Livonia, once a small and inconspicuous region on the European continent – and in fact it is now – is known as a region on the East Coast. This is due to the presence of more than 23,000 Livonian immigrants in the country, and ordinary East Coasters are already familiar with this term.

Riga, a city founded in 1201 at the mouth of the Daugava River, is the pearl city of Livonia. Some of the city's most famous buildings include St. Peter's Basilica, built in the 13th century, Domsky Cathedral, built in 1211, and the Knights' Castle, the symbol of the former rulers.

Goods from all sides gathered in this city of only 0.5 square kilometers, such as local timber and grain, Russian leather goods, honey, wax, rope, Prussian amber, Dutch cloth, British woollen wool, German wine, Scandinavian fish, etc., and sometimes even goods from the East were carried in the city. The goods were then transported to Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Germany, France, England and other places via Dutch or Hanseatic ships, where local merchants and feudal lords enjoyed handsome profits in the process.

The merchant house of the people of the east bank is located on the banks of the beautiful Dawa River in the city. Since Livonia was annexed by Sweden more than a decade ago, local development has been rather slow. Heavy taxes and endless wars devastated the local economy, and men were drafted into the Swedish army in large numbers, many of whom never returned.

But none of this is about the people of the East Coast. Thanks to the relatively good relations with Sweden, the East Coasters set up a trading house here. However, the scope of the trade was rather narrow - in order not to anger the English, Dutch and Hanseatic Leagues, who had important business interests in the area. The East Coast People's Merchant House is mainly engaged in the import business. import of wax, copper, lead, graphite, livestock and other goods; And there are far fewer exports. Mainly some dyed leather goods and a small amount of high-grade dyed cloth and calico. It can be said that in terms of efficacy alone, there is no need for the people of the East Coast to set up such a chicken merchant house in Riga, but if you know the most important function of this merchant house, you may understand why it has existed until now.

Since its establishment more than three years ago, the main task of the Riga Trading Post has never been to trade, but to collect people! It is known whether it is neighboring Pomerania, Prussia, Lithuania, or Livonia itself. The history is not very long. As early as the 12th century, the Teutonic Knights, with the support of the Pope, expanded to the east of Germany, and their main task was to conquer the foreign tribes east of the German region, such as the Pomeranians, Prussians, etc. After conquering these two regions, in the first half of the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights, at the invitation of the Knights of the Holy Sword, founded by Bishop Albert of Riga, entered the Livonia region, and then began a series of wars of conquest; Later, Denmark and some Swedish Catholic lords joined the colonization campaign.

After more than 300 years of colonization, the Teutonic Knights had succeeded in Germanizing Pomerania and Prussia and converting them to Catholicism. However, the Livonia region has changed hands many times in its history. Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles, Lithuanians and Russians have all ruled some or all of the region. As a result, the German colonization and assimilation of the region was repeatedly interrupted and never succeeded. The various tribes that lived here in this area, such as the early Levi people, the later Koulonians, Samogitians, Smicans, and now the Estonians and Latvians, have always had a very low level of civilization. For example, among them, the Samogitians and Estonians have basically no religious beliefs, while although many Latvians believe in Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity, their conversion time is very short, and their beliefs are very unreligious, so they are the best objects of absorption and assimilation by the East Coasters.

With a low level of civilization and no religious beliefs, where do you find such people in today's Europe? Only in the wilderness of the northeastern corner of Europe, Livonia, there are hundreds of thousands of such tribal dwellers. Moreover, these regions are full of states and have been ruled by foreign invasions many times in history, so there is no complete state at all. The local residents also do not have a sense of this country, and even many people do not know which nationality they are.

The streets of Riga are a bit cramped to be honest, but they are quite crowded. Standing at the window on the second floor of the trading station, he looked down and saw that the narrow streets were filled with Leto (Latvians) walking around in national costumes, men wearing linen trousers and shirts embroidered on the chest, while women wore long skirts, embroidered shirts, beautiful shawls, and some wore little white hats.

"Clothing styles and national cultures that are very different from those of the Latin world of Western Europe." Gomo muttered softly, then turned around and looked at Schneider, who was standing respectfully at the door, and asked, "How are you getting along with the local Swedish officials?" ”

"Not bad. These Swedish officials don't care about anything else, as long as we pay our taxes on time and don't do anything against the Kingdom of Sweden, they don't bother to pay attention to us at all. Schneider replied, "In fact, these Swedes don't care much about Livonia, they only do two things here, and that is to collect taxes and conscription." It was the front line of Sweden against Poland, and the Swedes occupied large swaths of the Baltic coast, making Poland almost a landlocked country, and the contradictions between the two countries were quite large. And the front line against Poland in the depths of Livonia was naturally hostile to the Poles and Lithuanians. Large-scale wars do not seem to be possible at the moment, but small-scale cross-border attacks are inevitable, so life is not easy for these local people. Coupled with the Swedish conquest, it was easy to find a large number of immigrants willing to go to the East Coast every year. ”

"Don't get involved in the mess between these northern countries, whether it's the Danes, the Swedes, the Poles or the Russians, it's none of our business. Our core interest here is population, and Livonia is the most important source of population for the East Coast Republic of China, as long as this is ensured, other things such as commercial interests can be discarded at critical moments. What is the image of our country here? ”

"Very good." Schneider said with some pleasure, "Since the Northwest Reclamation Bank opened a branch office here the year before, some nationals of the country who came from Livonia have been sending money to their relatives here through our banking network. According to statistics, in the past 43 years, the total remittance sent by domestic residents to Livonia through the Northwest Bank has reached more than 30,000 yuan, and overseas Chinese remittances have become an important local income. Many local residents who receive remittances or letters from the East Coast immediately use the remittance as their fare, and then drag their families on our migrant ships to go to places such as Dongfanggang, Zhenhai Port or Luoqia Port in the mainland. In many cases, they don't even have to wait for our ship to arrive, they themselves will contact the ship and then form a group to go to the east coast. ”

"I'm glad to hear that, Carl." With a smile on his face, he said, "You seem to be doing a good job." The next step will be to make some minor adjustments to your work content, in addition to the normal organization of immigration in the past, you will also need to regularly receive some cotton cloth delivered from the country. Of course, you don't have to sell the cotton cloth yourself, our old friends, the merchants of the Hanseatic League, will come here to buy all our goods, and then they will choose to sell them locally as the case may be, or ship them back to the nearby cities of Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, etc. to sell them - in short, it is none of our business, the Dutch are looking for trouble, and these Germans are the first to take the lead. All you need to do is settle with them and put the profits into another task, which is to find a way to source women in the neighborhood, especially those aged 15-35 who are fertile women. As long as these people are willing to go to the East Coast, give them a good dowry, money, livestock, fields, etc. are not a problem! Don't be afraid to spend money, if the money can't be spent, then it's just a pile of broken copper and iron, without the slightest value. Of course, every expenditure has to be kept in detail, and every year Bordeaux has people coming to audit the accounts, and I don't want to see any kind of trouble on your side. ”

"Don't worry, I'll take notice." Cal. Schneider nodded and said.

"How's the Polish mercenaries going?" Gao Mo thought for a moment and then asked, almost forgetting about this big event.

"Two groups of more than 300 people have been recruited, all of them cavalry, and they have already taken a boat to the east coast more than two months ago." Schneider said, "There are so many people in Poland that you can say how many people there are." A group of about 200 men has already assembled in the port of Gdansk (Danzig) to await the piggybacking of our ships. The Polish government was quite friendly to us, probably because they were trying to find a way to buy our cheap army weapons, and they also introduced me to some infantry officers and asked me if I needed to hire some infantry, and I couldn't call the shots, so I never responded positively. But I think it's worth it, because these people are skilled in the use of firearms, they have a good will to fight, and more importantly, they are hired at a very low price, which is suitable for use in the Far East. ”

"Well, I'll go to Danzig Port in two days to see it on the spot." Gao Mo said immediately. (To be continued......)