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Text Chapter 522 Suez Canal Treaty

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    Jiaohuangzhong also didn¡¯t expect that Selim would talk to him about money so directly. You must know that the other party is a king of the empire, with the same status as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. If it were placed in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhengde would never talk to someone from another country.  The ambassador bargained directly, after all, this was too powerful.  "Well, if the Sultan is not satisfied with the conditions I proposed before, then our Ming Dynasty is willing to bear part of the construction cost of the Suez Canal, but this cost cannot exceed 20% of the total cost. In addition, when our Ming Dynasty's merchant ships pass through the Suez Canal in the future,  You only need to pay 20% of the tax!" Jiao Huangzhong said again, but the last condition he proposed was a bit too much. After all, the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty will definitely be the main ships passing through the Suez Canal in the future. If they only pay 20%,  Taxation would be a big loss for the Ottoman Empire.  "No, the conditions given by the Ming Dynasty are too harsh. If the Ming Dynasty is willing to bear half of the construction cost of the canal, then the Ming Dynasty merchant ships passing through the canal will need to pay 80% of the tax. This is the biggest concession I can make, absolutely not  No more!" Selim also knew that the Ming Dynasty merchant ship would be one of the main targets of the canal tax in the future, and every concession would be a huge fortune, so he was very cautious about it.  "Dear Sultan, you asked our Ming Dynasty to pay half of the expenses, but in the future you are only willing to exempt our merchant ships from 20% of the tax. Don't you think that our Ming Dynasty has paid too much? If I agree to this condition, I am afraid that I will not be able to do it at all.  I have to explain to our Emperor that with my authority, I can only agree to pay half of the expenses. But in the future, we must exempt our Ming merchant ship from half of the tax. This is also my limit!" Jiao Huangzhong has been an official overseas for many years.  I also know that I must not retreat at this time, otherwise I will suffer huge losses tomorrow.  "Half of the tax exemption is too much. I'll give in a little more now. In the future, your Ming merchant ships will have to pay 70% of the tax. How about it?" In fact, Selim was also asking for a high price just now. Now he took a step back when he saw Jiao Huang, so  He also took a step back. After all, this was an equal negotiation between two major powers.  It is impossible to use a commanding tone to make the other party surrender.  "Sixty percent, our Ming merchant ship only needs to pay 60% of taxes in the future. If the Sudan agrees, then we are willing to bear half of the cost of the canal, but at the same time we must use our technical officers to supervise the use of the money!" Jiao Huangzhong saw the other party.  Give in, he also took a step back again.  "The Ming Dynasty can send officials to supervise the use of money, but 60% is too low. I will never agree to it. It must be at least 70%. If the Ming Dynasty is not willing, then there is no need to talk about this matter anymore!" Selim  He said with determination, he is essentially a soldier.  He really didn't like this kind of bargaining conversation. Just for the benefit of the empire, he had to argue the matter with Jiao Huangzhong himself.  "Sultan, the Ming Dynasty is also at war with the Tatars in the north. The national treasury is also not very sufficient. We are asked to bear half of the construction cost of the canal. It is also a very difficult task for the Ming Dynasty treasury. If we pay so much  Money can only be exempted from 30% of taxes, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely not agree to it!" Jiao Huangzhong emphasized again. In fact, according to Zhou Zhong's explanation before he came, Selim's agreed conditions have exceeded the Ming Dynasty's bottom line.  The current persistence is just to strive for greater interests for Ming Dynasty.  Just when Selim and Jiao Huangzhong each insisted on their own demands, and no one was willing to give in, suddenly Suleiman next to him said: "Father, Ambassador Jiao, I think everyone has some problems with the distribution of the benefits of the canal. You  Let¡¯s see if this is a good idea. The Ming Dynasty will pay part of the construction costs, but we don¡¯t have to exempt the Ming Dynasty merchant ships from taxes. After all, these tax exemptions will only benefit those merchants and cannot fall into the hands of the Ming Emperor.¡± When Suleiman said this.  , paused and then said: "In that case, it is better to wait until the canal is completed. We can let Daming have a certain share in the canal. For example, Daming will pay half of the construction cost, and we will also pay half, but we have to organize  We have manpower and material resources, and the Suez Canal is already on our territory, so we want to hold 70% of the shares, and 30% of the total annual tax revenue will be given to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. What do you think of this? " As soon as Suleiman's words were spoken,  Selim immediately attracted some displeased eyes, and Zhu Huangzhong also looked at him with a half-smile, because they all knew that Suleiman's proposal seemed good, but it was actually a trick, because now he  Although it promised to give 30% of the canal's revenue to the Ming Dynasty, the Suez Canal was in Ottoman territory, and the tax collection officials were also their officials. The Ming Dynasty could not supervise it at all. In addition, the Ming Dynasty was too far away from here, so 30%  In the end, I am afraid that the Ottoman Empire has the final say. For the Ming Dynasty, there is no guarantee at all. Instead, it is better to let the Ottoman exempt part of the tax on passing merchant ships, which is more practical. ?When Suleiman saw the looks in his father's and Jiao Huangzhong's eyes, he immediately understood that their intentions must have been seen through. In their eyes, it might even be a dirty trick. This made him feel a little embarrassed, and he lowered his head.  Didn't dare to say anything more.  "Dear Sultan, since we have some differences on the final proportion of tax exemptions, I think it is better to end our conversation today. Let's all go back and think about it carefully. Maybe there will be a better way to solve it." Jiao Huangzhong  Finally, he proposed again that he did not expect that today's negotiations with Selim would go so smoothly, which made him unprepared for what was to come, so he proposed to suspend the negotiations.  "Okay, as long as Ming Dynasty puts forward conditions that satisfy me, I can agree to build the Suez Canal. Now both of us need to carefully consider our respective conditions!" Selim also knows that such a major matter cannot be done in a day or two.  The decision is made, especially since Daming needs to give the money to himself first, and the other party must consider more things.  After discussing the business, Selim asked people to set up a banquet to entertain the Jiaohuangzhong people. Unfortunately, Selim¡¯s religious beliefs did not allow him to drink, so although the banquet was sumptuous, there was no wine. However, at the banquet, Selim  It was a pleasant conversation with Jiao Huangzhong, and the two sides exchanged some information about their respective countries, which also increased the understanding between the two countries.  In the next few days, Jiao Huangzhong and Selim negotiated about the canal almost every day. They waited until ten days before they finally reached an exact result. In fact, this result was different from what they had negotiated on the first day.  Almost, the Ming Dynasty can bear half of the cost of building the canal, but when the Ming merchant ships pass through the canal in the future, the Ottoman Empire can only collect 70% of the tax. This is a step back for Jiaohuangzhong, but Jiaohuangzhong has won for the Ming Dynasty in Adan, that is,  Later generations had the right to garrison troops in the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf of Aden is the junction of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. The Ming Dynasty controlled it, which was equivalent to controlling part of the navigation rights of the Suez Canal.  However, in exchange, although the Ming Dynasty controlled the Gulf of Aden, it promised to the Ottoman Empire that it would never send its navy into the Red Sea without the consent of the Ottoman Empire. Speaking of which, the Ottoman Empire also maintained a powerful navy.  , but their navy is mainly active in the Mediterranean, and its strength is worse than that of the Portuguese. Naturally, it is not an opponent of the Ming Navy, so they must fight for a buffer zone for themselves at sea. Now the Red Sea has become the maritime buffer between the two countries.  district.  After reaching an overall agreement, Selim sent some officials to discuss the specific details with the Ming Dynasty mission. Finally, after another month of discussions, a specific plan for building the canal was finally drawn up, which stipulated the rights and obligations of both parties.  , written in both Chinese and Arabic, and finally signed by Suleiman and Jiao Huangzhong on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty respectively. This can be regarded as one of the most influential covenants in the world.  The above agreement is called the Suez Canal Treaty. It was written in two copies and kept by the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire respectively.  After the treaty was signed, Jiao Huangzhong immediately set off to prepare to turn back to the Ming Dynasty. After all, the treaty stipulated that the Ming Dynasty not only had to support some technical officials, but also paid half of the canal construction costs. However, the total cost of the canal construction could not be determined yet, and it required the Ming Dynasty and Ming Dynasty.  Ottoman jointly sent technical officials to conduct measurements and estimates, and finally had a rough number.  However, there is a necessary prerequisite for the Suez Canal Treaty, that is, the Ottoman Empire must remember this war against the Mamluk dynasty, otherwise everything will be empty talk. However, based on the current strength comparison between the two sides, even the one in Jiaohuang is not very good at military affairs.  Those who understand can also see that the Ottoman Empire has a great advantage. While they were negotiating, Selim had already begun preparing to attack Egypt.  There is another thing, that is, before they left in the scorched yellow, they were summoned by Selim alone. This time the other party told him very excitedly that in the past two days, the Ottoman army had just prepared to march into Maradia.  At that time, officers from all over the Mamluk dynasty wrote to him one after another, secretly expressing their allegiance to him, because these officers were also very dissatisfied with the upper-class Mamluk nobles. Now seeing that the Ottoman Empire was powerful and the Mamluk dynasty was in danger, they naturally did not care.  He chose betrayal without hesitation.  When Jiao Huangzhong heard the news, he was overjoyed. Although the Ottoman Empire had an absolute advantage before the war, the outcome of the war would be affected by some accidental factors. Therefore, no one dared to say that they had any chance before the war ended.  Certainty of victory, now the officers of the Mamluk Dynasty actually secretly surrendered to Selim, which also gave the Ottoman Empire more certainty of victory.  (To be continued)
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