Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 931 Transportation Line Lifeline ([-])

"By the way, why don't we set up a soybean wholesaler's guild?" One day when Matthias was having a banquet, Mo San suddenly had an idea and suggested to him.

"The market prospect of this thing is hard to predict." Matthias shook the Italian red wine in the glass, shook his head and said: "The Genoese sold these things in Amsterdam, and the sales were not very satisfactory, so I can only say no." Losing money, it is very difficult to make a lot of money at present.”

"People in Genoa can sell soybeans in Amsterdam. How do they sell them? Grain?" Mo San was not very clear about how the Genoese operate the wholesale sales of these commodities, so he asked.

"It should be sold as miscellaneous grains together with corn from central Italy. They are deeply rooted locally. Many bankers and large wholesalers in Amsterdam can find Italian ancestry if they go back two or three generations. In addition, these miscellaneous grains are new things. , and there is no monopoly guild will hinder, so of course the Genoese can sell freely." Mathias said after thinking for a while.

"Then we can form a soybean wholesaler's guild with Genoese people, and then sell soybeans produced in the east coast. Isn't this a very good idea?" Mo San suddenly became excited and asked.

"Theoretically, this is possible." Mathias said disapprovingly, "And the Genoese and our firm can join the club, but you can't."

"Why? Is it because we are foreigners?" Mo San asked.

"To be precise, you are not citizens of Amsterdam." Mathias said: "Let's put it this way, you first have to live in Amsterdam for a long time, then apply for citizenship, and then pay a lot of money. Be a citizen of Amsterdam. Unfortunately, you are neither from Germany nor from Flanders, but you are an oriental, and you are not a child of the converted Lord, so IMHO you have no chance of becoming an Amsterdam Citizens. And becoming a citizen of the city is a prerequisite for being a member of the council, government officials, and joining various guilds, so you understand what I mean."

Mo San nodded clearly.He lived in Amsterdam for a short time, he didn’t believe in Protestantism, and he was also an eye-catching yellow man, so it was impossible for him to obtain the qualifications of Amsterdam citizens. Didn’t you see that in many Dutch cities, Jews’ applications for citizenship were repeatedly rejected.However, they have plenty of money, have lived in Europe for a long time, and have great influence. Therefore, although many people do not believe in religion, it is still possible to gain the qualifications of honorary citizens by doing something.But people on the east coast seem to have more difficulty walking this path than they do, and the biggest difficulty seems to be because they are not white.

"Stupid citizen qualifications, pretending to be like this, is like an idiot!" Mo San commented on Matthias' words with a sour heart, and finally gave up the idea of ​​leading the establishment of the soybean wholesaler guild.

"Stop thinking about the Soybean Wholesalers Guild. Come with me to Gothenburg and visit Tripp's business in Sweden. We may have more cooperation possibilities." Mathias suddenly asked Mo San Invitation sent.

"To the Kingdom of Sweden?" Mo San asked with some surprise.In fact, he himself recently wanted to go to Riga or Archangel to see how the work there was progressing. Although Zheng Yong has been writing detailed work to him regularly, it is shameful not to go and have a look. Otherwise, how do you know that the people below are not fooling you?This time Matthias suddenly sent out an invitation to go to Sweden, and Mo San suddenly felt that it was a coincidence that he fell asleep and met a pillow.

"The reputation of Tripp Trading Company is almost unknown in Sweden." Mathias De Haer said in a proud tone, "A considerable part of Sweden's iron ore and copper mines are mortgaged in our hands. There are many iron smelting factories, iron casting factories, copper smelting factories, and even a weapon manufacturing factory. So, come and take a look with me, maybe you can find some cooperation possibilities.”

Mo San also heard before that the Tripp firm originally made its fortune in arms trading and iron and copper products. It has opened many trading firms or factories in Sweden and the Netherlands, and also has business outlets abroad—for example, they originally came from the German region. Importing a large amount of gunpowder and iron cannons from the UK (of course they are now trying to cast their own cannons), this firm is so powerful in the weapons industry that it once delivered a small fleet to a certain state in the Italian region, Jaw-dropping.

Matthias invited Mo San to Sweden this time, probably because he wanted to have a certain degree of cooperation with the East Bank in technology and equipment.After all, in the mining, smelting and casting of iron ore and copper ore, there are still quite a lot of machines that need to be used. In the past, most of these machines were purchased from the UK, France and Germany, and the quality and performance were often unsatisfactory.I heard that the metallurgy, casting, and forging technologies on the east coast are quite advanced, and the parts produced are relatively high in terms of durability, versatility, and precision. Although the price is a bit expensive, it is still more cost-effective for long-term use.

That afternoon, Mo San took several entourages on board the ship of the De Haer family, and then set sail from Hollen, all the way east through the Sond Strait into the Baltic Sea, and finally docked in Gothenburg.

After disembarking from Gothenburg, they changed to a horse-drawn carriage, and accompanied by employees of the Tripp firm, they visited many iron mines, copper mines and factories of the firm in the Kingdom of Sweden within a month.Judging from the experience of the visit, Mo San feels that the technology of these mines and processing plants of Tripp Trading Company has not deviated from this era. In terms of novelty, it is just a little ahead of countries such as Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

Moreover, the quality of their machine parts is indeed poor, and the precision is not high. Some parts even need to be polished and reprocessed by themselves after purchase, which is unbelievable.Even, due to the relationship between processing accuracy, many machines must be hand-made on site, unlike the factories on the east coast that process parts separately, and then assemble and debug, which greatly increases the cost of equipment - no wonder the pace of machine popularization is so fast Slow, it turned out that it was all about the cost!

However, Mo San also saw some positive factors in the Dutch machines. For example, they introduced the concept of standardized processing of parts "learned" (or stolen) from the East Coast into the machinery industry-in fact, even The Dutch did not introduce this concept from the east coast. Historically, they would also clearly propose this concept in the shipbuilding industry in the 17s. The shipyard's inventory relieved their financial pressure.

"In the past, at least half of our machines or parts were purchased from Britain and France, but it is obviously impossible now." Mathias did not hide the difficulties facing Tripp, but said the truth: "So our firm intends to import some high-quality parts from your country."

"Our country is very willing to export various commodities to Tripp Trading Company." Mo San said happily: "However, I really suggest that you can consider entrusting the East Bank to produce iron ore, copper ore and the equipment required by various factories, because it will cost less Lower, better quality, longer life, and more importantly, at least half of the parts are interchangeable, which will make your production efficiency greatly improved, which often means money."

Then, Mo San used his three-inch tongue to constantly instill in Mathias the benefits of the east coast machine-in fact, it is true-the Dutch will save a lot of costs and so on.In the end, Matthias also quite recognized it, so the old man who has been in charge of supervising the Swedish business of Tripp Trading Company for many years made a final decision on more than ten sets of mining equipment (breaking hammers, tamping hammers and their auxiliary transmission equipment, hydraulic or Animal power), factory processing equipment, etc., the total amount exceeded 2 yuan.Moreover, Matthias promised that if the equipment processed and produced by the people on the east bank according to the requirements of the Tripp firm is in good condition, the firm will then order some additional equipment from the east bank, and will also order other equipment from other companies. recommended by businessman family or friends.

"If you feel good about using it, all the equipment in use will be scrapped and replaced with your equipment." Mathias said, "I think this is a good deal, which is good for both you and me. .”

"Trip Company will definitely get a lot of income from this, there is no doubt about it." Mo San also boasted vigorously.

After both parties had no objection, the two simply signed another trade agreement, valid for five years.During the validity period of the agreement, the people on the east bank produced and processed a specified number of mining machines and processing machines in accordance with the requirements of Tripp, and shipped them to Gothenburg by Dutch ships.At the same time, this agreement also includes some East Coast procurement contracts, that is, Tripp Trading Company will sell some of the mineral products located in Sweden and Poland to the East Coast people (mainly lead, followed by copper, sulfur) , to balance the trade deficit between the two sides - but this is not a bad thing for the East Coast, so the agreement was reached.

After negotiating the last deal, Mo San arrived at the port of Riga on a Dutch ship, ready to inspect the work here.As for the Archangel Commercial Station, he has no plans to go, because it is already early autumn, and he may not be able to come back this year if he goes there, and Mo San is busy with work, it is impossible to stay in one place for a long time, so he cancels thought.

After inspecting the Riga trading station, Mo San will take a second-hand ship in the trading station and return to Amsterdam again. After a short stay, he will enter the Mediterranean Sea and return to the Ottoman Empire.

(End of this chapter)