Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2301 Prince buddy ([-])

April 1696, 4, Port Orient.

Christopher Wagner had just returned to the villa from a game of polo.After ordering two Polish maids to prepare hot water, he went straight to the garden, intending to clear his mind.

The group of people playing polo this afternoon are all sons and brothers of Dongfang Port.The worst thing in these people's families is a director or something. The energy is very important. Christopher went to join them, but it was just a flattery.Fortunately, he is willing to spend money and has a low profile, so after two years of hanging around, he has successfully squeezed into the circle and can talk to many people, although most of the time people don't look at him very seriously , Most of the time he is used as a cash machine.

But some of them are nice to him, and sometimes they will talk to him heart-to-heart, no matter whether it is intentional or unintentional.The overall central idea of ​​these few people is to ask about the business development status, population status, new investment opportunities and so on in New Courland.Originally, Christopher answered all these questions one by one, but later he felt that something was wrong. These people did not look like they were planning to come to New Courland for investment. They asked too many questions and knew more information than normal business cooperation. .

Christopher Wagner has been living and studying on the east coast since his father served as Governor of New Courland, and it has been many years.He's no fool, he knows exactly what that means.Reminiscing that at least [-]% of the civil servants in New Courland are trained and studied on the east coast, Christopher knew better. Learn about and control this rich colony at the mouth of the Congo River.

Of course, these buddies are not professional intelligence personnel.The situation they asked was also mixed, and sometimes they even did not cover it up, but this was even more terrifying, because it meant that the people on the east coast no longer cared about covering up. They were very confident that New Courland would not be out of their hands.

In fact, this is almost true.Take Christopher as an example. His family owns several sizable logging farms along the upper reaches of the Congo River, and also owns a timber processing factory in the lower reaches of the port.There is nothing wrong with the lumberyard. A large number of black slaves are used to cut down trees, and then they are discharged along the river and collected near the mouth of the downstream.However, all kinds of machine tools and drying equipment needed for wood processing need to be provided by people from the east coast, especially those steam machine tools, which Courland has no ability to manufacture, and the quality of British goods is poor, so basically they can only rely on the east coast people.Not to mention, the labor tools needed by the logging camp and the sales market for standard wooden boards are all on the east bank, and it is basically impossible for their family to break away from the east bank.

The same was true of some of the other merchant families in the colony of New Courland.More than half of popular commodities such as tobacco, sucrose, and pepper are sold to the east coast, [-]% are eaten by a joint consortium of merchants from Genoa, Tuscany, and Lucca, and only [-]% are shipped back to Wenzhou by their own fleet. Daogang is sold to Livonia and Poland. It can be said that the dependence on the people on the east coast is very deep.Furthermore, the families that run these industries have introduced sugar-pressing and tobacco-curing equipment that have been eliminated from the East Coast in recent years to improve their production efficiency.Considering that this kind of equipment has only started to be imitated slowly in the European continent, and it is impossible to buy it in stock (there are a lot of problems when buying it), and the maintenance and upgrade of equipment in the future will still have to rely on people from the east coast, so they are firmly tied to the On this boat on the east coast.

When Christopher Wagner was in Jakobshafen, the capital city of New Courland, he often heard people talking about the strength and prosperity of the East Coast, which is not surprising considering the economic dependence of the two sides is so deep.But the situation has been a little different recently. In his feeling, the people on the east bank seem to want to further control this colony in the Congo River Basin, not by military means, but by political and economic means.

As for the reason for this, Christopher Wagner discussed it with his father, and concluded that the people on the east coast are not at ease with Courland in Europe, and they are making some preparations for the rainy day.My father clearly pointed out that the people on the east coast are not very satisfied with Grand Duke Frederick, mainly because of his ability to govern (he has made little progress in construction, and at the same time he is extravagant) and his political stance is not firm, especially the latter. Hooking up with Russia, flirting with Poland and Prussia for a while, although most of them are for self-protection, but they didn't take the initiative to solicit the opinions of people on the east coast, which made people very unhappy.

The New Courland Colony has developed for many years, and now there is a large-scale city and four or five colonial strongholds. After absorbing a large number of French Huguenots, the white population has also increased to 5 to [-]. It is the Principality of Courland The largest asset and source of profit under its name.Moreover, because of the good management, the value of this colony is still increasing.Among them, the lower-level management is basically trained by people from the East Coast, and their political skills are not bad, and they manage the local area in an orderly manner.Moreover, the years of tragic wars in the European continent have also brought many immigrants to New Courland. Although the local epidemics have "eliminated" many people, overall the popularity of the entire colony is on the rise. middle.Especially after a cholera outbreak caused a large number of deaths recently, they learned from the pain and introduced a new sanitation management system from the east coast, which refreshed the sanitation status of all colonial towns. Strictly speaking, it is better than other colonies established by Europeans. The prospects for future development are still very good.

Christopher's father was undoubtedly loyal to Archduke Frederick.He also tried hard to curb the influence of the East Coast people in New Courland, but after the second-hand machines he ordered were stuck twice, the so-called ass decides the head, he quickly gave in and gave up this "non-sensical" way of doing.But he still sticks to a bottom line, which is to help the office firmly guard the land, but not to sell more rights and interests in New Courland, especially when it comes to the ownership of land, minerals, and ports.

But Governor Wagner also knows that this kind of thing cannot be stopped.There is a large amount of surplus capital in the east coast, and New Courland can still be called a piece of virgin land, which will naturally attract a lot of capital.What's even more frustrating is that Grand Duke Frederick did not refuse to sell land and forest farms, because it could provide him with a lot of money to spend, which made Governor Wagner feel very hurt.The only thing he can do is to transfer a few colonial officials who are too inclined to the east coast from their original posts, so as to curb the speed of the "fall" of the colonial government.Other than that, he can't do anything else, he is already worthy of the Grand Duke, and it's time for him to think about himself—considering how much of his property depends on the East Bank, Governor Wagner can't completely mess up the relationship with the East Bank Stiff, generally still have to maintain a cooperative attitude.

Christopher had been an intern with his father for several years and knew all about this.He is not as loyal to the office as his father, he loves himself and money more.He has spent seven or eight years in New Courland, and now he is used to the warm climate here, the prosperous life on the east coast, and the atmosphere of civilization. The city doesn't have much favor.Moreover, he is very smart, and he can generally guess what the people on the east bank think, that is, once there is any change in Mitao, no matter whether it is passive or active, if the recovery fails, the people on the east bank will definitely instigate a new library Ireland is independent to ensure its own interests - they have no great interest in directly annexing New Courland, which Christopher knows very well.

It's really not a big deal, is it?If it becomes independent, those people will still rule New Courland.Merchants, knights, and a few nobles co-governed it, which might be a good thing for their own family who already had a lot of industries in the area.Mitao's blood draw on New Courland is too strong. Many local people have long been dissatisfied. Once the East Coast people instigate independence, he can guarantee that there will be almost no armed conflicts in New Courland. thing.

Perhaps, New Courland will truly usher in a new life after it succeeds in becoming independent and repairing the severed blood vessels?Grand Duke Frederick is old, and after years of intoxication with alcohol and women, he has lost enough judgment to understand the great strength of the country on the east coast.This country will reach the top of the world sooner or later. France, Austria, England, Spain and other countries in Europe are all shit, not even a little finger on the east coast.A few months ago, he met an English aristocratic son from the Montgomery family in Qingdao Port, and had a good talk with him.This guy also believes that European countries should not confront the East Coast, but should cooperate, so that they can obtain stable benefits.It is unwise and unnecessary to challenge the order established by the East Coasters, it will only result in a blow and a disadvantage against your rivals - England's rivals are France, Austria and the United Provinces , not the East Coast, insisted the young man named George Montgomery.

Christopher Wagner actually agrees with this.People on the east coast did not directly participate in this European war, but this does not mean that they will not participate in the next war.And once they join the war, there will be a thunderbolt, and perhaps the new world order will be completely established after this war.In this order, the East Coast Republic must be at the top, while other countries crawl under its feet, vying for the few remaining territories and resources.As long as this is recognized, the rest of what to do is actually very obvious.A big country like France may not be able to turn the corner for a while, but what Courland should do is actually very clear. I just hope that Your Excellency the Grand Duke will not make mistakes.

I don’t know how to write the next chapter back to the Far East...

(End of this chapter)