Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 158 The company is in action

Since James Lancaster led the fleet to establish the first trading station in Java in the autumn of 1599, with the prosperity of the British economy, Eastern trade began to enter the sight of mainstream British merchants.In this context, "the company and adjudication agency of London merchants trading in the East India" (the full name of the British East India Company) came into being.

By 1636 the company had organized dozens of voyages between the East Indies and the mainland, reaping huge profits.In addition, the company also established a dozen business stations in the territory of the Mughal Dynasty and the territory of the king of South India.Among them, fortresses were built at the trading posts in Surat, Tranquebar Port and other places, and dozens of British soldiers were stationed to defend them.

Of course, the company's offshore strength is also very strong.According to historical records, between 1600 and 1640, the company owned 76 ships, 49 of which had a tonnage of more than 300 tons, and some even exceeded 1000 tons.

Such a powerful company is naturally eye-catching in the UK. At this time, perhaps only the Levant Company, which operates the Turkish trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, can stabilize the East India Company.Of course, many East India Company shareholders were themselves Levant shareholders.

Nicholas Green is such a powerful businessman.The thousands of pounds he invested in the Turkish company (the predecessor of Levant, merged with the Venice company to form Levant) in his early years has brought him dozens of returns. Tong Tucker Company and the East India Company made his assets soar.

The success of business investment has won him a lot of praise in the circle of London merchants and aristocrats. Some nobles and even the king's courtiers secretly sought him out to trade with India.This made him feel very good, and everyone, including himself, thought he would be able to continue until the bad news he got this morning.

"What did you say? William is dead?" Nicholas Green asked Nick standing in front of him angrily, his slightly trembling voice indicated the violent fluctuation of his emotions at the moment.

"Yes, Mr. Green." William Clifford's former close assistant, the first mate of the "Lucky Jenny" armed merchant ship Nick Warnum said sadly: "The captain has rashly provoked a conflict with him for himself. Blaming himself for the East Coaster's war, he resolved to sink with the Lucky Janney, and to compensate fellow captains for their losses."

"William has such a personality!" Green slapped the table heavily, then looked at Nick indifferently, and said, "People from Newcastle, can't your ten ships beat the five ships from the East Coast? To cause my nephew William to sink in battle? What an absurd thing!"

"God is my witness!" Nick Warnum argued excitedly: "I regret not following the captain at that moment a hundred times, but I have more important tasks. The people on the east coast of the New World have set out in the north for two consecutive years. The merchant ships that attacked the Kingdom were intercepted in the vast sea area from the south of Massachusetts Bay to the Chesapeake Bay. They also competed with the Kingdom in La Plata, Brazil, and New Spain. The trade volume of many Kingdom merchants has shrunk significantly. If you don’t enter into other regions to operate, this disrupts the economic order elsewhere. Mr. Green, you are the veteran of the Levant Company and the councilor of the East India Company, the war-sinking Morris Stone Tucker Company The merchant ship 'Warrior' has your cargo even more, please unite with other damaged ship owners and companies as soon as possible, put pressure on the parliament and the king, and take decisive measures to stop the bad behavior of the people on the east coast."

Green looked at Nick coldly for several minutes, then adjusted his mood, and asked reluctantly, "Which ships have you lost this time?"

"East India Company's 'Lucky Jenny' sunk, 'Lemon' defeated and captured; Morris Stone Tucker's 'Warrior' sunk; Merchant Adventurer's 'Bird' lost Two-thirds of the cargo; in addition, Maurice Stone Tucker's 'Prosperity' was badly damaged and required major repairs; in addition, we lost a total of about four hundred sailors." Nick [-] Said bluntly that these were all calculated after he returned to Portsmouth.

Nicholas Green pondered for a long time before asking, "Why are you sure it was done by people from the east coast?"

"Their artillery fires fast and has high accuracy. A ship of the same tonnage carries twice as many cannons as the kingdom. According to the judgments of the captains, everyone agrees that this is the 'Tatan Cannon'. And' The navy-type east coasters of the Tartan Cannon are never for sale, and are always reserved for their own use. Therefore, it is basically certain that the enemy we encountered this time is the east coasters from the New World.” Nick said these reasons are also part of the battle. According to the unanimous opinion of all the captains, even according to the description of a certain sailor who boarded the East Coast warship, he even saw the face of the East Coaster during the battle. Combined with various intelligence analysis, this is obviously the East Coaster senior military officer.

"People from the east coast also came here last year?"

"Yes." Nick nodded affirmatively. "Last year, three ships full of tobacco from the Maurice Stone Tucker Company disappeared. We have every reason to suspect that this was also done by people from the east coast."

Nicholas Green fell into a longer silence after hearing the words.

"The kingdom will not be engaged in any wars now." After a long time, Green said slowly, "The king's attention has always been on the Habsburg family, and the small-scale naval battles far away in the New World are far from his attention." Interest. Last year, the Mediterranean trade accounted for 45 percent of the Kingdom’s total merchandise exports, and 47 percent to traditional markets such as Western Europe, Northern Europe, the Baltic region, Russia, etc. In contrast, exports to the New World and the Far East accounted for only 8 percent. It has reached [-]% of the kingdom's total merchandise exports. The king and gentlemen will naturally be able to distinguish clearly which is more important."

Nick closed his eyes in disappointment.Mr. Green has made it very clear that the king and the big men will not lightly start wars with other countries because of this little dispute, especially at the moment when the Kingdom government is extremely financially difficult.

In order to support Sweden in fighting the war with the Habsburg dynasty, the king not only collected a lot of exorbitant taxes in the country, but even sold the dowry of his wife, Princess Maria, the sister of Louis XIII. This shows the financial constraints of the United Kingdom.At this time, another costly expedition to the New World was launched. Nick thought about it with his toes and knew that it was impossible.

"War at the national level is impossible, but we can think of other ways." Nicholas Green said suddenly, "Although I don't do textile business, I also know that cotton textiles from India are now sold in the East India Company. The proportion is getting higher and higher, and now the textiles of people from the east coast can be sold everywhere, even I have heard of them in London. South France has become a paradise for the merchants of the east coast. This dissatisfaction has been going on for a long time. Today, the textiles of the East Coasters are still slowly but surely encroaching on the market originally occupied by Indian cotton cloth. It is time to end their golden days."

"What will the gentlemen of the East India Company do?"

"What else can I do?" Nicholas Green glared at Nick: "As long as their goods can't reach the French port, how can they do business? We have never said that we are kind to our competitors, whether they are the Netherlands People, the Venetians are still East Coasters! Also, there are many partnership joint-stock companies on the docks of Portsmouth, London, etc., you can go to them and tell them how rich the East Coast people are, and travel to and from the East Coast How busy the merchant ships with the Old Continent are. Don’t worry, someone will be tempted.”

Nick nodded knowingly.

"No one can continue to get away with it after hurting my nephew!" Nicholas Green murmured looking at the rainy day in London outside the window.

Throughout the next July, London passed in a restless atmosphere.

Relations between Scotland and England have become increasingly tense as the King-appointed Archbishop of Canterbury has ordered the Church of the Elders of Scotland to use the Anglican prayer book when praying.The king wanted to raise taxes to raise military expenses to attack Scotland, but the members of the parliament put forward very harsh conditions. The king was furious and refused to agree, so the two sides continued to engage in endless wrangling.

When these political events attracted the attention of most people, after Nicholas Green's unremitting efforts, representatives of the East India Company, Morris Stone Tucker Company, Massachusetts Bay Company, Bermuda Company, Plymouth Company in London and some Representatives of less influential companies such as the Canadian Corporation, the Isle of Provence Corporation, and the Guyana Corporation came together.After several rounds of repeated negotiations, these companies with their respective colonies and commercial interests in the New World reached a preliminary agreement that they must resolutely curb the privateering activities of the East Coasters near the East Coast of North America and give them necessary punishments. Use diplomatic means to demand compensation from the people on the east coast for previous piracy.

Many companies have colonies in the Americas, and they are deeply concerned about the pirate infestation of the people on the east coast, while the East India Company has a high degree of commercial competition with the people on the east coast, so they quickly reached an agreement to dispatch a joint fleet to attack the people on the east coast. Sea transportation lines, and even plans to attack the natives of the East Coast.

As for the specific details of the plan, due to the number of warships, personnel, materials and funding methods sent by various companies, it may not be clear for a while, but things are moving forward in an irreversible way. implemented.

①Partnership joint-stock company: At that time, there were mainly two forms of company, namely the statute company and the joint-stock company.A partnership joint-stock company is generally composed of several investors and several ships. Any transfer of shares by any shareholder requires the consent of other shareholders.Generally speaking, such companies do not have the franchise to operate a certain product in a certain place. They trade secretly, disrupting the trade order of large companies, so they are also thorns in the eyes of large companies and are severely suppressed.The shipowners and sailors of many partnership joint-stock companies are mostly desperadoes, and most of the time they are engaged in piracy.

(End of this chapter)