Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1448 The Big Winner ([-])

Gao Wengang has been in Haji Port for many days, but no one has come to receive him. The reason is that a major incident happened in Crimea, an Ottoman vassal state. Passed away, the new Great Khan has not yet had time to ascend the throne, because he needs to wait for the confirmation of the special envoy of the Ottoman Empire, otherwise his Khan position will not be legal, and others can attack him in groups, and the Ottoman Empire may send troops to suppress it. Just like what they did in Transylvania and Hungary a few years ago-the status of the slave country is so low!

What's more, over the years, with the rapidly changing situation on the Great Plains of South Russia, the Ottoman Empire has also consciously strengthened its control over the Crimean Khanate. , Sudak and other places—the garrison strength has also been strengthened. Not only has its number increased slightly, but it has also been replaced with muskets, cannons and bayonets from the east bank, in order to guard against the local situation and serve Ottomans at any time. Empire grabs profits.

However, the Ottoman Empire now seems to have more enemies, and the combat effectiveness of the army has declined relatively rapidly over the years. This is due to the continuous internal strife and bloody cleansing. Many experienced and talented officers were either arrested and executed , or went into exile on the east bank, which caused its combat effectiveness to decline rapidly. Over the years, Crete was invincible for a long time and the battle of the Radu River in the previous two years (20 Ottoman troops were defeated by tens of thousands of Austrian troops). This has been clearly demonstrated.

It is also because of this that the Ottoman Empire may no longer be able to take care of several directions at the same time as it did decades ago.The decision they have now made is to shift their focus to sorting out the situation in Transylvania, which has just re-became an Ottoman vassal state, and to compete with the princes of the Catholic world in Hungary (Hungary is currently divided between Austria and Ottoman). The war in Crete, which has become a big joke, must also end as soon as possible, otherwise the face of the Ottoman Empire will be even more ruined.Therefore, if you still want to intervene in the situation on the northern shore of the Black Sea at this time, the Ottoman Empire is really powerless, then you need the help of the powerful little brother Crimean Khanate for a while, and wait for the Ottoman Empire to take care of other aspects first. .

There is no doubt that the coast of the Black Sea is extremely important to the Ottoman Empire. The Rumilia region (in today’s Romania and Bulgaria) is rich in grains, meat, poultry eggs, honey, fruits, cured meat, and oil. It is a large granary in Istanbul. The daily necessities of the hundreds of thousands of residents living in the imperial capital all needed to be transported in from the Black Sea by ship.Therefore, from a strategic point of view, the Rumilia region is the core of the Ottoman Empire, which cannot be threatened or peeped by any enemy, and Moldavia and the Crimean Khanate are the barriers of the Rumilia region, except that one is on land. Barriers, one is just a sea barrier - once the Crimean Khanate is lost, Tsarist Russia may expand its power to the northern shore of the Black Sea, which is simply a nightmare for the Ottoman Empire.You know, the Ukrainian Cossacks were able to cross the Crimean blockade in small boats and plunder the coast of the Ottoman Empire. Once this powerful boy fell, then not a few Cossacks sneaked over to plunder. It is very likely that the Russian army landed and plundered on a large scale, which the Ottomans could not tolerate. Therefore, they now pay more attention to the Crimean Khanate than ever before, especially at the sensitive moment at the border of the Khan. They can't tolerate any accidents, and for this reason they will even dispatch troops stationed in Crimea to stabilize the situation.

Therefore, Gao Wen had just been left hanging in Port Haji for several days, so he had nothing to say.It's an extraordinary time. Although the Prince of Crimea, Adil Grey, has a relatively good relationship with a group of diplomatic and business personnel headed by Gao Wengang, and Adile Grey often travels and hunts with Gao Wengang and others, but this will He is facing the most important thing in his life, which is to inherit the throne of the Great Khan.You must know that in Crimea, a semi-feudal and semi-nomadic country, inheriting the rule has never been an easy job. Plots, betrayals, assassinations and other dramas have been staged continuously in history, and few times have come smoothly , It always takes a long time to toss, and the dust will settle after all the opponents are eliminated.

Even Ottoman, the suzerain country, could not comment too much on the matter of inheriting the throne of Khan, because this is a legacy of the grassland!They only need to confirm that the new heirs are still loyal to the Ottoman Empire, and at the same time closely follow Ottoman's foreign policy towards Poland and Russia (the Crimean Khanate is actually a relatively loose vassal state, because they only need to Diplomatically accept the guidance of the Ottomans, and others can be independent). As for who will be the Great Khan, they can secretly support them, but they also have to face the game of Crimea’s local forces, and it is impossible to decide everything.

The Turks are all like this, and it is even more impossible for the people on the east coast to exert any influence on them. Moreover, this may also arouse the resentment of the Turks, and the gains outweigh the losses.Generally speaking, all they can do now is try to establish a good relationship with most of the nobles in the Crimean Khanate, and then subtly exert influence through economic interests.This kind of penetration from the economic level does not seem too eye-catching, but its influence must not be underestimated, and it is more stable.

For example, in the early years, Mo San mainly relied on the dignitaries of the Ottoman Empire to lead the way, slowly wedged into the territory of the Crimean Khanate through the slave trade, and then accumulated certain interpersonal relationships.After the era when Zheng Yong was in power, in addition to continuing to maintain and expand the scale of the slave trade (this trade is no longer just an economic activity, to some extent already has political attributes), it is still at the end of the period He strongly advocated the introduction of Italian capital so that he could borrow money from the feudal lords of the Crimean Khanate to establish grain plantations, and signed a contract purchase agreement to promote the economic transformation of the Crimean Khanate—this investment is actually beneficial to both parties. Favorably, the Crimean Khanate has obtained another stable export commodity besides slaves. At a time when the war in the Eastern European Plain is fading out and the source of slaves is becoming more and more unstable, the grain trade is becoming more and more profitable. It is more and more able to bring income to the feudal lords and the Great Khan; as for the Italian states such as Genoa, it is also a matter of mutual benefit, because they have been lacking a stable source of grain for many years. The establishment of Fengyu Offices to store grain and stabilize grain prices is a clear proof. If the Crimean Khanate can now become the third largest stable source of grain after Egypt and the Levant, the Italians are still very happy, so they are in the East Coast. With the help of the team, Xinran signed a long-term outsourcing agreement with the Crimeans and paid a considerable advance payment. It can be said that everyone is happy.

Port Haji, a port city invested by the South China Sea Transportation Company and granted 50-year operating rights, is now mainly responsible for transporting grain to Italy. .The reason why grain transportation goes here is that, to put it bluntly, the port facilities of the Crimean Khanate are too poor. Apart from the Kaffa port (which is still the land of the Ottoman Empire), there is no decent wharf on the peninsula. , the infrastructure is horribly rotten—in fact, you can understand it when you think about it. This is a nomadic khanate. They have no navy, no marine awareness, and they are not the Mongolian country of later generations. So where does the power and technology come from? What about building a decent port?No way, we still have to go to Haji Port, which was invested and built by the people on the east coast!The basic model is that a large amount of grain is collected in various places on the northern shore of the Black Sea, and then pulled by small boats to the wharf of Haji Port for storage (of course, some are transported by land), waiting for the ships of the Azov Maritime Chamber of Commerce to deliver and transport away.

Just as Gao Wen was extremely bored at the moment, he started to stroll around Haji Port.The conditions of this port city are quite good, otherwise the future generations will not become the home port of the Tsarist Russian Black Sea Fleet, and it is backed by the hinterland of the peninsula, where hundreds of thousands of Crimeans and slaves from various countries live, Produced large quantities of leather, tallow, wool, cured meat, fruit, grain, honey, cheese, salt, and other commodities.

These commodities were originally digested and circulated within the Crimean Khanate, and the output was just that. However, with the completion of the Haji Port invested by the South China Sea Transportation Company, and after several capital increases and share expansions, more and more The Ottoman powerful Azov Sea Chamber of Commerce (the shares of those who were cleared out after political strife were naturally divided up by the upstarts) has become more and more powerful in commercial transportation, and many of Crimea’s own agricultural products have also begun to export to Istanbul and Smerck. Those big cities sell and compete with agricultural products from the Rumily region. Although the market share is still small at present, the potential is huge, and it is of great importance to the future economic development of the Crimean Khanate. It goes without saying.

The permanent residents of Haji Port have now exceeded [-], and if the slaves of the Tatar nobles who are not counted as "people" (generally engaged in heavy physical work in cities or docks), the population is close to [-] up.Almost all of these populations are related to port trade. Armenian merchants, Jewish merchants, Greek merchants, and Italian merchants can be seen everywhere, bargaining around, transporting groups of slaves and bags of agricultural products to other places, and then sending them to other places. The distribution of industrial products to Crimea and even the neighboring Ukrainian steppes seems to be booming.

The number of craftsmen from Ottoman and Italy has also increased day by day in recent years, and they mainly process and manufacture nautical appliances. In addition, the ship repair yard invested by the South China Sea Transportation Company also has some technicians recruited from the east coast. These people are to ensure the normal operation of the port. Finally, there is a mercenary army of four to five hundred recruited by the people on the east bank. They are responsible for maintaining the security of the port. He has taken care of Haji Port many times, so if something happens to the port, more than [-] Tatar cavalry can be quickly called up to fight, and the security aspect can be described as impenetrable.

In the plans of East Coasters, the positioning of Port Haji may be even more important than it currently appears.In the planning of the local Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Haji Port will be the distribution center for future Black Sea trade commodities. Whether it is commodities sold to the mainland of the Crimean Khanate, the Danube River Basin, the Dnieper River Basin or the Don River Basin, it will be here. Wholesale, and then distributed everywhere, either by mule trains, or by offshore boats.

Of course, the above business model cannot circumvent the Crimean Khanate, and this is why Gao Wengang will stay in Haji Port and wait to meet the new king of the Khanate. If the grassland Khanate is not dredged, everything in the Black Sea trade will be in jeopardy. It is impossible to talk about it, because the power and influence of this country are all over the mouth of the above-mentioned three big rivers, and the people on the east bank have to pay attention to it.

And once the trade of Haji Port and the three adjacent rivers can gradually get on the right track, then no matter whether it is the East Bank, Crimea or Ottomans, they can get a lot of money from it. At that time, there will be no need for people from the East Bank If they are promoted, they will take the initiative to maintain the in-depth and sustainable development of these trades. After all, they are driven by interests.Especially the Crimean Khanate, a semi-feudal and semi-nomadic country, if it can gradually change its thinking under the impact of this economic wave and slowly start a painful transformation (there are already some signs, but it is still far from Not enough), the future development can still be expected, after all, it has a good geographical location and a large population (if slaves are included, the total population exceeds one million), as long as the old customs and old systems are reformed, it is still possible to rise.

Of course, reform has always been difficult. The Crimean Khanate also faced the shackles of nomadic nobles, feudal lords (who had hundreds of thousands of slaves in their hands), religious conservative forces, and the suzerain state. It's not that easy.But everything has to work hard. Now the people on the east coast have planted a seed. As for whether it can grow into a towering tree in the future, it depends on good fortune. Speaking of literature and art, it depends on whether fate will favor the Tatars.

Gao Wengang finally waited in Haji Port until the end of August, and only then was he received by the newly enthroned Great Khan.The Great Khan himself often visited Haji Port before he came to the throne, and now he appreciates Gao Wengang’s suggestion of starting to open up trade routes. He believes that the current trade route on the Danube has made some progress under the development of Jewish merchants in the Ottoman Empire ( This can be seen from the detailed list of Haji Port customs tariffs), then the development of commercial routes in the Don River Basin should be put on the agenda, and they will start implementing this matter. It should not be a big problem, because the Russians Boris, a Russian official businessman who is also eager to start trade along the Don River, can testify.

The only place that may have some problems is probably the Dnieper River Basin. At present, the two sides of the river are divided between Russia and Poland. Although the war has gradually subsided, there are still many frictions. The trade routes are very unsafe, and many businessmen are unwilling Going there for trade, I'm afraid it won't be able to be developed in a short time.

Gao Wengang expressed his understanding of this, and then pointed out that the development of business routes is long-term, and the benefits are also long-term. You don't have to rush for a while, you just need to keep working hard.Finally, in order to express congratulations to the newly enthroned Adil Khan, the East Coast Republic of China specially cast eight 18-pound and 24-pound long-barreled heavy artillery, which are rare in Europe, and installed them in the fortress of the Tatar trench by engineers on the east coast as a gift. Above all, while deterring the enemy, it is also a witness of the traditional friendship between the two countries-of course, it is the long-term layout and investment of the East Coast Republic of China in the Black Sea Basin!

(End of this chapter)