Muscat, the Black Palace.
The so-called Black Prince's Palace is not a real palace, but a super mansion built for himself by the black eunuch Hei Zhongxian according to the specifications of Daming County Prince's Palace on the beach of Muscat. This mansion consists of a main courtyard and an east-west courtyard. The main courtyard is more than 130 meters long from north to south and more than 80 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of about 11,000 square meters. The courtyard wall is also 2 meters wide and 4 meters high, almost catching up with the city wall!
The east-west courtyard is about two-thirds smaller than the main courtyard, but it is still a large house covering an area of 4,000 square meters!
There are five courtyards inside the main courtyard, which are called five entrances and five exits. There are three courtyards across the east and west courtyards, that is, three entrances and three exits.
Hei Zhongxian himself lived in the largest main courtyard, and the smaller east-west courtyard was used to entertain guests. Among them, the west courtyard was lent to Zhuge Weien, Zhuge Weidao's sixty-sixth brother. The East Cross Courtyard was originally lent to three black eunuchs who had just retired and returned to Muscat. These black eunuchs would also build houses in Muscat. However, it took time to build a house. Before it was completed, they could only rent it to their predecessors. The eunuch is at home. However, because Zhuge Weidao and the others were coming, the black eunuchs who lived in the Dongkua Courtyard had already moved away. The three-layer courtyard of the Dongkua Courtyard was occupied by the families of Zhuge Weidao, Li Chenghui, and Chen Jian, as well as their personal entourage (orderlies, secretaries, etc. ).
According to the original plan, the Persian Gulf Fleet was to enter the Persian Gulf as a presence fleet. However, due to the previous naval battle of Goa, one of the three Blake-class ships of the Indian fleet was sunk and two were injured. Of course, those that sank in the sea are gone, and the injured ones have to be repaired at the Hindustan Shipyard. Considering the ship-repairing skills of Indian workers, the British do not have the ability to counter the Gojo-class armored cruisers in the Indian Ocean for the time being.
Although the Indian fleet still has many old-fashioned battleships and shallow-water heavy gunships available, it is no problem to engage in a fleet artillery battle, but without useful armored cruisers, it will be very difficult for the Indian fleet to maintain control of the Indian Ocean, at least the Arabian Sea. Problem! Although the five "small cruisers" and eight fast cruisers of the Ming Dynasty's Persian Gulf Fleet are all outdated ship types, if they want to team up to go to sea to attack India's maritime communication lines, the Indian fleet will have a big head.
In addition, without the "big armor patrol" to open the way and track down the enemy, it is difficult to say whether the eight slow old battleships can lock the opponent on the endless ocean.
Therefore, after Zhuge Weidao considered it, he simply asked the Persian Gulf Fleet to temporarily station in the Gulf of Oman and use Muscat as its home port. After the fleet's new home port in the Persian Gulf was built, it could then be transferred there.
After settling his family and the fleet's land headquarters (located in a house next to the Black Prince's Mansion), and arranging anchorages for each ship of the Persian Gulf Fleet, Zhuge Weidao asked Hei Zhong Xian came forward to invite the Sultan of Oman and the seven bitter desert pirate chiefs to the Black King's Mansion to discuss a big deal - a national deal!
"Isn't that traitorous! Our family knows this, and our family knows these things best." In the lobby of the Black Prince's Mansion, Sultan and the seven desert pirate chiefs had not arrived yet, and Hei Zhongxian was accompanying Zhuge to prepare for the war. They drank coffee and talked. When he heard Zhuge Weidao mentioning the matter of state business, he immediately became energetic and beamed with joy.
When Zhuge Weien heard this, he coughed a few times - he knew how to betray his country best! You Hei Zhongxian is a loyal minister and a good eunuch of the Ming Dynasty. How can you know how to betray your country?
Zhuge Weidao ignored his sixty-sixth brother and quickly inquired further: "Brother, in your opinion, can the emirates of the seven desert pirate chiefs be sold?"
"Ah?" Hei Zhongxian was stunned, "Brother Daozi, did I hear you correctly? Are there people in the seven desert pirate emirates who are also concerned about them?"
"No one cares?" Zhuge Weidao asked.
"Who cares about that place?" Hei Zhongxian shook his head, "Brother Daozi, don't you know? In the early years, the British East India Company sent a fleet to go there. The fathers of those desert pirate chiefs thought that the British Empire was coming to take over. We are so happy that we have a colony, and we are ready to sell our country and go to India to live a better life! But the British don’t like it at all, they just came to warn the seven chiefs not to rob the Indian pilgrims who are going on pilgrimage.”
What about this?
Zhuge Wei said in his heart: "Fortunately, the East India Company did not buy the country of the seven chiefs, otherwise the oil tycoons would have become Indian coolies! But having said that, the United Emirates, which has not discovered oil, is really miserable. I want to be treated as a fool. No one wants the colony!"
"Can Sultan Sultan of Oman agree to their selling the country?" Zhuge Weidao asked again.
"Sultan of Oman?" Hei Zhongxian said with a smile, "Of course I wish for it! Why do you think Sultan wanted to accept seven of them as his younger brothers? Wasn't that forced by the East India Company? Otherwise, he would be too full to take care of those seven What good can be done about the desert pirate tribe? Either mediate the conflicts for the seven of them, or provide money to relieve the seven tribes. But Sultan is very cunning. He wants to know that our Ming Dynasty wants to acquire those seven emirates. , I guess I have to kill the Ming Dynasty with one knife!"
"Is one million silver dollars enough?" Zhuge Weidao asked with a smile.
"1 million?" Hei Zhongxian couldn't believe his ears, "1 million to buy those 7 broken emirates?"
Zhuge Weidao waved his hands and said: "It's not 1 million, but 3 million plus 7 counts. 1 million of them are given to Sultan Sultan, 2 million are used to settle the people of the 7 emirates, and the 7 counts are for the 7 chiefs. Yes, they will be the earls of the Ming Dynasty from now on, and enjoy the treatment of Gui Yibo in the Western Region, Snowy Region, and Grassland."
This "plan to buy the country" was of course decided by the military advisors of the Zhuge family - adequate compensation, relocation of the residents, support by the chiefs, and no future troubles!
According to this plan, the seven bitter chiefs and their descendants will all be nobles of the Ming Dynasty. After a few generations, their appearance, beliefs, and national identity will all be Ming-style.
At that time, even if they still care about the oil in their hometown, it will just be a little dividend to them.
Similar methods have been practiced since the time of King Zhuge Wuzhong. As long as all the princes and princes in ancient China who were recaptured by the Ming Dynasty sincerely surrendered, their descendants are now Guiyihou, Guiyibo, Guiyizi, and Guiyinan who live in Beijing. And they are completely Chinese!
Of course Hei Zhongxian knew the treatment of these "Guiyi", so he asked in confusion: "Given so much? Who is taking the big advantage?"
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "That person is not the one who was taken advantage of, that person is the Queen Mother! The treatment of the seven Gui Yibo families are all from the royal family. Therefore, the future Gulf country will also be the country of the Zhu family."
The purchase of state money and the treatment of seven Gui Yibos were nominally paid for by Empress Dowager Zheng using the internal funds of the Zhu Ming Royal Family, but in fact it was the Zhuge family that brought together seven other aristocratic families, plus the Zhu Ming Royal Family. of. Among them, the Zhuge Family has the largest share, so in the future Gulf Kingdom Oil Company, the Zhuge Family will also have the largest share.
Hei Zhongxian was stunned: "Queen Mother? What is the use of the Queen Mother buying the country?"
Zhuge Weidao replied: "Of course it is to settle the descendants of the Zhu family. Before, King Xiao Tang elected the King of Hawaii. This time it is time to arrange for King Xiao Gui or King Xiao Lu to come to the bay to become king. Although the land of the bay is barren, it is very important to me. The great Ming Dynasty’s eternal hegemony is very important to the current international situation and must be firmly grasped!”
This explanation barely makes sense. Defending the Persian Gulf poses a considerable threat to India, Persia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Suez Canal.
Hei Zhongxian nodded, of course he had to treat the Queen Mother's wishes as an imperial edict. Just as he was thinking about it, a "little black eunuch" walked quickly to Hei Zhongxian and whispered a few words in a low voice. Hei Zhongxian immediately smiled and said: "Daozi, General Li, Ambassador Zhuge, Sultan and the seven A chief has arrived, let’s go out to greet him together, and tell them the good news that Ming Dynasty wants to buy the country!"
(End of chapter)
