Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1793 Europa Universalis ([-])

On November 1678, 11, Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary special envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe who had arrived in Amsterdam for a long time, was finally received by William III, the son-in-law of the Prince of Orange and Duke of York, who was in charge of the United Provinces.

The Prince of Orange's complexion is not very good. It is said that he has just recovered from an illness, but he speaks with a somewhat aggressive feeling. For example, he directly accused the East Coast people of two major crimes. It was the appalling "massacre" incident in The Hague, and it is said that the murderer returned safely to the east coast and will be reused in the future; The province suffered huge losses.

Gao Wengang came from a diplomatic family, and he has experienced many years of experience, so it is very simple and easy to reply to these so-called "challenges". They are all procedural words, not very difficult, not to mention that others did not really embarrass him, just venting It's just dissatisfaction in my heart.

Afterwards, Gao Wengang carefully raised the issue of canceling the arrest warrants for the DeWitt brothers and returning their family estate in Dortrecht, so that John DeWitt could return to the United Provinces.As expected, the Prince of Orange seemed a little angry about this matter, and refused as soon as he opened his mouth, leaving no room for maneuver to Gao Wengang.

Gao Wengang suddenly understood that the Prince of Orange probably had an extreme dislike for the republicans and De Witt, which may be due to his childhood experience.Back then, after his father's mutiny failed in an attempt to seize power, John DeWitt, as the political spokesperson of the bourgeois republicans, implemented a strict surveillance policy on him and his mother. The specific measures included: 1. Removing the young Oran The original guards of the Prince of Orange were replaced with those sent by the government; 2. The teachers assigned by the government took over the education of the Prince of Orange. Of course, this was not implemented thoroughly. When the Prince of Orange was young, many Orangemen Members worked collectively and successfully won the right to have the Prince of Orange educated by his mother (Princess Mary of England, daughter of Charles I), and the high cost was also borne by the Dutch provincial government; 3. Restricted Friesland, Groningen The investment and annexation of the land by the traditional nobles in the provinces of Upper IJssel, Drenthe, etc., and at the same time restrict these people from having too much contact with the Prince of Orange to weaken his influence, because these traditional nobles serve in the army. The proportion of jobs is high.

The above are just some of the relatively well-known big measures, not to mention the many small tricks that disgust the Orange family-these small tricks may not be ordered by DeWitt, but there is never a shortage of guys who dare to speculate in politics in this world. Flattering DeWitt, they can do anything - so, after more than 20 years, the Orange family has really had enough of all kinds of birds, and the family's financial strength and influence have been greatly reduced, so when they caught a Good opportunity, once he came to power, it was natural to take revenge on the DeWitt brothers, although the means of revenge seemed a bit chilling.

So this time Gao Wen just proposed to let John de Witt return to the United Provinces, but it was not surprising that he was rejected by William III.He is really annoying enough now. A bunch of people in the three-level parliament are making trouble. The provincial councils and city councils have also seen a big resurgence of republican forces. The Orange Party's local influence has been greatly reduced.In addition, the war has been going on for many years, the country's financial burden is heavy, the people are miserable, and the [-] army commanded by the Prince of Orange is also in a stalemate with the French in the southern Netherlands. The enemy has driven out the buffer zone between the two countries, so his reputation has naturally been affected to a certain extent.

How could William III be willing to let John de Witt return to the United Provinces under such circumstances?Although this person's reputation among the people is not as good as before, and there are many people who scold him, but it is undeniable that his ability to connect various businessmen and republicans is still very good, and his influence is very high.Once he was brought back, he might not be able to overthrow his own position, but it would not be difficult to cause trouble for himself in the parliament and the provinces and increase the voice of dissent.Therefore, as long as William III is not stupid, it is absolutely impossible to put this person back, unless you offer a price that he will hardly refuse.

"John DeWitt is involved in many accusations of betraying the country and murdering nobles. This is a wanted warrant jointly issued by the United Provincial Government and the three-level parliament. If you want to remove it, unless the seven provinces select judges to reconsider it at the same time, and I don't think What will the result be different if there is a retrial." For these heretics on the East Coast who ruined their good deeds in front of Gwangenport Prison, the young William III now really feels annoyed, especially if they still want to put My number one political enemy, the nightmare of my boyhood, invited me back to the United Provinces again. Is this a joke?

Gao Wen was also a little silent when he heard what William III said.Of course he knew that since the DeWitt brothers and a group of core members "fleeed" in the Southern Netherlands in fear of persecution, the parliament and government that were completely dominated by the Orange family at that time declared them "traitors" and issued arrest orders one by one. At the same time, the position of the speaker of the third-level parliament was vacant, which made the Orange family's control power reach its peak.

Now that several years have passed, it is inevitable that the Orange family will slowly decline from the peak as happened many times in history. At this time, it is the privilege of the Orange family to pardon DeWitt and others. The country's largest nobleman, the Prince of Orange, has the right to pardon DeWitt. This is another way for the judges of the seven provinces to retry the case—is it because their family is not declining fast enough?What a spring and autumn dream!

And since Prince Orange's attitude has been so decisive and clear, it's not good for Gao Wengang to continue to entangle this matter, because that will obviously only arouse the other party's anger and make the matter develop in a more unfavorable direction.So he wisely shifted the subject to focus on resuming trade between the two countries.

You know, before the great changes in the United Provinces, this commercially developed country was the largest agent of commodities on the east coast, selling various commodities worth millions of yuan to the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Sea countries through various channels every year. He has made great contributions to the sales of industrial products on the east coast, and of course the Dutch have also made a lot of money from it. For example, the De Haier family, who has always been closely related to the east coast, started as an agent of iron products on the east coast, and finally simply He closed most of his family's ironworks in Sweden (this is also due to the persecution of the Swedish royal family), and wholeheartedly became an agent of iron products on the east coast, with great profits.

However, after the people on the east coast brazenly sent troops to take over the Dutch South African colony, the relationship between the two countries existed in name only. The orders of the United Provincial Government, which originally accounted for a large proportion of trade, were directly canceled (most of them were later given to the British). Many Dutch wholesalers were also hindered. Due to various relationships, it was inconvenient to act as an agent for goods from the east coast, so the trade between the two countries suddenly plummeted. Except for a little smuggling, it was infinitely close to zero, and there was no one else.

As a last resort, people on the east coast had to try their best to find other agents, such as Courlandians and Italians.It's a pity that the Courlandians are not good at exploring the trade in the Baltic Sea, and they are far from meeting the expectations of the people on the east coast. I don't know if they really can't do it, or because they are frightened by the prestige of the Dutch and dare not show their strength.The Courlandians are like this, the Genoese and the Venetians are also a bit unbearable, and they only increased their market share in the Italian region, while the sales in the Greater Spain region declined rapidly due to the outflow of precious metals from Spain-similar to the Ottoman Empire , this country has been "losing blood" year after year (already suffering a lot of money shortage, and it has been running a trade deficit for many years), currently, except for importing some ordnance from the east coast, other trades are sluggish.

Under such circumstances, the people on the east bank had to take on the heavy responsibility by themselves. Through various channels, they developed the French market that had been closed to the east bank for many years, and obtained export quotas (low tariff rates) for some commodities to France, allowing the east bank The domestic industrial product market has breathed a sigh of relief. Although the underemployment is still uncomfortable, it can barely maintain it.

Of course, this situation is definitely not a long-term solution.In the case that some of the overcapacity problems in the East Bank have been solved through large-scale infrastructure construction, the people in the East Bank have been trying their best to solve the problem of exporting goods to Europe for many years, and even "intimately" studied the financial situation of several major countries. , trying to help them increase the amount of imported goods without a large outflow of precious metals, and this first step is naturally the United Provinces of the European business leaders.

Next, Gao Wengang, together with the two commercial officials he brought, carefully introduced the "benefits" of resuming trade with the East Coast to the Prince of Orange. The well-connected sales network and countless agents of "Sea Coachman" made a key point.You must know that now England’s industry and commerce are rising rapidly. Although the German region is politically divided, its industry is prosperous and its commerce is developed. Various commodities including food, building materials, glass, and leather have made a lot of windfall, and at the same time, they gradually have the meaning of threatening the commercial channels of the United Provinces.

If it were in the past when the republicans had the upper hand (it was also the time when the United Provinces abolished the ruling position), Amsterdam, a commercial center, would have reacted and implemented countermeasures long ago. Unlike now, the United Provinces are still enjoying themselves , indifference, and even boosting the country’s industrial and commercial progress by continuously giving large orders to the Kingdom of England. Weapons and military supplies from the east coast, Germany, Portugal and northern Italy reduced their dependence on England's industrial products. It can be seen that the republicans really cared their vigilance against Britain to their bones, and even did not hesitate to get close to the French for this, which greatly angered the French. He angered the Orange faction who advocated uniting the British against the French.

However, Gao Wengang and the two subordinates had finished their saliva, but did not move William III at all.The young nobleman seemed to have an agreement with the English merchants, or he valued the power of England as a country, or it might even be because he was a big Protestant country with England, so he rejected the proposal of the people on the east coast. , indicating that the United Provincial Government has no plan to reopen trade negotiations with the East Coast in a short period of time. At the same time, it also stated that the Dutch South African colony was forced to "sell" to the East Coast Republic of China (currently approved by the Parliament, Orange The prince's signature came into effect, and the price was 20 dong), which greatly hurt the feelings of the people of the United Provinces, and they are now unwilling to discuss such matters with the East Coast.

Being rejected twice in a row in one morning, even the clay figurine was a bit angry, let alone promoting Wen Gang, a second-generation high-ranking official who was already born in an extraordinary family.Therefore, his face also turned cold. Although there was still a polite smile on the corner of his mouth, it was already forced to look carefully, showing his inner dissatisfaction and irritability.After that, he tried to fight for it a few more times, but Prince Orange's attitude was really firm, and he refused to give in at all, which made Gao Wengang very dissatisfied.After he felt that it was meaningless for him to stay here any longer, he stood up decisively and said goodbye, and returned to the former East Bank shop in Amsterdam, which had just been released by the Dutch for a few months.

A while ago, the commercial building seemed to have been requisitioned as a temporary warehouse. There were a lot of salted fish, rotten vegetable leaves scattered in the huge building area, and occasionally some manure left by cows and horses, making it look like a smoky mess.Moreover, and more importantly, a batch of tens of thousands of goods worth tens of thousands of dollars originally stored in the store has disappeared. The shield's compensation is also unlucky.However, considering that the hands and feet of the East Coast Army in Zeeland Province were not so clean, and they looked like a locust army, so Gao Wengang did not intend to continue to pursue the matter, and directly informed the Chamber of Commerce to re-do the accounts and write off the deficit. It's over.

After settling down in a newly decorated room, Gao Wengang did not waste any time, and immediately called all the attendants and staff of the shop together for a meeting.At the meeting, Mr. Gao formally appointed the head of the Amsterdam Commercial Station and other staff, and assigned them tasks for the next stage of work: mainly to try to restore some old relationships, especially those with very republican backgrounds. Wholesalers in Shenzhen have to work hard to restore a little business.

In addition, he called out the names of a few more people, from various departments, about seven or eight people, and planned to take them with him, leave Amsterdam by boat, and head to England, France, and Spain to deal with some backlogs. At the same time, we will also focus on talking with Madrid about the incident in the Pampa Plain—it has been delayed for so long, it is time for the Spaniard to make a statement!

(End of this chapter)