Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1368 Ceasefire and Delivery

The mouth of the Tejo River is full of smoke and waves.Wearing a tunic, Kang Youdao stood on the pier in Lisbon, silently watching everything in the estuary.His father, Kang Ding, was a highly valued subordinate of the former diplomatic veteran Xu Xin. He is currently working in the Ministry of Trade. As a new talent at the junction of domestic and foreign countries, Kang Youdao, who is proficient in multiple languages, was sent to Europe for training.As soon as he came to Europe, he was assigned to train beside Special Envoy Zheng Yong. It has been four years now.

In the past four years, he has been diligent in his work and his ability is above average, so this time he was assigned by Zheng Yong to accompany the Portuguese to various places to read the truce order, and by the way, advance the land ceded in some treaties. Do a good job in exploration work—Zheng Yong has this power, and the authorization given to him by the Executive Committee of Gein includes the content of signing a temporary armistice agreement (not a peace agreement) with the Portuguese to deal with various complicated situations.

After reaching an agreement with the Kingdom of Portugal and signing the "Palermo Peace Treaty", Prince Pedro strongly urged the two sides to send representatives to various places immediately, and to cease fire first (but it does not mean ending the state of war). The Portuguese really don't want to It goes on like this, because they are suffering more losses with each day of delay.Zheng Yong considered that the war had been fought for four years, and almost everything that should be robbed had been robbed, so it would be meaningless to continue fighting. Moreover, the "Palermo Peace Treaty" was completely carried out in accordance with the local negotiation guidelines, and there was no reason to pass it. questionable.Therefore, he signed an additional supplementary agreement with the Portuguese, deciding to temporarily cease fire on the front line first, so as to wait for the East Bank government to ratify the "Palermo Peace Treaty" before formally announcing the end of the state of war between the two countries. Kang Youdao said What I did at the time was to go to the front line to announce a temporary ceasefire.

Portugal is a long and narrow coastal country, but if you think that the country’s harbor conditions are so good, you would be wrong. In fact, similar to many places (such as Patagonia), the Kingdom of Portugal is near the sea. There are many cliffs on that side, and the terrain is relatively high, which makes it impossible to build ports in many places, and a large number of coasts are so deserted, except for the estuary and a few flat terrain.

The Tejo Estuary is such a good place. It is backed by a big river, and the hinterland is rich in products and densely populated. Its business has been pretty good since ancient times.The estuary is extremely wide and the water depth is sufficient to accommodate many large and small ships; the land outside the estuary extends out and serves as a natural breakwater for the port of Lisbon, making the bay relatively calm and calm. With so many conditions brought together, it is no wonder that the Tejo estuary is here It eventually became the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal.

At this time, in the mouth of the Tejo River, a large number of merchant ships kept coming and going. The merchants shouted and bargained in various languages ​​on the pier, and the sailors shuttled through the streets and alleys looking for places to have fun. Brokers hired by the merchants kept an eye on any potential client in the crowd, and it seemed that the merchants in Lisbon recovered quickly overnight!

Of course, this is just an illusion. It has only been less than a month since the end of the war, and the trade line of the Kingdom of Portugal, which was shattered by the East Coast Navy, has not had time to recover. The reason why Lisbon is relatively prosperous today is only the East Coast Navy. The fleet has just returned to Cape Verde to rest and will not come back for a while, so many businessmen took advantage of this intermission to come to Lisbon for trade-of course, after the news of the signing of the "Palermo Peace Treaty" came, even more It is to dispel the concerns of most people and make the bottoming out of Lisbon's business more sustainable.

Shiploads of grains, daily necessities, and industrial products were transported from all over by the endless flow of English merchant ships, and then cheese, fruit, butter, vegetables, wool, wine, olives were pulled from the Kingdom of Portugal Commodities such as oil, tallow, leather - of course, in order to subsidize this unbalanced trade, the Portuguese now have to export a large amount of precious metals - in this war, the British have scraped a layer of oil from the Portuguese , let this navigating pioneer country spit out a lot of wealth accumulated in the course of more than 100 years of plundering.

It is worth mentioning that during the four years of war between the Kingdom of Portugal and the east coast, although England gave some assistance, compared with the income, this contribution is really too small!They took away part of Brazil's sugar sales rights, broke into the vast market of Portugal and its colonies, and plundered huge profits from it-this is no joke. In recent years, the newly emerging Manchester and West Riding textile districts in the United Kingdom, Birmingham Black Country Iron Industry Area, Welsh Lead and Tin Mining Area and Newcastle Coal Industry Area provide strong impetus for England's industry. A large number of manufactured products are transported from the above areas through well-connected customs roads or canals, and then sold to Portugal and the United States. its overseas colonies.

Especially after the British imported a large number of mechanical parts produced on the east coast—because of their durability and uniform specifications, in recent years they have developed to import a large number of small mechanical equipment—the English industry, which left the whole of Europe behind, began to With great strides forward, steel production accounts for almost half of the entire European production capacity, which is extremely appalling. Whether it is the United Provinces, France or other countries, they all have to rely on a large number of iron products produced in the UK, such as artillery, anchor chains, weapons, farm tools, etc. .

"After fighting against Portugal, the East Bank got reparations and land, but at that time my soldiers on the East Bank shed blood and sacrificed their lives to get it. The British didn't do much, but they got so much benefit. In this world I really can't say it!" Kang Youdao looked at the slight waves in the harbor, and thought depressingly: "Now this greedy country is actively preparing to fight against the Netherlands again, and I don't know if they can grab it this time." What's the benefit, you know, the United Province is not someone to mess with."

Kang Youdao had been staying in Amsterdam before, so he was very aware of some "bad things" between Britain and the Netherlands.For example, Sir Downing, the British ambassador to The Hague, submitted a memorandum to the Dutch, which listed various violations by the United Provinces against British merchants, the most serious of which was the cargo ship "Bonaventure".I heard that the owner of the ship had planned to accept the compensation of [-] pounds from the Dutch, but he was "dissuaded" by Sir Downing because he thought it was not a private dispute, but a dispute between countries. speechless.

In addition, after heated debates in the three-level parliament of the United Provinces, the wealthy people habitually adopted a policy of appeasement, that is, they decided not to take war against the British Royal Explorer African Trading Company's attack on Cape Cos, Goree Island and other West African strongholds. action, but to demand an explanation from the British government.As a result, Charles II said that he knew nothing about it, because it was the private action of Sir Richard Holmes, and after he knew it, he had locked him in the Tower of London for punishment (but the king was inside were treated well).

This practice of shirking responsibility naturally made the Dutch extremely dissatisfied, and then they demanded compensation from the British for this, but they were still rejected and prevaricated by the British, which made the Dutch feel a little bad.They began to secretly order the military affairs to be rectified, because the British are acting more and more crazy now, and after a while, maybe they won't even do the fake superficial work.Zheng Yong, Kang Youdao and others also took this seriously, because it was rumored in the UK that Charles II had already allocated funds to the navy at an increasing speed, repairing and maintaining the sealed naval warships, and summoning sailors scattered in various counties , Purchasing a large amount of armaments and materials, for which a huge sum of 80 pounds has even been spent. Charles II himself is also working hard to shuttle between ports one after another to check the combat readiness.

What's even crazier is that it is said that the British Parliament, which had been adjourned before, was officially convened. Members unanimously approved the collection of 250 million pounds in taxes for three years as compensation for the naval fleet. The whole of England was inspired by the victory of the last naval battle So, everyone held back their energy and wanted to defeat the United Provinces again in order to obtain greater benefits.

If England and the United Provinces continue to develop like this, they may really have to fight again!

"Special envoy of Kang Youdao, we can start now." A Portuguese voice sounded not far away, interrupting Kang Youdao's thoughts.He turned his head and saw that it was Mr. Eduardo, the special envoy of the Portuguese, the second son of a nobleman, but he did not have a title, and he was currently serving the powerful minister, Duke Mallor.This time, he and Kang Youdao went by boat to Cape Verde, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and other places to read out the peace agreement, and conducted on-the-spot exploration and demarcation of the Xinjiang between the two countries stipulated in the "Palermo Peace Treaty". boundary.

There were two ships on board, the Portuguese side was a three-masted clipper ship, and the east coast ship that accompanied it was a "Madao" class sail escort gunship temporarily borrowed by Zheng Yong from the escort formation. ("Yellow Croaker"), the two ships are now parked in the mouth of the Tejo River, replenished and ready to sail at any time.

"Then, let's go!" Kang Youdao turned back and called the entourage to bring their luggage, and then climbed onto the deck of the "Yellow Croaker" one by one through the rope net. At this time, Mr. Eduardo, the Portuguese special envoy, had been waiting It's been a long time.The two greeted each other on the deck of the ship, and then the ship set sail, heading straight for the first destination, the Cape Verde Islands.

The merchants on the pier were still quarreling, and with the help of the Genoese merchants, several remaining businessmen on the east bank were busy reopening the Bank of La Plata—a bank jointly owned by the East and Heat ( Each accounted for half of the shares), the experience in Lisbon really went through several ups and downs, experienced the tortuous process of opening - closing down - reopening - being confiscated - opening for the third time, and now the dust has finally settled.In fact, in the future, Banco de la Plata may no longer be the only institution on the east bank in Lisbon. The east coast commercial station, embassy and even a Taoist temple that meets the specifications (which can only be built inside the commercial station) will appear in succession. In Lisbon, Kang Youdao, a Mesozoic official in the foreign affairs department, is also very interested in being the ambassador of the East Coast Republic of China to the Kingdom of Portugal.

The pier gradually moved away behind, and the two ships sailed into the Atlantic Ocean one after the other, then adjusted the yards, and headed south towards the Cape Verde Islands at a unified speed of four knots. On June 1664, 6, they passed Madeira Island. The few Portuguese defenders on the island were a little panicked by the appearance of warships on the east coast, but neither ship stopped here, but went straight south by west sail away.

On June 6, two ships appeared off the coast of Santiago Island. An east coast naval escort gunboat sailed out of the port of Praia. After some negotiations, they were released into the port.

The port of Praia has been occupied by the people on the east coast for a long time, and there has been a small naval task force stationed there, which is dedicated to harassing the coastal waters of the Kingdom of Portugal (there are more frequent activities in summer and autumn), attacking its trade and supply lines. After the "Palermo Peace Treaty" was signed, they had already learned the news in advance through the ships going south, so they were not surprised that Zheng Yong sent someone to announce the armistice this time.In addition, there is actually nothing to stop the war here. The Portuguese surrendered a long time ago, and they have lived under the rule of the people on the east coast for a long time. Don't be too comfortable, so comfortable that they almost forget that there seems to be a war between their motherland and the east coast.

Therefore, it is meaningless for the Cape Verde Islands to declare the armistice order or not. Certainly, they may also be sent to the Caribbean, such as Trinidad, which Major General Li Yi has mentioned.

On June 6, although the "Palermo Peace Treaty" may not have been delivered to the mainland on the east coast, this does not prevent the two sides from making a preliminary division of the ownership of the entire archipelago.According to the agreement, the people on the east coast obtained seven islands including San Antão Island, San Vicente Island, San Nicola Island, Sal Island, etc., so now it is necessary to decide on the original plan of the seven islands. The ownership of the few Portuguese residents-the old rules, everything is up to them.

It is worth mentioning that people from the east coast immigrated more than 1000 people to the island earlier (both prisoners of war bought from the Crimean Khanate and immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture), most of whom gathered on San Vicente Island to build It has been two years since the wharf, mining coal, and grazing goats.At present, a wharf has been roughly built on the island, and it is named Henghai Port, and this island is also named Henghai Island by the way, which shows that the navy is determined to win this place.In addition, Jianchang Island (Saint Antang Island) and Nankang Island (St. Nicholas Island) were also housed with more than a hundred exiled prisoners because of their relatively good conditions. They currently make a living by planting and raising sheep. A total of no more than [-] residents is the entire strength of the people on the island from the east coast.

On June 6, after the delivery of the Cape Verde Islands was hastily concluded, Kang Youdao and Eduardo set sail again and left the port of Praia (the navy fleet on the east coast also had to move to Jianchang Island). Captured the wind direction and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived in San Salvador Bay on July 27th. At this time, Brazil had actually ceased fire for half a year. What both sides needed to do was still a formality.

(End of this chapter)