Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1425 Big Winner ([-])

Mr. Jan Beverland’s villa on the outskirts of Amsterdam, like most of the rural rich houses in the United Provinces at that time, was built with a mixture of brick, stone and large wood, with good lighting and many windows (cough cough, one more word, like Jan. A person of Mr. Beverland's level must be able to pay the window tax), which is completely different from the traditional thick, dark, and damp fortress-style manor in the German region, showing the new values ​​and aesthetics of the United Provinces.

The guests came to the spacious living room under the guidance of the servants. Li Qing looked around and saw that the decoration in the room was the same as what he saw in many wealthy Dutch businessmen's homes, full of large and small porcelain with blue flowers on a white background. , and oil paintings from St. Luke's Guild, which add a lot of bright colors to the interior decoration-especially those oil paintings. If you haven't been to the United Provinces, you really can't understand how much the Dutch like to buy oil paintings. They are used as decorations, because they believe that oil paintings represent the cleanliness and tranquility of their residences. At the same time, they can also see the radiant trees, flowers, creeks and other scenery through these paintings to please their mood.

"Now the painters of St. Luke's Guild are not as easy to mess with as before. The merchants who newly bought oil paintings all require the painters to express certain things in a realistic way, so that everyone can see at a glance that it is people A part of life is extracted, or a part that has been embellished and beautified; either it is hoped that those paintings can arouse people's subtle but ordinary feelings, or they can open their eyes and walk into the beautiful scenery. "Christian de Haer brought Li Qing a glass of Languedoc wine, and explained to him the current oil painting market in the United Provinces: "Painters in the United Provinces, in order to meet this demand, have to use finer The way to deal with the lines, lightness and color in the painting, and put these works of art, painstakingly and carefully squeezed into a small space. The competition among them is very fierce, except for a very few famous painters, Most people have to draw a lot of small paintings at the fastest speed, and then sell them at a very low price, and what they get may not be able to maintain a decent life for themselves and their families in many cases..."

"So this is the reason why many painters from the United Provinces travel across the ocean to seek new markets and new sponsors on the east coast?" Li Qing took a sip of the red wine in her glass and said casually: "Before the east coast painting circle The popular ones are mainly freehand paintings, which focus on artistic conception, and the painting techniques are quite different from those in your country. I once thought that the market for oil paintings in your country would not be too big on the east coast. But since Johannes Verme After the painters headed by Mr. Vermeer went to the Eastern Port, I changed my opinion, because their paintings were welcomed by many people on the East Bank, especially Mr. Johannes Vermeer, whose genre paintings shocked many people. , this is probably because he loves to depict the daily life of the working people, and caters to the tastes of many big figures. But in any case, there is no doubt that Mr. Vermeer has superb painting skills, I really can't understand his level man, why can't I have enough success in the United Provinces..."

"It may be the difference in aesthetics, but I personally like Mr. Vermeer's paintings. I once wanted to collect his works "Landscape of Delft" and "Jesus, Mary and Matthew". It's a pity that someone else got ahead of me, very sorry. But I want to say in fairness to art collectors in the United Provinces that the reason Mr. Vermeer is so poor is not because his paintings are not appreciated by others, but mainly because he The speed of creation is too slow, which greatly affects his income, and he spends a lot of money. He likes to buy some valuable works of art. In addition, he and his wife need to raise a total of six children. It's a heavy burden, too," Christian de Heyer said with a wry smile.

"I accept your explanation, Christian." Li Qing shook the wine glass in her hand and said with a slight smile: "No matter what purpose artists like Mr. It has greatly promoted the level of artistic and cultural exchanges between the East and the Netherlands, just like our close economic and trade exchanges."

"That's exactly what I want to say, Special Envoy Li." Christian De Heyer laughed, and then pulled Li Qing to introduce him one by one the people attending the meeting today, well, mainly to introduce some big businessmen or congressmen to him .Merchants are mainly wholesalers who are active in Amsterdam, and they can do everything. Members include the Amsterdam City Council, the Dutch Provincial Council, and even the three-level council in The Hague. Of course, they are also merchants or nobles. It's not some slut with no roots.

When businessmen (even those councilors are also businessmen) get together, it is natural to talk about business.As for the artists who were also invited, they were just as a foil. No, the musicians began to play music to add to the fun, and the painter began to use realistic brushwork to describe the routine gathering of the rich. Among them, Li Qing from the East Coast Republic of China Envoy is one of the focal points of painters.

"Recently, the Kingdom of Denmark joined our side. It is said that they have collected nearly thirty armed sailing ships from all over the country. Although these ships are messy in shape, different in size, and whether they are suitable for battle in the battle line is also very doubtful, but after all, it is a wave of dissatisfaction. A small force is enough to contain a large part of the English ships, especially when considering their extremely favorable geographical location (from Norway to the British Isles). This time, the English should I have suffered a little." A large grain wholesaler said confidently: "I predict that the Danes are likely to launch an attack on the English this year, provided that we pay them enough war subsidies Kim, what a greedy bunch, they are not counting on the subsidy we and the French pay to pay off the huge debts owed to the Swedes?"

"Don't be too optimistic. The Danes may not go into battle now, just like the damn cowardly French. The reason why they are with us against the British is only out of some fragile interests. But the British navy is in the humble Ergen won a battle, and it was a blow to their weak will, so let’s wait and see, I don’t think the Danes will join our army in the near future.” Another businessman had a different opinion, only Listen to him.

In fact, this businessman is quite knowledgeable, because before the Dutch did not know, Denmark, a country at both ends of the rat, signed a deal with the British plenipotentiary envoy Sir Gilbert Talbota for the United Provinces. A secret treaty, of course, they also signed a secret treaty against England in The Hague with the help of the Dutch.In short, this country is currently sitting on the fence, but due to the silver bullet advantage of the United Provinces, the Kingdom of Denmark is now a little bit inclined to the United Provinces, but to persuade them to make substantive actions against the British, I am afraid that they will have to add more Work hard-in other words, you have to pay a little more money, or it won't work at all!

"Have you heard that Sir Richard of England has recently left for Spain. I found out through my friends in Madrid that they seem to want to persuade the Spaniards to join the war against our country, and promised to return the land that was annexed by France and us. The territory of the Southern Netherlands." A potbellied businessman started the conversation, and he only heard him say: "But the Kingdom of Spain is currently weak, and the domestic situation is also in turmoil. It should not be able to agree to the British request. Well, from the east coast Mr. Li Qing, the special envoy of the Spanish Kingdom, has always had a close relationship with the court nobles of the Kingdom of Spain, so he must be able to give some special opinions."

Someone suddenly mentioned Li Qing, causing everyone to turn their eyes around. Of course, this is all a routine. After all, there was a purpose in inviting Li to this rich man's party today, and Li Qing herself was very concerned about this I know it well.

"This—" After being reminded by someone else, Li Qing nodded and said, "Mr. Yang Sen, right? Since I am honored to attend the meeting today, let me share my personal opinion. I don't think the Kingdom of Spain will join It happened in the war between the United Provinces and England, not because their navy is not strong enough, but because they are in trouble. After all, King Philip has passed away, and now the young Prince Carlos is on the throne. I heard that he is sickly and in poor health. At present, both Louis XIV of France and Leopold of Austria are paying close attention to the news of the Spanish court. Let me ask, how dare the Spaniards dare to brazenly under such circumstances? How about joining a new war? What's more, the Kingdom of England has always been at peace with the Kingdom of Portugal, Princess Catalina of the Braganza family is the queen of King Charles, and the British also occupy Tangier and Jamaica , and even sold Dunkirk in the Southern Netherland to France, which undoubtedly greatly offended the Kingdom of Spain and also constituted a real threat. Therefore, gentlemen, I can boldly predict that the Kingdom of Spain will never will join this war, because their first trouble always comes from the North, the Kingdom of France."

In fact, the situation is exactly as Li Qing said, King Louis XIV of France sent an envoy to Madrid immediately after the death of his father-in-law, expressing that his wife, Princess Teresa, has the right to inherit the southern Netherlands as an inheritance, and asked Card Los II ceded this supposedly rich land, but was severely rejected by the Spaniards.However, the French will obviously not let it go, which may mean that they are already preparing for war. At this time, the Spaniards obviously will not join the war between Britain and the Netherlands with enthusiasm.

The British have really found only one ally so far, and that is the Bishop of Münster in the German region.King Charles of England promised to give the Archbishop of Munster a considerable amount of military expenses to encourage them to attack the United Provinces from land. It is said that the Bishop of Munster has initially agreed to the conditions of the English, and is currently preparing for war and expanding its troops. , ready to attack the United Provinces at any time to cope with the British naval offensive.

However, it is said that because they do not have the slightest confidence in their own army strength, the special envoy of the United Provinces has rushed to Berlin to request the Kingdom of Brandenburg-Prussia to send troops to attack the Bishop of Münster in order to reduce the land pressure on the United Provinces.For this reason, they did not hesitate to promise a large amount of economic and political benefits, and only then persuaded the Hohenzollern family to join the United Provinces. This also made Li Qing very puzzled for a while. How low is my confidence...

Li Qing's judgment on whether Spain will participate in the war actually coincides with the speculation of the Dutch.After all, those present are not fools, but big businessmen and congressmen from the wealthy side. They have their own news channels and connections all over the world. Therefore, after a little analysis of the information at hand, we can know that the Spaniards have no possibility of participating in the war. They are facing the threat of French invasion - but speaking of this, the Dutch can easily find that the people on the east coast seem to be able to make a lot of money in this imminent West-French conflict!

And once the two countries really go to war, the people on the east coast will go into battle shirtless and help Spain fight against France. It is conceivable how much benefit the Spaniards will promise. Money is unlikely, so it can only be land!I hope that what the Spaniards give up is La Plata, which has almost no output, and don't cede out rich lands such as Caribbean islands, New Spain, and Peru.If that's the case, even though the relationship between the United Provinces and the East Coast has always been good, and these merchants often cooperate with people from the East Coast in business, they will still be very jealous and will try to prevent this from happening!

The people on the east coast are really lucky. Why do they seem to be the big winners in the West-French and Anglo-Dutch wars?Whenever they think of this, the Dutch feel a little uncomfortable. They can only say that they are in a very good geographical location, far away from the old continent, a place of right and wrong, and will not be caught in endless diplomatic disputes and war troubles.

Li Qing chatted with a group of rich Dutch men in the villa until around nine o'clock in the evening before leaving. He did not stay overnight at Mr. Beverland's house, but chose to return to Amsterdam overnight, because he had to board a ship the next day. Go to the Mediterranean Sea, and focus on dealing with some important affairs that have been backlogged in various commercial stations there - of course, he will probably stop at the port of Cadiz in the Kingdom of Spain on the way, and if possible, he will also ask to meet Carlos The king and the regent queen mother have further confirmed the secret agreement with Spain. You must know that the relationship between Spain and France is already very tense.

(End of this chapter)