Do not think that the same believers in Allah, as the envoy of the Ottoman Empire, Koplulu will have some kind of sad feelings about what happened to the Sultan of Yusupu. On the contrary, as believers in Allah, in addition to dealing harshly with the infidels who believe in the cross, they also deal with people who also believe in Allah, but of different denominations, as heretics.

Even news organizations like CNN dare not deny that the hatred between Shiites and Sunnis is not much lower than the hatred of Israel in the ****** world. In the distance, there is the eight-year Iran-Iraq war fought by the Persian lion and the Iraqi camel, and although there is the shadow of the Eastern and Western bloc behind it, the factor between the two sects in order to compete for who is orthodox and who is the boss is also fatal. As for the recent amount, you only need to pay a little attention to the various news reports in the past few years to get a glimpse of it.

At the time of the celebration of the victory of the prisoners in the city of Guangzhou, Winstanley, the special envoy of the English Parliament, had already led his small fleet and sailed westward with difficulty.

Four brigs with a displacement of 500 tons were stuffed with cargo. Even the bilge served as ballast for twelve-pounder guns, eight-pounder guns, and all sorts of well-bundled and well-packed shells.

Winstanley's small fleet of four brigs, one with a cabin full of silk and cotton, and a ship full of porcelain wrapped with straw ropes, sailors carefully shuttled back and forth lest they accidentally break these valuable goods, and even more so to save fresh water and splash it into the straw to let the soybeans that filled the gaps between the porcelains sprout and protect the porcelain. The other ship was filled with munitions, from armor, knives, guns, boxes and crates of firecrackle parts, to life-saving kits, which were needed by kings and soldiers from the king.

And Winstanley's own ride on his own boat wasn't necessarily much better! The cabins, the aisles, and everywhere are full of whole bags of brick tea. The intoxicating smell of tea fills the boat. There were so many bricks and teas piled up that the sailors had to keep shouting loudly as they walked on the ship, lest someone on the opposite side meet them, and the two men could not advance or retreat when they met in a narrow way.

In order to be as agile as possible, the sailors spontaneously reduced their diet on board to control their weight. But. The sailors were also having fun. Winstanley had already told the sailors before he set out, "Remember your current weight, and when you return to England, I will give you tea equal to your weight!" ”

Winstanley was also quite confident in saying this, the 500-ton displacement brig he was on was stuffed with nearly 800,000 bricks and tea! Each piece of brick tea weighing one pound is calculated according to one pound. The extra part is counted as the cost of the road. That is, according to the loss of rice consumption in the process of transportation, and the fire in the process of collecting money and grain.

The extra part of this is only one or two per brick tea, but. If you multiply it by the huge base of 800,000 yuan, it is also a terrifying number. It was enough for the entire fleet of sailors to get a share each!

In order to be able to raise money for the purchase of these goods, Weinstanley jumped up and down during this time, in addition to visiting large farms and rubber plantations in Nanzhong. Unfortunately, although there are many English merchants in Canton and Hue at present, almost two-thirds of them are inclined to the royal family, and they are not so fond of him, the emissary sent by the Parliament.

Had it not been for the extrajudicial favor of His Royal Highness the Duke, Winstanley would have planned to procure goods from the military territory of Nanyue and sell them all the way to Africa, the Ottoman Empire, the Arabian Peninsula and Europa. The plan to raise military funds for the parliamentary army is about to fail!

"Mr. Special Envoy, you may send an application in the name of your special envoy to the Nanyue Army and the Duke of Liang Guo. After that, I will act as a guarantor to cover your payment. You can then take the letter of guarantee to the merchant to make a purchase. After that, the payment will be settled. ”

Li Shouhan's words are tantamount to a great drought, which makes Weinstein Layden, who is already anxious and almost desperate, feel like he is turning around.

"Your Highness, aren't you afraid that I will take your goods and never look back?" Struggling to keep the last shred of clarity in his mind, Winstanley questioned Lee.

"If you do, there's only one thing I need to do that will make you regret it." Li Shouhan is not a good man and a woman. We have long been wary of such rogue tactics. "I just need to make a slight gesture of friendship to the royalist businessmen in Canton, and reduce the payment for some arms and supplies. Even if you come forward to grant them a credit line for the purchase price, do you think the King's Army will be able to fight the Parliamentarian army on the battlefield? ”

Hearing this, Winstanley suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. This plan is really vicious! Originally, the parliamentary army was not so dominant on the battlefield. That is, because the king's army was not so sufficient, the two sides were evenly matched. If the King's army no longer worries about military weapons, then the parliamentary army will cry.

Thinking of this, Winstanley was also relieved. Since His Royal Highness the Duke has already revealed all the means of prevention, he still believes in our character and reputation!

"If your country is short of gold and silver, you can also exchange Sherlock for tea." Li Shouhan once again threw out a condition that all Englishmen could not refuse!

"How much does the Sherlock pig you get, I'll give you how much tea you have. Of course, it must be boars and sows that are ready for reproduction. ”

200 years later, Robert. Owen wrote a series of monumental books to lash out at this inhumane tea and pig trade. Under his rafters, the tea and pig trade was as cruel as the slave trade and human rights abuses! "Driven by evil interests, the life of an ocean-going sailor is far inferior to that of a pig on board. In order to be able to exchange more tea leaves in the far east, the captains carefully raised every pig on board, and gave priority to the pigs in fresh water and food. The sailors' food and fresh water needs were kept to a minimum, with many sailors receiving less than a pint of fresh water per day at severe times. ”

A dozen sailors were crammed into a cramped cabin, and the damp, stuffy, dark environment was suffocating. And those pigs enjoy plenty of space, food, and fresh water, and they are really not as good as pigs!

However, this cramped and cramped condition of the sailors was soon improved. As soon as the fleet arrived at Lingjiawei Island, it was confronted by the fleet of the Dutch East India Company. When I learned that this small fleet was carrying nearly 400 tons of tea. Fan, who commanded this vast fleet of plywood vessels. Mr. Basten couldn't hold back.

400 tons of tea! What a fortune that would be!

Winstanley's political and diplomatic identity determines that his trade activities are characterized by a large degree of exploration and play. Basten is different. What this old guy is best at is long-distance trafficking, buying and selling.

Tea is not like weapons such as armor, knives, guns, gunpowder, or silk and cotton cloth, it has a strong time and seasonality. If you miss the season, then you can only rely on people to snort and beg for the people who have the goods. Let other lions open their mouths and offer sky-high prices.

He roughly calculated in his heart, this tea brick made of 400 tons of large tea leaves and tea stalks, almost according to his understanding of the Nanyue Army, has reached the peak of being able to be sold to the outside world, that is to say, in addition to those brick teas that are to be sold to Liaodong, Mongolia and other places, there are only so many tea leaves that the entire Liang State Mansion can sell to the European continent! How this doesn't make him red-eyed!

He didn't know that Li Shouhan's territory had expanded over the past year or so, and that China's coastal provinces, which could produce almost a large amount of tea, had fallen into his pocket. Zheng Zhibao's General Bureau of Reclamation has also begun picking tea plantations planted along the beach. Although the tea produced by these tea gardens cannot enter the eyes of experts, it can still be used to make brick tea and sell it to Mongolia, Liaodong, Uszang and Europa Turkey!

"Mr. Winstanley. In the name of the Dutch East India Company, I ask you to sell me at least half of the tea. "Fan. Basten wrinkled his face and wanted to rob Winstanley in half.

"I ...... This ...... "England at this time is not the empire on which the sun never sets, and the domestic war is in full swing, how can Winstanley afford to provoke the coachman of the sea?" But just giving up half of the tea leaves like this, but I was really unwilling.

But Winstanley's ability to be sent to the far East by Cromwell and a group of bigwigs from the Parliamentary Army to mediate diplomatically is not trivial. Immediately, his mind turned and he immediately came up with a reason that he thought was to dispel Basten's mind.

"Your Excellency Basten," because Basten was already an officially canonized count. Naturally, you can add a respectful title to the end of your name. "Although there is a lot of tea on my ship, there is also a lot of tea that I transported to the Punggarat region on behalf of His Royal Highness the Duke. His third prince was there. It is ready to use these teas to open up the tea trade with Uszang. Therefore, the number of tea leaves that can be transferred to you is really limited. ”

"It's easy to do! I'll transport it to Banggara for you and hand it over to the Third Highness. In addition, I can pay you for the shipping of 10,000 Nanzhong gold coins. ”

Originally, he just planned to use the name of Li Huaxuan in Bang Ge Ra to scare away the lowland guy in front of him who was blocking the road and robbing, but he didn't want the fox to make a fuss. Not only did he give him the goods, but he also generously threw out 10,000 Nanzhong gold coins as freight.

"Except for shipping. The cost of this half brick tea is up to you. "Basten is a long-time old fox, and he knows at a glance what Winstanley has in his belly. Not only did he have to get in the way and grab half of the tea, but he also had to let Winstanley slap himself in the face and expose the lies he had made.

The two top masters of the fox realm fought on Ling Jiawei Island. The details are unknown, but. The end result was Fan. His Royal Highness the Count of Basten bought half of the brick tea in Winstanley's fleet for a pound of tea and a pound of silver.

On the surface, Winstanley suffered a loss. These 400,000 pounds of silver were only a drop in the bucket of the profits he could make by selling tea along the way, and you must know that when England first shipped tea to London, it was almost a pound of tea in exchange for six to ten pounds of tea! And the Dutch have a proverb of "throw three pieces of silver and drink a cup of tea".

However, the 400,000 pounds of silver, Winstanley did not receive his hand. The reason for this was that Basten did not have that much cash in his fleet at this time. He also needs to pay for the goods he is carrying after delivery.

To this, Winstanley cursed in his heart: "You damned lowlanders! Take such inferior reasons to deceive our good Englishmen! I don't know what those well-guarded ships in your fleet are carrying?! It's either gold or silver! You're just trying to delay for a while to reduce your cost of capital! ”

"Your Royal Highness, Count Basten, that's fine. The 400,000 pounds of silver for tea is to be applied for in front of His Royal Highness the Duke on your behalf, and the corresponding amount of weapons and ammunition will be purchased. At the same time, rice is procured in Nanzhong. Exchange the treasure and go to Japan to recruit at least 10,000 mercenaries for my English parliament. By 10,000 mercenaries I mean the number of warriors who landed on the soil of England and were able to fight the tyrant under the banner of Parliament. ”

Winstanley's abacus was also very fine.

He knew that, given Basten's relationship with the Nanyue Army, he had taken advantage of the expanding war in Europe over the years to sell arms and all kinds of war materials between the warring sides, and the amount of military equipment and materials he had purchased in Nanzhong must have been staggering. For such patrons. Nanyue Jun will not ignore it, and will definitely give him a very favorable price. This is much more appropriate than the English parliament to negotiate and transport it on its own.

As for the use of cheap rice produced in Nanzhong and Tongbao, which has strong purchasing power in Japan, to recruit cannon fodder on this long island, it was also inspired by the Ottomans. They were able to conquer those fortresses for the Ottomans in the Balkans, fight the Portuguese in North Africa, and fight the Spanish armies in Spain, so why not let them give their lives for parliament in England?

Although the price has recently increased due to the increasing market demand of the Japanese mercenaries, don't forget, under the invisible black claws of the market, the price of pork and green onions can rise several times. Not to mention human life! At present, there are several big places for the mercenaries of the Japanese State, a group of them are used by Zheng Sen and Wu Liuqi in Nanyang, a group of the third Li Huaxuan is used in Banggela, and the fifth is also in demand in Mugudushu, and the Portuguese are in North Africa and Spain to grab territory with the Spaniards, and there is also a big customer is the Ottoman Empire. After experimentation in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire, from the sultan to the viceroyalty, fell in love with these cheap dwarves.

So. The price of mercenaries from the Japanese kingdom has also risen. Not to mention the increase in military salaries, the settling-in allowance, pension, and so on have also risen a lot.

It's a big deal, and we just follow the terms of someone else's contract. What a pension. We will carry out all the battles and the cruel beheadings of people in exchange for rewards.

However, a few years later, Winstanley would regret his decision.

These dwarves certainly fought bravely on the battlefield and killed the king's army. But all kinds of looting and killing, not to mention the sacking of the castles of those nobles. As for the murderous and meritorious acts that often occur in the interior, it is also unfortunate that they appear in England, as long as they are strong men in the warring areas, and are not recognized by the parliamentary army, it is difficult to escape the greedy blood-red eyes of these Japanese dwarves. Postwar. When the English were about to recount the population, they sadly found that at least 20 percent of adult men died during the Civil War.

Such a huge loss of strong men has caused the English to form a very deep civil hatred with the Japanese people, and almost every English family has a blood feud with the Japanese people.

In order to compensate for this huge demographic loss, Charles II had to quietly revise the doctrine together with the Church. Just as in order to train sailors to encourage fishing at sea, it was stipulated that no meat must be eaten on the day of fasting, but fish can be eaten, the state religion of England stipulates that the sanctity of marriage must be recognized and blessed by God, and the family is the best fortress of marriage, in order to reflect the sanctity of marriage, each couple must live in the same town.

Do you see? Every couple must live in the same town, that is, if the man has good legs and can run, he can have a home in any town in England.

This was more than a decade later, when Charles II's father had been walking the streets of London in two shirts for a long time; Our Lord Cromwell was also exhumed from the cemetery by Charles II. Let's just leave a clasp here for later.

Winstanley's fleet was suddenly short of 400,000 pounds of tea, and the sailors' living space was much more relaxed, but they were not happy, and they were swearing all the way.

Watching the westbound fleet disappear into the sea, Fan. Basten summoned one of his senior staff.

"Don't follow me, just escort 100,000 pounds of tea to Punggara, hand it over to Li Huaxuan, the third highness there, and sell it to him at the price we have with this group of damned Albiongeon."

100,000 pounds of tea were shipped to Europe, even if they were sold cheaper to the Ottomans and Arabs along the way, and in the end they would make at least a few million silver dollars. The senior staff member was a little confused, and he wondered if he had heard it wrong!

"I want you to sell it to the Third Highness at the original price, which one wants you to collect the money? The gems produced in Punggara, we want jute! Especially jute! ”

Jute is a raw material used to make sail ropes and other things, for such raw materials, not only the needs of the Nanyue Army, but also any country with a coastline in Europe, and for a country like the Netherlands that is based on navigation and logistics, it is a strategic material.

This practice of exchanging various special products and materials between A, B and C is the traditional advantage of the Dutch, and how can the sea coachman be in vain? As long as there is profit, not to mention the triangular trade flow, what about the five corners and six corners!?

"Yes, Your Highness! If I may, I will propose to His Highness that for the next three years the jute produced in Punggara be sold to Europe, and that we will be represented by the East India Company. ”

For Li Huaxuan, who is supervising the construction of roads and horses all the way with these brick teas at this moment, and attacking Zhe Mengxiong and other regimes along the way in accordance with the South Ukraine Trade Agreement, it is tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow. In the eyes of the Southern Yue Army, these brick teas are basically similar to garbage, and they are bitter and astringent in the mouth. But in the eyes of the Tibetans, it is indispensable.

With these 100,000 bricks of tea, Li Huaxuan was more sure to deal with the Tusi regime along the way.

Using brick tea or buying, or boosting morale, made the combat effectiveness of those Wusi Tibetan soldiers suddenly rise to a new level.

On the road construction site, you can enjoy unlimited tea every day, which makes those poor people laugh from ear to ear every time they think of it, and the road construction from Punggarat to Shigatse and Lhasa has gradually accelerated. (To be continued.) )

PS: Make up the arrears for Friday.