Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2371 Red Bridge

On the vast sea, the merchant ship "Red Bridge" of the English East India Company sailed alone.

"Red Bridge" is a ship with a story.It happened a few years ago, when another old East India Company (full name "London Merchant's East India Company", established on December 1600, 12, hereinafter referred to as "Old East India Company") was established on the Thames River The "Red Bridge" that was going to trade in India was seized, and then the anger of merchants in England who were very jealous of the Old East India Company was detonated. They believed that the Old East India Company had no right to seize the "Red Bridge".

This was debated in Parliament and the result was that "any British citizen has the right to trade with the East Indies".Since the power of the Congress is higher than that of the royal family, the royal charter in hand of the old East India Company is naturally invalidated, and they no longer have the right to monopolize the East India trade.

However, the result of the debate in Congress is actually a joke.It was announced earlier that anyone has the right to trade, but in fact, this is just a high-sounding rhetoric for overthrowing the monopoly of the old East India Company, and it is impossible in practice.Congress later passed a bill that merchants who had subscribed to specific government bonds (a total of 1698 million pounds in total, not everyone was actually eligible to buy) in 200 would be eligible to form the new East India Company.

The new East India Company, called the English East India Company, was established last year (1698) and sent ships to organize the first trade voyage before the end of the year.Interestingly, about one-sixth of the equity in the new East India Company is held by the old East India Company, because they invested 31.5 pounds.It can also be seen from this that the intricate and intriguing relationship among British capitalists is all about money.

The "Red Bridge" left the Thames before Christmas. In addition to a large amount of goods, there were also 50 hired British retired army officers and soldiers in the cabin.They are now employees of the New East India Company, and their task is to assist the company's business representatives to go to India to establish a business station and wait for opportunities to expand their influence.

There is no doubt that although the relationship between the two East India companies is unclear, and many shareholders are fundamentally the same person, there is still a certain degree of competition in the final analysis.Naturally, it was impossible to hand over the existing business stations, agents, and trade channels of the old East India Company to the new company. The new company had no choice but to build its own from scratch.No, the 50 soldiers onboard the "Red Bridge" went to Bangladesh to establish a new stronghold.This stronghold will take the purchase of saltpeter, pepper, coconut, gems, and perfume as its main business tasks, and at the same time find ways to control the local warlords for use by the new company.

After sailing for several months, the "Red Bridge" once docked at Qingdao Port and sold a considerable amount of Welsh white coal.The navy on the east coast likes this kind of coal very much, and purchases large quantities every year. For this reason, domestic coal producers on the east coast once satirized the navy as "too delicate"-but now that there is a coal shortage, the life of the coal mines on the east coast is very comfortable. Don't worry about coal not being sold - everything must be of the highest quality.

After the British sold coal and some other commodities, the cabin was basically empty.Later, they bought a large number of high-quality swords, armor, muskets, and cannons from the people on the east coast, and planned to transport them to India for sale.These weapons are cheaper than those produced in England, with good quality and uniform specifications (basically all parts are interchangeable). As a private trading company, there is really no reason not to buy goods from the East Coast.

It seems that it is precisely because of this that people on the east coast are extremely tolerant of British activities in India and rarely show hostility.This one is because their local strength is limited, and India is too big to monopolize all trade.Another reason is that the British purchased a large amount of goods from the east coast—at least weapons and metal products were purchased on the east coast—and sold them to India, acting as the de facto agent of goods on the east coast.For those industrial enterprises, there is almost no difference. Who buys it?The British voluntarily acted as agents and rushed to sell goods. What is there to be dissatisfied with?The only ones who may be a little bit critical are probably some east coast traders, but their voices are not loud enough and their influence is not strong enough to change the situation for the time being.

After sailing at sea for two days, the "Red Bridge" slowly drove into the free port of Cape Town, which is full of masts.The old East India Company had a commercial station here, and the New East India Company had sent people (digged a few corners from the old company) to buy land in Cape Town with a lot of money and built an office.The head of the office was Jack Child, an old East India Company clerk, a member of the younger generation of the academic family.

"Captain Douglas, after months of rough seas, you are still so glorious." Childe, who was wearing an oriental costume and waving a folding fan in his hand, said with a smile.

"After several years of studying and living on the east coast, you have successfully become an east coast person." Captain Douglas said while sitting on a chair casually, puffing.

Jack Child couldn't tell whether the captain said good things or bad things, so he could only smile awkwardly and said, "Let's talk about trade. According to the agreement, the company will give the king a considerable amount of aid every year, and at the same time To subscribe for some government bonds, this is not light pressure, we must establish a trading system as soon as possible."

"A great trading system cannot rely on the ship 'Red Bridge' alone." Captain Douglas said, "If there is no accident, four ships will arrive in Cape Town in a month's time. Let's do a good job of welcoming them, young man. .What you have to do is to buy a lot of goods and store them in the warehouse. Of course, you'd better buy them at a reasonable price, otherwise our profit will be greatly reduced. You know, we are a new company, in order to open In this situation, we must use some small means, and selling at a low price is the most appropriate."

It is said that the British royal family and Congress are not free.Although the Congress approved the formation of the new East India Company, it also stipulated many conditions, the most important of which was the regular purchase of treasury bonds, or the kind with long-term low interest rates, to help the government reduce financial pressure.In addition, although the royal family’s face was swept away by the congressional debate, after successfully obtaining the business license, the new company bribed the royal family and close ministers with large sums of money to clear up the relationship. Ironically, in the previous congressional debate, One of the crimes of the old East India Company was bribing government officials-they also promised to provide a sum of assistance to the royal family every year in the future, with an amount of no less than [-] pounds.

Therefore, now the new company especially needs to start business as soon as possible, and especially needs profits, otherwise the shareholders may be unhappy and doubt the ability of the management and the captains.

"The people on the east coast have now also formed an 'East India Company', called the East African Transportation Company, which specializes in trade in northwest India. Strictly speaking, they are in competition with us. Fortunately, the market in Cape Town is very free. Goods can be bought without any restrictions. But in any case, we need to be vigilant about the source of our supply. The best way is to establish our own industrial production system, and the closer to India, the better. The London headquarters closed at the end of last year I have contacted the Portuguese and plan to spend 15 pounds to buy a small port, which is located in Krimane. The place was a trading center in ancient times and was very prosperous, but it has declined now, with a small population and a semi-abandoned state. Therefore, the Portuguese have agreed, after all, they have sold the Port of Beira to the old East India Company before, and it is not difficult to make another decision to sell the land.” Jack Child talked eloquently, and it seemed that there were a series of plan.

"This is your business, Mr. Child." Captain Douglas took another puff of cigarette, and then said slowly: "You only need to do these things. As for the rest, we will do it. By the way As an extra reminder, it is best to prepare more weapons. I know that you have successfully applied for the weapons purchase license from the East Bank government, and the banks on the East Bank are also willing to provide you with mortgage loans, so there is no problem. The situation in India is getting worse now. The chaos is getting worse, and the company feels that it is necessary to directly intervene in the situation in India to gain an advantage. Otherwise, under the competition of the old East India Company, we may not achieve any good results, and we may even be driven away by them. Not impossible."

"Direct intervention?" Jack Child was a little surprised, and asked: "Is this a military invasion? I mean, the company has decided to directly use military means to attack and gain a foothold? Would this be too radical? gone?"

"No! Not radical at all! The timing is right, as long as you grasp the situation accurately. The French have already done this and achieved good results, why don't we follow suit? Of course, our current strength is still too large. Small, not enough to carry out such an intensive operation. But as long as the weapons and ammunition are stockpiled, and we have more than 1000 local soldiers, we can try to engage in some such activities. Military conquest, supporting puppets, and controlling the popularity of goods , the risk is great, but the benefits are incomparable." Captain Douglas said without hesitation: "In fact, the people on the east coast have gone a long way on this road. They have controlled the puppet armed forces in northwest India. , their own military strength is also very strong, if nothing else, they will organize a larger-scale military operation this year and next to further expand their advantages in Northwest India. Young people, India is no longer the same India as before , and now it's falling apart and debilitating, and yet it's so lusciously rich that no one can resist the temptation. The people of the East Coast are already a big step ahead, and we can't just hang around with peace of mind."

(End of this chapter)