The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 359 Planting a Seed

"Can the North American territories escape the control of the Kingdom of England?"

On August 1735, 8, a motor sailing ship belonging to the Qi State Caribbean Trading Company left a "leaky ship dock (i.e. smuggling dock)" in Boston in the dark, bypassed several small islands in the harbor, and soon entered the vast Atlantic Ocean.

Immediately, several main sails on the ship were raised one after another, and with the help of the strong sea breeze, they rushed to the south.

Captain Xie Shihao of the Changyuan checked several duty operation posts, gave instructions and reminded everyone of the precautions for sailing at night, and was about to return to the captain's room to rest. When he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a man leaning against the side of the ship with a cigarette in his mouth, which flickered in the night. Feeling a little annoyed, he immediately walked over.

When he got closer, he saw that it was the black-clad spy who was taking a boat to Ruian Port. He forced himself to suppress his anger.

It's not easy to offend these mysterious guys.

In order to ease the embarrassment, Xie Shihao exchanged a few polite words and, at the end, asked a question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.

"Nothing can be accomplished with those people alone." Maynard blew out a smoke ring from his mouth, then flicked the cigarette butt into the sea, and said contemptuously: "The upper-level officials, big businessmen and big landowners in the North American territories have always been close to England and are not willing to change anything that exists. As for the large number of farmers, apprentices and indentured workers, they think about how to fill their stomachs, how to save money, and how to repay debts every day. They don't think about rebelling. The people who are dissatisfied with the English government are mainly some small and medium-sized businessmen and local factory owners. They believe that the various restrictive policies implemented by London have greatly damaged their interests. They just want the local government to change its course and cancel some policies and bills. You see, as long as the English government shows conciliatory attitude or gives them a few sweet dates, they will definitely stop making trouble."

Maynard was a second-generation naturalized European. He was born in Huining City, Qianzhou Governorate (now Cape Town, South Africa). His father was Scottish and his mother was Portuguese.

Eight years ago, after he was discharged from the Qianzhou garrison, he was recruited into the Black Guards because of his proficiency in multiple European languages. After rigorous training, he was sent to Europe to collect and analyze intelligence.

Three years ago, he was promoted to deputy station chief of the Black Guards in Glasgow, Scotland, and was promoted to the rank of Renyong Captain (lieutenant) for his meritorious service.

Last year, he was ordered to go to New England to set up a local Black Guard intelligence system.

Because Qi State learned from different channels that as the Kingdom of England continued to increase its control over the economic affairs of the North American colonies, it had caused dissatisfaction among the local "people", and various speeches of resistance or boycott of the government were also spreading everywhere. Therefore, it decided to send secret agents to infiltrate quietly to collect relevant intelligence information in the region.

Yes, although Qi defeated the Kingdom of England, it still did not relax its vigilance against it.

Because the geopolitical situation of this island country is too similar to that of Qi State, it is simply a small version of Hanzhou.

Far away from the European continent, it monopolizes the entire island of Great Britain (in 1707, England passed the Act of Union to form a personal union with Scotland, which is the Kingdom of Great Britain). It has a population of more than million, a strong naval force, and the most complete industrial base in Europe.

More importantly, this island country has rich coal and iron resources, a good reserve of technical talents, and vast colonial territories. In addition, the political situation has remained stable for a long time after the Glorious Revolution. It can be said that it has all the potential conditions for large-scale industrial development.

After they acquired Qi's technology through various means, their industrial production level, represented by steam engine technology, was far ahead of Europe.

If we don't keep a close eye on such a country, it might take advantage of the situation to rise up and threaten Qi's maritime hegemony.

After the defeat, in addition to trying to make as much money as possible from the North American territories to make up for the weak finances, the English government also wanted to use this opportunity to build a new colonial system, a stricter and more unified colonial empire.

In England, Parliament had become the supreme authority of the kingdom and abolished local customs and privileges that hindered this process. In order to improve governance efficiency, overseas colonial territories naturally had to implement the same administrative model and strengthen political ties with the mainland.

It can be foreseen that once England incorporates the North American territory across the ocean into unified political and economic management, this will inevitably greatly enhance the strength of the Kingdom of England.

Before this, all the English had in North America was a "fictitious vassal state," a collection of colonies that were pieced together without any rules, like a pile of randomly inlaid collages.

Each piece of the collage was assembled because England happened to win a war; the colonies were laid out and managed without any plan.

They never considered the King of England as their monarch, never considered themselves part of the Kingdom of England, nor did they view the entire system as a whole.

On the contrary, the colonial system here has remained what it was before, dispersed and diverse, more like an alliance of independent states than a "vassal state" of England.

After suddenly losing Ireland, the English government suddenly felt that the thirteen colonial territories in North America had become extremely valuable and began to prepare to hold them firmly in its hands.

There was an endless supply of timber, food to meet England's domestic needs, furs that could be exchanged for hard currency, and more importantly, a huge consumer market with a population of over 1.5 million (slightly larger than the population size in the original historical time and space), which allowed the fledgling English industry to freely sell its manufactured products.

It is sad to say that under the strong competition from Qi, it was difficult for England to sell its industrial products on the European continent.

Compared with the goods of Qi, the industrial products of England were labeled as shoddy, inferior and expensive, and it was difficult to open up the market. The countries and regions along the Atlantic coast, such as France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, and even Prussia and Sweden, were all filled with industrial products of Qi.

The fledgling English industrial products only occupied a certain market share in Russia, Poland, Austria, as well as German states such as Hanover, Saxony, Hesse, and Bavaria, earning meager profits.

Not only that, but sales also fluctuate due to the impact of changes in local political and economic policies from time to time.

For example, a few years ago, the "Rebecca" incident caused a sensation in England. Captain Robert Jenkins reported that he was boarded and looted by Spanish authorities in the Spanish waters of the Caribbean Sea, and one of his ears was cut off, which once again triggered a maritime dispute between the two countries.

However, the Kingdom of England had just ended the war with the State of Qi, its naval strength was greatly damaged, and there was little money in the treasury, so it did not attack Spain. Instead, it chose to keep quiet and notified domestic merchants to abide by the Treaty of Seville as much as possible and not to go to the Spanish American colonies to trade for the time being, in order to avoid unnecessary disputes and losses.

Tell me, we in England just want to sell some manufactured goods and do some business, why is it so difficult?
However, the thirteen states in North America, which were their own colonial territories, were markets where domestic industrial products could be dumped at will. They could sell them however they wanted and at any price they wanted.

After more than a hundred years of development, the living standards of the people in North America are obviously several points higher than those in England.

据科纳尔伯爵提供给内阁和议会的北美经济调查报告中显示，北美殖民地的经济增长速度在过去二十年时间里维持着0.8%-1.2%的水平，这已经超过了英格兰本土的经济增长速度。北美殖民地自由人的平均实际财富储备达到了75-80英镑，远远高于英格兰本土。农业劳动者的收入也是英格兰本土同行的4到5倍。

These data show that the North American colonies had reached a relatively high standard in terms of economy and living standards compared to mainland England.

Well, the pigs have been fattened, so to speak.

Oh, no, it should be said that the child has grown up and can give back to his parents.

Just like in later generations, parents always have a little hope for their children who work far away from home. No matter what, they have raised you to this age, and now that you are earning your own money, isn't it time to send money home?
Any filial child, even if he or she is unwilling to do so, is at least willing to send money home.

But what if he is a disobedient and rebellious son?
The British North American colonies seemed, probably, as if, and just happened to be such disobedient and rebellious sons.

When faced with demands from England, they seemed particularly disgusted and resistant, and did not want to pay even a penny.

When we first arrived at the desolate continent of North America with untold hardships, not only did we suffer from hunger and cold, we also had to fight with the fierce Indians and face competition from the French. How many people died?

Do you who are enjoying a good life in London know how much we paid to survive in the New World of North America?

What? We in North America have just gotten through a difficult period and haven't had time to enjoy a little bit of a good life, but now you're in a hurry for us to send money to London?

Or do you want a large sum of money to be sent to London?
Think too much!

"These people in New England have absolutely no patriotism, let alone loyalty to the emperor." Xie Shihao was deeply moved after listening to Maynard's analysis of the contradictions in the British North American colonies. "Under the rule of our Great Qi, even a vassal state like Qing, which is very independent, may not have such rebellious behavior as the British North American territories. If any colony of our Great Qi dared to rebel like this, it would be strongly suppressed by the mainland, letting it know the power of a great country and the wrath of the emperor."

"It's just that the national conditions and customs are different." Maynard said lightly.

"Well... since the North American territories are so weak, why do we still want to encourage them to oppose the rule of England?" Xie Shihao asked, "When we left Boston, the English had already begun to arrest some rebels who advocated independence. Wouldn't this make the English wary in advance? In the future, they will inevitably suppress and persecute those independence factions who attempt to break away from England's rule, which will in turn make the London authorities further strengthen their control over the North American territories."

"Haha..." Maynard chuckled twice. "We fund and support those so-called independence factions, allowing them to connect and lobby North Americans to resist the rule of the English. We don't expect them to succeed now. Their strength is too weak, and there are many factions and different ideas. How can they fight against the English mainland? What we did was just sow a seed in the hearts of more than one million North Americans, giving them a possibility, a thought, and a hope. That is, if they can get rid of the rule of the English, will their lives be better and freer."

"..." Xie Shihao nodded, and then ended the conversation between the two and prepared to return to the captain's room to rest.

"If at some point, our overseas colonies also want to break away from the control of the mainland and choose to establish an independent country, how will we deal with it?"

After walking a few steps, Xie Shihao suddenly stopped, and for some reason this question popped up in his mind.

“……”Maynard.

"Why should I, a small captain, worry about these meaningless things?"

Looking back and seeing Maynard's puzzled look, he smiled, shook his head, and continued walking towards the cabin.

On August 8, the Changyuan arrived at Qing'an Port on Qiongzhou Island (now Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas), where it unloaded a large amount of grain, livestock, rum, planks and other supplies.

Since Qi acquired the archipelago from England five years ago, it has not carried out any in-depth development. It only sent a governor and a dozen officials to Nassau, and everything remains the same.

As long as the pirate dens entrenched on the surrounding islands did not launch attacks on Qi ships and immigration outposts, the Qi navy seemed too lazy to clean them up and allowed them to continue to exist.

After the Qi State initially established its rule, it renamed the Bahamas Islands as the Qiongzhou Islands and moved more than 800 immigrants, including Han people, Moroccans, and Europeans. They mainly gathered in Qing'an Fort on Qiongzhou Island and Xinchang Fort on Songlin Island (now Freeport Port on Grand Bahama Island).

The soil layer of the entire Qiongzhou Islands is thin and poor, making it impossible to carry out large-scale agricultural cultivation. Only a small amount of vegetables and fruits can be grown, supplemented by crops such as corn and potatoes. It is not yet self-sufficient in food and basically relies on imports from the nearby North American continent.

Otherwise, the place was located between Spanish Florida and Spanish Cuba, and was relatively close to the North American continent, with a certain strategic position. In addition, the navy insisted on it, and the people of Qi did not even want to invest too much energy in its development.

Such a remote place, not only the land is barren, but also there are no decent resources. No matter how much money is invested, it is difficult to hear any results. Instead, it is a huge burden for the government. Therefore, five years after the navy implemented martial law, the Colonial Affairs Department was unwilling to take over and still identified it as a naval base.

In order to save limited funds and not wanting to invest too much, the navy rented it to the Caribbean Trading Company four years ago for 10,000 gold dollars a year, allowing a group of businessmen to operate and manage the territory.

The Navy's requirements for the Caribbean Trading Company are very simple. As long as they can maintain the supply of materials for the passing naval ships, you can do whatever you want.

As a result, a group of daring businessmen soon turned the Qiongzhou Islands into a smuggling base, a smuggling paradise targeting the North American continent and the Spanish Caribbean islands.

The four warships and a supply ship of the Caribbean Squadron of the Qi Navy's Atlantic Fleet became the escort fleet for the smuggling ships of the Caribbean Trading Company, and together they made the smuggling trade in the region flourish.

Tea from the East, rice from Charleston, wheat and tobacco from the Chesapeake, sugar from the Caribbean islands, and industrial products from the Mediterranean or Qianzhou (now South Africa), almost all goods in the world could be purchased in the Qiongzhou Islands.

In the eyes of businessmen, this barren archipelago is a place where wealth flows, a symbol of full "free trade", and of course a gathering place for all kinds of sin and filth.

(End of this chapter)