Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2158 Riga Bay

On October 1691, 10, the weather in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea had cooled down significantly. When Zhao Gui woke up every morning, he could see the courtyard full of hoarfrost.No way, the climate in the high latitudes of Europe is still too cold!

It is said that it has been 1258 years since the large-scale volcanic eruption in 600, which triggered the extreme cold wave in the global climate. The origin of the extreme cold wave was in 1258, but it really took effect in the early 14th century. Soon, it was much colder than the well-known Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty.

During this long period of hundreds of years, human beings have experienced several small ice ages.One was the beginning of the 14th century, which was almost the second coldest period in the past 600 years. The winter at that time was extremely dry and cold.

The second pole began in 1421 and lasted about 25 years.It is worth mentioning that this is the lowest temperature point in the entire 600 years, resulting in many large storms, tsunamis and extremely low temperatures in winter, and the once prosperous cod fishing industry was interrupted.

The third coldest pole was the Maunder Minimum, which began in 1645.From this year, it continued until the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, which is the current meeting.Among them, southern Europe probably ended at the end of the 17th century, but it continued until about 1710 in the Nordic region and the Far East China region.There is no doubt that although the Little Ice Age, which spanned 65 years, was only the third lowest in temperature in 600 years, its duration was indeed the first - the record for this time span lasted until Tambo in 1816. The Little Ice Age caused by the eruption of La Volcano can only be surpassed.

The fourth coldest period in 600 years is the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty that everyone is familiar with.This started around 1580, and reached its peak in 1600 when the Ernaputina volcano erupted. After that, the temperature began to rise and basically returned to normal during the Chongzhen period.During this period, the Baltic Sea in Europe froze, the Alps glaciers moved westward, China was dry and cold, locusts were everywhere, and famine worldwide caused the population to experience great suffering.

The reasons for the formation of the Little Ice Age have not yet been clarified.Some people say that it is caused by changes in solar activity, while others say that it is formed by subtle changes in the earth's axis. There are different opinions and no consensus.But one thing is certain, that is, from the 13th century to the 21st century, human beings have been in a big ice age, which is much colder than thousands of years ago, which can be seen from the records in many ancient books.

Zhao Gui has lived in Riga for many years.During this period of time, the Gulf of Riga would be frozen every winter. At the beginning, it was possible to ride horses and carriages. Although it is not so exaggerated now, sailing is definitely not possible, except for the occasional blessing of God and the unusually warm winter.

To be honest, Zhao Gui, a Cantonese, really doesn't like this kind of cold climate.But who made him the head of the Riga Merchant Station and the ambassador to the east coast of Sweden, Courland, and Poland?No matter how cold it is, he has to bear it, unless he doesn't think about his own future!Fortunately, his term of office is coming to an end, and the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent him a letter, informing him that a newcomer will take over his position in the first half of next year, and he will return to serve in the country, so this is his crossing in the Baltic Sea. It’s the last winter that he has passed—the person who replaced him is 34-year-old Shao Ruguang, who was born in a famous family and graduated from Bingtuanbao. He is the son of Shao Zhengguang, a famous artist on the east coast, and Shao Rujie’s younger brother.

Zhao Gui has no resistance to resigning and returning to China, on the contrary, he looks forward to it.Although being the head of a commercial station and the ambassador of the three countries is very prestigious, and there are many opportunities to earn extra money, the time is too long, so long that I miss my family very much (my wife and children returned to China two years ago), and I miss the warm Hue very much. Hong Kong, I miss the food and modern life on the east coast.Anyway, the credit has been saved, and the money has been earned, so it is time to abdicate and let the virtuous.In my whole life, my starting point is a bit low, and it seems that I can only climb to this step. The next step is to look at the performance of my sons. A family's leap in class cannot be completed by one generation, and often takes several generations. Ongoing effort.

After Zhao Gui played Tai Chi in the yard, he slowly walked into the dining room to have breakfast.The chef of the restaurant is hired from the local area, and they are relatively reliable, and their skills are not so good. Zhao Gui is very satisfied.The staple food for breakfast today is rye noodles, with a poached egg in it. There are two side dishes on the table, which are cold carrot stalks and dried radish. Simple but delicious, it makes people very appetizing.

While Zhao Gui was enjoying the food, his secretary had finished the meal and was standing aside respectfully, and began to introduce today's arrangements and the progress of some important matters to him.

"Station Master, recently a few German businessmen came to place an order. They were all war supplies such as muskets, cannons, and armor. The amount was very large. I saw something wrong, so I sent someone to investigate. There was vague evidence pointing to the Russian Empire. , because these businessmen have close trade ties with the Russians, and the import and export volume is not small. Considering the current situation, I temporarily suppressed it, and did not let the transport ship 'Jaeger', which left Hong Kong and returned to China yesterday, bring the order to Go back." The secretary flipped through the notebook in his hand and reported in a low voice.

"You are right. Continue to investigate. It is impossible to guarantee that these Germans will not sell weapons to Russia. How many weapons are needed in the German region now? It is simply too fake. If it is true, this business cannot be done, and the Black Sea cannot be damaged. The overall situation here.” Zhao Gui instructed while eating noodles: “Until Tsar Peter expresses his position on the status of Western Ukraine, Crimea and the North Caucasus, we have to impose an arms embargo on him.”

In fact, what Zhao Gui was talking about was also the current policy implemented on the east bank, that is, trying every means to make the Russians "forget" the south and march west instead.The three-river trade in the Black Sea is an important source of commodity profits on the east coast, and it is also related to the layout of several countries. It is absolutely impossible to let Russia, a brute, mess up the situation here.

The newly crowned Tsar Peter I was certainly an ambitious monarch.He himself formed a guard army from scratch, appointed many outstanding talents, and the equipment was also very good. This made many people, including intelligence officials on the east coast, improve their assessment of the strength of the Russian army.Especially in the middle of this year, Peter I ordered the Guards and the Shooting Army to conduct a public confrontation exercise. Commanded by Lefort, Peter I himself served as a gunner in the Guards.

The results of the exercise were very good.The guards have been training hard for so long, and they still have some results. Although they don't look as experienced as the shooting army, in time, this is bound to be another powerful force, and it is a powerful force that is loyal to Peter I and can be used with confidence.

This information was obtained by the East Coast people at a huge cost, and then sent to Riga, and then passed on to Special Envoy Cai Zhenguo in Amsterdam.Zhao Gui had read this information, but he didn't think that Peter would go south to invade the northern shore of the Black Sea in a short time because he was currently in trouble in the country.He and his teacher Nikita Zotov insulted the Orthodox Church while drunk, which caused an uproar, so that even Peter I was in a state of distress, and I believe that there was no time to make trouble outside in a short time up.

But in any case, it is necessary to strengthen vigilance against Russia.The potential of this country is really amazing, and the national situation has been on the rise, which is a huge trouble, and it must be dealt with with [-] points of spirit.

"According to the news from Mitau, Grand Duke Frederick has officially given up on the idea of ​​marrying Moscow and turned his attention to Poland. I think that maybe the new Duchess will be some noble lady from Poland in the end. "The secretary reported the second message.

Archduke Frederick is actually very annoyed now.He had almost talked with the Russians before, and the Russian side promised to give him an independent status and security guarantee. The Grand Duke with only [-] troops at hand was very moved. He really didn't want to imagine that his father would be wiped out by the Swedes during his reign. What happened again, so it is very necessary to find a backer.

It's just that this kind of marriage, which he thought was very good, actually leaked the news, and was known by the people on the east coast and ruined it.Grand Duke Frederick was startled and terrified. He was surprised that there were spies planted by people from the East Coast. He was afraid that the people from the East Coast would think he was unreliable and try to get himself out of power. Come up with an obedient person?Or, simply instigate the independence of New Courland?In short, Grand Duke Frederick is afraid now, and he never dares to mention the marriage with Russia. He is also very submissive to the East Bank, and the agent sales of various commodities are much harder than before, and the meaning of earning performance is very strong. .

Zhao Gui had also had an in-depth conversation with Grand Duke Frederick before.He told the Grand Duke more bluntly that it was the people on the east coast who were protecting them. If there were no people on the east coast to endorse his safety, the rule of the Courland House would not last for two weeks.Although the Grand Duke was greatly irritated by the words of the people on the east coast, he didn't dare to refute. In the end, he could only obediently agree, and then went back and shut himself up to sulk.

"Frederick has learned to be obedient." Zhao Gui commented: "I think he was quite obedient when he was the heir apparent in New Courland. Why did everything change after returning to China for so many years? Really? Sure enough, everything is the fault of the Russians! As for Moscow, we really have to guard against it, and they will take advantage of them if we don’t pay attention.”

"Sweden's economy is sluggish, or collapse is imminent. In order to solve the financial difficulties, they may agree to the request of the Dutch in the near future and send the army to fight in the southern Netherlands to help the Dutch stabilize the situation." The secretary added.

It is said that the economy of the Kingdom of Sweden has really gone from bad to worse in the past two years. The reason is the decrease in Dutch investment and the instability of the North German Territory.The Kingdom of Sweden has a population of just over 300 million, of which there are only 120 million Swedes living in Northern Europe, about 50 Finns and Livonians combined, and the rest are Germans living in its territory on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.With the rapid rise of Brandenburg-Prussia, the Germans in the Kingdom of Sweden became unstable, and many businessmen immigrated to Brandenburg, which greatly reduced the fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Sweden.Coupled with the shrinking investment of the Dutch because of the war, the country suddenly fell into financial difficulties and had to be reduced to the tragic situation of being a mercenary.

"Hey, it's not easy to be a mercenary. The French are so fierce, be prepared to kill a lot of people. Poor Sweden has an army of [-] to [-]. Once it is exhausted, how can it fight Berlin? How can it fight Moscow? Even The Poles never forgot the shame of recovering the land cut off by the Swedes, and the entire snow country was conquered by them. This country is not going to get better, and the signs of going downhill are too obvious." Zhao Gui put down his chopsticks, shook his head and commented: "Please send a copy of this information to the Berlin embassy. Ambassador Han Xihan should also be very interested, or he can also reveal to me some news about Sweden that I heard from the Germans. Well, let's do it!"

"Understood, Mr. Ambassador." The secretary nodded and responded. Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he said, "One more thing. The Ministry of Communications sent a message saying that starting next year, there will be certain The proportion of sail transport ships carrying goods to Europe, including the port of Riga, I hope we will do the preparatory work.”

(End of this chapter)