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The year 1642, that is, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, was a year of historical turning point for both the East and the West.

In this year, the Qing army conquered Songshan, Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou were captured and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the elite of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty was lost.

In this year, Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng, and dug up the Yellow River to flood Kaifeng, and then defeated Sun Chuanting in Jiaxian, defeated Zuo Liangyu in Zhuxian Town, and occupied Xiangyang with his troops.

For the Ming Dynasty in the East, this year, whether external or internal, has no power to fight back, and officially entered the year of "sitting and waiting for death".

In this year, in distant Britain, a major event also occurred that affected the direction of world history: Charles I directly announced a "crusade against Parliament", and the first civil war broke out in England.

It was also in this year that Cromwell, a radical bourgeois revolutionary, ushered in the heaviest turning point in his life. He commanded a cavalry regiment of 60 volunteers with the rank of captain and began his journey to the pinnacle of life.

During the two civil wars that lasted for six years, Cromwell gradually became the main general on the side of Parliament with his excellent military command skills. Finally, in August 1648, he led his army to defeat the army of Charles I and captured Charles I.

In January 1649, the House of Lords of the English Parliament declared itself the supreme representative of power in England, and the House of Commons declared itself the supreme power of the country. Britain became a de facto republic.

Cromwell was appointed one of the judges for the trial of Charles I.

On the 30th, Charles I was guillotined, the English bourgeois revolution was victorious, the feudal monarchy was overthrown, and on May 19, England was declared a republic.

However, the first fruits of the bourgeoisie's victories fell heavily into the hands of the squires and nobles, which caused dissatisfaction among many of the lower classes.

In order to defend his own interests, Cromwell began to despise the lower classes, and he used force to suppress the dragoon uprising and then the Digger movement.

August 1, 1649. Cromwell, as Lieutenant General of Ireland and Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Legion, left the capital with a fleet of ships and 10,000 soldiers and launched an attack on Ireland.

But in May 1650, before the battle was over, Cromwell was recalled home. Cromwell was appointed commander-in-chief of the entire armed forces of the Republic, returned to battle, and sent troops to defeat Scotland. Scotland became a British colony.

When Cromwell returned to London, he was welcomed with unprecedented pomp and circumstance, and the command of the British navy and army was in his hands.

At this time, Cromwell's prestige reached its peak, and it shook far abroad.

Now, Cromwell, holding the barrel of the British gun. Unwilling to be at the mercy of parliament anymore, he is ready to once again explain a truth with his actions: power comes out of the barrel of a gun.

He and Xinfu's subordinate Lan Bai are actively plotting to force Parliament to hand over all power by force, making himself the de facto "king" of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Zhang Haoran is facing such a careerist who is a "villain and a relative". Across the table, Cromwell personally went into battle, with a stern face, which formed a strong visual contrast with the flowers in the middle of the table.

"Well, Your Excellency Commander, I may not take the liberty of asking. Has His Excellency the Commander been authorized by the British Parliament for this meeting, and if an agreement is reached at the talks, will the British Parliament recognize it? ”

Zhang Haoran showed a faint smile. Appear calm and calm. But these words, in Cromwell's view, were deeply offensive to him, and made him a little annoyed.

"Your Excellency, Honorable Commander. With the sincerity of Daqin, I came from afar and attached great importance to this meeting. This may be a meeting that will lay the foundation of friendship between the two countries for generations to come;

This envoy is here on behalf of our Emperor Great Qin, and the British Parliament has declared itself the supreme representative of British power, so this envoy needs to get a positive answer before he can start a formal meeting with His Excellency the Commander, and if there is any offense, please forgive him. ”

"On behalf of the people of England, Scotland and Ireland, I am meeting with His Excellency the Ambassador."

Cromwell's resolute face naturally revealed a trace of arrogance, in his opinion, Zhang Haoran was just a messenger, he personally came to talk with Zhang Haoran, this was already to promote Zhang Haoran, he even dared to question his qualifications for talks, it was really unreasonable.

His answer was brief, but it revealed a lot of information, and at the same time revealed his ambitions.

Zhang Haoran said elegantly: "Then, I am very honored to start this meeting with His Excellency the Commander, the two countries now have very good trade exchanges, I want to further develop the friendly relations between the two countries, first of all, we should pragmatically resolve some differences between the two countries, and lay a solid foundation for cooperation. ”

The so-called resolution of differences is to pick a thorn first, and Cromwell has enough understanding of this.

But as soon as he wanted to speak, Zhang Haoran, who had always been calm and clear, then took the lead and said: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, the last thing my Emperor of Great Qin wants to see is that there is no distinction between politics and religion, and I believe this, Your Excellency also deeply agrees."

Now, my soldiers of Great Qin are fighting against the Mughal army in India, to change the phenomenon of secular rule in the name of religion;

However, unfortunately, as far as I know, your country is still providing weapons to the Mughal Dynasty, because this behavior of your country has caused many brave soldiers of our Great Qin to pay for their precious lives.

What I would like to say is that if your country does not immediately stop such acts, I am afraid that it will be difficult to establish friendly relations between the two countries. ”

General Lan Bai, who was sitting next to Cromwell, couldn't help but retort first: "Your Excellency, my country has established trade relations with the Mughal Dynasty many years ago, and at that time the Qin State had not yet been established, let alone set foot in India, and now the Qin State suddenly entered the Indian Ocean and supported the small countries in the middle to fight against the Mughal Dynasty, and did not communicate with our country in advance, how can we put the responsibility on our country's head?" ”

"General Lan Bai, don't be excited, if I want to hold Daqin accountable, I'm afraid that I won't be the envoy who came here. But then again, the two countries did not have diplomatic relations before, and your country's behavior can be forgiven; But now, since the two countries are about to establish diplomatic relations, your country's arms sales to the Mughal dynasty should be stopped immediately to show the sincerity of the establishment of diplomatic relations. ”

Cromwell and Lan Bai quietly exchanged glances, from an objective point of view, Zhang Haoran's request was not excessive;

But this hit the lifeblood of Britain, the reason why Britain was able to replace the Netherlands as the most important trading partner of the Mughals, and step by step into the core of Mughal power, and finally get the Mughal tax-free franchise, relied on the supply of weapons to the Mughals.

Now the Mughal sent 150,000 troops to attack Otesa and other countries in the south, trying to unify the entire Indian continent, and is in urgent need of British arms support.

Then it is almost impossible for Britain to enjoy tax exemption and various preferential policies in Mughal. Even British merchants had to be expelled from the Mughal Empire.

Britain's interests in India would then be wiped out, which would be worse for Britain, which already has a very serious fiscal deficit.

Thinking of these consequences, Cromwell resolutely said: "Our trade with the Mughals has only a very small share in weapons, and, as far as I know, your country's troops in India are extremely scarce, most of them are stored as military instructors, and the small number of backward weapons we sell to the Mughals will not pose a threat to your army at all." What's more, now there are also the Netherlands, Spain, grapes and other countries that sell weapons to the Mughals."

"Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief!" Zhang Haoran interrupted Cromwell very unceremoniously, "It's really a pity that the envoy was sent by my Great Qin Emperor and came with twelve points of sincerity, but now it seems that His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief does not seem to have the sincerity to establish diplomatic relations with my Great Qin." With all due respect, it seems that there is no need for us to continue our talks. ”

Zhang Haoran didn't mention anything else, why did he have to mention the article that Britain gave the Mughals weapons in advance? Did it be the weapons provided by the British that really posed a heavy threat to the officers and men of the Qin army?

No, in fact, the reason is very simple, Zhang Haoran also knows that this is the lifeblood of Britain in India, and if he holds this lifeline, Britain will no longer have any advantage in India, and even without the Great Qin to snatch it, Britain will lose the interests it originally had in India.

He asked Britain to stop supplying weapons to the Mughals for a high-sounding reason, but it was a key point in the British lock.

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