Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2341 Dutchman in recovery period

April 1698, 4, Qingdao Port, Queer Mountain.

In such a flat place like Qingdao Port, it is not easy to have a mountain.The height of Queer Mountain is only more than 60 meters. It is a bit reluctant to say that the mountain is actually full of rocks and weeds on the top of the mountain. There is no view of pines, wind and cranes.

The area of ​​the top of Que'er Mountain is not large, just enough to build a small Taoist temple with front and rear entrances.The Taoist temple is called Wuwei Temple, and the incense is very prosperous. From time to time, wealthy businessmen in the city come to offer incense, and the money for sesame oil is often hundreds or even thousands, which is staggering.

On the side of the Taoist temple, a semi-volley building was built, which is a restaurant entrusted by Wuwei Temple.Due to the small business area, the restaurant has limited seats, so reservations are often required.But even so, the business is still booming, and it can make a lot of profit for Wuweiguan every year.

Of course, Wuweiguan is not an iron rooster. On the contrary, it has a good reputation. It often generously supports several orphanages in Qingdao County. It also donates teaching aids and stationery to primary schools in the county from time to time. Qingdao Middle School also donates 50 scholarships every year.

The new Dutch ambassador, Jensen De Haer, had just finished his lunch at the restaurant, and together with a few entourages, he spent a total of several yuan, all of which were paid by him personally.But this small amount of money is really nothing to members of the De Haer family who are mining in Sweden.If the assets under his own name are calculated carefully, Yan Sen's own assets are no less than 30 dong, not to mention spending [-] yuan in restaurants, even if it is [-] yuan, he will not blink his eyes.

After waving his followers to leave first, Jensen De Heier sat on a stone bench beside the mountain path.There are some pine trees planted next to the stone bench, which have been quite impressive for decades. The pine roots are firmly inserted into the cracks in the stone, and the trunks are thick and thick, just like the people on the east coast who took root in the New World.

Jensen took out his pipe from his pocket and smoked silently, not in a good mood.He is not yet 30 years old this year, but only a few months after he came to the East Coast. Before he came, his family and the United Provinces government gave him opportunities to live in the East Coast for a long time and work for the interests of the United Provinces. This made him very uncomfortable. happy.

Jensen is very nostalgic.He misses everything in his hometown, the towering cathedral in Amsterdam, the family manor in Grenningen full of tulips, the girl he loved when he was young, the friends who traveled to other countries together, everything.

It's just that there is no going back.When he came to the East Bank, he became a Taoist against his will according to the family's request. At the same time, he married a girl from the East Bank whose family was said to have a strong background in the financial system.what is this?Jensen De Heier thought it was ridiculous. For someone like him who was destined to be labeled as the East Coast to be the ambassador, did the United Provinces kneel down to the East Coast?Jensen smiled silently, somewhat displeased.

But Jensen still has loyalty to the country.Although the United Province is a country established by businessmen, Jensen, who grew up in a wealthy family, does not have so much smell of copper.Having traveled abroad for many years, his greatest ambition is to be a captain, to travel all over the world, and discover many unknown people and things.But after the death of his brother Hugo, whom he had grown up with, in battle with the French navy, he suddenly hated the sea, lost the slightest interest in it, and at the same time his hatred of the French intensified.He is now eager to make the French have bad luck and bad luck, and perhaps it is this that has led him to be appointed ambassador to the East Coast, because it will obviously help him do his job as an ambassador well.

Jensen de Haer knew Clement François.When he was traveling in Paris that year, he met once, and the guy from the family of the court earl presented him with a portrait—the protagonist of the painting is the famous Parisian Mrs. Menthenon, the mistress of Louis XIV.It's a pity that the world is unpredictable, the two have become their own masters and have become enemies, and Luoyang Mansion will be their battlefield in the future.

In fact, the current situation in the Netherlands is not bad.During the difficult war years that have just passed, the people paid more than 8000 million dong in taxes to the government every year, and big businessmen also donated generously, buying war bonds issued by the government one after another to tide over the difficulties together——Jensen De Haer Private individuals bought 10 dong of 300-year bonds, while the entire De Haier family bought [-] million dong.

Although Hieronymus, who had just become the third-level speaker, announced that the country's total debt had exceeded 3 million guilders—the government had just issued a large amount of public debt in order to demobilize the army—Jensen was not worried.Much of this debt is owed to Dutch nationals and carries an average interest rate of just over 5000%.Now that the war is over, the Hague government has slowly reduced its annual fiscal expenditure to less than [-] million dong, and there is still room for further decline in the future.Coupled with the fact that a large number of franchise rights that are about to expire can be resold, the Dutch government is confident that it will pay off all debt principal and interest within ten years.

This is the strength and confidence of the United Provinces!They can not borrow foreign debts, and can rely on their own national strength to win the Kingdom of France, whose population is ten times theirs.Look at their evil neighbor France, not to mention the debts, the country is also full of holes.The famine hit the country hard, the population was greatly reduced, and the national strength was severely damaged. A large number of knowledgeable and capable Protestants fled this desperate place.Many of them took root in the United Provinces, enriching the Netherlands, and there was nothing better than that - the Huguenots (who had done very well in this wave of disarmament) The army composed of believers, there are still more than 2 people) has been retained, if there is a war in the future, they will become a nightmare for the French.

After experiencing two wars, the people of the Netherlands are now inspired with patriotic enthusiasm.The arduous War of Independence with the Spaniards was talked about by many people, and the children were also instilled with the spirit of independence and freedom, that is, the Dutch will never be slaves!For these reasons, the people are even willing to contribute one-third of their income to the country in the most difficult times.Because they know that the money will be turned into guns, cannons, and warships, which is necessary to protect their survival and freedom!So people are happy to give their money to the state, thinking that it will be put to the best use and that everyone will benefit in the end - although there are also those who feel that there is outrageous abuse and corruption in this public money .

After smoking, Jensen smoked his pipe on the tree trunk, put on his top hat, and walked down the mountain.He still has a lot of things to do, such as negotiating with the people on the east coast to buy warships.

Speaking of this, it may be a little embarrassing.But the fact is that the Saldan shipyard, once the world's largest, most technologically advanced and cheapest in construction, has shown signs of twilight.Not only are the ships built by people on the east coast cheaper and better than them, but even many shipyards in England have come from behind, surpassing this old-timer in the shipbuilding industry, just like many industrial enterprises in the Netherlands that are slowly disappearing.

It's not that the Dutch didn't think about revitalizing the shipbuilding industry, but it was really too difficult.First of all, most of the materials used in shipbuilding, such as masts, planks, wood tar, cables, canvas, anchor chains, leather and various metals, can only be purchased from outside, and the cost is not low; secondly, because of the emergence of new technologies, such as steam engines, the Netherlands This is a shortcoming. The technical ability is not even as good as that of North Germany, and it can only be purchased out. Thirdly, the labor cost of the Netherlands is relatively high, which is far lower than that of England, France and Germany.Combining many factors, it is not surprising that the Dutch shipbuilding industry is declining.Without a strong industrial backing, without a vast colony to provide raw materials, you still want to compete with others in the shipbuilding industry, isn't it a joke?

The current Dutch are selling ships relying on the relationship channels accumulated over the past decades or even hundreds of years.In addition, the well-developed financial industry may also provide some help, because many people do not buy ships in full and often need financing. The Netherlands happens to have an advantage in this regard, with sufficient bank loans and low interest rates, which has attracted some customers.But in the long run, the decline of the Dutch shipbuilding industry is inevitable. The land area is small, the population is not large, the industry is underdeveloped, and there is a neighboring country that has always wanted to invade it. The Dutch shipbuilding industry represented by Saldan Shipyard I'm afraid the end of the industry will not be too good.

The Dutch wanted to buy a lot of warships from the east coast this time. In addition to 120 sailing gunboats (to replace old ships that were about to be decommissioned), they also wanted to buy six battleships with more than [-] guns, and deliberately A steam propulsion system was required to withstand the strong pressure of the French Atlantic Fleet.

The steam engine sail battleship, the people on the east coast have actually licensed it for sale.However, the Ministry of the Navy still has different opinions on whether warships of this level like the "Executive Committee" can be sold.Because this kind of warship is still the first-class main force in today's East Coast Navy, it is not very appropriate to rashly sell it to foreign countries.But it was also pointed out that the French were already modifying the "Sun King", trying to install a steam propulsion system (like the British, the underwater sealing problem has not been solved), which would cause a generational advantage to the Dutch Navy, so it is Time to strengthen the strength of the Dutch Navy.Moreover, the Dutch ordered six ships at one go, and the price was not low, and the profits were huge, so there was no need to reject this door-to-door business.

However, the Ministry of the Navy has a firm attitude and insists on not giving in. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Trade, who are eager to do business, have nothing to do.Jensen De Haer started to move around after getting the general inside story from many sources, intending to push the east coast government to approve the sale of warships.However, he has recently been targeted by people from the Admiralty, so it may be difficult.

In addition, the Dutch also learned through their upper-level connections that the people on the east coast had developed a new generation of steam ironclad warships.This is undoubtedly a powerful warship that can change the rules of the naval battle game. The Hague government was also very tempted, and tentatively proposed to buy it, and offered a sky-high price of 300 million guilders, but was rejected by the people on the east coast without hesitation. .Jensen also thought it was useless, and consciously gave up activities in this area.

Of course, warships need to be bought. The Dutch, who built their country on seafaring, also ordered a lot of civilian ships, all of which were steam engine sailboats. They placed an order for 250 ships in one go, ranging in tonnage from 1000 tons to [-] tons.Most of the orders were placed by the large wholesalers in Amsterdam and the East India Company. They were rich and powerful, and they saw the possibility of the people on the east coast releasing civilian steam ships, so they placed orders without hesitation to prepare for future competition with English merchants.

In short, if wars are fought, life must be lived—these ships can also be used to transport strategic materials during the war, and there are still many uses—the business in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea has been heavily infiltrated by the English, and we must cheer up and compete up.As the spokesperson for the interests of the United Provinces on the East Coast, Jensen De Haer naturally had the responsibility to secure the most favorable discounted price for them.

There are still many things!Jensen De Heier let out a sigh of relief, no matter how difficult the finances are, the purchase of ships must be done well!This is not only to restore the economy and enrich the drier pockets of the Netherlands, but also to prepare for the possible outbreak of the Spanish succession war in the future.The United Provinces would never want to see France annex Spain, because that would be a huge nightmare for the people of the lowlands.No matter how difficult, no matter how great the price, we must spare no effort to prevent the French from annexing Spain. This is not only Jensen's personal opinion, but also the common view of the Dutch people!

(End of this chapter)