Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2456

Free City of Gdansk, 1702 August 8.Under the clear sky, a "Jiqi" class escort gunboat escorted two Dutch merchant ships slowly into the port.

On the deck of the ship, Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong was still reprimanding a subordinate company commander: "Are you saying that you are pig-headed! Sheng Dehong's order is also carried out. Who is he? Civilian! What a mess!"

In fact, Yang Chengdong's words were somewhat unreasonable.Although Sheng Dehong is a civil servant, he is the supreme commander of the European garrison appointed by the executive committee. Although it is only in name, the facts are the facts. The Haji garrison regiment, the Danji garrison regiment, and the Ceuta garrison regiment are completely legal from a procedural point of view without any problems.

Of course, in actual operation, generally speaking, it is discussed by the plenipotentiary envoy and the chief officer of the army, and the special envoy himself rarely makes arbitrary decisions.In addition to controlling the army's logistics and finances, he can't intervene in personnel affairs at all, and he can't check the "black accounts" of each army (such as how the spoils of war are handled). The independence of the army is quite high.Therefore, this is also the reason why Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong was so angry when he "shocked" that Wolf's Cave Base had sent an infantry company to Amsterdam.

But anger is anger, since Sheng Dehong has already issued an order, and the left-behind deputy commander of the fourth mixed regiment also sent a company of infantry to the Netherlands to "ask for instructions", then this matter must continue, and it is not good to openly refute Sheng someone's face.Besides, this matter itself is also beneficial to them. Didn't Yang Chengdong have been idle for a long time, complaining that he didn't have the chance to fight?Now is the opportunity, so take advantage of it!

Therefore, after learning the news, Yang Chengdong had to rush to Amsterdam to join the infantry company that had come.Subsequently, he sent people to Portugal by boat, ordered the immediate mobilization of the whole army, and set off for the Baltic Sea.Sheng Dehong has even helped to contact the Portuguese in Lisbon. They will organize a group of merchant ships to help transport them. Two naval warships stationed in Ceuta Port will also set sail to Lisbon to escort the army.

Some people may say that taking over the Free City of Gdansk is just a matter of mobilizing a large number of people so as to pull the entire regiment over?Hey, at this time, our regiment leader Yang will come to teach you the secrets of the army.First of all, as the so-called cannon fires, ten thousand taels of gold, a regiment of 5000 troops is mobilized, and by the standards of the people on the east coast, it will cost a lot of money.Moreover, the chief officer of the army often asks for more supplies and more money. For example, Sheng Dehong directly signed a check for 50 yuan in French currency from the Agricultural Bank of the East Bank as the first batch of funds. ——Golden coupons are very popular in Europe now. After the fourth mixed group arrives in Gdansk, they only need to send someone to Riga or Windau to withdraw the money and then purchase supplies nearby, which is better than purchasing in Lisbon and then transporting them. It used to be much more convenient.

Secondly, after the troops are dispatched, once they engage in battle, it is possible to obtain spoils of war.The handling of these trophies, according to the East Coast tradition, is the Army's own business, and no one else can comment.The gains in this area are more or less. For example, if the enemy town resists fiercely, the people on the east coast will generally ask for a ransom fee after winning.If a city does not want to be attacked by the army on the east coast, and if the city can be fought or not in the eyes of the people on the east coast, then there will also be a redemption fee.In addition, the military materials seized on the battlefield, according to the regulations, can be kept if they can be used, but they need to be recorded and registered clearly, so that the logistics supply department can adjust the supplies issued to the department accordingly.But in fact, the accounts here are in a mess, and the gendarmes come to check them.Therefore, this area has always been the traditional private land of the army, and no one dares to comment on it.

So you now know why the Army is so keen on fighting.There is no other reason, it can greatly enrich the small treasury of the headquarters, so that everyone's welfare can be improved.For example, whoever dies in battle or disease can add an extra amount to the pension provided by the state so that their family members can live better; the same applies to the wounded, the cost of soup and medicine can be increased by a large amount based on the national standard. .In addition, if anyone has a problem, they can basically report and apply. After the army sends people to verify, they will issue some subsidies as appropriate.All in all, this money is critical to maintaining the morale and combat effectiveness of the troops, and it is also one of the important sources of authority for army leaders, large and small.

"Get ready to get off the boat! The guns are loaded with good ammunition and ammunition. The situation here is more complicated. I don't want any accidents." Yang Chengdong pulled out a pistol with ammunition and said.After so many years, it was indeed a novel experience for him to be able to go into battle with a pistol as a senior officer.

This time following Yang Chengdong, there was only one infantry company with 240 officers and soldiers, controlling a city as large as the Free City of Gdansk, to be honest, the strength is a bit weak.Think about it, tens of thousands of local residents with unknown attitudes—because Poland has been caught in the flames of war, and many refugees have fled recently, many people suspect that the population of the entire city has exceeded 240—hundreds of people from the east coast The more hateful Polish paramilitary personnel, and the stubborn priests who have been brainwashed by religion, what a complicated situation this is!It is wishful thinking to want to control the entire city with only [-] riflemen and a naval warship.

Fortunately, the Swedes are better!Because of the war against Poland, they have already sent troops to occupy the only port city that Poland can use, and have left an infantry regiment with more than a thousand people here to maintain order.The commander of this regiment has received an order not to evacuate for the time being, to assist the people on the east bank to stabilize the situation in the city until they can deal with various emergencies from inside or outside by themselves.By the way, the maintenance cost of this full infantry regiment (about 1250 people) can be discussed with the Principality of Courland, and they have agreed to pay the cost.

Here is an additional mention of the small transparent Principality of Courland in Livonia.Historically, it was easily captured by Charles XII's forces during the Great Northern War with great losses.Today, the people of the East Coast and the Dutch have jointly promised to provide protection, and this country has avoided the doom of subjugation.And not only that, the Principality of Courland, the only pure land in the war, has also attracted a large number of refugees and funds from Livonia and northern Poland. The population of the entire country has surged, and the bank liquidity is very abundant.Coupled with the existence of a large amount of entrepot trade, the Principality of Courland also made a fortune in this war, which is amazing!

Today, under the strong request of the consultants on the east coast, the Kurlanders took advantage of the large amount of cheap labor pouring into the country, allocated funds to build a large number of roads, improved the water and sewage facilities of nearly ten cities, built two modern hospitals, and at the same time Wendao Port has undergone in-depth reconstruction and renovation, which has greatly improved the cargo throughput and efficiency.

Of course, His Excellency the Grand Duke did not forget to expand his palace and holiday estate.The palace is located in Mitau, the capital, and was built by his father at a huge expense during his reign. Now his son spends a lot of money on expansion and repairs. In terms of scale, shape and artistic perspective, it has far surpassed most palaces in the Baltic Sea area, even Even the most popular Swedes are not as finished.The holiday estate is located in Kuldiga in the hinterland of the country. It covers an area of ​​several square kilometers, including manors, forests, horse farms and other facilities. It is very luxurious and costs hundreds of thousands of yuan in total.

The Dong’an consultant originally strongly opposed such extravagance and waste in the office, but His Excellency insisted. Considering that he has been more cooperative with Dong’an’s various suggestions and policies recently, the extravagance has been greatly curbed, and a large amount of funds have been used for domestic construction. Above, after deliberation, the advisory group finally agreed to the Grand Duke's request to expand the palace and build a new manor.However, they also specifically pointed out that the funds required for normal construction cannot be diverted, so in the end, Dagong still took out the loan, using the newly established Baltic Sea International Bank, ten years, 6% annual interest rate, the general contractor of the project For East Coast enterprises.

The Baltic International Bank is currently located in Riga, and will move its headquarters to the Free City of Gdansk after a while.The composition of the shareholders of this bank is relatively complicated, among which the Ministry of Finance of the East Bank holds 20% of the shares and is the largest shareholder.The government of Danzig County (Free City of Gdansk), which will be established in the future, holds 10% of the shares, East Coast Agricultural Bank holds 10%, United Industrial Credit Bank holds 10%, and South Sea Transport Company holds 5%.The distribution of the remaining 45% of the shares is also very interesting, 7% is sold to the government of the Principality of Courland, 7% is sold to the Swedish government, 7% is subscribed by Dutch businessmen or companies, and 7% is subscribed by English businessmen or companies. 5% of the shares are sold to the Russian government, 3% of the shares are subscribed by Polish businessmen or enterprises, 2% of the shares are sold to the Brandenburg-Prussian government, and the last 7% of the shares are sold publicly to investors from all countries, who You can buy them at Qingdao Port on the East Coast, Wendau Port in Courland, Riga Port in Sweden, Free City of Gdansk and Amsterdam Port in the Netherlands.

From here we can also see that the Baltic International Bank is a very nationalized financial institution.East Shore Capital is in a simple majority holding position, but absorbs a large number of regional shareholders in order to reduce resistance and rapidly expand business capabilities.After all, everyone knows that eating alone is not good, and countries as strong as Midi in later generations would not dare to do such extremes-whoever controls the finance of a region will gain the greatest influence in the region.

First, the Free City of Gdansk, then the Baltic Sea International Bank, and the government of the Principality of Courland, which has long been controlled by the people on the east coast. The Chinese East Coast Republic is accelerating its settlement in the Baltic Sea.This is also due to the blessing of the European War. Various countries fought to the death, and they really didn't have the energy or the will to prevent the East Coast government from infiltrating this rich area.The only thing that has the ability to stop it is the Kingdom of England, which is very dependent on the machines and parts on the east coast, but in today's general environment, they can only express a little dissatisfaction verbally, that's all - who controls Whoever controls the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea will control more than half of the wealth in Europe. This is a very clear thing!

At 1702:8 pm on August 20, 240, [-] officers and soldiers of the Fourth Mixed Regiment led by Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong confidently set foot on the pier of the Free City of Gdansk.This is a historic moment, marking that the East Coast government can exert the most direct influence in the Baltic Sea area, which will have a profound impact on the situation in the region in the coming decades or even longer.

(End of this chapter)