Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1611 New Trading Partner

On November 1671, 11, Zakynthos Island, the sky was clear.

Although she has traveled back and forth between the United Provinces and the Ottoman Empire many times, this is the first time for Li Qing to visit Zakynthos Island, an island that is located off the coast of the Empire but has always been ruled by the Venetians.Of course, he came to Zakynthos Island this time not for fun, but to meet a "guest". It was the Ottomans who had just signed a peace treaty with the Venetians.

The Crete War, which lasted for many years, almost drained the last share of the Venetian Republic, and at the same time overwhelmed the Ottoman Empire, which had paid 40 military and civilian casualties.The Ottomans were a little surprised and even more respected that little Venice behaved so tenaciously in this war of disparity in strength.

Therefore, after the conclusion of the peace treaty, the Venetians restored many pre-war commercial privileges almost instantly-they even obtained it at Kajibey (the port of Odessa) on the northern shore of the Black Sea through the Ottoman Empire. A piece of land near the sea was established to establish a commercial station, specializing in the acquisition of agricultural products trade on the northern shore of the Black Sea that has grown in size over the years.

When Li Qing first heard the news, she was slightly surprised, thinking that the Venetian was here to snatch the business.However, after knowing that only the Fengyu Office of the Republic of Venice came to purchase food, livestock and other agricultural and sideline products, he immediately calmed down, because there was no business conflict between the two parties, and they could coexist, although The Genoese who also opened a commercial station in Kaffa Port to purchase food may be a little upset.

Waiting for Li Qing on Zakynthos Island was Morosini, a Venetian naval officer. His ancestors had been the commander-in-chief of the Republic Fleet, and he was considered a descendant of a famous family.This gentleman was also appointed by his superiors this time to conduct a series of negotiations with the people on the east bank on trade issues.To put it bluntly, the Venetian, which started out as a business, continues to make profits through commercial activities after 24 years of tragic wars, and slowly recovers its strength.In this regard, East Coast products with rich product types and high quality have always been the darling of the market. Therefore, the Venetians now intend to abandon some of the past prejudices and instead cooperate with East Coast people to strive for better distribution of East Coast products. Sales were made in Italy, Austria, etc., just as the Genoese helped sell East Coast goods in the Great Spanish market.

As a competitor and old enemy of the Venetians, the Republic of Genoa was surprised by Venice's rapid restoration of influence in the Ottoman Empire's commercial field, and at the same time felt a little scared, because it would inevitably have some bad effects on them, such as Ka The competition between French Port and Kajibei Port for the limited grain on the northern shore of the Black Sea, the competition for land trade routes, etc.-the latter is particularly tragic, as can be seen from the recent open and secret struggle between the two countries in the port of Trabzon, Turkey. It can be seen that both sides attach great importance to the end of the land commercial route leading to Tabriz and the Persian Gulf, so that they continue to stab and slander each other in order to achieve their own goal of dominating commercial interests.

People on the east bank are naturally very clear about the grievances and resentments between the old enemies of Genoa and Venice, but they have no intention of intervening in it at all, even though the people of Genoa and the east bank are as close as a pair of pants Same.There is no other reason for this. To put it bluntly, it is an economic factor, because in the Eastern Mediterranean, without the assistance of the Venetians, many things are always half the result with half the effort, and commercial profits are also greatly affected.Therefore, when it comes to interests, unless the Genoese can show that they are much more valuable than Venice, don't expect the people on the east coast to reach a strategic cooperation agreement with the overlords of the Adriatic Sea.

Although Morosini is not a roundworm in Li Qing's stomach, he is extremely shrewd and can see some clues. Therefore, when he was assigned by his superiors to discuss with Li Qing this time, he felt relatively relaxed in his heart and felt that he had completed the task. The difficulty is not great.

"...we need an exclusive commodity monopoly in Venice, Austria, etc., and merchants from other places (such as Genoa*, Tuscany, Lucca, etc.) are not allowed to sell your country's special products here; in addition, Please also approve our country to go to your country's Xinhua Island to open plantations, purchase tropical commodities and ship them back to the country for sale, and the price should be the average level of your country's sales to other countries; mutual recognition of money orders, checks, The validity of promissory notes and other commercial papers, and promise to give convenience to the other party’s customers, um, according to the agreement we have communicated before, the brand-new Venice Circular Bank will recognize the commercial papers of your country’s United Industrial Credit Bank. In exchange, your country The United Industrial Credit Bank will also provide bill exchange and discount services for the customers of the Venetian Circulation Bank." In a beautiful winery, Morosini said to Li Qing on behalf of the Venetian government: "As your country agrees, In return for the above conditions, our government will make every effort to facilitate the sales of your country’s products (the list of products will be determined through mutual consultation between the two parties), and will give you a slightly lower import tariff than other countries’ products.”

To be honest, the things Morosini said were not conditions at all, they were all normal business requirements, and Li Qing had no intention of refusing them.Therefore, he readily agreed to the Venetian request, but at the same time he also emphasized that the Venetians are required to open their ports to replenish and repair ships on the east coast, and if the east coast fleet has an armed conflict with other countries in the Mediterranean, then The Venetians will provide one or two ports with ship repair capabilities for the use of the East Coast Navy (of course for a fee), and the East Coast warships shall not be refused for any reason. The validity period of this right is ten years, after ten years The two sides can continue to talk.

Regarding this, Morosini was also a little stunned for a while, because it seemed to exceed the authorization he had received.But it doesn't matter, he immediately sent a light sailing boat to leave Zakynthos Island, and quickly went to the port of Venice to ask the local governor's council (a council composed of more than a dozen prominent members of the Venetian family, the highest in the Republic of Venice. power organization).

"I heard that the Great Khan of Crimea gave you a piece of wetland land at the mouth of the river and allowed you to build stone warehouses, dwellings, a church, docks, stables and walls? That's a nice place , Alberto, the Great Khan and the Ottoman Sultans did not often allow foreign ships to enter the Black Sea, we, you, the Genoese and the French are the only four who can send merchant ships into the Black Sea for trade country, that’s a natural market.” Li Qing picked up a stack of seedless raisins on the table, tasted them and said, “Actually, we worked very hard to enter the Black Sea trade. Now the Ottomans I am not as strict with my own back garden as before, so you slowly squeezed in. To be honest, some businessmen in our country are quite critical."

"We have no intention of directly competing with your country." Morosini immediately waved his hands and clarified: "In the past, bulk commodities such as weapons, ironware, and woolen products sold in the Black Sea region (Bruges, South Netherlands) processed duffel) the current market is not as good as before, and it is difficult for us to get in. For example, woolen goods are monopolized by British goods, and others cannot compete at all; weapons and ironware are divided among your country, England and Germany, and your country’s share Probably the largest. What we can sell is only some cotton textiles, silk products, leather products, wine, etc. produced in Italy. The scale is not very large. There is almost no direct competition between the two countries."

Morosini's words are not false. After more than 20 years of fighting, Venice is now really weak to the extreme. The originally prosperous handicraft industry is now half-dead, and the textile industry is even more along with it. The overall decline of Italian textiles has declined, so there are not many goods they can export to the Black Sea now-even if you count the foreign goods resold through their hands, there are still very few.

Because of this, as Morosini said just now, there is really no competition between them and the east coast. What the Venetians want is nothing more than a stable food supply from the Black Sea.Of course, there may also be some Venetian merchants who would like gems and satins from the Caspian Sea, wood from the Sea of ​​Azov, salted fish, salt, copper from Trabzon, pearls from the Red Sea, ginger from the East Indies, Pepper, cinnamon and other commodities are of interest, but basically not on a large scale.

Of course, Li Qing also understands this very well, but he is still going to explain everything clearly in advance, only to hear him say again: "Also, Alberto, I may need to remind you of another point, that is, you must not meddle in the Black Sea The slave trade, or even if you want to intervene in the slave trade, you must communicate with us and obtain permission in advance. I know that you still have a considerable slave trade relationship in the Black Sea area, but I have to emphasize that the Black Sea slave trade has a great impact on our country. It is also very important, and we do not want to see any loss of control in the commercial order that would damage our interests. This is the bottom line and cannot be crossed, please consider carefully.”

Speaking of the slave trade in the Black Sea, the Genoese and Venetians are really old-fashioned, 300 years earlier than the latecomers on the east coast.This kind of business can be traced back to the time when the Mongols swept around the Black Sea, when piles of Russians, Caucasians, Bulgarians, Armenians, Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians were captured by the Mongols and then captured by the Genoa* Merchants in Asia and Venice bought them and shipped them elsewhere—to this day, the names of some villages on Crete still have the “characteristics” of those years, such as “Slave Village”, “Russian Village” and so on. At that time, weren't there a large number of Venetian plantations on Crete?

Therefore, people on the east coast are still very vigilant about this kind of old-fashioned slave trader, worried that they will break into the market and disrupt order, so that people on the east coast will not be able to buy a sufficient number of non-citizens who will be shipped back to the mainland at a low price.

Morosini also expressed his understanding of this, and agreed to the request of the people on the east coast, because in fact they did not plan to engage in this kind of slave trade anymore, because the blow to the country's reputation was really big, after all, those slaves who were trafficked In fact, they are all Christians.It's no different than 300 years ago. At that time, no one cared about such messy things. It's hard to say now.What's more, during the 24-year Crete War, the Venetians also received strong support and assistance from the Pope and Christian countries. At this time, it is indeed a bit outrageous for you to buy and sell Christian slaves.

Li Qing was very satisfied with the Venetian's guarantee, because it solved one of his major concerns.Now that everyone has unified their thinking, the Venetians sell some brocade silk, high-end textiles, and wine to the Black Sea, focusing on importing rye, wheat, and barley, supplemented by wood, salted fish, copper, spices, pearls and other commodities; In the Black Sea, a large number of iron products, mechanical parts, weapons and other commodities were exported, and various special products such as slaves, livestock, copper, graphite, asbestos, olive oil, raisins, amber, beeswax and pearls were vigorously imported. Do not interfere with each other, at least for a few years.

At the end of November 1671, after a month-long period, the Consul's Palace (the highest authority) in the water city of Venice finally sent a letter to Morosini on Zakynthos Island.In the letter, perhaps eager to reach a cooperation agreement with the people on the east coast, the Venetians fully agreed to the requirements of the people on the east coast, including opening the port to military and civilian ships on the east coast. You know, this is the Republic of Genoa* There are no agreed conditions, which shows how bold the Venetians are.

And since the new trading partner is so knowledgeable and interesting, what else does Li Qing have to worry about?After preparing a small gift for Morosini and the others, Li Qing left a few capable men here to finalize the details with the Venetian as soon as possible. During this period of time, the ships maintained by the Venetians for free headed for Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

After visiting the friends in Istanbul, Special Envoy Li Qing will continue to go north by boat, go to the port of Haji (Sevastopol) via the Black Sea, and then at least go to the capital Becchisalay to meet with the new Great Khan (the former Khan) The Great Khan recently died suddenly in a violent soldier) conducted detailed negotiations on the arrest, transportation, and sale of Polish slaves, and this was also the most important task of his trip.

(End of this chapter)