Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 946 London and England ([-])

"...therefore, the basic means of increasing the wealth of our country is to rely on foreign trade, but it must be followed by a principle: the value of the commodities we sell to foreign countries every year is greater than the value of foreign commodities we import. In our country, cloth, lead, The supply of tin, iron, fish, and some other commodities is comparatively plentiful, with a surplus of more than 250 pounds a year being available for export, which, if we at the same time imported from abroad only 200 pounds worth of goods, would add to the wealth of the country. With an increase of 50 pounds per year, this wealth exists in the form of gold and silver coins, and this is obviously the real wealth..."

"For products that our country faces fierce competition, we must try our best to keep the price as low as possible when selling, which will help our goods occupy the market. When we defeated the woolen industry in Venice and competed for the Ottoman market, we relied on low prices-although The price of our woolen wool has dropped, but the sales volume has increased. However, in the 30s and 20s, due to the inexplicable increase in the price of wool, and then a long war broke out, the price of woolen wool sold in our country also rose sharply, which almost made us Half of the overseas market has been lost, and half of the responsibility for the decline of the woolen industry over the past [-] years should be credited to this."

"We need to encourage our own merchant ships to transport goods abroad, so that our country will benefit greatly from it. For example, if Italian merchants come to our country on their own ships to buy grain, red herring or other commodities , we shall make little money, for in our country a quarter of wheat usually sells for 30 shillings a quarter, and a barrel of red herrings 25 shillings; At the current exchange rate, a quarter of wheat can be sold for about 60 shillings, and a barrel of red herring can be sold for 50 shillings, which is almost double the difference."

"We want to vigorously develop our own fishing industry, which first requires us to have more boats and sailors, and also requires professional management methods. In places with rich fishery resources such as New England, Virginia, Greenland, Iceland and Newfoundland, We need to spend more to encourage more people to fish, because this will provide wealth and jobs for many poor people, and at the same time, it will restore and grow our trade that has been in decline before. I don't tire of it I want to emphasize that only cod, herring caught by our ships, and fish oil, salted fish, and whale bones made from the caught fish can be sold in our country, and only our ships (or most of the sailors on board are British) Only then can the above commodities be transported from the country.”

"The Dutch always say: 'Live and let others live!' But I have to say that the Dutch have long since forgotten that adage, not only eating our business in our land, but also The countries or regions under their influence hinder and destroy our business, prevent us from earning a living by legitimate means, and take the bread from our mouths. We should never be patient and accommodating in this regard, because it has been proved that patience and accommodating can only It will fuel the ambitions of the Dutch, and it will hurt our great country. Now that we have declared war with the Netherlands, I say that is good, and we will fight this trade war until the Dutch throw in the towel.”

Just when Mo San and Maurice Thompson and others crossed the line of fire and arrived at the pier of the Thames River, in the House of Commons in London, Thomas Stone, a member of Parliament, a director of the Levant Company, and a major investor in tobacco plantations in Virginia, was holding a meeting in Congress Giving an impassioned speech.The businessman MP who once made his fortune selling tobacco with Thompson is now one of the figures advocating British overseas trade. His arguments are very popular in the House of Commons, and he can be regarded as one of the mainstream spokespersons of the British bourgeoisie.

In Britain after the bourgeois revolution, the power of the conservative aristocracy has been greatly weakened at this moment, and the new merchant class has begun to make great strides into the British political arena.They hold government positions while doing business, indirectly influence and even directly formulate many policies issued by the government, tie the whole country to their chariots, and serve them—promoting the promulgation of the "Navigation Regulations" and categorically declaring war on the Netherlands are all related to them efforts are inseparable.It can be said that the Republic of England at this time is the second country in which the bourgeoisie occupies a dominant position among the many countries in the Old Continent. The other is the United Provinces-it is purely a loose association formed by a group of businessmen.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Stone's speech won applause from members of the House of Commons. The mercantilism he advocated is exactly what this group of businessmen love to hear.The war with the Netherlands continued for a long time, although they intercepted and captured hundreds of Dutch ships, although the British navy had the upper hand in the confrontation with the Netherlands, although the Dutch's fighting will was gradually weakened (they tentatively proposed many times The possibility of ending the war), but the British were not without losses in this war: the huge military expenditures, the collapse of Mediterranean trade and the serious impact on West African trade all made these MPs who advocated war painful. Heartbroken, because all they lost was their own money!

Especially the Levantine-East India businessmen (the shareholders of the Levantine Company and the East India Company overlapped a lot) who had an advantage in the parliament, because the Dutch were heavily concentrated in the Western Mediterranean, and the British navy sent there was weak. , Not enough to break the Dutch dominance there.Therefore, the business volume of the Levant company suddenly plummeted, and the income also dropped sharply. How can this not upset these businessmen-now the country may have benefited from this war, but they have suffered personally. Loss, what is this?Shouldn't it be the other way around, that they benefit privately and the state bears the loss?The country is just a tool for them to rule this land!

Therefore, they now desperately need someone to say what they want to hear, to preach the theory they agree on (mercantilism), and to insist on the policies that this country currently promotes in their favor.Anyone who frequents the House of Commons knows that it has now become a stronghold of mercantilists, where businessmen from various London, Norwich, Bristol and other places gather to discuss politics, trade, military and political affairs. Diplomacy, grandiosely became the actual master of this country.

Mo San came to London under such a trend of thought or background.Mr. Thompson who accompanied him brought several business friends to meet Mo San on December 12 after being absent for two days.The meeting took place at Mr. Thompson's mansion in London - said to have belonged to a certain royalist before the Civil War, which Thompson had easily snapped up at a very good price the year before - in this deplorable At the reception of the Commercial Salon, Mo San held many intermittent talks with these businessmen who invested in the Merchant Adventurer Company, Moscow Company, Eastland Company, Levant Company, Royal Guiana Company, and East India Company.

Especially those rich merchants from the Levantine-East India line. Their business was greatly affected by the weak British sea power in the Mediterranean Sea. At this moment, they are eager to find a way to reduce losses. Now that Thompson has found the East Coast Republic of China Plenipotentiary Envoy, it seems that some cooperation possibilities can also be discussed.However, before the cooperation, some issues must be clarified, otherwise this meeting will not be able to proceed.

"Does your government intend to enter the Indian market?" someone asked.Many people here—especially those London merchants—are shareholders of the East India Company. They import a large amount of refined cotton cloth, pepper, gemstones, saltpetre, raw silk (Indian wild silk) and other commodities from India every year, and then sell them in their own countries. , or re-export, in short, a lot of profits.Therefore, they are eager to know whether the regional power of the East Coast Republic of China (the size of the navy on the east coast is not very large in their opinion, but it is still a big trouble) will intervene in the situation in India, and the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal competes locally.At the beginning, these British merchants were defeated by the Dutch in the East Indies, so they were forced to shift their energy to the Indian subcontinent. It turned out that this was also a treasure house no less than the East Indies.Especially after they defeated the Portuguese in two naval battles, the influence of the British East India Company in the Mughal Dynasty in India became stronger and stronger, and the entanglement of interests became deeper and deeper. At this moment, they absolutely do not want to see any other A country that intervenes in the Indian market-the country on the east coast has not weak sea power and has geographical advantages, so it is definitely an object worthy of vigilance.

"Our government has no plan to enter the Indian market, at least not in the short term." Mo San didn't dare to speak too much, after all, he didn't know the government's future plans, so he could only give a vague guarantee at the moment.However, he is not someone who is willing to suffer for nothing. Since the British asked the East Bank not to enter the Indian market, they also have to give up some benefits, such as the Kingdom of Persia, which is becoming more and more important to the East Coast Republic of China.

You know, the relationship between the British and Persia is very good now.Their initial friendship began in the Anglo-Portuguese naval battle. At that time, the British navy (actually armed merchant ships of the East India Company) defeated the Portuguese Indian fleet and helped Iran regain strategic points such as Bandar Abbas and Hormuz Island. The vigorous trade with Persia helped them innovate their army equipment, which enabled the Persians to survive in the two-front war with the Ottoman Empire (for Iraq) and the Mughal Dynasty (for Afghanistan).

The British have helped Persia so much, and the Persians have always been very sympathetic.Therefore, at this moment, it is very reliable to ask these British businessmen to help deepen the business relationship between the east coast and Persia-I don't want to enter India, so you have to give me some of the Persian market, right?

(End of this chapter)