Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1017 Prepare for a rainy day ([-])

On January 1654, 1, on a sunny day, two ships sailed into the commercial dock of Dongfang Port at the same time, then anchored, and waited for the port authority to send personnel to register and inspect before organizing unloading.

Both ships are 650-ton flute-shaped transport ships common on the East Coast, but they are obviously from different places.The ship on the left should belong to the Department of Immigration, and it was filled with more than 500 immigrants from Ming countries transferred from South Africa; while the other ship was a merchant ship from the South China Sea Transportation Company, and a small part of it was imported from Europe. In addition, [-] female slaves from Moldavia were transported—of course, they were produced by the Azov Sea Chamber of Commerce.

The two ships were moored so close together that the migrants on board could see each other clearly.Especially those Ming immigrants who came from afar, they looked at the Slavic women who were disembarking one by one under the organization of officers with surprised eyes, and they were still communicating in low voices.Perhaps even they knew that there were too many men on the ship they were traveling on, and the ratio of men to women was basically 2:1, so perhaps those Slavic female slaves would have to marry many of them in the future.

But they were obviously wrong. In today's East China Republic, there are quite a few bachelors. These female slaves are basically here to fill in the pits of the past, and it is not their turn for the time being.After all, who told the members of the Executive Committee to be too impatient, and most of the men who were attracted from the Far East could immediately create huge value?Now the ratio of male to female among immigrants is about 2:1, which is already considered good. Five or six years ago, the ratio was even more exaggerated, basically around 3:1, which caused a huge female gap in the country— ——At that time, it was mainly solved by introducing female slaves from Europe, but as the number of immigrants from the Far East increased, limited by the influence of transportation capacity, funds, supply of goods and other factors, the number of European female slaves could not meet the gap more and more. Under the method, the Executive Committee can only order to give up some immediate interests and adjust the sex ratio of immigrants from the Far East. It is now 2:1, and it may be adjusted to 3:2 or even 1:1 in the future.

Standing on the messy wharf, Kang Ding, acting as the stationmaster of the Florence Merchant Station, looked around. After a little identification of the direction, he got into a carriage and walked towards the city.His destination was the Ministry of Trade in the city. This time, he was entrusted by Mo San, the special envoy to Europe, to return to China with some contracts, secret agreements, agreements and reports, and by the way, some information collected from Europe Report to the National Intelligence Agency to know.

The Ministry of Trade arrived soon, and Kang Ding took out the letter of introduction and work certificate from his arms, and then came to a certain office together under the suspicious eyes of the guards.Sitting in the office was a young official with black curly hair, but his eyebrows were vaguely oriental. Kang Ding looked at the nameplate on his desk: Bai Yutang (Head of Section), Economic Investigation Division, European Department, Ministry of Trade.

"It turned out to be Chief Bai, nice to meet you. I am Kang Ding, the head of the Florence Commercial Station. I work under the special envoy Mo Sanmo. This time, I have some important documents to hand over to the Economic Investigation Section of the Ministry of Trade. Please. It's gone." Kang Ding looked at this handsome young man and said politely while thinking about which boss's nephew he was.

"Station Master Kang, you are welcome." Bai Yutang stood up, shook hands with Kang Ding, then took the document in his hand without looking at it, and skillfully put it into a large envelope, ready to hand it in next Secretary to go.

"Does Envoy Mo have any instructions?" Bai Yutang asked again.

"Envoy Mo said that the content of the instructions is in the document, please study it carefully. If you have to say something, it is that Envoy Mo is very worried about Britain. This country is different from other places. Their land aristocracy is naturally It is relatively rare, even less after the civil war. The development of trade and the growth of imports have eroded the economic creed and monopoly position of many handicraft guilds. We must be very careful. This country has the innate conditions for its rise. Of course— —” Speaking of this, Kang Ding smiled and said: “They have not yet completely got rid of the restrictions of the backward guild system, and industrial enterprises can still only operate within this framework, although many people are trying to break through this system—— For example, the off-site production of rural handicrafts is—but because the conservative forces are still very strong, this possibility cannot be seen in the short term. But—I still want to say but—we must pay attention to the British, their industrial system has already advanced If there is a country to rise in Europe, then the United Kingdom will definitely be the first, not the Netherlands, I am absolutely sure of this."

"Thank you for your advice. I will report the truth to my superiors." Bai Yutang said.As the eldest son of Bai Siwen, the "famous" veteran of the East Bank, Bai Yutang has been working for several years, and has now been promoted to the position of section chief in the Ministry of Trade, and he can be regarded as one of the leaders in the second generation.

After leaving the Ministry of Trade, Kang Ding rushed to the Ministry of War without stopping.This time he brought a lot of military purchase contracts signed by Zheng Yong, all of which had to be archived in the Ministry of the Army, such as the weapons and military supplies ordered by the Principality of Moscow, the Brandenburg-Prussia ( Prussia is still under the control of Poland and has not yet been fully independent), the purchase of 4 rifles, and the purchase of the Kingdom of Poland's military purchases by the Tripp De Heier family (thanks to the Dutch, this is the first time that people from the east coast have entered Poland in recent years market), and a sum of arms worth more than [-] yuan sold by the people on the east coast, the buyer is the Principality of Courland.

From these procurement contracts, it can be seen that a war of astonishing scale is brewing among the countries along the Baltic Sea.No one is sure when and where this war will start, but one thing is certain is that this is likely to be a large-scale battle involving more than 20 people (perhaps close to 30).Judging from the current war preparations, Brandenburg, Sweden, Poland, Courland, Moscow, and even Denmark, Pomerania, etc. will all be involved, and countless people will fight on the vast plains of Northern Europe and Eastern Europe , the scene must be extremely grand, and this undoubtedly means countless businesses—including both industrial product transactions and population transactions.

"Hehe, what a big scene." A second-class staff officer of the Ministry of War received the station chief Kang Dingkang. This unshaven official who was obviously retired from the field army laughed as he picked up the contract, and greeted his own while laughing. Colleagues came over to see: "A few days ago, the ships returning from Europe just sent arms purchase orders from Ukrainians and Tatars. We also said that several countries on the Black Sea side were going to be involved in the war. I didn't expect the scene in the north. It’s not inferior at all, tsk tsk, maybe it’s a war of tens of thousands of people, don’t make it bigger than the scale of the 10-year war.”

"The Ministry just said that it will send an army tour group to the South Russia Plain to watch the battle. If there is a war in the north, it will have to organize a second field tour group. Well, the student soldiers in the Dingyuan Military Academy are blessed, just now Catch up with such a big scene after graduation, which will be of great benefit to my future military career. If I am not too old and unwilling to move, I would also like to travel across the ocean to Moscow, and follow their tsar to see large-scale battles I heard that the tsar brought 10,000+ troops with him every time he set off, which is hard to see in the New World." Another older officer walked over to have a look, and then agreed.

Kang Ding stood there with an apologetic smile, thinking that war is the best thing to do. The harder the fight, the greater the demand for weapons and military resources, and the more supplies and money will be needed to resume production after the war. For a commercial country in the Baltic region that has no territorial ambitions and just wants to do business, that's all there is to it.

I believe that after these documents are submitted one by one, the executive committee will definitely order the relevant units to immediately formulate corresponding plans in order to maximize the benefits.What?What are these so-called "interests" you ask?A lot, money, population, markets, supplies are all, and even strengthening the influence of the East Bank in the area can be regarded as a benefit.Not to mention, this time the East Bank did not sell military funds to the Kingdom of Sweden at the request of the Netherlands. After the war, the Dutch will also open Brandenburg-Prussia's market (including Pomerania) to the East Bank-this The market is actually a trivial matter, and the relationship with the Netherlands has been further deepened. This is what the members of the Executive Committee prefer to see.

After leaving the Ministry of War, Kang Ding, under the guidance of an enthusiastic officer, came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and submitted the request of the Principality of Courland to send an ambassador to the east coast.It is said that after being reminded by Zheng Yong, the head of state of this country, Grand Duke Jacob, felt that the Baltic Sea was indeed full of war clouds, so he immediately began to transfer important assets.For example, many technicians and their families in the shipyard in Wendao were sent to the colony of New Courland by ship by him. Of course, there are more technicians in Wendao who are unwilling to leave, so there is no way.In addition, some important factories, such as iron smelting workshops, iron processing plants, glass manufacturing plants, etc., will also begin to gradually relocate, and their destinations will all be New Courland—the Duchy of Courland is really too weak. Poland or Moscow can easily trample them under their feet. If the battlefield is set in the Principality of Courland, it will be even more miserable.

All in all, while Grand Duke Jacob transferred assets and personnel to overseas colonies, he began to call on the people in the country to go to the colonies to open up wasteland, and promised to distribute land for free, which undoubtedly attracted many people who had nothing.Even some serfs in Poland tried their best to go to Wendau after hearing the news, planning to take a boat to New Courland to try their luck.

Therefore, Grand Duke Jacob's request to establish formal diplomatic relations with the East Bank at this time is undoubtedly a rainy day for the next war.After all, once the Principality of Courland is "smoothly" destroyed by a passing army, and after Grand Duke Jacob fled in a hurry, all his hopes will be pinned on the overseas colonies. When are you still cursing?

(End of this chapter)