Bangladesh.

If China had done anything to Nepal, Bangladesh would have been the country that had been hit the hardest, apart from the British Empire and India.

This small country, which has only been independent for 15 years, is still controlled by the British because China has let go of its clean hands, and its economy and many politicians are still controlled by the British. Of course, on the bright side, the British in Bangladesh are far less arrogant and unscrupulous than they were back then. Both Bangladesh and Britain themselves must take into account China's feelings and reactions.

All in all, Bengal is a semi-colony of the British, with a political status similar to that of Nepal. Even, the pro-China forces in Bangladesh are not as powerful as the royal family in Nepal. The difference between the two is that Nepal is the barracks of the British Empire, the Gurkha battalion is the most elite force of the British Army, and Bengal is just a small money bag.

But Bengal is located north of the Bay of Bengal, and part of it is adjacent to Myanmar to the southeast, through which the Chinese can directly attack the Ganges Plain in eastern India, and the British value Bengal no less than Nepal.

During these years, the British Empire had complete control over Bengal's foreign trade, and although they had to comply with the 'customs tariff system' imposed by China, the taxes were much higher than they had been back then, but these taxes were small compared to the benefits gained.

A 5,000-ton ocean-going freighter is cleaving the waves and heading towards Chittagong.

Captain Derek stood on the bridge and looked ahead, and not far away, a small black dot was clearly visible.

"Slow down." Derek's eyes flashed a few times, and he was very resentful of this small island. A good friend of his, because of the transport of opium and tablets. It was when passing by this small island that he was intercepted by a Chinese patrol boat. They were then taken back to Burma and executed.

China's anti-narcotics efforts are very strong, just as China's national strength is strong. It's a no-go zone that no one can touch!

When a large number of drug traffickers were afraid of being intercepted from the Strait of Malacca to China, they chose the relatively less dangerous land route from Bangladesh to Burma and then to southwest China, and soon transported a large amount of opium to southwest China. But it also touched a nerve very quickly with the Chinese government, and then they ignored the British protests and sent troops to set up a land and sea guard around Bangladesh.

The little black dot not far away is a point on the Chinese Maritime Guard Line, any ship entering Bengal from land and sea. The Chinese demanded that they pass through the maritime guard points along the way and stamp their passes one by one. Then you can declare it at customs such as Chittagong!

Derrick was naturally extremely resistant to this, but the British government acquiesced, so what could he do? And Chittagong was only the first stop on his eastward journey, and his final destination was Shanghai, China. They don't dare to go up to the Chinese government.

"Reality is changing so fast, it's only been a little over a year, and this small island has changed a lot." Derek put down his binoculars and sighed in his heart. When he passed through last year, it was just a simple outpost and a small port. Now the outpost has become a small fortress.

The Nix, which returned to the Netherlands last winter, had not yet arrived in Rotterdam and had already sold out of high-end tea, bone china and raw silk, medicines, and high-end furs made in China. Derek gained a lot. Of course, the owners of those goods made a lot of money. Chinese porcelain has long been out of fashion in Europe, but they learned from the British bone china. And soon came to the forefront, and also adapted to the market to make Western-style porcelain. This has led to a new development of China's porcelain industry. After all, bone china is never a bargain, and it is recognized as a high-end porcelain all over the world. Whether in Europe, America or Asia, it is sought after by people, and its market size is still not small. The quality of bone china in Chinese is not inferior to that of European porcelain, but the price is much cheaper. The trade in bone china has been growing over the years. High-grade tea, raw silk, medicines, and high-end fur, these are either China's traditional advantages, or there is no shortage of luxury jewelry in the market, and sales are not a problem at all.

Just like the European handicrafts, decorations, luxury accessories, high-end red wine, and high-end woolen fabrics loaded on the Nix, there is never a shortage of sales in China. When the cargo was almost loaded into the Nix's warehouse, Derek ended his life at home in Rotterdam and set out with the crew to the East again. Along the way, the Knicks also installed a batch of Arabic-style carpets in Alexandria, which are also in great demand in China.

Chittagong was a place where the Knicks had to dock because the Knicks were carrying a shipment of British businessmen from Chittagong. Johnson's one-year gap left Derek absent from the all-important period of time in the East. He knew about the changes in the East, but he didn't really feel it at all, that is, when he arrived in India, Derek was still thinking about Shanghai. It was only by chance that he met his compatriot in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), another Dutch-flagged freighter, the South Netherlands.

The captain of the South Netherlands, who had just arrived here with a load of tea, porcelain and raw silk medicines, introduced in detail to Derek and others the changes in the situation in the East during this period of time, and the friction between China and Britain, "The Chinese are very unfriendly to Britain, except for the Germans, they are very unfriendly to the whole of Europe." ”

"You have to pay attention to that. Be careful when communicating with Chinese. Otherwise, there will be unjustified calamities. "In these days, many European businessmen have been 'investigated' by the Chinese judiciary because of some minor problems, or purely verbal conflicts. This is a form of 'discrimination' and oppression!

But for the sake of profit, the Europeans have to endure it. Just like the Chinese who crossed the ocean to Europe and the United States to seek a living, they are also accumulating their wealth and managing their own lives little by little under the discriminatory gaze. Aren't they angry in their hearts? But for the sake of life and profit, they also chose to endure.

Warned by his companions, Derek decided to greet the Chinese maritime patrol boat with the most respectful gesture. So after seeing the little black dot ahead, he immediately ordered the steamer to slow down. There was no opium in his cabin anyway. There are no arms either, and he is not afraid of Chinese censorship. Derek felt more about the loss of his dignity.

The bell rang "Dangdang ......," and then Derek heard the lookout shouting, "Ahead, there's a fleet ahead, heading towards us." One big and two small, three high-speed clippers ......"

Patrol Boat 0117 quickly approached the Knicks with two smaller tonnage patrol boats, and the muzzles of the 70mm machine guns pointed straight at the Nix freighter. Don't look at it, it's less than 500 tons, and the patrol speedboats on both sides are only 200 tons, but the firepower is strong. The three warships have a total of 14 70mm guns, 8 42mm Gaoping dual-purpose machine guns, and 12 20mm Gaoping dual-purpose machine guns.

With two speedboats, patrol boat 0117 headed straight towards the Knicks. The observation post on the island saw the Nix from afar, and then telegraphed to patrol boat 0117 at sea.

Zhao Haifeng picked up the telescope in his hand, waved his hand, and didn't say a word, but the little soldier behind him already knew what he meant. BOSS This is going to be ready for the inspection team to board the ship.

Looking at the Nyx that was getting bigger and bigger. Zhao Haifeng's eyes flashed with a touch of heat, how many times had he seen such a huge ship, but he could not let go of that excitement and eye heat in his heart. Because he dreams of boarding a large warship! As an old navy child, Zhao Haifeng's father was a gunnery officer on a capital ship of the Beiyang Fleet at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although he switched to the coastal defense system halfway, he had an extremely sincere yearning for the big warship in his bones.

Zhao Haifeng has been nurtured since he was a child, and the only thing in his mind is battleships. Patrol boat 0117 is a five-hundred-ton gadget. In his opinion, it is completely a toy. Unfortunately, so far he had not found the slightest way to the battleship. And because of this. Zhao Haifeng is very happy to see the situation between China and Britain becoming more and more tense, which could trigger a war. And if war comes. Zhao Haifeng's chances are naturally greater.

Patrol Boat 0117 approached the Nix freighter with a very oppressive momentum, and then a patrol speedboat on the left quickly approached the Nix, which was slowing down. A team of inspectors from the China Oceanic Surveillance Bureau climbed up the Nix through a soft ladder for a full hour and a half of inspection, and when the patrol speedboat leaning next to the ship quickly left at a speed of twenty knots, Derek had an extra pass with a red stamp in his hand.

"Captain, this ship is Dutch, named the Nyx. It has a full load displacement of 5,200 tons, a crew of 53 people, five 20mm machine guns, and 17 muskets of length and shortness. "The young inspector also had a pass slip issued by the Chinese customs, which was stamped with a stamp, but it was not red, and the impressions on the carbon paper turned blue." The cabins are filled with a large number of high-end carpets, woollen fabrics and a large collection of red wine, as well as European handicrafts. No prohibited items were found. ”

There is no contraband, and the number of weapons is also below the standard line, Zhao Haifeng nodded to indicate that he understood, and took out a copper seal from a pocket under his waist, and naturally someone next to him prepared the red mud early. There is an extra bright red mark on the bottom slip of the pass.

If the Knicks want to reach Shanghai from the Indian Ocean, if they only stop in Singapore in the middle, they will come down one after another along the way, and the pass in his hand will need to be stamped with eight stamps, and if they stop elsewhere in the middle, there will be two more red stamps in one place, and the number will increase in turn.

And if he wants to travel from the Indian Ocean to Chittagong, he needs to have a total of five stamps on this pass in his hand.

After stamping the sixth stamp on the pass, Derek took the pass back from the Chittagong customs inspector, and then he followed the inspection team to get off the Nix, and went to the Chittagong customs office to berth and declare the mooring with the customs speedboat.

It took five hours before and after, and compared with the Chinese inspecting the merchant ships of Germany and Sweden, the Dutch merchant ships were one of the key points of concern of the Chinese. In recent years, in order to avoid some unnecessary troubles, many British, French, Dutch, and Spanish cargo ships have gone to Hamburg or Stockholm for registration. Because Germany is the friendliest European country to China, and Sweden has been completely harmless to China in the past history, the Swedes have never sold YA tablets to China in the more than 100 years of trade between the two sides during the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They have an excellent track record with China Customs and are highly reputable.

From the sea off Chittagong to the port of Chittagong.

After seeing the merchant ships of various countries and Bangladesh's own warships along the way, Derek's eyes were more solemn. In the past, he ran the eastern trade route, although he has always done his duty and did not cause trouble, but he really looked down on the combat effectiveness of the navies of several small countries in the South Seas.

Not to mention anything else, take the Nguyen Dynasty and the Southern Heavenly Kingdom as examples, the naval strength is not even half that of the Netherlands. You must know that since the Kingdom of the Netherlands lost the Spice Islands, the entire country's finances have almost collapsed. The Dutch have invested little in the navy in recent years, and the Dutch navy, which was considered a second-rate navy in Europe back then, is now completely worthless!

But such a Dutch navy, if it is to be used against the Southern Heavenly Kingdom and the Nguyen Dynasty, it is also a steady advantage.

Derek was a Dutchman who knew what the navy meant to a country. Naturally, he despised the Nantian Kingdom and the Nguyen Dynasty very much, and even looked down on all the Nanyang countries. To think that these small countries are sheltered under the wings of the Chinese and have completely lost their sense of crisis, they are parasites under the wings of the behemoth of China.

These small countries are not short of money, whether it is the Southern Heavenly Kingdom or the Nguyen Dynasty, their economic strength is stronger than Japan's, but their military strength is far behind Japan's by decades.

The influence of the Dutch in Japan was profound. Even if the British and American incursions and the 180-degree U-turn in the foreign policy of the Tokyo government were experienced, the far-reaching influence of the Netherlands in Japan could not be completely erased. This influence is prominently displayed in individuals, impregnated in private individuals, not national governments.

In Derek's eyes, Japan is a pity. If it had not been for an irresistible behemoth like China, even if Japan had been moved to a fiercely competitive Europe, there would have been a place for the Japanese in European politics today.

"Read the newspaper, read the newspaper, the British emperor and queen went to India to pull, read the newspaper, read the newspaper, read the newspaper......"

Derek walked past the newsboy in a deaf ear, and the little newsboy shouted in Bengali, who knows what he meant. If it was Dutch, or even English, French, or Chinese shouting, Derek would pull out a silver taka to buy a newspaper in the newsboy's hand...... (To be continued.) )