Turning back to it, because of the huge profits brought by the opium trade, the major opium companies in the Ming Dynasty did not succumb to Cromwell's note and continued to carry out the opium trade.

Seeing this, Cromwell had no choice but to take tough measures, and decisively sent troops to surround the institutions of the major opium companies in London, Liverpool, Manchester and other places.

Seeing this, Cao Shiwen, the general secretary of Wang Guangting and Meisheng's company in England, had to ask to see Cromwell in person.

Cromwell also had some scruples and met with Wang Guangting and Cao Shiwen in his estate.

Because the taste of Chinese tea is elegant and tranquil, and more importantly, the country's cultural influence is strong, even in a Western manor like Cromwell, Cromwell's hospitality to two Ming officials (although Cao Shiwen is a member of the Meisheng Company, but also hangs the scattered Ru Linlang) is also a fragrant tea.

However, Cromwell, like many royals and nobles, preferred to brew light green tea leaves in a clear and colorless glass to taste the fragrance, while Wang Guangting, two Ming officials, still used white porcelain to cover the bowl and drink it slowly and pecked lightly.

"I don't know what the general means by this, why he wants to send your army to surround our merchant houses, is it possible that our merchant houses have not paid taxes, or have interfered in the internal affairs of other countries and violated criminal laws?"

Wang Guangting asked first, and Cromwell said quite politely: "The two Your Excellencies must have known that His Majesty the British Emperor has already issued an edict prohibiting the Ming Dynasty from selling tobacco to the country, and the unsold tobacco must be handed over in full, otherwise they will be driven out of the country by force. ”

"If your country wants to ban smoking for the sake of the physical and mental health of its own people, it is your internal affairs, and we should not interfere, but we should not interfere, but since we want to ban smoking, why only ban the opium tobacco of our Ming Dynasty, but not ban our own tobacco merchants, this is probably not a ban on smoking, but to ban the tobacco of our Ming Dynasty, and implement trade protectionism."

Cao Shiwen graduated from the Department of Economics and Trade of Beijing Normal University, and he has long been very familiar with "trade protectionism", and it is not only him, but Wang Guangting also knows the meaning of these words because of the exposure of newspapers and periodicals such as Daming Daily and Daming Business Daily, and the translator next to him can also be translated properly.

Wang Guangting admired Cao Shiwen, who became the general manager of Meisheng Company in England at a young age, and Cromwell also sneered: "No matter what you think, now that our king has decided to ban smoking, you should obey the edict of our king, why bother talking!" ”

Cromwell continued to drink his tea as he spoke, and said nothing more.

He is just a politician and not an economist, he doesn't know much about trade protectionism, which is an advanced economic term, and he hasn't thought about banning only Ming cigarettes, but as a mature politician, he knows that if he wants to successfully ban smoking, he can't be killed with a stick, after all, there are many domestic merchants selling opium, including many members of the royal family, if the direct and complete ban on smoking will inevitably be opposed by most of the nobles, in that case, even Charles I may not dare to support himself.

Therefore, in order not to make a complete break with these nobles, and to hope that they would remain silent in the light of the long-term interests of the British Empire, Cromwell only targeted the smoking ban on foreign tobacco companies such as the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Cromwell didn't bother to explain to a Ming official like Wang Guangting, although he was afraid of the strength of the Ming Dynasty, he was not afraid, after all, in his opinion, no matter how powerful the Ming was, it was far away, and it was difficult to pose a fatal challenge to the British Empire.

Seeing this, Wang Guangting couldn't help but ask coldly: "Aren't you afraid of the wrath of His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?" As he spoke, Wang Guangting snorted angrily and angrily left Cromwell's manor with Cao Shiwen.

But at this time, a team of British soldiers with firearms ran out of the oblique stab, and pointed directly at Wang Guangting and Cao Shiwen.

Wang Guangting and Cao Shiwen stopped at the same time and turned around, looking at Cromwell: "Earl Cromwell, what are you going to do here?" ”

"You have violated the laws of the British Empire by refusing to pay the remaining tobacco, and you are hereby seized and seized until you are willing to pay the tobacco!"

Saying that, Cromwell directly ordered his soldiers to detain Wang Guangting and Cao Shiwen, so as to create a leaderless situation in the entire Ming tobacco company in Europa, and then force the Ming tobacco company to pay the tobacco obediently, and then implement the ban on smoking trade.

Cromwell can also be regarded as resolute, after the seizure of Wang Guangting and Cao Shiwen, he immediately ordered his army to rush directly into the major tobacco companies and directly forcibly seize the opium of the Ming Dynasty.

Because Meisheng Company and other Daming tobacco companies did not get the unified command of Wang Guangting and Cao Shiwen, and after all, this is British territory, and Cromwell came prepared, so Meisheng Company and other Daming tobacco companies were forced to pay a lot of tobacco.

Even, there was bloodshed in the branch of Meisheng Company in Liverpool, Dong Chuanzhu, the deacon of Meisheng Company, was directly killed, and three employees of Meisheng Company were injured.

This Dong Chuanzhu is the eldest son of Dong Cheman, who worked as a rickshaw driver for Zhang Dai, but unexpectedly became the first victim of the Cromwell anti-smoking campaign.

There was no turning back when he opened the bow, and Cromwell saw that he had killed people, so he became even more unscrupulous, so he continued to increase his efforts, and forced all the tobacco companies of the entire Ming Dynasty in England to hand over one million catties of tobacco, and the total economic loss of the Ming Dynasty amounted to hundreds of millions of silver dollars.

The English Empire made a windfall, and hundreds of millions of silver dollars worth of tobacco were divided up by it, and in an instant Charles I had enough military funds to wage sectarian wars.

But for the proud Ming, this is a big shame, no one thought that these Westerners would be so bold, and they would do business with you well, but these Englishmen and Westerners do not follow the rules, but they want to engage in hegemony.

Of course, Cromwell also knew that this move would completely anger the Ming Dynasty, and in order to avoid over-reliance on the Ming Dynasty in the future, he simply asked Charles I to agree to close the major ports, stop trading with the Ming Dynasty, and expel the people of the Ming Kingdom from the country.

Meisheng Company and other company occupations and Jinyiwei on the bright side had to return to China.

And after this news was transmitted back to China, there was an uproar, no one expected that the distant little England would dare to be so bold, offend the majesty of the Celestial Empire, and even cause human life.