai smiled and said, "My Lord, our fleet has arrived in Lingdingyang. I hope you will fulfill your promise and allow our fleet to obtain supplies here. We promise that during the supply period, we will abide by the laws of the Dashun Empire."

Liu Yu said, "Should we discuss this matter with the Guangdong Jiedushi and Defense Envoy first?"

"My Lord, the Jiedushi said that the Lord Marquis is here, but we still have to wait for the Lord Marquis's words."

"Okay, this is the kindness and grace of your Majesty. The words of the emperor are the law. Since the emperor has agreed, we just need to follow the rules. I heard that you also sent a battleship? It's new. This is the first Europa battleship to appear around the Celestial Empire, right? I'm going to take a look. You and the liaison will come with me."

"Yes."

Fazaklai hurriedly summoned the liaison and boarded Liu Yu's flagship for his visit to Europe.

At this time in the Lingdingyang, the iconic scene of the sailing ship era - grabbing the T-head - the fleets of China and Britain have been playing for an hour or two.

The commanders of both sides knew that there would be no war, but they also knew that this was an opportunity to show their naval strength and training level. Whoever grabbed it would win, and whoever could walk with his head held high after docking. The other side could only avoid and pretend to be a grandson when they went ashore.

The cat-and-mouse game has been played for so long, and the sailors on the British side are tired.

On the battleship Centurion, George Anson looked at the sailors around him who were already at the age of receiving retirement annuities with some depression, and his heart was uneasy.

I thought, if it hadn't been so long on the voyage, if I hadn't only been able to recruit a bunch of old and weak people to attack the Philippines, how could this cat-and-mouse game be lost?

The British navy was okay, but this time it was too hasty to go to war with Spain. A group of people led by old William organized a "Patriot Party" to incite populist sentiments and force Prime Minister Bovo to step down, so that Britain would be great again and defeat Spain.

War was declared here, but the sailors there had not yet been replenished, and the logistics were in a mess. There was even the most amazing scene in naval history: dozens of British soldiers died of scurvy in the British military port, and there was a vegetable market next to the civilian dock.

The captain reported to the fleet commander that the supplies on the ship could not be eaten in the home port, and should be purchased nearby; the fleet commander reported to the logistics department, hoping to pay for local purchases; the logistics department reported to the Minister of the Navy; the Minister of the Navy reported to the Minister of Finance; the Minister of Finance approved the review department for review; the review department asked the Army Quartermaster Department to count the size of the expeditionary force; the Army Quartermaster Department asked the Navy to report the number of supplies needed... The expeditionary force looked at the vegetable market next to the civilian dock and ate the long-distance supplies for six weeks. More than 60 people died of scurvy in the home port. From the UK to Jamaica, 600 people had died of illness, and 1,500 soldiers lost their combat effectiveness due to scurvy.

This problem is also one of the reasons for the failure of suppressing the North American rebels. It was not until the founding of the United States that Britain learned from its mistakes and established a special naval supply and logistics bureau, which enabled it to send tens of thousands of troops to India and even China at one time.

This time, George Anson went to the Philippines and captured a group of old and weak people who could receive retirement pensions.

Britain believed that the Spanish fleet in the Philippines was vulnerable, and the old and weak were enough. The elite were busy fighting Panama, the Caribbean, Gibraltar and other places.

These old and weak people could not take advantage of this cat and mouse game.

Looking at the large battleship of the Chinese fleet opposite, George Anson also secretly praised the French ship design level from the perspective of a captain.

This French-origin 74-gun battleship in China has achieved a perfect balance in firepower, protection and maneuverability, which was fully demonstrated in the cat and mouse game just now.

George Anson believed that if he had the best sailors on his ship, his beloved ship Centurion would not necessarily lose even though it lagged behind the French in design. But in any case, from the captain's professional perspective, the opposing battleship would not be outdated for at least fifty years.

His vision was correct. The French were indeed good at designing warships. At least the design of this classic 74-gun battleship would not be outdated until the steam engine completely replaced it.

George Anson was full of eager envy for Dashun's battleship. Although it was only a tri-polar battleship, it was exactly the most suitable battleship for Britain in George Anson's eyes.

The idea of ​​British naval warfare was to win in the ocean. It was no longer the time when they were beaten by Spain and only wanted to defend the English Channel.

A large first-class ship with hundreds of guns is basically useless for ocean battles, and it is reluctant to take it to the open sea.

It’s a pity that France is an enemy country and it is impossible to share warship designs with Britain unless it captures one in the war.

France, which designed this classic style, has a naval idea of ​​stacking first-class and second-class ships. Damn the ocean battle, as long as it suppresses the English Channel and sends the army ashore, it will be the final victory.

The British are greedy but can’t get it, but Dashun got it and used it very comfortably.

At this time, the fleet of Dashun has seized the upwind direction, and a cruiser rushed towards George Anson’s flagship with its fast speed.

If they don’t avoid it, the two ships will definitely collide.

George Anson cursed and had to order to avoid it. There was a gap and a little chaos in the formation immediately.

So far, this cat-and-mouse game at sea has been completely decided.

Soon, a large ship that was not a warship appeared on the surface of the Lingdingyang Sea.

The ship hoisted a flag towards this side, and a small boat was lowered from the big ship and slowly slid to the side of the Centurion.

George Anson lowered the ladder to pull the people on the small boat onto the deck. He knew that this was the liaison of the East India Company.

"Captain, according to the agreement, the flag should be lowered at this time. Then ask for their permission, and their pilot will send the warship to the designated port for berthing and replenishment. It cannot be anchored in Guangzhou. The company will directly contact the Chinese merchants on the shore to purchase supplies."

George Anson frowned and said, "The warship lowered the flag? Why?"

In fact, if reasoning is useful, this sentence is easy to answer. This is Lingdingyang, the territorial waters of Dashun. At this time, the world does not have international laws signed by Dashun, so of course Dashun's rules must be followed in its territorial waters.

However, this is not a reasonable world.

So the liaison answered like this.

"Because they have a battleship with its gun ports open."

"Also because their army has defeated Russia, Tatars, and Japan in succession within ten years."

"This is not Madras."

George Anson was a little unhappy. He originally planned to dock in Macau for supplies this time.

But the East India Company told him very clearly that Macau did not dare to let them dock, and Dashun would not allow Macau to allow warships to dock privately.

As a last resort, he could only go to Guangzhou or other specific ports according to the requirements of the East India Company. This time, he was also ready to avenge the past.

When the French came to Dashun for trade for the first time decades ago, the officers on the ship took the sailors to beat up the British sailors at the Guangzhou dock because the British merchant ship did not pull over and lower the flag to salute.

That time, it was a dual-purpose ship for officials and merchants sent by Louis XIV, which was in contact with the Dashun court. There were officers and soldiers on the ship, and the British sailors were beaten in vain because they could not beat them.

Thinking that he was the first captain to sail a battleship to Asia, he had planned to do the same thing when he docked in Guangzhou, find fault with the French, and beat up the French sailors.

But now, not only did he have to lower his flag, he might not even be able to dock in Guangzhou.