"So many scrapped barrels and barrels? Tsk tsk, how much does it cost." On July 7, 1702, in Amsterdam, the leader of the Fourth Mixed Group was sitting in front of an East Coast Commercial Station.

His dark blue school uniform is very eye-catching on the crowded island of Taesel. Those who don’t know may think he is a mercenary of the Dutch government. He used his leisure time before joining the war to have fun in this extremely prosperous dock area. Look, don’t he hold a bottle of wine in his hand? The drunk mercenary, hurry up and enjoy the last time of your life. After going to the meat grinder in the South Netherlands, it would be great to come back without arms and legs. How many people are sleeping in the cold and wet quagmire.

Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong didn't know what these people were thinking, nor did he mind their attitude. He had only sympathy for these poor people who were shrouded in the clouds of war, whose wealth was shrinking day by day, and whose living standards were declining day by day. He had also been to the Taesel Shoal many times, but in terms of observation, the Taesel Island in 1702 was far less prosperous than ten years ago and twenty years ago.

In the golden years before, most of the imported daily necessities consumed by ordinary people and means of production used by industry, such as Portugal's salt, Swedish ore, English cloth, metal products on the east coast, Russian ship rigs, Polish food, French seafood and Danish livestock, etc. These goods were circulated here, but most of them did not enter the Dutch market, but were sold by Dutch merchants to other places, making huge profits.

But what about now? Such commodities are still being imported, but the quantity has been greatly reduced. Instead, they are replaced by weapons, ammunition, military supplies and equipment, and a large number of machinery and equipment. In a word, they are all prepared for war. What is even more terrifying is that a large number of merchant ships have been recruited by the army, not to let them go to war, but to help the navy and army transport materials and personnel, and even the transportation of allies is borne by them, which will definitely affect commercial activities.

Furthermore, a large number of adult men were recruited, either joining the army to fight on the front line, acting as militia guarding places, or starting to transport supplies. For this reason, the economies of the Netherlands and Zelan provinces of the two major economic centers were greatly affected, and the prominent manifestations were that the market lacked labor, insufficient factory work, lack of terminal capacity, soaring prices of various materials, and the overall economy was in a mess.

Yang Chengdong felt sad for the Dutch at this time. To be honest, the people of this country are quite capable, open-minded, prosperous culture, and super sensitive to business. Although the country's de-industrialization made him not very popular, the flaws did not cover up the merits. Such a small country and such a small population, it is already very good to be able to achieve this achievement today. Don't you see a country with a population that is far larger than the United Provinces, and a country that is merciless at Amsterdam to death? If the Dutch are willing, they can even exert various influences to make your country's economy go bankrupt, people's riots, and more serious, it is not impossible to be invaded by foreign enemies to cause the country's demise.

But the war with the French seriously weakened the strength of the Dutch. Every time the country experienced a war, a batch of funds accumulated by the country over the past hundred years would be consumed. After a few times, even the most solid family funds would be tossed away. After all, people are not machines, they will be afraid and afraid. After they cannot see the future of the country, wealthy and skilled people will immigrate. Anyway, England's economic environment has been very good in recent years, and various industries have developed rapidly, which is the time when they are very eager for capital and technology. And the Protestantism there is still a country, so isn't it just right for the Dutch to immigrate?

After staying on Tessel Island for a few days, Yang Chengdong saw more than 30 well-dressed male and female passengers on a merchant ship carrying cargo to England. The people on the pier were no longer surprised. They told Yang Chengdong very clearly that those people sold their Dutch property and then immigrated to England. Many people opened factories or shops there and opened various industries openly. What is most speechless is that the factories opened by the Dutch in England were sold in large quantities of goods back to the Netherlands, earning huge trade income.

Think about it, immigrants take capital from the Netherlands, set up factories in England, stay in England, and stay in England with taxes. In the end, they squeeze out Dutch funds through export goods. No wonder the The Hague government is very dissatisfied with this. Yang Chengdong, an outsider, feels unfair for them, let alone those who are at stake?

But Union Province also has no choice but to take the status quo. France's invasion is the most realistic threat. Under this premise, they cannot do without the help of the English, and can only let blood and cut their flesh and attract England to their own side. So you see that in the face of the English's economic pressure, the Dutch could only retreat step by step, and be poached and fleece. Maybe one day, when the wool is bald and England is fattened, Union Province will be reduced from a continental power to an insignificant country. But what can I do? Everything is the French's fault!

The East Coast people had secret exchanges with the United Provincial Government on this issue. Well, there was no result. The Dutch were still destined to give concessions to England. This was decided by geopolitical and had nothing to do with anything else. However, the Dutch also consciously strengthened economic cooperation with the East Coast to slow down the pace of fattening England. The iconic practice is that they should not doubt the food purchase contracts in the next two years. Now no one in the Netherlands grows food, and even cash crops are abandoned on a large scale. Because the labor scarcity has handed over the largest share to the national reserve grain warehouse on the East Coast. The total purchase amount exceeds 60 million rupiahs, which is about 20 million yuan in legal currency.

After receiving such a super large order, the East Coast Ministry of Agriculture was naturally ecstatic. They contacted the Ministry of Transportation as soon as possible and implemented the matter of grain transportation through them: the East Coast shipping giant Nanhai Transportation Company will mobilize 25 steam ships to transport grain to major ports such as Amsterdam, Flisinn, and Enkehezeng in United Province. The steam ships have large capacity, fast speed, strong adaptability, and the loss during transportation is relatively small, so the contract can be completed within one year.

The grain procurement contract will be implemented this year. The second fleet of South China Sea Transportation Company's grain transport fleet had just arrived at the Port of Flissinen in Zeeland Province and unloaded a large number of wheat (the destination port of the first fleet was Amsterdam). Yang Chengdong was not at the scene at the time, and later he heard that it was quite sensational. One 3,000-ton steam ship after another lined up to enter the port and unloaded the life-saving food. The Dutch, known as the "sea coachman", was almost stunned. There are only England in Europe now, and there are relatively reliable paddlewheel steamers in some areas of France and North Germany. The steam ships propeller-propelled by the propeller have not been fully practical. As a result, when we saw that there were more than 20 full steam-powered ships from the East Coast, there were also more than 20 ships, and we immediately wanted to die.

It was only at this time that the Dutch people realized the strength of the East Coast more deeply. Although they had heard a lot of things before and the upper class collected a lot of information, no matter what data or intelligence came, it was as shocking as what they saw with their own eyes! Think about it, the hill-like ships opened into the port with their whistles, and then unloaded bags of grain and buckets of flour onto the dock. There was so much cargo loading in the cabin that the dock workers had not unloaded much until midnight, which gave people a huge impact.

Perhaps because of this stimulation, the Dutch increased its procurement of East Coast supplies. The total amount of purchases ranged from weapons and ammunition to daily necessities, from leather and paper to machinery and equipment exceeded 20 million rupiahs, which disappointed the English merchants next door and kept protesting. But what about this? For the formal trade of your heart, will you still send privateers to attack East Coast merchant ships? Not to mention whether you can catch those steamships with fast speeds, the political consequences alone are not something you can bear. So, take it with peace of mind, don’t worry about it!

Of course, what made the English even more jealous was that the East Coast people could not only sell goods to their allies, the Dutch, and robbed them a lot of their business, but the East Coast people could even sell goods to their enemies, such as the Spanish and the French. As of the end of June 1702, the East Coast people had obtained orders of more than five million yuan from various military supplies from France and Spain. In addition to the cannons, they sold muskets, bayonets, etc., and as long as you can afford money, they could place orders and queue up. Although the priority may not be as high as the Dutch, they had already delivered a considerable number, which strongly supported the French war. Think about it, the anti-French coalition commanded by Prince Eugen used East-made artillery and bombarded the French people carrying East-made rifles. The people on both sides made their brains, and the East Coast people plundered their gold. How happy!

So, don’t think that the East Coast people did not participate in this war. In fact, they were not absent and participated deeply! Not only did they not destroy the country and consume national strength, they greatly enhanced the strength of the East Coast. The domestic economic prosperity and the continuous rise of the influence of continental diplomacy all show that who is enjoying the fruits of the victory of this tragic war and participating in the war will never be able to do so without a winner!

"The scrapped barrel is transported in at a price of scrap iron, and the new barrel is transported out at a price of high prices. It's a great profit to go there." Lieutenant Colonel Yang Chengdong picked up a terrible barrel and said with a smile: "I heard that a batch of equipment has been transported by Tangji Port and is preparing to open a gun repair shop. Hehe, this is also good. When we enter the venue in the future, logistics maintenance will be easier. I just don't know when this opportunity will come. I hope I won't wait too long."
Chapter completed!