Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1886 The Last Persuasion

Gao Wengang has completely moved his office to the port of Cadiz in the Kingdom of Spain, an important city connecting the two major waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.Here, he can more conveniently handle the news from the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea at the same time. The distance between the two is almost the same, and the news is very convenient to pass over.

And the reason why he moved the residence of the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast in Europe from the economic center Amsterdam to Cadiz, except for what he often talked about "likes warm weather"-well, this is actually a joke- In addition to other reasons, the most important thing is that he feels that the current United Province is no longer the former United Province. In other words, the United Province will never go back!

Yes, that's right, even though the war has ended for several years, the republican faction has once again become an important component of the national assembly, the provincial assembly, and the city assembly. People occupy the "block position", and the entire United Province will never return to the friendly atmosphere towards the East Coast when John DeWitt was in power.The whole country seemed a little indifferent. Although it was not hostile, it always made people feel a little uncomfortable. Therefore, Gao Wen just reported to the mainland to move his official residence to Cadiz, the most important seaport in the Kingdom of Spain.

As the starting and ending point of the treasure fleet, the port of Cadiz was always flooded with wealth and goods.Gold and silver from the Americas were gathered here—well, that is, and then flowed into the hands of Italian and Dutch bankers. All kinds of rare goods are distributed here, and all kinds of people and cultures collide here, which makes the port city of Cadiz have a unique beauty.

But Cadiz also has the same disadvantages, that is, the high temperature in summer and the attacks of mosquitoes.Because of the latitude, Cadiz is very hot, especially in summer. During the day, there are very few pedestrians on the streets of the city. It is always after four or five o'clock in the afternoon that businessmen, sailors, farmers, priests, soldiers and other people will slow down. Slowly emerging from their respective "hiding places", the whole city suddenly became active, and entered a lively period from then on, which did not end until long at night.

Gao Wengang is now accustomed to the rhythm of life in Spain.After moving to Cadiz for so long, he always rests and reads in the shady backyard of the villa during the day, and only after three o'clock in the afternoon does he take a carriage to various places to visit guests, inspect goods, and inspect work.

This habit lasted until the official end of the hot weather three months ago, and the normal work and rest system was restored.No, today (November 1683, 11) it was just after one o'clock in the afternoon, and Gawain had just gone to the wharf to inspect the warehouse, because an east coast merchant ship from Amsterdam had just arrived.

This merchant ship is one of the old ships belonging to the Amsterdam Merchant Station - people on the east coast have been fond of "hunting" for many years on Europe's largest old ship market - and bought some masts, cables, wood tar and so on locally The ship's rigs arrived in Cadiz via London. While doing short-distance trade, they were also responsible for the transmission of news and personnel exchanges between various commercial stations and embassies in the East Coast system.

Gao Wengang was not interested in how much the goods on the flute-shaped ship named "Groningen Sunflower" sold in Cadiz. He immediately sat in a relatively secret and quiet small room in the warehouse and met with The two messengers who came with the ship asked about the situation in Amsterdam and London, and then took the diplomatic letters they brought with them and read them carefully.

The contents of the letters from Amsterdam were mostly business and financial reports, and there was nothing important to report. Only one item caught Gao Wengang's attention, that is, the Prince of Orange once again vetoed the pardon of John DeWitt submitted by the three-level parliament. Proposal for "treason" charges.Because more than 20 judges jointly sent by the seven provinces have been unable to reach a consensus after retrying the case about the DeWitt brothers, so the charges on the DeWitt brothers cannot be resolved through judicial channels, so we can only hope that The country was in power, and William III, Prince of Orange, pardoned him.But how could the Prince of Orange agree to such a ridiculous thing?Not surprisingly, he twice refused to pardon the de Witt brothers, making it a tragedy that the former speaker of the third-level parliament has been living in the Southern Netherlands for several years and has never been able to return to the United Provinces.

Of course, Speaker DeWitt is also a person of character. Of course, he cannot accept the way of pardoning his enemies to end his life in exile and return to China to engage in politics.At present, the people in the country who are repeatedly tossing him back are mostly old friends from the past. He himself will never bow to William III, even if it is an expedient measure, it is impossible, so this seems to indicate that he will probably never return. I will never go back to the United Provinces, or my hometown.

"The republicans are one step behind, step by step, but it seems that our policy should be adjusted. DeWitt, since he can't return to the United Provinces and his stage, then after a long time, he will probably be banned. The audience in the audience have forgotten it? In this way, the republicans may nominate a new candidate to fight against William III, right? I heard that Van Beuningen has resigned from his post as ambassador and returned to Amsterdam from Berlin. The next step Probably about to be elected by the republicans as the spokesperson? This is our old friend on the east coast, and he has a good relationship and deserves a lot of investment." Putting down the letter in his hand, Gao Wengang sighed softly and said to himself road.

In fact, people from the east bank had contact with Konrad Van Boyningen as early as the second half of last year. After all, this man has a high prestige and has served as an ambassador to the east bank, so it is easy to communicate with the east bank.Such a character is already an excellent partner, so it was normal for Gao Wengang to push him to the stage after obtaining the consent of the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Moreover, thanks to the considerable influence of the East Coasters among the Dutch capitalists, under their influence, many republican MPs have gradually become inclined to let Van Beuningen take over, so the voice of this gentleman is getting louder and louder.

Although the behavior of the republicans and the people on the east coast seems a little out of the ordinary, they are suspected of crossing the river and tearing down the bridge, without emotion and loyalty.But politics, to be honest, is the thing that lacks the most emotion and loyalty. It only talks about naked interests.With benefits, the French who are more fanatical about Catholicism (for this reason they have purged the Protestants in the country) can put down their bodies and form an alliance with the Turks; with benefits, the Protestant princes who were originally killed can stand by the Catholic king go.All of the above are things that have happened in recent decades. Everyone has seen them and taken them for granted. People from the East Coast are no exception. Therefore, it is not at all ambiguous to support Van Boyningen.

"I hope he can succeed. This requires strong personal ability, and of course a little bit of luck. William III is getting older and older, so it's not easy to deal with." Gao Wengang muttered and put down the letter in hand, and took Picked up another letter from Cai Zhenguo in London, and read it carefully.

The content of this letter is relatively large, with seven or eight pages in full, covering all aspects of British politics, economy, business and science and technology, especially focusing on the Duke of York, the younger brother of King Charles II of England, and members of Parliament. tension between them.Those big capitalists had clashed several times with the Duke of York, who made no secret of his Catholic inclinations, in semi-public occasions. Because Charles II had no heirs, it stands to reason that once he died, the throne should be shared by brothers and sisters, but The capitalists and enlightened aristocrats who now control most of England's power are very unwilling to let this guy take over, so there is actually a deep crisis hidden under the stable and prosperous appearance of the Kingdom of England, and armed conflicts may break out if they are not careful.

As the Special Envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, Gao Wengang has been closely following the situation in England for many years. He is amazed at the rapid development of this country, so he has been trying every means to create some trouble for it.Now it seems that a so-called crisis of succession to the throne seems to be the best entry point. Although it is unlikely to overturn the British political situation and forcefully send the Duke of York to the throne, it will give the English people some "fun" so that they do not develop so quickly , but it must be done.

This country has reached the point where it must be restricted!After the restrictions are over, this country will be able to be obedient, and it will be possible to dance with the baton of the East Bank and become an important weapon for the East Bank to interfere with the situation in Europe-of course, all this is still far away, and "tuning" England is a long-term process. , and the possibility of failure is quite low.

In addition to the description of England's political situation, there is a large section of intelligence analysis about England's industrial technology.Cai Zhenguo wrote in more detail here, and listed a small outline, describing in detail information covering metal refining and processing, gun manufacturing and sales, cloth weaving and printing and dyeing, and the most important step-by-step promotion of steam engines. It looks obvious at a glance and impressive.

After Gao Wen had just finished reading it, he pondered for a moment, and then picked up a pen to take notes on the letter.His opinion is actually quite similar to that of Cai Zhenguo, that is, England's industrial strength is already very good, and the honeymoon period of the relationship between Britain and the Netherlands has been further improved in the past two years.Therefore, he also feels that the Dutch commercial capital cannot be combined with the industrial capital of England, otherwise, once the two have a chemical reaction, there may be an "accident"!In this way, this matter is related to the interference with the succession of the English throne that he had thought about earlier, and perhaps these two matters can be filed together.

After this paragraph, Cai Zhenguo’s letter was full of information about several land countries such as Austria, Poland, Russia, Turkey, etc., and the part about Ottoman naturally occupied the largest space.Gao Wengang also attached great importance to this paragraph. As the largest fulcrum of the East Coast Republic in Europe, the Ottoman Turkish Empire has never been an interest that can be discarded.On the contrary, the trade, diplomacy and even the so-called influence of the people on the east coast for many years have been based on the existence and strength of this old empire.The Ottoman Empire was strong, and the people on the east bank not only did not have trade affected, they could even indirectly affect many other regions, thus gaining benefits.And if the country is weakened, then with the wolves around, it will no longer be able to maintain the original sphere of influence, and there will inevitably be a shrinking phenomenon, which will also greatly reduce the investment of the people on the east coast for many years.

Therefore, Ottoman's best choice is to maintain a tall but puffy physique, and maintain a certain deterrent effect on the growing Austria and Russia.After all, the psychological advantages built up over hundreds of years of conquests are quite effective, and the invisible deterrence is great.But once you accidentally eat a defeated battle and puncture that puffy kraft paper, the consequences will be more serious. In the future, those countries that have been bullied by you will surely swarm up, revenge, revenge, no There will be ghosts if you chase Osman and beat him fiercely!And no matter how strong you Ottoman is, you are covered in iron, how many nails can you drive in the face of feuds such as Poland, Austria, Russia and even Persia?

"Mustafa is really far inferior to his adoptive father and elder brother. This prestige is really not enough. People from the dignified Koprulu family have such excellent resources and connections, but they are half-coerced by a group of military leaders and lords." Half-baited, under extremely inadequate preparations, going to the hinterland of Austria for a military adventure, what should I say?" Gawain also had a headache when he saw this.

As a former ambassador to Istanbul, he cares more about this country than anyone else.He had already sent an envoy to Ottoman once before, when the idea of ​​attacking Austria had just emerged, but he had no choice but to persuade them to accept it as soon as it was good, and was rejected lightly, which made Gao Wengang feel a little bit Depressed, why don't you listen to advice!

Now that things have passed for another few months, the situation has become more and more complicated. I heard that the Austrians feel wrong about the Ottoman army's delay in retreating in Hungary, and they have begun to slowly mobilize elite main forces from the Western Front to help.Obviously, the French failed to fulfill their promises on this matter. They only contained a part of the Austrian army, and the other part, about [-] people, had already begun to retreat to the mainland, in order to guard against Ottomans. People push their feet.

"Forget it, I will go to Istanbul in a few days and try to find a way to contact the Grand Vizier, and persuade them to retreat for the last time." Gao Wengang stroked his forehead, thinking helplessly: "In addition, we must also prepare for the failure of the Ottoman Empire." Prepare, the more than [-] hastily turned troops are exhausted from long-term battles and lack of supplies. Once the Austrians implement the strategy of luring the enemy deep and closing the door to fight dogs, the possibility of failure is still very high. Of course, if they win, they may even attack by chance. Once you get down to Vienna—well, forget it, if you take it, you can’t hold it, it’s useless, so don’t think about it.”

(End of this chapter)