Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1362 Who to Stand With (Today's Ninth Change)

Bickle's flag covers the vast ocean far away...

His laden ship sails the waves...

Take all the gold in the world into the chest of Holland...

"What nonsense verses!" Marco Tripp sealed a thick volume of poetry in his hand, with Vondel's name printed on the cover.Marko knew that this was a famous poet and playwright, who was born in Cologne and was very famous in the high society of Amsterdam and The Hague. The Bickel family often invited him to hold poetry parties in their manor, so this guy had to reciprocate , Write some poems that flatter the other party, such as this unknown collection of poems that is placed in the VIP room right now.

Marco Tripp is the youngest son of Pete Tripp and the cousin of Louis Tripp (descendant of Elias Tripp, the founder of the Tripp family) who is shining brightly in Amsterdam at the moment. For the Bickle family that his family once clinged to, he always had mixed unspeakable emotions such as fear, envy, jealousy and disgust in his heart.Especially after the girl he loved threw herself into the arms of someone from the Bickle family without hesitation, his emotions were sublimated to the extreme, so that he always looked at the Bickle family nervously when there was no one else. Cursed, but now he has to travel across the ocean to this pagan country on the east coast for the benefit of the Bickle family and even the United Provinces-there is nothing worse and more uncomfortable than this.

Since they have already docked at the port and paid the entry tax, the listless sailors slowly lowered the canvas embroidered with the "WIC" logo (the logo of the Dutch West India Company), and then dropped the anchor, waiting for the customs officers on the east coast Come up to inspect the goods, evaluate the price.

It was at this time that Marco Tripp disembarked. Instead of staying at the pier, he let an entourage lead the way and went directly to the city to meet Konrad Van Boyningen, the ambassador of the United Provinces to the east coast.The attendant had obviously been to the east bank more than once, and saw that he stopped a horse-drawn rail car of the Oriental Streetcar Company familiarly, and then greeted a group of people to get on the car and headed for the United Provinces embassy.

It was the first time for Marco to come to the east coast, so he was very interested in this kind of rail car.He remembered that there were also such railcars on the pier before, but they were flat-bed railcars for pulling goods, which were different from the one in front of him, but they were just as convenient, fast and effective.

"Why can't the United Provinces build such a very efficient means of transportation? Is it because the urban planning is too messy and the construction cost is too high?" With such deep doubts, Marco soon came to the elegant Inside the United Provinces embassy on the east coast.

Van Boyningen had just returned from Qingdao Port, and he took the east coast train, which was also convenient and fast.After hearing that a special envoy from the mainland had arrived, Van Boyningen immediately invited them in. After identifying each other, he took the letter handed in by Marko, opened it and read it carefully.

This is a diplomatic letter written by John De Witt, Speaker of the United Provinces, to Van Beuningen. News of wars over gold, slaves, and ivory, and a brief overview of how the matter is viewed in the United Provinces today.At the end of the letter, Speaker De Witt asked Van Boyningen in a stern tone that he must figure out the attitude of the East Coast Republic of China on this matter as soon as possible—if possible, pull them to the side of the United Provinces in case the situation worsens in the future ready.

Of course, Van Beuningen had already heard about the war between the colonial companies that happened last year, but as he was born in the upper class and had a deep background, he naturally would not take this trivial matter lightly, because the backgrounds of these two companies are very deep , to some extent also represents the interests of the ruling classes of these two countries.Now that they are fighting for their own interests, many people, including Van Boyningen, want to know, will this escalate into a confrontation between the two countries or even a full-scale war?

Now that the answer seems to have been revealed, Van Boyningen deduced from this diplomatic letter that at least the three-level councils of the United Provinces do not want to go to war for the time being!They may consider it more from the perspective of economic interests, and Van Boynen is even more unable to comment on this, but he is also aware that the weak and appeasement attitude of the three-level parliament is likely to connive at the English and continue to fuel their arrogance Arrogance, in the future, various major events like the attack in West Africa may continue to occur.

Fortunately, Speaker De Witt also asked Van Boying to meet with the diplomats on the East Coast as soon as possible to find out their attitudes. The intention in his words was very obvious. the worst possibility.After all, once the war breaks out, the geographical location of the East Coast Republic of China and their increasingly impressive naval power in recent years will be extremely important to the United Provinces and England—the three-level parliament does not expect the East Coast to stand Declare war on England on the Dutch side, but at least hope that they will maintain "friendly neutrality", that is, when the United Provinces Navy cannot effectively escort merchant ships during the war, the people on the east coast can use their status as a neutral country to transport all kinds of materials that the United Provinces are in short supply. Enter the ports of Amsterdam, Vlissingen, Holen, and Enkhuizen to support the United Provinces in continuing to fight the war.

"The country has sent a fleet to recover the stronghold in West Africa, and will take some of the trading stations of the Royal Explorer African Trading Company by the way." Seeing that Van Boyningen had finished reading the letter, Marco Tripp immediately said in a timely manner: "But no matter what Neither the West India Company nor the three Houses of Parliament want to make a fuss about it now. They don't want a full-scale war yet, and the West India Company can't afford the devastation of war, which may destroy them. DeWitt The Speaker hopes that the matter will be settled by the British backing off in due course after Druiter's fleet recovers lost ground in West Africa."

"What if the English insist on going to war? You know, their new king is no easygoing fellow, and he is now as eager to wage war for prestige as Cromwell was ten years ago." Van Beuningen called Marco Tripp to sit down, then took out a pack of premium Virginia tobacco, lit a pipe and smoked, and said: "They may send a fleet to attack Cape Town, or they may do it in Guyana. They may attack Tobago, Curacao, the East Indies, the New Netherlands, etc. There are too many places they can attack, and they obviously have this urge. Their navy is a group of very ambitious Crazy, we have to guard against it."

"What you said may be true, but the West India Company and the three levels of parliament do not want to go to war yet, because it will seriously affect trade and the losses will be very large." Marco Tripp recounted what he had said before with an emphasis If you pass.

"Moreover, this is also what Speaker DeWitt himself meant, the Bickle family, the Tripp family, the Falconer family, the Horford family, the Van Bercourt family, the Teddingsdochert family, the Coymans family The family and the Van Marvisen family also hold the same opinion, they think that everything is trade, unless the situation develops to the point where it cannot be handled." Marco Tripp added another sentence, and then shut up, Sitting there silently watching what van Beuingen would say.

"Well, big shots always have such and such reasons. I hope they won't regret it in the future." Van Boyningen obviously couldn't go against the collective will of the speaker and many powerful families, so he could only sigh, sigh these people's Weakness and appeasement will indulge England's ambitions: "Perhaps the United Provinces missed a good opportunity to start early. Now the ambitions of the English must be even greater. I don't want to do any irresponsible speculation or speculation, but I think they are now The fleet must be on the way, and it depends on where they want to attack. The West India Company has spread too much over the years and is full of loopholes. It is easy for them to attack wherever they want."

"Now my task is to win over the people from the east coast to our side?" Van Boyningen said casually.

"No, you don't have to go to that level. You just need to find out now, once the United Provinces and England break out of war, who will the East Coast Republic of China be on?" Marco Tripp said briefly He said: "Speaker DeWitt believes that if the East Coast and the United Provinces are to stand together against the English attack, it may be necessary to pay a very high price, and the possibility of success is still very low. In view of the extreme nature of the East India trade The importance of the East Coast people must be wooed, otherwise once they stand on the side of the United Kingdom, the losses suffered by the United Provinces will be extremely staggering, which is unacceptable to the three levels of parliament, so you must make the East Coast people in This war - if it may break out - remains neutral, preferably friendly neutral, as it was last time we were supplied with supplies. Therefore, Speaker de Witt, representing the three levels of parliament, has duly authorized you to represent the United Provinces with The East Coast Republic of China has the right to sign commodity supply contracts not longer than five years, and the list of contract commodities is in a document I just gave you, and you can check it carefully."

It is said that in the last Anglo-Dutch war, the people on the east coast used a considerable part of their transportation capacity to transport a large amount of food, industrial products and military supplies to the United Provinces. 5% of the total amount, effectively alleviating the shortage of domestic materials in the United Provinces.Although this incident has passed for more than ten years, the Dutch still remember it, so this time they also hope that the people on the east coast can help the United Provinces during the war as before-the last time, and they cannot It is unlikely that this country, which is becoming more and more difficult to ignore, will fall to England's side.

"Then this matter is not difficult. I can answer you now. Based on my experience of living on the east coast for many years and my understanding of the high-level government on the east coast, it is absolutely impossible for them to stand on the side of England. At least in the United In the war between the province and England, they sympathized with us, and although they may not participate in the war, they are at least friendly and neutral." Van Boyning put down his pipe and looked at Marko Terry who came to deliver the order with piercing eyes Pu, said: "But I think it is necessary to sign some supply contracts with the East Coast now, such as the supply contracts of crucial ships and cannons. England, as the main exporter of artillery and guns in the Old World, once really With ill intentions towards us, I can hardly imagine the Admiralty in Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, etc. can buy even a single nail from the Birmingham industrial area. So, we better sign the contract with the East Coast people in advance According to the cargo contract, a batch of long-barreled artillery for the navy will be purchased and shipped back to Amsterdam on priority in order to deal with a war that may break out at any time."

"This is your right, Ambassador Van Beuningen, although I don't think war will break out anytime soon. Because the British East India Company has also fought us in India and the East Indies before, but it has not evolved into two countries. A full-scale war between the two, this time may be the same as before." Marco Tripp said.

"I insist, Marko." Van Beuningen said in an unquestionable tone, "It's different now. Since the war ten years ago, the British who have tasted the sweetness are rushing more and more on the road of trade competition. Far, resorting to force to break the existing advantages of the United Provinces is a natural move, so their action this time is likely to be a long-planned action, and we must be more vigilant. Therefore, I decided to place an order on the east coast to order two One hundred 12-pound long-barrel heavy naval guns, one hundred 8-pound naval guns and other short-barreled guns of different calibers, and urge them to produce as soon as possible-if possible, let them directly open the arsenal for us to carry ——so that we can be transported back to the United Provinces earlier. Marco, I want to confirm, is this the authority delegated to me by Speaker DeWitt?"

"Yes, it's your power, but that's in the event of a clear war..." Marco Tripp said.

"That's enough, nothing else is important. I'll write to Speaker De Witt to explain this later. Now, please allow me to sign a cannon purchase contract with the people from the East Coast, and the Admiralty of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Province." In the name of that." Van Beuningen said very resolutely.

"Well, since you insist, then I have no opinion, what can I have..." Marco Tripp saw that there was nothing he could do, so he could only retreat a step with a wry smile, and said.This Van Beuningen was born in a famous family. His ancestors once served as the governor of the Netherlands. He has a lot of energy in the province of the Netherlands. If he wants to do something willfully, it is really difficult for others to stop him, especially when he still has authorization and legitimate reasons. case.

(End of this chapter)