Steel Dynasty - Chapter 307

[Chapter 307 Reasons]

On the vast sea, three Galen ships were cutting through the waves.

After obtaining the intelligence provided by the British, they prepared to send the British to India in exchange for the corn, peanuts, potatoes and other crops they planned to collect this time.

“Are you pirates from the Great Chongqing Kingdom?”

After the British woke up, they boarded the deck. After examining the ship, he was surprised to find that the ship was very similar to their warship, and the design of the ship seemed more reasonable.

Puzzled, he couldn’t help but ask the translator Zheng Shaoqing.

Zheng Shaoqing is one of the few translators trained by Xiao Ming. In fact, not long after the establishment of Bowen College, Xiao Ming began to train translators, and Zheng Shaoqing was the best among these translators.

There were two translators on the other two ships. They were originally poor scholars from Qingzhou.

Zheng Shaoqing has already learned that the British man in front of him is called Wilson, and he is the first mate of a British sailing cruiser. According to Wilson’s story, Britain is now competing for overseas colonies with European countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal, and France.

Among these countries, they have the worst relationship with the Netherlands and are at war. Each other’s warships will always encounter fights when they meet at sea.

“No, we are not pirates, we are the fleet of King Qi of the Chongqing Kingdom.” Zheng Shaoqing said righteously.

“Impossible, we have seen the ships of merchants from the Great Chongqing. It is impossible for you to have such a ship, let alone install so many cannons on the ship, and the ones you use are all cast iron cannons.” Wilson shook his head repeatedly.

Zheng Shaoqing was keenly aware of the information in Wilson’s words, and he asked: “Have you ever contacted businessmen from the Great Chongqing Kingdom?”

“Of course, your businessmen from the Great Chongqing Kingdom often exchange porcelain and silk for our large amounts of silver.” Wilson spread He spread his hands and said, “Your porcelain and silk are very popular in our country.”

Zheng Shaoqing frowned, and he translated Wilson’s words to Yue Yun.

“His Royal Highness said that he had never heard of Western merchants coming to Chongqing to trade in Chang’an. Ask him where their merchants trade in Chongqing.”

Zheng Shaoqing heard this and Yue Yun’s words were translated to Zheng Shaoqing .

.

Wilson listened and said: “I heard that in Ningbo, I don’t know much, but it is said that Dutch businessmen often do business with you Dayu people in Ningbo. Our fleet once docked in Guangzhou, and we are preparing to send a mission there. Your capital discussed trade matters with your king, but the gifts our envoys brought to your king were misappropriated by local officials. Our envoys were also treated unfairly. Since then, our fleet has never gone there again. Yes, and the Dutch later occupied this route.

“Ningbo? This is the fiefdom of the King of Chu.” After the translator translated, Yue Yun frowned.

“Could it be that the King of Chu has been hiding this matter and secretly doing business with the Dutch?” Zheng Shaoqing asked hesitantly.

“It’s not impossible. The Cao family’s banks have spread all over the country of Chongqing in recent years. Where do you think he got so much silver to support the bank? And the Cao family is a vassal of the King of Chu. Maybe the King of Chu really knows about this, but it’s just a huge amount of money.” I’m afraid he was obsessed with lard and secretly traded with these Westerners, hiding the matter,” Yue Yun said.

The King of Chu has great influence in the south, and it is not difficult for him to conceal it. Moreover, the people of Dayu do not care about these Westerners, especially the powerful people in Chang’an. In their eyes, these people are just barbarians.

“If so, doesn’t King Chu know about the guns?” Zheng Shaoqing asked.

Yue Yun was also deep in thought at this time, “You ask him?”

Zheng Shaoqing turned his head and continued to communicate with Wilson, but Wilson just couldn’t explain clearly.

But Zheng Shaoqing seemed to see from Wilson’s twinkling eyes that this matter was not that simple.

“Captain, this Englishman seems dishonest. He is hiding something.” Zheng Shaoqing said.

Yue Yun frowned, “If we press him, we probably won’t be able to get the crops His Highness wants, but if we don’t ask, we won’t know about the ambiguity between the Dutch and the King of Chu.”

“I think it’s better not to press, We will go back and report this to His Highness, and we did encounter many merchant ships of the Cao family during the voyage, and this is the evidence.” Zheng Shaoqing said.

Yue Yun pondered, “It’s just that His Highness said that none of these Westerners are good people. If we send him ashore, we may not get anything in return. Look at the way they stare at our Galen ship, with greed on their faces. I’m afraid When the time comes, only their fleet will greet us.”

Zheng Shaoqing also remembered Xiao Ming’s words. He said that he could not trust any Westerners, because Westerners at this time were pirates!

“If this is the case, I have a plan.” Zheng Shaoqing whispered to Yue Yun.

Yue Yun nodded frequently after hearing this, “Let’s do it this way. They are pirates. We must be more ruthless than pirates. Take off our navy flag and replace it with the pirate flag we stole.”

Zheng Shaoqing smiled and immediately let The sailor hoisted the pirate flag.

When Wilson saw the pirate flag flying, his face suddenly turned pale. He asked nervously: “Didn’t you say you were not pirates?”

“It wasn’t just now, but it is now. Mr. Wilson, I think you must answer honestly now. It’s our problem, otherwise we will have to throw you down.”

Wilson shuddered. In his opinion, it is possible to reason with a country’s fleet, but there is no way to reason with pirates.

“Okay, okay, I said, I said, the Dutch were indeed deceived by your King Chu at first, but later they knew that King Chu was not the king of Dayu, so they protested to King Chu, but Chu The king promised to give the Dutch the most preferential treatment, and the Dutch also know that your country of Chongqing now has several kings, and the King of Chu is one of the strongest kings. They decided to support the King of Chu, and they also sold antiques such as matchlock guns. Give a lot to the King of Chu.”

“Arquebus?” Zheng Shaoqing frowned even more.

Wilson continued: “The King of Chu still wanted the Dutch’s cannons, but the Dutch were not fools. Once the King of Chu had the cannons, they could put the cannons on the ships. It was already difficult for the Dutch to maintain an ocean-going fleet, and they did not want to lose it. My last bargaining chip.”

After saying this, Wilson tried: “We in Britain also want to support a king to do business in Great Chongqing. If you really come from a king, I can help you introduce him. Trust me, Great Britain. The fleet will soon defeat the Dutch, which will be a wise choice.”

(End of chapter)