Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1696: New Situation in Diplomacy ([-])

On June 1675, 6, when the talks with Russia on the east bank came to an end, Sir William Temple of England also came to the door, and the reason was the same as that of the Mirovanov mission in Russia. It is to deepen the trade connection between East and Britain, which makes Cai Zhenguo feel a little strange.

"Can you please export some machinery and equipment to our country?" Sir William Temple said straight to the point as soon as we met: "Our country has officially withdrawn from the war between France and the United Provinces, and now we need to switch to the production of various commodities. Your country All kinds of machine tools, cutter heads, hardware tools, coal mining equipment, mining machinery, soda ash, dyes and other mechanical parts are durable and well received, so please try to export them.”

"Aren't these -- haven't they been exported all the time? Our country exports a lot of textile parts and even complete machines to your country every year, right? Aren't hardware tools, metal farm tools, soda ash and other commodities always exported? Our country has not banned such commodities Let’s go to England, at least until now I haven’t heard of any changes in the policy.” Cai Zhenguo said in a daze: “Your country has also been purchasing this kind of goods, is there any new product that is not in the procurement list that needs to be applied for? ?Sir Temple, this is actually the case. Although the Ministry of Trade of our country stipulates that you can apply for the import of some goods that are not on the list, in fact this application mechanism cannot be abused, and the pass rate is extremely low. Use your brains, because it's not worth it. Really, believe me!"

"Is it really not good? For example, your country's latest industrial cutter head and steam engine?" Sir William Temple blinked, smiled slyly, and said: "It's really easy to use, and everyone likes it very much. Moreover, it is not that there is no steam engine in our country, but it is not as good as your country. In fact, the steam engine has been invented 40 years ago in your country, and it has been known for more than 20 years. Now everyone knows that it is a good thing. Everything is spent energy and time on research and development. As the first pioneers in our country to invest in steam engines, it has now been widely used in mines, docks, farms, docks and other occasions, generating great benefits. At present, As far as I know, the Hicks, the Spencers, the Thompsons are investing heavily in R&D and Congress is paying attention and ready to help them out. You see, everyone is rushing to invest in improvements No matter how conservative your country is, it doesn’t make any sense anymore, why not sell some less sensitive technologies while they are still worth some money, this will not only return a large amount of money, but also gain England’s friendship..."

Cai Zhenguo felt sick to his stomach when he heard this, and thought to himself that this British man is too shameless, he can say such nonsense, it seems that it is worthy of a country where pirates can be nobles, and there is indeed a shameless demeanor.But just now Sir Temple mentioned that countries are scrambling to start research and development of steam engines. It is indeed not nonsense, but the truth.

As we all know, the people on the east coast have applied the steam engine to various fields and achieved great success. These Europeans can see it in their eyes.Moreover, as the national power of the East Coast has grown day by day and its influence has gradually expanded in recent years, more and more individuals, organizations or countries in Europe have begun to invest in research on steam engines.For example, in England, Maurice Thompson was actually working on it at the beginning, and he bought second-hand technology from the Portuguese, but with his continuous investment, he finally came up with two prototype machines, and After several improvements, it was successfully applied to the drainage of coal mines in Newcastle and lead mines in Wales.

The English have achieved such success. Although other countries do not have such a good industrial atmosphere and foundation, they have been trying to catch up, because there are widespread rumors in Europe that the reason why the East Coast is so rich is because of the use of steam engines (in fact, from some kind of To a certain extent, this is not a rumor, but the truth), and the warships on the east coast equipped with a steam propulsion system also left a deep impression on them, so many countries began to invest in this new thing, striving to create a huge news.

Among these countries, apart from the United Provinces, which are only slightly inferior to England in technology, France and some states in North Germany are probably the hardest working, especially the North Germany region with a good industrial foundation and the former Hanseatic League. Bangguo has been very rich because it has exported a large number of industrial products to the United Provinces. Now that they are determined to study the mysteries of the steam engine, as long as the funds are in place and the technical foundation is relatively good, the progress will be very fast.

France is another model.The government of this country pays more attention to industry and technology. Since the era of Cardinal Richelieu, the government has established a series of new factories and invested a lot of money in an effort to catch up with the trend of the times and increase government revenue.Of course, due to business and management reasons, not many of these enterprises survived, but the technological progress has been solid, which is beyond doubt.

Later, in the Mazarin era, the French learned the lessons of the last time and changed everything to be jointly organized by the government and big businessmen, such as a large number of textile factories, iron smelting workshops, glass workshops, etc. in the suburbs of Paris, and the effect was greatly improved compared to the first time.However, this model is still extremely dependent on a large amount of investment from the government. At that time, Mazaran was good at making money, but the national treasury did not have a lot of money. Therefore, the investment was intermittent and did not continue. In addition, the international trade competition Fierce and low-tech French industrial products can hardly compete with the products of England and North Germany, so they have closed down one after another under operating difficulties-of course, this toss also improved the technical level of some industries, including the Mazaran era A steam engine workshop established at the end of the period.

After Louis XIV's personal conquest, the French treasury became full again due to the means of the Minister of Finance Colbert, and state-led investments began to spring up like mushrooms after rain, including naturally the steam engine that was once out of cooking and half of the staff ran away. workshop.Although the people on the east coast don't know how far the French have achieved, they think they are much worse than the British, but in any case, they have a "foolish man with a lot of money" investment from the king. As long as it continues, the steam engine Something with low technical requirements is not difficult to copy and use.Big deal, with the same output power, the steam engine of the people on the east coast is as big as a cabinet, and mine is as big as a house. Isn’t it just that the thermal efficiency is lower, which is completely tolerable!

Although England, France, the United Provinces, and North Germany have produced a lot of steam engine samples, the technological progress looks very good, but this does not mean that the people on the east coast intend to directly export such technology to them, even if they want It's just an old product that has been eliminated on the east coast.After all, compared to some technologies in industries such as textiles and printing, steam engine technology is too core and too sensitive. This is the foundation of industry and the source of national power. No one is stupid enough to spread this kind of technology to the Old Continent—what to do? Just kidding, we east coast people spread some low-level technology outwards to improve your productivity so that you can serve us better, not to make you stronger and grab our business!Just like the transfer of technology and production lines from developed countries in Europe and the United States to the third world, we need you to produce more cheap goods to please us, serve us, and improve our quality of life, not to cultivate an opponent (of course, to play off the other explain……).

Therefore, when Sir Temple mentioned the exit of the steam engine, Cai Zhenguo immediately sat up straight, shook his head and responded with a smile: "Sir Temple, the joke you told is not funny. Please forgive me, my friend." , our country does not have any possibility of exporting steam engines and related technologies to foreign countries in the short term, and even colonies are hard to get, now you understand? However, just now you mentioned 'harvesting England's friendship', this sentence should be How to explain? Could it be that England can form an alliance with the East Coast?"

"Why not?" Sir Temple shrugged, looked at Cai Zhenguo sincerely, and asked, "Is there any essential and irreconcilable contradiction between the East Coast Republic of China and the Kingdom of England? I can't see it." Come out! Although there is a competitive relationship between our two countries on some industrial commodities, this is not irreconcilable or non-negotiable. Our main market is in the Baltic Sea, Germany, and France, and your country's main market is in Italy. , In Spain, in Ottoman, it is completely possible to divide the scope of their respective commercial strengths, this is not difficult! And once your country decides to intervene in the European war, then England will be an excellent fulcrum and bridgehead, we can easily support your country The army and fleet provide food, ammunition, and guns, and they can also arm a considerable army and a naval fleet with a reputation in the North Sea. How does this strength compare to your country's ally, the Kingdom of Spain? Please also With all due respect, the Kingdom of Spain is located on the European continent and is adjacent to a big country like France. It is destined that they will not be able to stand alone in the event of a major war in the European continent. to your country's strategic deployment."

"If England is an ally of your country—" At this point, Sir William Temple approached and said with a smile on his face: "As long as our powerful navy does not fail, then no one can do anything to England! On the European continent, only the United Provinces Navy can compete with the English Navy. However, they are often overwhelmed by themselves and deeply involved in European affairs. We can also win the Dutch fleet commanded by Druiter. I have full confidence in this and never doubt it!"

While William Temple was talking and Cai Zhenguo was listening, he automatically ignored the passage that Temple boasted about the combat effectiveness of the British Navy. However, regarding his earlier point that England is an island country, as long as the navy does not fail, the country will be fine.This point is so important. In history, I don’t know how many disasters and troubles have been saved for England.It can be said that as long as the English are determined not to intervene in the European continental war, then they can completely watch from the sidelines, and no one can force them to participate in the war. This is indeed a great advantage.

In contrast, the environment in Spain is too dangerous!Portugal next door has a bad relationship with it. The strong neighbor France in the north covets his territory in the lowlands, Germany and Italy. His relative Austria also wants to trick himself all the time. The Catholic atmosphere in the country is strong. The former king even boasted He is the monarch of the entire Catholic world, and he will get involved in all kinds of bad things and bad things if he doesn't pay attention.People from the east coast have formed an alliance with them. Does this mean that they think they are not troublesome enough?Therefore, from this perspective, what William Temple just said is very reasonable.

However, it is one thing to be reasonable, and another to actually operate it. Can the country's major policies be easily changed?Even if it can be changed, it will not be a matter of one or two years, so William Temple is destined to not get any guarantee from Cai Zhenguo.But it seemed that he didn't mind it very much, he just tried to test it casually, and he didn't mean to complete it.

The visit of the British also reminded Cai Zhenguo, that is, the situation in Europe has undergone earth-shaking changes. Is the diplomatic strategy formulated 20 years ago or even longer now still appropriate?Do some changes need to be made to cater to the changing situation?Now that England is far away from the quagmire of war on the European continent, and its industrial production capacity is the highest in the whole of Europe, many capitalists in the United Provinces are frightened by the threat of France, and they have begun to immigrate to the whole country, injecting new impetus into England's industry and commerce.The future of this country is indeed very promising, and it is also very in line with the standards of allies on the east coast. If it is supported, it will be very effective in controlling the situation in the old continent.

The only question now is, are England willing to take a backseat?Moreover, in the eyes of second-generation backbones like Cai Zhenguo, most local high-ranking officials have an inexplicable and unnecessary discrimination against England, and they completely regard England as an important opponent. I don't understand.You know, in the eyes of these people, England's potential is far less than that of France and Austria, countries with a unified regime, relatively abundant population and funds. Their advantage is that they are far away from the turmoil of the European continent and have industrial production capacity. It's stronger, but it's not insurmountable.

It seems that the change of policy must wait until the last person who is hostile to England steps down from the stage of power. Can only pretend not to see.

(End of this chapter)