Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1391 The smell of gunpowder ([-]) ([-]th update today)

Perhaps because of God's favor, on April 1665, 4, two flute-shaped transport ships of the east coast standard sailed into the port of Amsterdam together.The two ships were loaded with a lot of leather goods, barreled wine, military kettles, leather boots, bandages, cloth, salt and other commodities. In addition, the most satisfying thing for everyone was that there were sixty cannons in the cabin. Pound and 2-pound small-caliber artillery, but it is also a force-at the moment when the decisive battle at sea may break out at any time, every artillery is precious to the Dutch.

It's a pity that the merchant ship that sank in the storm before still carried forty 12-pound guns, and they were all lost at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at this time, and they could never be recovered.The current Captain Cai Anguo can only sincerely pray to Tianzun, praying to Tianzun to bless the two merchant ships that have not yet returned to the fleet, to appear in the next few days, and then everyone will return together. The allied ships gave Captain Tsai such confidence that he now began to hope that the rest of the ships would arrive in Amsterdam unscathed.

However, the artillery may be able to return a lot, but a lot of mechanical equipment and parts imported from the Netherlands have also been lost. This will naturally severely hit the already fragile Dutch manufacturing industry, causing their production capacity to decline again. .You must know that as more and more machinery and equipment have been imported from the east coast in recent years, many parts required for subsequent maintenance can only be imported from the east coast. It is impossible to continue production.Now that these hundreds of boxes of mechanical parts have been lost, the manufacturing enterprises with few Dutch people are afraid that they will vomit blood, so they can only turn to seek alternatives.

Fortunately, the Dutch of course also understand the hardships and uncertainties of sea navigation, and their own ships often sink in the sea.Although the tonnage of the ships of the people on the east coast is generally 2-3 times that of everyone else, the safety is higher, but the accident rate is quite high, and many ships sink every year-this can be seen from the data released by the Oceanic Bureau Come out - so the Dutch still have psychological preparations and backup plans. On the one hand, they asked the East Bank to organize new sources of goods as soon as possible, and on the other hand, they organized skilled craftsmen to process parts according to the East Coast standard (metric system). Use and management of existing parts to reduce wastage.

On April 4nd, another Dutch fleet left the port in a large scale. It is said that it was to escort a Dutch merchant fleet that was hiding in the French port of Le Havre at this time, so that it could return to Vlissingen, Amsterdam, and Hollen. Wait for the United Provinces ports.Captain Cai Anguo frowned after hearing the news, thinking why the Dutch are still so passive, no matter whether the British fleet appeared in the Strait of Dover, they would always send a fleet to escort them, so exhausted, no wonder the first Anglo-Dutch war Failed.Is it going to repeat the same mistakes this time, hasn't the Dutch learned their lesson?

On April 4, the people on the east coast who had been waiting for a long time suddenly got the news from the sea off Sud. An east coast flute-shaped transport ship arrived in the sea area and anchored near Tethyr Island.Upon hearing the news, Captain Cai Anguo immediately took a small boat to check, and found that it was indeed one of the lost flute-shaped ships, the "Shouyang", which was loaded with a lot of metal agricultural tools, blades, hardware tools, steel bars and 7 The guns (mostly 150-pound and 8-pound guns, and a few 12-pound naval guns) are almost all urgently needed by the Dutch, so at this moment officials from the United Provinces have already boarded the ship for inspection and delivery.

The transport ship "Shouyang" also brought unfortunate news. After being blown away in the storm, they encountered the flute-shaped ship "Taihua" that was also separated from the main fleet.It's a pity that the "Taihua" was severely damaged in the wind and rain, and the water was seriously flooded. After two days of accompanying the two ships, the "Taihua" finally couldn't withstand the violent wind and waves in the North Atlantic Ocean, and was damaged and sank in the sea. The "Shouyang" took great pains to move up and down, but only had time to transfer the crew and some other supplies. As for the large amount of cotton cloth, woolen cloth, silk, leather and fifty short-barreled artillery in the cabin, it could only be cheap. Lord Dragon.

"It's great to be back, really." Captain Cai Anguo shook hands with the crew members one by one, and said happily: "Everyone sailed together, and went through life and death together. We are lucky to be alive, and I hope everyone will be just as lucky when we return." "Yuquan" was the first ship to sink in the storm. He watched them being swallowed by the waves, which is why Cai Anguo said what he just said.

But the man on the sea has long been used to seeing life and death, so naturally he will not be too depressed, not to mention that the Taoist priests on board will also do some psychological counseling work, so everyone's emotions are fairly stable.On this voyage, bad luck encountered heavy wind and rain—it was still in the North Atlantic—but only two flute-shaped ships and one escort gunboat were lost. The other 17 ships insisted on sailing to their destinations, which has shown Given the tenacity of the East Coast sailors, excellent ship handling skills and a lot of good luck, there is really no reason for anyone to ask for more.

I have been inviting everyone to eat, drink and have fun in Amsterdam for several days - naturally Cai Anguo, the "second generation of officials" and "second generation of riches", treats guests. Who made his father, Cai De, a representative of the National People's Congress and the general manager of Dafeng Food Company? ——Then prepare to purchase goods and return to the east coast.

In fact, it is quite embarrassing to say that every time people from the east coast bring a large amount of goods to the old continent, they always don’t know what to buy when they return.What's more, the Ministry of Local Trade didn't know how to write a catalog of goods to buy when making plans. The trade between the two parties is too unbalanced. After so many years of development, Europeans' demand for goods from the East Coast has not decreased. However, the demand for European goods on the east bank is decreasing day by day. Today, this unbalanced trade has gradually become unsustainable. Profit is a helpless move. After all, you can’t bring a large ship of precious metals back to the country. That would be too stupid, and the Dutch would not allow this, because it would be a loss of precious metals for them.

Fortunately, here is Amsterdam, where the world's goods gather, 60% of Europe's salt, 70% of grain, 90% of seafood, and the same share of timber, tar, masts, leather, livestock, iron, etc. Products, copper, spices, silk, tea, porcelain and a lot of commodities are traded and delivered here. Therefore, purchasing goods here is not only inexpensive, but also has a wide variety of goods, sufficient quantity, and fast delivery speed, which makes the People on the east coast will not be so embarrassed, because they can always find some cargo that can fill the cabin.

In the end, the goods they found were some Swedish copper (although it was a strategic material, but because it was purchased by people on the east coast, the Netherlands still released part of it at its discretion), Polish lead, Ottoman graphite, sulfur, handicrafts, daily handmade products, large livestock and Some other scattered goods, although they can't completely fill the cabin, are already very good.

As for the rest of the cabins, they planned to stop in London on their return journey, purchase some Shire horses, Welsh tin mines and a small amount of British white coal from the English, and then cross the Atlantic via the Cape Verde Islands and return to the east coast.Although it is not safe to toss back and forth between Amsterdam and London at a time when the gunpowder between Britain and the Netherlands is getting stronger and stronger, the east bank itself is a neutral country, and the British should not dare to detain them at will-don’t you see, those from Sweden Merchant ships from Japan, Germany, and Italy were tossing back and forth between the Strait of Dover, and the British had never detained their ships. The British in this era are not arrogant enough to dare to provoke the whole of Europe.

On April 1665, 4, the east coast flotilla consisting of 15 ships successfully arrived at the Thames Estuary. After obtaining the consent of the English, they were able to enter the port for rest, supplies and trade.At this time, there are still a large number of ships from other countries moored in the port, such as Portuguese ships transporting wine and olive oil, such as Italian merchant ships transporting ham, butter, cheese, and silk fabrics, such as Sicilian merchant ships transporting grain, etc. In short, the number is still quite small. The small one also seems to indicate the great demand of the British for all kinds of goods during the war.

However, in these needs, unlike the United Provinces, these commodities are not necessarily needed by the English!To put it simply, the British are of course very willing to import these commodities, but it’s not that they can’t live without them. After all, the UK’s own agricultural output is still good, and only in some years does it need to import grain from foreign countries—just not in recent years. Well, because their harvest is quite good, there is a large amount of food reserves in the country-in addition, the production of meat and salted fish is also large, enough for the consumption of the people of the whole country.At worst, they still have a big place in Ireland to squeeze them out of, I'm afraid!

But the United Provinces can't do it. Braudel once said that "its own food output is less than one percent of what the country needs"; in addition, there are no underground mineral deposits in the territory, unlike England, which is rich in coal, iron, lead and tin resources. (England's steel production at this time may account for most of Europe), so it is doomed that almost all resources in the United Provinces must be imported from abroad.Therefore, this country is completely a castle built on the beach. As long as the English dare to sacrifice to fight them to the end, the failure of the United Provinces is certain!definitely!I just don't know if the British have this determination...

At this time, both sides of the Thames River were still very busy. There was an endless stream of merchant ships transporting goods from the Mediterranean Sea and the Levant (Syria), and there were also a large number of merchant ships traveling between the American colonies and the mainland. This shows that England’s business during the war was at least still Maintained a certain scale of prosperity - how to put it, it can only be said that their geographical location is too good, there are many good ports in the whole territory, and the Dutch can't block it at all, but when the Dutch ships return to the mainland, they have to be intercepted by the English. As for the many ships that had to temporarily gather in France and wait for the escort fleet to arrive before returning collectively; or they had to venture around the British Isles and detour from the Shetland Islands, but the wind and waves here are too strong and the accident rate is extremely high. And it is also possible to be intercepted by British ships. In short, going to war with Britain is probably the last thing the wealthy people of the three-level parliament want to see. It is really difficult for the British to negotiate a settlement.

However, at this time, there were not many British naval warships on both sides of the Thames, especially their flagship "Royal Charlie".Captain Cai Anguo speculated that their main fleet might be moored in Portsmouth in southern England (the city has a shipyard and ship repair yard, which is convenient for supplies), waiting for an opportunity to attack the Dutch merchant fleet that is preparing to cross the Strait of Dover; According to the information obtained before, the British main fleet may also be anchored in Scotland at this moment, preparing to ambush and intercept the Dutch East India Company's fleet full of treasures.You know, the fleet of this company is extremely valuable, and during the first Anglo-Dutch war, it tried to bypass Scotland and return to Amsterdam. With this record, the British will naturally take care of it, otherwise they will let this fleet go. What a pity.

"Where did the Englishman's fleet go? It's none of my business. The Dutch should figure it out." After a self-conscious smile, Captain Cai Anguo carefully observed various scenes in London.I saw a large number of buildings lined up on both sides of the Thames River. The buildings are tall and short, wooden and masonry. The overall look is rather chaotic, and the street planning is also crooked, narrow and cramped. On the contrary, it looks like an enhanced version of the country fair.

"I heard that the fire that burned down a block a few years ago scared the British people. Later, the London government tried to use masonry structures in the post-disaster reconstruction. The effect was very good, and it was not expensive. After all, the UK lacked wood. , all needed have to be imported from the Baltic Sea, Russia, and New England.” Lieutenant Zhang Zhijun, the adjutant of the “Big Red Squid”, stood beside Cai Anguo and said softly: “It seems that most of the blocks in the city of London are still in use. Most of them are wooden buildings, that is, there are many masonry structures around the docks and shipyards. Such a messy urban planning, a lot of flammable wood, tarpaulins, once a fire occurs, the result may be disastrous."

"Why worry so much about the British." Captain Cai Anguo smiled, patted the fence on the corridor of the bridge, and said: "England and the United Provinces, the more intense the fight, the better, then we can have more I don’t understand why the local people support the Dutch so favorably, and they should also support England at the right time. It is best for these two countries to stay at loggerheads, so that the interests of our East Coast Republic of China can be maximized. I don’t understand, I don’t understand .”

"Perhaps England's industrial potential makes the members of the executive committee feel uncomfortable." Second Lieutenant Zhang Zhijun echoed, "There is no other place in Europe that has so many iron smelting and machining factories, and no other country has so many factories for a year. It produces so much coal, and no other country produces a large amount of woolen products. Compared with England, the woolen textile industry in Leiden, the Netherlands, is not even qualified to carry shoes. Such a country is indeed the most similar to us, so It is the members of the Executive Committee who want to attack them, after all, the best 'cooperation' objects are those who take advantage of them like the Netherlands."

"It's great that you can think so much, my friend." Captain Cai Anguo turned his head and glanced at Zhang Zhijun, and said with a smile: "Then let us wait and see, and see how the English and the Netherlands fought in this war. Man, who will win in the end. I bet on the English, because from what I have heard and seen, there is really no reason for the Dutch to win."

"I also bet on the English to win, and when I drank and chatted with my classmates before sailing, everyone thought that England would win. Without him, their ships were bigger, stronger, and more professionally designed than the Dutch, and their guns were larger. The tubes are also longer (which means longer range). And their sailors are more professional, more tenacious, and more experienced. There are many good ports in the country, and there are many shipyards. There are more ship repair yards. From cables to ammunition, they are all self-produced, which means that injured ships can recover faster (this actually means an advantage in the number of ships), while the Dutch, on the other hand, even import barrels and cannon brushes from abroad, and there is not enough food The food, the location is not good, and it is easy to get stuck. Apart from the advantage of having more money, they really can't find any other reason to win."

"However, more money is also a very important advantage..." Captain Cai Anguo said with a smile, "Now let's wait patiently. In this war where the smell of gunpowder is getting stronger, we are happy spectators. Although we I really want to compete with the fleets of England and the United Provinces in person, but for the sake of the country's long-term future, let's wait on the sidelines for the time being."

In the end, the fleet of the people on the east coast did not stay in the Thames for too long. They spent 650% more expensive than usual to purchase a large number of ships, food, daily handicrafts and livestock (many of which were for immigrants from the Cape Verde Islands. After that, the East Coast Fleet is composed of more than a dozen large ships—compared to the merchant ships of various countries moored in the port at this time, the [-]-ton flute-shaped transport ship of the East Coast People is really a large ship. , followed the river, sailed out of the Thames in turn, and then regrouped near the mouth of the river, adjusted the yards, and sailed towards the open sea.

The next destination of the entire fleet will be the Henghai Port of the Eastern Cape Verde Islands (later the Port of Mindelo on São Vicente Island).After resupply there, the entire fleet will start a dangerous cross-Atlantic operation from there, and then go south along the Brazilian warm current, and finally return to the capital, Oriental Port.

(End of this chapter)