Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1023 Returning ([-])

There has been an air of unease in Amsterdam lately.

It seems that the days of the Grand Speaker Dewitt, who has just taken over the power of the Inter-Provincial Republic, are getting more and more difficult. Due to the serious damage caused by the war and the strong backlash of the Orange faction, the Speaker Dewitt is increasingly losing the "people" (of course referring to It is the trust of the wealthy people)—last year (1653) summer, rebellions broke out in many cities in the Netherlands, and the rebels, instigated by people with good intentions, expressed their support for the young William III and restored the traditional Dutch ruling status of the Orange family .

Facing such a severe challenge, DeWitt, who was a little weak in character, panicked.And his panic undoubtedly fueled the arrogance of his political opponents, so that Speaker DeWitt did not dare to walk on the street without his bodyguards—you know, nothing is groundless. Instigated by the Lange family, DeWitt was threatened with life.The death threats were followed by a proposal from the representative of the province of Zeeland to appoint the Prince of Orange as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the Interprovincial Republic as soon as he came of age, on the grounds that this was in keeping with tradition.

The proposal was passed by the three-level parliament without any suspense. This is a serious setback since De Witt took charge of the Dutch government, and this incident also reflects the incomparable anger of the congressmen at the defeat of the De Witt government. The ruling career of the Great Speaker DeWitt, who has relations with the East Coast Republic, has encountered a lot of crises. The crises come from both the outside and the inside.

As the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, Mo San, who is about to step down and return to China, is also deeply worried about this.Although we have known the virtues of the Netherlands as a weak-willed commercial power from history, as the interest entanglement between the Netherlands and the east coast has deepened, Mo San always has a fluke in his heart, that is, to rely on It is hoped that with the encouragement and support of the people on the east coast, the Dutch government will be determined to fight the British and fight this war firmly.

But it turns out that he underestimated the intensity of the internal party struggle in the Netherlands. The failure of the Dutch navy and the capture of a large number of merchant ships have caused Speaker De Witt to suffer huge accusations, which undoubtedly provided an excellent opportunity for the Orange family to expand their influence. Chance.This family not only launched a massive anti-DeWitt campaign in the province of Groningen, its hometown, but also won many allies in the crucial provinces of Holland and Zeeland—most of these allies had previously either Either the centrists, or DeWitt's - and then weakened the influence of the three levels of parliament even further.

So, what are the political views of the Orange family?In fact, it is very simple, and they all cater to the current anger of many Dutch businessmen, that is, they insist on a long-term war with Britain and demand huge compensation; Do this) to deal with the dual threats from the land and the sea from the Netherlands - the Orange family, as an important military aristocrat in the Netherlands, has always insisted on listing France on land as the number one enemy of the Netherlands. As for the threat from the UK on the sea, This family thinks that although it is a big trouble, it is far from being the number one enemy, because they have only one enemy, and that is the French!

This concept of the Orange family is naturally contrary to the idea of ​​De Witt, who represents the merchant class. The DeWitt government started peace talks with the United Kingdom, and at the same time connected with the United Kingdom, and took the trouble to explain to the members of parliament that the Dutch merchants repressed the Dutch merchants during the Orange family. All this seems to have had a slight effect, and the positions of some congressmen have wavered again.After all, for members of parliament, the British threat from the outside is not terrible, and the military aristocrats from the inside are worthy of vigilance. They all remember the surprise attack on Amsterdam by William II a few years ago.

Facing the mess in the Netherlands, Mo San is really worried now.He was worried that the republicans would speed up compromise with the British under the pressure of partisanship, and he also worried that if the Orange faction came to power, they would completely shelve all the agreements signed with the East Coast, because their main enemy was obviously France.However, it is clear that outsiders from Mo San, a pagan country in the New World, can interfere with such matters involving the high-level people in The Hague. When the Netherlands compromises with the United Kingdom depends on the progress of their internal political struggles, not on the fact that they have already suffered a lot of losses. navy.

According to the information disclosed privately by some republican MPs who are close to Mo San, in the second half of last year, the UK and the Netherlands should have held a high-level talk, and the targets of the talk included Cromwell The **** meeting with many officials in the DeWitt administration.During this meeting, Cromwell still insisted that the United Kingdom and the Netherlands be merged into one country, but it was naturally rejected by the three-level parliament.A few months later, due to the Dutch's request for peace, Cromwell pointed out that if the three levels of parliament no longer appoint any member of the Orange-Nassau family to serve as the republic or the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, they will Agree to start peace talks.This request undoubtedly catered to the wishes of the republicans, but it greatly angered the Orange faction. Therefore, the three-level parliament is currently arguing, and it is not known when there will be a result.

"Xiao Zheng, the focus of your work will be here next." Standing on the shore of the anchorage on Tethyr Island, Mo San shook Zheng Yong's hand and said in an encouraging tone: "From now on, here will I leave it to you. It is our basic national policy to unite the Netherlands to rule the UK. We must improve our relationship with the Dutch. Whether they are republicans or Orange factions, whether they are government officials or private wealthy businessmen, they are all the people we make friends with. Now our relationship with De Witt of the republican faction is acceptable, but we cannot make the relationship with the Orange faction deadlocked. We have no essential conflict of interest with them, and we have no intention of intervening in the internal affairs of the Netherlands. We just need to try our best to make every As long as the Dutch government maintains its goodwill towards us, as for the rest, they are just floating clouds.”

"Made is an old comrade, but he doesn't want to move, he just wants to stay in the Ottoman Empire and fool around with those women, so in the future, European diplomacy, trade and intelligence affairs will be handed over to you, and I will also recommend you to the Executive Committee Yes, after I leave, you will temporarily act as the special envoy to Europe, and take up the burden here in the Netherlands first. The affairs of Osman will be handed over to Mu De and Li Qing, and everything will be on the right track. It is not difficult; as for the Baltic Sea and Moscow affairs that you were in charge of, I will transfer Gao Wengang there. In the future, he will be based in Riga, and Schneider will be based in Archangel. They will support the place, which is also a challenge for young people Experience. By the way, Minister Xu’s letter also mentioned that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade and the General Intelligence Bureau will send several capable personnel to Europe this year to assist you. The future world will belong to you young people. "

"The De Haer family and the Tripp family are big business families worth making friends with; Van Beuningen has a great future, and the family is also very well-established in Hollen, and the relationship must be maintained as much as possible; the three younger generations of the Bicker family Brother and we also have such a relationship, this is a real thigh, you have to hold it tight, not to mention that the Great Speaker Dewitt has already been engaged to Elizabeth of their family. Before the republicans lost power, it can be said that this family is extremely Influential." Mo San continued to babble, revealing reluctance in his words.He, who had studied in London in later generations, has always wanted to visit that place—according to his words, that is to "take revenge on that big rural area in England"—but unfortunately it seems difficult to achieve his wish now, after all, he is not old. Forgive me, he is already in his forties this year. In the foreseeable future, there is absolutely no way for the East Coast to make Britain bow its head.So, I am afraid that this wish can only be fulfilled by his grandson and great-grandson, which cannot but be said to be a pity.

"There are now five or six ships between our European trading stations. Although they are all second-hand and old ships, they can still play a big role. The Hague needs to run frequently. After all, it is the seat of the third-level parliament. Of course, Amsterdam This is always the key point, and now the Dutch have approved us to purchase a part of the land, so it is time to expand the commercial station and storage facilities, and stock up some strategic materials that are in short supply if there is an opportunity, and don’t be afraid of taking up funds.” Mo San said, "In addition to the established branch in Riga, the Northwest Reclamation Bank will also set up a branch in Wendau and Archangel this year. Of course, it is only setting up a branch at present. The business is not so urgent and can be slow. Take your time, after all, it is very unstable there now, and the war is about to break out."

"Finally, the most important thing is to keep an eye on the peace negotiations between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and don't let go of any news. This is extremely important to the mainland. Well, if possible, you can also inquire about it through some connections in the Amsterdam financial market. What is the financial situation of the Kingdom of Spain? More than [-]% of their current debts are borrowed here. It is best to inquire about how much they have borrowed and the interest rate. It is information lag), but I think this is an extremely important piece of intelligence, which is very beneficial for us to find out the details of the Spaniards, remember it!"

"I understand." Zheng Yong, who was wearing an old army uniform, nodded vigorously, and assured him: "I will get back to work as soon as possible, please rest assured. The Anglo-Dutch negotiations, the Baltic Sea trade, Spanish finance, and the sale of Ottoman female slaves, this I'll get everything right."

"Then I'm relieved." Mo San finally hugged Zheng Yong, looked sadly at the Zuiderzee, surrounded by many entourages and family members, and boarded the boat without looking back. The next stop is the port of Dunkirk in the Spanish Netherlands.

(End of this chapter)