After the agreement with Cornwallis was reached, Zhou Lang signed a formal agreement with the British East India Company on behalf of the Chinese East India Company, in which the other party promised to provide two armed merchant ships and put in 50,000 pounds in cash, and the other party had the right to send a representative to the board of directors in addition to the normal dividends.

The content of these agreements basically adheres to the conventions of commercial contracts, and as long as the other party does not make an off-market move, Zhou Lang can accept it. However, it was not easy to get an institution like the East India Company to act in full accordance with the rules of commerce. You must know that the other party is not an ordinary business organization, but an organization accustomed to monopolies, and even their governor is now a pure politician.

So at first, Zhou Lang did not seek the support of the East India Company, and this is the reason. But the wood was already in the boat, and Cornwall's sudden intervention forced him to involve the East India Company, and now he could only develop under the nose of the East India Company.

All this made the situation suddenly muddy, according to Zhou Lang's previous plan, different from another plan of the written business plan, Zhou Lang planned to run the company well in a few years, and when the company had a certain strength, at least hundreds of merchant ships, and tens of thousands of armed forces, he could use military means to return to China to establish a base. But now that the East India Company has joined in, Zhou Lang can't help but worry that once he successfully establishes a base in China, it will become an opportunity for the East India Company.

Once the East India Company has a foothold in China, then with the organizational ability of the East India Company, coupled with the leading military hard power of the Western world, Zhou Lang does not think that the Manchu Qing will do better than India, at least some Indian princes have formed tens of thousands of Westernized armies, and the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty really don't need to be mentioned.

Now it was necessary to continue to build up its own forces, and to prevent everything from being a wedding dress for the East India Company, which made everything obscure, and there was no longer a full-fledged development plan.

But the plan still has to be carried out, and it is up to people to succeed in heaven, at least there is hope for doing it.

So Zhou Lang continued to grasp the action.

The ship given by the East India Company made Zhou Lang a little dissatisfied, of course the ship they gave was an old ship, the old ship was an old ship, at least it could be used, according to Xie Qinggao's opinion, these two ships were not as strong as the British ship, and the draft was shallow, and the captain Harald hired by Xie Qinggao had seen it, and Harald said that these were two French ships.

Why did the East India Company provide French ships, because they fought with the French in Indian waters, and it is not surprising that they captured several French ships. It was not impossible for the French ships to be used, and Zhou Lang was dissatisfied, or worried, that the East India Company was obviously very defensive of itself and refused to equip itself with the best armed ships, and now that it was like this, I am afraid that it would become even more difficult in the future, and it would become more and more impossible to develop silently outside the vision of the East India Company without any problems.

The situation of the two French ships is not too good, the age of the ships is not long, but the characteristics of the French ships are not as durable as the British ships, the French ships are generally lighter than the British ships, the draft is shallower, and the French ships use much less materials than the British ships in the case of the same size and the same carrying capacity. This is not due to the lack of technology, but to a different shipbuilding philosophy.

The British often boast of a century-old navy, not that it takes a hundred years to train a naval officer or sailor, just from the hardware, it really takes so long. But once the British warship is built, it can be used for a long time, fifty or sixty years is normal, and even hundreds of years are not unusual. And it is rare for French ships to last twenty or thirty years.

But this is not to say that the French are not the mainstream, in fact, the French are the mainstream, the previous Spanish and Dutch ships were not as heavy as the British ships, especially the Dutch ships, they had tens of thousands of merchant ships at their peak, and it was obviously impossible to build a ship patiently for more than ten years. Even the Dutch did not even have artillery, which made their ships more loaded, the draft shallow faster, and the freight was only a fraction of that of the British, and as a result, European merchants were more willing to let the Dutch help them carry out the transportation, forcing the British to finally withdraw from the navigation law, stipulating that trade between Britain and the colonies could only be carried out by British ships.

These two French ships also have the characteristics of the Netherlands, with a shallow draft and fast running, but they have fixed gun positions and can install artillery, the 500-ton ship can be equipped with 15 guns, and the 800-ton ship can be equipped with 25 guns, all of which are regular main guns, all of which echo the agreement reached between Zhou Lang and Kang Huali, but it was too coincidental, and he couldn't help but feel that Kang Huali was prepared.

The two ships had to undergo serious repairs before they could go to sea, and the artillery had to be supplied by the East India Company, which took time and could not go to sea for three months.

After this effort and delay, it was already the beginning of 1793, according to the current progress, it would be possible to go to sea at the end of April, and it would take three months to reach China at the earliest, but this was only the imagination of people who did not know how to sail, in fact, they had to wait for the wind period, and it was already very fast to be able to reach China in the second half of the year.

The British's China fever continued to run high during these months, reaching its peak in February, when the Magalny mission, which had departed from England in September last year, arrived in India and the East India Company hosted a grand welcome banquet for Magalny and his party.

Zhou Lang still can't appear at this level of banquets, but his partner Henry Pitt can be out of business, in just half a year, Henry Pitt has been promoted, no longer an official of a small department, but transferred to an Oriental Special Division, specifically responsible for trade with China, obviously he was promoted, perhaps because of Zhou Lang's establishment of the China East India Company.

Zhou Lang also did not get any useful information from Henry Pitt, because at the welcome banquet in Magalny, there was no special news, and in fact the British had very limited knowledge of China at this time. But the British were full of confidence in Magalny's trip, which is why these Britons set off a China fever.

This craze is not because they have much confidence in China, but on the contrary, because of their own high level of self-confidence.

This confidence made the British have no doubt that Magalny's trip would be as successful as they imagined, and they believed that since Britain had officially sent envoys, there was no reason why it would not be able to reach a trade agreement with China on favorable terms, which was a very irrational self-confidence, and it was also a kind of national mentality in a period of rapid national strength. Just like China in the 21st century, everyone believes that their country can do any miracle.

The British also believed that with Magalny's visit to China, they would soon be able to completely open up trade with China, and this blind confidence happened to help Zhou Lang. Otherwise, it would be unimaginable madness for him to come and invest more than 100,000 pounds as a foreigner with only one proposal. It's just that the British may have been too confident, causing even the East India Company to notice Zhou Lang. This is something that Zhou Lang did not imagine, his main purpose is those young investors who are young, rash, and have little experience, who would have thought that in the end, the top management of the East India Company would intervene.

The other information brought by Henry Pitt gave Zhou Lang a new perspective on the historical event of Magalny's visit to China, and he was surprised to find that Magalny's visit to China was not a de jure act of the British government, but only an act of the East India Company. This is very different from his historical common sense, he always thought that Magalny represented the King of England, but in fact he represented the East India Company.

The reason is simple, the king of England at this time was a psychopath, and it was impossible to make such a major diplomatic decision. In Britain, there was no authorization from the British Parliament, and all proceedings were carried out within the East India Company. Not only was all the expenses for Magalny's trip provided by the East India Company, but the gifts were also prepared by the East India Company, including the famous planetarium, which was auctioned by the East India Company in Germany. Even Magalny himself received a sky-high subsidy of 15,000 pounds from the East India Company on this trip.

But it would be wrong to say that the British government was ignorant. Because the members of the East India Company's committee are now high-ranking officials sent by the government, which is somewhat similar to the Federal Reserve in later generations, the government sent officials to it, but it was a private institution in nature. Therefore, not only the British Government is aware of the visit to China, but Prime Minister Pitt is also well aware of it. And they also recognized that Magalny could represent the British government, because according to their concession to the East India Company, the East India Company could represent the British government in the East.

So in fact, it was a special diplomatic move by the top of the British government through the framework of the East India Company to bypass Parliament. But what is certain is that this operation has nothing to do with the king, and the letter to Qianlong in the first place could not have been written by a neurotic king.

The purpose of Magalny's trip is not just a business negotiation, but an all-round political spy. Zhou Lang learned that Magalny's mission included a large number of scientific and technological personnel, who were proficient in military, astronomy, chemistry, mechanics, cartography, navigation and other aspects of knowledge, which made the number of the mission as high as more than 600 people. If it is just a business negotiation, it is obviously not normal.

Historically, Magalny did not report to parliament when he returned home, but reported to the East India Company Committee, which does indicate that he was only responsible to the East India Company, and the report also included a reconnaissance of the Great Wall and the city walls, and Magalny reported that China's city walls were capable of defending against small artillery, but not heavy artillery.

These Zhou Lang didn't care, because he couldn't change it. He was concerned about Magalny's itinerary, the other party had only been in Calcutta for a few days before setting sail, and they were not going to China immediately, they planned to rush to the Strait of Malacca as soon as possible, and then where to wait until March, when the weather changed, they could sail to China nearby.

Zhou Lang was also concerned about one point, which was also not written in the history books, that is, the British at this time believed that they had accepted the invitation of the Chinese government for this visit. The reason was that last year, the Nanhai County Commander personally came forward, and Cai Shiwen, the chief merchant of the 13 Banks in Guangzhou, as an interpreter, visited various foreign foreign companies on behalf of Changlin, the governor of Guangzhou, and asked them to send envoys to celebrate the upcoming celebration of the 60 th anniversary of Qianlong's accession to the throne.

Zhou Lang knew very well that this was just an attempt by the governor Changlin, an official to slap Emperor Qianlong's ass, but in the eyes of Western countries, it had a different taste, and they thought it was a diplomatic invitation to them. In fact, all countries sent missions to visit, but the British attached the most importance to it, and they sent a large team of 600 people, both nobles and nobles, and carefully selected gifts from Europe. In fact, the British were not the only British to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Qianlong's accession to the throne, and the Dutch mission was no smaller than the British. Local officials actively cooperated with the Dutch in procuring gifts, and Changlin accompanied the Dutch mission the year after the British, apparently hoping to make up for the failure of the British mission the previous year and displeasing Qianlong. As for the envoys of Portugal, Spain and other countries, there were only some foreign bank executives who lived in Guangzhou.

Zhou Lang didn't care if this visit was Changlin's way to pat Qianlong's ass, but when he learned that it was an invitation from the governor of Liangguang, he knew that the trip would definitely go very smoothly, at least in Guangzhou, he would not be troubled by Manchu officials. This is a good opportunity, as long as he travels with the Magalny mission, the trip will be very smooth, and the trade in Canton will be very smooth, and it is very important for him to get off to a good start.

Therefore, he became active in the hope of following the Magalny mission, but the East India Company refused.

However, the East India Company refused, and the refusal was very crisp and decisive, and for them, Magalny's visit to China was more important than whether Zhou Lang could expand trade with China. The East India Company even refused Zhou Lang's request to set off with Magalny and arrive in Canton with him.

The partner Henry Pitt had used all his energy, but still could not succeed in getting his fleet to join the Magalny fleet, which made Henry Pitt very unhappy, and at the instigation of Zhou Lang, Henry Pitt accepted the suggestion that he should not set off with Magalny, but must enter Canton together, so as to create the illusion of a fleet, so that they could trade in Canton.

Apparently it was cost-effective for Henry Pitt to harm the interests of the East India Company in exchange for his own.

So three days after Magarny's voyage, Zhou Lang's fleet also set sail.

There were two ships in total, one ship did not have any goods, all of them were silver coins, a box by box, a total of 100,000 pounds worth of silver coins, and the captain of this ship was Captain Harald, who Xie Qing had hired with a lot of money.

Harald was not an Englishman, but a Norwegian, and Norway was now under Danish control, but Norway had closer trade relations with the British, and Denmark had more trade with Germany. Norway, on the other hand, was barren in real estate, and before industrialization, the maritime industry was the most important industry, and at one time, a small country with a population of one or two million supported the world's third commercial fleet.

Because Norway has a long seafaring tradition, the country's largest industry is shipping, so it has a large number of sailors, and there are many Norwegians in the British fleet, and Harald is a Norwegian captain employed by the East India Company. Because he is not British, he really only recognizes money, in fact, British captains only recognize money.

After Xie Qinggao promised twice the salary, Harald agreed to work with Xie Qinggao, and as for the promises such as shares that Zhou Lang promised at the beginning, Harald did not mention it.

The other ship was personally commanded by Xie Qinggao, and during this time he made up for his knowledge of navigation, as for how he learned the navigation technology in half a year without any foundation in natural science, it was not something that Zhou Lang could figure out. In short, Xie Qinggao said that he could control the voyage from China to India on his own, but he hired a young Scotsman who had been formally educated in a nautical school as his first mate.

Xie Qinggao's ship was a 500-ton merchant ship, and it was loaded with 30,000 pounds worth of Indian goods prepared during this time, mainly cotton textiles and some ironware. Xie Qinggao's purpose is actually Borneo, that is, Kalimantan Island, there are Chinese organizations such as Lanfang Company on the island, mainly in gold panning, Xie Qinggao once had a relationship with Luo Fangbo, so where did he go to cash these goods, in exchange for the gold of Lanfang Company, and then went to Guangzhou in exchange for tea.

This is also a triangular trade, which Zhou Lang had planned before, because when he was working at the East India Company, he found that the scale of trade between the East India Company and the Chinese in Borneo was not low, and he could earn an average of 12,462 ounces of gold per year, worth 52,966 pounds, by exporting Indian-made goods to West Borneo every year.

The night before the fleet departed, the shareholders of the company teamed up to hold a lavish send-off dinner for Zhou Lang, and their expectations for Zhou Lan could be seen from their earnest eyes.

The next morning, they all saw off on the pier, the warm sea breeze blew Buddha, looking back at Kolkata, Zhou Lang suddenly found that the scenery of this European-style town was so beautiful, he didn't even notice it at all during this time.

I don't know when I will look back again.

With a hint of emotion for no reason, Zhou Lang's ship drove out of the river port, entered the Indian Ocean half a day later, smashed a blue wave, and rushed to the other side of the unknown future.

The view of the Indian Ocean is unattractive to Zhou Lang, the excitement in his heart is all because of the unknown prospects, but the excitement in his heart is more than the nervousness, he is such a person, he is always full of passion for doing challenging things.

The only thing he remembered was one night when the waves made the fleet seem to capsize, and the next day the two ships lost contact with each other. It took two and a half days of searching before finally finding each other in the ocean north of Ceylon. The delay made Zhou Lang worry that he would not be able to catch up with Magalny's fleet, so he decided to divide his troops into two ways and not act with Xie Qinggao.

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