Six Hundred and Fifty-Fourth Layout of the Far East

Unlike the invasion of Muscat in 1784, the Barbary Chamber War was the first time Pierce waged a war of his own will.

The start of the war was hasty, and the proposal did not give much consideration to succession and transition. Even the opponents were a group of paper sharks, which is not worth mentioning to the current Drake Chamber of Commerce.

But the war meant a lot to Pierce.

First of all, he found the right goal, and he did not overreach to challenge the Turkish Empire, which could not be shaken by the Chamber of Commerce alone.

Secondly, he found the right method, first standing on the commanding heights of morality to seize justice, then standing on the commanding heights of force to grab the number of victories, and finally accepting as soon as he sees it, cooperating and mediating to maximize the victory into benefits.

When he first saw the special report written by Ramos himself, Lorraine felt that most of them were not written by Pierce.

But a group of presidents are brothers who watched Pierce grow up little by little. They insisted that Pierce planned the whole operation, just as Pierce asked them to adjust the ship, and they disrupted their escort plan without saying a word.

Speaking of which, the same is true for Lorraine, because he personally signed the second formation's transoceanic aid.

Who contributed which link is not important in this war, what matters is how much Pierce has learned from these brothers.

As it turned out, he learned a lot.

After solving the Barbary pirate incident, Lorraine decided to untie Pierce.

In August 1786, the repaired special service formation escorted a European-African trade fleet from the Baishang Association to the Cape of Good Hope, and continued eastward under Eddie’s strong request, and arrived at the headquarters of the East India Company in mid-December, the colony of the East India The capital is Mumbai.

"How should I say it?" Pierce sat on the sofa with eyebrows crossed, "I can only say that Eddie Garman is still the same Eddie Garman."

During the invasion of Muscat in 1784, Eddie accidentally won the foothold of the Chamber of Commerce in the Indian Ocean by virtue of Lorraine's skills. Since then, he has been obsessed with the legendary Ganges where gold flows endlessly.

This desire was suppressed by him for a whole year, until it was confirmed that the branch had gained a firm foothold in Muscat and its tentacles spread all over Africa. He finally used the relationship of the Royal African Company and began to flirt with the East India Company.

From the end of 1785 to the beginning of 1786, he spent six months bribing thousands of pounds to the greedy Governor of India, Warren Hastings. Just as he was about to reap the fruits, Hastings was suddenly recalled on suspicion of corruption up.

When Hastings came to light, Eddie felt ashamed for a while. The system of the Drake Chamber of Commerce gives the branch president great sovereignty, but under the sovereignty, the financial supervision built by Carmen forces them to balance their income and expenditure.

Bribery is permissible, but bribery must be rewarded. War is permissible, but war must be rewarded.

A huge crisis hit Eddie with a bang. Faced with this fruitless bribery, should he advance it himself, or report the truth and accept the reprimand?

Fortunately, the aftermath of the Revolutionary War and the political struggles in the Upper Parliament saved him.

The British army was defeated in North America, and the government of Lord North, the Tory party who had been in power for 10 years, collapsed.

However, the Tory Party was not reconciled to this failure. Taking advantage of Warren Hastings' resignation and the vacancy of the Governor of India, they launched a surprise attack in the Upper Parliament, directly sending the new Prime Minister's right-hand man out of the London political circle.

This arm is the second Earl of Cornwallis,

Mr. Charles Cornwallis.

The Earl of Cornwallis has a long history with the Drake Chamber of Commerce.

He played an important role in the American War of Independence, and in part it was Lorraine's smuggling that gave Washington a strong Continental Army that eventually led to his surrender at Yorktown.

This is something Eddie doesn't know.

What Eddie knew was that this happened to be the brother of Lieutenant Admiral William Cornwallis, Admiral of the Royal Navy's African Fleet.

General William Cornwallis's apprentice gained a lot of points because of Lorraine. The aborted sea-seeking operation that year made him promoted from colonel to major general, and the subsequent invasion of Muscat made him from major general to lieutenant general and became a general. The speaker of the African Fleet.

Lieutenant General William Cornwallis has a solid friendship with the Drake Chamber of Commerce, and a deep personal relationship with Eddie.

At the same time, the Cornwallis family is an important member of the Whig Party, and the Drake family of Tavistock is also an important pillar of the Whig Party.

Political fellowship, personal friendship intact, Charles Cornwallis' reassignment as Governor of India may be a political opponent's conspiracy, but for Eddie, there is only nothing wrong with it.

Eddie regained his confidence.

He obtained the itinerary of Governor Cornwallis in the Cape of Good Hope through Willow Baker, the manager of the African Chamber of Commerce, and met the Governor through General Cornwallis at the dust-cleaning reception. With a clever mouth, he convinced the Governor. On the way to his post, he inspected the construction of Zuwo Port.

As expected, the prosperity of Zuwo Port left a deep impression on the mouth of Governor Cornwallis. Eddie pursued the victory and put forward a trade request to India.

Governor Cornwallis very much welcomed the entry of a chamber of commerce with a distinguished background and strong strength like the Drake Chamber of Commerce. The two hit it off, and Eddie quickly found a fulcrum in Mumbai and Chennai to get involved in the Far East trade.

At this point, Eddie's luck finally ran out.

The British East India Company was a special commercial institution.

She was founded in 1600. On December 31 of that year, Queen Elizabeth I granted the company a royal charter, giving it the privilege of trading in India. As a result, [London merchants trading in the East India Company] officially declared.

At the beginning, the company, consisting of 125 shareholders and with a total share capital of 72,000 pounds, had only a 15-year charter, and it failed to establish a stable trading point in India until 1608.

Between 1609 and 1610, she finally established its first factory at Masulip Padham on the Ebony Coast of the Bay of Bengal. James I, who was deceived by the payment, prompted him to issue a charter without a fixed number of years, which solved the company's urgent needs.

In 1612, the company defeated the Portuguese and won the favor of the rulers of the Mughal Empire. James I sent envoys to win the privileges of building factories and trading for the company, and then obtained preferential treatment of tariffs.

Under such political protection, the company was able to flourish and quickly overtook the Portuguese as the most powerful foreign force in India.

During the Cromwell Revolution, Lord Protector, the company took a big gamble and stood steadfastly on the side of the Crown.

This allowed Cromwell to adjust the company's charter during his time in power, affecting the company's interests. But the royal family was quickly restored, and the company's gamble paid off.

In 1662, Princess Catherine of Portugal married King Charles II of England. Mumbai was brought to England as a dowry and was contracted to the company in 1668.

In 1670, Charles II issued five laws, granting the company the right to independently occupy territory, mint coins, command fortresses and armies, form alliances and declare war, sign peace treaties, and conduct civil and criminal proceedings in occupied areas. agent abroad.

In 1680, the company established the first armed force dedicated to the company rather than Britain.

In 1688, the company moved its headquarters to Bombay and began developing Calcutta two years later.

By 1689, the British East India Company was in fact no longer a pure trading company.

She has the character of a state, autonomously controlling the rule of Bengal, Chennai and Mumbai, with a formidably loyal, menacing military force.

In 1698, the company had its own motto: [Subject to our sponsor - the King and Parliament of England], further loosening its relationship with England.

On the other hand, Britain naturally does not want to see its own cornucopia drifting away.

In 1694, Parliament passed the Deregulation Act, allowing any English company to trade with India unless Parliament passed an Act prohibiting such trade, thereby effectively canceling the charter granted to the company by James I.

In 1698, following the company's motto, Parliament passed a law establishing a parallel East India Company [British East India Trading Company].

However, the new company has only just come to fruition, and the shareholders of the old company have acquired more than 16% of the shares through various channels, reaching the majority of shareholders, and can no longer challenge and replace the status of the old company as expected by the parliament.

In 1702, the two companies merged, along with agencies of the government and two other companies.

The full name of this merged company is [England Merchant East India Trading Company], and it obtained the exclusive privilege for the next three years by lending 3.2 million pounds to the government.

The ensuing decades were marked by strife between Parliament and the East India Company, which wanted to establish itself as an organization permanently controlling Britain's overseas economy, and Parliament, which took every opportunity to appropriate the company's wealth without giving it greater control. autonomy.

Until 1770, the Great Bengal Famine caused 1/6 of the Bengal population to starve to death, exposing the company's weakness and defects in the administrative field to the world.

The company was forced to seek help from Britain, and Parliament passed the East India Company Act under the threat of the "Tea Act" in 1773 (which eventually led to the Boston Tea Party and the War of Independence), finally clearly establishing Congress's control over the company. Sovereignty and ultimate control power.

This decree recognizes the political responsibility of the company and clearly stipulates that [the company acts for the royal family to represent the sovereignty of the royal family, rather than acquiring sovereignty for the company itself].

The current organizational structure of the company, which consists of the governor of India and 24 directors, who make regular reports to the 10 committees under its jurisdiction, was also established at that time.

It can be seen from this that the East India Company is not a pure trade organization. It has monopolized all trade in the Far East for a long time. Even the nominal chairman, the Governor of India, cannot rashly intervene in business.

It was not that the Drake Chamber of Commerce could not share in the profits of the Far East, but Governor Cornwallis needed reasons to convince the directors and committee.

In other words, if Eddie wants to convert trade licenses into trade shares, he needs to make a striking and memorable contribution to the East India Company.