The winter in Muscovy was unusually cold, and compared to the "gentle" winter in Livonia, the winter in Arkhangel was simply not human. At least, judging by Zheng Yong's first winter here, he probably didn't want to go back to this place that was so cold that it froze people's ears.

However, Zheng Yong also knows that this is just to say, and when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country has clearly pointed out that the focus is on the Great Northern Region, as the head of the diplomatic, commercial, intelligence and other affairs in this region, Zheng Yong is bound to go back and forth between Riga, Arkhangel and even Moscow for a long time.

With the complete loss of the French market (which is now maintained only by a partial smuggling trade), and the shrinking markets of England, Germany, the Netherlands, and north-central Italy (the increasingly awkward position of the Florentine trading post) under the restrictions imposed by the locals, the industry of the East Coast is now in dire need of finding new alternative markets.

The Great Northern Region (Kingdom of Sweden, Livonia, Muscovy), with a population of nearly 20 million, was originally only involved by Dutch merchants and a few British merchants, and was basically a primitive virgin land in terms of industry and commerce. This is the only market left in Europe for the East Coast to explore, after all, compared to the markets of other mature countries, the inhabitants of this place, although they have limited spending power, are not at all fiercely competitive, and do not have to risk offending vested interests - which is very important - is very suitable for the operation of today's East Coast Republic.

As a result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially made a heavy decision: in the future, it will focus its diplomatic and commercial resources on three major regions, namely Greater Spain, the Ottoman Empire, and the Great North. Of these three regions, Greater Spain and the Ottoman Empire obviously had to compete with merchants from other countries, and the market share of East Coast goods in Greater Spain was steadily increasing, but there would eventually be an upper limit; And the Ottoman Empire was too chaotic. A lot of money is not paid back in time, and the competition is fierce, so there are always some flaws in these two markets.

But the Great Northern Market is different. Leaving aside the Kingdom of Sweden, which the Dutch focused on, and the Livonian market, which was divided between the Dutch, the East Coast, and the German merchants. The huge market of Muscovy alone, if it can dominate it, it will be enough to make people's blood boil. Even better, the development of this market in Europe has only been a matter of recent decades, first by the English, and then by the Dutch, who followed in the footsteps of the English.

In other words, if the East Coasters want to enter this market, they have only these two competitors. No. Maybe now only the Netherlands is left! Because after the execution of King Charles I by the British, Moscow was extremely angry, and Tsar Alexei. Mikhailovich ordered the severance of diplomatic relations with Britain and restricted British merchants from trading in the port of Arkhangel - of course a few were pardoned, such as the famous John Brown. Sir Merrick, but the power of the English merchants as a whole no longer existed - and the Tsar financed Charles II in exile with money and food.

The English merchants, who were the first to open the markets of Muscovy, were immediately wept without tears, but the Tsar's will was not something they could reverse, so most of them had to pack up their baggage and roll back to their hometowns, quietly waiting for the situation to change. And this time. It was evident that the merchants of the East Bank had been given the opportunity to step in - and the Muscovites had issued a clear invitation to the East Bank Republic to dress up their numerous and large armies.

After receiving this invitation, Mo San spent more than a year contacting the local people. Finally, we finally decided to open a trading station in the port of Arkhangel and fully operate this huge market with a population of more than 16 million. Because this can greatly avoid the fierce competition in the markets of Western and Central Europe, and avoid offending the Dutch merchant groups who have deep influence here, after all, in Muscovy, the Dutch have only been here for a long time, and the scale of business and connections are not good, and they are limited in strength compared to the people on the east coast. It can be said that as long as the East Coast finds a way to stabilize these Dutch merchants and eliminate their discontent. Then it would be possible to completely control the huge market of Muscovy, although in this country dominated by serfs, the number of consumers was limited. But with a population of 16 million, the total consumption cannot be underestimated.

And stabilize these small numbers of Dutch merchants. In Zheng Yong's opinion, it is not a great difficulty. These Dutch were mainly engaged in the grain trade, that is, transporting cheap rye produced in large quantities from Muscovy to Amsterdam as a strategic weapon for the Dutch to indirectly influence the countries of Europe (the Amsterdam market controlled nearly seventy percent of the grain trade in Europe). In addition, the business of paraffin, rope, timber and tar is quite small and not the focus of the Dutch business.

In other words, as long as they promise not to interfere in the grain business that the Dutch are keen, then these Dutch merchants will most likely adopt a tacit attitude towards the competitor who suddenly intrudes on the east coast, and this will be much easier! What's more, in the plan of Mo San and others, as the Anglo-Dutch war approached more and more, it was believed that the environment of the people on the east coast in Muscovy would be improved more and more, that is, if the interests of the people on the east coast and the Dutch were to coordinate their interests and reach some commercial agreements - such as allowing the Dutch to give up other commercial activities in Muscovy except for grain imports - then it would not be impossible to completely squeeze out other competitors and dominate the entire Moscow market.

At that time, textiles, high-end leather goods, metal farm tools, high-quality weapons, mining machinery, ships, spirits, medicines and even some building materials from the east coast will pour into this undefended country like a tide, and while making a lot of money, it will also greatly promote the development of domestic industry, agriculture and shipping industry, and have an immeasurable positive impact on the entire economy and society.

In addition, for some goods that are more expensive to produce or not produced at all, the East Coasters can follow the example of the Dutch, buying them from other markets and reselling them to Muscovites and making a lot of money. The specific method of operation can be learned from the Dutch, who did this in the Baltic countries, and they controlled Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and North Germany, sold the industrial products of Western Europe to these countries, and then transported the grain, livestock, leather, ship materials, masts, ropes, hemp, paraffin, honey, tar, copper, iron, lead, tin and other commodities back to Amsterdam for sale, and not only made a lot of money from these trades. They even used the control of the flow of goods to this big killer weapon to seek a lot of political interests - Dutch merchants are really the most shrewd group of people in Europe.

If people can do this, there is no reason why people on the East Coast should not do it. What the? Will the Dutch be dissatisfied? Don't worry, this won't be a problem soon! The only thing to worry about now is probably that the people on the east coast are not well-connected in Moscow, so they can't operate such a big scene. However, this problem was not unsolvable, and Zheng Yong focused on visiting the famous nobles, merchants and priests in the Arkhangel area, making friends with them, giving gifts, and tentatively proposing the idea of going to Moscow to meet His Majesty the Tsar.

Now that the situation in Ukraine is becoming more and more tense, it is the time when the Muscovites are looking to the East Bank - and even the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is now regretting that it should not have been so decisive to sever ties with the East Bank before, so that the cost of war has increased so much - so Zheng Yong felt that he should seize the opportunity to meet with the Tsar and some Duma members in Moscow (usually the gate lords), establish some cooperation channels, finalize some investment agreements, and complete some commercial orders.

You must know that the British first took advantage of the Muscovites' thirst for Western technology to invest heavily in Muscovy and then gain a dominant position. For example, John Brown, who now controls a large proportion of the marijuana cultivation and rope making industry in Moscow. Sir Merrick was one of the best of these businessmen, and he himself even acted as an intermediary for the peace treaty between Moscow and Sweden more than 30 years ago, which shows the strength of his influence.

Sir Merrick, who was born as a businessman, has made such a big situation in Moscow, so Zheng Yong, who has the strong support of the East Coast Republic of China behind him, is naturally confident that he will break into a huge world in Muscovy. This country on the edge of civilization is now a paradise for adventurers, with the British investing in the rope industry, the Swedes establishing ironsmiths here, and the Dutch controlling the grain trade. Now that the reputation of the East Bank's industrial products for its high quality and reliability has spread in many regions, Muscovites have heard of it, so they are eager for the merchants and even the government to invest in them, help them improve their technology, and even help them train skilled personnel to strengthen the Muscovy.

The memory of the battle for the throne and the war in Smolensk many years ago is still fresh in Moscow, and they cannot forget that in recent decades, the Ukrainians have asked them for help three times and they have refused because they are afraid of Poland, which is simply an unforgettable shame for the young tsar!

For this reason, they did not hesitate to introduce a large number of Western military talents to serve as instructors and even commanders of the Moscow army, did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy advanced weapons from the West, and introduced advanced Western ideas and science and technology at any cost, just to strengthen the army, defeat the Poles, and establish regional hegemony. What Zheng Yong needs to do is to grasp this mentality of Moscow, and then grab enough benefits for the East Coast Republic of China. (To be continued)