December 29, 1653, Qingdao Port.⊙,

Hill, who had just arrived here for a few days, got up early today, but in the captain's room on the third floor of the stern building, there were people who got up earlier than him, Mr. Charles, who came from the local area, had been working with him for a long time.

"Good morning, Mr. Charles." John Hill carefully placed a cup of tea on the right coffee table. The weather was very good today, and the weather was calm in Qingdao Bay. The three-masted sailboat with double anchors from the front and tail was parked steadily on the berth. This can be seen from the tea placed on the table.

"Good morning, John, I've been working for an hour." Charles looked up at Hill, then continued to lower his head to write his own materials: "By the way, John, thank you for your hospitality. The breakfast is rich and I like it very much. Are you ready for everything you need?"

"Most of them are ready to be completed, soda ash, soap, high-end leather goods, machinery, etc. are all things that are urgently needed in China." John Hill took a sip of tea and said leisurely. Many of the goods he mentioned were imported from the Mediterranean, but due to the outbreak of the war, the Dutch fleet had a great advantage in the Mediterranean, and England's Mediterranean trade was almost cut off. Therefore, they can only find ways from other places now. The East Coast Republic of the New World is famous for being able to provide the above goods at a low price, so Captain Hill came here to purchase goods.

In fact, the East Coast once discussed whether to implement a comprehensive trade blockade on Britain to support the Dutch war more effectively. The final result was that voices opposing the trade embargo prevailed. According to some people's sarcastic words, "The stupid executive committee seems to want to save the impression of the British in the hearts of the East Coast." So Captain Hill rushed to Qingdao Port Market to sweep the goods. What he bought was traditional Mediterranean goods that Britain could not produce on its own (or was extremely expensive).

"Are those 'things' hidden?" Charles paused the pen in his hand, then looked up at Captain Hill.

Captain Hill's face was a little nervous. He subconsciously looked at the blue sea and blue sky outside the window and then whispered: "There are three large blades in total, which people on the east coast call "carbon steel blades". They have all been hidden, very hidden, and they will never be discovered."

"Maybe this incident has caused you a lot of trouble, John," Charles said slowly, "but I hope you can understand. The country really hopes that this batch of high-quality processing tools will be very willing to pay even if we have paid more than five hundred pounds in huge amounts. You know, this is not a small amount. It is enough to buy a steam engine that is not too bad on the East Coast, isn't it?"

"Yes, thanks to those greedy pagan traders, we were able to buy such restricted export goods, which is great." Captain Hill echoed, and then added: "Of course there are also very durable machine parts. I heard that the Dutch bought a lot of them. I also like to use them. To be honest, many machines in Birmingham have begun to be designed according to East Coast standards. In order to be compatible with their parts, the cutter heads and parts I bought this time will definitely help England's industry."

Charles nodded when he heard this. He said that this time he used the spy network lurking in the East Coast domestic, and then bribed a few unruly East Coast business owners to smuggle a batch of high-quality machine tool tips in the name of scrapping. The British are actually quite good at it. Of course, the British are not paying more attention to the knife tips or mechanical parts of the East Coast. What they want to collect is the latest machine tool design of the East Coast people. They are almost crazy about this. It seems that even in England, who is in the early stage of industry, they understand the extreme importance of this industrial mother machine. Unfortunately, this type of design has always been the focus of East Coast people. The British have been struggling for several years and have only obtained some fragments. If they want to fully present the full picture of East Coast steam machine technology, they may have to continue to work hard.

"There are also some Dutch ships in the port, which are about five or six." Captain Hill said again what he observed, "but I don't think it was coming from Amsterdam, maybe Cape Town, and of course, it might be Batavia, because Cape Town obviously does not have such a large fleet."

"Cape Town is a big trouble," said Mr. Charles with a serious face. "Dutch ships can be replenished, repaired or even taken refuge there at any time, and then can also wait for an opportunity to attack our ships nearby, which is very unfavorable for Eastern trade. There is a voice in China now that we will also go to South Africa to find a colony, as the place where the Republic of England is settled in that critical sea area. However, this matter is too complicated, and the gentlemen of the parliament also have many concerns, so it is difficult. However, after I return to London this time, I will visit several key figures and must promote the colonization of South Africa in this country, otherwise our future will be very passive."

"In addition, the pagan country on the East Coast is now increasingly close with the Netherlands, which is also a big concern." Mr. Charles' eyebrows were all frowning at this moment, and he said: "As you said, ships from Batavia have now started to purchase supplies from the East Coast, such as weapons, ammunition, medicines, wine, cheese, canvas, ships, etc., all commodities that cannot be produced in the Far East. I am afraid that the Dutch colonizes the East Coast in East India will gradually reduce, because they have too many things to purchase nearby on the East Coast. This will obviously form a fierce competition for the operation of our East India Company in India. We must take countermeasures. I think the Portuguese, who are fighting with the Dutch in Ceylon, India and the East Indies, are a potential partner. I must report this to all gentlemen as soon as possible after I go back."

After Charles said this, he fell into silence. Captain Hill kept lowering his head and drinking tea, not knowing what he was thinking.

But their silence did not last long, and Mr. Charles said again: "Speak for a happy thing, John, I heard that a fleet recently set off from New England and captured more than 20 Dutch fishing boats off the northeastern coast?"

"Yes, I've heard of this. It was a fleet led by Sir Montagu. They had a lot of experience and were commendable. The Dutch fishing boats were completely irresistible. They were all detained to Plymouth. The ships were basically auctioned off. The proceeds were used to support this war." John Hill was a little happy when he said this, and only heard him say: "I have heard that we have captured more than a thousand Dutch ships in total. God, this is an unparalleled wealth. In addition, the Dutch fleet suffered extremely heavy losses. They seemed to have lost the confidence to fight us. General Black could win every attack. It was amazing."

Captain Hill's words are basically true. To this end, the British-Dutch war was fought, and the Dutch loose system and merchants' nature of compromising made them almost lose the war. This is not nonsense, because earlier this year, the Dutch had signaled to end the war by multiple channels more than once, but because the British asked for too high a price, the British wanted to merge with the Netherlands into a country, which naturally touched the bottom line of the Dutch, so the war could only continue to fight helplessly.

In June this year, perhaps because of the large number of Dutch fishing boats, the Netherlands sent 1500-2,000 ships to the waters near the UK for fishing, with more than 30,000 crew members. According to statistics from the British, the Dutch once again couldn't wait to negotiate peace. This time, the British gave up some unrealistic conditions and instead talked seriously with the Dutch. Of course, during this period, the war between the two sides continued. The British navy and privateers almost went on battle together, unscrupulously plundering Dutch ships passing through the Dover Strait and the coast of Scotland, with extremely generous returns.

Therefore, England has actually been in an extremely excited "golden age" in the past two years. Perhaps for the British Republican government, the war has caused the country to be heavily in debt (currently in debt of 1-2 million pounds), but the capitalists have made a lot of money, including Birmingham military manufacturing owners who provide weapons, merchants who provide rigs and ordinary supplies, and also sailing capitalists who have captured a large number of cheap ships. In short, Britain's overall wealth has increased rapidly (because most of their war expenditures are still spent in China, and the so-called meat is rotten in the pot). There is no doubt about this.

"The young men did a pretty job on the battlefield, and there was no doubt about it." Mr. Charles stopped writing anything at this moment, and he said in an enthusiastic tone: "But what's ridiculous is that there are still some ignorant guys in our country who are talking about what our country has lost heavily because of this war and lost a lot of wealth, because the government not only spent all the coins on hand, but also owed a lot of debts. Therefore, the Dutch should be accepted by the Dutch.
Chapter completed!