Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 669 Non-intervention in the European War

The British minister was in good spirits lately, while the Ottoman envoys had been repeatedly rebuffed in the capital. Not only had they failed to meet with cabinet ministers, but even the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial had not shown up.

It was obvious they were leaving him hanging, because anyone could see that the Ottomans were wavering between the two sides, which angered the officials of the Zhou Empire.

The Turkish envoy waited and waited, until summer passed and the weather turned cool, before he finally met Jia Lian, who had returned from his inspection tour.

"The monarchy is the foundation of friendship between our two countries, and I hope your Pasha can see this clearly. I hope your country can understand the basis on which our cooperation is built."

Jia Lian spoke very bluntly, and Erdogan listened with a serious expression, not daring to refute him. After all, France's current republican system was practically the enemy of all of Europe.

To improve relations, they would have to wait until Napoleon became emperor; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get past the emperor.

“Our Pasha highly values ​​our friendly relations with the Zhou Empire and is eager to deepen the friendship between our two countries. Your Excellency, being an expert on Europe, should know that the Ottoman Empire, due to its geographical location, is surrounded on three sides by European countries. Faced with the aggression of Tsarist Russia, our country has been unable to obtain support from European countries, not even morally. France is willing to lend a helping hand, which is why our country has made contact with France. We hope this matter will not affect the relations between our two countries.” Eldovan was quite eloquent and could speak Chinese with a peculiar accent, but it was basically passable.

This is extremely rare!

Learning Chinese is now a fashionable trend in Europe.

Europe was at a critical juncture, and Tsarist Russia was wary of Napoleon's expansion. Britain seized the opportunity to actively court Tsarist Russia.

The signing of the Treaty of St. Petersburg between Britain and Russia marked the formation of the Third Coalition against France. Sweden, Denmark, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and Austria also joined it.

According to the European calendar, the current timeframe is 1804. That is to say, about two years later, the anti-French coalition was formed, and Europe once again engaged in fierce fighting.

In 1806, with Napoleon's instigation and support, the Seventh Russo-Turkish War broke out.

For Erdovan, his mission was crucial: to persuade the Zhou Empire to provide another batch of weapons and equipment, especially rifled rifles and cannons.

For the Ottomans, a total of only 20,000 rifled rifles was still far too few.

From Jia Lian's perspective, he couldn't let Napoleon lose the war, at least not now.

As the main force of the Third Coalition against France, Tsarist Russia was under too much pressure.

"Our country has fulfilled its obligations. On the contrary, your country has been secretly maintaining close ties with France without prior notice, which is an act of betrayal. Therefore, Your Excellency's visit is destined to end empty-handed. His Majesty the Emperor of our country will not continue to agree to provide aid to your country."

Jia Lian's words sounded nice, but his attitude was very firm. Looking at the issue from a holistic perspective, the Ottoman Empire could provide aid, but it had to be a priority.

Besides, the previous arms bills haven't been settled yet.

Upon learning of Jia Lian's return, the British Minister, Wade, immediately came to his door. He happened to see Erdogan coming out with his head down. Their eyes met, and Erdogan nodded slightly, expressionless.

Neither side showed any interest in talking, and Wade still received a signal that he had hit a wall.

After waiting for a while, someone came out and led him inside. Jia Lian stood on the steps to greet him, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Welcome, Mr. Wade."

Wade took off his hat, pressed it to his chest, and bowed in thanks: "Thank you, Your Excellency Duke Jaa, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet me."

"You're too kind. The relationship between our two countries has always been good. Unless there are special circumstances, I have no reason to refuse to meet you."

He spoke very kindly, but once he sat down, Wade immediately revealed his true colors: "Our country hopes to import your country's rifled rifles and manufacturing technology. Please rest assured about the price."

The advantages of rifled rifles are obvious. Britain and France, among others, have considered producing them themselves, but they have consistently failed to overcome the challenges of mass production. Currently, the armies of both Britain and France equip only a small number of their elite troops with rifled rifles for special missions such as reconnaissance. Large-scale deployment across the entire army is simply not feasible. They can only rely on highly skilled craftsmen to manually draw the rifling.

"Our country's principle in foreign affairs is non-interference in the internal affairs and diplomacy of other countries, let alone war. I'm sorry, I cannot agree to the Minister's conditions." Jia Lian refused decisively. Forget about the production technology, we won't even sell rifles to Britain. You can continue lining up to be shot with your smoothbore muskets.

Wade was somewhat disappointed, but not discouraged. Instead, he asked, "If that's the case, how do you explain the weapons your country provided to the Ottomans?"

"The Ottomans were not a European country, which is why they sold rifled rifles in small quantities. Furthermore, I have clearly informed the Ottoman envoy that the sale of weapons to the Ottoman Empire is suspended."

Jia Lian's righteous and stern demeanor made Wade secretly feel disgusted.

Don't think I don't know you're not selling weapons because the Ottomans still owe you money.

In a way, we have to blame this Ottoman Turkish Pasha. His country wasn't short of money; historically, whenever Mauser released a new model, Türkiye would buy a batch. This made Mauser feel quite embarrassed.

This country is also quite peculiar; no matter how good their weapons are, their army is just not good at fighting.

Actually, Pasha's idea isn't wrong; he hopes to import technology through trade and produce rifles domestically. Unfortunately for him, he's facing Jia Lian, a complete idiot.

Keep in mind that mass production of rifled rifles in European countries wouldn't begin for another thirty years. By then, Jia Lian's side would have already fully adopted bolt-action rifles.

The breech-loading rifles are now in mass production, but they are not being issued to the domestic army; instead, they have all been shipped to Xinhua.

Jia Lian wasn't worried about leaks; the Europeans hadn't even solved the problem of fire caps, let alone nitrocellulose.

Lavoisier remained in the Zhou Empire, where he played a significant role, nurturing a large number of talented chemists.

The British minister was not disappointed and politely took his leave. That evening he was going to host a ball and a banquet for a group of young officers from Zhou.

This was a mission assigned according to domestic directives, aiming to recruit as many young officers from the Zhou Empire as possible to Europe. The best way to do this was by sending women.

So, dozens of young and beautiful girls were brought in from China. Wade was dazzled by them every day, but he couldn't bear to touch one of them easily.

In short, it's all for young military officers, but of course, Wade would also welcome young civilian officials. All young officials are welcome.

Li Heng spent a month thoroughly inspecting the Xinhua colony. The most striking feature of this place was its vastness and sparse population. Xue Fang and Peng Hu, working together, had purchased a sufficiently large area through trade. The natives, equipped with numerous smoothbore muskets, were actively heading west, following herds of bison. Three other tribes of varying sizes were allies of Xinhua.

In trade between the Xinhua colonies and the indigenous people, the largest export was wine, followed by weapons and ironware.

According to the map, the colony was roughly the size of Henan Province. Numerous colonies were situated along the river.

For the people of the Central Plains, this place was truly a paradise, with endless wild cattle and horses to catch, fertile land that could not be fully cultivated, and gold and coal mines that could not be exhausted.

If this isn't paradise, what is?
By the way, North America didn't originally have wild horses; they were all brought from Europe by colonists and formed herds after escaping into the wild. In this land without natural predators, they multiplied incredibly quickly.

Because the land was vast and sparsely populated, horses became an essential means of transportation.

Even if Li Heng were to tell the truth, he would be unwilling to admit it. The Xinhua Colony actually had several huge horse farms, raising a total of more than 3,000 horses.

The Xinhua Colony also had a cavalry force of 1,500 men, each equipped with at least two revolvers and two muzzle-loading rifles.

When Li Heng returned to Xin Jinshan, he found another fleet of ships had arrived and were hurrying to unload their cargo, otherwise the coming winter would increase their workload considerably.

Xue Fang and Peng Hu were both at the dock when they saw Li Heng riding towards them and immediately went to greet him.

"Your Highness, some fine things have arrived from the country. Come and take a look." Peng Hu seemed very excited because he had already tested these weapons and found them to be excellent.

"Oh, Brother Buqi is really generous to Xinhua, sending over all sorts of good things." Li Heng said this with a smile, but in his heart he was thinking, "Is this compensation for not supporting me?"

"Your Highness, please look. The new breech-loading rifle has a much faster loading speed than the muzzle-loading rifle." Peng Hu excitedly picked up a rifle that had been cleaned of anti-rust oil, pulled back the bolt, loaded a paper cartridge, pulled back the bolt again, and ejected the cartridge.

Li Heng's eyes lit up immediately. No wonder Peng Hu was excited. Even if this thing had a shorter range, it would still significantly boost their combat effectiveness.

Back in China, the Shenji Battalion also used the tactic of firing in formation, but with the advent of breech-loading rifles, the formation of the tactic of firing in formation has changed.

Previously, people could squeeze in as many as they could within a certain distance, but now it's become much more spacious.

This is still field combat. If it were a defensive battle, then I'm sorry, but you would definitely be firing from behind cover.

Li Heng took the rifle and played with it for a bit, but before he could finish, Xue Fang handed him a revolver and said, "Your Highness, why don't you take a look at this?"

Li Heng looked at him suspiciously, then took the revolver and examined it carefully before realizing the problem: the bullet had a metal casing.

“This…!” Li Heng looked at Xue Fang and received an affirmative answer: “The latest model of revolvers, a total of 3,000, 10,000 breech-loading rifles, as well as the matching ammunition and production technology have been delivered. It’s not enough, the metal charge of the revolvers is not black powder, so it cannot be produced locally. There aren’t many of these metal-cased revolver bullets in the country either.”

"These weapons aren't just given away for nothing, are they?" That was the first thing that came to Li Heng's mind.

Xue Fang nodded: "All the gold in our inventory has to be shipped back, and that's still not enough to cover the costs. Fortunately, a group of craftsmen have come this time, and they can produce cardboard boxes to hold the ammunition."

Li Heng nodded and said, "The key is people! We must bring as many people as possible. If the young men can't wait, they can buy some women from Mexico to take as concubines."

At present, the colonies have a mixed population, especially the children, many of whom are mixed-race. As long as you have money, marrying multiple colonies is encouraged.

Peng Hu and Xue Fang each had several women. Taking Peng Hu as an example, he brought two Japanese women with him when he came, a native woman was a gift from the natives, a white woman, a black woman, and a Latina woman were gifts from the Spanish.

Xue Ke, who was resting, learned that Li Heng had returned from his inspection and, disregarding his own rest, hurried out to pay his respects. It must be said that Li Heng's status played a significant role.

Even the indigenous people and the Mexicans reacted when they learned that Li Heng, as a prince of the Zhou Empire, had come to his fiefdom.

Giving gifts is a given, and the women have given quite a few as well, some white, some black, and some wheat-colored.

Li Heng wasn't particularly interested in women for the time being, and he didn't bring any with him on his trips. He truly had ambitions to make a name for himself in the New World.

Li Heng had mixed feelings when Xue Ke came to visit, but he didn't show it. After warmly inquiring about Xue Ke's situation, he asked about things back home.

Upon learning that Xue Ke had come and was not leaving, but was going to lead 10,000 couples westward, Li Heng's thoughts became even more complicated.

It's clear that the Xue family intends to establish another colony and eventually become a powerful regional force. As the Jia family's agents, the Xue family, with its current strength, would undoubtedly receive considerable support to create a new colony, and the task wouldn't be too difficult.

"So, the supplies this fleet is carrying are mainly for the newly expanded colonies?" Li Heng asked subconsciously.

Xue Ke explained politely, "The weapons and equipment are reserved for the prince. We brought our own weapons and equipment with us."

Li Heng's inner conjecture was correct. The next day, when he discussed the matter with Xue Ke again, they decided that the production of paper-cased ammunition for breech-loading rifles would be carried out in the newly developed colonies.

The people brought by Xue Ke planned to head north. A bay marked on the map was selected as the new colony and named Xinhua Kaiyuan Colony.

According to modern maps, that place should be Seattle.

The Xinhua colony was incredibly rich in both fishery resources and other terrestrial resources. Thanks to prior reconnaissance, it was easy to identify an area with excellent conditions.

"So, after you unload the cargo, you're going to head north? Winter is coming soon, will you still have time?" Although Li Heng felt uncomfortable, he did not object.

There was no way to object; Li Heng now needed strong domestic support, which he couldn't do without Jia Lian and the Xue family. Jia Lian was the most supportive of North American colonization within the court, and the Xue family was the most powerful force in maritime shipping.

Before Xue Ke could answer, Xue Fang interrupted, "Let's spend the winter here first. The houses have all been built in advance. We'll head north next spring."

Li Heng remained silent, but Xue Ke added, "Master Jia's intention is to immigrate no fewer than 50,000 people annually. He also demands that we adopt a conciliatory approach towards the indigenous people, helping them end their nomadic lifestyle and teaching them agriculture and settlement. It's too troublesome to transport people from within the country. When I arrived, the newspapers were reporting that a gold mine had been discovered in the Xinhua Colony, and that you could find gold nuggets just by walking around."

(End of this chapter)