Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 671 Chaos in the Black Sea ([-])

Ma De has been quite busy recently. On the one hand, the political situation in the Ottoman Empire has been chaotic recently, and many projects invested by people on the east coast have been affected. The Crimean Khanate, which provided 3000-5000 female slaves, has also recently started frequent military mobilization. Their khan has asked the people on the east bank to order a large amount of weapons and ammunition. It seems that large-scale military operations are brewing.

Of course, the military operations of the Crimean Tatars were not directed against the Ottomans.Although the Crimean Khanate has a strong domestic opposition to surrendering to the Ottoman Empire, it seems that the country has offended too many people and can only seek asylum from the Ottoman Empire, otherwise it will be squeezed by the joint efforts of Poland and Moscow. The following become powder.Their so-called military operations were actually mainly aimed at the Poles.

Since last year, when a Cossack named Bogdan Khmelnytsky, a former book editor, arrived in Zaporozhye Secchi, the entire southern Russian steppe fell into an atmosphere of extreme tension.Ordinary local Cossacks lined up everywhere, preparing to launch a new rebellion against the Poles.

Of course, the Poles had already learned about this news from the traitors they had placed in the Cossack group, but they thought it was just an ordinary rebellion—unlike the Russian Cossacks, the Ukrainian Cossacks were specialists in rebellion—so they didn’t Too much attention, they just asked the Cossacks in Ukraine to hand over the rebel leader, which was of course rejected by the Cossacks.Then the Poles were not surprised, but slowly dealt with this matter according to the previous process: Maybe a Polish army will come to suppress these lawless Ukrainian Cossacks in a few months.

Under such circumstances, the number of weapons flowing from Crimea to the grasslands of South Russia has greatly increased.There is no doubt that these are all cheap and high-quality equipment from the East Coast Republic of China.The Ukrainian Cossacks, who were preparing for a major rebellion, were the end users of this equipment, and the Crimean Tatars also intended to back the Cossacks against their common enemy, the Poles.

In the vast area of ​​the South Russian Plain, there are many forces, such as the Zaporozhye Cossacks representing the interests of the Ukrainian natives, some Cossacks who have defected to the Ottoman Empire, the so-called book Cossacks incorporated by the Polish government, and the Crimean Tatars. People, the many Tatar tribes that split off after the fall of the original Astrakhan Khanate, and a small number of Cossacks incorporated by Russia.The mixing of these groups with different interests makes this vast land full of chaos, backwardness and ruthless killing.

The three big powers of Ottoman, Poland, and Moscow are wrestling behind their backs. The Orthodox Church, Catholic Unity, and Christianity are vying for territory. Ukraine, with sharp ethnic, cultural, and religious conflicts, is like a powder keg, and earth-shattering events may occur at any time. explosion.And once it explodes, the ones who suffer the most are naturally the current nominal owners of this land, the Poles.

If the events in Ukraine and Crimea only slightly attracted Mudd's attention, then the political storm gradually gathering over Istanbul is enough to make people feel frightened.A good friend of the people from the east coast, the former Aleppo Pasha Nasuh Zad Hussein is very well-informed in the Ottoman officialdom. He can often gain insight into various official secrets that others do not know. This slick guy seemed to smell something again, and then quietly left Istanbul a few days ago and went to Kaffa in the north.And before he left, he was still very righteous, and brought the envoy Ma De, who had left the East Coast people here, to live in his manor to avoid a series of political storms that might arise.

The political struggle in the Ottoman Empire was extremely tragic.Every sultan's accession to the throne is a reshuffling of the old forces, and it is even more bloody. Therefore, it is better to avoid this kind of incident, so as not to damage the interests of individuals and even the country.Ma De himself came to Kaffa. On the one hand, he borrowed Nasukh Pasha's tiger skin to ask the Crimeans not to cut off the supply of female slaves. , Maratha Light Rail Freight Line) and the construction of Kaffa Port.

In addition to him, seven or eight entourages also took some servants hired locally to the ports of Burgas, Thessaloniki, Smyrna and Suez.The technical services of these port expansion projects have been outsourced to the East Coast Republic. Recently, the Ottoman situation has been turbulent, and many projects have come to a standstill, which makes Made very anxious.The suspension of the project means the delay of the construction period, and the delay of the construction period means that the people on the east coast cannot get the remaining service fees in time.In addition, a large amount of cement, steel prefabricated parts, dock machinery and other things from the east bank were brought in but could not be used in time. The warehouse of the east bank commercial hall could not be piled up, and another place had to be rented on the dock for storage.

The expansion and modernization of these five ports (except for Suez and Smyrna, the other three ports were added later), the Kaffa mining area railway, and the high-level combat readiness road from Istanbul to Edirne are all important projects in East China. A large-scale infrastructure service contract between the Shore Republic and the Ottoman Empire.Among them, the Ottoman Empire provided ordinary labor and some materials, and the East Coast Republic provided technical engineers, construction tools, materials and machinery that the Ottoman Empire could not produce or could not be produced cheaply. The total cost of the entire project was 180 million yuan.The scheduled construction period is five years, and it is conservatively estimated that it can bring a net profit of nearly 20 yuan to the East Coast Republic of China every year.

Such profits can no longer be ignored, not to mention that this is just the beginning. If these projects are successfully completed and the Ottomans are more satisfied-this is almost certain, and orders will continue to come in later. Such as the second section of the road from Edirne to Plovdiv, the expansion of Alexandria, the road/rail project from Suez Port to Alexandria, etc.

And when the road is repaired, there will be no fewer vehicles walking on the road.For example, the Ottoman government had previously purchased 1.5 heavy-duty cargo carriages from the east coast. The carriages were manufactured by the Southern Vehicle Factory and had a load of [-] tons. They traveled fast on smooth roads.The price of each truck equipped with bearings and shock-absorbing springs is only [-] yuan. The Ottomans have responded very well after using it. At present, additional orders are already brewing, especially those orders from private merchants. The government of the Ottoman Empire made people feel happy.

In addition, in the second half of 46, the Ottoman government and some big businessmen who had been transporting in the Black Sea all the year round ordered a total of about fifteen large three-masted flute-type transport ships from the east coast.These ships agreed to deliver them intensively within the two years of 48 and 49, so as to gradually replace the unsafe and outdated Isaac sailing ships currently widely used in Ottoman countries.Two-thirds of the fifteen ships were ordered by the Ottoman government to transport various materials for the war, and the remaining five were ordered by Jewish and Armenian merchants along the Black Sea coast to undertake transportation tasks.

All in all, in the past few years, the East Coast Republic of China has been able to earn more than 140 million yuan in net profits from the Ottoman Empire through roads and shipping, and the average annual profit is close to 30 yuan. It can be said that it has a wealth of financial resources. There are skills in making money and making money.

After Ma De came to Kaffa Port to deal with a bunch of affairs, he came to Nasukh Pasha's village.In the past two days, Nasukh Pasha has fully devoted himself to the daily management of the Azov Sea Chamber of Commerce. Apart from controlling part of the female slave business, this chamber of commerce is also preparing to enter the shipping business with a high profile.

At present, the offshore transportation of the Ottoman Empire is completely controlled by the French, especially in the White Sea (Aegean Sea), where French captains undertake more than half of the maritime transportation tasks.The French are too powerful on the White Sea, and they have been operating in Ottoman for many years, and their relationship is also intertwined. It is unwise to rush to grab the market. Therefore, Nasukh Pasha and his allies set their sights on the Black Sea .

Compared with the White Sea, the transportation of the Black Sea is not inferior. After all, all kinds of materials (iron ore, leather, slaves, agricultural and animal products) needed in Anatolia and Istanbul rely on the supply here, so invest in The shipping industry here is absolutely lucrative.The Azov Maritime Chamber of Commerce plans to order five flute-shaped transport ships from the people on the east coast in the near future to undertake the maritime freight business; in addition, they are also planning to recruit people from the east coast to join in the joint establishment of the Black Sea Liner Company, and open the Kafa, Odessa, Regular passenger flights between the ports of Burgas, Istanbul, Trebizond, etc.

The Ottoman Empire has a population of more than 5000 million, and the degree of commercial prosperity is not bad, and the passenger transport business between various ports still has great potential for development.The ships required by the liner company are specially provided by the East Coast Republic (that is, the non-steam version of the "Sprint Champion" class immigrant ship), and they are converted into money and included in the share capital.Before Mo San left for Western Europe, he helped Nasukh Pasha contact some domestic time travelers. To be honest, everyone is still very interested, and has already conducted two meetings with Nasukh Pasha and others. consultation.Among them, Mo San and Ma De also invested [-] yuan each. At present, this matter has entered the substantive operation stage, and there should be results in the near future.

The servants at Nasukh Pasha's village had long turned a blind eye to Mo San and Ma De.Therefore, Ma De soon went straight to Nasukh Pasha's room. Nasukh Pasha, who was looking through the materials, saw him and immediately said with a smile: "I just took you to Kafa for refuge. But now you may have to go back to Istanbul again, there is a big deal waiting for you, and the Aga of the Praetorian Guards can't wait to change the weapons and equipment of their troops, and they seem to have suffered enough in Crete."

(End of this chapter)