***

"It's too much, the people of Qin are too much, God! They are blatant blackmail, blackmail! Lan Bai looked excited, as if he wanted to immediately send Zhang Haoran and his party to the gallows.

Cromwell sat in his chair with a gloomy face, his saber lying across the long table in front of him, exuding a chilling chill.

At the beginning of the Shoulun talks, Zhang Haoran gave him a problem, asking Britain to immediately stop supplying weapons to the Mughals, and the talks broke up unhappily.

Judging from Zhang Haoran's attitude, he is fearless and has no intention of compromise.

But can Britain compromise?

Cromwell was well aware that the direct economic benefits of Britain's arms trade with the Mughals were secondary, and the key was its political significance.

Britain opened the door to the Mughal dynasty through the arms trade, and gradually penetrated into the core of Mughal power, thus obtaining many trade privileges, and the Mughal emperor specially pardoned the customs duties in Bengal.

Now, with the support of the Qin Empire, Otesa and other countries have just defeated the Mughal army, and the Mughal Dynasty, which is regrouping and preparing to invade the south again, is in urgent need of British weapons supplies.

At this juncture, if the supply of weapons to the Mughals was stopped at the request of the Qin state, it would undoubtedly make the Mughal dynasty very unhappy, and British interests in India would probably be jeopardized.

"So, can we refuse the request of the Qin people?" Cromwell held one hand on the hilt of his sword, but his gaze looked at the sky outside Windsor Castle, and his gaze seemed to be able to penetrate a qiē, including the sky.

If he could refuse, Lan Bai would not be so angry, just reject Zhang Haoran directly.

It's just that Britain has British pride, and as soon as it comes to the negotiating table, it will be eaten to death by the people of Qin, so how can Lan Bai swallow this breath?

"Are you ready to accede to the unreasonable demands of the people of the Qin Kingdom?"

What if you don't say yes? The Qin Empire had already achieved dominance of the Indian Ocean. British interests in India were just a handful of sand in the hands of the Qin Empire;

If the people of Qin are willing, they can leak some sand for you. If it is unwilling, can Britain still start a war with Qin in the Indian Ocean?

"God has said that there are always pros and cons in the world of things, but it is up to you to choose."

Lan Bai was a little stunned, did God say such a thing? Perhaps, the current Cromwell is equivalent to God's spokesman in England, and he said that God said it. That's what God said.

Cromwell continued: "By severing the arms trade with the Mughals, Britain may lose much of India's interests, but at least it will retain its trade with the Qin and possibly gain a larger share of the trade."

If we reject Qin's request, we will not only lose India's interests, but will also become Qin's enemies. Unless God provides, we can defeat them in India. ”

It's not just about being brave to see your weakness and face it. It's wisdom.

"Your Excellency, I heard that during the Ming Dynasty, some small countries in the Far East paid opium as tribute to the Ming Empire, and the Ming Empire used opium as medicine. There are also some people who like to smoke opium. I heard that there was even a Ming Dynasty emperor who hid in the palace and smoked opium for decades, ignoring the government and politics. Maybe I can sell opium as a commodity to the Qin State. ”

Now the Bay of Bengal area is an important production area of opium. As early as 1610, the British East India Company was able to establish its first factory in Megil Bednaim, Saikui, Bay of Bengal. The fact that the company reported high profits after landing in India prompted King James I to grant charters to other companies.

"You can try this." Cromwell did not seem to have taken the opium trade too seriously. "With Qin's trade, the Indian side can relax, and we should turn our attention back to Europe and at the same time turn to the Americas."

Lan Bai can become Cromwell's henchman, naturally he will not be a fool, after listening to Cromwell's words, he immediately realized something, and couldn't help but ask: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, are you ready to go to war with the Dutch?" ”

The contradictions in Britain are intensifying day by day, and the contradictions between Cromwell and Parliament also need to be transferred. Waging war against foreign countries has always been a very effective means of diverting domestic contradictions.

Along with the bourgeois revolution in Britain, the strength of the British navy has also grown over the years, whether in the Americas, Africa, or India, it has been trying to challenge the hegemony of the Netherlands.

Although the Netherlands is known as the coachman of the sea, and the sea power is the first in Europe, this time, he offended an enemy who should not be offended.

In the Far East in Quanzhou Bay, in the Indian Ocean, the Netherlands suffered two heavy defeats to the Qin State, especially in the Indian Ocean, losing dozens of elite warships and dozens of armed merchant ships, which can be described as a great loss of vitality.

Take advantage of your illness to kill you.

Cromwell felt that now was the best time for Britain to challenge the Netherlands and replace the Netherlands as the maritime hegemon of Europe and the Americas.

Once this is achieved, Cromwell's own prestige in England will reach an unrivalled height, and it will not be difficult to force Parliament to surrender all power by the threat of a great victory.

And at this critical juncture, if it chooses to be the enemy of Qin, Britain will have to fight on both sides, which will be a burden that Britain cannot bear and is the most stupid act.

After some deliberation with Lan Bai, Cromwell pulled Zhang Haoran back to the conference table the next day, and quickly reached a series of agreements.

The British pledged not to supply weapons to the Mughals, and all ports in India and Africa allowed the Great Qin merchant ships to berth freely for trade, and provided corresponding supplies and military protection.

One port was opened in England, Scotland, and Ireland, allowing Qin merchants to freely enter the port trade, and allowing trading companies or factories to be set up in port cities, implementing a zero-tariff policy on Daqin's goods, and allowing Daqin merchants to freely buy shares issued by British companies.

Correspondingly, Daqin opened four commercial and trade ports to the UK, namely Gaolangbu Port, Temasek Port, Guangdong Port and Ningbo Port, and provided relative protection for British merchant ships, and each port gave zero tariff preferences to British merchants. British merchants were allowed to open barns and factories in the four port cities.

Cromwell also wanted to sign a military alliance treaty with Daqin, but Zhang Haoran refused.

Britain's military expansion at sea was already very obvious, and if this military alliance was signed, even if Great Qin did not provide Britain with any military help, it would at least be enough to give him nothing to fear.

With the Netherlands losing the war with Great Qin again and again, if nothing else, it was already expected that Britain would replace the Netherlands as the maritime hegemon of Europe, which was not actually in the interests of Great Qin.

If Britain continues to be strong in Europe, will he still behave like this?

Obviously, the answer is no.

Moreover, once the military Tongmeng was signed, Daqin lost room for maneuver.

Now Daqin is enemies with the Netherlands and Spain, but who says that they can't become collaborators in the future? It's very important to give yourself a choice.

The people who came to England with Zhang Haoran asked around about Newton, who was personally confessed by Emperor Daqin to find a person, but after several efforts, everyone did not find a person named Newton in Britain who was very accomplished in science.

Zhang Haoran asked about this matter every day, and the reply he got was that he couldn't find it, which made him very anxious, but in terms of science and technology, culture, art, etc., this time he collected a lot of good things in the UK.

Many materials, including those at Cambridge and Oxford, were also obtained after Zhang Haoran pressured Cromwell, and Zhang Haoran and his entourage stayed in England for 20 days.

In Britain in this era, the essence is concentrated in the London area, and twenty days is enough time for them to roughly sift through the essence of the main aspects of the London area;

It's just that a lot of things have been found, and they can't be mastered in a short period of time, so Zhang Haoran decided to let some people stay in the UK temporarily and pick them up when they return.

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PS: Present today's second shift, please ask for a monthly pass, ask for a monthly pass! My brothers and sisters have a lot of support, and I continue to bury my head in the code. (To be continued......)