In late October 1649, before Mosan could handle all the matters at the Florence Merchant Station, he took an old Dutch ship purchased by Smyrna Merchant Station, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and arrived at the port of Bordeaux, France. (23w[x] Contin, who was the website manager of the Merchant Station, quickly welcomed Mosan in, and then the two sides began to discuss secretly behind closed doors.

This time France's brazenly raised tariffs has a very far-reaching impact. Perhaps their main target was the Dutch, and the east coast was just swept away by the typhoon. But who made the east coast weak? The typhoons on the outside were not so good. If they were not good, they would also hurt their muscles.

Moreover, the French brought a bad point this time, and many countries in Central and Western Europe followed suit. For a time, trade barriers between countries increased greatly, and free trade became an empty talk (although it has never really become a reality). All countries strictly guarded against the outflow of silver. Scholars and merchants who usually advocated mercantilism became the guests of officials and politicians from all over the world.

This trend is undoubtedly extremely unfavorable for countries like the East Coast that take foreign trade as their lifeline. You should know that nowadays, the East Coast domestic immigration, construction, and raising troops should not spend huge amounts of money? If foreign trade is unfavorable, the profits paid by state-owned enterprises will be greatly reduced, and that little bit of corporate taxation and local taxation alone can be useless! By that time, the country's fiscal capacity will decline, the ability to do big things will decline, and the economic situation will deteriorate. Not only will many construction projects be cut off, but even immigration affairs may be affected. How can Mo San not be anxious?

The only way to do this is to open up new markets and minimize the negative impact caused by the French. But this is not easy. Last year (1648), the East Coast Republic received a total of more than 2.5 million yuan in Europe. Among them, the Ottoman market made the most profits, reaching nearly 900,000 yuan, accounting for 36%; the French market was the second, accounting for about 32%; thanks to the assistance of the Genoese, the Greater Spanish market (including Spain, Naples, Sicily, the Southern Netherlands, Palma de Parma and other places) emerged, providing more than 400,000 yuan in profits to the East Coast Republic of China, accounting for 16%.

In addition to these three major markets, East Coast people have opened Florence and Riga, but the commercial stations in the three places of Danze are not well managed and have never provided enough profits. Among these three sites, the largest investment in the early stage and the most promising future prospects are forced to close because of the sudden deterioration of diplomatic relations between the East Coast and Poland, which is really regrettable. Riga Commercial Station has not improved for many years and only provides a profit of over 100,000 yuan a year, and it has always grown weakly; the profits of Florence Commercial Station have been declining year after year, only more than 24,000 yuan last year. The profits of these three sites account for only about 5% of the European trade territory on the East Coast, which is really useless.

As for the remaining 11% of the foreign trade revenue, it is mainly provided by the Dutch West India Company and the Hanseatic Commercial Alliance. As agents of East Coast goods, they provided a total profit of less than 300,000 yuan to the East Coast. It can be seen how weak they are in developing the market, and their minds are not put on this at all. Otherwise, why would they be like this based on their conditions?

Of course, the trade income of the East Coast Republic is not entirely based on these. The income of the Autumn Commodity Trading Expo held by the local Qingdao Port is becoming more and more stable now, and the profit of 500,000 or 600,000 yuan per year cannot be eliminated. In addition, some individual trades on the East Coast before and after the trade fair, it is not a problem to provide the Ministry of Finance with a profit of more than 800,000 yuan to the Ministry of Finance throughout the year, which is equivalent to another French market.

From these data, we can clearly see that the importance of the trade income of the French market in the East Coast finance is not an exaggeration. Once this market collapses, more than 800,000 yuan of fiscal revenue is reduced every year, many projects on the East Coast will be greatly affected: such as the investment in the Northwest special steel base, the construction of the Northwest Railway, the second phase technical transformation project of the Northern Steel Plant, the financial subsidies to the South Railway Company, the construction of new settlements, the continuous introduction of Ottoman female slaves, etc.

The importance of the above projects to the East Coast Republic is self-evident, and it is no problem to say that they are related to the foundation of the East Coast. It is now the second half of 1649. A full year has passed since the Thirty Years of War. Europe's production order has gradually recovered, and the time left for the East Coast will be less and less, and the competitive pressure will become greater and greater in the future. At this time, if you don't grab the time to focus on construction, it will be too late to regret it when you are bullied by others. Therefore, any thing that may slow down the development of the East Coast is now intolerable in the eyes of the Executive Committee. And this French tariff incident is precisely such a major event that can shake the foundation of the East Coast!

We must find a way to make up for this deficit!

Mo San and a group of people at the Bordeaux Trading Station studied behind closed doors for several days, and finally concluded that they had to go to Paris for a walk. Whether it was effective or not, they had to go around as if they were alive, and they had to go around, saying that it was okay to remind the French, protest, or even an ultimatum. In short, we had to pass on our news and let them know our anger. Only in this way can we carry out the steps in the future. As for the person who went to Paris to negotiate, Mo San was sad to find that it seemed that he was the only one who was not suitable or was not qualified. However, before this, the East Coast also needed to clarify some other things.

"We must explore new markets, and the existing old markets must also deeply tap their potential and try our best to make up for the shortcomings of the French market." Mo San's words set the tone for the activities of the East Coast diplomatic and commercial personnel stationed in Europe in the future.

"The Greater Spanish market comes from behind. Relying on the Genoese's inherent channels, our products are sold at a very fast speed. It is now spread throughout cities such as Cadiz, Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, ​​Cartagena, Messina, Palermo, Parma, Naples, Antwerp. And the sales situation seems to be pretty good, because our products have outstanding advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness and scarcity." Mo San continued, "The next step we must arouse the Genoese's enthusiasm to a greater extent, so that they can increase their publicity and promotion of East Coast products, and put our products on the shelves more. For this reason, it is not unacceptable to give them a certain amount of profit."

"The Dutch West India Company also handles this. Most of their energy is currently focused on fighting with Brazilians. This is not good. We need to contact the local area. If necessary, even think of some ways to turn the Dutch attention to Europe and help us sell goods. The Dutch are a nation with a keen sense of business. They have no doubt about their talent in business. At present, there is no doubt that their potential has not been developed at all. They are competing with Brazilians for sugar and tobacco species all day long.

The plantation is really boring. We have to find a way to let them know that being a good agent for our East Coast products may be more promising than competing for a few sugarcane planting estates or sugarcane sugar factories." Mo San said with a slight slutty face. His whole body was as energetic as if it was full of clockwork. "If you want to continue to consolidate the Ottomans, you have to spend money where you should spend money. You can only make a small amount of money back. Well, don't worry about the Ottoman market, I'll manage it myself."

"Where did you just say? Yes, tap the potential of the inherent market." Mo San picked up the tea cup, drank a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and then looked at the people who were shorthanding on the notebook. He raised his voice and said, "In addition to these, the work of opening up new markets is also urgent."

When Mo San talked about this, his secretary opened a hand-drawn map of Europe just right. Mo San poked it with his finger and said, "Where are the markets with great prospects in the future? Here, yes, Moscow and Poland! These two countries have vast territory and large populations, of which Poland has a population of 11 million (the population is about 7 million after losing Ukraine and Nordicwonia), and the Principal of Moscow has 16 million (plus Astrakhan is more than 100 million). Although these two

Most of the population of the country is serfs, but in some major cities, there are still quite a lot of people with purchasing power. After all, their population base is here. Even if only 1% or 2% of people are willing to buy our goods, it is a huge market for us. What's even better is that these two countries have not been over-entered by commercial powers such as the Netherlands. In terms of the market, they are completely a virgin land and are worthy of our strong investment. If done well, they can completely make up for the huge holes in the loss of the French market."

"Mr. Special Envoy, we offended the Polish government, but Zeshang Station was even ordered to close. How can we use to drive the goods into the Polish market?" Kanding, the webmaster of Bordeaux Station, raised his hand and asked in confusion.

"Look for an agent!" Mo Sanyan said concisely, "Whether it is the Hanseatic League or the Dutch merchants, whoever has the ability to do it will find them! Of course, our business stations in Riga can also give full play to their subjective initiative and enter the Polish market through Prussia, Kurland and other places. Everyone, the Polish crown territory has a population of three million, and more than 20% of them are so-called nobles. Well, we do not care whether these people are qualified to be nobles, but at least they already have enough economic strength to buy our goods. If we seize these people, our market will not be small."

"As for Moscow, the Arkhangelsk Merchant Station will open this year. It will start distribution at the latest next year and find suitable agents in Russia. Currently, there are only a small number of Dutch and British merchants in this country, and their power is also very weak. They are almost on the same starting line as us. We must muster up the courage to compete with them. When is it time? Don't be afraid of having a stale relationship and what to do. Of course, I will tell Schneider, the webmaster of the Merchant. You only need to understand this spirit." Mo San took a sip of tea and said.

After saying that, he looked at everyone, and saw that they had almost digested what he said before, and finally threw out another bombshell: "Kontin, you are also a veteran of my East Coast Republic in Europe. Tell me, if we smuggle in the French market, will it be a big problem?"

Kantin was originally lowering his head and recording something. When he heard Mo San ask him, he thought for a while and said, "The French Navy has not many ships, and the danger of smuggling ships at sea is not great. The problem is the trouble after the commodity lands. Richelieu and Mazaran worked hard to control it, and has cleared the trade, economic and cultural barriers between a considerable number of French provinces and regions. The central government has a considerable power and unified government orders. It is probably difficult to circulate smuggled goods in these areas. However, in the eastern, southern and northwest provinces and regions, the central government's authority is still very weak.

, the local aristocrats are still very powerful. We may be able to use this to find some bold and powerful French merchants, and give them some benefits. After all, we don’t have to manage local areas now, and don’t have to share profits with large wholesalers, so the profit margin is still very large. These merchants can find ways to put our goods ashore in remote ports and then circulate them to various places through their own channels. I believe that as long as they are lucky, the profit will still be considerable, and this will undoubtedly stimulate more French speculative merchants to act as our agents."
Chapter completed!