Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 126 Internal Turmoil in the Qing Dynasty
The government received the news from the East several months late. Just after the New Year, Iranian businessmen in Hong Kong learned that the organization had announced its rebellion against the Qing Dynasty.

After becoming a free port in 1842, Hong Kong became an important entrepot. Many trading companies established themselves in Hong Kong, attracting many Chinese to engage in trade-related businesses.

"Sir, we earned a total of 56,321 rials last year. Here is the ledger."

Nasseh was ordered by his uncle to set up a trading company to conduct trade. At that time, although Qing China was open, the goods he sold were indeed not easy to sell. The strong self-sufficient agricultural economy made sales difficult, in addition to the competition from Britain.

"You've worked hard. It's already quite an achievement to have this much money in just one year. Keep up the good work."

This trading company, named Sepa, became the first trading firm established by Iran in the East. It currently trades in commodities such as sugar, tobacco, raw silk, and tea, and is preparing to set up a branch in Guangzhou.

"My lord, forgive my bluntness, but the profitable businesses are currently dominated by the British. Even with raw silk and tea, we only earn a fraction of what they make. We need to gain an advantage in different areas."

This made Nasseh curious: where else could they seek benefits under the current circumstances?

"Then tell me, where should we go?"

“Sir, we can open a branch in Shanghai, where we can access more opportunities.”

Liu Changqing was one of the earliest Chinese to learn Persian. After the Treaty of Saigon, he was sent to Hong Kong to help Nasseh establish a trading company, and was also formally appointed as its manager, responsible for expanding trade with Iran.

"Currently, besides Shanghai, Fujian is also a place where merchants can conduct trade. Especially in the Takow area, no other country has entered this area, so we can take the initiative here."

Liu Changqing makes a lot of sense. There isn't too much competition yet, so we can try our luck in other parts of Qing China. But if we get in too late, we'll really regret it.

Drawing on the experience of its predecessor, Jardine Matheson, the Saipa Trading Company hired Chinese familiar with mainland China as compradors to handle sales and procurement. Since China had just opened its doors to the world, at that time, almost anyone willing to do business could make a fortune.

Meanwhile, the Indochina region of Iran had largely stabilized, and with the addition of protectorates, Iran controlled a total population of nearly 300 million. The governor initially adopted a policy of heavily relying on Chinese officials, elevating the status of the Khmer people, and courting the Vietnamese. The local population had accepted the change of government; the next step was to extract money from them.

The biggest source of income was the monopoly on the salt trade, which increased revenue. At the same time, expansion was inevitable in order to make Saigon the premier port in the East.

Bahram divided some land into 15 areas of varying sizes, saying that these places would be developed. This directly attracted the attention of wealthy locals, who purchased the land. Through bidding and other means, Bahram obtained nearly 400 million taels of silver.

The money was used to upgrade the local area, and a proposal was also made to build a railway connecting Cambodia and Saigon. This would boost trade and the flow of people.

Faced with such a major upheaval in East Asia, Britain was naturally the first to know. Downing Street swiftly summoned the Iranian ambassador, and Wallace also went to meet with the Grand Vizier and the Shah. They only said that it was because of a war waged against them by the locals, resulting in territorial concessions and reparations.

This process is indeed not surprising, and Iran has always respected Britain as the dominant power in East Asia. Furthermore, Britain doesn't have complete control over Iran, so it's perfectly acceptable for Iran to come here. After all, the French are here, so why can't Iran?

Indeed, Saigon attracted many merchant ships after its opening to the world, and they all stopped here to trade. Some trading companies set up branches here, and the area quickly prospered.

The internal strife within the Qing Dynasty had already attracted considerable attention, especially from countries like Britain, the United States, and France. Some preferred to believe that the rebels had intricate connections with the Ming Dynasty rather than accept the fact that they were God worshippers.

For example, one newspaper stated: Rumors circulated that the new emperor was a descendant of the Ming dynasty, a Roman Catholic, and was using all the violent methods of a fanatic to destroy idols and temples. Others said he was a believer in "God," but this was even less likely to be true. Considering past events, the former claim might have some merit. Those closely following the developments believed that the rumors of the new emperor's Christian faith were merely fabrications by Qing dynasty supporters to incite discontent—his adoption of the entirely non-Christian title "Tiande" further proved these rumors unlikely to be true.

At this time, a power transition was taking place within the Qing Dynasty, with a new emperor ascending the throne and changing the reign title to Xianfeng. They also took this uprising quite seriously, sending local officials to suppress it, but several attempts failed.

As early as November of last year, relevant prefectures and counties in Guangxi had learned of the open rebellion of the God-worshipping forces in Jintian and other places. In December, local officials in Guangxi reported to the Qing court about the "bandit gathering" in Jintian and other places, stating: "Guiping, Pingnan, and Yulin are all bordering each other. To prevent them from colluding and forming alliances, five hundred soldiers from Wuzhou have been dispatched and ordered to be led by Cheng An, the acting military commander of the central army, to rush to the Pingnan area to suppress and capture them as appropriate."

This was the first time information about the Jintian Uprising appeared in a report by a high-ranking Qing official. However, until this point, the officials were unaware that this was a rebellion of the God Worshipping Society, which was completely different from the Heaven and Earth Society rebellion. They were even completely unaware of the kind of people the uprising leaders were, and of course, they could not have foreseen that these "bandits" who had "gathered together" would become a formidable enemy of the Qing Dynasty.

Even without this, the unrest in the south would have been enough to cause them suffering. Among the provinces south of the Yangtze River and east of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Guangxi was the most economically and culturally backward. The province levied an annual land tax of 69 taels of silver, ranking last among the southern provinces and fifteenth among the eighteen provinces nationwide. Apart from rice, Guangxi exported almost no other agricultural products each year, placing it at a significant disadvantage in inter-provincial trade. Qing Dynasty official and private documents, when mentioning Guangxi, invariably included phrases such as "barren land and impoverished people" and "lacking both internal and external resources."

Furthermore, the ethnic composition of Guangxi's residents is extremely complex, with more than 10 ethnic groups living together throughout the province. In addition, conflicts between the indigenous Hakka people, specifically among the long-established Hakka communities, are also prominent.

This complex and acute social contradiction, coupled with the extremely weak ruling power of the government, made Guangxi not only a haven for various rebellious forces within the province, but also a refuge for rebels from other provinces. Members of the Heaven and Earth Society and other resistance fighters from nearby areas fled to Guangxi when they could no longer establish themselves in their home provinces. The migrants from the two provinces who settled in Guangxi became their ideal "nests." Even the local militia disbanded in Guangdong after the Opium War, being unemployed vagrants, "flowed into Guangxi, making a living by plundering."

(End of this chapter)