1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 953 Visiting the European Fleet ([-])

Istanbul, September 1679, 4.

The emperor of the Great Qi Empire made the following remarks in the cabinet and military department more than once. In this era, a country's sea power determines the country's national power. Whoever can effectively control the sea will become a world power.In order to control the seas, a strong navy and sufficient naval bases become necessary, only in this way can the control of the world's important strategic sea lanes be ensured.

As the most important military department of the Qi State, the navy has always regarded His Majesty's words as the golden rule, and relying on this, in the budget allocation of the entire national defense military expenditure, it took nearly [-]% of the share with peace of mind, and continued to expand the navy. The scale supports the continuous expansion of the navy to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

The radicals in the navy clamored that the warships of the Great Qi Empire would go ahead of the merchants, use their incomparable strength to conquer the barbaric peoples, and plant the dragon flag of the empire and the battle flag of the navy in every corner of the world.

Indeed, there was supposed to be a natural alliance between the navy and commerce.Trade, though of secondary importance to security and military strategy, has always been the basis of maritime military power.

The navy is the strong backing for the merchant fleet to continuously expand its business.At the same time, in the eyes of merchants, every warship should be a commercial agent, publicizing the resources of this country, the price and value of goods, and the advantages of our Qi State, so that all foreign merchants are willing to do business with our Qi State .

A few days ago, after the visiting fleet of the State of Qi arrived in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, it immediately attracted the attention of the top leaders of the Ottoman Empire.

His Majesty Muhammad IV Sultan and Grand Vizikara Mustafa Pasha received the members of the mission from Qi respectively and held a grand welcoming ceremony.Both His Majesty the Sultan and the Grand Vizier expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Qi State for its continuous support and assistance to the Empire over the past 20 years.

A few years ago, with the support of a large amount of arms provided by Qi, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Poles several times, and in 1676 forced the other party to cede Podolia and Ukraine, extending the empire's territory to the Dnieper River.

Although this triggered a war with Russia, the current battle is clearly still dominated by the Ottoman Empire.The Russian-Ukrainian coalition forces were hit hard by the Ottoman army in Chijilin (in the original history, the Ottomans had a tie with Russia), and could only rely on the newly built Igyumluzhai defense line to support them.

Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa highly praised the dozens of officers and soldiers of the Qi State who participated in the battle, saying that the Austrian army's huge victories at the end of last year all depended on the targeted strategy formulated by the Qi State Staff before the war Tactics, using the method of encircling the points to fight for aid, killed a large number of the Russian army's vital forces, and finally won the victory of this battle.

At the same time, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa tactfully stated to the Qi people that the Ottoman army has been fighting continuously for these years, and their supplies and armaments have been greatly consumed. He hopes to get another loan from Qi to make up for the deteriorating finances of the empire.

Over the past 30 years, through the governance of the two generations of viziers, the father and son of Mehmet Koprulu and Ahmed Koprulu, the entire Ottoman Empire has undergone drastic political and military reforms, not only restoring the Ottoman Empire. It also made the Ottoman Empire glow with new majesty and dignity.

In the 16th century, the fear of the Ottomans that once permeated Europe, is now spreading in Europe again, and the vitality and vitality of the ancient Ottoman Empire seem to be shining on the horizon again.

In 1676, after the untimely death of Grand Vizier Ahmed Koprulu (only 38 years old), his brother-in-law Kara Mustafa Pasha was appointed Grand Vizier and began to take over the power of the Ottoman Empire.Kara Mustafa Pasha has a rough and strong personality, dares to think and act, and has rich experience in political rule and military talent.

In addition, he himself is also an admirer of the father and son of Muhammad Koprulu and Ahmed Koprulu, and he unswervingly implements the political line formulated by them, that is, to maintain the stability and unity within the empire, and to eliminate social conflicts. Corruption and sound management of officials, the implementation of a strong policy of foreign conquest.

He believed that foreign conquest was the supreme national interest of the Ottoman Empire, an ancient tradition of Ottoman society, and a prerequisite for the revival of the empire.In order to realize the grand plan of the Koprulu family to revive the glory and prestige of the Ottoman Empire, Kara Mustafa Pasha has been planning to launch a new large-scale war to Europe since he served as Grand Vizier.

Russia, which is located in Eastern Europe, jumped out first. It was very self-sufficient, trying to compete with the empire for the vast Ukrainian prairie, and wanted to merge Ukraine again. This is a serious provocation to the empire and must be resolutely fought back.

According to the report of the frontline commanders, the combat effectiveness of those vulgar Russians is so vulnerable compared to the well-trained imperial army.It may be that the Russians' finances are very poor, or that their tsar is not willing to invest at all, so that tens of thousands of Russian troops are wearing tattered and inconsistent military uniforms, holding old-fashioned matchlock guns, and attacking the imperial army again and again. Launch a desperate charge.

If it weren't for the Tatar cavalry of the Crimean Khanate failing to follow up in time, the imperial army would not be able to wipe out all the Russian troops, so that tens of thousands of people fled.Otherwise, the entire war should have ended at the end of last year, instead of a long-term armed confrontation with the imperial army at the Igyumluzhai defense line, which would be a waste of military expenses.

Just as Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa was worrying about the increasingly depleted treasury, how to support the progress of the subsequent war, and the extravagant spending of the court, Istanbul ushered in a huge delegation from the Qi Kingdom.This immediately made Grand Vizier Mustafa very happy. This is the arrival of the God of Wealth!

I heard that three years ago, the Qi State conquered the Mughal Empire, and after winning a big victory, they extorted 1 million rupees from them.Well, how much should this be converted into Akeqie (36 tael of silver is approximately equal to 37-[-] Akeqie)?

I'm afraid there are more than 30 billion Akechi!It is equivalent to more than five years of fiscal revenue of the empire, what an astonishing wealth!

Although it is not known whether the Qi people have fully received this huge compensation, but at least a few hundred million Akche should have it.

Your country of Qi has made war fortune, can you express your gratitude to Big Brother for the sake of our old friendship for many years?
Ji Changrong, the special envoy of the State of Qi, became a little angry when he heard that Grand Vizier Mustafa asked the State of Qi to grant a loan of [-] million Akche to the Ottoman Empire.

In other words, over the past 20 years, your Ottoman Empire has owed Qi State almost 500 million Hanzhou silver dollars, and less than 200 million have been repaid during this period.Although you have mortgaged a lot of land and ports for this purpose, they are all located in the corners of the Red Sea and the Arabian region, relatively desolate places, which cannot be realized in our hands at all, and the value is obviously lower than the loaned money.

The money of our country of Qi is not blown by strong winds. Your Ottoman Empire borrows and borrows again and again, like filling a bottomless pit, and there is no response!If His Majesty hadn't insisted on providing limited support to you, our country of Qi would have demanded these debts from you a long time ago.

Why, this time, you need 550 million Akeqie, which is equivalent to more than [-] million Hanzhou silver dollars. What mortgage do you give us to Qi?

"Algeria! Well, there is also... Tunisia." After a long silence, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa said blankly: "The empire will transfer the exclusive trade rights and taxation rights of these two provinces, as well as the coastal The right to use the port is all mortgaged to you, Qi State, for a period of... ten years."

"Honorable Grand Vizier." Ji Changrong shook his head lightly, and said solemnly: "Our mission of the State of Qi chose your Ottoman Empire as the first stop of our visit, which proves that we cherish the traditional friendship between each other very much. However, However, your country threw us a very difficult problem at the first time. The annual government revenue and expenditure of our Great Qi Empire have a very strict budget management system and clear uses, so it is difficult to squeeze Pay the loan amount you need."

"As for the issuance of bonds in our country's financial market to raise this loan, it is not impossible. However, in view of the past 20 years, the repayment of your country's loan has indeed been somewhat... delayed and procrastinated. I think there may be some After all, financial investment is about safety and reliability.”

When Grand Vizi Kara Mustafa heard the interpreter slowly translate Ji Changrong's words, his face suddenly became very ugly.Although the other party said it in a more tactful manner, what they said inside and outside the words was accusing them of the Ottoman Empire's blind repayment of debts, which has greatly affected their credit reputation.

The Ottoman Empire is also quite difficult. Looking around, there are powerful enemies around, staring at the empire.Although in 1536, the empire established an alliance with the Kingdom of France, the treaty also granted the French various trade privileges within the territory of the Ottoman Empire.But over the past 100 years, the Kingdom of France has not actually helped the Empire much, let alone generously provided large financial loans and countless military supplies like the Qi State to support the Empire against the European coalition forces.

For more than 20 years, the empire has also granted Qi merchants various trade privileges in the territory, but to be honest, the British, Dutch, and French walking in the empire also enjoy these trade privileges.

The Qi State and the Ottoman Empire are not formal military allies, and it stands to reason that they are not obliged to provide multi-party support to the Empire.But over the years, Qi State has not only frequently granted large sums of financial loans to the empire, but also worked hard to restore the empire's commercial prosperity, build a trade hub at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and try its best to transfuse the empire.

Every year, countless industrial products of the Qi State pass through the Port of Suez, transit by land to the Port of Alexandria and the Port of Damietta, and then ship to the Ottoman mainland.Except for a small part of these commodities being digested by the core of the empire, most of them were sold to Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Hungary, Moldova and other regions, and even entered Shenluo, Poland , as well as the territory of Germany, which made the empire benefit greatly.

It can be said that the State of Qi is already the most friendly country in the Ottoman Empire. Whether it is His Majesty the Sultan or the Grand Vizier who took turns in power, they all attach great importance to the relationship with the State of Qi and try their best to maintain this most cherished relationship. friendship.

Grand Vizie Kara Mustafa also knew that the empire had owed Qi a huge foreign debt over the years, but they really didn't want to deliberately refuse to pay it back.Frequent internal rebellions, continuous foreign wars, extravagance of the court, corruption of the army, and local corruption have indeed exhausted the last Akechi silver coins in the treasury.

Originally, after defeating Poland three years ago and taking Podolia and Ukraine, extending the empire's territorial power to the Dnieper River, the empire prepared to recuperate for a period of time in order to accumulate national strength.

But who would have thought that the brutal Tsarist Russia challenged the Ottoman Empire, trying to seize the entire Ukraine, forcing the empire to fall into a new war.Although the Russians were outdated in weapons and their troops were not powerful, they showed great tenacity with their strong military strength, and they managed to stalemate with the imperial army for three years.

Vizi Mustafa is going to deploy tens of thousands of elite troops from all over the country to enter the Ukrainian region. At the same time, he will recruit another [-] Tatar cavalry from the Crimean Khanate to launch a grand battle in the summer and defeat the The Russian-Ukrainian coalition completely established the situation there.

And all of this is inseparable from the injection of a huge war fund.Although it is not impossible to raise sufficient war funds for a new round of tax collection in the country, with the efficiency and corruption of the imperial administrative officials, Grand Vizier Mustafa is very worried that there will be a lot of money during the tax collection. What an accident.

And if Qi State can directly issue a loan to the empire, it will provide sufficient guarantee for the imperial army's active preparations for war.

After some bargaining, the Qi State finally agreed to the Ottoman Empire and issued a new loan for it, but the specific amount was not the [-] million Akche originally proposed by Mustafa, but directly cut in half, and the loan period was ten Year.

In addition to granting Qi the exclusive right to trade in the two provinces of Algeria and Tunisia, the right to use coastal ports, and the right to levy taxes for a period of ten years, the Ottoman Empire will also be located in the Hasa region (now eastern Saudi Arabia) on the west coast of the Gulf (Persian Gulf). region and Qatar), and the land within [-] kilometers along the coast of Basra Province were mortgaged to Qi State.

"Mr. Special Envoy, I heard that there is an armed conflict between your country and the Kingdom of Spain. I wonder if we need the necessary assistance from the Ottoman Empire?" After negotiating the loan, Grand Vizier Mustafa was very happy and asked Qi with great concern. conflict with Spain.

"There are indeed some differences between us and the Kingdom of Spain on American affairs, but I don't think this will further arouse the conflict between us and Spain." Ji Changrong said disapprovingly.

The American territory of Qi State occupies the desolate Gyeongju area (now Patagonia area). Although the Spaniards claim that it is part of their American territory, the Qi people believe that it should be an unclaimed land , because the actual control area of ​​the Spaniards is only near the mouth of the La Plata River, and no immigration and settlement activities have been carried out in the Gyeongju area.

As for the so-called papal meridian drawn by Pope Alexander VI for Spain and Portugal, now it seems that it is a joke, who will seriously abide by this ridiculous division of power.

The Spaniards have fought wars for more than 100 years in Europe, and their soldiers have long been weak and the country is in decline.After many deductions, the General Staff of Qi State agreed that the Spaniards would not fight Qi State over the American dispute.

Not to mention that the two countries are far apart, and they cannot threaten each other's homeland.Even if the battlefield is set in the Americas, based on the European war that Spain has just experienced, it was almost abused by the French. Not only did it lose a large number of soldiers, it also lost Franche-Comté and part of Flanders, and the national finances were even worse. It is almost bankrupt, what will it use to fight a big battle with Qi.

Therefore, Ji Changrong confidently determined that as long as the State of Qi proposed peace talks to the Spaniards, they would eagerly grasp the olive branch extended by the people of the State of Qi, and finally resolve the territorial disputes in the Americas through negotiations.

As long as the King of Spain and his ministers have a sliver of reason, they will not rush into a fierce armed conflict with a big country thousands of miles away.

(End of this chapter)