activa-t Chapter 87 We Need to Set Rules for the Westerners
Chapter 87 We Need to Set Rules for the Westerners
Chapter 87 We Need to Set Rules for the Westerners
At the southwesternmost point of the Ganges Delta, west of the Hughley River estuary where Kolkata is located, lies a beach with a wide view.
Dong Sheng, a staff officer and interpreter of the Great Han Western Fleet, formally met with Baron Auckland, the Governor-General of British India.
Both parties' entourages presented and verified the official documents, confirming each other's identities and purposes.
Then Dong Sheng immediately put forward the demands of the Great Han: "At the request of the King and Parliament of Britain, Britain promises to cooperate with the Great Han in cracking down on opium smuggling and to assist the Great Han army in destroying opium plantations in India."
"The Great Han fleet has now arrived and is required to immediately proceed to Calcutta, the capital of India, to urge the British Indian Government to implement the agreement between the two sides."
The Baron of Auckland took office as Governor-General of India this year and was originally responsible for dealing with Han affairs, so he brought with him several British translators who were well-versed in Chinese studies.
This is a more formal meeting. Although Dong Sheng is fluent in British languages, he still spoke directly in Chinese.
After listening to the translation, Auckland immediately questioned impatiently: "As the Governor-General of British India, I will carry out the decisions of the King and Parliament."
"However, according to our agreement, the Han Dynasty can only send a maximum of 10,000 people to India."
"How many people are in your fleet now? It must be over 30,000!"
"Therefore, please forgive me for being unable to cooperate and for not allowing your fleet to dock."
Dong Sheng was silent for a moment, then asked with a straight face, "You mean you're going to refuse?"
"You refuse to honor your promises and refuse to cooperate with the Han army in destroying the opium plantations?"
Auckland paused for a moment, sensing a trap in the other person's question.
You can't directly answer whether it's not a refusal or not, as that might leave room for criticism: "I—I'm not refusing to fulfill my promise, but rather refusing to fulfill matters beyond the scope of my promise."
"The agreement between Britain and the Great Han was that no more than 10,000 people would be allowed, but there are definitely more than 10,000 people on your ships!"
After hearing this, Dong Sheng's expression became very serious: "The Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty's decree to ban the opium trade must not be disobeyed by anyone."
"If the Han Dynasty says it has 10,000 troops, then it has 10,000 troops. You question, refuse, and shirk responsibility without actually verifying it."
"Either they are accomplices of opium smugglers, or they are protecting opium smugglers."
"No matter what, the Great Han will spare no expense to annihilate them!"
After saying these words, Dong Sheng immediately stepped back slowly and made a gesture to the outside world.
The hundred burly soldiers who escorted Dong Sheng immediately raised their firearms.
The soldiers around Auckland were startled and instinctively raised their rifles, aiming them at the Han army opposite them.
At this point, the two sides were only a few meters apart, making it almost impossible for a smoothbore musket to miss.
Auckland and his secretary stood in front of the gun barrels of the burly soldiers, their hair standing on end.
After Auckland was appointed Governor-General of India, he received instructions from Palmerston and Staunton.
Knowing the Han's attitude towards the Britons, he had no doubt that these Han soldiers would dare to open fire and kill him, so he instinctively and slowly retreated behind the soldiers.
After hearing the translation, Auckland shouted in a panic, "What the hell! I can guarantee I won't refuse to cooperate in destroying the opium plantation!"
"But Kolkata really can't accommodate that many people."
"As I have already said, most of your troops can go to Chittagong and be stationed there."
"We should not engage in direct armed conflict like this!"
After listening, Dong Sheng only replied with one sentence: "You are still trying to hinder the Han's operation to destroy the opium plantations—"
As Dong Sheng spoke, he continued to retreat, moving behind the musketeers around him.
The two sides remain in a tense, tit-for-tat situation.
Auckland quickly offered a more specific promise: "You can immediately send a contingent of troops into Kolkata to assess the situation."
"We determined the action plan, located the opium plantations, and then arranged for the army to destroy them."
"Kolkata really can't accommodate too many troops —"
Dong Sheng immediately replied: "Our Han army will set up camp and supply its own living necessities."
"There is no situation where Kolkata cannot accommodate them."
Auckland realized he couldn't fool them anymore, so he had no choice but to plead his case: "I am also a British nobleman. Even if you kill me now, my family will continue."
"If I allow you to harm the interests of Britain, my family may not survive."
"To allow 10,000 foreign troops to be stationed in Calcutta would be an indelible stain on our family."
"Therefore, it is impossible for me to send all your troops directly to Calcutta."
Dong Sheng could understand the mentality of nobles in maintaining their family status, but he didn't think the other party really had such a high level of awareness.
He then reminded Auckland of some objective facts: "Your King and Parliament of Britain have already promised to accept 10,000 troops from the Han Dynasty to carry out operations."
"You, a mere local governor, dare to defy the will of your king and parliament?"
Auckland considered possible solutions while tentatively setting his bottom line for bargaining: "The King and Parliament promised to send 10,000 troops to India, not to Calcutta."
"Chittagong is also part of India, and there are opium plantations in the surrounding area as well."
"Considering my personal and family's future, I can only accept a maximum of 500 Han Chinese stationed in Calcutta."
Auckland proactively stated a quantity, and according to the big man's habits, the bidding process had already begun.
If Dong Sheng were negotiating with other Han Chinese, he might have already begun to make concessions.
They proactively reduced the number of people from 10,000 to 7,000 or even 5,000.
But he forced himself to hold back, staring at Auckland with a grim face: "Five hundred people? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Auckland sensed that the other side was somewhat angry. After comparing the total number of the other side's troops, he also felt that five hundred men were too few, so he took the initiative to add a little more: "Then let's make it eight hundred—a total of one thousand men. They can be stationed outside Calcutta, and the rest can be stationed in Chittagong."
Auckland believed that the total number of 1,000 Han Chinese soldiers was insufficient to cause too much damage to Calcutta, and the situation remained under his absolute control.
Dong Sheng said expressionlessly, "Ten thousand people are ten thousand people. If you won't let us in, we'll fight our way in ourselves."
Auckland said very firmly and loudly, "It is absolutely impossible for 10,000 people to go to Kolkata."
"Unless you actually kill me and then march into Calcutta yourselves!"
If the Han Chinese really only sent 10,000 men, Auckland could consider sending 10,000 men to Kolkata.
First, use the 20,000 troops in Calcutta to intimidate them, then mobilize more troops to suppress them.
However, the Han army now has at least 30,000 men. In addition to dealing with the 10,000 men stationed in Calcutta, they also have to worry about the threat posed by the other tens of thousands of men to other regions.
Dong Sheng sighed: "Looks like you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin—"
The translator in Auckland didn't grasp the true meaning of the sentence and translated it literally: "Then send me to my coffin! I won't shed a tear!"
Dong Sheng sensed that Auckland was going a bit crazy and was probably nearing its limit. Logically, he should have loosened his grip: "At least half, that is, five thousand people, otherwise I can't answer to the Emperor."
Seeing that Dong Sheng had finally given in, Auckland breathed a sigh of relief and secretly thought he had made the right decision. His spirits immediately lifted: "No, I said a thousand people, and that's a thousand people. There can't be any more than that."
97
After hearing this, Dong Sheng turned and left: "Stubborn fool! Go back and inform the navy fleet to begin attacking merchant ships! Shell the coast! Blockade the river mouth!"
Auckland was visibly surprised to see Dong Sheng leave: "Hey, what happened? The formal negotiations have only just begun, why did he suddenly leave?"
The translator quickly translated Dong Sheng's words: "He seemed to be declaring that he would have the fleet attack British merchant ships and bombard and blockade the coastline—"
Auckland panicked again. This would disrupt trade even more than if they landed directly. "Wait a moment, sir. We can continue to negotiate. We don't need to have a direct confrontation!"
"If you think a thousand is too little, we can continue to talk."
"How about 1,200 people?"
Dong Sheng glanced back at Auckland and stated his bottom line: "My bottom line is one-third, 3,333 people, not a single one can be missing."
Auckland instinctively continued to pull: "This is really too much; it's already threatening the security of Kolkata. We can't accept this."
"How about you compromise another step, 1,500 people?"
Dong Sheng emphasized: "I've said it before, this is the bottom line."
Auckland immediately replied, "1,500 people is also my bottom line."
Dong Sheng was fed up and felt that he had made a mistake in this negotiation.
After realizing that the other party had reached their limit and making a reasonable concession, the other party's attitude clearly changed.
He went from being completely manic to nearly collapsing, and then became glib and slick.
I clearly stated that one-third was the bottom line, but the other party obviously doesn't care.
They might have thought it was just an ordinary number.
It seems that the more one concedes, the less the other party concedes, and their attitude even becomes more dismissive.
Given the other party's current state, it's unlikely they'll back down to one-third.
Dong Sheng realized that the emperor's instructions were correct; when dealing with these people, he could only push his luck and never take the initiative to compromise or back down.
With that thought in mind, Dong Sheng stopped paying attention to Auckland.
His task did not require him to go ashore immediately, nor did it require him to rush to complete the task of destroying the plantation.
Deploying forces to key locations to facilitate control of the surrounding situation at any time is a more important task.
The key to this kind of task is strategic planning, not the gains or losses of a single city, place, or event.
Sailing warships do not require regular refueling of their engines and have extremely long endurance at sea, sometimes lasting for years, especially for expeditions.
The Great Han Western Fleet could accommodate 50,000 to 60,000 people, but in reality it only carried 30,000 soldiers, and the supplies it brought were enough for them to operate at sea for a year.
Once the new round of battles in the South China Sea begins next year, the navy should be able to control the flank of the Strait of Malacca, at which point it will be able to transport supplies to the Indian region at any time.
The Western Fleet can slowly compete with the British here, making them gradually accept the reality of the Han Navy's long-term operations in the Indian Ocean, and thus have no choice but to coexist with the Han Navy.
Dong Sheng abandoned Auckland and returned to his steamship, embarking on a journey back to the Western Fleet.
He boarded the flagship and found Admiral Zhu Guangrui. He briefly recounted the entire negotiation process, and then said with regret, "I may have made a mistake this time. I told the Westerners the numbers we could accept too early."
"As a result, the Westerners felt that our bottom line was too low, and they began to insist on not loosening their grip on the issue of population control."
"Please advise us on what to do next, Admiral."
After listening to the explanation, Zhu Guangrui stroked his beard and said with a half-smile, "This is not necessarily a bad thing. We can use this to establish a new set of rules for the Westerners."
"The demands and conditions put forward by the Great Han are absolutely not open to questioning; the bottom line that the Great Han states is the bottom line."
"If we don't accept positive demands, the consequences will be even worse."
"If they know what's good for them, we can declare that we are only sending 3,300 troops to Calcutta."
"Although 10,000 people will actually be sent there, the local officials can at least cover up their true colors a little."
"Since they are so ungrateful, then we will openly and honestly send 10,000 people ashore."
"I want to see if these Western barbarian officials dare to open fire first."
"Pass on my order: leave the rear fleet to keep an eye on the British fleet, while the other main fleets move forward."
"Block the river mouth to cover the army's direct landing on the shore."
"Any ships that attempt to interfere during this period will be captured and placed under centralized management until the main business is concluded, at which point they will be dealt with accordingly."