Ludwig looked at the ledger in the store with a grim face.

Recently, he travelled to Marseille to settle a business dispute. By the time he returned to Bordeaux after processing, it was late June. During this time, he was annoyed that not a single cotton cloth in his shop had been sold.

Of course, the reason for this was known to him by now, and it was the abominable Pasquier family and the East Coasters who had done it. He had sent a servant to buy a piece of East Coast cloth and come back to study it, and in his old eyes, this cloth was not only of much higher quality than the locally produced cotton cloth, but even the Italian and Dutch cotton cloth was significantly inferior to it, and even the high-grade Indian cotton cloth in his shop was slightly inferior in breathability and toughness.

Now things get tricky! Ludwig put down the ledger and rubbed his forehead, and his personal old servant handed over a cup of fragrant coffee.

Ludwig sipped his coffee and pondered what to do now. Seeing that the government has no hope, although he has some connections, at most he can only let the government not help each other, as for letting the mayor and the tax official turn around to help him curb the east coast, this is basically a fantasy. Then, things can only start from below.

"What's the mood of the employees lately?" Ludwig asked nonchalantly.

"It's not very good." The old servant replied in a low voice, "I stopped buying any cotton yarn half a month ago, and they have no other source of subsistence for the cotton yarn they have, and they have almost begun to starve in time." ”

"It's good to be hungry, and when you're hungry, you will have a good memory." "Only then will they deeply hate the people who took their jobs." The stronger their hatred, the better our chances. Wait two more days, and when their anger is full, it's time for us to play. ”

The old servant nodded understandingly. Then he suddenly asked, "Do you want to find this guy Lester?" The Scotsman has been wandering around town lately, and I don't think he would mind a vote if we gave him enough money, so that we would have saved us a lot of trouble. ”

Ludwig's gaze suddenly became cold: "Don't alarm him for now. If things get to this point, it's hard for us to end up. Wait and see what happens, and when the time is right, we'll stir up the stupid untouchables and let them help us make things bigger. Only when things get big can the situation turn around. ”

At the same time, in the trading station of the East Coast Republic of China, Mo Ming, the spy leader of the National Intelligence Administration, was discussing things with several of his subordinates.

This time, the General Directorate of National Intelligence sent a total of six people to the trading station in Bordeaux, among which Mo Ming was the principal. This person was born as a local tyrant before he crossed over, and he had learned a lot of things, and he seemed to know everything. It is said that he also has a doctor's diploma and has been engaged in intelligence in the intelligence bureau for several years, and he seems to be quite capable, but not many people know what he is doing. This time, he took the initiative to apply to Bordeaux to establish an intelligence station, and was temporarily appointed by his superiors as the director of the Bordeaux station before his departure.

His deputy was a Ming Dynasty immigrant, named Sun Heiqi, who was born as a sergeant in the guard, and later became a bandit in the grass, and he caused some cases. In 1633, when he committed a crime in the Taizhou area, he was dramatically captured by Liu Xiang's subordinates, so he came to the East Coast Republic in a daze. Later, Jiao Tang, the head of the State Intelligence Administration, took a fancy to him and gave him the establishment of an assistant analyst. However, after studying for a year, he still only knew less than 100 words, and his education level was too poor to be qualified for the work of an intelligence analyst, and most of the time he was still acting as an undercover agent in the intelligence department. This person is very skillful, and he is meticulous, and he once cracked a major intelligence case of Spanish spying on the arsenal, so this time he was asked by Mo Ming to come over and act as his deputy.

Next are two Japanese samurai-turned-intelligence agents, who have received some systematic intelligence training and killing skills training, and are currently acting as thugs and cannon fodder for the entire intelligence station. In addition, there are two Swiss French immigration agents, who are also ordinary agents, whose mother tongue is French, and who act as informants in the intelligence station.

Except for Mo Ming, the above six people have all married wives and had children in the East Coast Republic, and have passed a series of tests, so they can be regarded as relatively reliable people.

"How's the handicraft going?" Mo Ming sat in a chair and asked in Chinese.

"It's a terrible situation." Bilas Flores, a Swiss-French immigrant who goes by the name Bilas, said: "The local cotton cloth is either completely unsalable or sold at a loss. In either case, the local textile millers will no longer buy new cotton yarn and will not produce new cotton cloth. Many factory owners have laid off their workers and closed their factories. These people are already unemployed, and although they still rent a little land, it is not enough to feed them and their families; What's more, a significant percentage of weavers are full-time. That is, they are now completely devoid of any income. ”

"What is their standard of living now? How much has it dropped? Mo Ming then asked, "How's the mood?" Are there any discontented remarks? ”

"It's dropped quite a bit." "I've talked to more than 10 weavers, and the weavers' lives have declined far more than the spinners. Many of them are full-time and are therefore particularly affected. Now I'm basically living on my meager savings, but I can't last long. And those spinners, although their living standards have also dropped sharply, but many of them are not starving for the time being. Because they often rent a little land, offsetting some of the risks of spinning business, but they can't last long. Having lost a very important part of their income from spinning, they would soon be crushed by the exorbitant taxes and would go bankrupt and become serfs. As for the emotional aspect, according to my field research, their current anger is mainly focused on the Textile Guild and the Pasquier family. In fact, they had no idea what was happening, except that a cheap foreign textile called 'East Coast Cloth' had entered Bordeaux and had taken over all the markets. They don't know where or what they mean by the east coast of the road, they only get angry with the organizations and individuals they are directly dealing with. ”

"Observe carefully, Bilas." Mo Ming praised it, and then asked Lu Qi, another Swiss French intelligence agent, "Lu Qi, how did the task I gave you complete?" ”

"I've managed to get in touch with a lot of textile workers, especially weavers who have a hard time. Their current situation is very bad, and many of them are already on the verge of running out of cooking because of the heavy burden on their homes. "I picked some good times to talk tentatively with them about the prospects of the New World in the past, and focused on the living conditions and the remuneration and institutions of work in our country. Some of them were tempted to relocate to the East Coast; Others, compelled to make ends meet, although not very reluctantly, expressed a willingness to settle on the East Coast; All that remains are those who vacillate or make it clear that they are against it; The proportion of people with all attitudes is one third each. I believe that with the passage of time and the deterioration of living conditions, the attitudes of these people will change again, and we should pay close attention. ”

"Well, I got it." Mo Ming said lightly: "Those who agree to immigrate to the East Coast can now organize them to pack their bags." We have made an agreement with the privateer fleet that they will arrive in Bordeaux by the middle of next month at the latest, but I think they will probably arrive at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, and we have to be prepared so that we don't get caught off guard. ”

"It's good." Luki nodded, not saying anything more.

"As for the funding, you go and apply to Minister Xu. Don't worry, he'll give it to you. After Mo Ming finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Sun Heiqi, who was sitting opposite him, and said, "Inspector Sun, have there been any hostile personnel against us near the trading station recently?" ”

Sun Heiqi is a dark-skinned man, about thirty years old, and seems to be loyal, but who would have thought that he was a repeat murderer with more than a dozen murders on his back. I saw Sun Heiqi say in a slightly frightened and stammering tone: "Master Mo, the villain has been observing it in the past few days. There were three groups of people who spied on us, and it was later confirmed that they were sent by various merchants and factory owners in the city. Two of them are more amateurs and look like they are completely ordinary people; The other group obviously has a certain amount of experience in the rivers and lakes, and it can be seen that they have done this business in the past of our grandson. I watched them once, well, the villain didn't let them find out, and finally the villain found out that they were sent by Ludwig, a big loan shark merchant in the city. Ludwig, this old fellow, seems to have something bad for us, should we strike first? ”

"Nope! Stay quiet for a moment and keep an eye on them. Mo Ming held his chin in his hand and said thoughtfully, "Kojiro, Shinzaemon, you two must keep your weapons on your bodies all day from today onwards, and closely guard the safety of Minister Xu." Now the number of people who fight our ideas must gradually increase, and you don't have to worry about my own safety, you can protect Minister Xu for me. If Minister Xu has three strengths and two shortcomings, you know how to apologize! ”

"Hay!" The two samurai-turned-intelligence agents stood up in unison and bowed.

"Okay, I know the situation." Mo Ming summed up later, "The next step is to act according to the plan." Lu Qi, the matter of immigration should be done quickly, and the money should be spent where it should be spent, and try to hurry up. Okay, let's get busy. ”

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