Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 812 Difficulties and Hope ([-])

On May 1650, 5, in the port of Riga, the pearl of the Baltic Sea, Zheng Yong had just had dinner.Although this is the "marginal edge" in the eyes of Western Europeans, a standard backcountry, and although the Swedes extort money here, as a senior special envoy of the East Coast Republic, Zheng Yong's living standard is actually not low.

He lived in a European-style villa he bought (next to the East Coast Commercial Station), with the guards of the State Intelligence Agency, a cook from Daming who was sent from outside the mainland, and a few Polish maids—all of them were his own. His wife was hired from her hometown in Poland.The dinner is a combination of Chinese and Western, including his favorite Chinese stir-fried dishes, as well as the popular local pickled herring and grilled steak, which is quite rich.As for the drink, of course it is his favorite Daqu in the South African River that has been aged for ten years.

His Polish wife Veronica had just returned from Danzig on a merchant ship a few days ago, and brought Zheng Yong's two sons back from Poland, planning to leave for Archangel with the family in a few days. Accompanied her husband to inspect the development of local commercial stations, and also took a tour by the way.The local Russians have been looking forward to the people on the east coast for a long time. They are extremely eager for everything from the western civilized world on the edge of the wilderness, including the desire for goods, technology, and even the so-called fashion. lifestyle desires.

This sentiment stems from their repeated defeats in front of the Western world over the years, such as wars with Poland and Sweden.These humiliating failures have prompted reflections among the Russian nobles. They feel that their country may really need some changes, and this should first be carried out in the military.

After losing to Poland in the Smolensk War, the Russians have been trying to clean up their shame for years.For this reason, while purchasing Western weapons and hiring Western instructors to train the army, they set up an arsenal in Tula in an attempt to develop their own military industry.It's a pity that they don't have their own iron ore (iron ore needs to be imported from Sweden, but Sweden is also an enemy...), so the progress has been very limited, and weapons and equipment are still mainly purchased from outside.

In the early 40s, the main sources of Russian weapons imports were the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. After all, only these two Western countries opened irregular routes with them.Even a small amount of East Coast Army weapons exported to the Principality of Moscow were changed hands through the Dutch.However, in recent years, with the increasing prosperity of Danzig and Riga trading stations on the east coast, and the Russians successfully sailing from Archangel to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the people on the east coast began to carry out direct trade with them. The transaction costs of both parties have been greatly reduced, which has naturally led to a significant increase in the proportion of East Coast weapons used by Moscow's elite shooting army.

The reason why the East Coast weapons are favored by the Russians is naturally not without reason. The most important thing is its super high cost performance-the price is only about 15% more expensive than those produced in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, but the lifespan (mainly the life of the barrel) ) is 30% higher, and a bayonet is also included for free, and the appearance is more exquisite. This competitiveness is naturally not comparable to others.East coast weapons are not only liked by Russians, but also by Ottomans, Tatars and even Ukrainian Cossacks. This is the reputation of its excellent quality.

Even though the Poles have now cut off all business ties with the East Bank, some local nobles are still secretly conducting underground trade with the East Bank.These trades are mainly concentrated in high-quality metal agricultural tools, high-end textiles, medicines and other civilian consumer goods. At this stage, the scale is small, but the trade volume is increasing month by month. People can't help feeling that the central government of Poland, a country that is in a mess, really can't control it. Local nobles, sooner or later they will die in this system.

But the lives of the Poles don't matter to the East Coasters.Even though his wife is Polish, Zheng Yong's impression of this country is terrible now, without him, because the Polish government ordered the closure of the most profitable Danzig business station under Zheng Yong's management, which made his The future is clouded.He is only 35 and six years old this year, and he still wants to make progress, but the actions of the Poles have undoubtedly clouded his "political achievements", which annoys him very much.

"Honey, one of my good sisters is married in the Principality of Courland. She asked me to ask me what price we can give if I buy armaments in our store." After the two children settled down and went to sleep, Veronica sat next to Zheng Yong and suddenly asked softly.

"Oh? It's his husband who wants to do business, right?" Zheng Yong, who was drinking by himself, was slightly taken aback when he heard the words, and then said nonchalantly, "Since it's your sister, I'll give him the price of a big wholesaler, um." , just like their grand duke Jacob. If the ordnance at this price is sold to Poland, the profit margin is not small. It just so happens that there are sufficient supplies in the trading station, and the most commodities shipped by local ships are ordnance. Buy whatever you want, as long as he can afford it."

When Veronica heard her husband say that, she immediately nodded happily.

It is said that the Principality of Courland, which is very close to Riga, is now playing an increasingly important role in the commercial territory of the people on the east coast.Gein Since the Kingdom of Poland cut off all trade ties with people on the east coast, many Polish and Dutch businessmen began to import goods from the east coast through channels such as the Principality of Prussia and the Principality of Courland—mainly high-quality army weapons—and then Resold back to Poland.

Now the Kingdom of Poland is gearing up and preparing to brutally suppress the uprising Ukrainians, so there is a huge demand for ordnance (because the Polish army was almost completely destroyed in previous battles and is currently being rebuilt).In addition, the government of the Kingdom of Poland is not very financially well-off (the price of grain, one of the most important export commodities, is slowly falling in Western Europe), so it also has a love-hate relationship with the cheap and high-quality armaments from the republics on the east bank. It's easy to say that you don't want this kind of good stuff with the highest cost performance.Therefore, after much deliberation, the Royal Polish government finally turned a blind eye to this army weapon imported from the "Prussian Duchy and the Duchy of Courland".

And this obviously caused the sales of the East Coast Army's equipment in the Nordic region to suddenly enter a new stage after a period of stagnation.People from the East Coast, Courlands, Prussians, and some Polish and Dutch businessmen (Dutch wholesalers who have been doing business in Poland all the year round) have made a fortune among them.And the husband of the good sister that Zheng Yong's wife mentioned is obviously the kind of guy who is jealous and wants to join after seeing others get rich.

However, in Zheng Yong's view, the husband of her wife's best friend is not as far-sighted as their monarch—Jacob, Grand Duke of Courland.Because, among the merchants who resell goods on the east coast in the Principality of Courland, the Duke is the largest one.He has so far exported to Poland 27 flintlock rifles, 8 sets of breastplates, [-] pieces of artillery of various calibers, [-] bundles of tourniquets, [-] flintlock pistols, and other items such as Tents, carriages, medicines, military blankets and other things made a total profit of more than [-] yuan, which is extremely admirable.

Zheng Yong recently heard people say that the duke and his family who made a small fortune are already good at business.They first relied on exporting timber, rigging, flax, livestock and grain to the Netherlands to accumulate initial capital, and then vigorously intervened in commercial entrepot trade, exporting cheap industrial products from Western Europe to Poland, Prussia and other places, making a fortune.Recently, as Jacob succeeded the Grand Duke of Courland, this country also began to get involved in the sales of goods on the east coast in the Baltic Sea region, and gradually became a relatively important wholesaler under the Riga Merchant Station on the east coast, which made Zheng Yong very excited. value.

Moreover, with the increase in economic strength and the great development of the shipbuilding and shipping industry-the Grand Duke Jacob of Courland currently has more than ten merchant ships capable of ocean-going voyages, the Principality of Courland is interested in conducting trade in distant new continents. Even colonization is of interest.Zheng Yong had vaguely heard that this country tried to colonize Tobago Island in the Caribbean, but ended in failure.But they obviously haven't completely given up yet, because Jacob is currently vigorously recruiting crew members who are familiar with oceangoing sailing in various places, and building new ships, ready to go to the outside world to colonize again at any time.

To be honest, Zheng Yong is still very interested in this Grand Duke Jacob who only rules a small country with a population of more than 20, and he also expresses his deep understanding of his unswerving pursuit of overseas colonization.For this reason, he once wrote a trustee to the Archduke Jacob of Courland, advising him not to single-mindedly go to the Americas to colonize, but also to turn his attention to the distant black Africa.It is also very rich, and can also grow sugarcane, tobacco and other high value-added cash crops.

Even if you are capable enough, you can conquer some black indigenous tribes through trade, war, etc., and sell the strong men among them to the plantation owners in the New World. This is a good way to make money.No matter how bad it is, the domestic infrastructure construction sites on the east coast are short of a large number of able-bodied slave laborers. As long as the price is right, they don't mind buying some black people for use.Anyway, are they all consumables? At least they are much more "durable" than Indians, and they can be thrown to the Black Eight Banners tribe in South Africa after they are used up to replenish their mouths. It is really the best of both worlds.It's just that the Duke Jacob hasn't replied yet, which makes Zheng Yong quite melancholy, and he doesn't know if this strange man has received the letter.

On May 1650, 5, after dealing with the affairs of the Riga Merchant Station, Zheng Yong boarded the old ship he bought, took his family and entourage, and embarked on the route to the Port of Archangel in the Principality of Moscow, preparing to inspect Take a look at the development progress of the business station over there.You know, this business station is now Zheng Yong's hopeful place to get out of the predicament, but it can't be sloppy.

(End of this chapter)