On August 10, 1652, Van Boiningen packed his belongings and planned to sail to Sweden in a few moments, hoping to persuade the Kingdom of Sweden, which had close economic ties with the Netherlands, to join the Dutch side and fight England. To be honest, Van Boiningen felt that he had little hope for this trip, the Swedes were not fools, they had their own interests, and it was more likely that this country with no decent navy would be neutral in this war, and at the same time sell a lot of supplies to the Dutch to make a lot of war money, and it was really not very promising to expect them to pay for the ships against the British, who were in the limelight.

However, before leaving, Van Boiningen was ordered by the Dutch Provincial Council and the Third Council of The Hague to personally visit Mo San to discuss some "extremely important" matters - in fact, those conditions that had not been agreed between the two sides before, because of the changes in the outside world, the Dutch intended to make some substantial concessions in exchange for the East Coasters on their side - secretly, of course.

For the past month, the warships of England and the United Provincial Republics have been constantly playing hide-and-seek at sea. The Dutch roared and sought a decisive battle with the English, but the English were not in a hurry, concentrating more than half of their warships in a sea area, constantly sweeping away Dutch merchant ships and fishing ships without escorts, causing heavy losses to the Dutch.

Especially off the coast of Scotland and in the waters near Iceland, the commander of the British fleet, Blake, commanded British warships to shamelessly attack Dutch fishing boats without escorts, and gained a lot, which made the Dutch people suffer a sharp defeat; Bad. For this reason, Tromp also led a fleet to sea to find Blake's fleet to engage, but to no avail, because the British were not easy to mess with. They concentrated the main battleships together. The Dutch, on the other hand, were superior to the British in terms of seamanship and soldiers. However, the British warships were more suitable for naval warfare in terms of design, and the discipline was stricter, so the two sides won and lost several battles, but the Dutch were never able to break the British captivity of Dutch merchant ships and fishing boats, and the war situation was quite unfavorable for them.

"Your fish prices have gone up again." Mo San wiped his mouth with a napkin, put down a cod that he had gnawed to the ground, and said meaningfully: "What? Not going well off the coast of Scotland? Didn't get the best way to defeat the British fleet that struck your fishing boats? ”

As soon as he entered the door, he was so "hit on the head" by Mo San, and Van Boiningen, who had just turned thirty, suddenly felt a little unbearable: "The shameless British can't stop us." We also have a large number of fishing vessels in Iceland and Newfoundland. And it's not just the fish off the coast of Scotland. ”

"Newfoundland's cod is really good and there are plenty of them. But the question is, can it be shipped back? Mo San asked with concern, "I remember that the British are also very fond of eating fish, and they even stipulate that Friday and Saturday are 'fish eating days' every week, which leads to a huge market demand." But they only have more than 500 boats (more than 10,000 fishermen) fishing in the Newfoundland fishing grounds, and that's not enough, I think they're going to rob you of the fish you catch, and the Shetland Islands, which are rich in fisheries, are the focus, aren't they? ”

The English were rampant at this time. Their main fleet was divided into two groups, one led by Munch. continued attacks on the Dutch merchant fleet in the Strait of Dover; The other group, led by Naval Commander Blake, attacked the Dutch fishing fleet in the North Sea, and at the same time intercepted the Dutch East India Company's silver-carrying ships passing through the area, making the Dutch extremely uncomfortable.

It is true that the British fishing boats can not be compared with the Netherlands in terms of single tonnage and total tonnage, and the fishing technology is even more different, so in the past, most of the fishing market in England was monopolized by Dutch merchants, and overseas markets (such as Spain) were not as bad as the British. Even the whaling industry near the Spitz Bergen Islands, the British drove the Dutch like a lost dog, the Dutch had a base in the local area, there were processing factories, the British were not opponents at all, so the Dutch whale oil products (soap, lamp oil, candles, etc.), whalebone clothing were popular in Europe, making the British envious and jealous.

But now everything has changed, and the huge British fleet cruises around the North Sea and the Strait of Dover, attacking Dutch merchant ships and fishing ships that are too large to escort, and at the same time they also send small detachments to the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean, waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack the unprotected Dutch merchant ships and attack the Dutch war potential and will to war.

The results of the British attack on Dutch merchant ships and fishing boats have now begun to bear fruit, and the overseas supplies to the provinces of Holland and Zeeland have been decreasing, and at the same time, the ships captured from the Netherlands have been stopped everywhere in the British ports, and several auctions have been held in London for this purpose, many merchants have bought many ships at very low prices, and the English government has raised large sums of money for the war.

"Frankly, Mr. Special Envoy, your words have a certain point." Van Boiningen's face was already very pale, and he only heard him grit his teeth and say: "But I don't think what you know is that the ships lost off the coast of Scotland are really a very insignificant thing for the United Provincial Republic, which has a full 6,400 fishing boats. Our vast fishing vessels are still active in the North Sea and the Atlantic, generating a steady stream of wealth for the United Provinces and Republics. ”

"Perhaps." Mo San decided not to tease this still a little immature disciple, and instead said in a relatively relaxed tone: "So, Mr. City Councillor, have you brought me any good news this time?" You know what I'm referring to, yes, the last time we had pending negotiations, it's a shame that Speaker Drenthe wasn't there, but I can understand that he must have been busy lately......"

Speaking of this, Mo San couldn't help but take advantage of the other party in words. For he had heard that in The Hague and Amsterdam, because there were so many angry merchants and people, that Speaker Drenthe did not even dare to go out without guards, because there were so many people on the street who wanted to kill him - all of them were people who had suffered heavy losses under the blows of the British Navy - and many people were saying that it was the Drenthe brothers who were desperate to keep the Orange family from ascending to the throne, and at the same time supporting the stupid and inactive Tromp to dominate the position of admiral, otherwise they would have won the British.

Regardless of the truth, it is now true that Amsterdammers are extremely dissatisfied with the three councils that represent the government. They are fed up with this inefficient institution. Want the military strongmen of the Orange family back to power. Rescue them from the English just as they had saved them from the Spaniards all those years ago - but they seem to have forgotten that just two years earlier, the Drenthe brothers, with their support, had closed the gates of Amsterdam and stopped the 12,000 coup soldiers led by Wilhelm II from coming to power in the Netherlands.

Ordinary people, it's always easy to forget!

"Speaker Drenthe has agreed to sever diplomatic and commercial ties with the Qing government, but with one condition." Van Boiningen pondered his sentence and said in a reluctant tone.

"Why are there any strings attached?" Mo San was a little unhappy.

"Attaching conditions is also good for you. That is, you should find a way to export to the East India Company a certain amount of raw silk, porcelain, and tea, and, if possible, some other valuable Oriental commodities that we need, which we will talk about in detail at that time. Van Boiningen said.

"So do the conditions for the sale of the Toulale Merchant Post and its annexes still count?" Mo San confirmed.

"The Turare Merchant Post can be sold to you for a total of 500,000 guilders, including local properties, farms and ranches, as well as contracts for 116 German mercenaries, all of which will be sold to you in their entirety." Van Boiningen explained, "The East India Company has agreed with the Estates-General's opinion. ”

"That's good!" Mo San nodded, and then continued to ask: "Then can you confirm that in the Duchy of Moscow, the Duchy of Courland, the Duchy of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Sweden, our merchants and your merchants have equal competition qualifications?" ”

"The first three don't matter at all. The premise is that the trade in grain and shipyards is still monopolized by our country, and the rest of the market is dominated by both sides of the market, and we enjoy the right to compete on an equal footing; Other than that. The Kingdom of Sweden is a traditional market for our merchants, and we have spent a lot of energy ...... "Van Boiningen was a little embarrassed.

"I beg ...... all due respect," Mo San interrupted the young city council speaker without hesitation, and said, "If your country loses this war, there is no doubt that the Kingdom of Sweden will no longer be the exclusive possession of your country's officials. Not only that, but if your country loses the war, the British government will surely erase many of its competitive disadvantages in the Baltic Sea, such as the toll in the Sunder Strait. ”

As early as 1649, the Dutch had intervened in the armed conflict between Denmark and Sweden with their navy, forcing the two countries to withdraw their troops and negotiate peace, and at the same time forcing the Danish government to recognize the right of Dutch ships to pass through the Guò Sunde Strait duty-free, which played a great role in their ships to occupy a trade advantage in the Baltic Sea. At that time, the British ambassador even strongly protested against this, but in the end the protest was ineffective, and the matter was settled, and Dutch ships could still pass through the Sunder Strait into the Baltic Sea for free, and the cost was naturally less than others.

After the Anglo-Dutch naval war in history, seeing the great power of Britain, the Danes also exempted British ships from tolls through the Guò Sunde Strait, and at the same time, the Kingdom of Sweden, which was originally dominated by Dutch merchants, also signed an economic cooperation agreement with Britain, and the market was opened to Britain at the same time. The Baltic trade advantage that the Dutch had painstakingly cultivated for many years was eliminated little by little.

At this moment, Van Boiningen actually agreed with Mo San's words in his heart, and he obviously had a certain amount of authorization before he came, so after hesitating for a while, he finally agreed to Mo San's words with a twist: "Your country's goods can also enter the Swedish market, but Sweden's salt, salted fish, grain, wine, woolen trade (import), iron, ship, timber trade (export) are still monopolized by Chinese merchants, and other commodity markets, you and I enjoy the same right to compete." ”

"The most lucrative business is still in your hands, and the largest imports of the Swedes are woollen wool, salted fish, and salt, and the largest exports are shipyards, wood, and iron ore, which are also taken in your arms and not let go, tsk, what a miser." Mo San muttered in his mouth, as if he was very dissatisfied, but in the end he still agreed to this one.

Although Sweden has a population of only more than 3 million (including the territory of Germany and Livonia, of which there are about 1.2 million Swedes, 1 million Germans, 500,000 Livonians, and 300,000 Finns), the import and export of goods is frequent, the purchasing power of the people is generally strong, and there is also a strong desire to consume.

"It's not easy for his grandmother to snatch some food from the Dutchman's mouth! If it weren't for the Dutch's trouble, these iron rooster virtuous guys wouldn't be able to spit out some benefits until the Year of the Monkey? Mo San sighed secretly, and at the same time felt more and more that it was possible to obtain the greatest benefits by acting as a European-stirring stick on the east coast. (To be continued......) R1292