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Chapter 1073 Troubled Place
"Yes, you performed well this time. Give credit to those who came to report. Remember the appearance of these people. Next time they come to the palace, you must ask them the reason. If they come to ask for an answer, you should say that I am not here!"

Hong Tao, who was being worried about behind his back, was now riding in a carriage towards the city. While walking, he looked through the window in the direction of the college, and seemed reluctant to leave.

What a great opportunity! If I could talk with these scholars and further determine the research projects and directions, the empire's technological development would be accelerated immediately. Unfortunately, I can't stay for long. Kepler and Galileo alone can't handle it. If they attack together, the consequences will be disastrous.

What kind of imperial meeting is this? It's not something that can be convened whenever someone wants. This is all a play that Wang Chengen has been ordered to perform in advance. And this kind of play will continue in the future. I don't know when it will end.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. Leave this matter to me and there will be no mistakes!" Wang Chengen didn't know the emperor's difficulties. He just thought that he didn't want to reveal too many secrets to the Western people, but he had to use them, so he had to make up an excuse to avoid him.

"Take some time to find Minister Xiong and ask him to build another mountain in the academy and build an observatory."

Although he left, Ke Xin stayed at the Royal Academy. The laboratory was sufficient for the time being, but the observatory was not. These European scholars were all multi-talented and liked to watch the stars when they had nothing to do.

I can't let them fight over three telescopes, and if they can't get one, they will have to trouble me. I might as well not wait for them to come, and take the initiative. The students will have to use them anyway, and they will have to cover them sooner or later, so it won't be a waste.

In the valley between the Zagros Mountains and the Kuhru Mountains in the central Iranian Plateau in Western Asia, stands an ancient city, Isfahan. The Zaindai River runs through the city, nourishing the land on both sides and the millions of people living here.

This was once the capital of the Seljuk Empire. Since the Ottoman Empire conquered Tabriz, Abbas I felt threatened and abandoned the capital Qazvin and moved south. Isfahan once again became the capital of the Safavid Dynasty.

The person who controls Persia today is Abbas I's grandson, Sam Mirza, the sixth Shah of the Safavid dynasty (a respectful title for emperors in Persians).

He took over the rule of the Persian Empire from his grandfather Abbas I in 1629. He inherited his grandfather's suspicious and cruel character, but did not inherit his grandfather's great talent and strategy.

Not only did it have a hard time in the military and political games with the Ottomans, Uzbekistan, Spain, and England, it was also unable to suppress the Turkmen and Georgian ethnic groups at home. It was trapped both internally and externally.

Sitting on the large balcony on the fourth floor of Ali Qapu Palace, his eyes passed through Imam Square and stopped on the dome of Imam Mosque. Shah Safi slowly raised the paper in his hand and read it carefully again.

The letter came from Bandar Abbas, written by the local tribal leader. Bandar Abbas is separated from Port Hormuz by only a narrow strait, and trade between the two places is very frequent, with many foreign merchants in contact.

The leader of Bandar Abbas said in the letter that he met a group of Danish merchants through the introduction of Indian merchants. They called themselves the Danish East India Company and had a license document signed by the King of Denmark.

The two sides traded several times, and the goods brought by the Danes included sugar, chocolate and muslin, which were very popular in the Arab region and had high profits.

After a few interactions, they developed basic trust in each other, and then the Danish merchants proposed a very bold and tempting plan, that the Danish East India Company would replace the British East India Company entrenched in the Port of Hormuz.

In this way, they would have fixed ports, warehouses and self-protection capabilities in the Persian Gulf, and could transport larger quantities of in-demand goods from the East and gain more profits. Of course, this business would not leave out the tribal leader of Bandar Abbas, who would also own a portion of the shares. But the most important thing was not the business, but the additional benefits brought by the business. The top management of the Danish East India Company made it clear that the Danish king hoped that the company would establish fixed trading posts and bases in the East to compete with its old enemy, Britain.

They thought that the port of Hormuz was a good choice. If the rulers there could agree, the Danish East India Company could not only bring a large amount of goods to the local area, but also secretly provide the Persian Empire with advanced European muskets and artillery for a fee, and help with training.

The conditions offered by the Danes were indeed very tempting, but the tribal leaders in Bandar Abbas could not agree to them. This was because the British East India Company had signed a contract with the previous generation of Shahs, and even if they wanted to go back on their word, the decision had to be made by the current generation of Shahs, so they wrote to seek Shah Safi's opinion.

"Come here, take this letter to Bandar Abbas and give it to Imam Gholukhan alone. Don't let anyone see it!"

After thinking for a while, Shah Safi finally made a decision. He picked up a pen and wrote a few lines on parchment, sealed it with wax, and called his personal guard to whisper to him.

Ever since our ancestor Ismail I unified Persia and founded the Safavid dynasty, there has been no year without war in this land. There are greedy Uzbeks in the east, arrogant Ottomans in the west, and Georgians in the north.

There is only one reason for the fighting: religion. Uzbeks, Ottomans and Georgians are all Sunnis, while Persians are Shiites.

Although both belong to the big Islamic family, the two factions are simply incompatible. What they pursue is not to occupy a certain amount of territory and population, but to completely destroy each other and each other's beliefs.

The Persians were not afraid of war, and even though they were not as strong as the Ottoman Empire, they still won and lost. The Uzbeks were not to be feared at all, and were defeated by the Turkmen every time.

But the Persians were not made of iron. Under the premise of insufficient overall strength, they were increasingly unable to cope with the Ottoman attacks. If they wanted to avoid being swallowed up bit by bit, they could only rely on external help.

Starting from Ismail I, the Persian Empire has been sending envoys to Europe with only one purpose: to lobby various countries to form an alliance to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

There were some results. For example, the Spanish and Portuguese had provided weapons and equipment to successive shahs. In order to drive the Portuguese out of the Persian Gulf, the British even helped my grandfather train an army to replace the undisciplined Turkmen tribal cavalry.

In addition, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Papal States had verbally agreed to help Persia, but these countries were fighting the Ottoman Empire on the one hand, and had extensive trade relations with it on the other. None of them was willing to become a true ally, and even if they provided help, it was only superficial and better than nothing.

This time, a European country actually took the initiative to come to the Danish East India Company and offered military assistance, which was very different from the previous perfunctory approach. Shah Safi planned to make contact first. If the Danish East India Company was really willing to sign the contract and had the ability to deliver, it would not be impossible to give up the Port of Hormuz.

As for whether the British East India Company should stay or go, that is a question between the Danes and the British. If the Danes cannot even drive the British away, then don't mention any plans for military assistance against Turkey, as they are not capable enough.

(End of this chapter)