Mo San is indeed encountering a lot of financial difficulties now. △

Since the French issued an order to raise tariffs on foreign goods in the second half of last year, the sales of East Coast goods in France have plummeted, and the local agents of East Coast goods, the Pasquier, the Lorris family, and the Baron de Toulouse family, have all cut the import volume of East Coast white cotton cloth by the greatest margin. Not only that, the import volume of finished textile products such as capes, burqas, tablecloths, curtains, towels, scarves, socks, etc. has also dropped sharply, and the sales of medium and high-end goods such as dyed fabrics, calicos, and knitwear have also declined sharply; With the exception of textiles, sales of the rest of the East Coast goods also generally suffered a waterloo.

The result of the combination of these unfavourable factors was a significant decline in the profits of Bordeaux, one of the most profitable trading posts in Europe in the Eastern Republic of Europe. Although it was a decree that was only issued in the second half of last year, the profit of the whole year of 1649 was not too affected, but this year (165o) is definitely over, and the profit of two or three hundred thousand yuan can be brought back throughout the year, which is really incomparable with the annual net profit of **100,000 yuan in previous years.

This was the case with the Bordeaux trading post, and the business of the eastern bankers in Florence was even more sluggish. In the past two years, the annual profits of the East Coast people here are almost only tens of thousands of yuan, which is very pitiful. At the end of last year, Mo San personally went to Florence to check the accounts, and now the annual profit is about 20,000 yuan. This made him feel the urge to close the trade post and divert the personnel to other places, but in the end, he was reluctant to give up the only place of residence for the easterners in north-central Italy - after the withdrawal it would be impossible to gather local intelligence, recruit immigrants and mechanics - and finally decided to keep the Florentine trade post for the time being until the end of 165o, when the situation will be determined.

However, the current business environment is difficult (at the end of 1649, the Grand Duke of Tuscany also issued a decree raising the import duty on foreign goods). It's hard to say whether this trading station will be profitable this year. Mo San had already made up his mind. If the profit or loss of the commercial station is not very large (within 10,000 yuan). Then keep this trading station for another year; Of course, if the loss is large, then it will have to be resolutely closed, and the personnel will either be transferred back to the local area, or diverted to other profitable trading stations to help.

The two trading posts of Bordeaux and Florence were in an embarrassing situation, but the Danzig trading station was forced to close due to political reasons, and the business situation of the Riga trading station, the last trading station in Europe (excluding the Ottoman Empire), was unexpectedly improved. In this commercial station directly led by Zheng Yong, the people of the East Coast made a total of about 120,000 yuan in net profits last year. Although the number jù is not much different from previous years, you should know. The trading station had bought an old ship in Amsterdam last year, recruiting some sailors; In addition, seven charter ships of migrants were sent to the mainland, and a significant amount of start-up expenses were provided to the newly established Arkhangelsk trading post. After removing these major expenses, more than 100,000 yuan in cash can be obtained, which is enough to show that the business station is operating legally.

The main reason why the Riga trading post rose to prominence in the midst of gloom was that they successfully opened the markets in other regions of Livonia, such as the Duchy of Courland, the Duchy of Prussia, and so on. In addition, although the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania ordered the Easterners to close their trading posts at Danzig, there were still a number of Polish or Dutch merchants (Dutch wholesalers who specialized in Polish business) who sold goods from the East Coast to Poland through Livonia, which brought a great deal of profit. This allows people from the East Coast to continue their exhibition in Riga, the pearl city of the Baltic Sea.

After taking stock of these three trading stations, the rest is naturally the Ottoman market, which the East Coast Republic focuses on. Compared to other places. The Ottoman Empire set up five trading posts in Smyrna, Thessaloniki, Burgas, Kaffa and Suez, which were incredibly dense, and the variety of goods, the volume of turnover, the depth of the commercial operations involved, and the number of additional tasks undertaken by these five trading posts were unmatched by the rest of Europe.

If you really want to talk about it, in fact, the Ottoman Empire is the biggest financier of the people on the east coast!

Among these five trading stations, it goes without saying that the Suez trading station is a policy-oriented trading station, which has always been responsible for the transfer of materials and population, and Mo San has not expected it to make money, so even if this trading station has been on the verge of profit and loss over the years, Mo San has never had the idea of closing it; Smyrna Port was the largest commercial port of the Ottoman Empire at this time, and the trading station opened here by the people on the east coast was also the most profitable of the five trading stations, which could bring nearly 600,000 yuan of net profits to the people on the east coast every year, and the far profits were only 300,000 yuan and 250,000 yuan respectively in Thessaloniki and Burgas. In addition, the eastern coasters had a special trading post in Kaffa, which was not mainly occupied by the Ottomans (Kaffa was the small regional center of the Ottoman enclave north of the Black Sea), but mainly engaged in the business of the Crimean Khanate.

It is well known that the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate have always been nomadic people who only know how to plunder and not to build—although their habits have changed in recent years under the influence of the Ottomans, such as the capture of large numbers of Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, and Russians to farm for them, the Crimean Khanate remained essentially a semi-nomadic and semi-agrarian regime. Therefore, their demand for daily necessities and other qiē goods is extremely huge.

Moreover, this group of people was generous and not very accustomed to bargaining, so the large sums of money plundered by the grass valley every year flowed into the pockets of a large number of merchants. It was the Jewish merchants in the Ottoman Empire who had monopolized this lucrative business, but the East Coasters crowded in, but under the banner of powerful figures such as Nasukh Pasha, they were confined to the arms business, and they also had to buy a large number of slaves from Jewish merchants every year - which was actually a disguised protection fee - and they barely qualified to set up a trading post in Kaffa.

But now the backstage of Jewish merchants on the northern shore of the Black Sea has fallen. Both the former Sultan's teacher Cincey. Hauka, who was still the Empress Dowager Kosam Sultan, was already dead and imprisoned, and faded out of the political stage. Now the one who is calling for wind and rain on the stage is naturally the real power figure of the army who was suppressed before (the people on the east coast are still a little friendly), the palace eunuch Lala. Suleiman Agha, the biological mother of Muhammad Sultan and the Russian slave girl born Sultan of Turhan, as well as Nasukh Pasha, a representative of secular forces and local powers, the naval Pasha, the Aleppo Pasha (Syrian governor), the Egyptian Pasha, and so on.

Among these forces, the East Coasters have always had good relations with the Agas of the army, whether it is the Ghanishari Legion or the Sipahi Legion. Murad Aga even asked for a project payment for Mo San, which was in arrears for more than half a year, and the good relationship between the two sides can be seen from this. In addition, the Yahai Chamber of Commerce, which is run by powerful local factions, has become more and more involved in the slave trade in recent years, and has also acted as an agent for weapons, textiles, and other goods of people on the east coast, and sold them to Crimea, the Caucasus, and other regions, making a lot of profits. And once there is interest, the relationship between the two sides is more solid, and this is the reason why the Kafa merchant station of the people of the East Coast has become more and more prosperous over the years. According to the statistics of 1649, the Kaffa merchant post contributed about 250,000 yuan in profits to the people of the east coast for the whole year, which is tied with the Thessaloniki merchant post for third place, but in terms of growth, it ranks first.

The entire Ottoman market contributes more than 1.4 million yuan in huge profits to the people of the East Coast every year, and these money is the key to maintaining the healthy operation of the economic system, social system and military aircraft of the entire East Coast. Of course, these huge profits are also the confidence that Mo San relies on to dance in Europe with long sleeves and drill camps everywhere. For example, the decision to set 15,000 Polish female slaves, and the purchase of Polish prisoners of war, these are all more than one million dollars, and without a lot of financial support, he can't do such a big thing.

But now things have obviously changed, because the profits from the Bordeaux trading station have plummeted by six to seventy percent, and after deducting the cost of purchasing supplies, sending cash to the local market, and the cost of opening up new markets, Mo San suddenly realized that the money in his hands may not be enough. Although there are no concerns about the depletion of funds in the short term, it is inevitable that there will be no major expenses this year out of the intention of preparing for a rainy day. Well, the Tatars brought a considerable number of Polish women and prisoners of war to the Yahai Chamber of Commerce, and the Polish women might be able to eat them, which was a "commodity" in demand, but the prisoners of war could not afford to buy them anyway - unless they could negotiate again, but only a part of them, after all, the funds were too tight.

While calculating the expenditure, Mo San gritted his teeth and took out a sum of money, intending to continue to expand the number of trading posts in the Ottoman Empire and further expand the market share, the potential of this huge market of more than 30 million people is far from being fully tapped. In Mo San's plan, in the next three years, he will open three or four new trading posts in Ottoman territory, and the locations are almost chosen, namely Aleppo, Basra, Alexandria, and Tirana.

These were all important cities in the Ottoman Empire, but the commercial development was relatively primitive, with only a few Greek and Armenian merchants currently operating, which was very suitable for the layout of commercial capital on the eastern coast. A new trading station means a new market, and at the same time, it means a new hope, which is what Mo San values the most. (Want to know more exciting news about "Crossing 163o: Rise of South America"?) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner, select Add Friends to add an official account, search for "zhongenang", follow the official account, and never miss every update again! (To be continued!)

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