1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 587 Eyes of the Ottoman Empire
June 1647, 2, Hanzhou, Jianye City, Qi Palace.

"I heard that you used to have a very close relationship with our former deputy commander of Hanzhou, Hu Wenjin?" Qi Tian stared at Ma Huaiyu in front of him coldly.

"Your Majesty, the villain did have some business cooperation with Hu Wenjin, the former vice-commander of Hanzhou." Ma Huaiyu answered with a bow.

"Just business cooperation?"

"Back to your Majesty, it's just a business cooperation."

"Are you the agent of the Ottoman Empire in Southeast Asia?"

"The villain is not qualified to be the agent of the Ottoman Empire!" Ma Huaiyu said with a bitter face: "The villain just helps some nobles in the Ottoman Empire to buy various specialties in the Nanyang region. Occasionally, he also helps the local Many sultans and nobles in the Ottoman Empire made a line."

"Have the many sultan kingdoms in the Nanyang region ever contacted the Ottoman Empire?" Qi Tian nodded. This person is probably a comprador of some powerful figures in the Ottoman Empire, and he also works as a political broker. exerts the influence of the Ottoman Empire.

"Because of the distance, most of the Sudanese kingdoms in the Nanyang region have never been closely related to the Ottoman Empire." Ma Huaiyu thought for a while, and decided to tell the truth. Hanzhou has been established here for more than ten years, and I am afraid that he has some understanding of the Nanyang region. "However, the Kingdom of Aceh at the western end of Sumatra Island has closer ties with the Ottoman Empire. Gein, more than 20 years ago, the Kingdom of Aceh, in order to fight against the Portuguese in Malacca, sent a request for assistance to the Ottoman Empire as a vassal of the empire His Majesty the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire not only dispatched dozens of military instructors, but also supported them with a lot of firearms."

"Then, apart from moderately supporting Aceh to fight against the Portuguese, the Ottoman Empire did not provide necessary support to the other Sultan kingdoms in the Southeast Asia region? You must know that with the strength of the Dutch East India Company today, it is easy for the Sultans scattered on the islands. The Kingdom of Dan is suppressing the annexation. As the protector of all the people of the True God Cult, the Ottoman Empire never thought of intervening to a certain extent?" Qi Tian asked with a smile.

For the Ottoman Empire, he only has a vague memory. He lived on the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. He was the disseminator and defender of the True God, and he fought against European forces alone for hundreds of years.Therefore, he really wanted to know what the situation of the Ottoman Empire was like at this time, whether it was still suppressing Europe, dominating the Middle East, or started to decline.Also, how deep their hands have penetrated into the Nanyang region.

"My lord, the Ottoman Empire is too far away from Nanyang." Ma Huaiyu smiled wryly, and said, "Besides, the Nanyang region is not where the empire's important interests lie. Therefore, although the Sultan of the Empire is very angry at the fact that the Dutch continue to oppress the people of the True God , but due to the limitation of power projection distance, we can only pray to the true God, so that these evil Catholics can bring countless disasters."

In fact, the Ottoman Empire in this period has begun to show signs of fatigue. In order to deal with the Habsburg dynasty in Europe, the Ottoman Empire deployed a large number of troops on the European front. Non-dynasties, at sea, but also compete with Venice for the hegemony of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea.

On the battlefield, the Ottoman Empire was gradually overtaken by the military technology of the European continent. The growth of religious and intellectual conservatives stifled Ottoman's military innovation, and the military suppression that had been maintained against Europe gradually began to reverse.In addition, with its chaotic palace politics and corrupt bureaucracy, the decline of Ottoman was somewhat inevitable.

"Your Majesty, do we want to establish a corresponding relationship with this Ottoman?" After Ma Huaiyu was left, Cao He, the commander of the black guard, asked cautiously.

"I want to get in touch with the Ottoman Empire, but as a big empire, they don't care about us." Qi Tian shook his head and said: "In their eyes, our Qi Kingdom is just one of the many kingdoms in Southeast Asia. He is a member of the Han Dynasty, but his strength is just a little bit stronger. Didn’t you see that among the people who followed those Barbary pirates who came to Hanzhou to deliver female slaves, there was not even a single Ottoman official, but such a small person came to deal with us .”

When Cao He heard the words, he stopped immediately, but he was still a little bit aggrieved. Although our Qi Kingdom has a little less people, its strength will definitely exceed that of all Nanyang kingdoms. After several years of development, when the sea power gradually If it becomes stronger, it might be able to drive the Dutch out of Batavia, and then dominate the entire Nanyang region.

"Talk to those Berbers, can you ask for some seeds of this crop to be transplanted to Hanzhou?" Qi Tian carefully studied the powder made from black beans that the Barbary pirates offered him. , and then brewed with hot water, a familiar smell immediately drilled into the nostrils.

This is coffee!

As one of the three major beverages in the world, coffee, together with cocoa and tea, is the main drink popular in the world.In later generations, no matter at home, in the office, or in various social occasions, people are drinking coffee, and it is gradually associated with fashion, modern life, work, leisure and entertainment.

The coffee tree is native to the plateau region of southwestern Ethiopia in Africa. In the 13th century, the Ethiopian army invaded Yemen and brought coffee to the Arab world.Later, with the rise of the Ottoman Empire, it gradually spread to Turkey.However, during this period, coffee planting and production have been monopolized by the Arabs and have not yet spread to all parts of the world.

That being the case, it is necessary for the State of Qi to introduce this popular beverage to Hanzhou, just like the introduction of tea in the eastern region for large-scale planting and production.

Cao He stared curiously at the black drink in the cup, frowned and took a sip gently. It was bitter, astringent, and slightly sour, which can be said to be very unpalatable.

"Sip it slowly, and you will feel a hint of sweetness." Seeing Cao He's face contorted after drinking the coffee, Qi Tian couldn't help laughing, "This kind of thing needs to be tasted slowly to feel the sweetness." Its richness and sweetness. If this black drink becomes popular in the world, it must be a huge business. You must find a way to get the seeds of this crop from those Berbers.  … At any cost !"

Cao He immediately bowed and agreed, although he didn't understand how such a bad drink could become popular in the world and become a huge business, but he saw that Qi Tian took this matter very seriously, so he should take his orders and work hard It contributed to the settlement of this crop seed in Hanzhou.

This time, a group of [-] small and medium-sized galleys from the Barbary pirates arrived in two batches. They first arrived in Malacca, and then passed through Dog Island (now Christmas Island, Australia) and Pearl Harbor (now Australia) under the guidance of the pilot of the Hanzhou Trading Company. The northwest port of Broome) arrived in Hanzhou, bringing more than [-] white and Persian female slaves.They claimed that in the next two months, several batches of female slaves would arrive in the mainland of Hanzhou one after another.

Originally, according to the prior agreement, the state of Qi would use cannons, muskets, swords, armor and other military supplies to offset the expenses of the female slaves.But at that time, when the leader of the Barbary pirates, Amari, heard that the Qi people had a batch of high-quality furs from Liaodong, Ming Dynasty, he immediately changed his mind and asked to pay with furs.

Although the shopkeeper of the Hanzhou Trading Company who handed over the matter did not understand what he meant, he still readily agreed.These precious furs were captured from Shenyang, Liaoyang and other big slave cities when the Ming and Qi allied forces raided Liaodong in September last year. They had just arrived in Hanzhou with the immigrant fleet.The officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce originally planned to sell these precious furs to Indian trading companies at a price, so that they could sell them to those luxurious Indian princes when they went to India.

Now that the Barbary pirates are in greater demand, they might as well just kill them.

The reason why these Barbary pirates disregarded updating and stockpiling their own weapons and wanted these precious furs was mainly because their pasha wanted to curry favor with the Ottoman Sultan in order to gain more support from the empire.

The current Ottoman Sultan is Ibrahim I, who was imprisoned by his elder brother Murad IV for nearly 20 years. It was not until his brother died in 1640 that he was able to get out of prison and inherit the throne.It may be that he was held in prison for too long and was depressed to the extreme. Ibrahim I frantically searched for all kinds of beauties.

However, this gentleman's aesthetic taste is a little different. The beauties he collected are all "heavy", um, all of them are fat beauties!In just a few years, he married 279 fat concubines, and the most beloved one was a concubine named Sergeia Pala, who weighed 92 kilograms.

In addition to women, Ibrahim I also had a crazy love for all kinds of precious furs, especially mink fur. He once covered the harem with carpets made of mink fur, and even shaved his favorite cat fur to wear them. Upper mink cloak.

Therefore, many dignitaries in the Ottoman Empire tried their best to collect all kinds of precious furs and presented them to him in order to curry favor with this somewhat abnormal His Majesty Sultan, in order to be reused.

As the most important minion of the Ottoman Empire, the Barbary pirates naturally wanted to search for precious furs as much as possible in addition to plundering white slaves, to please their Majesty Sultan.

And the batch of precious furs obtained by the people of Qi is the accumulation of decades of Jiannu raiding Daming and North Korea. Whether it is its silky quality or the appearance of the fur, it is all high-quality goods. When these Berbers see it, they are immediately overjoyed. mad.

Therefore, when the Qi people proposed that they needed coffee seeds and palm seeds, they also wanted to introduce the most famous Ottoman Ankara sheep, Arabian horses, Spanish Merino sheep, and England's Sharma, etc. Although the Berbers were a bit embarrassed when they asked, they didn't reject the conditions of the Qi people.They claimed that the pasha who needed to report to them after returning to Algiers would bring the slave girls to Hanzhou at the end of the year or early next year if he was allowed.

"Amari, I think the Ottoman Empire can increase its contacts with Hanzhou." Walking on the wide and straight streets, Ma Huaiyu observed the street shops and markets in Jianye City, and at the same time talked about Hanzhou with Amari. "I think that sooner or later, they will have another war with the Netherlands in Batavia. Because although this sea area is vast, it cannot accommodate two strong men."

"Although the Dutch are also a country that believes in God in Europe, our Ottoman Empire has no direct interest in them." Amari said with a smile: "This place is too far away from the Mediterranean Sea. Although the Ottoman Empire is extremely powerful, its power cannot radiate Come here. So, for the dispute between Hanzhou and the Dutch, we just need to watch from the sidelines."

"No, Amari, you misunderstood me." Ma Huaiyu said softly: "Although the country of Hanzhou is still very weak, they are rising and developing very fast. You won't believe it, this beautiful and tidy The city, 12 years ago, was still a dense forest and grassland, and the population they built here was hundreds of people. In just a few decades, they built many cities on this barren land , with a population of 20 and a powerful army. We must attach great importance to this and establish close ties with them,"

"So what?" Amari said disapprovingly: "Our Ottoman Empire is a huge empire with a population of more than 1000 million. We occupy the rich Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldova, and the entire Anna Tolia has conquered most of the countries and regions along the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, etc. Hanzhou is just a new population trading partner we have opened up. However, their firearms are still good, better than the Empire The ones produced by ourselves are much better. Therefore, we need to capture more white slaves in exchange for their weapons."

"Amali, don't underestimate this Hanzhou." Ma Huaiyu said solemnly: "I have been in the Nanyang region for more than 20 years, and I have never seen a country that is rising so fast. We must pay attention to them and make good friends with them in advance , and not just treat them as a simple population trading partner."

"In addition to trading people and weapons with us, what can Hanzhou do for our Ottoman Empire?" Amari said: "Distance! The long distance is destined to limit the close exchanges between us. You know, we have never The journey from the Mediterranean Sea to the remote East Indies took more than three months. Could it be that our Ottoman Empire wants to establish a so-called alliance with this Hanzhou at such a long distance?"

"No, it's impossible. Don't say that the nobles in Istanbul are dismissive of this, even our Lord Pasha will not agree. If these Hanzhou people send their fleet across thousands of miles to help us Attacking the Persians may attract the attention of nobles in the empire a little bit. But is this possible? We have no common interests and no common enemies with Hanzhou. Therefore, between us, it is only trade Partnership, one of the important customers who can absorb a large number of white slaves in our hands."

"But I always believe that sooner or later, this Hanzhou will grow into a regional power and control the entire East Indies region." Ma Huaiyu said: "Perhaps, in time, it can also become a huge empire. We will not be at that time , turn your attention to them, right? The Ottoman Empire is going to confront the entire Christian world, so it is necessary for us to look for a potential ally in advance. Hanzhou may be a good choice."

(End of this chapter)