Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 828 The Rus': I was the one who worshipped Constantine first!

When Guo Kang's ship arrived at the dock, a large group of people were already waiting on the shore. In addition to Tuo Huan and his men, a large group of civilians also gathered at the port.

Tuohuan initially arranged a grand welcoming ceremony, but such an event was quite a spectacle, and through the intentional or unintentional spread of the word among various people in the army and church, the whole city soon knew about it. As a result, whether they admired Guo Kang's military achievements, considered him to be of great sanctity, or simply came to see the spectacle, a large number of people began to crowd towards the port.

Across the strait, there is a military camp where Ross recruits are being trained.

The Ministry of War transferred a group of personnel from the newly established military headquarters to receive unified education and training here. They spent their days drilling and their evenings learning to read and write and studying military law, keeping themselves extremely busy. For many Rus' people, perhaps a lifetime's worth of voluntary learning opportunities were used up in these few months…

When Guo Kang returned, many new recruits had only heard about him from their seniors, knowing he was a leader who risked his life to earn them a chance to join the army, but they had never actually met him. Therefore, many asked for leave in advance to come and see him. Due to the large number of people, the battalion officers discussed it and decided to submit a report to the Ministry of War, deciding to treat these few days as routine rest and allow the entire army to take leave. The Ministry of War didn't think much of it, considering it a good thing, and agreed.

The incident was quite sudden, and since the military camp was on the other side of the strait, thousands of people suddenly rushed out, blocking the ferry crossing. The government-arranged daily round-trip ferries couldn't accommodate so many people, and Italian merchants with boats took the opportunity to inflate prices, raising a single ticket to several times the usual price, infuriating everyone.

However, this did not deter the resourceful Rus' people, who quickly devised various methods. After all, the Rus' region had a vast network of rivers, and people often traveled back and forth in rafts. Therefore, many people simply made their own rafts and crossed the narrow Bosphorus Strait to return directly to the main city of Dadu on the other side.

This wouldn't have been a problem in itself, but there were too many people, and a single raft couldn't hold many. Therefore, the incredibly efficient Ross soldiers spent the entire night tying everything they could find to a raft. Early the next morning, hundreds of strangely shaped floating objects set sail from the beach next to the barracks, heading towards Dadu (Beijing).

The Rus' people were completely unfamiliar with the rules governing waterways. Their military laws and regulations were all based on the army, and they hadn't yet grasped the regulations for managing waterways in important areas. Their rafts weren't as effective as they had imagined. As a result, everyone rowed haphazardly at sea, quickly clogging the already busy waterways. Many merchants and sailors on board were seeing this kind of activity near Dadu (Beijing) for the first time, and rumors spread like wildfire, with no one knowing what the Rus' people were up to.

Finally, the remaining fleet was dispatched urgently and brought back all the Rus' people adrift at sea. Some rafts had drifted beyond the Sea of ​​Marmara, while others had even collided with passing ships and broken apart. It took quite a while to retrieve everyone. It's baffling what they were thinking under those conditions; they just threw together whatever they thought would float and dared to sail away…

Even so, several hundred skilled Russian soldiers managed to reach the other side, immediately abandoning their rafts and rushing into the port. This caused chaos on the port side, with the garrison rushing out to investigate before restoring order.

The capital's government was very unhappy about this, feeling that a major incident had almost occurred, and therefore protested the Ministry of War's decision. The Ministry of War, on the other hand, believed that its reply was perfectly reasonable, and that no one had expected the situation to develop this way.

After much wrangling, the imperial court had no choice but to issue an order to send all the Rus' people back to their military camps, investigate the officers and instructors, and prohibit them from returning to Dadu (Beijing) or participating in any activities in the near future. As a result, the Rus' people, despite their best efforts, were still denied this opportunity and were extremely dissatisfied. The Ministry of War could only report the situation to Guo Kang himself and see what he could do…

Besides these people, the other onlookers were also overly enthusiastic, so much so that the honor guard had to be redeployed to maintain order and prevent the chaotic crowd from surging forward. Guo Kang's welcoming ceremony thus abruptly turned into a strange affair…

Before even setting foot on land, he had to consider the antics of the Rus' and the impact of all the chaos in the city.

However, there are still many things to do, so he cannot devote all his energy to this.

Tuohuan and the others came to his port in person. As soon as he stepped ashore, he was surrounded by people who fussed over him, asking him all sorts of questions. He was very busy. After greeting everyone, he had to go and "meet his fans," greeting all the onlookers so that they wouldn't have come for nothing.

Tuohuan didn't say anything else, but told him that he had to go to the palace in person to meet with Theodora. The Rus' people were a minor matter; if he didn't go to see Theodora soon, he wouldn't be able to help suppress the matter any longer.

Guo Kang could only quickly agree. However, he also indicated that according to the plan, he still needed to go to the church first. He would even have to make a trip to the Java Chamber of Commerce.

Because he came on official business this time. And the most important thing was not the church, but the business with the Yuan people.

To maintain Egypt's economic stability, Guo Kang began negotiations with the Javanese Chamber of Commerce after the Black Death ended. Now, the Yuan army has landed in Bengal, and progress is reportedly very smooth. As a result, many plans must be changed.

For example, Guo Kang's previous plans for planting and internally procuring cotton will probably have to be abandoned, or at least significantly adjusted.

Because at that time, India was the largest producer of cotton and cotton cloth. Even during the Ming Dynasty, the cotton textile industry, which had only recently recovered, couldn't compare to India.

Therefore, at this time, Mumbai, India, was the world's largest cotton textile center. Songjiang, which would later become famous for its textile industry and exports, could only be called "Little Mumbai" at this time. Historically, it wouldn't be until the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty that Songjiang could catch up.

However, the sudden appearance of the Yuan army completely disrupted this situation.

The area around Surat in western India is a cotton-producing region, while Mumbai to the south and Bangladesh to the east are textile centers. Bangladesh also produces sugar. Indian merchants would transport cotton to Bangladesh and then bring sugar back, creating a so-called "cotton-sugar" cycle.

This trade network is crucial to India itself. However, with Bangladesh suddenly changing hands, even if Indian domestic forces are still fighting elsewhere, this network, which is vital to India's internal and external economic cycles, is certainly doomed.

According to Guo Kang's knowledge, the sugar trade was only impacted after the Age of Exploration. As long-distance trade flourished and British merchant ships traveled more frequently, more and more Seres sugar entered India. Under the pressure of competing products like Seres sugar and Dutch sugar, India gradually shifted from exporting sugar to importing it. Initially, the most dominant player was Batavian sugar, controlled by the Dutch. Batavia was called Jakarta by the indigenous people. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was established, with its headquarters located there. As their rule gradually consolidated, in 1621, the Dutch renamed Jakarta Batavia, which is the Latin name for the Netherlands. Thereafter, it remained the center of Dutch rule in Southeast Asia.

However, although it was called Batavia sugar, the industrial center at that time was not here, but in "Little Liuqiu" to the north.

Although this island was sparsely populated in ancient times due to its harsh climate, it underwent initial development during the Yuan and Ming dynasties and became famous for its suitability for growing sugar crops.

The Yuan Dynasty scholar Wang Dayuan recorded in his book "A Brief Account of the Island Barbarians" that the inhabitants of "Ryukyu" would "brew sugarcane juice into wine," and the Dutch "Die Batavia" also mentioned in February 1624 that "sugarcane is produced in Xiaolong." After the Dutch took control of "Little Ryukyu," they began to commercially produce sugarcane using sugarcane as raw material, making it their main export commodity.

By the late 1640s, this area could produce 9000 dan (a unit of weight) of white sugar annually, becoming an important sugarcane production center, exporting to Japan and Persia. By 1657, production had surged to 17000 dan. By 1652, sugarcane cultivation had reached one-third of rice paddy cultivation, making it extremely important.

As the two major powers controlling maritime trade in East and Southeast Asia at the time, the Zheng family and the Dutch engaged in a long-term struggle. Sugar resources were, of course, an important part of this struggle.

Even in the late Ming Dynasty, the quality of European armies still lagged behind that of the East. In 1575, the third year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, a Spanish delegation visited Fujian to discuss the suppression of the pirate Lin Feng's invasion of Manila. In Fuzhou, the Spanish delegation witnessed Ming troops practicing with matchlock muskets and spears. Spanish Captain Loaca (perhaps "captain" would be a more accurate translation at this time) observed one of the early morning drills and made records.

He pointed out that the Ming army in Fuzhou conducted monthly drills at the parade ground outside the city. On this particular occasion, he witnessed approximately one thousand soldiers wielding long spears and matchlock muskets. The Ming army used musical instruments to direct the drills, which the Spanish found spectacular. Furthermore, their formation differed somewhat from the large Spanish square formations, exhibiting a more classical style of smaller, clustered squares.

The Ming soldiers in Fuzhou would use bugle calls as commands to form ranks. At the sound of a bugle, they could quickly assemble into marching formation; a second bugle call and they would form a square formation. Moreover, their musketeers and pikemen moved in perfect coordination; the musketeers would fire as soon as they dispersed, then quickly regroup, while the pikemen would respond by also quickly regrouping. This level of skill greatly surprised the Spanish soldiers and officers present.

In the Ming army, every soldier followed orders meticulously; no one deserted or did anything unrelated. Those who disobeyed were severely punished. The soldiers were extremely familiar with what they were supposed to do during drills and were well-trained in obeying commands. All of this made the Spanish find the drills very interesting to watch.

Another Spaniard, Mendoza, compiled the materials brought by the Jesuits. These materials suggested that the Ming army numbered over 20,000, and they were particularly impressed by the Ming army's troop coordination and tactical changes, believing that European armies could not achieve such "formation shifts." The Spanish mission thus concluded that they had surpassed all other battle formations used worldwide.

Although Mendoza still believed that the Ming army in Fuzhou, despite being well-trained and dutiful, lacked the morale and fighting spirit of the Spanish, it was still too "overkill" for a colonial army.

Therefore, although the records that Europeans saw showed the Dutch winning all the time, the battle lines didn't lie—in the end, the Dutch had lost control of the South Pacific shipping routes.

From this perspective, the Ming-Zheng Group's recapture and management of Xiaoliuqiu was not simply a matter of impulsive action or a desperate attempt to escape. On the contrary, it was a sound strategic judgment made after a thorough understanding of the relative strengths of both sides and the economic conditions of each region. The Dutch were not defeated because they were outnumbered or underestimated the area; on the contrary, this was the center of the sugar industry at the time, so how could they not value it? They were simply simply outmatched…

In the early stages of the reconquest, Zheng's army faced food shortages, leading to an encouragement of rice cultivation and a decline in sugar production. However, later, Liu Guoxuan, a key general of the Ming-Zheng regime, specifically introduced new sugarcane seedlings from Fujian and hired renowned sugar-making masters to improve techniques, resulting in an annual sugar production of 18000 dan (a unit of weight). The main export destination for this sugar was Japan, in exchange for copper, lead, and other metals needed to manufacture firearms. By 1682, as much as 9923 dan of sugar had been exported to Nagasaki Port to support the operation.

During the Qing Dynasty, more emphasis was placed on rice production, while the sugar industry was neglected, resulting in a significant decline in exports. Meanwhile, the Dutch resumed their sugar production in Java, shifting the center of sugar production to Batavia and once again dominating the market.

However, in the 18th century, the Javanese sugar industry also faced a crisis. More seriously, external threats exacerbated internal conflicts within the colony, leading to escalating tensions between Chinese merchants controlling sugar production and the colonial authorities. At the time, of the 130 sugar mills in Batavia, one was state-owned by the Dutch, four were privately owned by the Dutch, and 125 were operated by Chinese merchants. The Dutch were extremely dissatisfied with this distribution. Ultimately, in 1740, this escalated into a massacre of the Chinese merchants.

But even after the massacre, the Dutch themselves still couldn't manage the business. Batavian sugar suffered a severe blow, and its trade share in India was returned to the Qing Dynasty, never to recover.

By 1833, sugar and rock sugar had become the primary commodities exported by the Qing Dynasty to India, accounting for a quarter of the total trade. Under the blow from the Qing Dynasty's sugar industry, traditional Bengal sugar exports had completely disappeared, and the entire Bengal sugar industry was on the verge of collapse.

On the other hand, Indian cotton also began to be exported to the Qing Dynasty in large quantities. Due to the higher export profits, the British began to directly ship Surat cotton to Guangzhou. Later, eastern India, which had previously mainly purchased cotton, also began to grow cotton, and Calcutta port joined the ranks of exporters.

Driven by profit, the British even forced grain-producing areas to grow cotton as well, and most of the cotton production was shipped to the Qing Dynasty (India was too far from the British mainland, and the British mainland preferred American cotton).

The original sugar-cotton trade cycle within India was essentially replaced by imports and exports of products from the Qing Dynasty.

By the 1830s, India's regular commodities had largely lost their competitiveness and were suffering severe losses. Even more problematic was the severe shortage of staple food due to the "conversion from grain to cotton," leading to frequent famines. In 1834, the Governor-General of India, Benkden, reported to London: "The tragic situation is unparalleled in commercial history; the bones of cotton textile workers have turned the Indian plains white."

The reasons here are not solely due to the impact of British machine-made goods. While Indian domestic handicrafts possess a certain resilience against machine-made products, Seres' products, which occupy a similar niche but are far more competitive, were completely eradicated with the aid of more convenient British logistics…

The decline of the industry led the East India Company to turn to the opium trade, which was the most direct cause of the later war between China and Britain.

These kinds of things would normally happen much later. But now that the Yuan army has directly attacked, many things need to be reassessed...

(End of this chapter)