"Howard, I heard that you have a new fleet from Europe. I guess you should have arrived in Mumbai at this time, right?"

Yang Feng stood on the deck of the magnificent pleasure boat, and said with his hands behind his back to admire the scenery on both sides of the straits.

At this time, the lights were on, and on the asphalt road on the Qinhuai River bank illuminated by gas street lights, four-wheeled carriages of different shapes were constantly passing by, and occasionally the latest steamers were rumbling with black smoke. The wealthy businessmen in silk and satin on the car were shining with gems, and the new wealth of the Ming Dynasty vented their luxury by this ancient river. Their carriages were covered with gold foil, and the horses they pulled were all elephants and horses, and they didn't even use horses. Now,

The most popular thing is to use black slaves to pull carts. Sixteen strictly trained black slaves were running in neat uniforms, walking in neat steps, dragging a carriage with gold foil inlaid with jewelry, making people feel fascinated. On small docks, brightly lit pleasure boats docked, fashionable and colorful women greeted familiar guests on the deck. From time to time, you can even see some white passionate girls wearing Western bone-supporting long skirts, where they are filled with charming smiles to welcome the guests.

This river has now completely restored its prosperity as it was back then.

Even more than that.

The smoke is covered with cold water and moon is covered with gauze. The Qinhuai restaurant is near to the restaurant at night. This ten-mile Qinhuai has become the core of the city's night.

Further away, the same gas street lights form light belts, dividing the lights of thousands of houses in the city. With the lights on, high-rise Chinese-style flying buildings stand under the night sky. However, because this is the capital, the highest building is still prohibited from exceeding the highest hall of the palace. So unlike Suzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou and other cities that are more relaxed in this regard, there have been scenes of more than five floors of high-rise buildings. In Changguo, there is even a ten-story high-rise building under construction. The walls that protect this city that never sleeps are also lit up, just like a light belt surrounding the entire city.

In the sky above the city, there were more than a dozen lights floating. It was the ********** of the Jinyiwei. The observers above used telescopes to monitor the streets and alleys of the capital, and at any time used signal lights to notify the brothers below to arrive at the places where they were needed as quickly as possible.

On the light-shaped walls, there were a whole brigade of Ming army infantry in the fortresses at the gates. There was also a terrifying dragoon in the walls of the palace. On the roads of each block, thousands of police officers patrolled the streets at any time. These guarded the city together, guarding more than one million people, and the emperors guarding the empire.

This is the capital of the Ming Empire.

Yingtian.

This is the center of this empire.

It is also the center of wealth.

This is also the most prosperous city in the world, truly unparalleled. Compared with it, London and Paris Rotterdam are full of poverty and filth, just like the highest-end blue and white porcelain and crude pottery.

Howard, who kept a humble smile behind him, sighed in his heart.

Then he said respectfully: "Your Majesty, our Navy has indeed sent some warships to the Far East, mainly to deal with the threat of the Ottoman Navy. You also know that due to some historical and religious reasons, our relationship with them has always been tense, and they have banned our merchant ships from entering the Red Sea. In order to prevent them from getting involved in India, Her Majesty believes it is necessary to strengthen the maritime power in the Far East."

"That's right!"

Yang Feng said with satisfaction: "I thought you wanted to have any intentions for me, Daming!"

"Your Majesty, you are really good at joking, how is this possible?"

Howard said with a smile.

"I think so, otherwise I might feel sad if I saw you in a slave team at a railway construction site one day."

Yang Feng said.

"Thank you very much for your favor."

Howard bowed and then said, "Your Majesty, do you think the proposal of our Queen is worth considering?"

He came on behalf of Queen Anne and sent Yang Feng a private letter. The latter proposed to make a clear division of the respective spheres of influence in Asia, such as Britain purchased Colombo from the Ming Dynasty and the Indian colony that the Netherlands would hand over in the future. As for the price, it is easy to discuss. In addition, there is also the division of the scope of Australian colonization. The British East India Company has explored Western Australia and found a place that is very suitable for colonization, namely the banks of the Swan River, which is originally in history, but it is also from the Ming Empire on the Ming map. This time it is actually a test, testing whether Yang Feng can make a step back under the threat of the British navy to avoid war and use the Southeast Asian island chain to divide the sphere of influence. The Ming Dynasty withdrew from the Indian Ocean and Britain will not develop into the South Ocean. At the same time, everyone shares Australia's colonial rights. You can't monopolize such a big place, right?

By the way, although the British sent their huge fleet, they really didn't want to fight.

Although they are confident that they can win.

After all, their strength has an overwhelming advantage.

But it is impossible not to pay a heavy price. Eighty battleships, after defeating the Ming army, are probably two-thirds left, and it is not impossible to throw half of them at the bottom of the sea. Even if only half of them belong to Britain, it is also a damaging blow to the British navy. This result can only make those ambitious people waiting to challenge Britain's maritime hegemony, such as Louis XIV, the Dutch, and Charlie, who is conquering cities and land in the north. The best result is to use the fleet as a threat to force Yang Feng to take a step back. After all, it seems that the Ming army's maritime power is much weaker now.

"First of all, although the Ming Dynasty is big, no inch of land is redundant."

Yang Feng said lightly.

"Secondly, the land exchanged for blood by the Ming soldiers will never be traded."

Then he said again.

"Third, my country can only increase but not decrease."

Then he said again.

"Your Majesty, I think I understand what you mean."

Howard said, taking a deep breath.

This is nothing to talk about.

It is obvious that His Majesty the Emperor lacked understanding of the strength of the British Royal Navy. He probably could only rely on those battleships and cannons to make him understand Her Majesty's kindness. Then Howard stepped back and boarded a carriage he had been following. In fact, he left Ying Tian the next day and also left China. He took a boat and embarked on a voyage back to Mumbai, because on the same day, the huge fleet led by General George Bin also arrived in Mumbai.

"Ma, this is going to scare people!"

On the Yongping, the Ming Dynasty sailing merchant ship, the captain looked at the huge battleships sailing into Mumbai as if endlessly in front of him, and couldn't help but say in horror.

Behind him the sailors were busy manipulating their sails. The large three-masted schooner was almost parallel to the British fleet. With the help of the lateral sea breeze, the Yongping, which had only half of the cotton, gradually began to accelerate, but at the same time, a cruiser in the British fleet ahead suddenly tangled forward.

"Take the goods away!"

The forest roared without hesitation.

The sailors in the cabin quickly carried out bags of cotton and threw them directly into the sea. At the same time, a nine-pound smoothbore cannon on the deck was also pushed out.

Of course, their eight cannons were useless. The only thing that could really save the Yongping was its speed. As bags of cotton were thrown into the sea, the weight reduction gradually increased the speed of the merchant ship. The cruiser in front of it was still cutting over quickly and typing out a flag language to ask the Yongping to stop the ship for inspection. The forest ignored the requirements conveyed by the flag language and continued to move forward at full speed.

"Sail-sliding boats."

On the second-class battleship of the Nepton, General George Bin looked at the scene with interest and said.

As the hero of the British Navy to seize Gibraltar, he shouldered the ardent hopes of those capitalists this time. Although the Eastern colonies belonged to the British East India Company rather than the British government, for those capitalists, what belonged to the British government was not as important as the East India Company. Even if they wanted to launch a large-scale war with all their might, they would regain the dominance of the Eastern trade. Of course, Australia's seemingly endless gold, with more than ten tons of gold output every year, is enough to transform the most gentle gentleman into a beast.

"Admiral, the forward may not be able to stop it anymore. This thing is really too fast."

An officer beside him shouted.

Indeed, the advantages of the schooner were immediately revealed in such circumstances, and the speed of the Yongping, which was constantly reducing weight, was also rising. It can be seen that it was destined to not meet with the cruiser's route.

"Order the Forward to give up the interception!"

General Bin said.

He knew very well that his mission was more of a deterrent, and that he could not provoke a war without the breakdown of the negotiations. There was no need to cause any trouble for such a small matter. At least until the clear negotiation results were obtained, the United Kingdom and the Ming Dynasty still needed to maintain superficial friendship.

The cruiser, who was moving at full speed, began to turn.

The Yongping wiped his cold sweat into the forest and maintained his scheduled sailing at full speed. Five days later, he arrived in Colombo and reported the news of the British fleet's arrival in Mumbai to the Ceylon Marshal. The latter immediately sent a communication ship to the Yazhou Military Port for four days later, and sent a telegram to Zhennan Prefecture, which had been initially completed. After receiving the telegram, the governor of Zhennan also immediately sent a communication ship to send the information to Hexian. Three days later, the Hexian Civil Affairs Envoy Mo Jiu sent the telegram to the Prime Minister in Annan in Huhua. The latter immediately sent a communication ship to the Yazhou Military Port a day later. Through wired telegrams from north to south, the Jinyiwei sent the information to His Holiness that night.

"I can only know what happened half a month ago now that the information transmission speed is still too slow!"
Chapter completed!