The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 77: Seclusion
"What? You want me to take my fleet to India to support France?"

Mo Zibu looked at Peter in disbelief, his eyes wide open. If he didn't know who Peter was in history, he would almost suspect that Peter wanted to harm him.

“Father, with all due respect, this is not an ordinary invitation.

You know the strength of the British in India, and it is difficult for me to risk the lives of my soldiers."

Peter was not worried at all by Mozibu's big reaction because he knew what kind of person Mozibu was.

This is an ambitious man who craves power like a baby craves its mother's milk.

He was so eager to become stronger that he would never give up an arsenal that could change his future.

"My Lord, I have a fellow believer right next to Robert Clive, his body." Peter pointed to his head.

"To be specific, this place is no longer viable."

"This great military leader, the most ferocious enemy of the French in India, became addicted to opium.

This horrible thing destroyed his body, and Robert couldn't quit it.

So he was very anxious, working more than ten hours a day, and often needed monks to pray for him and confess to God before he could fall asleep at night.

Moreover, the British army in India also had problems.

The deterioration of military discipline and the extraordinary desire for money are indeed bad things, but they require the commander to gradually change them.

But Robert Clive, out of anxiety and concern for his health, wanted to reverse this process in a short period of time and rebuild the British army in India."

Peter took a sip of water and continued firmly, “This is impossible!
Therefore, Clive's hopes were doomed to fail. He had already been opposed by the entire army, and the directors of the East India Company had also begun to distrust him.

Mo Zibu nodded, not because he agreed to go to India, but because he agreed with Peter's words.

Fighting corruption in the military and improving the faith of officers and soldiers is indeed something that requires continuous work over a long period of time to achieve results, or even to maintain them.

If anyone wants to accomplish this in a short period of time, there will definitely be problems.

Unless he is of Han Baiweihuo's level, but obviously Robert Clive does not have this ability yet.

Seeing that Mozibu agreed with his point of view, Peter continued: "So, under this situation, the British army in India actually has no morale to start another war, let alone a war with non-Indians from the East, which will not benefit them at all.

In addition, Robert Clive must have received the specific content of the Treaty of Paris, and the lord's agreement to resell the goods worth 20,000 taels of silver to the British East India Company was enough to minimize the risk.

I think it is definitely worthwhile to take this little risk but gain two arsenals, one large and one small.

Because the Tollandal Arsenal, which can produce 3,000 flintlock rifles a year, and the chemists at the Tranqueba Arsenal, who are skilled in mixing gunpowder, are very important, your lordship should know."

Mo Zibu did not agree. After letting Peter go down to rest, he paced back and forth in the room in a hesitant manner.

Peter did not tell the truth completely. After thinking about it for a moment, Mozibu realized that Peter wanted him to give credit to Count Tolandar, but it was just a trick.

Peter's intention should be twofold.

First, his target was the more than 1,000 French prisoners and their families rescued by Mo Zibu.

Although more than a thousand people may seem few in later generations, in the East at that time, more than a thousand Europeans who could all be considered French were extremely valuable.

During the Seven Years' War, Robert Clive had almost destroyed all of France's roots in India, which was an important reason why the British were willing to return colonies such as India to the French.

In such a vast country like India, all the French captured were only four or five hundred captives, and most of them were men, with no women.

Because the French women had all become British women, they were distributed among the British in India.

Such a colony far away from the mainland has no value at all until it is replenished by the mainland after such a huge loss.

Therefore, for France, the more than a thousand people in Mozibu's hands were not just rescued prisoners.

It was also the key factor that allowed France to quickly revitalize its Indian colonies and even maintain local governance.

Secondly, of the two arsenals promised to him by Peter, the Tolandar Arsenal was destroyed in the war, and some of the machines and skilled workers that were saved are now in the hands of Hyder Ali, the actual controller of Mysore.

Although Hyder Ali was forced to adopt a relatively friendly attitude towards the French due to the huge pressure from the British, it is still unknown to what extent he is willing to return the arsenal.

The Tranqueba Arsenal was not French at all; it belonged to the Danes.

Well, at that time, India not only had colonies of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Portugal, but Denmark also had a small piece of territory in India.

Located to the east of the pointed tip at the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent, across the sea from Sri Lanka, it belonged to the Danish East India Company.

To put it bluntly, Peter meant that they would provide a guide and let Mozibu lead the fleet to go and ask for it directly.

If the Danish East India Company, which has only two or three hundred armed men, does not know what to do, then we will simply destroy their stronghold in Tranqueba.

This meant that Mozibu had to do it himself, but that was fine, because the blame would fall on the French. In summary, Mozibu liked Peter's proposal, but the French had gained everything almost without any casualties, which Mozibu was very dissatisfied with.

So Mo Zibu found Lin Tong and prepared to send him to Kolkata.

Don’t think that the British and the Chinese did not have much contact at that time. In fact, the British, the Chinese and the Qing government had very close contacts.

At that time, there were a large number of British businessmen in Guangzhou, and even ten years later, there were Chinese from Guangzhou like Huang Yadong who went to study in the UK.

Correspondingly, Ha Tien, as one of the most important transit stations to Guangzhou, also has certain connections with the British.

Ha Tien is a temporary residence area specially designated for British businessmen, with a population of around 50 people all year round.

Lin Tong thought for a moment and said to Mo Zibu, "The difficulty now is not how to reach a tacit understanding with the British, but how to meet Robert Clive.

My subordinates suggested that the leader let me take Li Guangcai with me."

"Li Guangcai?" Mo Zibu was quite surprised. "Why bring Li Guangcai with you?"

Lin Tong smiled faintly, "Because before Li Guangcai followed Li Xianwen, the Second Master, he had done business with British merchant ships in the South China Sea.

I believe that after he appeared in Fort William with a long braid, someone would report it to Sir Robert."

Lin Tong deliberately emphasized the word "business", and Mo Zibu immediately understood.

What the hell is this business? It must be Li Guangcai who collected protection money from British merchant ships.

How to say it, at that time in the South China Sea, it was the world of Chinese pirates. They were like wolves on the sea, appearing and disappearing unexpectedly, causing great annoyance to merchants from all over the world.

If you send out gunboats to suppress them, they will hide in the thousands of miles of seawalls and the vast Changsha, and come out again as soon as the gunboats leave.

Therefore, in order to save trouble, merchants from all countries will basically pay a certain amount of protection fees to the South China Sea pirates through intermediaries to avoid being robbed.

Li Guangcai originally played the role of a middleman among the pirates in the South China Sea until he accepted a large bribe from a big shot in the Thirteen Hongs to protect an important British merchant passing through the South China Sea.

But Li Guangcai was tempted by the money and thought that it would be an easy task to send a merchant across in a small boat. Therefore, he took the money but did not share it with other pirates.

As luck would have it, the British merchant's ship really encountered pirates. By the time Li Guang received the news, the merchant had already been fed to the sharks.

Li Guangcai broke the rules on both sides, so he had to surrender to Li Xianwen.

Mo Zibu's thinking was very quick, and he immediately thought of it. He smiled and said to Lin Tong:
"Do you want Robert Clive to think we're the great pirates of the South Seas?"

“Yes, the British may not give face to some Eastern warriors, but they will definitely give face to the big pirates in the South China Sea.

Because they certainly don't want a little mishandling to bring disaster to the British caravan in the South China Sea." Lin Tong replied with a smile.

Mo Zibu couldn't help but let out a long sigh. What a great era it was. Even the pirates in the South China Sea could control a behemoth like the British East India Company.

How great it would be if the Qing Dynasty, which had to suppress the development of the entire China because of its butt problem, was sitting on the dragon throne in Beijing.

There is no need for modern reforms. With this size, who would dare not give it some face?

. . .

After receiving assurances from Lin Tong that the fleet was relatively safe, Mo Zibu once again found Peter and said to him directly:
"Father, I can send the captives rescued from Burma to be governed locally, or I can send out a fleet to promote the Kingdom of France.

Just as I obey the call of Jesus Christ and am willing to resist the White Elephant King.

But beyond that, I want to get two benefits.

First, I need the foreign church and the Count of Tolandal's family to vigorously publicize the heroic deeds of my warriors in Paris and throughout Europe.

I want them all to know that in the far east, there is a group of civilized warriors who went through hardships to rescue the captured French soldiers.

Second, after I send these captured French officers back to local governance, I need to select sixty qualified artillerymen and ten qualified officers from the French officers and soldiers released by the British.

Third, please ask Your Excellency the Bishop to report immediately to the Foreign Church Headquarters in Paris. When the time is right, I will send a delegation to Paris to meet His Majesty King XV.

The status and importance of Ha Tien and myself need to be recognized by His Majesty King Rama XV, and we need to establish our relationship through a treaty."

Peter thought for a moment and immediately agreed, "This is exactly what I want. Ha Tien's status must be recognized by His Majesty King XV and the Kingdom of France.

But I can only take action after the Lord obtains authorization from your father, the King of the Port State.

Because this must be an interaction between states, the Kingdom of France will not conclude a treaty with a lord.

His Majesty the 15th King will only receive an envoy from an Eastern king."

(End of this chapter)