Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2038 Beihai ([-])

Gao Wengang came to the United Provinces once.

Since the relationship between the East and the Netherlands has cooled down and the East Coast Plenipotentiary Envoy to Europe has moved away from Amsterdam, Gao Wengang has not been to this European economic hotspot for some years.This time, he quickly finished dealing with the affairs of the Ottoman Empire, and returned to Cadiz by boat with Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun of the Black Sea Detachment. He still had to make up his mind about many things on the United Province side.Especially those soldiers who were extremely domineering and acted fiercely without considering the consequences, so he had to keep an eye on them.

Therefore, after staying in Cadiz for a few days and dealing with some affairs related to Spain and Italy, he set off for the Netherlands.On the way, he stayed in Lisbon for three days and had a secret talk with King Pedro II of Portugal, focusing on the ownership of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands and other economic cooperation.This time, the navy and army on the east coast aggressively advanced into the lowland areas, and all the supplies were purchased in Portugal, which greatly activated the economy of this former nautical pioneer country, leading Portugal to smile.

At the same time, the mighty and majestic East Coast Fleet also shocked the Portuguese.Once upon a time, the East Coast Navy fought against the Kingdom of Portugal. Although they were strong at that time, they were not strong enough to make the Portuguese despair.But the fleet that came this time really shocked the senior management of this small Iberian country.This kind of fleet, they are irresistible!Perhaps only England and the United Provinces may come forward to make gestures, but they will have to pay a huge price, and they may not necessarily win.

This cruel cognition made the Portuguese more sober and more respectful.Their King Pedro, with a full court of civil and military officials, received Gao Wengang in his palace.According to gossip, Pedro II invited many well-known scholars and artists to attend, and spent 10% of the royal family's annual expenditure, which shows the grandeur of the event.

Gao Wengang affirmed the relevant policies of the Kingdom of Portugal in the secret meeting, saying that the East Coast Republic respects the friendly relations between the two countries as always, and that the Kingdom of Portugal is a "firm ally" of the East Coast in Europe, and the relationship between the two countries can be further improved in the future. Further, Dongpu will cooperate and develop together.

After leaving several entourages to discuss with the Portuguese the Cape Verde Islands and trade affairs, Gao Wengang, escorted by two Portuguese naval warships, arrived at the port of Bruges, and then rushed to The Hague by land day and night, and stayed in Van Boyle The residence arranged by Ningen for him.

Van Beuningen has been in a state of excitement these days. He has been receiving representatives from various provinces in a row, making promises, intimidating, or emotive. every corner of the league.For example, he made it clear to representatives from the two regions of Limburg-Brabant and Drenthe that if they supported the three-level parliament, then he would consider giving political power to the people of these two regions in the future , no longer represented by other provinces, that is, he intends to give these two de facto provinces full political entity status, changing the League of Seven Provinces into the League of Nine Provinces.

Undoubtedly, the promise of Van Beuningen made the hearts of the representatives of the two places happy.Goodness, the locals have been treated like second class citizens for years after the United Provinces seized their territories.The most typical of these is undoubtedly that they have no voting rights in the parliament: the old Duchy of Limburg-Brabant was voted by the province of Utrecht, and the region of Drenthe was sometimes voted by the province of OberiJssel and sometimes by the province of Grenada. Loningen or Friesland have voting rights, and the locals have no control over various matters, and they are also forced to do so.

This time, the situation in the United Provinces was in turmoil and the hearts of the people were unstable. In order to win more support, the Republicans planned to give these two regions with a small population an official name and absorb them into the Seven Provinces Alliance (previously only Said to be a state of occupation).Van Boyningen believes that these two new provinces will surely become important supporters of the Republicans in the future, allowing them to better control the country and dilute the opposition forces in the three northern provinces.

East Coast consultants are not very clear about the inside story, but they appreciate Van Beuningen's decision.To deal with the Orange faction now, it is indeed necessary to use all the strengths, and any strength is very crucial.If the people of these two provinces are grateful to Dade, then this is indeed a very good political deal.

Gao Wengang arrived in The Hague on December 12. Lieutenant Yang Chengdong, the veteran of the East Coast Army and son of Yang Liang, rushed to the hotel to meet him immediately, and brought him a lot of new news.Yang Chengdong told Gao Wengang that Dutch veteran Van Marberg led more than 30 soldiers (including mercenaries and troops drawn from nearby towns) approaching Nijmegen, and the army from Amsterdam also posed a threat to Nijmegen from the flank. Not to mention the uncooperative attitude of the Dutch militia in and around Nijmegen.

In short, this mercenary army invited from Germany by William III is now in a great crisis.William III has already fled to England, and no one will pay the military salary for the next quarter. The surrounding towns are also full of hostile Dutch troops. Some small-scale conflicts broke out during the period, but fortunately there have been no casualties so far.

These Germans are not blind, and they naturally know that the United Province has changed, and their fate may be a bit bad, so they are very anxious.Seeing that the republican faction has won a staged victory and initially integrated various forces, it has dispatched troops from the west and south to form a semi-encirclement situation for them.In addition, tens of thousands of temporarily organized Dutch militias recently appeared in the Drenthe area in the east, which made them feel even more anxious, and many people thought of retreating.

In particular, some things that touched their sensitive nerves recently came from their hometown, that is, the French sent some disguised cavalry into the Rhine River Basin to conduct illegal reconnaissance activities.Many people said that this was the prelude to the war launched by the French, and that the Holy Roman Empire was once again facing a life-and-death crisis. Therefore, many people were asking their superiors to give up this increasingly dangerous intervention and withdraw the entire army. deutsche.

The officers were in a dilemma about this.They were hired by William III. If they withdraw midway, the loss of reputation will be great, and they may not be able to take other people's business in the future.But on the other hand, the employment payment paid by William III is only until the end of this month. According to the agreement, the other party should pay the next quarter's expenses half a month in advance, but it is obviously impossible now. Everyone else has gone to the UK. I don't have time to pay attention to things here—in fact, I can't even pay attention to it. There is an east coast navy and part of the Dutch navy on the sea, and it is impossible for the British Parliament to allocate funds to him for the time being. Therefore, these Germans are already doomed to lose their food.

It's not that the officers didn't think about looting the surrounding towns and obtaining supplies and military expenses themselves.However, Nijmegen has a large number of Dutch militias monitoring (they were originally "allies", but now the Netherlands has changed, and the militias have also undergone great divisions. Many people tend to support the parliament), and there are a total of [-] to [-] people around. With all kinds of people staring at each other, they really dare not go too far, lest they will not be able to pass the test one by one when they are liquidated in the future.

It's not that they haven't thought about fighting a battle and defeating the three Dutch armies around them one by one.But the problem is that these Dutchmen are not made of mud, and the guns in their hands are not fire sticks. They also faced the French head-on back then.And what about themselves?The morale is low, the morale of the army is unstable, the benefactor has cut off the salary, and all kinds of living and military supplies are extremely short. Therefore, they really do not have the confidence to defeat the Dutch Army, which is two or three times their own, on the land of the Dutch. This is too heavenly Night Tale.

Therefore, these German mercenaries are really struggling now and don't know what to do.However, the Dutch didn't intend to give them a chance to think about it. They assembled a large army and pressed them from different directions.The troops in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen who originally supported the Prince of Orange were also silent at this meeting. They only secretly sent some supplies to these German mercenaries so that they would not be hungry, and then they never showed up again. Leading them is even more disappointing.

Lieutenant Yang Chengdong believes that the determination of these German mercenaries is actually not great.They were summoned by William III's money, and although there is no shortage of their own lord's opinion, the problem is that it is freezing cold now, they have no salary, insufficient supplies, no food and no warmth, who would Why do you work hard for the illusory instructions of the lord?

Gao Wengang agreed.He felt that at this time, Van Beuningen only needed to send a shrewd and capable envoy to Nijmegen with a large amount of money to negotiate with the Germans, that is, to give them a severance pay, and then allow them to "gloriously surrender" and return to the Germans. Germany.I believe this is a condition acceptable to both parties, and it is nothing more than the price.

As for the fact that Friesland and Groningen, where members of the Orange family are often active, have contributed money and troops to fight against the three-level parliament that has received responses from most regions, that is purely overthinking.Just because they couldn't afford the money, they were destined to be unable to use mercenaries.Mercenary, mercenary, how to hire without money?Now that William III has gone to England, and the domestic regime has collapsed, how can he embezzle funds?

Gao Wengang thought that with the IQ of those guys from the Republican faction, they would not have missed this point.The reason why they made a gesture of military coercion was probably to cooperate with the envoys to negotiate and reduce the enemy's asking price.As for the money, the republicans still have plenty of money, thanks to their basic situation. If they are given a severance pay of 60 million guilders and allowed to leave with weapons and equipment, the matter is almost understood.And this kind of money to disband the enemy's army was tried by the Dutch during the last Franco-Dutch war. At that time, they disbanded the [-] troops attacked by the Bishop of Münster and successfully resolved the multi-line battle with the silver bullet offensive. Of course, this kind of successful experience must be greatly promoted.

On December 12, Van Boyningen met with Gao Wengang in his office.It could be seen that he was in a good mood. He gave Gao Wengang a warm hug as soon as they met, and then offered to significantly reduce the trade tariff rates between the East and the Netherlands and strengthen trade cooperation between the two countries.

Gao Wengang was very satisfied with this.The people on the east coast are devoting their minds to making suggestions for the republicans, isn't that what they are doing?During the years when William III was in power, although the republicans have been working hard to restore the level of trade between the two countries, there has always been great resistance.That guy William III desperately gave up profits to Britain and squeezed out the market share of goods on the east coast, which made people very annoying.Now Van Boyningen is "putting things right" and giving the business to the people from the east coast.

In addition, Van Boyningen also proposed to carry out more in-depth cooperation with the East China Republic in the military field.Originally, the United Provinces imported a large number of British-made weapons, which were cost-effective, and William III became the king of England (it was already a certainty).

The military cooperation agreement proposed by the Dutch is naturally not just about arms sales.In fact, after seeing the high morale and skilled combat skills of the East Coast Army, the Dutch also proposed to hire some East Coast Army officers and soldiers to help them train the army.This point was raised by intelligence officials on the east coast, and the Republicans agreed with it, and then formally made a request to Gao Wengang.

Of course Gao would not refuse such a good thing, so he readily agreed to it.Afterwards, the two sides talked about machine imports and financial cooperation. Overall, they were very happy.Gao Wengang reckoned that if these were implemented one by one in the future, it would be conservatively estimated that the trade volume would increase by more than 200 million yuan a year, and there is still a strong room for improvement in the future, which is indeed very good.

The trade volume of 200 million yuan is all purchased from the east coast, which is very important for the improvement of the industrial technology level of the east coast.After all, if there is no consumer market, how can your company make technological progress?Does everything depend on the state?Sorry, that's unrealistic and unscientific.The country can dig a 200 million or even 400 million gold and silver mine, but this is useless to industrial technological progress, corporate management improvement, and related personnel training. There are no consumers to buy things, no market feedback on product performance, and no peers. It is impossible for this country's industrial technology and enterprise management to be effectively improved due to fierce competition among the people.

Therefore, the market is very important. It is not only a profit factor, but also a whole set of things.With this in mind, you can understand why people on the East Coast are so obsessed with getting the market.

On January 1689, 1, after two days of negotiations between the two sides, the 2 German mercenaries stationed in Nijmegen finally agreed to the conditions proposed by the Dutch government, that is, to reissue their severance pay of 60 guilders and allocate A batch of food, warm clothes and quilts were withdrawn from the United Provinces and returned to their respective homes.So far, a possible civil war has been eliminated, and the situation in the United Provinces has been completely settled. The hardcore Orangemen in Friesland and Groningen have no money, no power, and no foreign aid. , There is no longer a big wave, and the Federal Republic of the Netherlands has entered a new era!

(End of this chapter)