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Chapter 960 – 956 [The End Of The Mughal Civil War]

Chapter 960 956【End of the Mughal Civil War】

“In 1660, my subordinates brought me a cup of drink called ‘tea’. I tasted it out of curiosity, and it was slightly bitter in the mouth, but when I swallowed it, there was an indescribable sweetness.” -England Navy Admin Governor and MP, Samuel Pepys.

The tea at this time did not belong to the urgently needed goods of the British East India Company, and only a small amount of tea was passed from the European continent to the hands of British nobles.

Charles II returned home and reset, which obviously brought about many changes.

First of all, the table etiquette of the British court was determined. The four-piece set of knife, fork, spoon and chopsticks spread to the nobles with Charles II as the center.

Members of the House of Lords and House of Commons in the United Kingdom adopted the four-piece dining table set one after another, and then spread it to the citizen class. In the city of London, there are even workshops for making chopsticks, which are regarded as a kind of civilized high-end tableware. The British aristocrats are even more self-taught, and they have people make silver and ivory chopsticks, so that they can be distinguished from commoner chopsticks.

At the same time, Charles II liked to drink tea, and the price of tea in Europe was too expensive, so he ordered the British East India Company to ship some back from China for every trade.

The power of the British East India Company is currently mainly concentrated in India. Also sailed to Guangzhou, but finally gave up because it was more cost-effective to order directly in Banten. Of course, Banten Port has declined relatively, and ships from various countries now prefer to go to Coconut City.

Or you can order in Malacca, but the price of food in Malacca is more expensive, and more funds are needed to replenish food.

The merchant ship that bought tea for Charles II had already set off from London, and the British merchants in Banten had just received the news of Cromwell’s death. They are more worried about the domestic situation. They don’t know that Prince Charles has returned to China, so they can only guess that the political situation in London must be chaotic.

Oliver, the head of the Far East of the British East India Company, wrote in a letter to London:

“The tough governor of Palembang in China has annexed all the territory of Banten Kingdom in Sumatra. The decline of Banten Port is visible to the naked eye, because most of the Chinese businessmen ship their goods to Coconut City and Palembang, which are related to the Tax incentives. Banten, a small country, will perish sooner or later, and no one can resist China’s expansion…”

“Princess of Portugal, marry Chittagong to China. Chittagong is also engaged in preferential tariffs. There must be an emerging trade center. More and more Chinese merchant ships are going to Chittagong for trading. I guess that within a year or two at most, Chinese businessmen will To monopolize all ports, the tariff preference will be canceled at that time, and it will even be higher than normal, which is not good for the British East India Company…”

“I heard that the new governor of Semarang is the leader of the rebel army who failed to fight for the throne in China. This is a murderous guy. He has no mercy on the natives. There may be 20,000 to 30,000 Javanese people who died in his hands. The more More and more Chinese farmers have come to Java and Sumatra to reclaim land. They are all excellent cultivators, and their numbers are as large as herring in the North Sea. If this trend continues, I am afraid that in less than fifty years, Java and Sumatra will be full of Chinese people…”

“Britain cannot colonize and expand in the Far East. We must focus on India. There was a civil war there, and the struggles of several princes seriously weakened the strength of the Mughals. This is the opportunity of the British East India Company…”

In fact, the Mughal Civil War was almost over.

The third prince Aurangzeb and the fourth prince Murad led the army to march towards the capital together.

At this time, the old emperor Shah Jahan recovered from his condition and sent Maharaja Jaswant Singh to fight. And told Singer not to hurt the two princes, try to use prestige to force the rebels to surrender.

Such an outrageous imperial order, Jaswant Singh will not be able to deal with it. He can only send envoys to negotiate when the two armies confront each other. The third prince, Aurangzeb, took advantage of the opportunity of negotiation to spend money to buy off Singh’s generals.

The two princes won a big victory and continued to march towards the capital.

The war is here, it is different from the history.

In another time and space, the eldest prince personally leads the army to fight against the second prince, but the distance is too far to return for help. So he sent the emperor’s grandson to lead the army to deal with the coalition forces of the third prince and the fourth prince. Marshal Jaswant Singh, who was defeated in the army, simply jumped back and led his troops to seek refuge with the third prince Aurangzeb.

And in this time and space, the second prince got arms from China and had the ambition to be emperor, so he has been standing still to observe the situation.

So, now it is the eldest prince who brings the emperor’s grandson to personally fight against the third and fourth princes. Marshal Jaswant Singh did not dare to jump back, the two sides fought evenly, and the war was stalemate for three months.

The third prince, Aurangzeb, suddenly issued an order that as long as he becomes emperor, the poll tax for Hindus will be restored, and Hindu businessmen will be subject to an additional 2.5% business tax, and Hindus are not allowed to ride horses, elephants, etc., and Hindu temples must be rebuilt It is a temple of green religion.

Jihad Call!

As the news spread, the First Prince’s army quickly fell apart, and a large number of Green Sect princes led troops to join the Third Prince.

The third prince Aurangzeb gained a high prestige, and went all the way to the capital. The eldest prince and grandson of the emperor were executed, the emperor Shah Jahan was placed under house arrest, and then the fourth prince, an ally, was poisoned to death.

The second prince, who had been watching the theater in Bangladesh, didn’t react at all, and the third prince had already ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. It’s too late for him to send troops at this time!

The new emperor Aurangzeb, without waiting for the second prince to send troops, immediately rushed to Bengal.

The generals of the vanguard are Mirjumura and his son Sultan. A miraculous scene happened, the father and son were actually provoked by the second prince to turn against each other. Sultan led the army to rebel and fled decisively to Bangladesh, where he became the son-in-law of the second prince.

Immediately afterwards, Nawaz Khan, the father-in-law of Emperor Aurangzeb, also rebelled and announced his support for the second prince.

In desperation, Aurangzeb could only return to the army, go straight to Gujarat, and kill his father-in-law first. Things went well, and the new emperor’s father-in-law was killed by a shell.

Two accidents occurred in succession, and Aurangzeb could only fight again in the coming year.

The war has dragged on until now, and the second prince’s territory is only left in the Ganges Delta. The Gongyutuo, Wucha and other lands in the southwest have all been lost, surviving on the complex water network.

By this time, the new emperor Aurangzeb was also tired.

He successfully imprisoned his father and killed his brother through the jihad call, and he must fulfill his promise after ascending the throne. A series of policies caused Hindus to revolt everywhere, and the Rajputs even declared their separation from the Mughal Empire (this is India’s most important horse-producing area and the main source of Mughal cavalry).

The two brothers immediately declared a truce and recognized each other’s status.

The third prince, Aurangzeb, was the Mughal emperor. He stopped attacking Bengal and led troops back to suppress the Hindu rebel army.

The second prince, Shah Shuja, was the emperor of Bengal and ruled the Ganges Delta.

The insurgent Sivaji on the west coast also made a truce with the Bigapur country and attacked the Mughal Empire with all its strength. This old man’s territory is less than one-thirtieth of Aurangzeb’s, but he took advantage of the Mughal uprising and killed the Mughal army retreating steadily.

This series of wars has made Chinese maritime merchants miserable.

Mughal’s Green Religion prince borrowed a lot of money from Hindu businessmen because of his extravagance and lust. Aurangzeb favored the princes, allowed them not to pay back the money, and raised taxes for Hindu merchants. The princes were encouraged, not only did not pay back the money, but also began to extort money from the merchants.

One came and two went, a large number of Hindu businessmen went bankrupt.

The territory of the Bengal emperor, although it is not affected by decrees. However, most of the goods bought by merchants here had to be shipped to the Mughals for sale. Over there, the increase in business taxes and the bankruptcy of a large number of merchants caused a huge backlog of goods for Bangladeshi merchants.

When Chinese maritime merchants received orders to ship cotton cloth and other commodities to Bangladesh, what they faced was a collective breach of contract by business partners. We can only take the risk to continue south, sell the goods at a discount to the Dutch and the British, and then sell them to various states in southern India through the sales network of the UK and the Netherlands.

The Mughal people, merchants, craftsmen, as well as Bangladeshi merchants and Chinese merchants, all suffered heavy losses. The only ones who benefited were the princes and nobles of the Green Sect, and they gained by killing the chicken and taking the eggs.

The Ganges River Basin is the quintessence of Mughal handicraft industry and commerce. After the new emperor Aurangzeb did this, the traditional Mughal industrial and commercial system almost collapsed!

The Mughal Empire, which was already in financial difficulties, suffered another fatal blow. Coupled with the continuous uprisings, the local governor and princes took the opportunity to grow bigger and support the bandits, so Aurangzeb, who is powerful in force, can still hold back.

Once Aurangzeb died, the Mughal Empire would be abolished, and it could still exist in name, but in fact it was divided everywhere.

Zhao Han received the news from merchants and secret agents, and couldn’t help sighing: “The Mughals are over, and once Aurangzeb dies, it will be the situation of the feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty.”

Of course, Aurangzeb is still very strong.

This guy quickly quelled the uprisings in various places. Although he could not destroy the rebel Shivaji, he successfully designed to surrender. Although the trap failed, he regained the territory captured by Sivaji, and then beat up the states of the Deccan Plateau. It can be said that whoever is arrested will be beaten, and whoever is seen will be killed.

Squeeze out the last blood and sweat of the Mughal people and create the supreme hegemony of Emperor Aurangzeb!

The loss of Chinese maritime merchants is only temporary.

As the handicraft industry in the Ganges River Basin declines, the demand for Chinese goods will be greater. At most one or two years, the sales volume of Chinese goods in Mughal will rise rapidly.

The second prince who failed in the battle for the throne, saw that his brother no longer beat him, and became the emperor of Bengal with peace of mind. This guy kept bullying the native lands in the east, and attacked the mountain tribes from time to time. It seemed to be showing off his power and expanding his territory, but in fact it was all a loss-making business, purely venting his anger on the mountain tribes.

Bangladesh’s finances were quickly in distress, but the nobles were more content with enjoying themselves. They began to collect poll taxes again, and business taxes and agricultural taxes were also raised. A large number of people fell into abject poverty.

The emperor brothers Mughal and Bengal, say they are stupid, they are expanding their territory. Say they are wise, and the people in the country are in dire straits.

It can be summed up in three words: toss around!

(end of this chapter)