Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1229 Competition ([-])

"Boom! Boom!" A few sinister shells were fired from the port side, breaking the topmast of the flute-shaped transport ship "Yingzhou" as if by magic, causing the speed of this huge merchant ship to drop rapidly. And this undoubtedly declared her doom.

"Haha! Well done!" Two pirate ships approached, one left and one right, and dozens of pirates skillfully climbed onto the side of the "Yingzhou" ship, gathering the remaining crew members on the east coast.These crew members are all employees of the South China Sea Transportation Company, and they will all look pale, knowing that it is difficult for them to survive, no pirates will leave alive, unless you can successfully persuade them to join the crew.

"Let me see what good things are there." A middle-aged man with a big belly—he doesn't look like a person who has been making a living at sea all year round—led several pirates to open the door of the cargo hold, and then carefully inspected Picked up the cargo carried by the "Yingzhou".

"Oh, good quality east coast soda, and a whole three thousand pieces of printed cloth, rich! What is this? The parts of the textile machine are still made of iron. There should be many people in the big countryside of Manchester who need this kind of thing; There are also five hundred barrels of the whitest refined flour, which is also a good thing; um, is this a new thing called a rubber poncho? The gentlemen in London should be flocking to it..." After some discussion, The middle-aged man with a big belly climbed out of the bottom cabin excitedly, and then chatted with a few guys who obviously looked like pirate leaders.

The conversation ended after a few minutes. The middle-aged man took the lead to leave the captured "Yingzhou" in a small boat. He had heard some captain of the sailors address the fat middle-aged man as "Sir," and he seemed to understand something.

But everything came to an end. The pirates rushed over with a grinning grin, killed all the remaining 11 east coast sailors and threw their bodies into the sea, and then quickly started the transfer of materials.As for the captured merchant ship "Yingzhou", after a long debate, the pirates finally decided to give up and let it sink off the coast of the Canary Islands—a 650-ton transport ship is not a small guy in Europe, but it is too eye-catching , The characteristics are too obvious, so I have no choice but to give up.

After watching the "Yingzhou" sinking slowly, the two pirate ships adjusted the yards, and then left the sea area where the incident occurred one after the other.Their cabin was full of all kinds of belongings at the moment, and they even had to throw away some ballast stones. If the merchants in the area kill them, the profits will definitely be rich enough, and they can keep everyone entertained for a long time.

……

On November 1659, 11, in London, it was drizzling.

Harrison, wearing an East Coast raincoat, was standing under the eaves somewhere, waiting quietly for something.Behind him stood several sword-wielding guards with serious faces, without saying a word, staring at the slightly rippling Thames River without blinking.

A small cargo ship quietly docked at the pier. An obese middle-aged man struggled to climb onto the pier with an oil lamp. Around him, several attendants carefully observed the surrounding environment while holding umbrellas.

"Sir Montagu? I'm Harrison, Mr. Thompson's servant." Harrison, who was like a wooden sculpture made of clay, moved, and he walked over to hold the middle-aged fat man who was slippery on the soles of his feet, and at the same time confirmed by the dim oil lamp It seemed that the person was his target. Fortunately, Harrison breathed a sigh of relief, it was indeed Sir Montagu himself.

"Oh, every time I come to London, it's either foggy or rainy, and I hate the weather here more and more now. Seriously, I'd rather be in sunny Barbados than come here with a musty smell London." Sir Montagu took a bottle of spirits from his entourage, took a few sips, and said angrily, "It's so cold, it's snowing."

"Please get in the carriage, Sir, Mr. Thompson is not asleep yet." Harrison invited, pointing to a carriage not far away.

Sir Montagu nodded, and got into the car one after the other with Harrison.Two agile guards also jumped onto the steps outside the carriage at this time, holding their swords and observing the surroundings vigilantly, while the rest of them, led by the other, quietly disappeared into a certain street.

"Luxuriously decorated east coast carriages, light and comfortable, no wonder rich people in London are more and more fond of buying this kind of carriage. Well, even the tarpaulin on the roof is imported from the east coast, the magic rubber rain cloth, I I have never figured out how people on the east coast discovered this kind of thing, and how they made it." Sir Montagu said lazily, sitting comfortably on the Turkish blanket.

"There have been attempts in London to imitate the light raincoats and tarpaulins of the East Coasters, but they have all failed because they lack the key material called 'rubber'." Harrison said, "In fact Sir Bridge had It was proposed to set up an expedition to search for this kind of thing in the New World, but not many people responded, and the expedition failed to raise enough funds to go to sea, so it had to be abandoned.”

"Sir Bridge? Cromwell's son-in-law?" After getting Harrison's confirmation, Sir Montague smiled: "He should be very panicked now, Major General Lambert's officer corps doesn't value him, but The gentlemen of Parliament are full of contempt for him, and Bridge is looking like a poor buffoon now."

Sir Montagu is really disgusted with Bridge. He thinks back that after the royalists failed miserably and went into exile, Cromwell's son-in-law still used his power to treat the king's sympathizers who stayed in England. All kinds of oppression, and even made suggestions to Cromwell to attack the royalist fleet in exile in Lisbon, which made the royalists extremely hate.

Sir Montagu was born of an orthodox aristocrat - of course he has no right of inheritance - his ancestor was one of the knights who followed the Duke of Normandy to conquer England. Although he did not side with the royalist party in the civil war, he was undoubtedly a royalist sympathizer After the end of the civil war, he was naturally blackmailed by the republican soldiers in every possible way, and he did not like all the republicans, including Sir Bridge.

Of course, he will not forget that among those who overthrew the throne of King Charles I, there were also a large number of rich people who were active in the business world, but as the saying goes, now that the gentlemen of the House of Commons can "repent" and are willing to With the restoration of the monarchy in England, there is no need to talk about the past, and it is not appropriate to talk about it again. What the two sides should do now is to eliminate misunderstandings, deepen cooperation, and jointly deal with the forces of the officer corps headed by Major General Lambert.

"Sir Bridge has been completely abandoned by the officer corps. This guy once boasted at a party that people from the East Coast sent two full ships of weapons and 100 million pounds in cash to Major General Lambert." Harrison said softly, "But Major General Lambert denied the matter and lashed out at Sir Bridge."

"How likely is this?" Montagu had also heard of this, and asked immediately after hearing Harrison mention it this time.

"Mr. Thompson thinks that the possibility is extremely small. With two ships of weapons and 100 million pounds, will Major General Lambert still use it to raise military expenses? You know, he is almost overwhelmed by heavy financial expenses. After all, the daily expenses of [-] to [-] soldiers are not a small amount. Now the gentlemen of the House of Commons are already moving around, and they intend to persuade some generals not to join Major General Lambert’s side, at least maintain neutrality, for which they will give Some financial assistance. Of course, it would be even better if they could be brought to our side.” Harrison seemed to be involved in a lot of confidential matters, but he knew a lot about such information, and he said eloquently Sir Montagu, who often stays in the Caribbean, heard the latter very freshly.

Mr. Thompson's residence soon arrived. Sir Montague quickly entered in wearing a raincoat and cloak, and then saw Maurice Thompson himself warming up in the living room.

"I heard that you sold a lot of goods from the East Coast in Bristol. Why, did you make a few big deals?" Mr. Thompson signaled the maid to make a cup of tea for Sir Montagu, and said, "Wuyi green tea imported from Amsterdam, It’s a bit popular now, try it.”

"You are always well-informed, Mr. Thompson." Sir Montagu took a sip of his tea, which he felt was unremarkable.

"I don't intend to pay attention to the source of your goods." Maurice Thompson stirred the tea with a spoon, and said leisurely: "The warships of the people on the east coast wantonly attack the ships of other countries in the Caribbean Sea, including England's merchant ships. Retaliating against the people on the east coast by legitimate means is also just in terms of the result. Besides, now that England’s industry is becoming more and more prosperous, we also need to open up overseas markets. Exclusively for people on the east coast? This is unacceptable!"

Sir Montagu nodded silently when he heard the words, and then changed the subject: "Tell me about the domestic situation. I haven't been back to London for a long time. I heard that Monk summoned troops in Scotland to oppose Major General Lambert?"

"Yes, Major General Lambert dissolved the Congress, but he has no place to raise military expenses. Now there are soldiers who leave him and go to Monk every day. Hehe, he won't last long, and he will inevitably suffer a disgraceful defeat." Rhys Thompson said confidently, because he deeply understands that a hungry army cannot last for a long time. Lambert is not Cromwell. Not to mention that Cromwell's son was unwilling to cooperate with him, which further divided the power of the republican faction.

"Then, can it be considered that the Stuart family is about to return to London?" Sir Montagu sat up and asked.

"It can be said that the premise is that 'Your Majesty' agrees to our conditions." Mr. Thompson said leisurely.

(End of this chapter)