Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1064 Dust Settled ([-])

"The guys from the Kommersant always want to make a big news!" On May 1655, 5, Zhou Shenwo, who participated in the mortgage negotiation with the Kingdom of Spain for the first time, put down a newspaper in his hand and said with a smile: "I don't know what kind of benefits those officials in Shangchenggang have used, so that the "Kommersant" has also flattered them."

At this time, it was a break between meetings. The two main negotiators, Zhou Shenwo and Mo San, ran to the restaurant of the Dongfang Hotel, drinking the top-quality Tacheng coffee (produced in Xinhua Tacheng Port, Arabica variety, this time) At that time, it was more popular on the east coast, and it was almost equal to Peruvian coffee. Many people on the east coast like to call themselves "patriotic coffee" when they drink it), while relaxing and chatting.

"Let me take a look." Mo San took the newspaper in Zhou Shenwo's hand, looked at it roughly, and said with a smile: "Even the people from the Ministry of Agriculture are advocating for the Shangcheng Port, saying that the soil there is extremely suitable for planting fruit trees. , such as pear trees, peach trees, loquat trees, grapes, etc. Well, they seem to say that the area from Taoyuan County to Shangcheng Port is a high-quality fruit tree planting area, and this industry can be vigorously developed.”

"It's not entirely false to say that the local soil quality is suitable for the growth of fruit trees." Zhou Shenwo quickly recalled the last time he and Qiang Quansheng went to Shangchenggang to "go to the countryside", saying: "It is true that every household in the local area I have planted fruit trees, and many have been planted in wild wasteland, and the yield is so-so, and the quality is not bad. If more good varieties are cultivated and grafting and nursing techniques are popularized, the yield and quality should reach a new level. I heard that Jingjiang County , It seems that there are merchants in Yong'an County who come to buy these fruits, which is a good way for local farmers to increase their income and get rich."

"No wonder a loan application was handed in yesterday (a large loan application must be personally approved by the director of the Precious Metals Administration), saying that it is going to set up an integrated orchard and fruit deep processing project in the inland hinterland of Shangcheng Port. It turns out that more than one person is eyeing it Here, oh, by the way, this project is undertaken by Nanfang Food Company, which is jointly funded and established by Dafeng Food Factory, the local government of Shangcheng Port, and Dongan Company. This money is far less easy to earn than before." Zhou Shenwo took a sip of coffee, and then said: "In addition, I heard that the Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau has some opinions on the more than 3000 Catholics in Shangchenggang. In addition to writing a public report, he also wrote an internal reference on the religious situation, which Puting of the May Agency probably read. I guess, the May Agency will cooperate with other departments to take action, and the local Catholics will gradually move inward. , and then relying on the number of people and time to digest them, this is also a feasible strategy. Forget it, let’s not talk about it, this is a matter for the Government Affairs Council, so why worry about it, let’s talk about how to talk to the Spaniards for a while, sell Negotiations have been protracted for a long time, and it is time to come up with an explanation."

It has been nine months since the last negotiation with Baron Bravo. During these nine months, many things have happened, and the most important thing for both sides of the negotiations is that Britain has almost openly Torn faces with the Spaniards, they sent a large number of people into the Gualai mission area in Spain, expelled the local Spanish missionaries, businessmen and colonists, and wooed the indigenous Indians. Their desire to occupy this place is naked.

Of course, the country of Spain was the first to recognize it when the English Republic was first established, in order to win over this "kingdom of kingslayers" (it has a very bad reputation in royal power countries, and Russia even directly severed diplomatic relations with Britain), so that they can cooperate with each other. Against France.But the UK naturally has its own will. After the initial period of isolation, the hostility of other countries to the UK has gradually become less strong. At this time, France came to ask for a secret alliance. Of course, the UK could not refuse, because the French Even the British attack on Arcadia in North America last year was no longer pursued-but in this way, the Spaniards were doomed to tragedy.

And now the tragedy has clearly unfolded as scheduled. After winning the naval war with the Dutch, Britain, a country with extremely inflated self-confidence, began to "round" other countries that they thought were easy to bully, and the first one to find the right one was naturally Is the Kingdom of Spain.At present, they have openly entered the Guala mission area (roughly in North and South Carolina, Georgia, etc. today), and they seem to be quite interested in this new colony. Their arrogant attitude and greedy nature are clearly revealed-you know , Around 1650, the British North American colonies only had a mere 11 whites (such a small number of people covered a vast area from New England to Virginia), but they were still not satisfied, and they still insisted on looking for more colonies. The level of greed is simply unimaginable.

Baron Raul Bravo, who is the permanent envoy to the East Coast, returned to Dongfang Port after more than half a year to conduct a new round of negotiations with the East Coast people on the land mortgage loan south of the 42nd latitude. If there is no story, a fool would believe it.Mo San and others have every reason to believe that it was the Englishman's "assist" to some extent that gave the East Coaster a chance to hit the goal in the Spanish penalty area.

"Could it be that the British have declared war on Spain?" Mo San frowned, recalling what he had seen and heard in Europe over the years, and only heard him say: "The British are very interested in obtaining a piece of land that can stably harvest a large amount of tropical specialties." They are very interested in the land. Earlier they set up a logging camp in Belize, specializing in felling the high-value Brazilian sumac, and carried out colonization on this basis. Unfortunately, this place is too close to the core area of ​​​​Spain, and was attacked by Spain. The strong blow of the people, the two sides fought repeatedly for it, which caused the local economy to plummet. Later, their businessmen began to plant sugar cane in Barbados, and then transported it back to London for refining. This business seems to be very profitable now, so it is also Attracted more businessmen to turn their attention to the New World. Since the year before last, there have been rumors that the British are very interested in Jamaica and Santo Domingo (the eastern half of Hispaniola Island, now Dominica) , but after the outbreak of the Anglo-Dutch War, this rumor gradually disappeared. Humph, now it seems that after defeating the Netherlands, the British set their minds on Jamaica again, for the purpose of acquiring colonies or robbing property Regardless of making up for the deficit, in short, the British have a good reason to attack Spain. After all, everyone now knows that Spain is exhausted and muddy, and it is a very good target for robbery..."

"The possibility is not small." Zhou Shenwo also agreed, "The two-front battle with France and Portugal has exhausted the Spaniards, and the mess of the domestic economy and the consecutive defeats on the battlefield have made this former powerful country unbearable. No matter how stupid King Philip is, he also knows that the situation in Spain is quite critical now. If there is no blood transfusion from outside, the Spaniards may have no choice but to defeat and cede territory. Therefore, perhaps the matter of mortgage loans at 42 degrees south latitude can be settled on this basis .”

What Zhou Shenwo said is exactly the mainstream view of the members of the East Bank Executive Committee, and this is obviously the reason why Zhou Shenwo, a financial officer, came to participate in the negotiations-isn't it just about how to pay? Well, as the chief steward of the East Bank, he naturally wants to participate in the meeting.

"After the negotiation with Spain this time, we will take the opportunity to further strengthen our relationship with the Spaniards. One is to restart the semi-open smuggling trade with La Plata, and the other is to continue to strengthen the smuggling trade in Peru. In addition, there is also support in the Caribbean. The Spaniards, let them have more confidence to fight against the emerging European colonial powers." Mo San said, "Besides that, it is to deal with the Portuguese. Speaking of this, I have to mention that the Army is really good. It's reassuring, this kind of shit can make Lao Mo play new tricks. Everyone has read the so-called agreement he brought back, okay, sacrifice the interests in Recife in exchange for the possession of the Gerard Mountains, The navy has even sued Chairman Qiang for this. Now the navy and army in their military department are arguing together, and the members of the executive committee have different opinions, which really creates a problem for everyone.”

"What else can I say to the Portuguese?" Zhou Shenwo was rather disapproving of this, and only heard him say: "The Portuguese are also under a lot of pressure now, and they suspect that someone is going to murder them all day long (although it is not far from the truth), They want to snatch their colonies, so now they are changing ways to please the British and plan to hold their thighs. The reason why they haven’t fully embraced it now is probably because there are many British royalist nobles and navy and army soldiers who are protected by them in Lisbon. , this obstacle cannot be ruled out. At best, Britain and Portugal can only be said to be closer to each other, but obviously they have not yet reached the level of unity. But as long as Cromwell dies, the British bourgeoisie who are a little impatient to be blackmailed by the soldiers Charles II, who is in exile, will probably be welcomed back. Then the Parliamentary Party and the Royalist Party will become one family again. The last obstacle to the union of Britain and Portugal will also disappear invisible. The two countries will surely carry out economic and diplomatic cooperation Comprehensive integration on the Internet. Therefore, it is better to start with Portugal as soon as possible, so as to avoid complications in the future.”

"It's good that it's so simple! In our yellow-skinned heathen country, how can things be so simple, and every move is watched by people with a heart. There are many things that white people can do, but we can't do them. Once we do, we will It has caused many future troubles. You see that the Netherlands still has not given us a positive answer on whether to give us the right of first sale of Recife and New Netherland. Doesn’t this explain some problems? The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have conflicts, and they are right. Britain has a lot of opinions, but don’t they have a small opinion of us, a heathen country? It’s just that the two sides are still in the honeymoon period, so it’s hard to tell.” Mo San took a sip of coffee gloomily, then shook his head, Said: "Forget about this, things have to be done one by one, let's talk to Baron Bravo first, and settle the matter of Nanzhuo."

(End of this chapter)