Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1795 Europa Universalis ([-])

The destination of the ship Gao Wengang and others took was the port of Bilbao on the south coast of the Bay of Biscay.

This Basque city used to serve as a temporary base for the East Coast Navy and Army during the Legacy Transfer War, and played a huge role in striking targets in the coastal areas of the Kingdom of France.It's just that ten years have passed by now, and there is no trace of the people on the east coast. Standing on the deck, Gao Wengang looked as far as he could, trying to find the camp left by the soldiers on the east coast on the top of a small high slope near the harbor. Nothing was found, because it has now become an orchard.

A small Spanish sloop slowly rowed up.This is a quarantine ship, rowed by 12 prisoners who committed a crime. There are two people standing on the bow, wearing black uniforms. If there is no accident, they should be health and quarantine personnel from Spain. Church training.

After the Spanish quarantine personnel were hoisted on the deck with leather bags, they first looked at the deck, and then asked some people on the east coast, such as where the ship came from, what was the name of the ship, who was the captain, and how many people were on board , Has anyone gotten sick or died, etc.The first mate of the ship who came forward to receive the Spaniards answered the above questions to the Spaniards articulately. After seeing that they had recorded everything one by one, he took out the ship's logbook for inspection according to the usual practice, and pointed out a certain page in the logbook in a soft voice. of someone died from seasickness and that has been dealt with.

The Spanish quarantine officer carefully checked the contents of that page with a serious face, and put away the logbook after a long time, expressing that he would take it ashore for recording and rubbing.At the same time, he asked the people on the east coast not to leave the ship until they came back, and put a big goose with white feathers in the middle of the front mast of the ship, indicating that the ship was under quarantine and could not leave the ship for the time being. into port.

Seeing this, the captain who was with Gao Wengang had no choice but to negotiate, and even avoided other people's eyes and ears, planning to send a small bag of silver coins as a bribe, but unexpectedly, the two guys only hesitated for a moment, and then refused with a heartbroken face. Yes, this surprised the captain as well as a little: Did these Spaniards take the wrong medicine today?You must know that they were very greedy in the past and openly extorted bribes from businessmen from all over the world, but this time they don't even want the money delivered to their door. It's really strange!

Gao Wengang, who was standing behind, could naturally also guess what happened before. Although he didn't say anything, he was constantly guessing in his heart: They had already sent a boat into the port to notify Bill two hours ago. As far as the port of Bao'an is concerned, the Spanish officials at the port should already know their identities.And now the problem is here, since these Spaniards already know their identities, why do they dare to act like this?Don't tell me it's business. The rules and regulations formulated by the Spaniards have always been bullshit. As long as you have money, you can accommodate them. If you think about it from this perspective, things seem to become "interesting".

The only question now is probably whether this matter is the personal behavior of local Spanish officials or the attitude of the Madrid court. The meanings contained in the two are very different!

The Spaniards went for hours, and the people on the east coast had no choice but to sit on the boat to pass the time.During this period, one ship entered the port and two ships left the port. Gao Wen just discovered that the merchant ship from the Netherlands, which was loaded with dyes such as indigo, lichen, cochineal, etc., was allowed to enter the inner port for anchoring after waiting for about an hour. This made the faces of the people on the east coast even more ugly, and the difference in treatment was too obvious!

It wasn't until after five o'clock in the afternoon that the sky was getting dark, and a few Spanish officials with a big belly came back in a small boat and issued a series of documents to the people on the east coast, indicating that they could enter the port.Obviously, their behavior didn't reap the gratitude or friendship of the people on the east coast, and all they got was silence, but it seemed that they didn't mind much.

There was a Spanish cavalry officer waiting on the pier. He seemed to be ordered by local officials to lead more than [-] cavalry to escort the East Coast envoy to Madrid.Gao Wen had just expressed his thanks to him, and then invited everyone to have dinner in a tavern, and then settled down in the temporary residence prepared by the Spaniards. During this period, no other Spanish officials came forward to receive him. Some angry.

The Spaniard's attitude is wrong!Could it be out of embarrassment this time, dissatisfied that we are encroaching on the eastern half of the Pampa Plain in the name of building roads?Impossible!People on the east coast don’t bully the Spaniards once or twice, and encroach on land even more frequently. How did the fertile soil between the rivers, the central valley of Chile, and the two river basins in the south cone (between the Ludang River and the Baoxing River) come from? Do you want to count?At that time, the Spaniards did not attack, and there is no reason to attack at this time!

There are some Spaniards serving in the temporary residence. Most of their skin is tawny, and it was once suspected that they were Moors.However, considering that the Castilians or Basques were not very white, and the Moors had been expelled long ago, Gao Wengang still believed that they were Spanish.

The voices of these people are not small, accompanied by large movements of the head, shoulders and arms, very expressive, looking like Italians living on the Apennine Peninsula.The clothes on them are very ordinary, cotton headscarves, linen coats, and the two people who seem to be in charge are wearing relatively expensive woolen coats and hats with brims.Anyway, having nothing to do, Gao Wengang moved a chair, sat in the yard and chatted with these people, and these people didn't mind chatting casually for the sake of the gifts that Gao Wengang's entourage distributed to everyone.

What Gao Wengang learned was information about the Spanish economy, such as the degree of commodity shortage, price fluctuations, taxation, etc., and these happened to be the parts that these lower-level Spanish residents knew better.Through conversations with these people, Gao Wengang vaguely understood that although the Kingdom of Spain joined the war halfway, it was helplessly weak, and now it is even more difficult than France and the Netherlands. The supply of bread, butter, salted fish and other commodities It has been greatly reduced, and even the supply of commodities such as olive oil, wine, and cured meat, which are abundant in Spain, is not very stable.

In addition, Spanish towns and cities have been looted by the French navy (or pirates?) regardless of whether they are off the Atlantic Ocean or on the Mediterranean coast, and have suffered heavy losses.Especially after their allies, the Dutch, lost in the sea battle off the coast of Catalonia, and the leader of the army, Druiter, was also unluckily injured in the battle, the Western Mediterranean became a paradise for French pirates, and even some from The pirates of Barbary in North Africa also took advantage of the fire and came to the coast of Spain to capture "white slaves".

What distressed the Spaniards the most was that although their navy had just shown its might in the Caribbean Sea, it repelled a small French fleet, and successfully recovered the entire Hispani through long-term siege tactics. Aura Island, but one of their silver convoys was raided in the waters of the Canary Islands. The French captured two ships, sank three ships, and suffered heavy losses!I believe that if the Dutch didn't see them as pitiful and allowed them not to pay the principal and interest of the debt they owed this year, the Kingdom of Spain might not even be able to pay for its military expenses. It would be miserable to think about it!

Gao Wen was also very emotional after hearing this.In Spain, the industrial base is naturally extremely weak. So far, most of the domestic industrial products are produced by handicraftsmen, which is quite different from the handicraft workshops in France and parts of Germany, not to mention the British workshops that have already begun to take shape. up.Take the wool which is rich in this country as an example. It has been exported to the Netherlands and France for many years, and then imported woolen wool. It can be seen that the industrial production capacity is low.

Therefore, Spain is extremely dependent on the import of overseas goods. When it got rich, it imported all kinds of daily necessities and industrial products from Italy, France, England and Germany; The method of settling in Spain to reduce imports (as evidenced by the more than 4 French handicraftsmen in Madrid), but it is still a lot of goods imported every year.

But now? The Thirty Years War was already crippled, and then involved in the Anglo-Spanish War, the Heritage Transfer War, and the Franco-Dutch War. The family property was basically wiped out. If it wasn’t for it, it would have been obtained by selling land to the East Bank. If you donate some life-saving money, I believe it has gone bankrupt twice as in history.

Due to the trade deficit caused by the war and the large outflow of gold and silver, coupled with successive years of domestic food harvest failures, repeated invasions by French and even North African pirates in the offshore area, and heavy damage to silver ships, the Spaniards have not yet It was indeed beyond Gao Wengang's expectation.

Under such circumstances, the confidence of the Kingdom of Spain is naturally very weak. Even if the people on the east coast do something wrong to them, considering various factors, this country should not turn its face immediately, let alone the New World in the south. The barren land!Therefore, at this time, Gao Wengang had basically confirmed in his heart that the Spaniards did not dare to do anything to the East Bank. There might be some ups and downs in Madrid, but there should be no obstacles to achieving the desired result.As for the so-called "cold reception" he will encounter in the port of Bilbao, it's nothing to put it bluntly, it's just that the Spaniards are angry in their hearts, and they took the opportunity to play with their temper and vent some anger!

Thinking of this, Gao Wengang was instantly satisfied. After dismissing the Spanish service staff in the post, he returned to his room and had a good night's sleep.After getting up the next morning, he took the time to let people buy a lot of exquisite food, opened a bottle of tequila sent from the mainland, and finished his breakfast slowly before following the Spanish escort Together, the cavalry headed south towards Madrid.

The whole way here is basically walking on the arid Castilian plateau.In this most core territory of Spain, dilapidation, poverty and despair are seen everywhere along the way. Years of wars have almost drained the last energy of the country. The tax burden of the people is extremely heavy, and life is becoming more and more difficult.Even the Hidalgos who I occasionally saw on the road looked anxious, and the number of accompanying servants was far less than the scenes seen in France and England. It seemed that the economy was really difficult.

At this time, Gao Wengang had the urge to complain again in his heart, because the Kingdom of Spain had a vast and rich colony in America, and it was unbelievable to think that it was still so poor.In his view, the gold, silver and commodities produced in the colonies "inherited" by the Spaniards are basically taken away by the East Coast, the United Provinces, England and other countries through blood vessels. After a while, it went to other people's pockets again, leaving nothing - oh, it's not true to say this, because these passing hot money obviously left inflation for the Spaniards!

On February 1679, 2, the stop-and-go Gao Wengang and his party finally arrived in Madrid. After being notified, they were arranged by several officials sent by the Spanish court to a fairly good house, where there were also residents from the United Provinces. During the diplomatic season, it looks like the state guesthouse in Dongfang County, the capital of the east coast.

In the "State Guest House", Gao Wengang tried to have a conversation with the special envoy from the United Provinces regardless of the travel time.But for some reason, the guy looked very vigilant, as if he didn't want to talk to Gao Wengang, which made him somewhat embarrassed.This Dutch red hair, I'm afraid he is still jealous of the fact that the east coast sent troops to seize the Cape Town colony before, otherwise why does he look like he has been dug up?

However, the Dutch envoy—Gao Wengang was sure that this person was definitely not the Spanish ambassador to Madrid, but a special envoy sent hastily from the Netherlands with a certain purpose—Gao Wengang was also very interested in the purpose of coming to Madrid. Subconsciously guess that they are discussing how to make peace with the French?This is interesting, now the United Provinces are very divided internally, the republicans based on bourgeois merchants control the parliament and greatly influence the government, and forcefully push the entire country onto the track of a separate peace with the French, at the expense of The interests of the ally Kingdom of Spain allowed French King Louis XIV to acquire Franche-Comté, Lorraine and some towns in the southern Netherlands.In addition, the Prince of Orange, who is based on the land aristocracy and military aristocracy, is very unwilling to stop the war now in his heart, and has a negative attitude towards the negotiations held in Hainault, and his desire for peace talks is not very strong. Work is procrastinating.

I just don't know who this person is who will live in this state guest house with Gao Wengang, and if he is Prince Orange's confidant, then it will be very interesting what this person will do.

(End of this chapter)