Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 927 Transportation Line Lifeline ([-])

On August 1652, 8, Van Boyningen packed his luggage and planned to sail to Sweden after a while, hoping to persuade the Kingdom of Sweden, which has close economic relations with the Netherlands, to join the Dutch side with his three-inch tongue. England against.To be honest, Van Beuningen felt that he had little hope for this trip. The Swedes are not fools. They have their own interests. This country with no decent navy is more likely to maintain neutrality in this war, and at the same time sell a lot of supplies to the Netherlands. To make war fortune and expect them to pay for the ship to fight against the up-and-coming British, there is really little hope.

However, before the trip, Van Beuningen was ordered by the Dutch provincial council and the Hague three-level council to personally visit Mo San to discuss some "extremely important" matters-in fact, those conditions that the two sides had not negotiated before, because of the external situation. Change, the Dutch intend to make some substantive concessions in exchange for the East Coast on their side - of course secretly.

For the past month, warships from England and the United Provinces have been playing hide-and-seek at sea.The Dutch were anxiously seeking a decisive battle with the English, but the English were not impatient. They concentrated more than half of their warships in a sea area and kept raiding the Dutch merchant ships and fishing boats without escorts, causing heavy losses to the Dutch. .

Especially in the waters off Scotland and near Iceland, the British fleet commander Blake commanded British warships to shamelessly attack the unescorted Dutch fishing boats, and got a lot of money, which made the Dutch frustrated.For this reason, Tromp also led the fleet to go to sea to find Black's fleet to fight, but there was no result, because the British were not easy to mess with. Both are stronger than the British, but the British warships are more suitable for naval warfare in terms of design, and the discipline is stricter. Therefore, the two sides have won and lost several times in the fight, but the Dutch have never been able to break the British's plundering of Dutch merchant ships. , the behavior of fishing boats, the situation of the battle is quite unfavorable for them.

"The price of your fish has increased again." Mo San wiped his mouth with a napkin, put down a cod that he had gnawed, and said meaningfully: "What? Didn't go well off the coast of Scotland? Didn't succeed in defeating your fishing boat British fleet?"

As soon as he entered the door, he received such a "blow in the head" from Mo San, and Van Beuningen, who had just turned 30 years old, suddenly felt a little uncomfortable: "The shameless British can't stop us. We still have a lot of fishing boats in Iceland and Newfoundland. , not just rely on those fish off the coast of Scotland."

"The cod in Newfoundland is really good, and the quantity is very large. But the question is, can it be shipped back?" Mo San asked with concern, "I remember that the British also love fish very much, and they even set a weekly Friday and Saturday are 'Fish Day', which leads to a huge market demand. But they only have more than 500 boats (more than 1 fishermen) fishing in the Newfoundland fishing grounds, which is far from enough. I think they're going to rob you of the fish you catch, and the Shetland Islands, which are rich in fishing resources, is a focus, isn't it?"

The English were rampant at this time. Their main fleet was divided into two groups. One group was led by Monk and continued to attack the Dutch merchant fleet in the Dover Strait; while the other group was led by Admiral Black to attack the Netherlands in the North Sea. At the same time, the fishing fleet intercepted the silver ship of the Dutch East India Company passing by here, which made the Dutch extremely uncomfortable.

It is true that the fishing boats of the British are not comparable to those of the Netherlands in terms of single-ship tonnage and total tonnage, and the fishing technology is even more different. Therefore, in the past, most of the domestic fishing market in England was monopolized by Dutch merchants. Overseas markets (such as Spain) do not have the share of the British, which is too miserable.Even the whaling industry near the Spitsbergen Islands, the British let the Netherlands drive it like a lost dog. The Dutch have a stronghold and a processing factory in the local area, and the British are not rivals at all. Therefore, the Dutch whale oil products ( Soap, lamp oil, candles, etc.), whalebone clothing became popular in Europe, making the British envious and jealous.

But now everything has changed. The huge British fleet is cruising around the North Sea and the Strait of Dover, attacking Dutch merchant ships and fishing boats that are too large to escort. Sneak attack on unprotected Dutch merchant ships, attacking the war potential and will of the Netherlands.

The results of the British attacking Dutch merchant ships and fishing boats have now begun to bear fruit. Overseas supplies shipped to the Netherlands and Zeeland provinces have been decreasing. At the same time, ships captured from the Netherlands in British ports are parked everywhere. Several auctions have been held for this reason, and many merchants have bought many ships at a very low price, and the English government has also raised a large amount of war funds for this.

"Frankly speaking, Mr. Special Envoy, what you said makes sense to a certain extent." Van Boyningen's face was already very pale, and at this moment he could only hear him say through gritted teeth: "But what I don't think you are clear about is that in the sea off Scotland The lost ships are really insignificant for the United Provinces, which has a total of 6400 fishing boats. Our huge fishing boats are still active in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, creating a steady stream of wealth for the United Provinces. "

"Perhaps." Mo San decided not to tease this young boy from a famous family anymore, and instead said in a relatively relaxed tone: "Then, Mr. Mayor, did you bring me any good news this time?" ? You know what I'm referring to, that's right, it's our unresolved negotiations last time, it's a pity that Speaker Drenthe is not here, but I can understand that he must be very busy recently..."

Speaking of this, Mo San couldn't help but take advantage of the other party in terms of words.Because he heard that no matter in The Hague or Amsterdam, there are too many angry businessmen and people, and now Speaker Drenthe doesn’t even dare to go out without guards, because there are too many people who want to kill him on the street. Too many - all men who suffered heavy losses from the British Navy - many people are saying that it is the Drenthe brothers who are carrying the Orange family to the throne, and at the same time supporting the stupid, doing nothing Tromp in the United States dominates the position of admiral, otherwise they would have defeated the British.

Regardless of the truth, it is true that Amsterdammers are now extremely dissatisfied with the three levels of parliament that represent the government. They have had enough of this ineffective institution and want a military strongman from the House of Orange back in power, just like the one from Spain many years ago. They saved them from the English as they saved them from the hands of the English—but they seem to forget that just two years ago, with their support, the Drenthe brothers closed the gates of Amsterdam, and then prevented William II from leading the The 1.2 coup soldiers rushed to prevent the Orange family from coming to power to rule the Netherlands.

People, it is always easy to forget!

"Speaker Drenthe has agreed to sever all diplomatic and commercial ties with the Qing government, but at the same time there is an additional condition." Van Boiningen said in a reluctant tone, considering his words.

"Why are there additional conditions?" Mo San was a little unhappy.

"Additional conditions are also good for you, that is, you have to find a way to export a certain amount of raw silk, porcelain and tea to the East India Company. If possible, some other valuable oriental commodities are also what we need. This will be detailed later. Talk," Van Beuningen said.

"Then is the condition for the sale of Tuleer Commercial Station and its affiliated areas as mentioned before still count?" Mo San confirmed.

"The Tulare Merchant Station can be sold to you as a whole at a price of 50 guilders, including local real estate, farms and pastures, as well as contracts for 116 German mercenaries, all sold out to you as a whole." Van Boyningen explained, " The East India Company has agreed to this opinion of the three Houses of Parliament."

"That's good!" Mo San nodded, and then continued to ask: "Then can you confirm that in the Principality of Moscow, the Principality of Courland, the Principality of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Sweden, businessmen from our country and your country have equal qualifications to compete?"

"The first three are completely irrelevant. The premise is that the grain and ship trade are still monopolized by our country, and the rest of the market is yours and we have the right to compete on an equal footing. In addition, the Kingdom of Sweden is the traditional market for our merchants, and we have also spent a lot of energy... "Van Beuningen was a little embarrassed.

"Please forgive me..." Mo San interrupted the young mayor's words without hesitation, and said: "If your country fails in this war, then the Kingdom of Sweden will no longer be officially monopolized by your country Enjoy, there is no doubt about this. Not only that, if your country loses the war, the British government will surely smooth out many competitive disadvantages in the Baltic Sea in the future, such as tolls in the Sond Strait and so on."

As early as 1649, the Netherlands dispatched its navy to intervene in the armed conflict between Denmark and Sweden, forcing the two countries to strike peace talks and at the same time forcing the Danish government to recognize the right of Dutch ships to pass through the Sond Strait tax-free. It played a huge role in giving their ships a trade advantage in the Baltic Sea.At that time, the British ambassador even protested strongly about this, but in the end the protest was invalid, and the matter was left alone. Dutch ships can still pass through the Sond Strait to enter the Baltic Sea for free, and the cost is inherently less than others.

In history, after the end of the Anglo-Dutch naval battle, the Danes also exempted the tolls for British ships passing through the Sond Strait after seeing the British power soar. At the same time, the Kingdom of Sweden, which was originally dominated by Dutch businessmen, also signed an economic cooperation agreement with the British. , the market was opened to the UK at the same time.The advantages of the Baltic Sea trade that the Dutch have gained through years of painstaking efforts have been eliminated bit by bit.

At this moment, Van Beuningen actually agrees with Mo San's words in his heart, and he obviously had a certain degree of authorization before coming, so after hesitating for a while, he finally agreed with Mo San coyly. Three words: "Products from your country can also enter the Swedish market, but Sweden's salt, salted fish, grain, wine, woolen trade (import), iron, ship tools, and timber trade (export) are still monopolized by Chinese merchants. In the commodity market, you and I have the same right to compete.”

"The most lucrative business is still monopolized in your hands. The largest imports of the Swedes are woolen fabrics, salted fish and salt, and the largest exports are ship tools, logs and iron ore, which are also in your arms. Let go, tsk tsk, you are really a miser." Mo San muttered, as if he was very dissatisfied, but in the end he agreed to this point.

Although Sweden has a population of just over 120 million (including German and Livonian territories, among which there are about 100 million Swedes, 50 million Germans, 30 Livonians, and [-] Finns), the import and export of goods is frequent. The purchasing power of the people is generally strong, and they also have a strong desire to consume. If you put in a lot of effort to manage it well, there will be a lot of profits in the future.

"His grandma's, it's not easy to grab some food from the mouths of the Dutch! If the Dutch are not in trouble, it will take until the year of the monkey for these virtuous guys to spit out some benefits?" Mo San secretly sighed psychologically, and at the same time felt more and more that the East Bank could gain the greatest benefit only by acting as a European shit-stirring stick.

(End of this chapter)