Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 125 Bordeaux Situation ([-])

The truth is harsh.

Outside the warehouse of the textile factory of the Pasquale family, local Bordeaux handicraft owners and traders of all sizes stood in the small open space at the entrance, airtight.Everyone wondered how the Pasquale family was able to sell cotton cloth so cheaply, even though it was the lowest grade of white cotton.

Some larger traders and textile factory owners have already entered the warehouse, and they are negotiating with Julian of the Pasquale family.And those who stayed outside were some small and medium-sized traders and small textile mill owners. They thought that they were not qualified to have a dialogue with the interest class represented by Pasquale in the first place, so they could only stand outside the door. Waiting for news.

While waiting anxiously, they exchanged gossip they got from various sources with the people around them.

"I heard that old Pasquale's two ships bound for Madras were sunk in a storm, and he owed a lot of money. So in order to get back the funds, he began to sell cotton cloth in large quantities. This nasty guy completely messed up the market. "A gray-haired old man complained endlessly.

"But I heard that what he is selling is a cotton cloth called 'East Coast Cloth' that has never appeared in Bordeaux." Another young businessman was puzzled, "In fact, this is the first time I have heard of this kind of 'East Coast Cloth'. Cloth', why is it so cheap? Where is it made? India or China or Africa?"

"It's not India, it's not China, and of course it's not Africa, which is still in ignorance!" said a middle-aged man in his 40s.He was wearing a cheap new Italian woolen dress, and his temples were slightly weathered. He looked like a small and medium-sized businessman who had been working hard all year round.

"'East Bank Cloth' is produced in the East Coast Republic of China in the New World. The quality is very reliable and the price is unbelievably low." The middle-aged businessman continued, "I have inquired, and now the Pasquale family's warehouse has memory There are more than [-] pieces of this 'East Coast Cloth', and they seem to be motivated and ready to play big."

"[-] horses?!" A group of small and medium-sized businessmen were stunned, and the textile mill owners next to them were even more pale.

"The annual consumption of cotton cloth in Bordeaux is only more than 5 bolts. What does old Pasquale want to do? What about those big men? Why don't they come out and stop them?! They are violating the interests of merchants in the Kingdom of France." An author The boss yelled angrily.

"Is the Indian cotton invasion more than 20 years ago going to happen again? Old Pasquale was the first warrior in Bordeaux to stand up to challenge the Indian cotton. Has he betrayed us now?" A businessman recalled that year The history of Indian cotton cloth re-sold by the British East India Company aggressively invaded the French market.

"The Indian cotton invasion that bankrupted fifteen handloom factories in the Bordeaux region. This time it looks worse than ever, God, I took over from my father a factory that has been passed down for more than 50 years , I don't want it to be destroyed in my hands, it will make me feel uneasy!" A businessman was a little emotional, and he could see that the turmoil of the year had a great impact on him.

"Where's Mr. Ludwig?" Someone suddenly asked, "Mr. Ludwig is... er... an upright person, and he also owns a textile factory that employs more than 30 people. Something happened that violated everyone's interests."

"Mr. Ludwig went to Marseille, and I heard that he was going to deal with some business disputes. But I'm not sure how long it will take for him to rush back to Bordeaux, maybe a few days, maybe two weeks, who knows."

"After two weeks my employees and I would have starved to death!"

"God, burn these devils to death!"

Just as there was a lot of noise outside the door, the warehouse door, which had been closed for a long time, finally opened.Several middle-aged men in elegant dresses came out, followed by a large number of servants.These people's faces were ashen. After receiving the top hats handed over by the servants, they walked outside without saying much.At the door of the warehouse, there were Julian from the Pasquale family, his servant Michelle, and two guys who looked like they were from the East.

These merchants and mill owners were very winking, seeing that the negotiations between the two parties had broken down, and the textile guild was already in a de facto split.At this time, it is time for them to make painful choices.

Those small and medium-sized traders are the most entangled at this time. They get too little useful information and cannot make a clear enough judgment on the way forward.Although they don't have much inventory on hand and it's easy to turn around, they don't dare to make a decision which side to fall easily.Perhaps one day the government or the textile guild will issue a regulation prohibiting the sale of East Coast cloth or imposing high tariffs on East Coast cloth. If they buy East Coast cloth, they will encounter the same local cotton cloth as they have now. Same dilemma - totally unsold.

But in case there is no winner in this matter for a while, then this Dong'an cloth can continue to be sold and let oneself watch others make money, how aggrieved it should be.If those businessmen who speculated early took the opportunity to occupy the market, how would I be able to mess around in the future?These businessmen were tangled and tangled, and couldn't make up their minds for a while, so they had to look for someone to inquire about the news.

Xu Xin was sitting in front of a table in the warehouse, playing with a quill in his hand.Sitting next to him was a tall and pale man - Mo Ming, a senior agent from the National Intelligence Agency.They have just joined Julian in this round of consultations with other senior members of the Textile Guild and their trading partners.

As a result, the consultations have completely broken down, and the positions of the two parties can even be said to be completely opposite.The other party demanded that the Pasquale family stop selling East Coast cotton cloth at the current low price of "disturbing the market", and the price of East Coast cloth must be raised to more than 12 sous per piece.In view of the fact that "thousands" of cotton cloth have flowed into the market, the Pasquale family must compensate for the losses suffered by other cotton cloth producers and traders.

"To put forward such an insulting condition that almost requires us to surrender in full on the East Bank, can I say that these Frenchmen are all out of their heads?" Mo Ming, wearing a wide-brimmed beaver hat, said playfully, " Or are they full of confidence and ready to use some means to solve us?"

"They are the original vested interests and have irreconcilable conflicts with us. Cooperation is impossible. Now we have to keep an eye on each other's next move and don't be fooled by others. By the way, although I can't control you These 'secret agents', but I advise you to keep a low profile in Bordeaux." Xu Xin frowned and said, "Many people are staring at us. Pasquale and his agents will do the early things, and we Just keep a low profile and make a fortune in silence. People here are unfamiliar, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Mo Ming smiled and said casually: "Of course. There is no free lunch in the world. Since Julian and the others want to sit around and share the money, of course they have to take corresponding responsibilities. Don't worry, we are just collecting some information , It’s just to develop some local informants, and they don’t know how to do any ‘wet work’. Of course, with our current strength, we can’t do some ‘wet work’ even if we want to, ha ha.”

Xu Xin frowned in disgust.He was not very interested in intelligence personnel, and always felt that these gloomy guys were not good people.Moreover, he subconsciously thought that this was a kind of worry from the executive committee about his work, which was a bad feeling.

"Forget it, don't think about it." Xu Xin sighed, stood up and walked to Julian at the door, and said, "Julian, my friend. These people are the first group of people who stand in our way. Our current behavior is tantamount to snatching food from their mouths, and I would be surprised if they don’t react violently. Therefore, we must strengthen our confidence, take the opportunity to speed up sales, and defeat them in one fell swoop.”

"Yes, that's right." Julian looked at the backs of these people coldly, and said in a low voice: "The capacity of the market in the short term is limited. The annual consumption of Bordeaux is only more than [-] horses. As many as [-] pieces of high-quality cotton cloth can be put on the market in a short period of time. Even if only a part of it is sold locally in Bordeaux, it is enough to saturate the local cotton cloth market in a short period of time. Let’s see what those handicraft workshop owners and cotton cloth traders who hoard a large amount of second-hand goods do. The cotton cloth on hand will undoubtedly be in a state of slow sales. I would like to see that a large amount of goods are sold in their hands How does it feel not to go out?"

"Maybe they will react excessively?" This was what Xu Xin was most worried about.

"Don't worry, the textile guild is not under their complete control." Julian said confidently: "Don't worry about the government and tax officials, no one will come to trouble us, you can even be exempted from paying customs duties , Baron Loris still has the ability to do things. Apart from these, what else can they do? No, they can't do anything! Prices deal with slow-moving goods on hand."

"I hope so." Xu Xin said softly. "The sales in the morning were pretty good. More than 200 horses were sold sporadically, and 8000 horses were sold wholesale. Just now I saw that the attitude of some big traders is not like that of textile factory owners." They are so determined, they may be the ones we can win over, we just need to redefine the structure of interests. Well, there is still some time before the opening in the afternoon, Julian, don’t you want a drink?”

"Okay, give me a brandy."

(End of this chapter)