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King Mando of Otsa looked at Mohabudi, Nager and Tubudi and said, "The Qin army has only agreed to provide us with weapons and some military commanders to help us train soldiers."
Tubudi could no longer sit still and immediately said, "How can this be possible? Aurangzeb's army is approaching. If Qin only provides us with some weapons and helps train soldiers, how can we make it in time?"
Nagel said: "Yes, the situation is urgent now. Even if Qin is willing to provide us with weapons, it will take some time for the soldiers to learn how to use firearms. I'm afraid it will be too late."
Mantuo said: "If we want Qin to send troops to help us resist Aurangzeb, then we have no choice but to comply with Qin's conditions, pay tribute to Qin, allow Qin to set up trading ports in various countries, allow Qin merchants to trade freely, and in addition to the normal transaction tax, we must not impose additional taxes on Qin merchants. We must also give Qin people judicial immunity."
“What is judicial immunity?”
"If a Qin citizen breaks the law in our country, we can only hand him over to Qin for punishment."
While others were still considering whether to agree to these conditions, the King of Chhattisgarh, Tubudi, was already impatient and said, "You are almost dead, what are you still considering? Just agree to it. Don't say that these conditions of Qin are not harsh. Even if they are more harsh, as long as the Qin army can help us repel the Mughal army, it is worth it. What are you still considering?"
Chhattisgarh's second largest city, Jhanba, has fallen, and the capital, Raipur, is about to be lost. Among the four countries, his army is at the forefront, with the heaviest casualties and losses.
For him, the situation was already very critical and he had no time to think about anything else.
King Mandora of Otsa wanted to use the Qin army to resist Aurangzeb's army, and also wanted to take back the Cuttack area from the Qin army. Even if Cuttack City could not be taken back, the area around the Sun Temple had to be taken back, after all, it was a holy place for Hindus and had extraordinary significance.
Therefore, he also expressed his willingness to accept Qin's conditions. The remaining Jharkhand King Mohabudi and West Bengal King Nager were a little hesitant, but they knew that if Mantuo and Tubudi agreed, they would not agree, and they might offend Qin. If so, the consequences would be disastrous.
Finally, the four decided to accept all of Qin's conditions in exchange for Qin's help in repelling Aurangzeb's army.
The combined territories of these four small countries are roughly as large as those of Guangxi and Guangdong combined, and are mainly mountainous. If it were not for this terrain, they would have been destroyed by the Mughal Empire long ago.
In Cuttack, Marika Samantha once again entered the palace that originally belonged to the Otsa Kingdom. But this time she did not see the highest commander of the Qin Army, Hai Rufeng.
This time she was received by several diplomats headed by Lin Jing, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Daqin.
Marika Samantha was a little disappointed. She had had a relatively good communication with Hai Rufeng last time, and now someone else was suddenly the one talking, which made her somewhat uncomfortable.
Otsa was different from the other three countries. In addition to agreeing to pay tribute to the Qin State and allowing the Qin State to establish a trading port for free trade in exchange for Qin State sending troops to help them resist Aurangzeb's army, they also wanted to take back the wealthy area of Cuttack City. This was the essence of Otsa.
Lin Jing, a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led a total of six diplomats to India with the ocean-going fleet. Lin Jing himself was very young, 33 years old, and had a gentle and elegant appearance. He gave a good first impression.
He is a top student trained by the China Foreign Affairs University in the past two years and is proficient in three languages: Japanese, Portuguese and Indian.
In the past few days, the Qin army has been learning about the situation in India in detail. After learning that Jianba City had fallen, Hai Rufeng and his men were also very anxious. If the situation continued to deteriorate, small countries like Otsa would really be destroyed by the Mughal Empire, which would not be in the interests of the Qin Dynasty.
But Lin Jing also knew that countries like Ottosa were definitely more anxious than them.
After the greetings, Lin Jing asked politely, "Princess Samantha, what brings you here this time?"
Samantha asked tentatively, "Lord Lin, can you let me meet Admiral Hai?"
Lin Jing clasped his hands together, bowed slightly, and said politely, "I'm afraid I'll disappoint Princess Samantha. We've received news that the Dutch are unwilling to accept defeat and are mobilizing troops from India to attack us.
Admiral Hai is the commander-in-chief and has a heavy responsibility. He is preparing to fight off the Dutch attack that may come at any time. He really cannot spare the time to meet the princess at the moment. I hope the princess will forgive me. However, Admiral Hai said that if the princess has anything to say, she can let me convey it. "
Unable to meet Hai Rufeng, Marika Samantha had no choice but to restart negotiations with Lin Jing.
Of course, it was called negotiation, but in fact it was just a process of squeezing toothpaste. Marika Samantha didn't know that the Qin State wanted to support them against the Mughal Empire, and she didn't have any bargaining chips at all.
The reason why she wanted to meet Hai Rufeng was actually because she saw that Hai Rufeng seemed to like her a little, or at least was very attracted by her beauty, which might be her only bargaining chip;
But Lin Jing, although he looks gentle and polite, is always polite and will never be soft-hearted because of her beauty.
The final outcome of the negotiations was naturally no surprise.
After the two sides reached an agreement according to Daqin's conditions, Lin Jing smiled and said, "Princess, please rest assured. Once your countries submit petitions and are granted titles, they will officially become vassal states of Daqin. I can tell you a piece of news. Our Emperor is a protective person. As long as they are loyal vassal states, we will do our best to protect them. For example, Korea and Siam were all helped by Daqin to restore their countries."
Samantha said anxiously, "We need the support of the Qin Dynasty right now. To be honest with you, Lord Lin, the situation has taken a turn for the worse since the fall of Jianba City. Aurangzeb's army of hundreds of thousands is invading from multiple directions. We can no longer withstand it."
"Princess, don't worry. As long as they are vassal states of our Great Qin, we will not sit idly by and allow them to be invaded..."
"How can I not be anxious? The Mughal army is invading my country." Samantha had nothing to hide anymore. Now she could no longer pretend to be strong. On the contrary, it was time to complain to the Qin State.
Whether it was the negotiation process or comforting Samantha at the moment, Lin Jing always maintained a polite and gentle demeanor, which is an essential quality for a diplomat of Daqin.
"Your Highness, Admiral Hai and his men are already aware of Otsa's situation. I believe they are already working on a plan to resist the Mughal army."
"What about the weapons?"
"At present, our army does not have any extra guns. We can only temporarily provide some thunder bombs to various countries. However, thunder bombs are difficult to make and expensive. In addition, our Great Qin has a regulation that these powerful weapons cannot be sold without the consent of the court to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy."
"How can this be? Didn't you just say you promised to help us?"
"Princess, don't worry. We have to make decisions based on urgency. We are willing to transfer a batch of thunder bombs to various countries at cost price so that we can stabilize the precarious situation as soon as possible. As for matchlock guns, we don't have many with us. We can only supply them to various countries after they are shipped from China..."
"What about the rocket? I heard you have a very powerful rocket. Can you sell it to us? We are willing to pay a higher price."
"No, rockets are extremely difficult to manufacture and are extremely scarce in our Great Qin Army. Moreover, the cost is shockingly high. Even if I sell them to you at cost price, you may not be able to afford them."
"How high?"
"A rocket gun with five rocket shells costs five thousand taels of silver. Even if you can afford it, we are unwilling to sell it to you, so as to avoid being accused of taking advantage of the situation."
"So expensive?" Samantha was indeed shocked, but when she thought about it, this rocket launcher seemed to be more powerful than European artillery, and it was lightweight and easy to maneuver, so it might really be more expensive.
"This rocket is really expensive, but of course, it's also very powerful."
Finally, Samantha asked again: "When can you send troops to support us?"
Lin Jing replied, "Princess, this may not be up to us for the time being. I have just told Her Royal Highness that the Dutch are gathering troops in India to attack Cuttack. We cannot be sure when the Dutch will come, so we must always be on guard. I am very sorry, but all I can provide you with at the moment are some military instructors and some thunder bombs."
"How... how can this be possible? Unless you can provide us with some rockets."
Samantha had already found out clearly that the Qin army's rockets were indeed extremely powerful. It was said that the Dutch collapsed after being bombarded by rockets.
If they could defeat Aurangzeb's army, several countries would make up their minds and buy dozens of rockets. It would be expensive, but as long as the Qin army was willing to sell them, it would be worth it.
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ps: Early in the morning, several orioles were singing happily on the longan tree outside the window, their voices were crisp, melodious and pleasant. I was woken up by the noise, poor thing. I wanted to go to bed early last night, but the handsome "Cancer" kept sending messages in the middle of the night to ask me to get up and pee, and his wife didn't care. I wanted to go to his wife to settle the score. I found a match to hold my eyelids and finished revising this chapter. If there are any typos that make you unhappy, you guys can go to the wife of the "Cancer" guy to settle the score.
Ahem, finally, I sincerely ask for your monthly ticket!
..(To be continued..)
...