Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 517: Tianzhu Trivia
After drifting on the sea for a long time, Daxia's ocean-going fleet experienced the ravages of several storms and several pirates' spying and attacks. Finally, on New Year's Day of the eleventh year of Yuanyou, it arrived at the coast of India.

Calling it Tianzhu is actually not so accurate.

The India at the time of this incident, that is, the Mughal Empire was already on the decline. Internal and external troubles made this once powerful empire like an old man in his twilight years, struggling to survive under the powerful ships and guns of the Western barbarians.

When more than 20 warships of the Celestial Empire arrived at the outskirts of Daman, a port in the southwest of the Mughal Empire, preparing to temporarily dock for supplies, the port officials of the Mughal Empire actually ordered the port to be closed and rejected the Celestial Empire's request.

Wen Lian, standing at the bow of the ship and looking at the port of Daman through a telescope, was both surprised and annoyed.

I gave you face? You dare to reject the request of my Celestial Empire army? Even your master, the Red Haired Barbarian, doesn't have the guts to do that!

That’s right, at that time, Daman had already been occupied by the red-haired Portuguese colonial army. It was nominally still the territory of the Mughal Empire, but it was forcibly occupied by the red-haired barbarians in the form of trade and lease.

Not only did the port become the main channel for the Western barbarians to plunder resources and dump goods, but even the main officials in the city were replaced by red-haired and blue-eyed barbarians.

"Master Bao, what should we do?"

Deputy Envoy Jiang Baozhen was also a little confused by the Indians, but he was sure that his memory was correct.

When the fleet was traveling west, it had stopped at Daman for supplies. At that time, the Western barbarians welcomed Daxia's ocean-going fleet's mission to the West, and they wanted to fill the entire fleet with supplies, just to make the East and the West completely connected, so that they could buy the exquisite porcelain and luxurious silk of the Celestial Empire.

Only two or three years had passed, and the people in Daman Port had changed their attitude...

At this moment, Jiang Baozhen's anger and anxiety far outweighed her doubts.

They set out from France to return home, and it took them more than a year, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and traveling thousands of miles before they finally returned to the Eastern world.

We are about to set foot on the homeland of the Celestial Empire, but we can't even get supplies at our doorstep. Who can tolerate this?

"How about we give him a fuck?"

Although an official of the Ministry of Rites, Jiang Baozhen has the heart of a person from the Ministry of War.

Wen Lian thought more about it. Seeing the huge difference in treatment between the two times, he was afraid that something might have gone wrong with Daman.

The Mughal Empire can be said to be the Celestial Empire's gateway to the West. Changes in this neighbor's gateway will always affect the Celestial Empire's maritime trade and strategic policies.

Therefore, we must investigate it thoroughly. But before investigating it thoroughly, we must use a cannonball to break the situation.

Therefore, when Jiang Baozhen proposed the idea of ​​"cannon diplomacy", he only thought about it for a short time and then nodded and gave the order.

"Order the three warships Xuanyuan, Shennong, and Fuxi to fire at the same time!"

The three largest warships were lined up in a row. After the gunners were in position, they fired two test shots, then adjusted all the parameters. With just one round of salvo, they fired nearly two hundred shells at the port of Daman.

The range of the naval guns at this time was definitely the longest in the entire East and West, except for the Shenlong cannons on the city walls of big cities like Xuanda and Beijing.

The port of Daman has been operated by the Western barbarians for more than ten years. Apart from a dozen old warships in the port, there are not even any coastal defense guns that can reach the Celestial Empire's fleet.

After all, in a backward country like the Mughal Empire, just installing outdated red cannons was enough to deter the turbaned Indians.

But today, they encountered the Chinese army, which had already learned "cannon diplomacy".

The powerful artillery blasted open their port, and with just one round of salvos, the warships parked in the port were smashed into pieces. They then sent another envoy, holding the Great Xia Dragon Flag, and stood on the land of the port.

"Grand Guardian, Imperial Envoy and Prime Minister of Western Affairs, Wen Gong, in compliance with the order of His Majesty the Celestial Empire, summons the Lord of Daman City. If your Lord, the red-haired barbarian named Jigo, fails to stand under the Celestial Empire's dragon flag within two quarters of an hour, the Celestial Empire's army will turn Daman City into ashes!"

The defenders at the port, as well as the Indians and Westerners who had no time to escape, were all stunned by the strength of the Celestial Empire.

There were obviously only two people, one holding a dragon flag and the other holding a musket, but they gave people a powerful aura of looking down on all directions.

Moreover, the soldier holding the dragon flag and delivering the message, with his tall stature, seemed to be looking down and conveying the commander-in-chief's order to an official at the port.

The port official with a turban wrapped around his head responded to the words of the Qing soldiers in broken Chinese, tremblingly.

"Warriors of the Celestial Empire, there is no longer a lord of Jigo in Daman City. Two months ago, Daman City was already without a lord. The great Alamgir, with his subjects, has defeated the Portuguese in Daman City and recaptured the territory of the Mughal Empire..."

……

"Alamgir?"

"Young Master, Alamgir means world conqueror."

snort~
Wen Lian really couldn't help it. The monarch of the Mughal Empire was quite arrogant.

Even in a powerful country like the Celestial Empire, no emperor would say such words.

When the Qing army began to "purchase" food and other supplies in Daman City to supplement their needs, Jiang Baozhen had already found out a lot of useful information.

It turned out that the old monarch of the Mughal Empire had died several years ago, and the young monarch who succeeded him, Musi-ud-din Muhammad, known as Aurangzeb, was extremely ambitious.

He took advantage of the opportunity when England, Portugal and other Western barbarians were mobilizing their armies to support the U-Tsang rebellion, and mobilized tens of thousands of troops to capture the city of Surat occupied by England and the city of Daman occupied by Portugal.

Perhaps defeating the old, weak and sick of the Western barbarians gave Aurangzeb the confidence that he called himself the conqueror of the world. He ordered a policy of closing the country to the outside world and began to attack the stronghold cities of the Western barbarians everywhere, causing war to take place throughout the Mughal Empire.

Not to mention, the ports and lands on the west coast of the Mughal Empire that were originally taken away by the Western barbarians were gradually recovered by this madman's operation.

During the first few years of his reign, Aurangzeb's influence was enormous. He conquered the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda and expanded the Mughal Empire to cover the entire South Asian subcontinent except for its southernmost tip.

During the Mughal war with England, he protected trading rights in the Bengal region.

However, he abandoned the policy of religious tolerance since Akbar the Great, imposed a poll tax on non-Muslims in the country, and expelled them from the bureaucracy, thus intensifying domestic conflicts.

In addition, Aurangzeb's long stay in the south also led to political corruption in the northern part of the empire. Some people began to raise troops and establish their own regimes. The great nobles also consolidated their positions, and the centrifugal force of the empire grew day by day.

He did not realize that the empire needed all classes to maintain stability, and imposed Islam on all affairs, which destroyed the foundation of the empire and made his conquest meaningless.

Compared with the increasingly powerful Celestial Empire in the East, the Mughal Empire's national strength quickly declined from its brief peak under the extreme religious policies implemented by Aurangzeb.

Soon after the Chinese ocean-going fleet sailed west, the Chhat uprising, the Sikh armed resistance and the Rajput rebellion broke out in the Mughal Empire...

"The official from Daman City said that the reason he refused to allow us to stop for supplies was mainly because he heard something. There were rumors that the rebels near Daman City were supported by the Celestial Empire and that was why they rebelled against their monarch. In addition, the Western Barbarians had already dispatched troops to retake Daman City. He thought that our fleet wanted to seize the city in the name of supply."

Ok?
Wen Lian almost lost confidence because of this reason.

As the Imperial Commissioner and Minister of Western Affairs, there is nothing that Wen Lian cannot handle as long as it is overseas.

When did the Celestial Empire plant a thread in the Mughal Empire? How come he, the imperial envoy, had never heard of it?

"Do we have anyone here?"

Jiang Baozhen was also confused. He shook his head and said, "Master Bao, I haven't heard of him either. Could he be a hidden man of the Dragon Guards?"

"It shouldn't be possible. To use the words of Yongfeng Hou, our current territory is the largest area that the country can control at present. If it is farther, unless we learn from the Western Barbarians and adopt a loose colonial governor system... Hey, you know what, there may really be people from our Great Xia here!"

Wen Lian seemed to smell a possibility and smiled mysteriously.

It seems that their return home will have to be postponed again, at least to see which family has started to lay out in the Mughal Empire.

……

The Celestial Empire's army blasted open the gates of Daman with artillery fire. There was no need for anyone to spread the news, as it quickly spread to the vast countryside.

In a stone temple, several burly men sat in a circle and listened to the report of the Indian man with a large turban.

"Damn it, our people are finally here. Ah Qi, gather the troops immediately, let's go to Daman City..."

Just as the leading man was shouting to gather his men, a middle-aged scholar dressed as a scholar hurried in and stopped him.

"General, don't worry. It's better not to reveal our identities. In my opinion, you should go to Daman City to meet with Wen Shaobao as a sea merchant."

The big man asked doubtfully, "Mr. Wang, Young Master Wen has 20,000 troops under his command, as well as siege cannons. We can easily take over the entire west coast of Tianzhu in one go..."

"No, no, the Indians are nothing, but the general has overlooked one. The Western Barbarians! We want to occupy the most fertile land in India, and our main opponent is not the arrogant Aurangzeb of India, but the Western Barbarians!"

Wang Zhice has no official title or rank, and is now just a small scholar, but he has a talent comparable to that of the top scholar.

The Prince Ji's Mansion took advantage of the Crown Prince Liu Hong and poached talents directly from the Imperial College.

Liu Kang, the prince of Prince Ji, even offered the olive branch of the prime ministership of a vassal state, but failed to convince Wang Zhice.

The reason why he came to a foreign country to give advice to the people in Prince Ji's Mansion was, to put it bluntly, because he thought he was very talented and planned to make a name for himself as a Little Zhuge Liang in India, and then return to the Celestial Empire to serve as an official.

The advance troops of Prince Ji's Palace numbered no more than 2,000 men, and they arrived at the west coast of India one after another under the guise of maritime merchants.

The leader was Liu Mian, the second son of Prince of Ji Liu Kang, who was also the king of Ji Kingdom originally agreed upon by the Prince of Ji's Palace.

According to the agreement between the Prince of Ji's Mansion and the imperial court, Prince of Ji's Crown Prince Liu Kang and his eldest son will stay in the capital, while the second son will work hard in India to establish a vassal state and guard it.

This time, taking advantage of the conflict between the Mughal Empire and the Western Barbarians, Liu Mian secretly instigated non-Muslims who were dissatisfied with Aurangzeb's extreme religious policies to rise up in rebellion everywhere, catching the Mughal Empire off guard.

If he had not been without cannons and other siege weapons, he would have led his troops to attack the city of Daman long ago.

Now that Wen Lian has returned from the West with a large army, Liu Mian could use some strength. However, Wang Zhice tried to stop him, which made Liu Mian very confused.

Wang Zhice continued, "General, we only have about 2,000 men under our command. Before the follow-up troops arrive, we must be patient. Let the Indians fight each other first, and then let them fight the Western Yi. When they are tired and both sides are injured, then it will be the best time for us to take action."

"The military advisor is right, Second Young Master, we really have to continue to endure it!"

These rough guys are not stubborn soldiers, they are retainers trained by Prince Ji's Mansion since childhood.

They all understood what Wang Zhice said. The two thousand men under his command had come from thousands of miles away, and each one of them was extremely precious. Even if one of them was injured or killed, it would be heartbreaking.

Liu Mian was not a fool, so he naturally understood that what Wang Zhice said was the right thing to do.

"What the general needs to do now is to go to Daman City and see if he can borrow some support from Young Master Wen..."

……

The imperial court's colonization policy had been formulated long ago, but before Wen Lian left the Celestial Empire on a diplomatic mission to the West, no one had taken action yet.

Unexpectedly, in just three years, Prince Ji's Mansion had already deployed two thousand spies in Ceylon and India.

"I never thought that you, a boy, could endure such hardship."

Wen Lian was very surprised that Liu Mian came to India to endure hardships and work hard for his future. It was so rare for a royal noble to come overseas to feed mosquitoes.

Liu Mian did not dare to act arrogantly in front of Wen Lian and bowed respectfully.

"Mr. Wen, I haven't seen you for three years. You are still as charming as ever. I am so fascinated by you."

Hahahaha...

Wen Lian welcomed Liu Mian into the cabin with a big laugh. The slight waves on the sea reminded Liu Mian of a painful experience that he could not bear to recall, and his face turned pale immediately.

"Huh? Are you still seasick?"

Liu Mian took a deep breath and said helplessly: "I'm not seasick. I'm never afraid of the pleasure boats in Nanchi. But this sea... I'm seasick!"

The two chatted about random things for a while, and finally got down to business.

Liu Mian was slightly embarrassed and clasped his fists and said, "The original plan was to place people everywhere first, and then our people would take action when the Western Barbarians turned against the Celestial Empire. But I didn't expect that the Western Barbarians would collude with the people of U-Tsang and transfer most of the troops to the bottom of the plateau. The monarch of Tianzhu is also very ambitious, and he turned against the Western Barbarians at this time..."

Wen Lian had never heard of the news that the Western Barbarians were going to support U-Tsang in its rebellion against the Celestial Empire before he went on the diplomatic mission. He did not expect to hear such a shocking thing as soon as he returned to the East.

This Xiyi is really a dishonest dog. They clearly signed a contract with the Celestial Empire...

His face was solemn, and he asked, "What exactly is going on in U-Tsang? Tell me in detail!"

"This matter has to start from the death of the imperial teacher of U-Tsang in Shu..."

……

Wen Lian and Liu Mian had a secret conversation in the cabin for a long time. When Liu Mian left, he secretly sent more than ten cannons and a number of muskets.

Then he began to write at his desk, and wrote several letters in one breath.

"It seems that we really can't rush back. The Western Barbarians have betrayed their loyalty and colluded with the monks of U-Tsang to stir up civil strife in the Celestial Empire. Since they are unkind, don't blame us for being unjust. Send these letters back to the capital as soon as possible and tell His Majesty that we are going to raid the Western Barbarians' lair in Tianzhu!"

(This chapter was blocked before, I revised it again, the connection between the plot may be a bit problematic, please bear with me!)

(End of this chapter)