Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1057 Chaos and Business ([-])

"Oh, yes, it's too bad. English people have appeared in Riga and Wendao recently, and I hate English people." Zheng Yong took a sip of tea, and then said with a smile: "Many countries now want to be able to compete with the United Kingdom. If she does business, and she happens to lack sufficient sea transportation capacity, she will usually find a way to rent British ships. I think this will have a profound impact on the British shipping and shipbuilding industry, and the British sea power will probably be further strengthened from now on. .”

"Not only shipping, but Britain's overseas trade will also develop greatly. This is a certainty." De Haier took a sip of tea with some displeasure, and said: "The British have now extended their hands to the Baltic Sea, and the war is coming. It’s only been four months now, and the speed of the British is really fast enough. What’s even more frightening is that I heard from some friends in Sweden that the King of Sweden intends to give the British the privilege of doing business in Sweden and introduce It does not bode well for British funds and technology to counteract the influence of the Federal Republic."

What De Haier said is quite reasonable. It is said that Dutch businessmen have already monopolized the Swedish market, especially Sweden’s rich iron ore and copper resources, which have been divided up by the Dutch (including Tripp Business and the De Haier family. accounted for half of the share), the Swedes had to introduce North German Hamburg merchants in order to counter the Dutch's power.But the Hamburgers are undoubtedly not comparable to the Dutch, and all they can do is to restrain them a little bit, far from being able to compete, but if the British are added, this matter will be complicated, and this is obviously Not what Mr. Mathias de Haer would like to see.

"Yes, but I think the luck of the misfortune is that, Mr. De Haier, the business scope of your family and the Tripp family is mainly concentrated in the mining and smelting of iron ore and copper ore, and the other is the arms trade. The impact may not be as great as other firms." Zheng Yong said realistically, "To be honest, we have also been affected. Although our textiles have not been able to effectively open up sales in the Baltic Sea, they are sold at 8 to [-] yuan a year. Problem, but now you see, the English have entered into the competition with large quantities of cloth and cotton (from Manchester) which are bound to divide our profits. The English have taken their own textiles, metalwork, arms, glass, paper, Tobacco, leather, and salt are sold to the Baltic Sea in large quantities, and then grain, ore, timber, masts, tar, beeswax, pitch, hemp (rope making) and other commodities are bought from here. Fees, and what is even more uncomfortable is that this trade process has nothing to do with our two families, which is simply infuriating!"

"Isn't your government or private businessmen dissatisfied with this abnormal status quo?" At the end, Zheng Yong couldn't help asking: "The British are now vigorously competing with you for shipping business, and then they The booming shipbuilding industry is also competing with you for the resources of boats in the Baltic Sea, and it is foreseeable that in the near future, they will revive the fishing industry and compete fiercely with the fishermen of your country. Not to mention the extremely rich specialties in the colonies of the British New World—such as timber, salted fish, tobacco, cotton, sugar, etc.—these were all controlled by your country before, but now according to regulations, they must be transported by British ships. In addition, the goods sold to the American colonies must also be shipped via London, which will undoubtedly deprive you of another layer of profit. This is already the case, can the merchants of your country bear it?"

"You should go to Amsterdam or The Hague to say these words. Many gentlemen there were frightened by the British sea strangulation. They couldn't bear the consequences of the continuation of the war, so they kept clamoring to end the war." Mr. De Haer looked at Zheng Yong said in a helpless tone: "This country is controlled by businessmen, and all actions of the government must be in the interests of businessmen, otherwise there is no way to carry it out. To be honest, if the British were not in Dover back then If the merchant ships are intercepted in the Strait and ambushed in the Sond Strait instead, then I think our DeHaer family, the Tripp family and even the Bicker family will jointly request the three-level parliament to seriously consider the British proposal for peace talks. After all, this loss What matters is our own real interests. As for the interests of other people or the interests of the country, what does it have to do with us? People are so selfish and realistic. Except for the saints of the Lord, no one can be so magnanimous. "

"You are so frank, Mr. De Haier." Zheng Yong laughed when he heard the words, and then said: "Yes, in reality, everyone is thinking about their own interests all the time. Is it true that our commercial interests have not been harmed? Not necessarily! The British interception at sea will naturally damage their commercial interests, but will the changes in commercial laws brought about by the "Navigation Regulations" not damage their interests? They are all shrewd people, and they will not fail to see this. It just so happens that my business here is almost done, and I plan to go to Amsterdam in the near future, and I may be stationed there in the future, and there will be another one in Riga. The person is in charge, and I will introduce him to you later. By the way, Mr. De Haer, will you return to Amsterdam with me?"

"No, I will go to Gdansk (Danzig) first, and return to Gothenburg after a few days of staying. I hope you can gain something in Amsterdam. I am looking forward to it." Mr. De Haier said immediately, "But please be kind. Be careful of the Orangemen, who have a good opinion of England, and on the contrary have the greatest dislike of France. It is not without reason that Cromwell has always wanted to unite England and the United Provinces into one country, Some of the Orangemen - certainly not all of them - are in favor of this. So please be careful what you say and do, especially in Amsterdam and The Hague. But if you are in In Zeeland, you don’t have to be so cautious. Many famous businessmen there have invested in the West India Company. They have a bad impression of the British. Of course, if it’s in Friesland or Groningen If so, be careful..."

Zheng Yong has also heard what De Haier said. In fact, anyone who has lived in the Netherlands for many years has a faint feeling. The parliament of this country is divided into two distinct factions (Republican and Orange), and there are many people split.Among the Orangemen, there are a lot of people who have a good impression of Britain. They believe that only England and the Netherlands are "defending freedom" in the world today.I believe that if the military dictator Cromwell hadn’t insisted that the Dutch clearly state that the influential Prince of Orange should not be the head of the Netherlands in the peace negotiations (to prevent the Netherlands from being integrated by a strongman and compete with the United Kingdom, they would rather let the Netherlands " democratically split" into endless quarrels), there will surely be more Orangemen close to England - of course it is impossible now, there is a secret clause in the Anglo-Dutch peace treaty (prohibiting the Oran Prince George served as the ruler of the Netherlands), and this clause was quickly disseminated by those who wanted to, and the Netherlands once again fell into sharp confrontation.

"Thank you for your advice, I think it will be very useful to me." Zheng Yong thanked him sincerely.

A few days later, Zheng Yong took his family and left Riga on an east coast merchant ship, preparing to go to the Netherlands.Due to Zheng Yong's request, they stopped again for a day at Wendau Port on the banks of the Venta River. Zheng Yong noticed that Archduke Jacob seemed to be organizing a group of craftsmen and immigrants recruited from North Germany (about [-] Yuren) boarded a ship for New Courland, which Zheng Yong appreciated very much—when the war intensified in the future (that is, Sweden, Brandenburg, Denmark, Russia, Poland, and even Austria were also involved), Jacob Grand Duke Bu will definitely feel grateful for these actions at this time.

Zheng Yong and his party finally arrived at the port of Amsterdam, which had become busy again, on January 1655, 1.

Looking at the masts of ships lined up in the harbor, Zheng Yong thought in his heart that this world-famous commercial port and the heart city of capitalism may never be able to return to the past—at least from the perspective of people's psychology.The trauma brought by the Anglo-Dutch War to Amsterdam is far from being clear in a few sentences. Perhaps in the future, Amsterdam will surpass the pre-war economically, but from the psychological level of people, many people realize that the world is in the world. The Netherlands is not invincible, and Amsterdam is far more fragile than imagined. The weakening of the empire never happens overnight. The powerful energy gathered by the clinking industrial enterprises in the suburbs of London will definitely help Britain overcome the financial and There is no doubt that the Netherlands is dominated by commercial capital.

After resting happily for several days with his family, on January 1, Zheng Yong began to rush to various cities in the Netherlands province, such as Holen, Enkhuizen, Alkmaar, etc., and visited many A merchant family with commercial ties to the East Coasters.These commercial cooperations were basically established during the outbreak of the Anglo-Dutch War, and the duration of many contracts was only set to end in 25. Although he knew that there was little hope, Zheng Yong still hoped that these Dutch merchants—at least some of them— After seeing the benefits of goods from the east coast, it is undoubtedly extremely important for the domestic industrial enterprises in the east coast to be able to maintain the cooperative relationship. He has to try one last time.

(End of this chapter)