Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 605 Midsummer in the Western Mediterranean ([-])

July 1647, 7, Messina, sunny.

Mo San was half lying comfortably under a palm tree, and in the distance was the beautiful and peaceful Tyrrhenian Sea.From time to time, there is a gentle sea breeze blowing ashore from the sea, which makes Mo San very comfortable.He needs rest so much now. He has worked hard in France for more than a month but got nothing. He is even despised by some young nobles who have not yet grown their hair. This makes him very depressed. The French are so arrogant. !You will pay for it!

Mario of the Doria family went to the east coast by boat as early as May, and there were many consultants from the banking industry, textile industry (silk textile), and grain trade industry with him. Check out the East Coast market.The Genoese are now seriously overcapitalized. They even invested tens of millions of bank lire in heretics like Morocco. It seems that it is not surprising that they spent money investing in the East Coast Republic of China in the New World.

The Genoese are like this, they will always try to seize every opportunity to make money, especially in this era of fierce competition from the Portuguese Jews and the Dutch, the Genoese must find a new way out.Otherwise, the commercial advantages they gained by defeating the Venetians in the previous 200 years, the banking and distribution networks all over Europe, will gradually become invalid as time goes by.The Republic of Genoa's cramped and barren land and a population of only 50 cannot support large syndicate companies like St. George's. They can only maintain Genoa by expanding their businesses and constantly looking for new investment opportunities. human advantage.

And the people from the east coast who rose like a comet made the Genoese see a possibility at the right moment. Although the geographical location of this country is a little farther from Europe and a little remote, it cannot be said that it has no investment value.What are you afraid of?The Genoese could invest in New Spain, fund Spanish expeditions to explore the Colorado River basin, and provide credit support to Spanish estate owners in the New World, so what business would they dare not do?

Moreover, this country on the east coast gives people a feeling of great potential, and their ability to make money seems to be quite good. For example, their cotton cloth, leather, and weapons have swept the Ottoman market; farm tools and hardware products have flooded France and northern Italy; recently They even began to export soap and soda ash to Europe in small quantities. These are very profitable commodities, and the price is unbelievably low, which has attracted the attention of many people.

All in all, people from the east coast have great investment potential.Whether the Genoese's shrinking business network can be saved has been perplexing the entire Genoa, but now it may be possible to find a way with the cooperation of the East Coast people.Relying on the distribution network of Genoese people all over Europe—well, now it’s not like before, the main sphere of influence is concentrated in the Western Mediterranean and South Germany—if we can underwrite cotton cloth, leather, arms, steel, even soap, soda ash and other high-quality and cheap goods In the case of goods from the east coast, then these distribution networks will definitely be able to revive and develop greatly.

"The ten-year ten-year loan of 1000 million lira (about 164 million yuan) has almost been settled. Our Doria family subscribed for 300 million, St. George Commercial Bank subscribed for 200 million, Palermo Bank subscribed for 200 million, and Sao Paulo Bank subscribed for 200 million. 100, and the remaining [-] was subscribed by some of our important private clients—landlords and grain wholesalers in Sicily.” Alessandro Doria sat next to Mo San with a glass of wine, and said softly .This is his private manor, and the servants wisely avoided it, leaving room for private conversation between Mo San and Alessandro.

"Many years ago, you sponsored some forces in Sicily to fight for domination through economic means, and then this island became a vassal of your Genoese." Mo San didn't answer Alessandro's words directly, but involved other aspects : "Look, the sugar cane plantations here were the only places in Europe that produced sugar at that time, but this business was completely controlled by you within a few decades. Sicily is the most important wheat producing area in Italy, but now here The landowners and farmers in the country have completely lost the right to set prices for wheat, because most of the grain wholesalers here are Genoese. They have become agricultural workers working for you, and you have grabbed most of the profits. Do you want me to say more , Sicilian timber was exported to Genoa at an astonishingly low price, and then shipped back for sale..."

"You are not from Sicily..." Hearing Mo San's sharp words, Alessandro couldn't help being a little embarrassed, so he explained: "Sicily is only separated from Genoa by the Tyrrhenian Sea, but the east coast is separated from Genoa by the Tyrrhenian Sea." And we have no interest in controlling your factories or your economy, we just want to find a good investment opportunity, if you are not at ease, we can use a system acceptable to both parties when the time comes for formal negotiations To restrain, I think it is not difficult."

"But you control the distribution network of our country's goods, and we lack reasonable pricing power." Mo San continued.

Hearing this, Alessandro finally understood the meaning of Mo San's words, so his face suddenly became ugly: "Are you still unwilling to give up the exclusive monopoly of commodities to the Dutch West India Company?"

"The distribution scope of the Dutch West India Company is different from yours. At that time, everyone can re-divide the sales scope." Mo Sanhao said leisurely, "Or the division of industries is the same. For example, you represent our cotton sales, soda ash, soap , Grain, let the Dutch agents, anyway, they have quite a lot of experience in this field, and the channels and markets are also very mature.”

"But the devil believes that the Dutch will obey the rules!" Alessandro raised his voice suddenly, causing the servants in the distance to look here frequently, and he continued: "You have allowed the Dutch to sell wheat to France. Is it? But they are still shipped over and sold, their commercial system is also very developed, and we lack a sufficient supervision system, we can't restrain them at all, and the Dutch will only mess up the market."

In the final analysis, the Genoese are still reluctant to part with the expected huge profits, and they are just trying to monopolize the right to sell all goods on the east coast.They monopolized many industries in Spain, such as pig iron, silk, wool, finance, etc., and also controlled a considerable part of the sales channels of American goods, so they had enough of the sweetness of monopolizing trade.At this time, we discussed cooperation with the people from the East Coast, and they asked for the right to monopolize sales without hesitation.

But Mo San is not out of his mind, how could he agree to such a slightly excessive request from the Genoese?Therefore, he has been unwilling to respond directly to the other party's request during these days of vacation in Messina. At this time, under the pressure of Alessandro, he acquiesced in the fact that he would not give the Genoese the monopoly right to sell goods.

Having said that, both sides were silent for a while.After a long time, Alessandro broke the silence first, and only heard him change the subject: "Forget it, let's not talk about these disappointing topics, let's talk about other things, such as the Spaniards."

"I am very interested in everything about the Spaniards." Mo San also became interested at this time.Although the bankers in Genoa actively or passively withdrew from the Spanish financial market after 1627, their long-term cooperative relationship could not be broken at will. They are still inextricably linked with the Spaniards. For example, they are currently undertaking the business of distributing military salaries to some Spanish troops stationed overseas (such as Naples).And sometimes the Spaniards will think of them when they are short of money to borrow money, so the Spanish intelligence that comes out of their mouths is extremely credible and of course very valuable.

"The Spaniards want to build ships, but they don't have enough money." Alessandro said succinctly, "The Portuguese Jews asked for a high price, and the king was very dissatisfied. Similarly, the Dutch asked for a 15% annual At the same time, they also asked for the monopoly right to sell Cinney Cream. They did not know where they heard that this thing can cure fevers common in the East Indies, and Peru happens to produce this kind of thing, so they are very eager to monopolize it. The right to sell the drug. Rather, they intend to buy up all the drug produced in Peru and take it to the East Indies to treat their colonial officials, engineers and officers."

Speaking of this, Alessandro stared straight at Mo San with his blue eyes, and said: "It is said that this news first came from the French in Fort Doufan, Madagascar, and then the Dutch used some means to It was confirmed by the Spaniards in Peru. The Spaniards said that people from the east coast smuggled a considerable amount of cinchona bark powder from them every year, and then the French also confirmed that you used this medicine on a small scale in Madagascar to treat fever."

Hearing this, Mo San couldn't help scolding Madagascar's sieve-like anti-espionage network, but he immediately changed the subject professionally: "Don't talk about these unproven 'stories', Alessandro, talk about Spain Man, what are they doing besides borrowing money around?"

"In general, there are no forces in the Spanish court that specifically target you. Everyone's eyes are still fixed on Paris. It is said that some French nobles have repeatedly sent people to contact you. The specific content is unknown-but you can guess it. Therefore Well, the Spaniards didn't regard you as a big trouble. However, in view of the fact that you have repeatedly provoked the authority of the Kingdom of Spain in the Southern Netherlands, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Tyrrhenian Sea, His Majesty Philip IV still decided to start the construction of 10 A galleon with more than three masts is used to supplement the Mediterranean fleet that has lost too much to ensure the safety of our country's coastal waters."

"In addition to these things, the Spaniards are also preparing to form three regular infantry regiments, which will be transferred to Puerto Rico, Cuba and Florida in the Caribbean to prevent the increasingly rampant 'pirate attacks'." Alessandro said Shrugged here, "Look, you showed your paws aggressively to Spain, but they didn't take you seriously at all. In my opinion, it's better to end this boring war as soon as possible."

"Ending the war is easy to say." Mo San smiled wryly, and said, "But who will mediate, you?"

(End of this chapter)