How many are there in India?

Of course there is only one, for many people, in their eyes, of course there is only one India, that is, India under British colonial rule, and for the world, there is only one India, this is a well-known fact!

But in reality?

Under the British, there were in fact two Indias, one consisting of the provinces of India centered on the capital Calcutta, and the other consisting of five hundred and sixty-five princely states. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

At the time of the British conquest of the country, the princely states of India had a variety of attitudes, and the opponents had already lost their right to inheritance, while the supporters warmly welcomed the arrival of the British, or fought bravely and loyally on the battlefield, and were later allowed to retain their former thrones, but only on the condition that the British monarchies were recognized, and the princely monarchs signed treaties with the British Empire, surrendered their armies and diplomacy, and in exchange, the British guaranteed the princes the right to autonomy in internal affairs.

Of course, this did not mean that the princes could enjoy absolute power within the princely states, in fact, if they had no heirs, then the princely states would have been taken away by the British after their deaths. However, even so, for these princes, life is still much better than it was five years ago, although the great revolt of that year failed and many rebels lost the princely states, but in return for the uprising, the annuities of the cancelled princes were restored, and the taxes of the princely states were returned to the princes.

In the uprising five years ago, perhaps these princes behaved differently, lest the uprising would not succeed and jeopardize their existing interests. Eventually, many accepted Queen Victoria's proclamation and laid down their arms, signed a treaty with the British, and surrendered their military and diplomatic powers.

"Respect the rights, dignity and honour of the princes as we respect ourselves. We will uphold our firm will to respect and uphold the rights of hereditary land ownership. ”

In Queen Victoria's declaration, the princely states of India were still recognized as independent sovereign states and were seen as allies of the British government, rather than vassals. The former Viceroy of India, Dalhousie, abolished the policy of "no heirs" and allowed the British to adopt successors in the absence of natural heirs, as long as the Indian princes pledged their loyalty to the British, thus guaranteeing the continuation of princely rule.

Perhaps since five years ago, the newly formed Anglo-Indian authorities in India have tried in every possible way to co-opt and shelter the princely states, trying to make the princely states "the basic pillars of British Indian rule" and make them loyal to the British.

Moreover, this way of British rule has also been rewarded by the loyalty of the princes, who, at least to some extent, are desperately loyal to the British, and this allegiance can often be marked with some question marks.

After all, for those princes who had participated in the uprising, the experience of participating in the uprising made them always worry that the British would one day liquidate all this, although the British did not do it now, but they had dealt with the British for hundreds of years, and always felt that it was because the British and Indian authorities had not yet recovered from the uprising, and the British would definitely settle old accounts in the future!

No one doubts this!

In the eyes of almost everyone, those princes will be punished, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, who knows?

So for those princes whose history is not clean, what they need is to enjoy themselves, maybe one day in the future, they will lose everything, no one can guarantee this, after all, no one will take Cobra's promise, no one will take it true.

It was because of this apprehension that most of the princely lords watched when the Russians marched into India, and when the Russians occupied Delhi and issued a proclamation against the princely states, they expressed respect for "the rights, dignity, and honour of the princes." "And, of course, their traditions, and the willingness to sign new treaties with the maharajas that give the maharajas more power and guarantee that their interests are not violated.

In terms of the means of dealing with the "native kings", the Russians are not inferior to the British, and even they are better than the British, after all, they have been dealing with those people for many years, and for the Russian Empire, in the end, those native kings have only two ways to go, one is to integrate into the Russian Empire, and the other is to become dead!

Of course, the princes of India have no way of knowing this! In the face of Russian generosity, the princes, who had always been full of apprehensions, chose the Russians almost without hesitation, after all, the Russian promises now seemed to be more credible than the British, and even more, the British were now the losing side.

Dozens of northern princes reneged on their treaties with Britain and took refuge with the Russians, and their confinement was rewarded - their power was not maintained, and they even received new canonizations - the canonization of the nobility of the Russian Empire, and without exception they received the titles of the Russian Empire, and some even became dukes.

These upstarts were undoubtedly stunned by the generosity of the Russian Empire, and after hundreds of years of dealing with the British, they naturally knew very well what they were getting, which meant that the Russian Empire recognized them as a member of the Russian Empire, and not like the British, who were condescending to them, and the so-called recognition of their independence was just a rhetoric!

The Russian Empire was generous, at least for now, and Russia gave these princely princes far more than the British, not only in honor or status, but also in other respects!

In contrast to the British, who deprived the Maharaja of diplomatic rights, under the new treaty these princes who had become Russian nobles were granted limited diplomatic powers—foreign affairs under the direction of the Russian Imperial Foreign Office. It was also in this context that diplomats from China appeared for the first time in the palace of the Maharaja.

Wang Chi did not feel strange to see diplomats from China here, but Zhao Yiming felt very surprised when he saw businessmen from China, and it was naturally a very happy thing to meet compatriots in a foreign land, so Zhao Yiming invited Wang Chi and his entourage to come to the newly built consulate as a guest - a luxurious manor that once belonged to British businessmen was where the consulate was located.

Compared with the Indian luxury, the Chinese dinner held in the manor even seems a little "shabby", but for the visiting Wang Chi and Li Dingyi, they did not feel this way at all, but felt honored because of the consul's hospitality.

"Now India is like a ripe peach, why don't we pick it?"

"Why occupy India?"

Putting down the chopsticks in his hand and looking at Li Dingyi, Zhao Yiming said with a smile.

"According to the estimates of the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the population of India is between 160 million and 170 million, such a large India may be wealth, but it is also a burden, to establish colonial rule here, we need to manage such a large indigenous population with a variety of religious beliefs, perhaps, we can get some benefits here, but this burden is not in the interests of the Empire, for the Empire, we prefer to pursue commercial interests!"

Looking at Wang Chi, Zhao Yiming said in a serious tone.

"You are fortunate to have come to India at this time, and we have signed a treaty with the Russians, and in return for recognizing their occupation of India, the future India must hold the "open door", of course, this openness is a ...... to China"

Even as a diplomat, Zhao Yiming did not know that there was another country in the signing - France, and even France had obtained their sphere of influence in India, but now France has not taken any action.

"Compared with colonial interests, the future policy of the empire towards India is to take advantage of geographical proximity and seek commercial interests, India will be used as a market for Chinese goods and a supplier of raw materials, Mr. Wang, as you are doing now, let the Deccan plateau be planted with cotton, this is a very good idea, if necessary, I can offer some assistance......"

As a diplomat, Zhao Yiming immediately realized the benefits of his thoughts to China after understanding Wang Chi's thoughts.

"Mr. Wang, tell me, how did you come up with this idea?"

Staring at Wang Chi, Zhao Yiming asked with a smile.

"You know, if the entire Deccan Plateau becomes a sea of cotton, then even if this is a Russian colony, it will also be our economic colony, and even if the Russians build a railway to India, it will not be able to change this!"

Although he had not read economics, Zhao Yiming knew very well that if all the princely states or Indians on the Deccan Plateau planted cotton, they would never dare to cut off cotton exports to China at the risk of the world. Because most of India is dependent on exports to China, and this is economic colonization.

"My lord, it's just a whimsical fantasy, and I make adults laugh......"

In front of the officials, Wang Chi dared to show his pride, and his caution made Zhao Yiming smile!

"Mr. Wang, this matter is a good thing, this official will report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will definitely cooperate with your actions at that time, if necessary, I believe that the Imperial Bank will also be willing to provide you with a loan, oh, now the Imperial Bank has decided to open a branch here......"

Listening to the words of this consul, Li Dingyi almost couldn't believe his ears,

What are they talking about?

He looked at the two in front of him in surprise, but he was only twenty-six years old, and he couldn't believe what he had heard that cotton planting was actually related to China's colonial cause in India.

"The Russians don't dare!"

Again, the words of the owner came to his mind. At that time, the self-confidence of the owner and Lord Zhao's words reflected each other, which made Li Dingyi's gaze at the owner also become complicated, and when he heard the support of the Imperial Bank, he secretly sighed the luck of the owner, and rejoiced for his original choice, with the support from the state, how could the owner's business not be big?

“…… A few years ago, for Westerners, China was their economic colony, and now, what we need is to turn India into our economic colony, compared to the West, we need more resources, because China has too many people, 40,000 people, it is precisely because there are too many people, so in the choice of colonies, we need colonies that are vast and sparsely populated and suitable for immigrants, but places like India, We need this place as an economic colony of China to provide us with the industrial and agricultural raw materials we need......"

In the past few years, in order to promote the colonial cause, not only did the Imperial University set up "colonialism" to study the management and operation of the colony, but even the liberal arts departments of many universities have also opened similar courses, and Zhao Yiming, as a diplomat, naturally has a certain understanding of colonialism.

In fact, at this time, when he learned all this from the mouth of the consul, and learned that the government would support him to carry out "commercial colonization" in India, his whole person was already in an unprecedented excitement, what is "economic colonization", he did not know, but he knew very well that with the support of the government, he could achieve all this more easily, and more importantly, it would bring him countless wealth.

"What Lord Zhao said is very true, and I will definitely find a way to expand other ...... here."

Just as Wang Chi opened his mouth to answer, a consulate staff member hurriedly walked in, and then handed a telegram to Zhao Yiming, Wang Chi noticed that the staff member's expression seemed to be extremely excited, what was wrong? In surprise, he only heard Zhao Yiming slap the table violently and shouted excitedly.

"Great, the French are at war with the British! Come, drink, let's toast to France! ”

Perhaps for the Chinese people, they believed that China could defeat Britain without the help of other countries, but now, with France involved in this war, everything has changed, and France's entry into the war, and the declaration of war on Britain, symbolizes the complete defeat of Britain - even Britain, no matter how strong, can not resist the simultaneous attack from the three major empires, and now, the outcome of the war is doomed, there is no doubt!

In this regard, as a diplomat, Zhao Yiming is naturally very clear, as a diplomat, he is very clear about the strength gap between China and Britain, which is also the root cause of everyone's worries, but now, France's declaration of war is like a reassurance, so that Zhao Yiming can see the light of victory and see a clearer future, this future, there is no more Britain.

"What? My lord, France, France declared war? ”

In Wang Chi's surprise, Zhao Yiming said excitedly.

"Yes, come, a toast to France!"

Zhao Yiming, who picked up the wine glass, took the initiative to pour another glass after drinking a glass of wine, and then said,

"Also, let's toast to the soldiers in Ireland, whose bravery laid the foundation for all this!"

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