Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1477 The Embarrassing Situation

With the return of the East Coast Fleet, the port city of Dover, which had been calm for some time, once again fell into boiling water.A series of goods from France, such as cod, textiles, weapons, wine, grains, cheese, butter, honey, boat gear, whale products, etc., brought a huge impact to this slightly depressed market in the past.

Don't think that people in this era have no economic sense. In fact, before the East Coast Fleet returned to Hong Kong, many English businessmen flocked here to try their best. "There is no clear concept), the French navy will definitely not be able to resist, and can only fail or shrink back.

Since the French navy has failed or retreated, the nearby famous ports on the northern coast of France such as Calais, Dieppe, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Brest and other places are all in an extremely dangerous state. .The British guys are very optimistic that the navy of the East Coast Republic of China can loot all these big ports. They are more confident than the people on the East Coast themselves. Maybe this is what they have been wanting to do for so many years but have not dared to do. After all, their motherland is close to the French, and many things are difficult to handle.

After robbing the French port, the people on the east coast would naturally be able to capture a lot of property, and if their luck was not so bad, it would not be so difficult to capture some French merchant ships, fishing boats and even warships.Naturally, it is impossible for people from the east coast to bring all these property and warships back to the country for disposal. That is neither economical nor stupid. The best way is to find a place nearby and dispose of them at a low price, just as they have done in Dover before. The two French fishing boats and their seafood and whale products were sold for nothing.

Therefore, a large number of well-informed English businessmen have gathered in the port of Dover here.They brought supplies such as food, fresh water, beer, fruits and vegetables urgently needed by the people on the east coast from other places, and some arms merchants also used small boats to bring a large amount of gunpowder and shells (cast according to the caliber of the artillery made in the east) from the northwest coast. ), the local ship workshops provide a large amount of canvas, cables, barrels, skins, etc., and the ship repair workshops are also ready to maintain and repair the ships on the east coast. Even, if the people on the east coast are willing to pay high For some expenses, they are willing to work overtime all night to catch up with them.

For all these expenses, the people on the east coast don’t really need any real money. The goods they robbed from the French can cover most of the expenses (and even have a lot of surplus), as long as they are handled properly It is cheap enough that no businessman will refuse these things, because it is very likely that they can make double profits by flipping hands.

On June 1667, 6, the Spanish temporary task force dispatched by the East Coast people really appeared in the port of Dover with the spoils of war. It almost instantly ignited the enthusiasm of the merchants in the port. The enthusiasm of the scene made one wonder whether these British guys were welcoming a triumphant fleet of their own country.

"There are five small French merchant ships and four small fishing boats in total, all of which are under 100 tons." With a pipe in his mouth, Captain Ston looked at the list in his hand and said helplessly: "We can't The ones brought back to China will be sold to the Brits together according to the way the two ships were handled before, and you don’t expect to sell them for a high price. Don’t look at these people who are very eager, but when it comes to business, a Both of them are very smart. My opinion is that the price is about the same. The ship and the goods on it, as long as we don’t need it, sell everything. The proceeds are not used to pay our daily consumption. In addition, part of it can be distributed as a bonus for the lads' spoils, which is quite crucial to maintaining the morale of long-term battles outside. Commander Jiang, how do you think this should be handled?"

"Very pertinent opinion, very appropriate way of handling, I have no objection. You can handle these matters. What I care about now is the reaction of the French." Major Jiang Yaohui stood on the deck with his arms folded, watching Looking at the faintly visible French coastline on the other side, he said worriedly: "I don't know how long those turtles can endure. If they can't hold on, we don't have a good idea. Looting and ravaging the French coast? Hehe, how long can these things be done?"

"Why do you care so much! We have almost fulfilled our obligation to send troops to the Spaniards now, and we are already worthy of them. Are we going to offend the French completely? If that's the case, I'm afraid it will benefit It’s just the Spanish family—well, maybe the United Provinces are also counted. If Louis loses face and goes crazy to engage in the navy, and transfers part of his energy from the land to the sea, I’m afraid the Dutch will smile crookedly. Yes." Major Ston smiled when he heard the words, patted Major Jiang Yaohui on the shoulder, and said: "It doesn't matter if the French come out or not, let's not get too concerned about dealing with the French navy. If the French navy wants to come out to die, then we will fulfill them. If they can’t shrink back, we will plunder around and get some benefits, and we will almost withdraw. I’m sorry for the Spaniards. Forgive them for not being able to tell us It's not, is it?"

To be honest, Major Ston's words are old-fashioned and prudent. There is not much enmity between the East Coast and France. If it hadn't been for the secret agreement signed with the Spaniards, the navy would not have made a big move to trouble the French.Therefore, it is not good to leave everything on the line, and it is not good to go too far. Since this meeting is already worthy of Spain, then enough is enough.

Of course, enough is not to say that the troops should be withdrawn now, but that the people on the east coast can appropriately reduce the frequency and intensity of bombardment and looting of the French coast. However, within a certain period of time, such bombardment operations still have to continue go down.Li Qing, the plenipotentiary special envoy stationed in Amsterdam, has actually emphasized this point, because he wanted to see if he could make these proud Gallic roosters soften after putting so much pressure on the French through this method, and agreed Some requests from people on the east coast, such as things about trade between the two countries.

You know, there are 2300 million people in the Kingdom of France (after occupying part of the Spanish territory), this market is actually quite large. The early East Coast people used to rely on some markets in the south of France to dump a large amount of textiles. The profits obtained have effectively nourished the industrial system on the east coast, and enabled it to continuously expand, upgrade, and strengthen itself, so that now it has a certain ability to maintain and renew itself.It can be said that if there was no cash cow in the French market in the early days, the growth and upgrading of the industrial system on the east coast would definitely take much more time than it does now.After all, profit is the panacea for nourishing and strengthening the industrial system, which cannot be achieved simply by relying on a planned economy.

However, with the passage of time, the French Kingdom, where mercantilism was raging, ended its chaos, and then determined to develop its own industry, which can be seen from the large number of textile factories established in the suburbs of Paris during the Richelieu era.To protect the domestic industry, high tariffs on foreign goods are naturally the most convenient means. People from the East Coast were recruited at that time, and they have not been able to recover much.

In the next 30 years or so, all kinds of commodities of the East Coast Republic of China have been lukewarm in the French market, and earning less than 30 yuan per year is already the limit—of course, in addition to formal trade channels, there are also There are quite large-scale smuggling operations, but this is unstable, and after all, it is not the right way-you can only watch the huge French market drool in vain, but you can't rush in to get a piece of it.

It is also for this reason that Special Envoy Li Qing specifically notified the Spanish Temporary Task Force before, asking them to cooperate with his diplomatic measures and continue to exert pressure on the coast of the Kingdom of France, but it must be controlled well (that is, not to make France people have gnashed their teeth), so that he can negotiate with the French to open part of the market to the east coast.

Naturally, the fleet would not refuse such a reasonable request, and it was in no way compatible with their operations, so they readily agreed to Special Envoy Li Qing's request.However, in the private chat between Jiang Yaohui and Sidun, they were not very optimistic about Li Qing being able to take advantage of the bombardment of the French coast to reach a substantive agreement with Louis XIV that would benefit the east coast. , just because they simply felt that the French probably would not sign such a rather humiliating agreement, which was not in line with their style, and also contradicted their overly proud self-esteem.But this is not something they have to worry about. Their current task is to shell the French coast, block its trade lines, and look for opportunities to attack the strength of the French navy.

On June 6, after the spoils were processed and supplies were completed, the East Coast Fleet almost came out again, continuing to attack and blockade the French coastline.This time their target shifted to the vicinity of the Brittany Peninsula, focusing on attacking the three major ports of Cherbourg, St. Malo and Brest. Among them, Cherbourg is a naval base, Brest is a military and civilian use, and St. Malo It is facing the main trading ports in Newfoundland and Quebec, and the oil and water are still quite large, if you can successfully capture the trading ships returned by the French from overseas.

I don't know if it was because of the French's preparations, the attack of the Spanish temporary task force this time was not very smooth.The first is the attack on Cherbourg. This naval base, which was also built with a lot of money (but much smaller than Dunkirk because it is older), successfully blocked the coveting of the East Coast Fleet. They used dense coastal defense heavy artillery He showed his determination to the people on the east coast, and even a magical 32-pound heavy artillery shell damaged the steering wheel compartment of the poop of the "Osamu", forcing him to end the military operation early and return to the port of Dover for repairs.

While attacking Saint-Malo, an important commercial port, Major Jiang Yaohui soon discovered that the French had deployed many forts on both sides of the Rance River.Moreover, the French seemed to see the benefits of fire attack ships, and once again imitated the old wisdom of the Seine River, deploying many fire attack ships on the upper reaches of the Rance River to prevent people from the east bank from rushing into the inner side of the river at night when the sea tide is high.

Facts have proved that the deployment of the French was very successful. At least the people on the east bank did not have the determination and ruthlessness to fight for their lives like Druiter.The prestige is so shocking-they haven't reached this point yet, it's not worth risking the fleet's heavy damage to rush upstream for Spain (the fleet can't move freely in the river, once it is discovered, it will be a dead word , which also shows how huge the risk Druiter’s action was), so after a few rounds of shelling in resentment, destroying two small fishing villages, he sailed back and headed for Brest Hill ——But they also bombarded some small ports and fishing villages on the east side of the Brittany Peninsula on the way, but the income was very limited, basically it only played a role of venting their anger.Moreover, they didn't dare to send people ashore to plunder, because according to the sailors on a French merchant ship they captured in the open sea, a considerable number of cavalry has been deployed on the Brittany Peninsula, and the local nobles also After receiving the notice, he was ready to resist the looting of the "pagan pirates" from the New World at any time, so Major Jiang Yaohui resolutely gave up the plan of landing and looting. He couldn't afford to lose his precious manpower, and there was no need to take this risk.

On July 7th, the Spanish temporary task force on the east coast finally launched a return to the city of Brest off the coast of Brest!Several French merchant ships returning from the Caribbean Sea were captured by the East Coasters in the open sea. In addition, several ships full of cargo sailing from the port were also stopped by the East Coast Fleet who sneaked in.The capture of a total of eight merchant ships made the entire fleet boil over. At the same time, it also made the French soldiers and civilians in the port of Brest mad with hatred, but they were helpless, because they even lacked a single cruiser.

Back on July 7, the entire east coast fleet went south along the west coast of France, and harassed La Rochelle, Nantes, and the sea off Bordeaux, but captured a merchant ship and seven or eight fishing boats. Gains are extremely limited.Finally, after hurriedly replenishing some ammunition and drinking water in the port of Bilbao, they drove to the port of Dover in the United Kingdom to deal with the spoils, and it was already late July at this time.

After wandering around in such a large circle, the Atlantic coast of the Kingdom of France was almost harassed all over, but the French still didn't seem to have any intention of giving in or bowing their heads.This ending is undoubtedly extremely embarrassing for the people on the east coast, and they don't know how to continue now.

And when the news came that the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet was defeated by the French Oriental Fleet off the coast of Toulon on July 7, this embarrassment and anxiety were pushed to a new level.Jiang Yaohui and Ston stared at each other, not knowing what to do next, so they had to send a boat to Amsterdam to discuss with Li Qing, the special envoy to Europe, and planned to listen to his opinion before proceeding.

(End of this chapter)