Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 963 Crisis and Mediation ([-])

On April 1653, 4, off the coast of Recife, the sky was high and the clouds were light.

The northeastern region of Brazil, which has already entered mid-autumn, is still extremely hot. Li Renjun picked up a towel to wipe off his sweat, and sighed extremely depressed.It is said that he is a retired officer in his forties (he was added a rank when he retired, and retired with the rank of major), and he is quite well-known in the army, with a lot of money (officers who have worked in the Far East for several years are not poor. ), but in the end they still have to be exploited by the executive committee, sailing to a strange city like Recife, and arguing with a bunch of strange Dutch red hairs. Is there anything more nonsense than this?

However, Li Renjun has always been a little clever. He made his home in South Africa and took pictures of two captive ships from Yancheng Port a while ago. It wasn't over yet, and soon this guy purchased a lot of agricultural products such as peanuts, sorghum, sesame, soybeans, and cured meat from the Black Eight Banners tribe in Hezhong Port, and then went northward along the Benguela cold current, reaching the new warehouse established by the Latvians Irish colony.

Two boats full of agricultural and sideline products were sold at a good price in Port Jacobs!The economic system of the colony of the Principality of Courland, whose main industries are tobacco and logging, is very deformed, because almost all of their good land is planted with tobacco, but they cannot even support themselves with food. Imported from Hezhong County.In addition to importing food, they also imported various commodities such as knives, agricultural tools, medicines, cloth, wine, weapons, etc. from the east coast to maintain the operation of their colony. It sounds almost like an economic colony of the people on the east coast. .

And the governor of this colony also seems to be very self-aware. He clearly knows who the survival of the New Courland colony depends on, so he also does his best to meet the various requirements of the people on the east coast.For example, the South African side sent word to them to collect tropical logs. Without saying a word, they brought logging tools, weapons and ammunition into the forest. While dealing with the black natives of the Congo, they selected thick logs and transported them to the seaside and then exported them to the east coast—— Of course, the consideration given by the people on the east coast is also very reasonable, just to ensure that they will not suffer losses.

A while ago, the South African side sent personnel to Jakobshavn to ask these Latvians if they could try to grow sugarcane or cotton. After careful consideration, these people decided to try to open up some sugarcane plantations. Anda), built the second city of the New Courland Colony, the "Fortress of the Knights"-in memory of the Knights of the Sword who had been active in the Livonia region-and carried out armed colonization.

After the Knights Fortress is established, the population of the entire New Courland area will reach more than 30 people, of which whites (including Latvian immigrants and German mercenaries) account for about [-]%, and the rest are black vassals. The speed of development is extremely fast. Amazingly, this is due to their relatively sufficient funds-the total amount of commodities (wood, tobacco, black slaves) exported to the east coast every year is nearly [-] yuan, which strongly supports the construction of this colony.

After buying another [-] Congolese black slaves from Port Jacob, Li Renjun took the boat to Recife, the capital city of Dutch Brazil, a city that made its living from the sugar industry.Of course, at this time, in Dutch Brazil (in fact, it only includes coastal towns such as Recife and Olinda, and the inland areas are under the control of the Portuguese), is there any city that does not make a living from sugar production?The Dutch retreated in the face of the Portuguese because the power of the West India Company was too scattered, but they gave up grain plantations, cotton plantations, and tobacco plantations, and retreated from the inland to the coastal line. However, those sugarcane plantations have never been abandoned, and the sugar mills in the coastal cities have also been in continuous operation, producing a large amount of sucrose and transporting it to the refinery in the Netherlands for reprocessing, and the profits are astonishing.

Since sugarcane planting and sugar extraction are the main economic activities in the area, the demand for slaves is naturally huge.Especially at the time of the two-day war with the Portuguese, the original slaves fled in large numbers while the supervision was relaxed, so the Dutch urgently needed to replenish new slaves—this is why Li Renjun brought hundreds of Congolese blacks here The reason lies.

"Mr. Bickle, nice to meet you. I am Li Renjun, Special Envoy of the East China Republic." Li Renjun took off his top hat and bowed to pay respects to Cornelis Bickle.

Cornelis, who was still wearing a thick formal suit on a hot day, took off his hat and returned the salute at the same time, then he took Li Renjun's arm without any notice, and said in a familiar tone: "I have been in Recife for more than a month, God, I swear this is the furthest sailing adventure I've ever been on and I've only been to New Amsterdam before that. It's a thriving place with good furs and solid logs and a good fishery. Oh yeah Yes, I like it so much that I have persuaded my brothers to invest in the West India Company stock..."

"Then you are at a big loss." Li Renjun complained in his heart, but said: "The West India Company is a company with great potential, and it is also a responsible company. It is very promising, and even many people still have the urge to invest.”

"The West India Company is an open enterprise. For our recognized friends, investment is not a problem at all. Your country's New World Friendly and Mutual Bank has just invested 11 dong (3.7 yuan in military capital) in the form of loans. Our country's The East India Company has just injected 150 million dong before, and the financial status of the West India Company is very healthy." Cornelis and Li Renjun boarded an exquisite carriage—it seemed to be produced by the Southern Vehicle Factory of Meilin County—and then Drive straight towards the city.

"The financial situation of the West India Company is very important for stabilizing the situation in the northeast of Brazil. It is the guarantee of peace and a symbol of tranquility. Our government appreciates that your company has been committed to the peace of the northeast of Brazil and the elimination of regional conflicts for many years. If possible, the New World Friendship and Mutual Bank of my country can provide a second interest-free loan.” Li Renjun sat across from Cornelis and said in his not very proficient Spanish.

"The enthusiasm of your country is really amazing." After thinking for a long time, Cornelis didn't know what words to use to describe the people from the east coast rushing to send money to the door, and finally he could only describe it with the word admiration.However, as one of the important shareholders of the West India Company, Cornelis is not unclear about the small calculations of the people on the east coast. The essence of the Northeast is also in the bag.However, this is not a bad thing for the Dutch West India Company. Before the Portuguese, the common enemy, fell, the basis for cooperation between the two parties had always existed.

But what Cornelis doesn't know is that the people on the east coast don't want to see Portugal dominate Brazil, nor do they want to see the Dutch expand their territory here, and they don't want Portugal to be weakened so much that Britain, France and Spain Countries such as Brazil flocked to South America and turned Brazil into a public colony of the great powers.Therefore, how to grasp the degree is really not easy. This requires keen insight, superb diplomatic skills, and strong military deterrence, all of which are indispensable.

The people on the east bank sold a large amount of arms to the West India Company on credit based on this consideration. Now that the Portuguese are powerful in Brazil, if the West India Company does not invest more (in fact, the shareholders of the company disagree on whether to invest more in Brazil) Quite large), it is difficult to resist the Portuguese who is pressing on every step.

To be honest, the 3.7 yuan in-kind loan from the East Coasters came at the right time, because it gave strong encouragement to those who strongly advocated the preservation of Dutch Brazil, such as Cornelis, and made it easier for them to persuade those wavering centrists, Co-financed and the Portuguese died.In fact, the Dutch were also reluctant to give up Dutch Brazil. Historically, after military failures and the forced surrender of Recife and other places, the Dutch fleet, which had just ended the war with the United Kingdom in 1654, immediately sailed to the sea off Lisbon, and at the same time organized a A large number of mercenaries crossed the sea and landed in Brazil to start a full-scale war with the Portuguese.At that time, Portugal, which had not yet ended the war with Spain, couldn't hold on, and returned the captured Dutch Brazilian land, and the two sides reconciled.

It can be seen from this that the West India Company is actually quite contradictory. On the one hand, the mainland is now being beaten miserably by the British, and they have no spare power to support the Brazilian colony; It’s a huge pit, have you spent less money here these years?But repeated military setbacks made them no longer dare to invest lightly. After all, no one's money is brought by strong winds.

But if people from the east coast are willing to intervene to help, the nature of this matter will be different!After all, their strength is obvious to all. Those who can easily defeat the Kingdom of Spain in the two wars are definitely not ordinary people. They can easily mobilize a large amount of supplies, mobilize a considerable number of troops, and dispatch a fleet that is enough to break the Portuguese blockade. The psychological pressure on the Portuguese is too great.Compared with these, the assistance provided by their New World Friendly Mutual Bank is not so important. Is there anything more terrifying to the Portuguese than a powerful fleet with home court advantage?

"Can your country provide additional help besides materials?" Cornelis was silent for a while, and then asked suddenly: "I mean, can you provide personnel help? You know, We have been repeatedly blocked by the Portuguese before, and the transfer of materials and personnel is not very smooth. In addition, the board of directors is also hesitant about whether to increase investment. Therefore, the number of soldiers capable of fighting in Recife and other places is seriously insufficient. Regarding this, can your country Do you offer help?"

(End of this chapter)