Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1122 Major General Harrison ([-])

At the end of February, the temperature on the east coast has gradually turned cooler. In the endless wheat fields between the first and second ring roads of Qingdao Port, there are farmers' hopes for a good harvest.

"What a beautiful wheat field." Mr. Charles sat on the top balcony of the newly built three-story building - Jinlu Commercial Building - facing the fresh sea breeze, and sighed softly: "This reminds me of Dong'an The country of Glia, the golden wheat, the green turnips, the red apples, and the wandering cattle and sheep, is really nostalgic. It seems that I have not been back to England for a long time, Major General Harrison."

"Call me Sir Harrison!" The man known as Major General Harrison emphasized, "My identity cannot be revealed here. We have already lost several outstanding children."

Major General Harrison is the confidant of Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Republic of England. The most famous thing about this king is that on the morning of April 1653, 4, he led a group of soldiers to follow Cromwell into the Incomplete Parliament, and expelled Cromwell The bourgeois parliamentarians who I called "drunkards", "profiteers", and "brothel owners" then closed the House of Commons and announced it was rented out, and their reputation was quite bad for a while.

As an orthodox aristocrat, Mr. Charles naturally disliked Cromwell and a group of major generals under his command, but he would not show it.At this moment, he sighed: "Yes, my lord, I don't know how the people on the east coast have captured many of the best spies in England one after another. Although the rest of the spies were not captured, I believe They are not very reliable anymore, maybe they have taken refuge with people from the east coast in private, who knows?"

"Mr. Charles, as a talent valued by the Lord Protector, what is your opinion on the trade between Britain and the East that is increasing in volume? This country is hostile to England and gets involved with the Dutch everywhere, but gentlemen of the House of Commons They are still doing a lot of business with them, including the East India Company that had a festival with them before, is this appropriate?" Major General Harrison looked at Charles with malicious eyes and said.

As the confidant of the Lord Protector, this time he came to the east coast by boat from the mainland, in order to investigate the great loss of the British spy network on the east coast.As soon as he arrived at Qingdao Port under the cover of a businessman, he came to the Golden Deer Commercial House where Charles was in charge. In fact, people on the east coast keep a close eye on all foreign business houses, because they themselves use business stations overseas to spy on information), espionage activities are carried out very secretly and slowly, which is not the same as the cracked British underground spy network The system survived.

It has been a while since Major General Harrison arrived in Qingdao. He pretended to transport some Italian velvet, lead-tin ore and a little expensive Sharma to the Jinlu Commercial House, and then settled down to investigate the loss of the intelligence network. , of course, if possible, he will also try to restore the nearly paralyzed intelligence system-of course, it seems that it is not very realistic at present, and Mr. Charles has also warned him that the British spies who survived and were not captured are no longer reliable, because No one knows whether they have betrayed, so this line should be abandoned decisively, and Major General Harrison has basically acquiesced to this approach now.

However, as a proud republican officer, Major General Harrison is quite displeased with Charles, an old-fashioned aristocrat (although he is not a royalist), especially since this espionage network with a commercial station as a cover has achieved little in the past few years. Design drawings of a limited number of East Coast machine tools (pedal or hydraulic machine tools are likely to be outdated, because the machine tools that can be spread to civilian use are not considered advanced at all), and some East Coast systems are designed. inefficient.

Major General Harrison privately believes that this is inseparable from the overly conservative and cautious style of the person in charge, Mr. Charles. " are the "royal sympathizers", who may be loyal to England but not necessarily to the republican government, which may explain their inefficiency.You know, there are painters in the Netherlands who have made several models of East Coast trains. Although there are many speculations and conjectures in them, at least it shows that they have spent a lot of effort to collect information. But much stronger.

Compared with the few results of intelligence activities, the trade volume between the Golden Deer Merchant where Charles is in charge and the east coast has repeatedly hit new highs. Last year, it reached more than [-] pounds. Charles has also become the seat of many east coast businessmen. Distinguished guests, frequent gatherings of entrepreneurs, and even their workshops many times, it is really beautiful-of course, this will only make Major General Harrison more dissatisfied, so he is very dissatisfied with these and the East Coast. There are many sarcasm among the merchants of trade.

"Sir Harrison, as a state official, there is nothing more important than mastering knowledge about manufacturing, trade, wealth, and state management." Charles glanced at Harrison indifferently, and said in an unhurried tone : "If a person knows nothing about the situation and interests of the home country and the enemy country, then he can give a monarch reasonable and well-founded advice, so that he can make the people under his rule do things well no matter in peacetime or wartime. Smooth and happy? On a national level, what else in the world - especially in an island nation - requires more effort than espionage? Or in your opinion, a few high-quality machine tool heads , Some outdated machine tools are the most worthwhile things, but for the rulers of the country, researching the reasons for the rise of the East Coast, thinking about the policies they implement, and imitating their advanced management experience should not be the most concerned What do you need? Besides, the gentlemen of the East India Company are close by on the East Bank. Purchasing materials can effectively save costs and help them develop matters in the East India area, isn't it?"

"Furthermore, trade is extremely important to countries that are at war today. You have also heard that trade with the east coast can bring England more than 72 pounds in revenue every year, while our American colonies can only Providing a profit of [-] pounds, this cannot be underestimated, not to mention that the existence of the East Bank has effectively reduced the East India Company's development costs in India. So, are you still blaming the Anglo-East Trade now?" Mr. Charles continued calmly said, "Can a nation be safe without power? Can power be acquired and secured without wealth? And how can a nation be rich without the aid of large, well-regulated trade? If it were not for the recent Can England sustain so many costly wars for so long, with ten years of continuous and enormous wealth flowing into our country through overseas trade?"

"There is no country whose soil is so rich that the trade and export of its own natural products are enough to obtain great wealth (in fact, Charles, a country bumpkin, has never seen Ming and 'My Great Qing'...), Sir Harrison, you After going back, you can check the customs data since 1654. If we offset the export value of our products with the import value of products from France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, etc., then from As a result of calculation, we can see that less than half of my country's wealth is obtained from the export of my country's self-produced commodities."

"Whoever examines our country closely and carefully will find that the wealth possessed by England is chiefly derived from three sources, the first is the colonial trade, the second is the East India trade, and the third is the export of its own manufactures— And this, too, is inseparable from the first point. The colonial trade employed many of our artisans, and sent out our inferior manufactures. The proceeds consisted of tobacco, cotton, ginger, timber, furs, Cane sugar and dyes, etc., which we not only consume ourselves, but also export to France, Italy, Germany, Iberia and the United Provinces, earning up to £50 a year..."

"The same is true for the colonial trade, the East India trade, the Anglo-East trade, etc., which also provided England with a steady stream of war funds. Sir Harrison, do you still question our country's trade policy now?" Charles finally looked at this A major general said: "The Lord Protector is a person I respect. He agrees and appreciates my views, so he gives me full authority to operate on the east coast. Sir, do you have any questions? If not, I will ask I went downstairs to work. Recently, the east coast has concentrated on exporting a large amount of food and supplies to Spain. This may have a bad effect. After all, the Lord Protector has already mobilized in the country, [-] model army veterans who have experienced years of war It has been determined to be incorporated into the French army group of Marshal Turenne to fight against the Spaniards. Although I have some doubts about England rashly intervening in the land war, since the decision has been made, I am obliged to understand the east coast What kind of supplies were exported to Spain, how much, and then assess the possible impact. So, I am sorry, Sir Harrison, I have to go."

After Charles finished speaking, he turned and went downstairs.Major General Harrison stood dejectedly for a while, and then went downstairs to the first floor. He was going to meet Blanco from Brazil. This person is also in Qingdao now. He invited Sir Harrison yesterday—— Now the relationship between Portugal and the United Kingdom is getting closer, and a lot of information has been shared with each other—maybe I should go talk to the Portuguese. The British intelligence system has suffered a big setback on the east coast, so maybe with the help of the Portuguese , Re-establish a system?

(End of this chapter)