Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1796 Europa Universalis ([-])

On March 1679, 3, after waiting in Madrid for a long time, Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy of the Eastern China Republic to Europe, finally received news from the court that King Carlos was about to receive him.At this time, Gao Wengang was writing a work report to the local people in his residence, a report on the current situation in Spain.

"...the number of times Spain's own ships sailed the old and new continents has decreased by more than 80% in the past 75 years in this world. Spain's once very prosperous shipbuilding industry has also suffered due to economic collapse, high inflation, and lack of local timber. As a result of low competitiveness, it has shrunk so badly this year that the construction of large warships has gradually shifted to the Havana shipyard in the Caribbean. Correspondingly, although the shipbuilding industry in the United Provinces has declined from its peak, in terms of scale , still dominates the pack and is unparalleled; England relies on the booming domestic steel industry, machinery processing industry, textile industry, and the gradually rising Eastland trade (trade with Russia and the Baltic Sea region), so that the shipbuilding industry has risen rapidly. Whether it is London, Portsmouth, Norwich or Bristol, there are considerable shipbuilding industries, especially in London; the development of the shipbuilding industry in the Kingdom of France is the product of national policies and the will of the monarch, but It is undeniable that the development is extremely fast. Colbert's survey of "heavy ships" and Louis XIV's naval shipbuilding plan have injected strong impetus into the country's shipbuilding industry, making its development speed unique in the whole of Europe. "

"...Cordoba, Valencia, Seville and other places used to have a large handicraft industry and were famous for it, but over the past 100 years it has declined sharply to the point of almost non-existence. Strong inflation , the 14% sales tax and various taxes levied by the servants of God have dealt a huge blow to the Spanish handicraft industry, making the country's industry weak to the extreme, and the market has become a paradise for foreign goods. The road conditions are extremely poor, Transportation is almost at the primitive stage. Needless to say, compared with China, which has built a large-scale railway and national road system, it is far inferior to England and France. These disadvantages in transportation have further aggravated the local industrial products in Spain. The crisis, that is, their residents can get all kinds of overseas materials, even grains, at a very cheap price in the coastal or treaty ports-of course, this is when they still have money in their pockets, like in the past two years, the Spaniards In desperation, they have already started spinning wool and weaving cloth by themselves, instead of simply exporting wool as a raw material like in the past.”

"...the general standard of living of the people was so low that countless Spaniards had to abandon their homes, ranches, shops and workshops, and finally even the country, and began to seek opportunities abroad. It is not surprising They, because it is difficult for them to maintain a certain standard of living, had to choose to emigrate overseas, a considerable part of them immigrated to France, and at the same time many immigrated to New Spain or Peru. Because of this wave of immigration, the Spanish territories of the Old Continent The population growth in the world has always been sluggish, and large cities such as Seville, Toledo, Burgos, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Naples, Milan, Bruges, Antwerp, Lorraine, etc. have been very intuitive in recent decades. Losing a lot of people, the population of Madrid, the capital of Spain, has dropped from 40 to 20, and the country seems to be dying."

"...at a time when poverty is rampant, the Spanish nobles and courts are constantly plundering and squandering wealth. The nobles have long been rich by exploiting the natives of the New World or importing New World specialties, or by cooperating with foreign merchants There is no doubt that although the government and people of this country are relatively poor, these top Hidalgos are very rich, and they often compete with each other for wealth in gold, jewelry and works of art, and their residences strive to be beautiful Atmospheric, luxuriously decorated, and swarms of servants come in and out, in stark contrast to the lives of ordinary citizens, businessmen and even lower nobles. For example, Duke Elva has 7200 gold and silver utensils and 9600 silverware; Prince North made a seat for his wife out of gold and coral, and it was too heavy to use, but they didn't care. Ah, yes, the church is still richer in poverty, and there are more and more Wealthy trend, because not only ordinary poor people seek spiritual solace when they are in pain, but even businessmen and nobles, a large proportion donate their property to the church before they die. The church holds huge funds but does not invest in reproduction, Just blindly buying land and pastures, and sometimes breaking the pope’s prohibition to engage in private loans around the corner, this seems to be one of the main reasons for the economic difficulties of the Kingdom of Spain.”

When he was writing this, the secretary came over and told him that King Carlos had agreed to meet him. Gawain just breathed a sigh of relief, and after the ink on the paper dried, he carefully put it back in his briefcase, intending to continue writing when he came back.

King Carlos's half-brother, Prince Don Juan Jose, sent a team of gorgeously dressed cavalry to meet them, and sent them to a newly built palace on the west bank of the river, waiting for the king's summons .

Gao Wengang took the opportunity to inspect the palace and found that all the materials were of great value.The bricks should be high-quality strip bricks imported from the Netherlands, the stones may be high-quality bluestone imported from Portugal, and the wood may come from the Baltic Sea, and of course, it is more likely to come from the Caribbean Sea.The interior decoration of the palace is very elegant. Famous paintings, sculptures and other works of art are displayed in an orderly manner. The floors and walls are covered with top blankets imported from the Ottoman Empire. Coupled with some gold and silver utensils and coral jewelry, the whole palace looks like a It is magnificent and luxurious, and this is just a palace room for receiving guests. I really don't know what other palace rooms are like.

Moreover, on the way here, Gao Wengang also found that there was still a large palace next to it, so he was suddenly very confused. Does the Kingdom of Spain still have money?The life of the people has become so difficult, the government is heavily in debt, and the royal family is still building big buildings and spending money like water. Is this really good?

In the end, Gao Wengang had no choice but to accept the reality that the Spanish nobles and royal family were rich, but the people and the government had no money.And at this time, he also remembered that it seems that the largest income of the famous Potosí mint belongs to the Habsburg royal family, and the income attributable to the state is actually far less. dilemma.

In the end, there were two people who met Gao Wengang, King Carlos and Prince Don Juan. The latter just launched a palace coup last year, expelling the Queen Mother Anna, who was originally regent, and sent her to a monastery for confinement. He became the de facto most powerful person in Madrid when he had a position.

"We will start peace talks with the Kingdom of France soon." As soon as Gao Wengang sat down, he was still organizing his words, and immediately heard such shocking words from King Carlos.

Afterwards, Prince Don Juan, who was standing beside the king, explained the reason softly.It turns out that the special envoy of the United Provinces who lived in the State Guesthouse with Gao Wengang also came to persuade the Spaniards to negotiate peace as soon as possible. It seems that it should be ordered by the government and the parliament, and the Spaniards seem to be less resistant to the French peace talks under his persuasion. .

Gao Wen just didn't know what they talked about, but thinking about it carefully, it was nothing more than threats and lures.The current situation is that the French have won great victories on both the Eastern and Northern Fronts, and they have also gained a considerable advantage in Italy. There are even rumors that the local nobles are independent with the help of the French. Therefore, the situation of the Spaniards is Pretty bad.It is estimated that the Dutch envoy promised King Carlos to help them keep the rich southern Netherland, ceding Franche-Comté and Lorraine (King Carlos in Lorraine does not have much interest anyway) to the French, and at the same time asked the French Withdraw from the occupied Spanish Italian territories, Spanish Caribbean islands (if any), and try to preserve the vitality of the Kingdom of Spain as much as possible.

Of course, if this reason cannot convince the Spaniards, the Dutch special envoy can also use the economic stick, that is, threaten the Spanish court with loans to submit.You know, those Italian bankers who have recovered a lot of vitality by doing business with the people on the east coast have recently been very low-key and tightened their lending to this country (this is naturally not without the influence of the people on the east coast), King Carlos You can only count on the Dutch bankers.With such a two-pronged approach, coupled with the real predicament, Gao Wengang also felt that even if the Spaniards were unwilling, they would not continue to fight, so peace talks were inevitable.

"It is the right choice to make peace with the Kingdom of France, but what I want to say is that your country should not have been involved in this war. It is too unwise, Your Majesty." Gao Wengang felt obliged to emphasize to the Spaniards, "Okay." "War", so as not to be cannon fodder for others in the future.

"The ambitions of the Kingdom of France must be curbed. They are not only interested in the land of Spain, but also have ambitions for the throne. This is intolerable." This time Don Juan did not speak, and King Carlos raised his voice.His articulation was very unclear, and what he said was a bit difficult to understand, but Gao Wengang still managed to understand part of it.

Of course, he couldn't refute King Carlos' statement and could only remain silent.Indeed, the logic of the Spaniards is very clear. If you French want to extort some money, cede some land, or ask for some commercial privileges, although the Spaniards are reluctant, it is not impossible to talk about it.It's a pity that you are still interested in their throne. This is the fate of the Habsburg dynasty. It is no wonder that Spain is obviously weak, but they will not be absent every time there is a chance to piss off the French. That's why!

Therefore, after Gao Wengang got to know some details of the peace talks, he decisively changed the topic and shifted the focus to the key point of this trip, namely the construction of the Yanbu Railway and the people on the east bank operating various industries on the Pampa Plain. .Undoubtedly, it was embarrassing for the Spaniards that Gao Wengang brought up this matter again, but he had to bring it up because the people on the east coast were very hungry for land.

"The construction of the Yanbu Railway is very critical to improving the security situation in the Pampa Plain. You must know that there are frequent horse bandits there, which have seriously affected the maintenance of many towns. The generals told me that if no decisive measures are taken, these The horse bandits are likely to threaten the existence of Buenos Aires, the Pearl of the Pampa." Gao Wengang said without changing his expression and heartbeat, and only heard him say: "Our government has no ambitions for the Pampa Plain. What we are asking for is nothing more than legal management rights in the local area. For this reason, our pioneer operators are also willing to pay your Majesty a certain amount of land use fees and taxes. And I believe that their existence has a great influence on the Pampa Plain. The more prominent public security issues will definitely have a more positive impact, which I firmly believe.”

What should be faced is still to be faced!Now that Gao Wengang has come to force the Spaniards to express their views, King Carlos and Prince Don Juan really have to give a positive statement, that is, whether to meet the requirements of the people on the east coast, and if not, what will be the consequences?

The above-mentioned issues have actually been discussed by the Spanish court and the Privy Council before this.The nobles and scholars present at the time agreed that if King Carlos could not satisfy the people on the east coast on the land, then perhaps, as they said, the city of Buenos Aires would encounter a relatively serious "security problem" It should not be very optimistic that the Buenos Aires Prosecutor's Court District can withstand this threat, because the people on the east coast have been so frenzied that even the army has been dispatched before, how can this not make people feel scared!

But if you promise too quickly, it won't work either!Because neither King Carlos nor Prince Don Juan can be sure how big the appetite of the people on the east coast is, and where their bottom line is!Now it is very easy to meet the requirements of the people on the east coast with a swipe of a pen, but what if they are interested in the land west of the so-called Yanbu Railway in the future?What to do then?Continue to sell or cede the land?I'm afraid it's ugly like that!

Therefore, King Carlos hoped that in the negotiations with the special envoy of the East Bank, a restrictive clause would be added, which stipulated that people from the East Bank could not get their hands on the land west of the Yanbu Railway within a certain period of time.This period can be set longer, such as 50 years. The Hidalgos in Spain always feel that the land in the Buenos Aires Prosecutor’s Court District will be lost sooner or later, so they should try to delay this process as much as possible.Otherwise, once the people on the east coast are allowed to acquire many territories including Pampa, Chaco, and Paraguay, then the key Chalcas trial court area (where the Potosí Silver Mountain is located) will be completely exposed to the east coast It's under the eyes of people, it's too dangerous.

(End of this chapter)