Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 930 Transportation Line Lifeline ([-])

Mo San stayed in Holun and Enkhui once again with a shy face for a week, but the results were mediocre.At the moment when Britain has officially declared war on the Netherlands, the Dutch businessmen whose business has been greatly affected are now busier than ever, because everyone is scrambling to hire ships returning to Hong Kong one after another, and then venture out to sea again in spite of the navy's warning, chasing the lovely gold.

As a yellow-skinned pagan diplomatic envoy, Mo San was not welcome in the eyes of the Dutch red-haired. If it weren't for the entire Chinese East Coast Republic to support him, the Dutch probably wouldn't even see him.But Mo San doesn't care about these at all, what he cares about is how to get greater benefits for the East China Republic.

After wandering for a week in Holen and Enkhuizen, two port cities mainly engaged in Baltic trade, he only made acquaintance with one merchant - but a big man - Cornelis of the Bickel family.The Bickel family is a well-known Dutch family. Cornelis' father is a member of the Amsterdam City Council and a member of the Dutch Provincial Council.Of course, compared with his title in politics, he has quite a reputation in the business world. He was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company and was one of the first Dutch businessmen to open up the Moscow market.

The Bickel family came to the Cornelis generation, and the eldest son Andris inherited his father's position in politics and entered the Amsterdam City Council.Andris had three other brothers, Jacob in the grain trade in the Baltic, Cornelis who invested almost all his money in America and West India Company stocks, Jan in charge of the Mediterranean trade, and their sister Elizabeth with Marriage of the newly-rising Tripp family - the dead old Tripp left a huge business empire, mainly iron and copper mining and foundry and arms trade, and at the same time during the 30-year war, he loaned money to the King of Sweden every year 75 guilders (the Swedes compensated with income from copper and iron mines), and the power is also very strong.

Mo San was able to get on the line of Cornelis, thanks to the introduction of the Tripp family - this kind of introduction was just a random introduction in the eyes of the Tripp family, but for Mo San and some other small and medium-sized businessmen, But it's a pie that fell from the sky.And for Cornelis, who has invested a lot in the Caribbean Sea and the West India Company, contacting people on the east coast is not a bad thing, after all, he is also very concerned about his investment status—although he rarely goes to the New World , the person who goes on his behalf is usually a family manager.

Mo San was also very satisfied with being able to talk to Cornelis—for God's sake, the people on the east coast have been doing business with the West India Company for so many years, and it can be regarded as talking to one of the big bosses behind the scenes, which is gratifying.During the two-hour meeting between the two parties, Mo San did not fail to achieve results. He reminded Cornelis that the Portuguese, who are competing with the West India Company for the ownership of the northeastern part of Brazil, must have They will not let it go, they will definitely take the opportunity to step up their offensive in order to completely expel the Dutch from Brazil.

Cornelis was convinced of this, but there was not much he could do about it.Because the West India Company has been opened up to now, due to the continuous wars all year round, the income is actually very poor, so investors are unwilling to increase investment again.Especially at a time when transport ships are being intercepted by the British in large numbers, investing heavily in the West India Company seems quite risky.

Mo San understood the thoughts of Cornelis and others, so he categorically stated that the China East Coast Republic could provide a large amount of stockpiles of weapons and military funds to the West India Company, and the price was favorable and the quality was high. Raid slaves along the coast (Slave Coast, Savage Coast) - Unlike other countries, the slaves in the Netherlands mainly come from their own capture - fighting the Portuguese in northeastern Brazil, fighting the Portuguese in the New Netherland (later New York State It is very beneficial to fight with the native Indians, and there is no need to ship from Europe at all, which cuts off the possibility of the British intercepting.

Cornelis was very tempted by Mo San's proposal, saying that he would instruct his own ships to set off from Recife to order a batch of weapons and military supplies from the east coast. For this reason, he signed a commodity supply and marketing contract with Mo San.The contract lasts for five years. In addition to purchasing a large amount of materials from the east coast, it also exports a large amount of cane sugar (coarse sugar), tobacco, dried fruits, cotton, cocoa and shipbuilding on the east coast from the Dutch Brazil and the West Indies to the east coast. Crucial Brazilian sumac and guaiac wood—the navy on the east coast is too demanding, and the main battleships don’t want old and dry Brazilian sumac. Therefore, this kind of wood has always been exported to the east coast by the Viceroyalty of Brazil and Peru. One of the bulk items.

After taking over this modest business from the Bickel family, Mo San felt that his work as a "sales representative" had been done very well, so under the urging of the De Haier family, he transferred from Enkhuizeng Returned to Amsterdam.Matthias of the De Haier family will take him to meet some guild representatives in Amsterdam today (August 8). After all, they have signed some food purchase contracts with the East Bank, and some relationships must be straightened out. .

The two arrived at the wine guild early in the morning of the next day and met with several members of the guild's leadership.As a big family in Holen, the De Haer family, and their in-laws have also gained a high reputation in Amsterdam, so things are going smoothly. The leaders of these guilds (basically big wine wholesalers) Lipu Trading Company was a little dissatisfied with being squeezed into this circle, but after some private exchange of interests, they finally did not make any troubles, but after asking Mo San a few things, they agreed to the Xiangshan dry red wine produced on the east coast , Xianghe wine entered the Amsterdam market.

Having said that, I would like to say one more thing, but in this era, even the Netherlands, which claims to be the most open to business, still has commercial policies with medieval local protectionism everywhere.For example, if wines from the East Coast want to enter the Amsterdam market, they must first obtain permission from the Wine Wholesalers Guild, and the agent of the East Coast Wines (Trip Company) must also apply to join the guild and be approved before they can sell wine wholesale. Otherwise, it will not be possible to sell East Coast wines in the city, and offenders will be thrown into prison.

Throughout the 17th century until the first half of the 18th century, the number of guilds in the Netherlands has been increasing rapidly, and the business and economy of the Netherlands are basically controlled by these large and small monopoly guilds.In particular, important industries such as grain, ironware, weapons, timber, fish, and wine are basically controlled by the only monopoly guild. All merchants and business owners in the Seven Provinces Alliance belong to these guilds. member.

The guild is extremely xenophobic and extremely vigilant against all foreign competing products that endanger the interests of its members.They charge members a fee, and then serve all members (including assistance), such as the Vintners Guild, which provides a weekly subsidy of 3 guilders to members of the guild who are living in difficulty.And it's not the only guild that does this. Doctors' guilds, goldsmiths' guilds, and silversmiths' guilds also provide members with a weekly subsidy of 3 shields for members who are sick or living in difficulty; tailors, booksellers, confectioners, etc. are not so strong Sufficient guilds only provide a weekly subsidy of 1-2 guilders to difficult members.

And in some wealthy guilds—such as the Grain Wholesalers Guild and Timber Wholesalers Guild—wealthy members of the guilds will also fund the establishment of some orphanages.The food standard of this orphanage is very high, and there is never a shortage of meat, fish, and eggs. Scholars are also hired to provide qualified education to the orphans, so that these orphans can acquire the necessary knowledge and ensure that their social class will not slip easily in the future. .Of course, this kind of orphanage only accepts the orphans of its members, and orphans other than members are not allowed to enter.

The Wine Merchant Guild that Mo San and De Haier are visiting now monopolizes the wine wholesale in the entire Amsterdam market, so they have obtained their approval and permission, and formally obtained membership (of course, the Tripp Company has obtained the qualification). A prerequisite for shore wine to be sold in Amsterdam - otherwise it would have to be smuggled.

After visiting the Wine Merchant Guild, De Haier took Mo San to various monopoly commercial guilds such as the Fish Merchant Guild, the Cheese Merchant Guild, and the Clothing Merchant Guild. With good communication and tacit understanding, the recognition of these guilds has been obtained, and the membership has been formally obtained, so it can be regarded as a signboard to sell things.

However, obtaining the approval of so many guilds in Amsterdam is only the first step, and the guilds in other places have not yet gone!Because of the special system of the Netherlands (confederation system), each city and each province is very independent.If this independence is reflected in the economy and commerce, it is the homogeneous guilds in every town.Do you think your membership in the Amsterdam Wine Merchants Guild is enough?No, that only allows your goods to flow unimpeded in the city, if you want to sell goods to Holen, sell to Enkhuizen, sell to Rotterdam, sell to Utrecht, you have to go to these separately You must join the local wine merchants' guild in the city, otherwise you will not be able to sell here, or you can only be represented by the guild members in these towns.

Of course, the Tripp Company does not want to join the guilds in every town (in fact, it is unlikely), they plan to only join the guilds in a few big cities-if they focus on international trade, they generally only need to join these regions The guilds are enough, because most of the entrepot trade takes place at these ports - as for other regions, it is better to develop agents.Therefore, in the next ten days or so, Mo San and De Haier rushed to important cities in important provinces such as the Netherlands and Zeeland without stopping, and completed the membership procedures respectively.

And when all this was finally done on September 9th, Mo San suddenly found himself almost exhausted—it was really hard for his grandma to sell something for the "Party State" in Europe!

(End of this chapter)