Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1123 Major General Harrison ([-])

To be honest, Blanco is a little afraid of seeing the British now, especially after the people on the east coast publicly executed several British spies-this seems a bit strange to Blanco, you must know that the notorious May Agency They all executed spies in secret. It is indeed unusual to publicly hang six Britons this time. Perhaps it indicates a certain policy tendency of the people on the east coast? ——Blanco is now extremely unwilling to get involved with these British people, even though Portugal desperately needs the help of the British now.

"Sir Harrison, it is inappropriate for us to meet now, you are too reckless." Blanco sighed.

After his family closed the commercial station in Baoan Township, Pingan County, they opened two commercial offices in Luocha Port and Qingdao Port respectively. It is to buy and sell some small and odd commodities, and the trade volume is quite high. The sum of the two is no less than 20 East Coast silver dollars a year.

At this time, Sir Harrison was meeting with Blanco in the Leonardo business hall of the Almeida family. The banner was to discuss business, but who knows what the May Agency, the spy organization on the east coast, thinks?Since the British espionage case was uncovered, Putin, the spy chief who has always boasted of being a strongman, was furious, so that the spies on the east coast also monitored foreign business houses much more closely.Both Blanco and Harrison are "businessmen" with official identities. Although they don't expect to be caught by the spies on the east coast, it's not a problem to be stared at like this.

"We have lost a lot of manpower here, and now we urgently need to rebuild the intelligence system, and we need your help." Sir Harrison was also straightforward enough, and immediately made a very embarrassing request for the Portuguese: "Don't tell me that you are incompetent , you have been planning on the east coast for so many years, and you will not have no cards in your hole."

Blanco's expression turned bitter when he heard that.He is trusted by Governor Silva and His Majesty João, and has been serving as a contact person for the Portuguese spy network lurking in the east coast all year round. Naturally, he knows the distribution of spies in the Kingdom of Portugal on the east coast—to be honest, there are quite a few, the most of them There are two Ming spies who have been lurking for 20 years. They were pawns laid out by Portugal when it transported immigrants to the east coast. Now, one works in a shipyard and the other serves as a township cadre in a certain inland area.Xu has lived on the east coast for many years and has a good future. These two people have become more and more difficult to control in recent years, and there is a faint tendency to no longer want to continue playing for Portugal. Therefore, if it is not an urgent matter, generally Said that Blanco would not bother the two of them.

Now Major General Harrison is obviously asking the Portuguese to help the Cypriots. This is definitely a very dangerous move. If one is not good, the two Portuguese spies will be implicated. He is extremely unwilling to agree to this matter, so he tried his best when facing Major General Harrison. He shied away, and talked about him from left to right: "Honorable Sir, what does Your Majesty the Lord Protector think of the formal alliance between our two countries to fight against Spain? His Majesty Joao sent a special envoy to London last year, but he did not receive a response. This year he I plan to send a mission headed by Earl Mallor to London again, and I don’t know how His Excellency the Protector will consider this issue.”

Blanco's meaning is actually very clear, that is, since the English are not willing to formally form an alliance with the Kingdom of Portugal, how can they be expected to take risks on the east coast to install people for England?You must know that once this matter is discovered by the people on the east coast, it will be an excellent excuse for war. At that time, tens of thousands of troops on the east coast will go all the way north along the Gerard Mountains, and many Portuguese towns will fall for it.The Portuguese are not stupid!It's not impossible to take chestnuts out of the fire, but there must be enough benefits. Like Major General Harrison, he can't come up with any conditions. How can it be possible to count on empty-handed white wolves to let the Portuguese do things for them?

"The Lord Protector is very dissatisfied with your country's insistence on protecting the royalist elements. Some leaders of the royalist rebellion in our country have lived in Lisbon all year round, and the royalist fleet often obtains supplies at the mouth of the Tejo River. They wantonly attacked England's merchant ships, this has caused dissatisfaction among many people. Do you still expect the Protectorate Association to agree to form an alliance with your country for doing such things all year round? Will you agree?" Major General Harrison is a staunch republican, so he is very dissatisfied with Portugal, a country at both ends of the snake rat. It is undoubtedly unfavorable to form a royal party for ideological reasons, and it is also doomed to the complicated and changeable diplomatic relations between Portugal and England.

Blanco was a little silent when he heard the words, but he didn't deny it.His Majesty Joao really sympathized with the dead Charles I. He insisted that Cromwell was a regicide and that the crown of England should not fall to the ground. Therefore, he defended and helped the royal party in every possible way. Lisbon once became the base camp of the exiled royal party members. However, in terms of practical interests—especially after the sudden emergence of the Republic of England and defeating the Netherlands—Portugal should resolutely abandon the lost royalist party and fully cooperate with the Republic of Britain, which is in the interests of Portugal.Therefore, when reason and ass are intertwined (the Portuguese king's ass naturally sits on the side of the royal party), Portugal's weird and contradictory diplomatic mentality is undoubtedly revealed. The relationship with England has ups and downs, but it can never be abandoned. Former suspects formed a military alliance.

But when it comes to this, both Major General Harrison and Blanco understand that it may be too early for the two parties to discuss cooperation now.The English complained about Portugal’s royalist party, and the Portuguese complained about the intimidation of the Dutch fleet last year (leading to the Portuguese Brazilian colonial authorities having to stop their offensive in Recife, and the two sides reached a five-year truce agreement) and England’s inaction. In particular, the two countries that were supposed to come together are still one step behind, and cannot truly integrate together to fight against the enemy.

After failing with Blanco, Major General Harrison returned to the Golden Deer Shop unhappy.As soon as he entered the door, he heard the thick middle-aged voice of Mr. Charles: "...However, because Europe loves that kind of luxury, because the habit of 100 years has made the spices of the East India an indispensable seasoning for people of all walks of life, because the East The silks of India are already favored by high society, and since the cotton of the East India is so popular in Europe, it is not good for England to abandon the East India trade and leave it to other countries. 10% of the population, after the "Westminster Peace Treaty", we obtained the same East India trade rights as the Netherlands, so we can share this trade with the Netherlands almost without competition, if this trade can also become some people If you say "burden" in your mouth, then the "burden" is not imposed on these 10% of people, but on the remaining 90% of Europeans. I think Europeans will flow out because of a large amount of gold and silver-in the past 100 years, I think At least 5000 pounds were shipped to the East Indies to be buried--instead of trading with the East Indies, it is really absurd and grotesque to say, since the Western countries have been willing to be deceived, and have been accustomed to endure for 100 years This 'fraud', wouldn't it be a foolish thing for us to give up this interest and leave him entirely to the Dutch?"

"The object of all laws in a trading country should be to assist in encouraging commerce, and all measures should be taken with due regard to its interests and its progress. But what is the actual situation? In many cases, the history of our country Laws often present hindrances and difficulties to commerce. Yet, if all things are rightly looked at, it will be found that whether abundance at home, success abroad, and enthusiasm of the people, or the actions taken in matters other than trade, Neither action nor intelligence can seem to be of much help to society until we are able to improve the terms and conditions of trade."

"In my letter to the Lord Protector I have stated quite candidly some of the insights I have drawn from my observations and inquiries into these subjects, and I am convinced that the East India trade is of great benefit to England. If one hundred thousand pounds of England's industrial products are exported to India, you can easily get a profit of 20 pounds. We can assume that the 20 pounds of income is purchased in India for various specialties. Then no one who is proficient in business will deny that the income from India The proceeds of £20, when exported to other countries, would at least triple their value, and bring back a total of £80. I have good reason, then, to think that the East India trade, in times of peace, increased the stock capital of England by at least £60 a year. Pounds ([-] pounds after taxes, salaries, wear and tear, etc. are removed). The accounts are so clear, are there still people clamoring to stop the East India trade? Does anyone still think that maintaining the South African colony is a huge burden? If we abandon the South African The support point we have with India, once the war breaks out, our neighbors, the Dutch, will definitely obstruct us in every possible way and try to monopolize the East India trade. In this way, the Dutch can rely on the wealth gained from the East India trade to strengthen Their naval power, which will undoubtedly undo the gains we gained in the last Anglo-Dutch war, and England will henceforth have to rely on the protection of the Dutch, willing to trade under their banner, I will not allow this things happen!"

Major General Harrison couldn't help but stop when he heard it. Although he was very upset with these rich guys, he had to admit that what Mr. Charles said made sense at this time.Now there are some people in China who think that it is appropriate to spend more than [-] pounds a year to maintain the South African colony. Major General Harrison used to be noncommittal about this, but now it sounds that it is indeed inappropriate to abandon South Africa. At least the East India trade may Affected, and this will naturally damage the interests of England, which is also unacceptable by Major General Harrison!

(End of this chapter)