Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1316
Go back in time by two months.

Early October.

Caribbean Bahamas.

Five Dashun merchant ships loaded with tea, cotton cloth and other commodities, and a regular navy cruiser found a harbor with fresh water in the intricate shoals of the Bahamas.

Piloting the mulatto ex-pirate, he uttered an exclamation in French. Thirty years have passed, but the waterway in my memory still exists.

The pirate who led the pilot was hired by Dashun in Madagascar. This pirate was very interesting, but he asked Dashun to leave the employment fee to his descendants, and he asked Dashun to take him to the Bahamas, where he would die.

Thirty years ago, the legendary pirate Olivier Leucer was captured in Madagascar and finally executed in the Indian Ocean.

Before his execution, he threw his cipher necklace into the sea and uttered the famous line: "Want my treasure? Go find it, the secret is hidden in the cipher of the necklace."

Ordinarily, such words are tempting. After all, what he grabbed were dozens of large ships for pilgrimage to Mecca, and Portuguese treasure ships. Four people can lift it.

However, people are just insignificant dust in the tide of history.

Against the background of the signing of the "Utrecht-Madrid" Treaty and the reshuffle of Atlantic trade, the former No. [-] pirate country became the country that could least tolerate the existence of pirates overnight. The big round-up of pirates kicked off.

What Le Uther said did not start the era of great pirates, but was regarded as a symbol of the end of the era of pirates.

The old pirate who piloted Dashun now was also one of the former pirates who had witnessed the execution of Le Uther.The former pirate partners went their separate ways, some went to Madagascar to hide for a lifetime, some were recruited by Spain to become anti-smuggling ships, some turned into North American Puritan merchants with their treasures, and some drowned in rum every day I miss the days before murder and arson.

Dashun's fleet didn't care about the old pirate's past.In fact, Dashun knew very well what they were doing to some strange people in Madagascar.

As for the romantic legends of those pirates, these ships are not interested either. They just use the memories of these old pirates to solve some problems that cannot be solved by the sextant and the moon distance angle of the star map.

When the Pirate Republic fell to ruin with the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Bahamas became a smuggler's paradise.

No one has complete control here, neither the British, nor the French, nor the Spaniards who are close at hand.

They can destroy the pirate republic, because there must always be a town, a water village, and a hill.

But there is no way to suppress the smuggling or selling of stolen goods here day and night.

Dashun's merchant ships and cruise ships arrived here through the help of several Dutch merchants, and they wanted to meet some famous merchants in Boston here.

The Dutch played more of an "intermediary" role in North American trade.

Although, from a rational point of view, it seems that Dashun and the North American smugglers met, kicked out the middleman, and in terms of the rules of the road, it seemed quite careless.

But as long as the money is enough, these Dutch people who work for intermediary companies don’t mind taking an extra sum of money, and directly help the buyer and the seller go through the needle, and fly away after getting enough money.

The meeting place agreed by the two parties was here, and the mission of the old pirate was not just to lure Dashun to this harbor, but to lead Dashun's ships to rob British merchant ships after the transaction.

After waiting in this secret harbor for a few days, when the agreed meeting time came, several North American merchant ships also arrived here.

From the perspective of future generations, among the people on the North American smuggling ship who came here this time, the most famous person was John Hancock.

On North America's Declaration of Independence, he was the first to sign and chair the meeting.

In addition, he and Samuel Adams co-directed the famous Boston tragedy.

But at this time, he was still just a young man, and the real talking point in the family was his childless uncle, Thomas Hancock.

John Hancock came here with his uncle this time, mainly to increase his knowledge.

And his uncle, after hearing the news of Dashun's participation in the war, was certain that the East India Company was going to end, and as long as he seized the opportunity, his family might take over the tea business in the entire thirteen states in the future.

As the richest man in Boston, with his solid political and business connections, Thomas Hancock became the first target he was looking for with a Dutch broker.

If you have to talk about how their family got their start, it’s actually a good analogy. It’s a bit similar to the Chinese and French merchants in Shaanxi and Shanxi in the Ming Dynasty, or Shanxi merchants.

After getting the right to operate the army's logistics supplies, it quickly developed.Mainly relying on providing logistics to the army, I got the first pot of gold.

In recent years, he has made a fortune by relying on the war.

With the war between Britain and France, the French living in Arcadia became the confidant of Britain.Arcadia was captured by England during the War of the Spanish Succession.

But the local French still believed in Catholicism and refused to sign the pledge of allegiance.

With the outbreak of war, the British chose to expel the French from Acadia.

Historically known as the "Great Expulsion".

It can also be regarded as the originator of the concept of "concentration camp". During the whole process, about 12000 Acadians died in concentration camps or on the way of forced migration.

A large number of Acadian children were forcibly separated from their parents, sent to different families for foster care, or sent to missionary schools.

Some Frenchmen were drowned or starved to death on board because it was forbidden to disembark.

And at the beginning of the war, after all, Britain and France have been fighting for so many years.No one expected that this time Prussia could be so strong and France could be so crotchless, so many companies that contracted to relocate these Acadians were more cautious because they were worried about troubles afterwards.

However, Thomas Hancock, and his partner slave trader Apshorpe at the time, after a calm analysis, believed that this war would not end so easily.

Especially after analyzing Pete's tough attitude in the previous Jenkins ear war, I am sure that this time between Britain and France will not be a small fight.

These two deserved to be the richest man in Boston. This political sense and the awareness of doing big business are really insightful.

When other ship owners could only carry a hundred people on a ship, they carried three to 400 people on a ship, and the two of them partnered up to make a big deal and make a lot of money.

With a conscience, in this day and age, it is unlikely to make a lot of money.

Only those who have courage and dare to treat people as animals can make a lot of money in this era.

Historians say, [Hancock transported the Acadians in the form of slave ships for large numbers of expected deportees to wherever the British authorities might choose to send them...  

This is exactly what supports the bold and starves the timid.

The rest of the ship owners carried a hundred people on a ship and did not make much money at all.

And the two of them, with eighteen ships, became the two most profitable in the expulsion of Arcadia in the way of transporting slaves.

Since the two were able to take on such a business and were engaged in a business similar to Shanxi merchants helping the army with logistics, it was natural that the two had a close relationship with the British government.

Intimacy is intimacy, but the business that should be done does not fall.

Old Hancock's company, in addition to helping the army with logistics, on the surface, the company operates rum, whale oil and fish, builds ships, imports books and luxury goods.

But in fact, the real bulk of the company's income is smuggling French and Spanish molasses, Dutch or Swedish tea, paper, canvas, etc.It has been so historically.

Of course, at this time, their smuggled goods would inevitably include tea paper and other origin cotton cloth, metal products, brass, porcelain, etc.

The "Molasses Act" of 33 basically had no impact on the old Hancock's company.

He only needs to pay the customs an annual contribution of 6000 taels of silver, and the 33-year molasses law has basically no effect on him.It's only 6000 taels of silver a year. Those merchants who went to Nagasaki, Japan to buy copper in Dashun before, don't have an annual payment of 5000 taels to Nagasaki every year?

The "Molasses Act" in 63 eventually led the Hancock family to turn to armed anti-British, not because of the Sugar Act itself.Because of the sugar law itself, the 33-year sugar law tax rate was cut in half.

The main reason is that the British government finally got a taste of it in 63: It turns out that if you want to rule millions of square kilometers, local officials have to eat royal rations, and local officials cannot be allowed to eat local taxes...

This can't be blamed for the slow response on the British side, mainly because they really didn't understand before.

The purpose of the final series of bills is to collect taxes into the treasury, and then use the name of the treasury to pay wages to local officials in North America, instead of paying wages by the original colonial state legislature.

The result is the business of the Hancock family, which originally required an annual payment of 6000 taels a year, but now has to pay a tax of 12 taels of silver. If this is not a rebellion, what are you waiting for?
Whether it should be taxed is a legal issue, a moral issue, and an ideological issue.

The original payment was 6000 taels, but now it is 12 taels. This is a material issue, which does not involve morality and law.

Of course, the Hancock family did not have such a big grudge at this time, and now is the golden age of smuggling.

The Commissioner of Customs in New England was a good man. In two years, he tried 36 reported cases of smuggling, and finally found two cases to be true.And these two things also tacitly allow the merchant to drive the boat away quietly at night.

Some say it was a bribe.

Some say he was a man of true free spirit who believed that smuggling was a victimless crime.

In addition to the fact that the Director of Customs is a good guy, the British also needed to benefit the merchants in these colonies before, because they wanted to fight against Spain and France.

What's more, with Dashun's participation in the war, the British fleet went to defend the straits, and there were not many warships left in North America and the Caribbean, and they were unable to supervise them.

In such a good time, old Hancock immediately decided to take a big gamble after getting the Dutchman.

He knew the story of the destruction of the Dutch East India Company before.

Therefore, he was convinced that the British East India Company, which sold tea, was doomed this time.

Dashun is the producer of tea, even the only producer at this time. If he can successfully approach him at this time, his business will be able to expand several times or even ten times.

(End of this chapter)