As the two men expected, the British soon met with negotiators on the East Coast through the Almeida family.

"The madness of your navy must be stopped! You're escalating the war! These were the first words of the British.

Gaumore was also the first time to see Russell. Smith was so angry that he ruined the ground holes. Compared to him, Cheney. Coward's face, though also ugly, was not to such hysterical levels. This is also understandable, after all, it was the East India Company's fleet that suffered huge losses this time. Of course, only the East India Company could trade to the East. The merchant adventure companies have not had that long of tentacles, and their traditional markets are still in Northern Europe, Russia, France and Germany.

"Mr. Smith, I don't understand what you're talking about, if you mean what happened in ......"

"You know what I'm talking about!" Smith said with a slight sneer, "Yes, that's right! The navy of you people on the eastern coast - no, they are not equipped to be called a navy, they are a bunch of pirates! Pirates through and through! - Shamelessly attacked our fleet north of the Cape of Good Hope, causing our company to suffer great losses. Their actions must be stopped! ”

"Mr. Smith, I understand your feelings. However, I have to say that the details are still being verified. And, if I remember correctly, at the moment there is a state of war between our two sides - although this is an undeclared war, then there is nothing to blame for the actions of our navy. Of course, if you, Mr. Smith, have suffered a loss as a result of this incident, I would like to express my sincere condolences to you personally. Gomo nodded at the two of them. Pretended to be reserved.

In fact, he couldn't verify the widely circulated news at the moment. Because this is also passed from the Elmina Fort in Ghana to São Vicente. Not first-hand information. And. The most critical thing is that Golmo is currently unable to contact the Navy. No, it's not just Gao Mo who can't contact the navy, even the executive committee and the military department can't contact the navy, unless the navy takes the initiative to contact the mainland.

Smith blinked, and finally suppressed his anger, and sat down opposite Gao Mo and Bai Siwen, trying to habitually light his pipe. But he found that he forgot to bring it in a hurry, so he could only say to Gao Mo with a little irritation: "Mr. Gao Mo, this is our eighteenth meeting and the sixth formal negotiation, and I hope that we can reach an agreement as soon as possible." This long war has hurt both sides enormously, and you must never underestimate the East India Company's war potential, which you will not be able to counter. If it weren't for the fact that the complexity of domestic affairs involved too much of our energy, we would have even been able to organize an expedition......"

"That would be a disaster." Gaumore unceremoniously assessed, "What difference is it with you English that the Spaniards' more than a thousand heavily armed colonial legions have suffered a shameful defeat on the east coast?" That would only add to the victorious feats of our invincible army. I have great respect for the fact that the East India Company is a strong and established company. But that doesn't mean anything, we East Coasters have no intention of making enemies with your company. But we don't mind forcefully fighting back against an enemy who violates our interests. ”

After the words of the double reversal and the gun and the stick, the negotiations finally entered the main topic.

"What do you need?" Brit Russell. Smith finally showed some rare sincerity this time, and directly asked the bottom line of the East Coast people.

"It's very simple, we need a market, a big market." Gao Mo doesn't go around in circles, now everything is based on strength, there is no need to make it too complicated, "French, Spanish, Italian, German, Ottoman, and all other markets we need." In fact, we advocate free trade, and any artificial tariff barriers and access regimes are serious undermining of free trade and must be stopped. ”

"Your appetite is too great." Smith hasn't spoken yet, Cheney. Coward has stepped up.

He was the representative of the Merchant Adventure Company, and there was great trade competition between the Merchant Adventure Company's main woolen products and the people of the East Coast. With its quality and price advantages, the woolen textiles on the east coast have been attacking the city all the way over the years. First it swallowed the market of La Plata, then began to spread to Chile, Chalcas, Brazil, and finally even the markets of the Florida colonies in the Caribbean began to be filled with East Coast textiles, much to the dismay of many merchants who specialized in the New World.

Moreover, the woolen products of the East Coast began to penetrate into the South France region through the French market opened by the East Coast cotton cloth, and achieved a good reputation. Had it not been for their lack of wool production, the woolen wool of the east coast would have swept across France, driving the goods of the merchant venturers out of the French market altogether.

"Mr. Gaumo, these areas are the traditional markets of merchant venturers, and the East India Company has a great commercial interest there." Coward did not forget to draw the East India Company into the East India Company to increase his persuasiveness, "The price of your goods is too low, and it will have a great impact on our goods, and we cannot accept such an outcome." And, do you have such a large production capacity? As far as I know, you can produce about 3,000 woolen wool a year, and you can't even fill the market in the New World, so why do you have to go to these places in France to stir up trouble? ”

"France is the 'traditional market' for textiles on the east coast and our customers love our fine woolen products. Therefore, we have to sell some woolen products to the local area to maintain the market. ”

"All right, but your market must be confined to the original southern France region, i.e. the provinces of Gascogne, Haute Gallon, Lower Gallon, Languedoc and Provence, and sales beyond this area must be approved in advance by the merchant venture company."

"It's ridiculous! Why do we need your permission to sell our own products? The French market has been run by us on the east coast for a long time, and we don't need anyone to make decisions for us. In addition, in the future, when our production capacity increases, we will also expand into the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Ottoman. I am confident that with the unrivalled quality of East Coast Textiles, we will be able to conquer the local market once and for all." ”

"No, there can be no doubt that Germany and Italy are markets for merchant adventurous companies. Well, maybe we could consider giving you access to certain markets. However, Germany and Italy are not among them, and the same is true of Northern Europe and Russia, so maybe you can try your luck in the pagan country of the Ottomans. ”

The total amount of merchandise traded annually between the merchant Adventure Company, the East India Company, and the merchants of the Ottoman Empire was considerable. However, British merchants have always made more imports than exports, and they exported 5,000 to 20,000 woolen products to the Ottoman Empire every year, and then imported the famous local raisins, leather goods, precious stones, silk, tea, porcelain, spices and other goods, and the trade deficit was staggering. For this reason, successive generations of British kings had to approve the two companies to export their gold and silver reserves.

There is no doubt that the Ottoman market is huge. But the British have been in business for many years but have been able to make a small fuss, every year to export thousands of woolen wool meaning, now the East Coast people are willing to touch this mold, then they don't mind, as long as they don't stare at Germany and a few other British traditional markets.

Gaumo considered that markets such as Germany, Spain, Northern Europe, Russia, and Italy were the lifeblood of the British, and they were not yet accessible to people on the East Coast. Forcing a force to enter would only provoke a full backlash from the British, which was not in line with the Commission's intention to end the war as soon as possible. In addition, the production capacity of the East Coast is indeed very limited, so it is necessary to temporarily ease the conflict with the British.

What followed was a mutual tussle between the two sides. Strangely enough, the two sides had begun negotiations over the attack on the East India Company's fleet, but when they sat down, it was a commercial issue. But it's not surprising when you think about it, after all, one of the main causes of the war between the two sides is the fierce competition in the textile market.

A few hours later, the two sides made a rough initial division of the current market. That is, the people on the east coast can keep the textile market in the current several provinces and regions in the southwest of France, and some provinces and regions in the central part are open to both sides of the market (which is equivalent to ceding to the east coast), and the northern market represented by the provinces and regions of Île-de-France and Normandy will be ceded to the British; Central and western Italy such as Tuscany, Pisa, Siena and other regions can also be accessed by the East Coasters (the main competitors here are the Dutch and Venetians); The only thing left to the East was the formidable Ottoman Empire, ruled by pagans. The market of the old empire was open to both sides, but the woolen products of the people of the East Coast were restricted to the area, that is, the sales volume was not to exceed 2,000 horses in the first year, and then to increase by 300 horses year by year, and the maximum annual sales volume was not to exceed 5,000 horses.

Disputes over commercial interests are settled, and other issues, such as the release of prisoners, are resolved. Of course, there are also some aspects of the dispute between the two sides, such as the compensation for war damages, the recovery of stolen goods (or war booty), and so on. This will also require the negotiators on both sides to repeatedly communicate and negotiate with the country, and then come back to negotiate and even argue on the specific details before it can be finalized.

Limited by the conditions of transportation and communications, the process will be extremely long, and the negotiations are destined to be marathon and arduous. Until negotiations are completed and a final agreement is reached, there will still be a state of war between the English and the Easterners. (To be continued......)