The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

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The ship drifted at sea for a full month, sailing from the South Pacific around the Cape of Good Hope, then north along the west coast of Africa, stopping in Goa for three days along the way.

As a result, the Portuguese in Goa stopped them outside the port, saying that Goa was now under the control of the Han Dynasty and that no Dutch merchant ships were allowed to enter the port.

The captain had no choice but to resupply on board, and it took an extra month to reach London. By the time the ship reached the mouth of the Thames, half of the sails on the masts were rotten, and barnacles had grown all over the ship below the waterline, making it almost impossible to even enter the harbor.

The ship brought back more than just this nautical chart; it also brought back seventeen Dutch sailors who had jumped overboard to escape during the South Pacific naval battles and were rescued by a Danish East India Company merchant ship.

The news they brought was that in the Battle of Nantianmen, all eighty of the Allied forces' main warships were destroyed, Major General Montagu and Lieutenant General Tromp were captured, and the Allied forces lost 60% of their 8,000 men.

The Han fleet now controls the entire Strait of Malacca, as well as the Portuguese Goa and the trading posts along the African coast. The Han dragon flag is now flying on both sides of the Indian Ocean.

This meeting is about this very issue.

The British side consisted of the Privy Councillor, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the General Manager of the East India Company, and the fleet commander who had come from Portsmouth.

The Dutch representative was Van der Maier, a special envoy sent by the United Provinces Parliament. He was the captain of the Tulip, the ship whose tariff was increased by 30% on the day of the Battle of Nantianmen.

He didn't leave; he stayed in Goa to handle the East India Company's inventory and witnessed the Portuguese governor of Goa, Pereira, don the Western-style official robes of the Han Dynasty, lower the Portuguese flag in Goa, and raise the Han Dynasty's dragon flag.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke first, pushing a stack of account books to the center of the table, with many slips of paper tucked inside.

Before the Battle of Nantianmen, the East India Company transported tea, silk, porcelain, and spices from the East every year, which were then auctioned off in Amsterdam and distributed to the mainland.

"Just the tariffs and franchise taxes alone cost the British and Dutch treasuries over a million guilders annually. Now, this trade route has been completely cut off by the Han Dynasty."

"Therefore we must attack again!"

The Minister of the Navy frowned as he listened to the Minister of Finance. He and the Navy had already assessed the situation and found that the Han Chinese population was too large, and the Han Chinese were too close to Malacca. Furthermore, the Han Chinese had been operating for two full years and could be considered impregnable.

"I oppose the attack."

The general manager of the East India Company was wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. He had seven trading posts in South Asia, with Surat being the largest, where the pepper and indigo stored could fill two warehouses.

As a result, news recently came that Liu Weiqing had set up a large number of officials to collect taxes, and announced that the British and Dutch in India would need the approval of the governor's office in Dhaka to purchase any goods.

Anything not approved will be treated as smuggling.

Therefore, the general manager of the Surat trading post has sent people to Dhaka three times to apply for purchasing permits, but they were not even allowed to enter the city gates. Now, the pepper in the warehouse has been piled up for half a year, and with the arrival of the rainy season in India, the moisture seeps in and it has started to mold.

An old lord of the Privy Council trembled with rage, slamming his cane on the floor. "Now the Great Han is trying to uproot our interests in the East! We should send our main fleet over there to completely flatten Nantianmen and reclaim our Malacca!"

Van der Meier remained silent for a moment, waiting until everyone had finished speaking before putting down his teacup and speaking:

"I witnessed firsthand the Portuguese handing over the entirety of Goa. From Goa, all the way south along the African coast, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Mozambique—almost all of it was Portuguese territory."

"If these places are all handed over to the Great Han, then even if our fleet manages to round the Cape of Good Hope, there will be no ports to dock at or resupply there."

"And with their massive population, they've probably already established a firm foothold on the east coast of Africa!"

He spoke calmly, but the entire hall fell silent. Everyone understood the weight of his words—it wasn't a question of whether to fight or not, but that there was no longer any chance.

The lord, a proponent of peace, stood up. "Since we can't defeat them by force, we can only negotiate. I suggest sending a special envoy to Beijing to negotiate with the Han emperor in the name of the King."

"The conditions can be relaxed, recognizing the rights and interests of the Great Han in Southeast Asia, recognizing the Great Han's control over Malacca and India, and recognizing Portugal as a vassal state of the Great Han."

"But our core demands are only two: First, to ransom Montagu, Tromp, and the captured soldiers. Second, to strive for the restoration of British and Dutch purchasing rights in India, even if only partially, even if it requires the approval of the Han Dynasty."

The lords, who advocated for war, immediately refuted this.

"This is tantamount to bowing down to the Han Chinese, to bowing down to the Easterners. This is simply a disgrace to Britain."

"Next spring, the two companies will have a combined debt of several million Dutch guilders, both banks will collapse, the entire Eastern money exchange will be ruined, downstream merchants will not be able to get goods, and the people will have no tea to drink or spices to use. At that time, public resentment will boil over, which will be much more troublesome than defeat in war."

These words struck a nerve with everyone. The general manager of the East India Company kept wiping the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief, and this time he didn't say another word.

The lord, who was a proponent of war, wanted to argue, but when he opened his mouth, he only let out a muffled groan.

Charles II sat at the end of the long table in a high-backed chair, toying with a gold coin bearing the insignia of the East India Company. On the table in front of him was a trade manual sent from the King of India.

The booklet was printed by the Great Han Customs, in both Chinese and English, and was beautifully bound. On the last page, there was a handwritten note: "British and Dutch citizens may enter the port for trade with special permission; tax rates will be negotiated separately."

No one knows who wrote that sentence or when it was written. But the phrase "tax rate to be discussed" kept him thinking about it all night.

"Send an envoy." Charles II's voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the hall heard it.

Charles II flicked the gold coin onto the table, then pressed it down. The coin spun twice on the oak table before finally falling to the side next to the trade manual.

"Moreover, the plenipotentiary envoy will first go to Beijing. The conditions are: recognition of the Han Dynasty's governance in Southeast Asia, recognition of Portugal as an ally of the Han Dynasty, and the East India Company's purchasing rights in India. We will negotiate as much as we can."

"If goods from the East are not brought back, all the trading companies in London and Paris will have to close down next year, and no one can afford the consequences."

Charles II's words undoubtedly set the final tone for this matter. As for the Dutch, after being crippled by the Han, they had no say.