Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1233 Competition ([-])

Gao Wengang hasn't been as busy as he is now for a long time.

The people of Transylvania did not know what evil they had committed. First, the ruler, Prince George II, led 3 people to attack Poland to pick up cheap money. As a result, they were intercepted by a large number of Tatar cavalry on the way to retreat. Baiqi fled back to the country, and the rest of the army was annihilated on the Vistula River under the attack of the Tatars. As many as [-] people were captured—these people were all driven to Haji Port for sale at a low price. I gave it to the East Bank and became a member of the huge non-national labor force.

And last year (1658), in order to punish the titular vassal Transylvania for its unauthorized territorial expansion, the Ottoman Grand Vizikoprulu decided to send Ottoman troops to Transylvania, Crimea The Khanate was invited to send troops into Transylvania together, which made the local residents even more miserable—the Tatars with poor military discipline burned, killed and looted Transylvania, not only robbing a huge amount of At the same time, tens of thousands of young men and women (even including many children favored by people on the east coast) were plundered back to the country, and they planned to transport them to the port of Haji (that is, Sevastopol, which the South China Sea Transport Company has been operating for 50 years) rights) looking for an opportunity to sell to the East Bank.

Now, the capital of this country has been occupied by the Ottomans. George II hastily fled to Austria. The new Grand Duke Baxay was supported by the Ottomans. Many military fortresses and passes in the country were officially occupied by the Ottoman army to suppress this vassal. The possible independent behavior of the country-have you not seen that George II has fled to Austria, which shows that the country is already very unreliable from top to bottom, and tough measures must be used to deter various anti-Ottoman elements.

It was against this background that Gao Wengang traveled back and forth between cities such as Bek Sacile, Kaffa, Haji, and Istanbul, and spent more than half of his day dealing with various slave trades—typically in the form of a large amount of goods from the east coast. When they arrived at the commercial station, they were snapped up by various agents, and then the people on the east coast used the money to buy slaves. The speed of capital flow was very fast, and sometimes the capital turnover was not enough, so they had to go to Jewish or Armenian merchants for loans. It's too busy to touch the ground.

Today, Gao Wengang came to Haji Port via Smyrna on an old ship purchased from Amsterdam (belonging to the Smyrna trading station), and brought a large number of armor, knives, spearheads, and flintlock rifles with the ship. , military kettles, artillery, tobacco, cane sugar, calico and other various commodities, as well as more than [-] silver dollars in cash, intending to transport the last batch of [-] Transylvanian prisoners of war back to China—now Port Haji, Kazakhstan There are many ships of the Black Sea Liner Company (founded by Ottoman dignitaries such as Nasukh Pasha with the help of people on the east coast) berthing all year round in Port of France. Merchant ships transported back to the east coast of the country.

At present, Haji Port still has only two wooden trestles, and the port conditions are relatively simple.However, the buildings in the port area are magnificent. There are as many as a dozen stone buildings standing on the uneven coastal slopes, and most of the architectural styles are in the east coast style. On the outer wall of the two-storey building, there is also a grand occasion of the founding ceremony of the East Bank. It seems that the labor force of the Crimean Khanate is really worthless. Without him, there are too many cheap slaves. With the relationship of the East Bank people, It is often possible to "borrow" a hundred or eighty slaves from acquainted feudal lords by throwing some commodities out casually. In this way, it is not easy to build any house you want to build!

There are still some Armenian merchants in the port. These people belong to the Hornician family, and they can be regarded as old friends of the people on the east coast. Therefore, Gao Wengang contracted the entire food supply of the entire port area (including the slave camp) to this family. .These shrewd businessmen ordered transport ships from the east coast, and then transshipped grain between the northern shore of the Black Sea and Haji Port, and made a lot of money-the grain was also imported from the Crimean Khanate. Don’t think that this nomadic country is not To produce food, in fact, in the vast land north of the isthmus, the Crimeans have opened up a large amount of farmland. The farmland is cultivated by slaves brought back from captivity and exported to Turkey all the year round.After all, the Crimean Khanate is different from other nomadic countries. They had many feudal lords during the Golden Horde rule. You can think of them as a place between Mongolian nomads and feudal countries in Central and Western Europe. special regime.

In addition to monopolizing the grain, melon, fruit and vegetable trade in Haji Port, Armenian merchants are also the agents of the East Bank people in the Caucasus region, and as the East Bank Ministry of Industry and Commerce has paid more and more attention to the commodity trade on the Don River-Caucasus line in recent years , Armenian merchants headed by the Hornician family began to receive key support from the people on the east coast, and a large amount of goods flowed into the area through their hands.Don't be unconvinced. In such sensitive areas with complex terrain and politics, only these local snake merchants can easily deal with Persia, Turkey, the remnants of the Golden Horde (the independent tribes and khanates after the split) and even Among the major organizations such as Russia, it is absolutely impossible to replace others, so they have received strong support from the East Coast people, hoping that they can open up a larger market for East Coast products in the local area.

As soon as Gao Wen and the others got off the pier, they were greeted by local left-behind officials.Malati (a child of Tatar immigrants) from Bingtuanbao lined up on both sides of the Shugang Highway with [-] fully armed soldiers. Most of these people were mercenaries recruited in the Black Sea region. There are Cossacks, Tatar herdsmen, Moldavian prisoners of war who have been granted status after being amnesty, and former Ottoman Spasi cavalry with excellent riding skills-the Spasi cavalry has been poorly organized by Koprulu Dawei in the past two years The upper and middle ranks of this once important military force were bloodbathed, and the lower ranks were also expelled or exiled overseas in large numbers. No, there are seventy or eighty people from the east coast here, serving as guards for ports and slave camps.

"Malati, you have done a good job this year. The nearly [-] Transylvanian prisoners of war sent to the mainland only cost more than [-] yuan. The Ministry of Immigration and the Ministry of Construction strongly request the Government Council to give your business station Commendation, young man, you will be promoted after returning home, haha." Gao Wen just looked at the cadres of the Bingtuanbao who were about his age approvingly, and said, "By the way, there are some exquisite handicrafts on board, all of which were entrusted to me by your wife's natal family. Brought here. To be honest, they are all works of art, and I am jealous when I see them."

By the way, Malati recently married Nasukh Pasha's niece—well, one of dozens of nieces—an unusual marriage because Malati, though a Tatar, immigrated as a child On the east bank, he believes in Tianzun devoutly. His wife is indeed an out-and-out woman with a relatively high-class family, so it is not easy. It can also be seen that Nasukh Pasha is the leader A group of Ottoman dignitaries valued and wooed the people on the east coast.Of course, then again, the Ottoman Empire at this time was relatively secular, and even the Sultan often married Greek women who believed in the Orthodox Church (the Queen Mother Kosem Sultan is an Orthodox Christian), and the Armenian businessman Hornician family He has been married to the Turkish nobles for many generations, so this matter is nothing. Malati will not ruin his future and turn to ***, and his wife is not a fanatic, so it will affect the daily life of both parties. not big.

"The High Commissioner (Gao Wengang is the diplomatic and commercial commissioner in charge of Ottoman and the Black Sea region, and also in charge of the Italian region) has won the award. I just did what I should do, and the credit is not all my own. The 42 colleagues at the station worked very hard, and the representatives of the South China Sea Transportation Company also helped solve many transportation problems. In short, everyone has devoted their efforts to the cause of the Great East Bank, and there is no distinction between the merits.” Bingtuanbao has trained excellent cadres for ten years, and he speaks impeccably. In fact, this guy usually pays attention to getting along with his colleagues. When distributing bonuses, he hardly takes his share. The subordinates with heavier burdens are very popular, and it is logical that the work of Haji Commercial Station is in order.

"Did Grail Khan send someone here recently?" Gao Wengang and Malati walked into the office in the port area and asked.

"In fact, the Great Khan visited in person last month. At that time, he went to Istanbul to meet Sultan Mehmet and landed in Haji Port on his return journey. The Great Khan was very satisfied with our construction and thought that Haji Port would be handed over to us. Management is a correct choice. In addition, the Great Khan requires us to buy as many slaves as possible this year and next. The price is negotiable. It seems that it is because they have frequently attacked recently and have too much 'inventory' on hand. Of course, Great Khan The construction of four large bastions started near the isthmus (96 cannons of various types were imported from the east bank to form cross-firing power). Many fortresses stationed troops and built salt farms on the banks of the Siwash Lagoon according to the technology of the east coast. There are still many projects, and the financial pressure is not small, because many of the materials and armaments need to be imported from abroad." Malati replied carefully.

Gao Wen frowned as soon as he heard it. This Grail Khan is really troubled, and the slave trade has also played a game of forced buying and selling, and he really doesn't know how to advance or retreat.In fact, in the past two years, the East Coast has already tightened the number of European non-citizens entering the country (even the import of female slaves has set a timetable, requiring gradual reduction), and also sent instructions to Zheng Yong in Amsterdam, requiring Over the next few years, the openings will be gradually tightened, and the quota system will be gradually implemented.But the Great Khan now wants to forcibly sell a large number of slaves on hand - Gao Wengang speculates that there are no less than 5 people, most of whom were recently plundered from southern Poland and Transylvania - to the east bank. The financial expenditure of the people on the east coast is also quite unfavorable for controlling the proportion of the population in the country (the number of non-nationals has reached 12.5, which is the number after sending many blacks to the Free State), which is extremely troublesome.

(End of this chapter)