Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1490 Deviating from the Controlled South

A whole three large galleons slowly sailed away from the wharf in Haik County, then raised all their sails, and headed southwards towards the East Indies.And after they left, several middle-aged men in the official uniforms of the Ming Dynasty who were stuck on the pier also began to order the people below to quickly transfer all the goods on the pier to carts and pack horses. I plan to continue waiting here, because the goods are precious, so to avoid long nights and dreams, it is better to move them quickly.

After the adults gave the order, the entourage and soldiers did not dare to neglect, and immediately sorted all the goods into categories and organized them.These things are ordnance purchased from overseas, mainly various types of artillery, of course there are also a lot of muskets, which will be equipped in the army later.At this critical moment of life and death, Nanming finally had such a rare sense of crisis, and began to look up from the endless court struggle, and planned to grasp the army building, but is it too late?

The guns and cannons were all sold by the British from India. Because the Ming people paid a high price, they simply took a large batch from their own inventory and even active equipment, and then pulled them to GD for sale.Perhaps because they have been squeezed out of the main spice-producing area by the Dutch, the life of the British East India Company is much better than last year. cost, and the Dutch East India Company is unwilling to pay this price), but acquiesced in their presence on some coasts of India, provided that the British stop trying to smuggle nutmeg, cloves and other precious spices, affecting the monopoly of the Dutch East India Company profit.

The British are actually quite satisfied with this "arrangement", because judging from the current situation, they are not strong enough to pose a challenge to the Dutch East India Company with more ships and more money, so they reluctantly gave up on the East India Company. The right of the Indian Islands to buy spices-although this was the result of the British through the first Anglo-Dutch war-it is also a good way to turn to operating India honestly.

In addition, opening up the trade market in China and reselling oriental special products such as tea, raw silk, and porcelain back to Europe should also be prepared at the same time.This point has been confirmed by the headquarters of the East India Company in London. Therefore, when the Chinese raised the need to purchase ordnance last year, the British pulled a large amount of stock from India without saying a word—anyway, it was the same as the Dutch. The war in China has gradually subsided, and there are a lot of ordnance and ammunition stored to prevent the war. It is better to sell them to the Chinese in exchange for favors, and then they can bring a large number of oriental specialties back to the country and sell them to make a fortune.

However, trade with the Chinese must also be very careful.Because now on the seas of South China, there is also a trading company that looks like the Dutch East India Company, and that is the Bank of Taiwan run by people from the east coast.It is unknown how powerful this company is, but it is vaguely heard that there are nearly ten ships of medium size (the leased "Yaksa" class armed transport ship of the Third Fleet), and the financial resources should be okay.And it is worth noting that this company has a close relationship with the colonial institutions on the east coast, and it seems that they can "borrow" their power, such as dispatching warships to endorse their actions, etc. Therefore, they cannot be viewed with old eyes and must be cautious.

No, this year the British came to GD in two batches of five merchant ships, and they were careful every time they came.The first time I went to a remote small port in Lianzhou Prefecture for trade, it was like being a thief; the other time was today, in this capital city of Leizhou Prefecture, fortunately, I didn’t meet any people from the east coast, and the British were very happy.Of course, this is mainly because of the Okhotsk Sea Squadron of the East Coast People’s Third Fleet (the establishment of the original Blackwater Temporary Task Force has been cancelled, the retired battleships have been retired, and the rest have been incorporated into the Okhotsk Sea Squadron ) ships were diverted northward to the Liaohai Sea, and those staying in the south were only one or two ships parked at Haizhu Island. Therefore, the British did not have to be so careful this time, they were destined not to be intercepted by warships on the east coast Yes, unless the luck is really bad.

After the British made these two deals, their self-confidence was also bursting.They feel that this kind of business can go on for a long time in the future, which is a great benefit.You know, since the British Weddell merchant fleet captured the Humen Fort and raised the British flag in 1635 to obtain trading rights, the British have suspended large-scale trade with China for 30 years because of the chaos in their own country (at that time Many ships running Far East trade were chartered to the Portuguese, such as the famous "London"), during which there were only two official ships in 1644 ("Sinde") and 1664 ("Surat") Sailing to trade in China, the scale can be described as extremely small.

Of course, there are very few official ships, but there are quite a few private smuggling ships, such as the famous "King Ferdinand" and "Richard Massa" I left without paying the boat bill, and it turned out that the people of the Ming Dynasty asked Macau to pay it on their behalf, which is also a miracle...), but it is not as good as before.Generally speaking, the trade between Britain and China has been shrinking in the past 30 to [-] years. The Portuguese and the Dutch have made a lot of money in vain. After the mine, I finally plan to reorganize the Chinese trade. This is the case with the two batches of official trade between GD and the Ming Dynasty—five merchant ships full of oriental goods, if they return to London smoothly, it will be the first-class sensation in these years It is estimated that it will stimulate more British businessmen to set their sights on the distant mainland China.

Although the trade between the British and the Nanming court was carried out on the territory of Lianzhou and Leizhou (the guards in these two places were originally Li Chengdong's generals, but they were divided by the Nanming court over the years because they were not treated as direct descendants. win over), but after all, Li Chengdong still has some eyeliners in the local area, and he knows about the trade between the two parties in private.However, he didn't intend to expose it. Instead, he sent his confidants to Leizhou Mansion to make secret contacts with the British to see if they could also purchase some important artillery and firearms, because the people on the east coast always have this and that about the weapons exported to GD. The price is not cheap, so Lao Li still intends to bypass the people on the east coast and open up a new business channel. After all, it is always good to have multiple paths. Of course, the trade channels of the people on the east coast will not be lost.

In addition, whether it is Li Chengdong, the Nanming court, or even FJ's Zheng family, they are not idiots who only know how to buy, buy, buy, and buy. In fact, they are also trying to find self-control.For example, after the Bank of Taiwan aggressively entered the South China Sea and monopolized a considerable share of trade, many Portuguese in Macau lost their jobs. Many of these people were hired by people from the east coast to work for the east coast, and many of them went to Timor Island , the Bay of Bengal, and of course some people were attracted by the high wages of the above three companies and turned to work for them, especially some so-called technical talents who are proficient in gun manufacturing and military battles—no matter what their level is After all, their large-scale introduction gradually promoted the progress of FJGD and Nanming's military technology, but it's hard to say how much this progress will be and whether it can continue.

The reason why these major forces, who were originally either rich or peaceful, or drunk and dreamy, or had no ambitions, are so focused on developing military production technology and combat art is probably related to the increasingly tense situation today.The god-killing remnants of the trespassing army and Li Shun's bandits were still not satisfied after annexing the HN Baoqing mansions, and while Wang Deren's bones were still cold, he conspired with his unworthy descendants to half-deceive the extremely important Ganzhou mansion It was unbearable to half-rob, if everyone didn't strengthen themselves, I'm afraid that after Li Laiheng cleaned up the interior, he would open his bloody mouth to everyone.At that time, it is obviously not good enough to hold Buddha's feet for a while. Everyone still has to work hard to strengthen themselves from now on. While training soldiers, hoarding food, grass and goods, and being ready to fight to the death with those gangsters at any time-damn, Li Laiheng wants to take Lao Tzu Foundation, when will the undead battle wait!

At this sensitive time, the close relationship between the people on the east bank and the Dashun military and political group has become a bit conspicuous.Because in the past, if you sold some weapons, military resources, and war horses to the Shun army, and helped them train officers and non-commissioned officers, it might be nothing.But at this moment when the relationship between the two sides is deteriorating and has reached the brink of a full-scale war, if the East Coast people do this again, it will make everyone resentful and even hostile (Of course, the East Coast people will not do this, as evidenced by the previous beating of the Shunjun Group ).Therefore, it is no wonder that warlords like Li Chengdong, who have always been better with the east coast, are also mingling with the English. It is really a sense of crisis that is at work.

The small actions of the various power groups in the south and the outside world—especially the GD Li Chengdong Group that has the closest relationship with the East Bank—the people on the East Bank are not at all aware of it. Channels, I know that these guys have been doing some trade with the Dutch East India Company and the Portuguese behind the back of the people on the east coast, but for various reasons, they have not said anything about it.It just so happens that the Shun Army has been doing trouble in Ganzhou this year, and the Southern Exploration Team has also focused their energy on food production and other affairs, so they have intentionally or unintentionally relaxed the supervision of the South China Sea—in fact, in the current situation of lack of ships, The inability to achieve effective supervision - made a small profit for British, Dutch, and Portuguese merchants, and the military strength of various southern forces has also increased. Although it will not reach the level of confrontation with the Shun Army, at least it is more effective than before. Those who have been promoted, the Shun army has to spend more effort than before to deal with them.

"GD Li Chengdong and FJ Zheng Damu have already demarcated territory in Chaozhou Prefecture, and now their main forces have moved to the border area with Shunguo. They are very vigilant. Although their troops may not be able to Withstand the attack of the Shun army, but at least they will not be unprepared and collapse at a touch. Moreover, their military equipment has been improved to a certain extent in the past one or two years. The Zheng family officially established a gun manufacturing workshop in Xiamen, and Li Chengdong also started Part of the production capacity of the Foshan Artillery Field has been restored, and the intention of fighting hard is very obvious. Warlords always have an unusual vigilance against those who covet their own territory..." The above is the summary of information seen by Jiang Zhiqing, a member of the Southern Exploration Team. This report written by an analyst from the General Administration of National Intelligence thoroughly commented on the psychological state of various forces in the south, especially the analysis of the two warlords Zheng Chenggong and Li Chengdong, which can be used as the basis for Jiang Zhiqing's decision-making, and his skills are very profound. .

"What we should worry about now is whether a war will break out between Shunjun and Nanming, and if it breaks out, what will be the consequences." Jiang Zhiqing always thought in his heart whether the tension in the south would be fully detonated this time. Whether the "Ganzhou Crisis" will turn into a full-scale war is really critical to the impact on the mainland structure.

"Naturally, we really hope that the south will maintain the status quo. The Shun army in the north has a strong enemy on its side, and they probably have the same idea. They wanted to speculate and blackmail Ganzhou before, but they didn't expect things to become so big all of a sudden. Now they just want to It's too late to stop, what a reckless move..." Jiang Zhiqing himself has always been a little bit worried about the "Ganzhou crisis" caused by Shunjun, and he knows in his heart that judging from the current situation, they and Nanming have completely Torn face, if this battle is not fought, it will be more uncomfortable than fighting, because no one knows if Li Chengdong, Zheng, Nanming and even the forces of King Lu will be defeated when the Qing army slows down and marches southward. Stabbing them in the back, it's going to kill you.For the sake of a mere Ganzhou government, so many uncertain things have happened in the end, it seems that it is indeed a big loss.

"Furthermore, the Xiying forces that have been dealing with Wu Sangui in the GZ area for many years also merged with the Nanming court under the leadership of Sun Kewang, so that the Nanming army now has a little bit of fighting power, and is no longer the way it used to be. It's been kneaded. Hehe, Sun Kewang is in charge, and Li Dingguo is in charge of the outside. Once this pair of golden partners has finished rectifying the remnants of the Western Camp and expanding their troops, they will be matched on the battlefield. It caused a lot of trouble." Jiang Zhiqing finally sighed, and muttered to himself: "Why do you feel that the situation in the south has taken a turn for the worse in the past two years, and it has become more and more out of our control? The mainland is the mainland after all. With a huge territory, a large population, rich land, and a complicated situation, it is indeed too difficult to exert influence, especially when there are many variables. In the current situation, it seems that we can only take one step forward One step forward, the focus of the next stage of work should be to try our best to avoid a war in the south, whether it is a full-scale war or a partial war!"

(End of this chapter)