Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 188 Negotiation ([-])

As expected by Gao Mo, the British quickly met with the negotiators on the east bank through the Almeida family.

"The crazy behavior of your navy must be stopped! You are escalating the war!" This was the first sentence of the British after meeting.

It was the first time for Gao Mo to appreciate such an annoyed face of Russell Smith.Compared with him, although Cheney Coward's face was also ugly, it was not so hysterical.This is also understandable, after all, it was the fleet of the East India Company that suffered huge losses this time.Of course, only the East India Company can conduct trade to the East.The tentacles of the merchant adventurer company are not that long, and their traditional markets are still in Northern Europe, Russia, France, and Germany.

"Mr. Smith, I don't understand what you're talking about, if you mean what happened in..."

"You know what I'm talking about!" Smith said grimly, "Yes, that's right! The navy of your people on the east coast—no, they don't have what is called a navy, they are a group of pirates! Pirates through and through !—the shameless attack on our company’s fleet north of the Cape of Good Hope, causing our company to suffer great losses. Their actions must be stopped!”

"Mr. Smith, I understand your feelings very well. However, I have to say that I am still verifying the specific situation. Moreover, if I remember correctly, we are still in a state of war between the two sides-although this is If there is an undeclared war, then there is nothing to blame for the behavior of our navy. Of course, if you have suffered losses because of this, Mr. Smith, I would like to express my sincere condolences to you personally." Gao Mochao The two nodded, pretending to be reserved and said.

In fact, he couldn't verify this widely circulated news at the moment.Because this is also passed from Fort Elmina in Ghana to San Vicente, it is not first-hand information.Moreover, the most important thing is that Gao Mo is currently unable to contact the Shanghai Navy.No, it's not just Gao Mo who can't contact the navy anymore, even the executive committee and the military department can't contact the Shanghai navy unless the navy takes the initiative to contact the mainland.

Smith blinked, suppressed his anger with great difficulty, and sat down opposite Gao Mo and Bai Siwen, trying to light a pipe habitually, but found that he had forgotten to bring it in a hurry, so he could only look a little annoyed Gao Mo said: "Mr. Gao Mo, this is our No. 18 meeting and the sixth formal negotiation. I hope that we can reach an agreement as soon as possible. This long war has caused great harm to both parties. You will always Don't underestimate the war potential of the East India Company, this is not something you can resist the enemy. If the complicated domestic affairs do not involve us too much energy, we can even organize an expedition..."

"That would be a disaster." Gao Mo commented unceremoniously, "The Spaniards' more than 1000 heavily armed colonial legions have all suffered shameful defeats on the east coast. What is the difference between you Englishmen? It is nothing more than to add victory to our invincible army. The East India Company is a powerful and old company, and I respect it very much, but this does not mean anything. Fight back against enemies who violate our interests."

After the double-reversal and one-pass words with guns and sticks, the negotiations finally got to the point.

"What do you need?" The British guy Russell Smith finally showed some rare sincerity this time, directly asking the bottom line of the people on the east coast.

"It's very simple, we need a market, a big market." Gao Mo didn't go around in circles, and now everything is based on strength, there is no need to make it too complicated, "French, Spanish, Italian, German, Ottoman , etc. We need all markets. In fact, we advocate free trade, and any artificial tariff barriers and access systems are acts that seriously undermine free trade, which must be stopped.”

"Your appetite is too great." Before Smith could speak, Cheney Coward had already stood up.

He is the representative of the Merchant Adventurer Company. There is a huge trade competition between the main woolen products of the Merchant Adventurer Company and the people on the east coast.With its quality and price advantages, the woolen textiles on the east coast have conquered cities all the way over the years.First it swallowed up the La Plata market, then it started to spread to Chile, Chalkas, Brazil, etc., and finally even the Florida colony in the Caribbean began to be flooded with textiles from the East Coasters, which made merchants risky Many businessmen in this company who specialize in doing business in the New World complained to the sky.

Moreover, the woolen products of the East Coast began to penetrate into the South of France gradually through the French market opened by the East Coast cotton cloth, and gained a good reputation.If it weren't for their limited wool production, the woolen fabrics from the east coast would have swept across France, completely driving the products of the merchant adventurer company out of the French market.

"Mr. Gaumo, these areas are the traditional markets of merchant adventurer companies, and the East India Company also has great commercial interests there." Coward did not forget to bring in the East India Company to increase his persuasion. Force, "The price of your products is too low, which will have a great impact on our products, and we cannot accept such a result. Moreover, do you have such a large production capacity? As far as I know, you currently only It can produce more than 3000 bolts of woolen cloth, which can’t even fill the market in the New World, so why go to places like France to disrupt the situation?”

"France is the 'traditional market' for textiles on the east coast, and our customers love our fine woolen products. So we have to sell some woolen goods to the local area to maintain the market."

"Okay, but your market must be limited to the original South of France, that is, the provinces of Gascogne, Haut-Gallon, Haut-Gallon, Languedoc, and Provence. Sales beyond this area must be approved by merchants in advance. Permission from the Adventurers Company."

"It's absurd! Why do we need your permission to sell our own products? The French market is something that we people on the east coast have managed for a long time, and we don't need anyone to make decisions for us. Moreover, after our production capacity increases in the future, we will We will enter the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ottoman and other regions. I believe that with the unparalleled quality of East Coast textiles, we will be able to completely conquer the local market.”

"No, Germany and Italy are markets for merchant-adventurer companies, there is no doubt about that. Well, maybe we can consider granting you access to some other markets. However, Germany and Italy are not included here, and Northern Europe and The same goes for Russia, maybe you can try your luck in that pagan Ottoman country."

The total amount of merchandise traded annually between the Merchant Adventurers Company, the East India Company, and the merchants of the Ottoman Empire was enormous.But the British merchants have always been more than their exports. They export woolen products ranging from [-] to [-] bolts to the Ottoman Empire every year, and then import famous local raisins, leather goods, gems, silk, tea, porcelain, spices, etc. Commodities, where the trade deficit is staggering.For this reason, several generations of British kings had to approve the two companies' outflow of gold and silver reserves many times.

There is no doubt that the market for Ottomans is huge.However, the British have been operating for many years, but they can only export a few thousand pieces of woolen cloth every year. Now the people on the east coast are willing to touch this bad luck, so they don’t mind, as long as they don’t stare at Germany and other British companies. traditional market.

Gao Mo considered that markets such as Germany, Spain, Northern Europe, Russia, and Italy are the lifeblood of the British, and currently they are not accessible to people from the east coast.Forcing entry would only trigger a full backlash from the British, which is not in line with the original intention of the Executive Committee to end the war as soon as possible.In addition, the current production capacity on the east coast is indeed very limited, so if you can temporarily ease the conflict with the British, let's temporarily ease it.

Then there was a lot of wrangling between the two sides.It is strange that the two parties originally started negotiations because of the attack on the East India Company's fleet, but after they really sat down, they negotiated commercial issues.But it's not surprising if you think about it carefully. After all, a major cause of the war between the two sides is the fierce competition in the textile market.

A few hours later, the two sides roughly made a preliminary division of the current market.Namely: people on the east coast can keep the textile market in several provinces and regions in southern France, and some provinces and regions in the middle of France are open to both parties (equivalent to ceding to people on the east coast). As for the provinces and regions such as Ile de France and Normandy The northern market of the country is given up to the British; central and western Italy such as Tuscany, Pisa, Siena and other regions can also be entered by people from the east coast (the main competitors here are the Dutch and Venetians); In addition, all that was left to the people of the east coast was the dreaded Ottoman Empire ruled by pagans.The market of this old empire is open to both sides, but the woolen products of the people from the east coast are restricted from entering here, that is, the sales volume in the first year shall not exceed [-] horses, and the annual sales volume shall increase by [-] horses year by year. The maximum annual sales volume shall not exceed [-] horses match.

Once the dispute over commercial interests is settled, other issues, such as the release of captives, can be easily resolved.Of course, there are also some aspects that are more controversial between the two parties, such as war damage compensation, recovery of stolen goods (or spoils of war), and so on.This also requires the negotiators of both parties to communicate and negotiate with the country repeatedly, and then come back to negotiate or even debate on the specific details before it can be finalized.

Limited to transportation and communication conditions, this process will be extremely long, and this negotiation is destined to be a marathon-style difficult negotiation.Until the negotiations are completed and the two sides reach a final agreement, the English and the East Coasters will still be in a state of war.

(End of this chapter)