1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 762 The Visit of the Indian Task Force ([-])
Herbert Johnson, the senior manager of the British East India Company in Fort St. George, watched the Han Chinese below the city arrange their attack positions in an orderly manner, with a melancholy expression on his face.Three long-barreled cannons are being dragged by dozens of local natives, moving forward bit by bit, and as many as 700 mercenaries are on alert nearby.Among these mercenaries, there were at least 200 musketeers, and the rest should be soldiers from local states hired by the Hanzhou people.

Two months ago, when the news of the attack on the Hanzhou people in the British business house in Nellore reached Fort St. George, Herbert Johnson realized that this incident might trigger the conflict between the company and the Hanzhou people again. .Those gentlemen with a sense of justice are so reckless, they may not even know what serious consequences this incident will have on the East India Company.

Although the Hanzhou people came to India very late, after more than ten years of development, they have expanded rapidly. They have opened no less than 100 large and small shops on the east and west coasts of India, and two of them have relatively complete facilities. , a fully functional fixed fort stronghold.And one of them is Ningyang Fort (now Pondicherry, India, also translated as local governance) on the east coast of India. It is less than a hundred miles away from Fort St. George, and it can be done from morning to evening.I heard that the stronghold of the Hanzhou people is equipped with nearly [-] armed guards all year round, controlling and influencing many local forces within a hundred miles around.

Less than three days after Herbert Johnson received the Nellore attack, he immediately called several senior businessmen in the city to discuss corresponding countermeasures.After a brief discussion, they decided to make two-handed preparations. On the one hand, they sent envoys to Ningyang Fort to apologize to the Hanzhou people, and made a positive statement that they would compensate and punish the perpetrators; Various shops and strongholds issued warnings, evacuated and evacuated personnel, and transferred them to Fort St. George with relatively complete defense facilities to prevent the Hanzhou people from retaliating.

The envoys sent by the company to Fort Ningyang brought back the request of the Hanzhou people, that all the perpetrators in the Nellore attack should be handed over to them, the compensation amount is equivalent to [-] pounds, and the Hanzhou business hall in Nellore will be rebuilt. And exit the Bangladeshi market.

When Herbert Johnson and a group of senior businessmen heard about Han Zhou's conditions, their complexions immediately became extremely ugly.These few conditions, in addition to the reconstruction of the Nellore Hanzhou Commercial Hall can be agreed, the other few conditions are purely asking for prices.If the British businessmen and employees who caused the accident were handed over to the Hanzhou people, they would definitely be insulted and killed by them. This is unacceptable to all gentlemen.

As for the compensation of [-] pounds, the amount is obviously too high. In their opinion, a few lives, at most a few thousand pounds, can be spent.Could it be that you Hanzhou people are so precious?
And let the British East India Company withdraw from the Bengal market, what are the meanings, is there any connection with this attack?The Hanzhou people took this opportunity to drive us British out of the Bengal market in order to limit the export of cotton cloth here to a certain extent, weaken the cotton cloth production capacity in Bangladesh, and try to turn this place into their pure cotton supply base.

Herbert Johnson reluctantly announced to everyone that all upright gentlemen and brave guards can now prepare to deal with the war launched by the Hanzhou people.Faced with such harsh conditions, it is impossible for the East India Company to agree.That being the case, the Hanzhou people will definitely not quit, and will definitely organize armed forces to attack us.Moreover, it is very certain that for the Hanzhou people, there is no other trading station stronghold as a better target than Fort St. George.

All the British had expected that the Hanzhou people would call, but what they never expected was that the Hanzhou people’s revenge was so generous that they mobilized six professional warships, and one of them was also in Europe. The thousand-ton warship, which can be called the main battleship, dispatched more than [-] armed personnel.

In the Indian waters, with such a powerful fleet, let alone attacking a small company's stronghold and completely blocking my port, it may be possible to attack a small coastal country.

Do you, Hanzhou, want to be so cowardly!

It took two hours for Hanzhou's landing troops to land on the shore, and then they arrived at a place more than 800 meters near Fort St. George in an attack array. Then they began to dig trenches and set up temporary camps. Obviously, they realized that it was impossible to attack Fort St. George. It can be done overnight, prepare to fight steadily and plan for a long-term siege.

However, this "long-term" is only three days.After observing Fort St. George for a day, the Hanzhou mercenary officers did not even make a tentative attack. They spent a day unloading three long-barreled cannons from the ship, and then hired the local natives Dragging, slowly approaching the fort.

The Han Chinese tried to break through the walls of Fort St. George with heavy artillery, instead of the artillery covering the infantry and attacking the city with ants as the British expected.They were obviously a little scruples about the several cannons at the top of the city, and they didn't want to waste the lives of their mercenaries needlessly.

The British in Fort St. George felt a little danger. The opponent had absolute control of the sea, and they could use this laborious and time-consuming method of attacking the city.As long as they wanted, they could keep bombarding the fortress with heavy artillery, blasting the city built with earth and stone into rubble and ruins.

"Boom! Boom!..."

When the three long-barreled cannons fired violently, all the British in the castle seemed to be hammered hard in their hearts, and then again and again... After only half a day of bombardment, the outer wall of the fortress was cracked in many places , gravel and mud splashed everywhere, those local hired armed guards who did not have much experience in the battle, all showed horrified expressions in their eyes, their faces turned pale, and they kept praying to their great true god.This powerful heavy artillery bombardment obviously frightened them!
Several mercenary officers told Herbert Johnson pessimistically that in the face of such heavy artillery bombardment, the city wall might not last for a few days.Although five cannons were also deployed at the top of the city, the largest one was only an 8-pound cannon, and the defense targets were mainly local Tubang kingdom armed forces and general pirate attacks.The artillery positions deployed by the Hanzhou people are all outside the range of the artillery at the top of the city. Therefore, the opponent's three 24-pound heavy artillery can fire round after round of shells in a leisurely manner.

In addition, the combat effectiveness of these local armed personnel hired in the city is also very suspicious. When the city is broken, they may not be able to cooperate with the small number of company guards in the city to resist the Hanzhou people from rushing in.

Herbert Johnson understood the subtext of these mercenary officers. With the current city defense and guarding force, they couldn't stop the Hanzhou people from attacking. In this case, they should simply surrender to avoid unnecessary casualties.People who come all the way to the east from thousands of miles are here to ask for money, so there is no need to fight to the death.In India, bullying the local ignorant and backward natives is nothing to say, but if you want to take your own life to deal with the fierce artillery of the Hanzhou people, then there is no need.

Herbert Johnson hesitated for a moment, and immediately sent a representative out of the city to negotiate with the Hanzhou people about the surrender of the whole city.

The leader of the guards of the Indian trading company who presided over the siege showed an expression of disbelief after receiving the representatives of Fort St. George.Wouldn't the British want to cheat the city and use a trick to invite the king into the urn to lure us into the city and annihilate us?
You know, it's been less than four days since we got here, and it's only been one day since we actually started the siege.

What's the matter, it's about to drop?
On October 10, after several shopkeepers of Indian trading companies jointly guaranteed the safety of British personnel in Fort St. George, Herbert Johnson, a senior manager of the British East India Company, announced the surrender of the city. Carrying all the belongings, they all left Fort St. George, and then were taken on two warships, and sailed back to Fort Ningyang with the task force.

They will be temporarily imprisoned here, and will not be released until the Indian trading company and the British East India Company have reached a settlement on this conflict.

On October 10, the task force rested at Ningyang Fort for three days and replenished fresh water before continuing southward, preparing to bypass the land in southern India and head for the west coast.

On October 10, the task force arrived at Cape Comorin (the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent), which is the only place in India where you can see the beautiful scenery of the sun rising from the sea and setting into the sea.Three oceans, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, meet here.

After turning around Cape Comorin, the task force entered the west coast of the Indian region, and on October 10, it arrived in Kollam.There is a business hall established by an Indian trading company here. Because it is not far from Anfeng Fort (now Cochin City in southwest India), it has received relatively strong support, and it quickly replaced the Portuguese and the Dutch as the most important in the Qiulong Kingdom. trade object.

More than 100 years ago (1525), Meneses, the governor of Portuguese India, defeated the coalition forces of Calicut and Quillon in the Battle of Quillon, and once burned down the city of Quillon, which had betrayed the Portuguese. Massive palm groves near the city were demolished as a collective punishment of the local population.

However, after a hundred years of vicissitudes, the once dilapidated and deserted Kuilong City gradually recovered a bit of vitality after the Indian trading company of Qi State settled in. Around the trading house, a trading market, hotels, restaurants, and a large number of residential buildings were established. grew to more than [-] people.

For this reason, the Qiulong Kingdom specially set up several officials here to better manage all civil affairs here, and strictly control the residents of the place not to conflict with the Hanzhou people.

In other words, the domineering Portuguese in this area back then had to give way to the Hanzhou people, so we small kingdoms should not offend this country. If it is not necessary, we should not provoke it lightly, so as not to get into trouble.

On October 10th, the local officials in Quilon watched the five warships leave the dock one by one, and they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.Be good, seeing these gunboats arriving at the port two days ago, the officials of Kuilon were all worried about it, lest the other party's attack target was their weak kingdom.Fortunately, they only stayed here for a short day before continuing northward, and they heard that they were visiting the mighty Mughal Empire.

Hehe, is this a visit?With so many warships, I am afraid they want to demonstrate against the tyrannical empire in the north!

On October 1659, 10, in the early morning, the task force arrived at Anfeng Fort (now Cochin City in southwestern India).

Under the guidance of two small boats, a fleet of five ships sailed into the dock one by one.However, due to the insufficient number of berths in the port, two warships had to anchor temporarily near the harbor.

The officers and soldiers who disembarked one after another were warmly welcomed by the local people.The accompanying officials of the Kochin Sultanate in Fort Anfeng showed surprise on their faces when they saw the mighty and huge battleship "Han He" and the other four warships lined up at the pier. .In their hearts, they could not help but raise the assessment level of the overall strength of this southern New World country by several levels.

At present, Anfeng Fort has leased a piece of land on the opposite bank (in the vicinity of the Cochin Shipyard in India today), built a small fort, and set up two coastal defense forts.In addition, the trading company also expanded a new stronghold on the land at the northern end of the Vembanad Lake - Yuanhe Fort (now Ernakulam, India, six kilometers east of Cochin City), and Anfeng Fort Forming the horns of each other, the entire waters of the Vembanad Lake were completely sealed off, and almost all foreign trade channels of the Kochin Sultan Kingdom were blocked.

After more than ten years of continuous cultivation, the Qi State has unparalleled influence and control here, and the entire Cochin Sultan Kingdom has become the most important regional quasi-ally of the Qi State.

Moreover, with the help of the Qi State, the Kingdom of Cochin not only resisted the erosion of the Calicut Zamorin Kingdom (also known as the Kozhikode Kingdom, a hereditary royal family established by the Hindus Nair class) in the north, but also In the east, it repelled the attack of the Madurai Naya Kingdom and maintained the independence of the kingdom.

Knowing that the Qi State Task Force arrived at Fort Anfeng, King Sultan of the Kingdom of Cochin specially dispatched a prince, prepared a large number of gifts and supplies, and gave them to the fleet officers and soldiers. Mir sent an invitation to the Mattancherry Palace to meet the Sultan King.

In this regard, after a little consultation with the senior shopkeeper in charge of Anfeng Fort, Mir readily accepted the invitation of King Sultan, and took several officers to the palace in a carriage.

At the grand dinner, King Sultan of Cochin sincerely welcomed the arrival of the task force, and expressed his heartfelt thanks to Qi for his selfless help and support to the Kingdom of Cochin over the years.

Mir said that in order to ensure the independence and autonomy of the Kingdom of Cochin, the State of Qi will continue to increase its support for the Kingdom of Cochin, and strongly invites King Sultan to pay a friendly visit to the State of Qi at a convenient time. To deepen the friendly exchanges between the two sides.

King Sultan took advantage of his drink and tentatively asked Mir whether Qi could sign a mutual aid contract with the Kingdom of Cochin, just like the Portuguese more than 100 years ago, to become the security protector and defender of the interests of the Kingdom of Cochin.

Mir heard this and couldn't help hesitating.Although signing a mutual aid contract, Qi State can have a stable base camp and a bridgehead to attack India, but this move also means that the Kingdom of Cochin will be completely tied to Qi State, which will easily make Qi State deeply involved in local affairs in India.

You must know that in southern India, there are more than ten large and small kingdoms, and there are all kinds of intricate contradictions among them, and the attacks are constant.Although the Kingdom of Cochin is not the weakest or smallest, its force value is also ranked at the bottom.

If there is a large-scale armed conflict between the Kingdom of Cochin and the surrounding states, in order to fulfill the responsibilities of allies, wouldn’t it be necessary for Qi to mobilize troops and send them here from the mainland of Wahanzhou thousands of miles away, spending countless financial and material resources for it? Beat life and death.

This seems to be somewhat inconsistent with the core interests of our Great Qi Kingdom!

(End of this chapter)