On 20 November 1652, he sailed into the port of Dunkirk in the South Netherlands on a second-hand ship bought from the Amsterdam second-hand ship market – the weather was terrible to escape the sudden high waves on the sea.

Perhaps out of boredom, Mo San decided to take his entourage to inspect the business of the city of Dunkirk while sheltering from the wind. This city, which is now under the shadow of the French military, is very typical in the Spanish Netherlands and even most of the lowlands, and has a certain reference significance.

After a few days of investigation, Mo San discovered that the city, which was – and still is – the home port of the Spanish Dutch fleet, was really lackluster in terms of commerce. Perhaps most of the powerful and skilled lowland merchants had moved to the United Provinces, and the city was flooded with Italian, Dutch, and English merchants who brought their home country's goods to Dunkirk to sell and then took the wealth with them, making the city even more dilapidated.

And just as Mo San returned to his temporary hotel disappointed, a strange guest suddenly came to his door, this person was also a well-known merchant in the North Sea area, it was none other than Morris, who had a huge business in the British North American colonies and was also one of the important shareholders of the British East India Company. Mr. Thompson.

Thompson had been trading with his fleet to Poland a while ago, but when he was suddenly caught in a storm on his way back, he also sailed into the port of Dunkirk to stop for shelter. He soon heard the news that Mr. Mo San, the special envoy of the East Coast Republic of China, was also inspecting commerce in the city, and he came to visit him out of curiosity.

Morris. Thompson made his fortune on woolen in his early days, and later began trading overseas. There are currently large sugar cane plantations and a sizable sugar mill on the island of Barbados. At the same time, he also monopolized the trade of a considerable part of the goods in Virginia, New England and other colonies. In addition, he can be seen in many trades in the Levant and Guinea. It is considered by many to be one of the top big businessmen with strong capital in Britain at this time.

In fact, this monarch was a great supporter of Cromwell during the English Civil War, and after the war, he used his influence to actively promote Britain's overseas trade, vigorously advocating the necessity of developing trade with the East, India and even Africa.

Thompson has been walking outside for many years, and he speaks directly, funny, and humorous, so he and Mo San quickly chatted very familiarly.

"Okay. Mr. Thompson, you say that your country has reopened its investigation into the stagnation and even decline of the velvet industry over the years? But as far as I know, you have already begun such an investigation in 1622, when it was widely believed that the Dutch monopoly had led to the decline of the English wool industry, so do you now have a new conclusion? Mo San and Thompson sat on opposite sides of a table and asked casually. Their entourage stood aside, dressed in black and blue, and some of them were wearing pistols or swords.

"That's still the case." Thompson shook the French brandy in his hand, not minding that he was talking about the secret of the British government: "Because of the deliberate obstruction of the Dutch." As well as the unfriendly act of the Danes to levy a toll tax differently, our merchants were struggling in the Baltic. Except for a few port cities in Poland. It is difficult for our woolen wool to sell, or even if it does, it will greatly compress the profit margin under the competition of Dutch wool, and the Dutch are really our biggest enemy......"

In fact, even if Thompson didn't say so, Mo San would be able to fully understand this information.

The decline of the country's woolen industry is not a day or two, in fact, since 1622, when the British government investigated the cause of the decline of the woolen industry, British woolen exports have come to a standstill. For the most important of the British suede, its annual sales in the Nordic and Central European markets have hovered between 50,000 and 60,000 horses for nearly 30 years, and the price has been kept at an average of 8 pounds per horse, and the average profit margin of the merchant venture company, which accounts for most of the woolen export business, is only 27%, which is a sad figure.

The main reason for this tragedy is undoubtedly the Dutch! During his visit to Leiden in the province of Holland a while ago, the woolen center of the Netherlands, the prices of various commodities in the European woolen market fell because of the fierce competition in Leiden (whose output has increased fivefold in the past 80 years), and this was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the woolen textile industry, which is known as the national industry of the United Kingdom.

The British tried all kinds of ways to do this, but to no avail, and in the end they had to resort to war. But it seems that their measures (for the war) were more effective this time, because the commercial transport system of the Dutch was in tatters under the blows of the English navy, which was definitely a joy for the British merchants who had been repressed for a long time.

“…… Mr. Mok, I have heard that your country has reached a secret agreement with the Netherlands to strengthen trade cooperation, right? After a long silence, Mr. Thompson suddenly uttered something earth-shattering.

Mo San's heartbeat suddenly increased when he heard this, how did this Englishman of the peat know the news? Nima: Is this still a secret covenant? Can the leaky houses of Amsterdam and The Hague still keep even a little secret? Yes, most of the middle and low-level officials of the three-tier parliament in The Hague betrayed the news, well, the officials of the Amsterdam City Council and the Dutch Provincial Council are also suspicious, God, the Netherlands is really unreliable!

In fact, the news that low-ranking Dutch officials betrayed government secrets, which Mo San suspected, is no longer news, and in The Hague and Amsterdam, it has almost become an industry. A large number of foreign envoys or spies gathered here, and many manuscripts of government documents were obtained every day for a small amount of money from the middle and lower officials of the Amsterdam City Council, the Dutch Provincial Council, and the Third Council of The Hague. They did not have the slightest sense of guilt for betraying the interests of the country, and sold almost everything, Mo San bought a lot of hand-copied copies of the Dutch government documents, and carefully studied them, and learned a lot of things.

It's just that now that he heard that Thompson also learned about the Donghe Secret Treaty in this way-I don't know what he learned-Mo San was still very embarrassed in his heart, so he could only say foolishly at the moment: "My government has no intention of participating in the ongoing war between your country and the Netherlands, and my government has always adhered to a neutral position, so please rest assured. What has been strengthened between our country and the Netherlands is business and trade ties, nothing more, and nothing more than in-depth cooperation. ”

"To be honest, I understand your government's actions and logic, which is normal." Mr. Thompson took a sip of his wine and said with a smile: "As you may know, I am a member of the House of Commons, and the passage of the Navigation Ordinance is the work of me and a group of old friends. With all due respect, dealing with a country as doomed to decline as the Netherlands is actually a very costly thing, really! Mr. Special Envoy, perhaps you should really go to England and see how England is vibrant, and see how England is changing, and then you may have a different view. You can take this as my official invitation, if you want, maybe I will introduce you to some of the politicians and businessmen in London, and you can sit down together and discuss some business issues, our government is not without demand for your goods, and the business here was monopolized by the Dutch before, but now it is different, isn't it? ”

I have to admit that Morris. Thompson's suggestion is tempting, because Britain is relatively wealthy and commercially developed compared to the countries of continental Europe, which often means that the purchasing power and willingness of the inhabitants are quite strong. If we take into account that Britain has a population of nearly 10 million (including more than 5.2 million in England, about 2.7 million in Scotland, and the rest in Wales and occupied Ireland), this huge market is hardly inferior to France, and its attraction to industry and agriculture on the east coast is still quite huge. And Mo San, as the spokesperson of the interests of the East Coast in Europe, is naturally unable to hold on to the temptation to enter the British market at the moment.

In fact, after careful calculation, Britain still has a lot of materials available for export to the East Coast, such as livestock (mainly horses), small metal products that are difficult to process on the East Coast, Virginia tobacco that is very popular on the East Coast, Indian luxury goods, leather, lead, tin and even labor. The East Coasters were not the same as the British, who were heavily influenced by mercantilist ideas, preferring to spend most of their trade surpluses, rather than keeping precious metals in their hands, because it would probably damage the domestic economy of the East Coast, and such lavish customers would obviously be welcomed by the British who were perverted in their pursuit of precious metals - they didn't have the opportunity to cooperate with them before, but now they have, don't they?

"I would be happy to go for a walk in England, Dear Mr. Thompson, and I am honoured to accept your invitation." After a moment of silence, Mo San, who had studied in London in later generations, immediately responded positively to Thompson's invitation, only to hear him say: "I still have some aspirin medicine here, I heard that it is very popular in your country, it will be a gift from me as a friend, Mr. Thompson, thank you for your invitation, I accept, I think it is necessary for me to go to England to have a look, it will help the cause of my government." (To be continued......)