Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1168 A Quiet Change ([-])

Port of Archangel, mid-July 1658.Years of wars (Polish-Russian War, Polish-Swiss War) have greatly consumed Russia's national strength, and at the same time made trade more and more popular-because Russia needs money.

Cod, salmon, whale oil, tallow, furs, wax, timber, masts, tar, pitch, hemp, flax, rope, honey – and, of course, rye in the largest form – were traditional Russian exports that At this time, shabby Ross farmers (who work part-time to obtain valuable cash income, which is extremely important for tax payment in the coming spring) are packing the ships, and then transporting them to various ports in Western countries through the White Sea for trade-Bergen, Hamburg , London, Amsterdam, Antwerp and other commercial cities are its final destinations.

Yang Liang has just arrived here from Moscow, and in the meantime, he has lived in that mediocre city with a lot of messy wooden houses and all kinds of winding alleys for half a year—on the one hand It was to reminisce with the Russian nobles who had made friends with the army (he was the leader of the East Bank battlefield tour group). On the one hand, Zheng Yong, the plenipotentiary special envoy representing the East Bank, came to submit a letter of credence and waited for the tsar’s reply.

While waiting in Moscow, he received great preferential treatment from the Russians. The young Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich kindly invited him to live in the Kremlin, the defensive fortress in Moscow, which is also a political and political center. The center of religious life - it shows the importance attached to it.

But even so, he was still not used to life in Russia, and he was amazed by the people living in this land.They were so rough and patient that the soldiers had no complaints about the difficulties they experienced; Publicly beaten until he paid the bond; the streets were full of drunken men who passed out and were roughly kicked around with their boots by the sheriff's soldiers and dragged away like dead dogs...

All these things made Yang Liang, a young military officer who claimed to be from the east coast of a civilized state, extremely uncomfortable. He tried to understand all this like an ordinary Russian, but when a widowed Russian princess saw him Afterwards, Yang Liang, who was afraid of being forcibly converted to the Orthodox Church, immediately ended his life in Moscow, and then ran back to the port of Archangel with the tsar's reply in desperation, intending to run back to the east bank as soon as possible.

In all fairness, Tsar Alexei's grace to the merchants on the east bank is unparalleled, thanks to the fact that the east bank government has officially approved the establishment of a shipyard in the later Severodvinsk near the mouth of the North Dvina River - the Little Star Shipyard, The ownership of the shipyard is shared by the East Coast and Russia, and the technology (both are common technologies in Western Europe at this time, but it is no different from advanced technology for the Russians) and management uses workers from the East Coast, but the ships produced are preferentially supplied to Russia at a low price .

The construction of the Little Star Shipyard has greatly consolidated the relationship between Russia and the East Bank, and the Tsar also gave the East Bank merchants greater privileges in Russia: "The chartered merchants from the East Coast Republic of China (the quota will be negotiated separately) will be Perpetual grant of free business licenses and rights, they themselves and their entourage, ships, goods and everything else that comes by shipping, are calm and free throughout the territory of Rus, without any restrictions, censures and apportioned fees, without direct taxes, Tolls and duties of any kind, nor will they be required to pay any subsidy, nor will they be implied to be imposed at any time in the future...”

In addition, the tsar also verbally promised in front of all the ministers that the merchants on the east bank would not be arbitrarily arrested in Russia, would not be arbitrarily seized everything including goods, would not be hindered because of debts or taxes, and would be free. Believe in your own religion; East Coast businessmen can freely choose agents, consignors, packers, weighers, surveyors and coachmen to serve them in Russia, and they can be punished and fired if they find any improper behavior; If a businessman from the east coast is injured in Russia, the officials of the tsar will not hesitate to execute the due punishment according to the urgency of the matter.

Such favorable conditions surprised the members of the East Bank Executive Committee, so they quickly agreed to set up a large-scale gun repair shop in Archangel (also using East Bank management and technical personnel, and employing some Russian workers) , specializing in the repair of damaged East Coast rifles with parts shipped from the East Coast. Of course, foreign rifles can also be repaired, as long as the Russians can afford the high cost—to be precise, this is after the Tula Arsenal. The second factory with the ability to repair firearms, and the construction of the Tula Arms Factory was still in the honeymoon period of the Anglo-Russian trade. Later, when the Anglo-Russian diplomatic relations were severed, Russian technology was never updated. How thirsty for technology—at the same time, the East Bank government also purchased a piece of land and its ancillary buildings near St. Maxim’s Church in Moscow, and then transformed it into a Moscow trading station. The trade links between them can be described as increasingly close.

However, considering the consistent nature of the Russians—a large number of British technicians came to Russia during the period of Ivan IV to guide them in mining and iron smelting, but after their own workers were trained and trained and Ivan IV passed away, the new tsar immediately confiscated them. After buying these foreign assets, they took the mines and ironworks back into their own pockets. With such a criminal record, the people on the east coast naturally had to take precautions. They gave them the backward technology of Rotten Street, but even if it was just this At that time, the mainstream technology in Western Europe (which is not advanced to the people on the east coast) should also be hidden from the Russians, and they will not be released unless they get benefits. This point should be paid attention to.

But no matter what, despite all kinds of stumbling blocks (for example, the tsar forced the people on the east bank to buy his goods at a price higher than the market, for example, the tsar often broke his promise to apportion fees, for example, the Russian agent ran away, which made it difficult to recover the payment, etc. etc.), but the prospect of Eastern Russia trade is still praised by many upper-level people in the two countries, and the annual import and export volume has climbed to more than 1657 yuan in 30, which is already a good place for dumping goods on the East Bank— —Although the small Brandenburg-Prussian trade volume has reached 20 yuan.

"Recently, some local businessmen in Russia are clamoring to impose tariffs on us. They are clamoring to impose an import tariff of at least 3% (at this time, the tariffs on goods in other countries are generally above 4%). A toll tax of 2% is required. Although Tsar Alexei refused, it can be seen that he was a little moved. So, Station Master Shi, please be careful with everything related to Russia. After all, Russians are notorious for backtracking Yes." Watching five ships full of Russian rye (three of which were hired from Hamburg) slowly leave for Spain's Bacchus, Yang Liang said to Schneider, the head of the Moscow Commercial Station who came to see him off: "But don't Too worried, the Russians are not stupid, now they are still engaged in a long war with the Poles, and they have a great demand for all kinds of war materials, after all, the total number of troops of the Tsar who are currently fighting abroad is as high as 15 to 20, which consumes a lot. See Well, now he is very flattering to us, the Dutch and some German businessmen, and he is counting on us to transport military supplies for them. In addition, did you see that the Tsar also ordered the return of the two rope factories in Archangel to the British? Have you? Hehe, at the beginning, they kept saying that the current British government's hands were soaked in the blood of the king, and they were regicides. But now that the situation is pressing, they plan to increase trade ties with the UK. Who doesn't know the behavior of the Russians? I understand!"

"Yesterday, the tsarist officials in Archangel confiscated more than [-] bolts of calico on the grounds that we bought some Russian prisoners of war from the Tatars. However, according to my observations, the Russians did not really blame us for buying Russian slaves. They are just to satisfy their desire to rob, a bunch of Slavic barbarians!" Schneider said with a smile, "By the way, now I heard that whether it is a British businessman or a German businessman, they must be in St. Nicholas, Arles, Customs are normally paid at Hangel and other ports, and when goods are transported to Moscow by water through these places, they also have to pay a bunch of taxes. The goods of Dutch merchants can pay half of the tax, but the goods on our east coast are free of charge—although During the actual operation, the officials of the tsar still collected some taxes, but overall the burden was lighter than that of other countries, which made us the target of public criticism. Both Russian businessmen and European businessmen were very jealous..."

"Don't pay attention to them." Yang Liang commanded his entourage to pack some of his personal luggage - there are more than a dozen large boxes - on the boat, then pulled the rope net hanging from the side of the boat, and said: "It's all Small things, not worth mentioning. As long as the Tsar still needs our military resources, goods and technology, then he will never completely pull down his face and look good to us. Maybe they will cancel some of our privileges later, but it doesn't matter, we don't Pointing at a Russian market to live, I’m afraid! What I need to worry about now is the attitude of the Swedes. After all, we are too close to the old Maozi now. Sweden has warned us repeatedly, and we will be afraid in the Livonian market. It is going to cause a lot of trouble, and maybe even tariffs will be raised. However, compared with the Russian market, these are still relatively light. Moreover, Russia can also export a large amount of grain to Spain, which is very important for our diplomacy. Action also goes a long way..."

After finishing speaking, this guy climbed onto the deck of the ship without looking back, planning to transfer to Riga via Amsterdam, meet with the members of the battlefield tour group, and then look at the next arrangement.

(End of this chapter)