Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1065 Dust Settled ([-])

"If the situation is like this, Mr. Bravo, you should make a final decision now." In the conference room on the third floor of the Dongfang Hotel, Zhou Shenwo sat quietly at the side, and Mo San acted as the main force of the negotiation: "I think , the honorable King Philip must have given you the latest will, right? Because you must have noticed the movements of the British..."

In fact, the Dutch first informed the east coast of the British movement, and of course they also secretly notified Spain, which made the Spaniards quickly realize that a large fleet left London for the Caribbean Sea, and the target was nothing more than Leeward Islands, Jamaica, Santo Domingo and other places.

As for the source of the news, it is very simple, because this fleet funded by British businessmen had raised financing from Dutch bankers through some channels before sailing (wonderful? The two countries had not officially ended the war at the time), intending to Going to the Caribbean to expand the scale of sugar cane plantations, although these bankers are not very moral, but some people secretly reported it to the three-level parliament in The Hague, so the Dutch knew the British plan and general trend, and then At a reasonable time it spread to the East Coast and Spain.

Of course, it's hard to say what the Dutch wanted to notify the East Bank, but they definitely did not notify Spain out of any "benevolent act", but because of practical interests.To put it simply, although most of the British's move went straight to the Spanish overseas colonies, it did indeed threaten the commercial interests of the Netherlands, such as the lucrative sugar trade at this time.

As we all know, due to the commercial hegemony that the Netherlands has monopolized for many years, most of the tropical commodities in the New World have been controlled by the Dutch, especially in the Caribbean islands with the most dense sugarcane plantations, whether it is the large island of Spain and the land, the British An The islands of Les are still a few small islands occupied by the French, and their specialties (sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, Brazilian mahogany) are basically shrouded in the commercial hegemony of the Dutch—in fact, the local planters also I am happy to do so, because the purchase price given by the Dutch is the most fair. For example, the British plantation owners are willing to do business with Dutch businessmen, not treacherous and greedy London businessmen.

However, with the development of mercantilism in other European countries, the commercial hegemony of the Dutch has been continuously eroded over the years. The Anglo-Dutch War that broke out in 1652 was the most intense manifestation of the development of this trend of thought.In the Anglo-Dutch War, the British captured nearly 8 Dutch merchant ships (historical researchers of later generations even believed that the British captured a transport ship equivalent to the total tonnage of their country's ships before the war), which greatly expanded its strength— —Now it is believed that the total tonnage of ships serving the British overseas colonies has reached 10 to [-] tons, which has greatly impacted the commercial monopoly of the Dutch. How can this not make them anxious?Especially when they saw that the British were planning to grab the Spanish territory again, although the Netherlands would not stop it openly, it would be nice to give the Spaniards a little bit of news (the Dutch believed that the target of the British ships was Jamaica Island nine out of ten) Normally, who told British businessmen to grab their business all over the world now?

"We will not let the British succeed. The Windward Fleet is ready to meet the English fleet at any time." Baron Raul Bravo obviously understood the meaning of Mo San's words, but he said Even if I say it, I don't think it's credible.He is very clear about the strength of the Windward Fleet, because this is a local fleet that is not very good at dealing with pirates. There are two or three kittens, and their strength is extremely limited. But now in front of the people from the east coast, this momentum cannot be lost.

"That's very good, Your Excellency the Baron." Mo San laughed when he heard the words, and didn't entangle the issue with Baron Bravo any more. After meeting Zhou Shenwo's eyes, he brought the topic back to the topic: "Then , Your Excellency Bravo, this morning you said that the king of your country has granted you full powers and has agreed in principle to the mortgage agreement for the area south of the 42nd southern cone, is that true? This means that we can sign the contract now Is it gone?"

"That's true, but there's a small problem," Bravo said.

Mo San's face suddenly became a little bad: "The agreement we reached before was negotiated with countless time, energy and painstaking efforts. I especially don't want it to be overturned or undergo major changes. I will be very disappointed, and the consequences will be yours. As you know, some people in our country have always wanted to use a rough method to solve this problem, but we knew it was inappropriate, so we suppressed it, but there is a limit to anyone's good temper..."

"You misunderstood, Minister Mo." Baron Raul Bravo said immediately: "In fact, King Philip hopes to add an item to this agreement, that is, in the next ten years, the ships of the Kingdom of Spain and its colonies will have the freedom of the Magellan Strait You can also freely dock, shelter, supply and trade in your country's ports located in the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn without any obstruction from your government. In addition, King Philip privately hopes that before his birthday next year, your The country can pay an additional two thousand high-quality leather and one hundred thousand pesos worth of cash, this money is paid directly to the royal family, not the kingdom, please do not confuse it."

"Honestly, Your Excellency Bravo, you really make it hard for me." Mo San sighed and said, "Free navigation is nothing, I can promise you, but two thousand high-quality leather plus one hundred thousand pesos in cash , but it’s not a small amount. How about this, we need to discuss, if you are not in a hurry to leave, you can wait for my reply in this hotel, of course, you don’t have to pay for the expenses incurred during the period.”

After obtaining the consent of Baron Bravo, Mo San rushed back to the administrative building in the afternoon to have a brief discussion with the members of the executive committee, and finally asked Bravo, who was a little uneasy, Baron Waugh announced the final decision: The Executive Committee of the East Coast Republic of China agreed to pay the Spanish Habsburg royal family no more than 2.5 pesos in cash (about 2.5 East Coast silver dollars) and [-] pieces of top-grade seal skins ( About [-] yuan), this amount is a gift to the King of Spain and is not included in the total loan amount.Another: This is the final quotation, and there will be no further changes in any case. If the Spaniards cannot accept it, the negotiation will be terminated.

Of course the Spaniards will not let the negotiations end!Therefore, Baron Raul Bravo accepted the final offer from Mo San at that time, which made everyone heave a sigh of relief, and then called more than 20 negotiators from both parties to hold a brief reception to celebrate.After the celebration, the two parties started the intense process of drafting the terms, and at the same time conducted final consultations on some details. This process is still accompanied by a lot of debate, but it has not hindered the overall situation.

On May 1655, 5, when the Qingdao Autumn Commodities Fair was in full swing, in the Dongfang Hotel, Baron Raul Bravo and Mo San represented the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of China on the East Bank of China respectively. Nan signed the land mortgage loan agreement.So far, the two-year-long "ultra-large real estate transaction negotiation" negotiation has finally been settled.

According to the agreement, the East Coast Republic will pay materials and cash worth up to 630 million yuan to the Kingdom of Spain in batches within the next three years (see the attached table for the categories and quantities of materials). 5 yuan in money and goods (this sum should be paid before King Philip's birthday in 1656).

Of the total loan of 630 million yuan, the people on the east coast will pay 230 million yuan in cash, and the rest will be paid in grain, munitions, textiles, agricultural tools, medicines, food, metal utensils and other materials, and the delivery place will be arbitrarily designated by the Kingdom of Spain At the port, the resulting transportation or loss costs shall be borne by the east coast party, but the loading, unloading, inventory and inspection costs after arrival at the port shall be borne by the Spanish party.The term of all the loans is ten years, with an annual interest rate of 12.5%. After ten years expire, the principal and interest will be repaid in one lump sum, and without the consent of the people on the east coast, the Spaniards will not be allowed to repay the loan in advance.

After the agreement was signed, Dongan people immediately paid the first cash loan of about 40 yuan.The money was paid by the Newland Friendship and Mutual Aid Bank, and the source was the currencies of various countries stored in the first prison of the Dongfang County Army and the treasury of the Qingdao Commercial Clearing Bank (obtained through private plundering of the navy and foreign trade surplus, usually Dutch guilders, riyals, Shillings, livres and other coins, at this time there are about 55 yuan).

In addition, in the Army No. 65 Prison, there are still Ming Guokuping silver worth 100 yuan sent back by Shao Shude from the Far East, as well as smelting at the Tieling Gold Mine in recent years (the annual output of the Tieling Gold Mine fluctuates greatly, but generally 200-1 kg between), foreign trade surplus (the East Bank offered a gold and silver consideration of 15:1, while the general price in Europe was 14.5:2.1 at this time, to encourage customers to pay for goods with gold), and the total of more than 105 tons of reserve gold (theoretically It is worth [-] million yuan, but if it is minted into coins, it must be more than that), all these things add up to almost enough to pay the cash part of the loan promised to the Spaniards-of course, this will be paid in three years. Now There is no need to be so anxious. Mo San and Zhou Shenwo have reason to believe that the fiscal revenue of the government of the East Coast Republic will be greatly improved in the next three years.

After the settlement with the Spaniards is clear, the East Coast Navy will send two escort gunboats to escort a Spanish merchant ship moored in Oriental Port to Lima through the Strait of Magellan.During this period, Mo San will also take a group of personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Army, the Ministry of Geology, and the Ministry of Finance to take a boat to the Valdez Peninsula near Puerto Madryn, Argentina. , together with the people brought by Baron Bravo, performed a simple demarcation ceremony.

(End of this chapter)