The seven islands of Mumbai belong to Portugal. Horst's intention of making others generous is like Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows it.

This plan came from Horst. Although it made Mendere feel disgusted, from reality, the plan itself is in the interests of Portugal. Therefore, Mengdere pinched his nose and agreed to Horst's words.

Although Meng Delie planned to make concessions in trade quotas and circulation of Chinese currency, he did not intend to hand over the interests quickly and quickly. He was going to hand over the seven islands of Mumbai to Lin Chunhong first.

If Lin Chunhong could swallow the seven islands of Mumbai smoothly, he would have to wait for the Western fleet to enter the west coast of the Indian Ocean before discussing; if Lin Chunhong and the Mughal Empire had a conspiracy, then you would be welcome, and you could even consider attacking Lin Chunhong with the Mughal Empire.

So, both Horst and Mengderey turned their attention to Delhi in the northeast.

Delhi was the capital of the Mughal Empire. After Lin Chunhong's envoys issued an ultimatum in Goa and Kochi, they went to Delhi. Horst and Mengderei estimated that Lin Chunhong's envoys were responsible for persuading Shah Jahan to give up the area around Mumbai.

After only more than ten days, news came: Shah Jahan agreed to sell the area within a hundred miles of the seven islands of Mumbai to the Ming Dynasty, worth 100 taels of gold.

Horst and Meng Derek were surprised. They didn't understand why Shah Jahan, who had always been wise and powerful, suddenly became a fool, and actually allowed Lin Chunhong to take advantage of it.

Isn’t one hundred taels of gold just a gift?

The two of them were asking about the reasons everywhere, and the reasons they received were all kinds of feedback:

Some people say that Lin Chunhong's Navy Military Intelligence Department took the line from Shah Jahan's favorite concubine Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan was persuaded by Taj Mahal and easily gave up the area around Mumbai.

This is obviously nonsense. Taj Mahal died of labor seven or eight years ago. How could he get the Taj Mahal?

Some people say that Lin Chunhong's envoy threatened Shah Jahan and would support the Sikhs and Malats if he did not give up the area around Mumbai.

The Sikhs and the Malats believed in Sikhism and Hinduism respectively, and were always incompatible with the Mughal Empire, which believed in Islam. In addition, Shah Jahan changed his previous religious tolerance policy and tried his best to suppress Sikhs and Hinduism, which led to the resistance of the Sikhs and the Malats?

??Heaving and coming.

Although this reason is more reliable, it is not far from nonsense.

Mendere and Horst knew that although the Sikhs and Marat rebelled, they were not a big deal for the powerful Mughal Empire. The talented and wise Shah Jahan would not succumb to Lin Chunhong's tyranny.

In the end, it was the Chief Executive of Portugal in Mumbai who revealed the mystery:

Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, is the main settlement of the Malats. The Mughal Empire's control over the surrounding areas of Mumbai was almost zero. The Mughal Empire sold Mumbai to Lin Chunhong, which not only could it get 100 taels of gold, but it could also use Lin Chunhong's power to weaken the Malats.

This...is too incredible, right?

In a mere Mumbai, it actually involved so many forces in the Ming Dynasty, Portugal, the Netherlands, the Mughal Empire, and the Marat people. They had a plan to get involved. Who is the biggest beneficiary and who is the biggest victim?

On June 15, 14th year of Chongzhen, Liang Feng led twelve first-class warships and dozens of second-class warships, leaving the port from Temasek, and sailed directly on the west coast of India with a fierce momentum.

After receiving the news, Horst and Mengdelie were so scared that they were half-hearted that they were afraid that the Indian Ocean fleet would be attacked, so they ordered the fleets of the two countries to hide in the ocean.

When the fleet arrived at Kochi Port, Liang Feng ordered the fleet to pass through the range of the Kochi Fort. Under Horst's repeated warnings and constraints, the Dutch gunners watched the huge fleet leave without firing a single shot.

When Liang Feng's fleet was still hundreds of miles away from Goa, it met a small boat head-on. The Portuguese envoy carried on the boat boarded the Dingyuan ship and made a request to sell the seven islands of Mumbai to the Ming Dynasty, with a price of 10,000 taels of gold.

Liang Feng flatly refused and drove the envoy off the Dingyuan ship and continued to move forward.

When the fleet arrived at the city of Goa, the Portuguese envoy boarded the Dingyuan ship again and insisted on selling the seven islands of Mumbai to the Ming Dynasty for a price of 50,000 yuan.

The difference between 10,000 taels of gold and 1,000 yuan is not only in the price, but also in the more important difference lies in Meng Delie's attitude towards China Coin.

However, Lu Mincheng, the Foreign Relations Department, was obviously not satisfied with the 50,000 yuan and said in a dark voice: "Buying land within a hundred miles of the surrounding area of ​​Mumbai, Daming spent 100 taels of gold, roughly equivalent to more than 1,000 yuan. Just seven islands in Mumbai will sell 50,000 yuan? It's too expensive!"

In the eyes of the Portuguese envoy, 50,000 yuan was equivalent to giving away for nothing. He never expected that Lu Mincheng would be entangled in these details, and his attitude of provoking disputes was obvious.

The Portuguese envoy swallowed his anger and finally offered a price of 500 yuan.

Lu Mincheng accepted happily.

Finally, Liang Feng warned the Portuguese envoy again: "Meng Derek is going to hurry up on the trade quota, the circulation of Chinese currency and the Atlantic free trade. After I take over Mumbai, I will confirm with Meng Derek."

Liang Feng said he wanted to take over Mumbai, but in fact he only sent two second-class warships and one transport ship to the north. The main fleet did not go far, but instead cruised outside Goa to monitor the entry and exit of ships near Goa.

After the kings and the two kings climbed the seven islands of Mumbai and circled around the island a little, they had to be amazed at God's magical skills.

The west coast of India has a straight coastline and almost no islands off the coast. Mumbai has seven small islands in one breath. The coastline is extremely tortuous and zigzag-shaped, with many harbors. It does not require too much engineering, which is enough to build a super port.

Wang Liangquan began to lead more than a hundred professionals to measure and plan and design the seven islands of Mumbai. When the shape, hydrological data and the terrain within dozens of miles around were converted into drawings, Wang Liangquan suddenly had a bold idea: to fill the bays between the seven islands while dredging the harbor and connect them together.

This is undoubtedly beneficial to the construction of super ports, but the project volume is doubled.

Based on this concept, Wang Liangquan began to design the entire port.

At the same time, some of the personnel, escorted by small sergeants of the Dragon Guard Corps, began to conduct investigations around Mumbai. What surprised the inspectors were that the Malats did not show hostility towards their arrival, but were just curious about them and watched them from time to time.

The inspectors were experienced in winning relationships and distributed the candies they carried with them to the children. The children cheered and even the adults stared at the candies in their hands and envied them.

The inspectors had a sudden inspiration and immediately returned to the seven islands of Mumbai. They urgently unloaded some cargo from the transport ship and took it to the Maratian gathering area for sale.

The exquisite handicrafts and sweet candies attracted countless Malats to exchange. However, these Malats were poor and could hardly take out gold and silver items, so they could only bring sheep and carry food for exchange. The inspectors refused to refuse, sold half and half to give away, and sold all the goods at hand.

From the very beginning, the Han people established good relations with local residents, which was obviously beneficial to the work of the inspectors. As the inspectors deepened their work, they were surprised to find that the Marats never ate beef, not only did they not eat it, but also regarded the cow as a god, and could not tolerate any resentment.

The inspectors immediately recorded it in the book to remind the Ming people to pay attention. When the Ming people expanded, they always showed tolerance and respect for other civilizations, which was obviously different from the robber-like Westerners.

In addition, the inspectors also found that the population around Mumbai is very dense, almost no less than that of Jiangnan and Jingzhou in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the people here are very lazy, spending most of their time basking in the sun and catching lice, and doing almost no work.

With this attitude of life, poverty is inevitable.

The inspectors immediately reminded Wang Liangquan not to place their hopes of building a Mumbai port on the Marats.

Later facts also proved that even if Wang Liangquan paid one tael of silver a day, he could not attract these people to sell their labor.

...

When Horst and Menderey's plan to provoke the relationship between the Mughal Empire and the Ming Dynasty failed, the two put their hopes on the Marat people. They sent people to the Marat gathering area to try their best to describe the fear of the Ming people and do everything possible to provoke the relationship between the Marat people and the Ming people.

The leader of the Marat was skeptical and sent people to the surrounding area of ​​Mumbai to see that the Ming people not only did not show any hideous attempts to expand, but even brought many strange things to the Marat people.

The leader of Marat believed that the Ming people had no malice, so he ignored the Portuguese and Dutch provocations.

The Malats had already felt very difficult to deal with the pressure of the Mughal Empire. Since the Ming people did not have an attempt to continue to expand, it was really not appropriate to create a strong enemy.

The high caste among the Marats was very clear-headed.

Before Meng Delie could make any excuses, Liang Feng drove the fleet to the city of Goa again, and the situation was very tense.

At this point, in order to strive for better negotiation conditions, Meng Derek and Horst risked the fleet being annihilated and ordered the fleet to gather outside Goa to let Liang Feng see the chips they had at hand.

Seeing the Netherlands, the Portuguese fleet showed signs. The entire fleet decisively threw Goa aside and began to chase the Portuguese-Holland Combined Fleet.

The Joint Fleet dared not face Liang Feng's fleet directly, and it was so scared that it ran away quickly.

Liang Feng chased after him, and the two sides began to circle the west coast of India, chasing and fleeing until Meng Derei's envoy boarded the Dingyuan ship again.

In principle, the envoy agreed to cancel the cargo quota restrictions in the Indian Ocean strongholds, allow the free circulation of Chinese coins, and allow the Ming people to set up money houses in the strongholds. However, they would not let go of the free navigation rights of Ming merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean.

Liang Feng led the entire fleet and unceremoniously gathered outside Goa, completely blocking Goa City and prohibiting all ships from entering and leaving.

Meng Delie could not agree to the Ming Dynasty merchant ships entering the Atlantic Ocean, but they had to adopt a trade quota system.

When the Dutch East India Company Governor Horst heard the news, he was so scared that he looked like a mortal face. He never expected that he wanted to play Portugal, but Portugal treated him with his own way. He secretly stole him and pushed him to the front desk to confront the Ming Dynasty.
Chapter completed!