Chapter 337: Bride Gift and Dowry (Please read on)
Chapter 338 Betrothal gift and dowry (please follow up)
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Ambavira Palace, Mysore City.
It was originally the palace of Maharaja, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, but now most of it has been "requisitioned" by Tipu Sultan.
In a spacious and cool hall on the west side of the palace, Tipu Sultan couldn't hide his excitement and grabbed Sheikh Khan: "You mean, France is going to marry a princess to Mysore?"
According to the arrangement of Salah, the second French consul in Mysore, he did not come to Tipu directly to tell him about the matter, but asked Sheikh Khan to tell Tipu. This will allow Sheikh Khan to become the de facto facilitator of the marriage between France and Mai, greatly improve his political status, and provide convenience for future joint efforts to bring down the pro-British Jahanzeb.
"Indeed, the great Sultan." Sheikh Khan sat up straight and stroked his chest. "And she is also a princess who believes in Islam!"
Tipu Sultan was stunned when he heard this. He is relatively familiar with European countries. France is considered the backbone of European Catholicism. How could a princess who believes in Islam appear in the royal family?
Sheikh Khan noticed his doubts and hurriedly repeated Salah's original words: "Your Majesty, the French consul said that this princess is from Tunisia, her name is Amira Slich, and she is 15 years old. Years old, beautiful and intelligent..."
"Tunisia?" Tipu Sultan blinked and then remembered the news not long ago - Tunisia has been annexed to France. "How can a Tunisian be a princess?"
Sheikh Khan continued to explain in Salah's words: "Your Majesty, although Tunisia merged with France, it still belongs to the same kingdom. Princess Amira's brother is the Tunisian 'Bey', oh, It has now been renamed the Duke of Tunisia.β
Tipu Sultan could not help but nodded slightly. He knew that this was common in Europe. For example, in the Holy Roman Empire, their states have a common HRE emperor, but the states below also have their own grand dukes, and their children and sisters are also princesses.
But even with the princess from Tunisia, he was very satisfied, because she was a princess from a French state. Looking at the entire peninsula, no one could marry a major European country.
This will greatly increase Mysore's reputation and become the first-class kingdom on the peninsula!
"Is the princess 15 years old?" he thought, "Prince Pratibha happens to be 17 years old, let them..."
Sheikh Khan, however, had a proud smile on his face and interrupted him rudely: "Your Majesty, what the French Consul means is that Princess Amira wants to marry His Highness Nawaz."
Tipu Sultan's eyes widened instantly because Nawaz was his son!
Although Tipu has the final say in Mysore now, there is actually a "Maharaja" above him, who is the supreme ruler of Mysore. Tipu's father Haider was originally an officer in Mysore. After taking complete control of the army 30 years ago, he deposed the king of the Wadia family and gained real power in Mysore.
The Wadia family became India's food giant in the 21st century. They also manipulated legal provisions in their cooperation with the French Danone Group, sued Danone, and ultimately robbed Danone of US$2.4 billion...
At present, the nominal rulers of Mysore are still the Wadia family, so Tipu has always believed that France is going to marry the Wadia family.
But he didnβt expect that the French would choose him!
This means that the French government believes that it is the ruler of Mysore, at least in the future.
With the support of France, it is possible for him to completely throw the Wadia family into the trash!
He looked at Sheikh Khan excitedly, and was about to express his agreement, but suddenly remembered that the French were asking him to deal with the British, and he suddenly became a little depressed.
Although he also hates the British, the British are indeed powerful and have the support of Maratha and Hyderabad. He really does not want to provoke the British.
Sheikh Khan saw his hesitation and hurriedly threw out the "cake" given by Salah: "The French Consul also said that Princess Amira's dowry was an artillery production factory, with at least 30 technicians and Complete production equipment.β
Tipu Sultan's breathing suddenly became rapid.
This is not an artillery piece, but an artillery factory!
He had been learning how to cast cannons from Europe, and even spent a lot of money to hire European craftsmen to make some cannons. However, the quality and power of those cannons were far inferior to the original ones bought in Europe.
There are two main reasons for this.
One is that Mysore learned from Ottoman, and the latter himself was a bit jealous. His artillery technology had lagged behind Europe for many years. If he taught it to Mysore, he would have to give it a discount.
The second reason is that cannon casting is a systematic project. You can't just get a blueprint and add a few craftsmen to create a sophisticated cannon. From the most basic processing tools, such as rulers and pliers, to advanced processing equipment, such as boring machines and drills, Mysore is very different. Don't underestimate a pair of pliers. Without a strong handicraft foundation, you still can't make a qualified one.
Therefore, the cannons Mysore relies on most so far are the dozen or so cannons smuggled from Europe, and it has processed nearly a hundred of them itself, for a total of no more than 120 cannons.
Although these guns were enough to stand out from the rest on the Indian Peninsula, they were still far from enough when facing the British.
But now the French directly provide a complete set of production equipment, plus dozens of skilled technicians. From now on, Tipu Sultan can continuously obtain cannons as long as he invests money!
He has more than ten times the number of soldiers as the British. If he has enough cannons, he may be able to defeat the British!
Of course, Joseph still has a trick up his sleeve. Although Mysore has obtained the artillery factory, it has to rely on France for both raw materials and spare parts.
Even the most basic gunpowder is not something that Indians can easily get - without the fine chemical industry, the power of gunpowder is at least 10% or 20% lower.
And arming Mysore will not do any harm to France, after all, this is the sphere of influence of the British. With the political environment in India - there are many small states, sharp religious and ethnic conflicts, and the caste system - there is no need to worry that Mysore will unify the peninsula and form a powerful empire.
Tipu Sultan immediately stopped hesitating and stood up to Sheikh Khan and said, "Invite the French consul to the Ambawi Palace tomorrow. I want to discuss the marriage with him."
He remembered something and ordered, "You can tell the consul that I am willing to pay 500,000 pounds as a betrothal gift."
Of course, the betrothal gift he mentioned is not exactly the same as the betrothal gift in East Asia, but it is generally the money paid for marrying a wife.
Joseph never expected that he would get a huge profit of more than 12 million livres out of thin air in order to instigate Mysore to deal with the British.
But this is enough to show how rich the Indian peninsula was at that time.
And how much profit Britain, which controlled the India-Europe trade, made from it.
