Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1370

On August 1664, 8, when Mr. Charles was conspiring with the Portuguese in San Salvador, Conrad Van Boyningen, the ambassador of the United Provinces to the East Coast, also received a diplomatic letter from the mainland.

The letter was written by Robin of the De Haer family who was close to him. This gentleman had been operating iron ore trade in St. Nicholas of the Russian Empire before, that is, they shipped iron ore from Britain or Sweden to Russia, and then handed it over to the local The merchants continuously transshipped by land and water, and sent them to the arsenals in Moscow and Tula for smelting.To be honest, the Dutch have always felt that it is neither economical nor scientific for the Russians to do this. Why do they have to make iron and forge weapons by themselves?Isn't it enough to spend money to buy from others, it's cheaper and the quality is better!

But the Russians are "stupid". They have to learn, smelt, and manufacture everything by themselves. Even if the success is so high that the tsar must give subsidies to maintain it, they "will never repent". They have to do everything by themselves, which is simply stupid. up.But as long as you can make money, it’s fine. The De Haier family believes in this principle. We have a lot of purchase channels for iron ore. With the appearance of the mine, I can still earn money from these fools for a while.

Well, let’s get down to business, Robin DeHaer mentioned in the letter that the British detained all the United Provinces merchant ships that were in Hong Kong at that time, a total of 130 and five ships, but because the two countries have not officially declared war, these merchant ships are not yet The spoils, the sailors were deported back to the United Provinces.According to some superficial intelligence obtained by the third-level parliamentary investigators, the British seem to suspect that Druiter led the army to recover Goree Island and Cape Cos, and also believed that the Dutch fleet he led would further harm England, so Taking such a decisive action undoubtedly greatly damaged the relationship between the two countries, and made some members of the three-level parliament who were originally strongly opposed to the war also shut their mouths.

In addition, the Dutch have now figured it out a bit. Although King Charles of England also wants to go to war, his enthusiasm for this war is far less than that of his younger brother, James, Duke of York.The duke was a shareholder in the Royal Explorers African Trading Company, had fired the first shots against Holland (since the Dutch West India Company posed serious competition to them), and had been contributing to the war against Holland in the hope of With his success, coupled with his strong religious sentiments, he has always regarded the Netherlands as a Protestant bastion, so it is not surprising that things have turned out like this.

Robin De Hare predicted that if the British figured out the final destination of the fleet led by Admiral Druiter, they might take some more drastic measures.Maybe, the English fleet is already on the way, but the United Provinces don't know it yet, just as the British don't know where the Druiter fleet is going.

The last part of the letter was some business trifles and Russian knowledge, and Van Beuningen was in no mood to read any more.I saw him carefully put away the envelope and letter paper, put them on the table, and then lightly poured himself a glass of Snow Mountain Beer produced by Nantie Company, his brain began to spin rapidly——

"It seems that the British have been planning for this war for a long time, and the whole country is now ready for war. It is ridiculous that members of the three-level parliament are still debating whether to ask England to deal with the top tank still locked in the Tower of London Holmes and their obsession with the validity of the treaty of alliance renewed with the British in 1662 is simply ridiculous. These fools are reluctant to bear commercial interests and think that if war with Britain is fought, then they have no hope of getting out of the war. The benefits (in fact, almost), but the possibility of great losses, so do everything possible to negotiate, trying to eliminate the invisible war..."

"In this regard, Speaker DeWitt's handling is more correct. For example, he believes that any concessions to the English may fuel their ambitions. This will not prevent war, but will attract new British forces who are aggressive. In the end, the request can only be self-defeating. Speaker DeWitt has always called on the seven provinces and the Drenthe region to unite, pass a huge naval budget, restore the naval warships that are normally sealed, and do their best to deal with the threat of the British..."

"Now, the gentlemen of the three levels of parliament should believe that war is imminent. Perhaps, among the 130 five merchant ships detained, there are also their own ships." Thinking of this, Van Beuningen rarely smiled Get up, and then said to yourself: "Well, from this point of view, there is nothing wrong with my move to order artillery from the East Bank a while ago. This is not only not a mistake, but also a great achievement, because it is obvious that I have won enough Time. Amsterdam must be struggling with where to import enough cannons. Sweden's ironworks output is pitifully low, and Portugal is currently struggling to meet its own needs. Besides, they have a bad relationship with the United Provinces. Then the only way to import cannons and military resources is from France or the German states. If not, you can also go to Milan or Venice to import, but the distance is too far, and it is easy to be restrained by the British navy. After much deliberation, it is still the French It’s the best deal with the Germans. If our ships suddenly brought back three hundred 8-pound and 12-pound guns from the east coast at this time, how happy Speaker De Witt would be!"

On August 8, Van Boyningen, who spent the night in the embassy discussing with his subordinates, arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of East China in a carriage again, and met with Foreign Minister Mo San again to discuss other commodities besides military funds. Supply contract.He is now extremely convinced that war will inevitably break out between Britain and the Netherlands, so he is willing to take a certain risk to sign a contract with the people on the east coast in advance so that they can deliver the goods as soon as possible, the sooner the better!After all, once the war officially begins, the unfavorable geographical location of the United Provinces will make it possible for any merchant ship full of food and daily necessities to be intercepted by the British Navy. Even if the Dutch Navy is powerful, how many ships can it escort?I'm afraid, in their hearts, it is more important to escort the returning ships of the East India Company. As for how many people starved to death in Amsterdam, that has nothing to do with them!

Mo San listened to Van Boyningen's intention in his office, and he agreed to the request made by the Dutchman after pondering.Although statistics from counties and townships this year show that agricultural output has hardly increased compared to last year (and this is the result of a lot of new land being opened up), many places have been affected by disasters, and the national grain reserve They had to start selling old grains to the market to maintain the stability of grain prices, but it was not a problem to export tens of thousands of tons to the United Provinces, and this could almost solve the annual rations of a considerable part of the population of the United Provinces.

Of course, the import of barreled wheat from the east coast is only a part of the food import plan of the United Provinces, in addition to dried fish, bacon, cheese, oil, wine, dried fruits, and emerging biscuits, chocolate, canned food and so on It is also a large amount, and there are many of them, and the total amount is extremely huge.Calculated in this way, there will be a lot of pressure on the food production of the East Coast Republic of China. After all, after the immigration season in the middle of this year, the total population of the country has reached a historical high of 154.1 million—Ming people accounted for 46.67%. The number of second-generation nationals continued to rise, reaching 34.45%—and because a large number of Indians were transferred south to build roads, the number of non-nationals in the country also reached 18.9, which totaled 80 million people who needed to be fed and consumed daily The amount of non-staple food required is not a small amount. I hope the Ministry of Agriculture can continue to stabilize it.If it really doesn't work, they can only expand the fishing fleet and at the same time organize a large number of people to hunt bison on the Pampas prairie, which is an inexhaustible meat treasure house for people on the east coast.

In addition to food, Van Boynen has also repeatedly emphasized that daily necessities such as cloth, salt, and metal tools must also be provided emphatically!The United Provinces originally had no production capacity for these commodities, but under the constant impact of cheap foreign commodities over the years, their industries basically disappeared slowly.The most typical example is the textile city of Leiden, which is increasingly collapsing under the competition of the textile industry on the east coast. Both cotton and wool fabrics there have suffered from Waterloo in the international market, and it is only a matter of time before they become dilapidated. Goods from foreign countries are more in demand than ever.

After learning that the United Provinces had de-industrialized to such a degree, Mo San also sighed a little, and was even a little uneasy. He even wondered how a United Province in such a state could fight the British and how it could win.Because the situation is obvious, once the war between the two sides becomes protracted and expanded, the United Provinces must be the final loser, because Britain has no shortage of food and people, and at the same time has a strong industrial production capacity, and the combat effectiveness of the naval fleet is also great. It is higher than the Netherlands, and the English should win the war no matter what. The only chance for the United Provinces to win is probably that by virtue of their own advantage of having more money, the English, who suffer from a lack of funds, cannot bear the financial pressure. , take the initiative to seek peace, and then don't push them too much. It is best for the two sides to sign a generally acceptable peace treaty, so that it is possible to end the war.

"It's not easy for the Dutch to fight this battle. I hope that the rich guys in the British Parliament are as stingy as the members of the three-level parliament. Otherwise, as long as they are willing to continue to burn money, then England will be very difficult to defeat, because their fleet The strength is stronger, and the ship maintenance capability and industrial production capacity are also stronger." Mo San sighed, and with a swipe of a pen, he agreed to the Dutch request to organize the production or delivery of goods as soon as possible, and then asked the secretary to contact the Ministry of Industry and Commerce as soon as possible. , the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Materials, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Communications and other departments to coordinate matters such as contract signing, material production, delivery and transportation.And he himself will also communicate with his colleagues in the executive committee, and then discuss this matter at the meeting, form a document and issue it, so as to officially enter the start-up process.

"The outbreak of the second Anglo-Dutch war should not be wrong, either this year or next year, anyway!" These are the original words of Mo San at the regular meeting of the executive committee, but in fact within half a month Afterwards, the news from the north immediately corroborated his statement-a small British squadron attacked New Amsterdam, and the governor of the West India Company there shamefully surrendered, while the largest population (2500 people) ) cities have surrendered, so the remaining small towns and strongholds will not be spared.People on the east coast speculate that they are likely to be taken over by the British colonial army coming from New England. During the last Anglo-Dutch war, New Netherland was almost captured by the New England army. 7000, while New England has more than [-], and there is still a certain industrial and agricultural foundation.

In addition, Druiter led the fleet to attack Barbados, the most important stronghold of the British in the Caribbean Sea, and was repelled afterwards. He is currently missing, and he may have gone north to New Amsterdam.

After the two pieces of information were collected, summarized, and analyzed by the General Administration of National Intelligence, they immediately aroused heated discussions among members of the Executive Committee. In the end, everyone unanimously approved the report written by the Director of the Analysis Office of the National Intelligence Administration, that is, the relationship between England and the United Provinces. In fact, there has been an undeclared war!The English successively attacked West Africa and New Netherland, and detained a large number of Dutch merchant ships; Admiral Druiter of the United Provinces not only recovered the land occupied by the British such as Goree Island, but also attacked the Some British trading stations in Guinea captured several small ships of the Royal Explorer African Trading Company at the same time, and then he led an army to attack Barbados. Such behavior undoubtedly cannot be forgiven by the English.

Calculated in this way, there is really no other way to go between England and the United Provinces except to declare war on each other. A war aimed at competing for commercial hegemony in the European continent and overseas will basically start within a few months.Now my Great East Bank has ushered in a period of strategic opportunities where I can watch the fire from the other side. This is all bestowed by God, how beautiful!

On August 1664, 8, Van Boyningen came to the East Coast Ministry of Foreign Affairs again, requesting an additional order for muskets, light army guns, leather armor, spears, sabers, ammunition and even military horses. A number of merchant ships from the military trading company helped them transport them to the port of Cape Town. As for whether the war will start, it is hard to say. We can only continue to wait and see. At present, this batch of materials is still in the process of preparation step by step.

It is worth mentioning that, according to a telegram sent by the Qingdao Branch of the Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau, before Van Boyningen placed the order, the business personnel of the British Golden Deer Shop had just inquired about the prices of some military supplies in the market. According to the instructions in advance, they gave the British an affirmative answer, and immediately opened the warehouse of the Sixth Mixed Battalion on the Qingdao Wharf, preparing to transfer a batch of combat supplies to the British to save production and preparation time .

The people on the east coast have really worked hard to get South Africa's idea!

(End of this chapter)