Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1677 Retreat ([-])

Several merchant ships from the east coast quietly sailed into the port of Cadiz. This is a ship that just sailed from the Haji port trading station on the Black Sea. The subsidiaries are Nanhai Liner Company and Nanhai Fishery Company, which are powerful—in addition to carrying some raisins, wheat, spices, cocoa, coffee and other commodities imported from the Ottoman Empire in the cargo hold, there are also a large number of goods purchased by the State Development Bureau. Special commodities: Non-national laborers, to be precise, are Polish soldiers captured by the Ottomans, and of course more are ordinary people who were plundered by the Crimean Tatars in southern Poland.

The war between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has entered its third year. In the autumn of 1672, after the Turkish army successively conquered the southeastern part of Poland, the Poles were unable to resist, so they signed a humiliating treaty with the Turks. Treaty of Bucek ceded the southern Podolia region, promised annual tribute to the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and recognized the independence of Polish Ukraine (West Ukraine) in order to gain a valuable respite.

This treaty undoubtedly aroused strong dissatisfaction in Poland, and the noble council was immediately filled with chaos and quarrels.As we all know, the system of the aristocratic parliament of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is very strange. As long as one of the hundreds of members votes against it, a certain proposal cannot be passed. This makes the parliament almost a decoration and the country. It's a mess, no wonder in history Prince Henry of France didn't even want to be the king of Poland, he was so aggrieved.

Therefore, the "Buchac Treaty" was "shot" directly in the noble council, because more than one member opposed the peace treaty, thinking it was a great shame, and said that they would fight the Turks to the end!Only the parliamentarians from the south and east of Poland expressed disappointment, because they were eager to make peace with the Turks before the war spread to their own territories, but they were unable to reverse the direction of the parliament.

The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed Koprulu, had returned to Istanbul before, but the 20 troops he had brought over were still stationed in southeastern Poland and neighboring Western Ukraine and Molda. He ate in Via and did not return.Therefore, the great vizier, who was extremely disappointed, immediately ordered the frontline generals to continue to attack and punish the "untrustworthy" Polish heretics. Therefore, the Polish-Turkish war resumed after a period of calm, and the Turkish troops began to attack Poland from their respective positions. Marching—no way, the 20 army is too much, if you don’t disperse and eat, even if you squeeze the people in southeastern Poland, it will not be able to meet the military needs—then started a firefight with the slowly gathering Polish army.

In this battle, Lord Jan Sobieski, who had performed well in the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Polish-Russian War, Polish-Swiss War, and Pope War, stood out.The king first summoned [-] infantry with great prestige, and then used the advantage of internal operations to break through the scattered Turkish army. He also used the Serbian lord's private soldiers, Arab tribal soldiers, Hungarian militia and Moldavian soldiers who were insufficient in combat effectiveness to defeat them. The Duke's "ancient army" with outdated equipment (almost all cold-armed troops) was the main target, and finally achieved the cumulative result of annihilating more than [-] enemies, which greatly boosted the morale of the Poles.

Sobieski's birth interrupted the smooth momentum since the Ottoman Empire entered Poland. Although the loss of troops was not too much, the morale of the ebb and flow must be taken into account.The Crimean Tatars, who have always been known for their looting like the wind, also had to shrink their front and concentrate their limited forces (more than [-] horsemen, the main force has returned home with the Great Khan) to prevent being attacked by the Poles. sudden attack.You know, the Poles also have large cavalry. Although the Crimeans have always ridiculed them as slow-moving "big guys" and won many victories in previous wars, they dare not bet against them. You will meet the opponent's brigade, so it's better to withdraw, anyway, there are not many people and property outside this meeting to rob.

As the largest buyer of slaves plundered by the Crimeans, the people on the east bank who have imported more than 1673 Polish slaves from them in the past year or so will not suffer much from their business. Affected, because the Crimean Tatars really robbed the whole year last year ([-]). At least tens of thousands of residents in southern Poland were taken back as "harvests" by the bandits from the grasslands, and then their belongings It became the private property of the Tatar cavalry. Except for a small part of the people who stayed to grow food and do handicrafts, most of the rest were hoarded in Haji and Kaffa, the two main slave export ports, waiting for buyers to appear. The shore people are naturally the biggest buyers, and in many cases even the only buyers.

The slaves bought back have basically entered the major state-run farms, forest farms, brick kilns, iron mines, coal mines, and construction teams, which effectively supplemented the huge labor gap caused by the conversion or "loss" of non-national laborers, and greatly supported the The development of the country, but the cost is not as large as imagined, which can be described as a value-for-money business.

Even in the first half of this year, after learning that the United Provinces had brazenly terminated a number of procurement contracts with the East Coast Republic regardless of their commercial reputation, the members of the Executive Committee immediately ordered to temporarily freeze a batch of military supplies and weapons that were originally going to Amsterdam. Instead, consider transferring it to the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, which are also in urgent need of such war materials, and then exchange them for various types of slaves. Both sides get what they need, and everyone is happy.

It is reported that this plan has officially entered the implementation stage. The Ottoman ambassador in Dongfang Port also readily agreed to this plan, and immediately submitted it to the country, asking the Grand Vizier and His Majesty the Sultan for approval. It can be said that it is basically not a problem.Moreover, this move has also greatly promoted the bilateral relations between East and Austria. At least now, many people in the East Coast have re-recognized that the friendship of the old friend Ottoman Empire seems to be more cherished. The United Provinces, which have been very hot in recent years, seem to be Some snobbery, it is not worth continuing to invest more diplomatic resources.

Of course, the purchase of Polish slaves by people on the east bank with such a big fanfare has undoubtedly inserted another knife into the relationship between East and Poland that has just eased in the past two years, and once again ruined the possibility of a short-term reconciliation between the two countries. .You know, almost 20 years ago, people on the east bank took advantage of the Polish-Russian War and the Polish-Swiss War to buy a batch of Polish slaves. Shore cargo has lost the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth market with a population of 1100 million.

But now it seems that the people on the east coast obviously don’t have a “memory”. Just a moment ago, the relationship between the two countries was greatly eased under the mediation of the three-level council of the United Provinces. As a result, the people on the east coast acted as the Once a big buyer of Polish slaves, this undoubtedly stimulated the Crimean Tatars from the side to rob and loot in Poland, and deepened the suffering of the people in southern Poland.Faced with such a situation, the Poles could no longer turn a blind eye to it even if they were useless. They could only completely terminate all diplomatic negotiations and commercial exchanges between the two countries, and the bilateral relationship once again fell into a freezing point.

Of course, the people on the east coast don’t seem to care much about their relationship with Poland at present. The Dutch regard this country as a treasure, but how can the east coast be like the Netherlands if they don’t want the rye of the Poles or their timber? People used to this country?Of course, how it is beneficial to the East Coast, who cares what you Poles or Catholics think!

Therefore, when these merchant ships arrived at the port of Cadiz, although some Spanish priests in the port expressed objections to this, the leading captain had no fear and vetoed them all!Even when a priest used church assets to buy some Polish slaves in advance, he was "contemptuously" rejected by the "arrogant" captain of the East Coast in their opinion, and he was really angry.

Lan Fei and Yang Liang watched interestingly from the sidelines, and at the same time, they also had some new understandings of the relationship between Catholic countries, that is, religion is indeed very appealing, but is it enough to make Spaniards who are also Catholics take risks? Is it enough to make them give up doing business with the East Coast and help the Polish Christians when the country is at risk of falling into war? It only took a day or two for the grain, raisins, spices, cocoa, coffee and other commodities brought by shore merchant ships to be sold in the port of Cadiz, and you can see some clues.

"Damn it, all the Polish laborers have ships back to the mainland, and those of us who are about to be forgotten will not be able to leave until the year of the monkey!" Major Yang Liang, who always likes to complain, spoke again, only to hear him say: "This time the local Some people are so courageous that they dared to send troops to take down the entire Dutch South African colony. This style is a bit radical! It’s just that although it suits my taste, it also pushed Special Envoy Li Qing and us into a dangerous situation Well, speaking of it, we are pretty good, but Special Envoy Li Qing will probably have to leave in despair, and the Amsterdam Commercial Station will probably be closed, which is really a pity."

"It's a pity, it's a pity, you can't have both. Taking all of South Africa is our grand strategy. Although the loss of the Dutch commercial interests will make our domestic industry and commerce extremely uncomfortable, and the pace of technological progress will be greatly delayed, but these After all, they are not insurmountable difficulties. Compared with them, the real precious thing will always be the land. Although South Africa is far from being rich, it is definitely vast enough and its geographical location is important enough. There is nothing to complain about when it is taken.” Major Lan Fei said: "However, I estimate that it is not feasible for these countries in the Old World to completely lose South Africa. The resistance they face is too great, and the image will appear even worse. Then, in the future, Cape Town will be set as * **, opening to people or ships from all civilized countries in the world should also be a high probability event.”

"Hehe, that's what I thought too. I really want to go back to my home country quickly. I really want to go to South Africa to see what's going on there. If possible, I still want to implement my idea back then and break through South Africa's east, On the west coast, completely wipe out the Karma Kingdom, the long-standing enemy, and continue to expand the country's territory." Major Yang Liang said with a smile.

On November 1674, 11, when Yang Liang and Lan Fei were waiting impatiently in the port of Cadiz, several flute-shaped ships belonging to the South China Sea Transportation Company also sailed into Spain quietly. Come to pick up the ship where Lan Fei and others return home.Arriving in Cadiz almost at the same time as them, there were also two merchant ships carrying Li Qing, the Special Envoy of the Eastern Coast Republic of China to Europe, and a large number of entourages—they had just been expelled from Amsterdam by the Dutch, the reason was not given, but Li Qing knew well that it must be because of Dutch South Africa being attacked by people from the east coast, so he didn't say much nonsense, and silently directed his subordinates to pack up the documents and items, then boarded a ship and left the Netherlands, and came to Spain in a hurry Cadiz.

"In the future, this city will be the office of our country's special envoy to Europe." After living in a relatively spacious and luxurious villa in the city, Li Qing, who was obviously a bit poor, smiled wryly towards Lan and Yang. Said: "Originally, I actually planned to move my old home to Ottoman Smyrna or Istanbul, but I thought it was too far away and too far away, so I set up the office here with the Spaniards. But the market in the Netherlands is It’s really lost. Even some republican businessmen who used to have a good relationship with us, after we sent troops to attack Cape Town, now they don’t dare to openly trade. They can only sneak around. This is undoubtedly great. Affected trade. And, what is even more depressing is that without the Dutch merchants, our markets in Sweden, North Germany, Brandenburg-Prussia, etc. are basically gone, and even the Livonian market It was also abandoned because our merchant ships were inconvenient to enter, and this loss is too great."

"However, the matter has come to this point, and there is no good solution. After the two of you return to China, tell the local executive committee to develop yourself more and tap the potential of the local country. The market in this old continent is too variable. It will not be easy for 20 years. Our country now has more than 300 million people. The land is vast and the products are relatively rich. In the future, we should pay more attention to internal demand. This time the scale of industry and commerce will shrink for sure. People in many areas It can be expected that life will be difficult, and the urbanization process in some counties may also be terminated, but these are temporary. As long as we work hard to develop ourselves, we will still rise in the future. Regarding this point, everyone must Be confident." Li Qing finally shook her head and sighed.

(End of this chapter)