Valley Emperor

The treaty stipulates that the two sides will carry out normal business activities and sell the Gehe delta area to Datang Western Company at a price of 5,000 taels.

Subsequently, the Datang Empire officially dispatched tax officials and administrative officials to this place, and officially named the area Gehe Prefecture.

However, although the power to collect tax belongs to the supreme tax department, the official also has the administrative power of the land in name, but according to the Western Trade License, Datang Western Company has the actual administrative power of this place, um, to assist management mode.

Today’s Gehe state is the Datang Empire, or more precisely, the largest stronghold of the Datang Western Company on the eastern coast of India, and also the starting point of trade with the eastern part of India.

But it is worth noting that during this period, the Portuguese also had a large number of colonies on the eastern coast of India, and the island of Ceylon was actually under the control of the Portuguese.

North of Ceylon and south of Gohe state, the Portuguese also controlled four other colonies.

In fact, the Portuguese also relied on the above-mentioned five colonies to block the eastern coast of India. If the Datang Western Company secretly came to India for trade, it would be nothing, but after the establishment of the colony with great fanfare, the Portuguese will definitely not sit idly by.

At the end of last year, the Portuguese assembled a large number of pirates, as well as the strength of some local indigenous princes, in an attempt to expel the power of the Datang Western Company from the eastern coast of India, and the Battle of Ceylon broke out.

In the end, after the two sides played a game, there was no winner. In fact, the two sides were not official behaviors in essence. Everyone was a businessman.

Datang Western Company is a trading company, and these Portuguese businessmen are actually businessmen. They can’t win this battle, and the war costs a lot, so after this battle, it’s gone.

However, the continuous small-scale invasion operations caused by this have continued, and this sea area has become the most dangerous sea area in the eastern waters of India, no one!

If this is not escorted by warships, even the merchant ships of Datang Western Company would not dare to take risks easily!

Tong Shangchao knew very well what kind of situation he would face after crossing the Indian Ocean and reaching the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean, so when his fleet crossed the Indian Ocean and was about to reach the eastern coast of India, he ordered the lookout sailors in the fleet to open their eyes and search for Near the sea.

The route they took was relatively remote. It crossed the Indian Ocean from the northern part of the Andaman Islands, and then went straight to Gohe State. This route can be said to be the exclusive route of Datang Western Company at present.

Because only they need to go to Gohe state, and the Portuguese merchant ships will not go to Gohe state. They usually bypass Gohe state and go directly to the southeastern coastline of India controlled by the Portuguese.

But the fact that their merchant ships didn't come doesn't mean their pirate ships won't come.

This is the same as the battleship of the Datang Western Company fleet, which often travels to the coastline of Ceylon Island when there is nothing to do!

However, this time, Tong Shangchao and the others had good luck. After arriving on the eastern coast of India, they did not encounter any other ships and arrived in Gehe state calmly.

Tong Shangchao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the land in the distance and a fast patrol ship approaching the fleet!

Just looking at the fast patrol ship, he knew that it was the company's exclusive fast patrol ship. It was not only the black tiger flag hanging on it, but also thought that this kind of fast patrol ship was a specialty of Datang shipbuilding industry: flying scissors Schooner!

The bow of the clipper is coupled with the unique Datang-style longitudinal sail. Once this type of ship is launched, it has become the darling of the fleet of the Navy and the Datang Western Company because of its ultra-fast speed, although it is said that this kind of ship is currently limited by technology. , and the use is relatively limited, and there are almost no other advantages except fast.

However, the navy and the Datang Western Company use it as a fast communication ship and patrol ship. It is not a problem that the ship is small and cannot hold any cargo, as long as it is fast.

The fast patrol ship in front had not arrived yet, but a semaphore was sent, requesting the fleet to report its identity, lowering its sails, and closing the gun windows for interrogation.

Nowadays, Datang Western Company and the Portuguese have a lot of trouble. Datang Western Company is also afraid that the Portuguese will build several new types of Datang ships to carry out sneak attacks.

You know, although the Tang Dynasty's new type of ship was invented and built on a large scale by the Tang Dynasty, it is not stupid for the Portuguese to float on the sea for so many years. Many years ago, they began to try to imitate this new type of ship in Malacca. .

Therefore, it is not very safe to determine the identity just by looking at the ship type.

As for the flag or something, it's even harder to say.

Even people with black hair and black eyes on the ship are indistinguishable. In this world, it is not only people from the Tang Dynasty who have black hair and black eyes. People in many parts of East Asia are such people, and there are more pirates in the world. .

Pirates do not distinguish between Datang people and Fusang people...

Well, this is also an important factor that the Datang Western Company's fleet disguised as pirates to attack merchant ships of other countries, which can be shamelessly denied to this day.

In the Southeast Asian waters and even the Indian waters, there are more pirates with oriental faces!

In recent years, with the rise of the Datang Dynasty, not only the Datang Navy and the Datang Western Company, but also the Datang Pirates...

Although these pirate gangs, which had been formed in the former Ming Dynasty, were once invaded by the Datang Navy, they also grew stronger with the prosperity of maritime trade in East Asia.

The Tang people, Fusang people, Annan people, Goryeo people and other indigenous people in East Asia, even Indians and West Asians, and even Europeans who came from afar, gathered together for money, thus forming There is a huge pirate group active in the East Asian waters and the Indian Ocean waters.

These pirates do not distinguish between countries and ethnic groups. In a pirate gang, it is normal to have people from the Tang Dynasty and Portuguese!

And these pirates are actually quite a headache for Portugal and the Datang Empire. They are real pirates, not some official warships in pirate coats. This robbery, but whether you are a merchant ship of Datang Western Company or Portuguese merchant ships or some other mess of national and indigenous merchant ships.

If they see a merchant ship, they will grab it!

But at the same time as the headache, there are also many political issues, because whether it is the Tang Dynasty or the Portuguese, in fact, they all support some pirates to fight each other.

When the pure pirate issue involves politics, it means that it is almost impossible to eliminate the pirates. Not only is it impossible, these pirates are becoming more and more arrogant.

In the coastal areas of the Datang Empire and the seas of Malacca and Ceylon where the Tang Navy and the Portuguese navy are relatively strong, these pirates naturally dare not go wild, but in some remote sea areas, people do not have so many scruples Well, it's not like they didn't attack colonial ports.

So now Datang Western Ocean Company, whether it is in the Southeast Asian waters or the Indian Ocean, is guarding against the Portuguese and local indigenous people, and also needs to guard against pirates.

Therefore, even if Tong Shangchao's fleet arrived, the garrison in Gehe Prefecture would not react at all. They also sent a fast patrol ship to investigate and guide them into the port after confirming their identities.

The fleet began to slowly approach the coast and sailed towards the port. At this time, Tong Shangchao also found that the Gehe state on land had changed a lot compared to when he came last year.

There seem to be a lot more buildings on the shore, and the biggest change is that there are a lot more dock berths in the small port, and the scale of the fort in the port is also larger.

"It's really a change every year!" Tong Shangchao sighed!

Standing next to Tong Shangchao at this time is the liaison officer of a company fleet of the original fast patrol ship. This liaison officer is only a sixth-class employee. Generally speaking, compared with the rank of captain on the navy side, he is also respectful at this time. He said to Tong Shangchao: "Sir, the changes in our Gehe Prefecture in the last year are indeed not small. Since the establishment of Gehe Prefecture, the adults have requisitioned a lot of local indigenous people for expansion. Except for the urban area, the largest project It's the pier and the fort!"

"After a year of construction, our artillery battery was completely completed two months ago. Now it is enough to deploy more than 40 large-caliber artillery pieces, but the number of artillery pieces is not enough, and many artillery positions are empty. Just waiting for you to bring artillery from the country!"

Tong Shangchao said: "Don't worry, this time we set off from China and brought more than 50 large-caliber artillery pieces. It is estimated that in addition to replenishing the needs of the fleet, we should be able to free up a lot to deploy on this fort!"

"That's great. With these artillery pieces, our fort will be able to exert more power. At that time, we will see if the barbarians dare to invade our Gehe Prefecture!"

When Tong Shangchao was talking to him~www.wuxiaspot.com~ the fleet was already slowing down, and under the guidance of many small tugboats, it began to prepare to moor near the dock.

Before disembarking, he just saw that the pier was already crowded with people. He didn't have to guess to know that these were all dockers who were ready to unload the goods at the first time. The workers on these piers were all local indigenous people. Many companies have armed employees with guns to supervise work.

He knows that most of the local natives are very lazy. They are not supervising the work with a gun with a bayonet. These natives dare to be lazy to show you every minute.

Of course, this also has something to do with the company not giving them wages!

Because most of these civilians were recruited from nearby!

And the Tang Dynasty recruited foreign husbands and never gave money!

At the same time, he was also on the other side, and saw a group of people who were obviously dressed differently from the others. The boat had just docked, and he saw this group of people coming up to greet him. He recognized several of them, and they were all important figures in Gehe Prefecture.