On August 20, 1683, the port of Qingdao was covered with masts.

Leon Wolfgang Wagner hurried into a fairly spacious red-brick house. This red-brick house is located on the outskirts of Qingdao Port, facing the sea, but instead of spring flowers, it is a strange rocky coast with almost half-human-high wild grass growing on the coast, making it hard to imagine such a deserted place in the bustling territory of Qingdao County.

Yes, you don't have to doubt that in the East Coast Republic of China, where the overall level of development of the country is extremely low, even in a prosperous area like Qingdao County, there are large areas of wasteland waiting to be developed. If you think about it, in a county with a population of just over 100,000 people and an area of several thousand square kilometers, a considerable number of people are still concentrated in the county seat and the wharf area to engage in industry, commerce, shipping, finance, and other work, and there are still a large number of peasants living in the suburbs of the city to provide grain, vegetables, fruits, and livestock for these people. In this way, the population density of a little farther away is really very diluted, and everything is caused by underpopulation!

And it was precisely because most of the population wanted to move to the bustling port that the Latvians from New Courland were able to buy a piece of wasteland a little further away from the port at a relatively low price as a storage base - the Courlands already had a warehouse on the side of the main dock, but on a smaller scale.

The overall price of wasteland is more than 8,000 yuan, and because it is industrial and commercial land, the price is relatively high, almost twice that of agricultural land. There is a small village behind the wasteland, which was originally where their village grazes sheep, so the Kurlan people will give these fifty families a one-time subsidy of more than 2,000 yuan to completely end the matter.

But even so, such a large piece of land only cost more than 10,000 yuan in total, it is indeed very worthwhile, you must know that the current barren grassland, the future may be transformed into a hot gold land, this kind of thing in the history of the rapid development of the east coast is not the first time, now every inch of land is expensive Qingdao Expo Street was originally a pond, reeds and meadows, has now become a gathering place for large enterprises.

The Courland people built the future warehouse here, which naturally means that they are interested in the potential commercial value of this place. Anyway, they are selling tobacco, timber, sugar, coffee, and even black slaves designated by the East Coast government, which is a policy necessity, and it doesn't matter if the warehouse is farther away, as long as it arrives, it's just a big deal to share the extra freight with the relevant departments on the East Coast.

Leon Wolfgang Wagner had been involved in the construction of the new trading post in the first place, and had sent representatives to the East Coast twice to negotiate with him, and finally chose such a plot. Now that the trading station is only about a quarter of the building completed, and the rest is still under construction, Wagner looked at some of the brick houses that had been built, and his expression was more attentive - this was his first time at the trading station, and probably the last, because he had received a formal order from the mainland to return to the Grand Duke to serve as Minister of Commerce, and the post of Governor of New Courland was held by Schmidt of Hamburg, an adviser to the Grand Duke, who had now arrived in Jacobshafen and began to perform his duties, Wagner, on the other hand, will make one last visit to the East Bank to discuss some sensitive matters between the two countries as the interim envoy of the Grand Duke Jacob.

Most of these sensitive matters are concentrated in the diplomatic sphere. In accordance with the arrangements and instructions of the newly enthroned Archduke Frederick, Wagner focused on explaining to the East Coasters a series of changes that had taken place in the field of diplomacy in order to gain an understanding of the East Coast. To put it more bluntly, Duke Frederick explains the increasingly close relationship between the Duchy of Courland and the two great powers of the United Provinces and Sweden in the last seven or eight years, especially in the last few years when there have been many twists and turns in the diplomacy between the United Provinces and the East Coast.

Duke Frederick had lived in New Courland for many years, and his knowledge and understanding of the Eastern Republic was far deeper than that of ordinary European nobles, so from his heart, he was extremely unwilling to offend this New World power. There was some concern about his father, Duke Jacob, who had decided in recent years to strengthen friendly relations with Sweden and the United Provinces, even slowing down the easterners' requests to expand the Baltic commodity market a little, in order to increase the ability of the Duchy of Courland to survive in these troubled times. Frederick worries that the people of the East Coast will feel something about Courland because of this, which in turn will affect the stability of their country's largest source of finance.

Archduke Jacob chose security over security and wealth, and he felt that the United Province of the Baltic Sea would guarantee the independence and security of the Duchy of Courland, so he strengthened his close ties with the country - and of course they did not forget to form an alliance with Sweden, an army power in the region - although the relationship with the east coast was also good, but it was ultimately focused.

Frederick, who had a very good impression of the East Bank Republic when he was the heir to the Duchy, and was very envious of the civilization and wealth of this country, decided to change his emphasis: to continue to maintain friendly relations with the East Bank, and to explain the diplomatic relations with the United Provinces and Sweden to the East Bank in order to obtain recognition or understanding.

Duke Frederick knew that the United Province was a nation of profit-hungry merchants, for whom everything was business and nothing eternal. Once a country invades or even annexes the Principality of Courland, then as long as the price is right, they will not hesitate to sell Courland, which has been proven in history. As for obtaining Sweden's guarantee of independence, it is even more ridiculous, Sweden already has a strong desire to annex the Duchy of Courland, and now they are forced to give you an independence guarantee due to the situation, will they not withdraw this independence guarantee in the future? It's like playing with a tiger! Brandenburg-Prussia, which is currently relatively weak in the Baltics and has poor relations with the Kingdom of Sweden, may be a better place to cooperate.

There is no doubt that Duke Frederick is pessimistic about the current situation and future developments. He insisted that both Prussia and Sweden had the urge to unite the whole of Livonia under their own name. Even Poland, which has been in a state of chaos in recent years, does not want to clean up Prussia, expel Sweden and unify Wonia! Being in such a place is Courland's luck, and at the same time, Courland's great misfortune, which is completely one and the same. In the past, the Courlands had no choice, but now that the new Courland colony was getting better and better, Duke Frederick felt that he had a certain choice, so he decided to change course and strengthen friendly relations with the east coast again.

And the practical benefits of deepening ties with the East Coast are obvious: in terms of trade! At this point, no one can deny that, even in the case of tobacco production on the East Coast itself, they were guided by policy to import a considerable amount of New Courland tobacco every year, which effectively guaranteed the economic income of the colony. You must know that many colonies in the Americas and Africa, which were developed by companies or individuals from Europe, failed to hold on in the end, and the main reason was that the products could not find a market, which made them economically unsustainable, and finally people went to empty buildings. The imports of agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery products from New Courland and the Free State really helped these two places a lot, and Archduke Jacob did not know this well enough, but Duke Frederick saw it very clearly.

While revising the policy of the Grand Duke and trying to deepen ties with the East Bank, Archduke Frederick was also further strengthening his control and construction of New Courland, the first of which was to send people to that area.

It is said that over the years, as the New Courland Colony has continued to feed back to the mainland located in the Baltic Sea, the economy of the Principality of Courland has developed rapidly, and the people's living standards have improved to a certain extent. Coupled with the fact that the surrounding area was in constant war for most of the time, the population of the relatively stable Principality of Courland has gradually increased from 200,000 to 300,000 (a considerable number of whom are immigrants), and the population is not as tight as before.

In such a situation, both the deceased Archduke Jacob and the Archduke Frederick, who had just succeeded to the throne last year, had been sending people to New Courland for many years in order to secure huge commercial profits. Especially after Frederick took over the throne last year, the policy became more radical, and this guy learned from the policy of the East Coasters, and implemented a system of exile among criminals in the country, that is, serving one year in New Courland and two years in mainland China, and a high degree of freedom, allowing marriage and various industries. In addition, he tried his best to collect farmers from his own country or neighboring countries who had nothing and then pack them up and send them to Jacobs Harbor to supplement the local population. You know, in the Congo River Valley, because of disease, war, and other factors, the number of white people who are the basis of domination has always been growing slowly, and nothing can be said without outside supplements.

Tilting more resources towards the colony of New Courland, rather than making a fuss about the homeland, where there is no room for development, was the tone set by Duke Frederick, who had ruled in New Courland for many years. This decision was not so easy to make, but in the comparison of the huge income of Courland itself and New Courland, Duke Frederick still withstood a considerable part of the opposition in the country and decided to continue this policy.

In order not to let his efforts go to waste, Duke Frederick also sent his very trusted adviser Schmidt to Jacobs Harbor as the governor, helping him to seriously handle the local affairs, run various industries, and make it the most profitable territory under the Duke's name, supporting him and the country's various expenses and activities.

Wagner discussed these topics carefully with the new governor Schmidt in Jacob Harbor, and although he was somewhat unhappy, he was still intent on fulfilling his obligations and had a frank conversation with the powerful officials of the diplomatic department on the east coast in Vostochny.

The outcome of the conversation was undoubtedly good, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the East Bank understood the foreign policy of the Principality of Courland and expressed its delight at the fine-tuning of their policy, which made Wagner breathe a sigh of relief that the task was finally completed.

However, Wagner was hesitant to ask the Principality of Courland to establish a standing fleet in Port Jacobs on behalf of his government. The size of this fleet does not need to be too large, but it must have it, and it must be professional warships, and it must not be filled with armed merchant ships.

This unexpected request made Wagner think all the way, and he was still thinking about it when he arrived at Qingdao Port Commercial Station by boat. The explanation of the people on the east coast was that the situation off the coast of West Africa was not good, and pirate ships were often infested, and a special fleet had to be formed to sweep the commercial routes to ensure the smooth flow of commercial routes.

This is true, and Governor Wagner agrees, but the question is, wasn't it the East Coasters who were in charge before? He has been in charge of New Courland's affairs for many years, and he clearly knows that from Cape Town to Jacobs Port, its coastal patrols have always been the responsibility of the South China Sea Squadron of the First Fleet of the East Coaster, and it has been doing a very good job for many years, so why should New Courland now set up a "professional warship formation of 3-4 ships with a total tonnage of not less than 1,200 tons"? Could it be that the people of the east coast are going to withdraw and no longer be responsible for the safety of this sea area?

Wagner thought about it and thought about it, and there was only one explanation, especially when an East Coast naval officer who accompanied the negotiations vaguely mentioned that the East Coast side was considering establishing a "joint fleet" with the Duchy of Courland to jointly be responsible for the security of this part of the southwest African coast - the configuration of the "joint fleet" was 4 warships from each side, a total of 8 professional warships, and the command was definitely attributed to the First Fleet of the Navy of the Republic of China on the east coast of China if you thought about it with your toes.

The people on the east coast did this, apparently because they wanted to free up some of their energy from southwest Africa, so that they could devote it to other battlefields. So the question arises, where do the people on the east coast want to deploy the vacated warships in this way? Indian Ocean or Caribbean?

Wagner has no answer to this question, but if you know a little about the current situation between countries, you will have some speculation. Wagner himself pondered in his heart that this easterner did this, probably wanting to put the four warships vacated into the Atlantic, as for the Caribbean Sea or Cape Verde, he couldn't guess, because no matter where it was deployed, there was a very good reason.

"Probably the Cape Verde Islands." Wagner speculated: "The East Coasters have persuaded the Kingdom of Spain to strengthen the construction of the Windward Fleet in the past two years, so that this fleet can take on more defense in the Caribbean, so that the East Coasters can send warships to strengthen the Cape Verdean side." Speaking of which, there are some similarities to the situation we are facing today. It seems that the people of the East Coast are now increasingly interested in actively interfering in the situation on the European continent, and this must be reported to His Majesty the Duke as soon as possible. ”