Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1617 The Southeast Coast

"Goa is an ancient country in India. Before it was annexed by Deccan, the people here were strong and smart, spoke a unique language, and worked hard on land and sea. Along the coast of Goa, there are a series of ports. Between the ports There are rivers navigable, and the traffic is very convenient. There are a large number of Moors living there, and the land outside the city is also developed by them, and Tanandali (generally refers to the local police chief, tax collector, etc.) is responsible for paying taxes, the amount It’s huge, but it’s a pity that everything is under the control of the British. In the early years, there were many Portuguese in the government, but now there are very few, which is really damn.” Inside the temporary purchase station on the east coast of Xiguan, Guangzhou, a A Portuguese captain who just arrived in Macau from Goa a few months ago, faced Huang Hanhua, the deputy general manager of the Bank of Taiwan, and replied sternly.

This is a senior Portuguese sailor who was captured by the East Coasters during the war. He was later developed into a spy by the gendarmerie. He regularly reported to the East Coasters secret information about Macau and other Portuguese Far East colonies so that they could respond in advance. .It is worth mentioning that the people on the east bank did not treat this spy badly. Over the years, with the secret help of the people on the east bank, he has done several business deals and accumulated a certain amount of financial strength. Now he has become a 300-ton ship The captain of the cargo ship who runs the route from Bangladesh, Timor Island to Macau all the year round can be regarded as a successful person.

Of course, how could this Portuguese captain named Pinto have repeatedly purchased enough raw silk, brocade, tea or porcelain from Cantonese merchants without the help of people from the East Coast?It's impossible!Therefore, the people on the east coast really did not oppress him maliciously or drive him at will, but also gave him enough benefits (such as business convenience), which also greatly increased the enthusiasm of Pinto.

"Recently a rebellion broke out among the local residents of Goa. The local thieves, Turks, and Arabs joined forces to riot, and at one time it was extremely loud. But my lord's verdict is unimaginable, and the rebellion was quickly overthrown. In Pingping, a large number of Moors were killed and their bodies were thrown into the sea. If the skills of the Moors were not required to reclaim the inland mountains, I doubt that the Lord's people would kill them all. This also shows the collapse of the **** Destined to be my lord..." Pinto said a lot, only to find that people around him looked at him with strange eyes, and the guy who reacted immediately closed his mouth tightly and didn't say anything more about lord. Holy shit, everyone in this room except him is a heathen after all.

"Let's get to the point. You said that a large-scale shipyard has been added to Goa recently? Well, the English expanded the original Portuguese shipyard?" Huang Hanhua casually said while drinking tea. Asked: "I heard that the ship repair yard - well, it is a shipyard now - and the nearby docks are now leased to the East India Company by King Charles. Is there such a thing? They have How many ships are there?"

"Sorry, I don't know who the shipyard currently belongs to, but there are indeed many British ships there for replenishment and maintenance. Of course, it is also open to Portuguese ships, but the fees are higher." After thinking carefully, Pinto said, Said: "Now there are many British ships in Surat, Goa, and Banten. I don't know the total number, but I often see more than 10 ships, all of which belong to the East India Company or its agents. Ships. The tonnage of those ships is not very large. The smallest is 150 tons, which can barely navigate the ocean, and the largest will not exceed 600 tons. They are all ocean-going merchant ships in terms of design. At most, they are equipped with some artillery. It is incomparable with the huge ship of your navy's 'Cadiz Rock'."

Indeed, the "Rock of Cadiz" has a displacement of more than 800 tons and is a professional warship with powerful firepower.Even though it has been in service for many years, it is still the most powerful single ship on the Far East Ocean, and it is also a symbol of the hegemony of the people on the east coast in China's coastal waters—at least the superficial dominance of the sea.With it, many things are indeed much easier to handle!

Of course, considering the service life of the "Cadiz Rock", even if the people on the east coast have refurbished it many times in the Far East to extend its service life, the ship will not be able to continue to use it for long.The local Navy Department must send a new ship with a certain weight to serve in the Far East, otherwise it may be a bit overwhelming.

In addition to the main battleships, some other small frigates and small cruisers (generally used for anti-smuggling and anti-theft) are also in urgent need of replenishment.You must know that in the current battle order of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk Squadron of the Third Fleet of the Navy, except for the "Cadiz Rock", there are only two sail frigates and one fast cruiser available, and they are already old and can't drive .The evil consequences of the Ministry of the Navy's disregard for the Far East's maritime power for many years have finally begun to appear. At present, additional investment is urgently needed to exchange blood, otherwise it may not be possible to maintain the hegemonic advantage of living in the sea.After all, you can't always rely on the 250-ton "Yaksa" class armed transport ships and inland river gunboats produced by the Blackwater Shipyard to conquer the world.

However, considering that the first and second fleets of the local navy are also in urgent need of investment, the purchase of new ships (the background is the large-scale shipbuilding arms race that Britain, the Netherlands, France and other countries have set off in recent years, especially France, which cost almost a year Tens of millions of livres), so it seems difficult to spread money to the Far East, so we can only think of other ways.No, when the Bank of Taiwan, which has been paying huge dividends for years, the number of customer deposits has repeatedly hit new highs, and has sufficient cash flow, ordered two "Star"-class light cruisers from the mainland, the mainland finally agreed. It means that a large syndicate company will be the first to stand up for a while.

Now the two new ships—named "Zidian" and "Qingshuang" respectively by Shao Shuguang—have already arrived, and they are stationed under the fort on Yaniangxie Island. The armed forces at sea are dedicated to serving the interests of the Bank of Taiwan and even the San Francisco of the Far East.Of course, if you consider that the Bank of Taiwan is a joint-stock enterprise for profit, warships that do not do production but specialize in beating people are also a big burden on it, so the number of two ships is almost enough, and it can be increased to four at most. Multiple shareholders may have opinions.

"Goa, Surat, Banten, the British sea power is really getting bigger and bigger. It seems that the trade with India and China has made their mouths full of oil. They really have to find a way in the future, otherwise this Trade profits are lost in vain every year, and the accumulation is not a small amount. In addition, the Dutch East India Company is not clean, damn it, I have to find a way to give them eye drops in the future!" After hearing Pinto's words, Huang Hanhua didn't know what to do Where did you fly to.

……

In mid-November 1671, when Huang Hanhua and others were discussing the British and Dutch businessmen who had been more and more active in China's coastal waters in recent years in Xiguan, Guangzhou, for some reason Hawkes stayed in Xiangshui Port for a while. Clifford's ship "Squid", together with three other British armed merchant ships, sailed slowly into the Tonkin River (this river is a tributary of the Red River, and the modern entrance is Haiphong in the north, where the river is deeper and It can accommodate large ships into the inland area), and then traced a long distance to a place called Xing'an.Here, they met a representative of the "King of Vietnam" and asked him for some final payment for the goods.

The goods belong to the company, and many of them belong to the sailors or officers on the ship (the East India Company tacitly allows the captain and sailors to carry goods no larger than the size of a suitcase to foreign countries for sale, and the proceeds belong to themselves. This is also the main way to improve the morale of the sailors One), so the "Squid" has to come if it doesn't come, otherwise the sailors will rebel!

The goods sold to the Vietnamese at the beginning included 53 bundles of cloth, 237 dan of lead, 10 cannons, 16 barrels of sulfur, 618 dan of pepper, 159 dan of sandalwood, 38 bundles of medicinal plants and 8 packs of goods, and there are still more than 1000 pounds left The final payment was not given.The reason for this is that it is difficult to do business with the Vietnamese, that is, they have to face the troubles of giving gifts, rewards and extortion when doing business with the Vietnamese. They often cannot get cash for selling goods, and they cannot even use cash for buying goods. , can only receive export items in the form of "gifts" from the monarch, and the amount depends on the mood of the monarch.

This is the problem this time. The goods given by the middleman who helped the British to match the bridge are far from enough in the eyes of the British, almost 1500 pounds less, so they must claim back the "final payment", otherwise the crew It will be difficult to maintain the morale of the army, and something big may happen.

However, it is very difficult to claim the arrears.The middleman (a retired Vietnamese official) had an overbearing attitude. He refused to agree to the final payment of 1560 pounds that he had promised to pay. He only agreed to use some poor-quality Tokyo raw silk as a substitute, and the price was 40 more expensive than the good silk of the year. %, how can this satisfy the British?So, the two sides continued to argue on and off for more than a week. After Clifford and others threatened to fire, the intermediary agreed to compensate Clifford and others an additional [-] pounds in addition to the above-mentioned Tokyo raw silk. That was the end of the matter.

After experiencing this incident, Clifford and others (also the first time the British East India Company tried to trade with the Vietnamese) were pessimistic about whether to continue to trade with Vietnam, because they were too unreasonable and unreasonable Credit gone.Compared with the Qing people in Xiangshui and the Ming people in Xiamen, the Vietnamese are indeed not good business partners. This must be reported to the upper management of the company truthfully, so as to prevent other people from continuing to be cheated after they come.

As for the trade in Xiamen of the Ming Dynasty, this time, a 300-ton armed merchant ship named "Formosa" sailed into the Tokyo River with Clifford, and it just left Xiamen—here Before, the ship was full of cargo and went to Nagasaki, Japan, in an attempt to reopen the trade with Japan, but it failed to obtain permission for three months, and finally had to give up—on the famous material distribution market, "Fu The "Hermosha" traded with Prince Zheng Chenggong, a supporter of the Ming Dynasty. A large amount of wool, sulfur, lead, saltpeter, artillery, armor and other materials were sold in exchange for tea, raw silk, satin, Porcelain and some other goods.

According to the captain of the ship, Li Guangdi, an official in charge of trade under Zheng Chenggong, approved the request of the British East India Company to establish a trading station, and strongly invited foreign ships including the "Formosa" to continue to trade next year, which made the British People are very excited, because the strength of King Fujian is not weak, and there are many specialties under his rule.

In addition, Fujian Wang Zhenggong has not shied away from outsiders in the past few years. He has devoted himself to recruiting people in Guangdong and Fujian, and then sent them across the sea to the north-central area of ​​Taiwan (Southern Taiwan is still the territory of the Dutch East India Company, and the headquarters of the Bank of Taiwan is also set up. in Zeelandia City) for land reclamation and planting.In addition to grain, the most crops planted are sugar cane. This is a grand strategy set by Zheng Chenggong, not only to leave a way out for himself, but also to grasp an important source of sucrose in order to maintain trade with Japan.

Zheng Chenggong's move to develop Taiwan, in fact, the people on the east coast are also happy to see the success, and even sold them some metal farm tools and medicines. Heishui Shipyard and Kushiro Shipyard also took two orders from Zheng's for a total of four The construction business of the "Yaksa" class armed transport ship (of course a castrated version without steam power system).The reason for this is probably because the people on the east coast did not want to see the Dutch monopolize this crucial island when they themselves were unable to develop Taiwan.Therefore, they gave Zheng a little support, and Taiwan Island might be used as a card when negotiating with the Dutch East India Company in the future.

In this way, Zheng Chenggong, a military and political group, is probably one of the most affluent forces on the land of southern China with the conscious trade assistance from Britain and the East (the Dutch East India Company often trades with him for trade reasons). up.The equipment level of the army is also very good. Although it seems that the tactical thinking is a bit biased, it is considered so-so.I believe that if they try their best to fight for the island of Taiwan, the Dutch probably wouldn't dare to beat them directly.Although the Dutch mobilized ships from Nanyang to fight the navy that would definitely defeat Zheng Chenggong, why bother?Everyone is here to do business and ask for money, and they spend huge sums of money on phone calls and get nothing. Isn’t this stupid or what?

"Don't trade with the Vietnamese in the future." Little Clifford, who finally took a step back and recovered some of the payment, said to the other captains: "Let's go back to Banten and Surat first, and count some cash and goods. .Next year, I hope that everyone will go to Xiangshui Port in Qing Dynasty for trade. The more people the better. I will visit some old friends in London, Bristol, and Portsmouth when I go back, and then persuade them to go together Doing business in the Qing Dynasty is a very profitable thing, and we have established a solid business station there, which gives us a lot of convenience. As for the dissatisfaction of the people on the east coast, let them go, we have Manchuria The friendship of the Tartar emperor is more important than anything else."

(End of this chapter)