28 July 1647, Messina, Sunny.

Mo San is half-lying comfortably under a palm tree, with the beautiful and peaceful Tyrrhenian Sea in the distance. From time to time, a gentle breeze blows ashore on the sea, which makes Mo Centren extra pleasant. He needs to rest so much now, he has been tossing and turning back and forth in France for more than a month without getting anything, and he is even despised by some young nobles who have not yet grown their hair, which makes him very depressed, the French are too arrogant! You're going to pay for it!

Mario of the Doria family sailed to the East Coast in May, accompanied by a number of consultants in the banking, textile (silk and textile industries), and grain trade, and he was ready to visit the East Coast market. Now that the Genoese are now overcapitalized, and even pagans like Morocco have invested tens of millions of bank lira, it seems not surprising that the East Coast Republic of China spent money on the new big 6.

This is the case with the Genoese, who always try to seize every opportunity to make money, especially in this era of fierce competition between the Portuguese Jews and the Dutch, and the Genoese have to find a new way out. Otherwise, the commercial advantage they had gained by beating the Venetians in the previous one or two hundred years, and their banking and distribution networks throughout Europe, would have faded into wear of time. The impoverished land of the Republic of Genoa, with its meagre population of half a million, could not support large syndicate companies such as the St. George's Comptoir, and they had to expand outwards and constantly look for new investment opportunities in order to maintain the Genoese advantage.

And the people of the East Coast, who rose like a comet, at an opportune moment, saw a possibility for the Genoese, although the geographical location of the country was a little farther away from Europe. It's also a little more remote. But it can't be said that there is no investment value anymore. What are you afraid of? The Genoese were able to invest in New Spain, to finance Spanish expeditions to explore the Colorado River Valley, and to provide credit support to the Spanish haciendas of the New Grand 6. So what other business is there that they dare not do?

And the country on the east coast gives people a sense of great potential, and their earning power seems to be quite good, for example, their cotton, leather, and weapons swept the Ottoman market; Farm implements and hardware flooded France and northern Italy; Recently, they have started to export soap and soda ash to Europe in small quantities, which are very profitable commodities and incredibly cheap, which has attracted a lot of attention.

All in all, the East Coasters have great investment potential. Whether or not the Genoese could be saved from the shrinking commercial network of Genoese has been a problem for the whole of Genoa, but it may now be possible to find a way to do so in cooperation with the people of the East Coast. With the Genoese all over Europe - well. Now than before, the main spheres of influence are concentrated in the western Mediterranean and southern Germany -- distribution networks, which can be revived and developed if they can underwrite the sale of cotton, leather, arms, steel, and even cheap goods such as soap and soda ash.

"The question of a 10 million bank lira (about 1,640,000 yuan) for a ten-year period has almost been negotiated, with our Doria family subscribing to three million, the São Jorge comptoir two million, the Bank of Palermo two million, the Bank of São Paulo two million, and the remaining one million to be subscribed by some of our important private clients, the Sicilian landlords and grain wholesalers." Alessandro. Doria sat beside Mo San with a glass of wine and said softly. This was his private estate, and the servants were all curiously staying away from it, leaving room for Mo San and Alessandro to talk privately.

"Years ago, you used guò economic means to sponsor some powers in Sicily to fight for dominance, and then the island became a complete vassal of your Genoese." Mo San did not answer Alejandro's words positively. Instead, it goes on to something else: "You see, the sugar plantations here were the only sugar producers in Europe at the time. But within a few decades this business you have completely taken control. Sicily is the most important wheat producing area in Italy, but now the landlords and farmers here have completely lost their pricing power over wheat, because most of the grain wholesalers here are Genoese, and they have become agricultural workers who work for you, and most of the profits are taken by you. And let me say again, Sicilian timber was exported to Genoa at a surprisingly low price, and then resold back to ships......"

"You are not Sicilian......" Hearing Mo San's sharp words, Alessandro couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, so he explained: "Sicily is only separated from Genoa by the Tyrrhenian Sea, but the east coast is separated from Genoa by the entire Atlantic Ocean. And we have no interest in controlling your factories or your economy, we just want to find a good investment opportunity, and if you are not at ease, we can use a mutually acceptable system to bind it when the time comes to formal negotiations, and I don't think it will be difficult. ”

"But you control the distribution network of our goods, and we lack reasonable pricing power." Mo San continued.

Hearing this, Alessandro finally understood the meaning of Mo San's words, so his face suddenly became ugly: "Are you still unwilling to give up the monopoly of goods to the Dutch West India Company?" ”

"The distribution scope of the Dutch West India Company is different from yours, and you can re-divide the sales scope when the time comes." Mo Sanhao said in a momentary manner, "Or it's the same for dividing industries." For example, if you act as an agent for our cotton cloth sales, then soda ash, soap, and grain will be handed over to the Dutch as an agent, anyway, they have quite rich experience in this area, and the channels and markets are also very mature. ”

"But the devil believes that the Dutch will play by the rules!" Alessandro raised his voice sharply, causing the servants in the distance to look in this direction, only to see him continue: "Have you allowed the Dutch to sell wheat to France?" But they don't ship it to sell as well, their business system is just as good, and we don't have enough supervision to restrain them, and the Dutch will just mess up the market. ”

In the final analysis, the Genoese were reluctant to make the huge profits that could be expected, and tried in vain to monopolize the right to sell all goods on the east coast. They monopolized a number of industries in Spain, such as pig iron, silk, wool, finance, etc., and also controlled a considerable part of the sales channels of American goods, so they had enough of the sweetness of monopoly trade. At this time, the cooperation with the people of the East Coast was discussed, and the request for monopoly sales rights was put forward without giving in.

But Mo San didn't have a hole in his brain, how could he agree to such a slightly excessive request from the Genoese? Therefore, he was reluctant to respond to the other party's request during the days of his vacation in Messina, and at this time, under the pressure of Alessandro, he acquiesced in the fact that he would not give the Genoese a monopoly on the sale of goods.

Having said this, both sides were a little silent for a while. After a long time, Alessandro was the first to break the silence, only to hear him change the subject: "Forget it, let's not talk about these disappointing topics, let's talk about other things, such as the Spaniards." ”

"Everything about the Spaniards will be of great interest to me." Mo San was also interested at this time. Although the Genoese bankers withdrew from the Spanish financial markets after 1627, they were not able to break off their long-standing relationship, and they were still inextricably linked to the Spaniards, such as the one they were currently responsible for paying some of the Spanish troops stationed abroad, such as Naples. And sometimes the Spaniards think of them when they are short of money to borrow, so the Spanish information that comes out of their mouths is extremely credible and of course very valuable.

"The Spaniards wanted to build ships, but they didn't have enough money." Alessandro put it succinctly, "The Portuguese Jews were asking for a very high price, and the king was not satisfied. Similarly, the Dutch demanded an even more aggressive price, asking for 15% per annum, and at the same time demanding the monopoly sales rights of cinchona. They didn't know where they had heard that it cured the fever common in the East Indies, and Peru happened to produce it, so they were eager to monopolize the sale of the drug. Rather, they wanted to buy all the Peruvian medicine and take it to the East Indies to treat their colonial officials, engineers, and officers. ”

Speaking of this, Alessandro's blue eyes stared straight at Mo San and said, "This news is said to have first come from the French in Fort Dován on the island of Madagascar, and then the Dutch passed Guò and was confirmed by the Peruvian Spaniards by some means. The Spaniards say that the East Coasters smuggle a considerable amount of cinchona bark powder from them every year, and then the French also confirm that you used this medicine to treat fever on a small scale in Madagascar. ”

Hearing this, Mo San couldn't help but scold Madagascar's sieve-like anti-espionage network, but he immediately changed the topic very professionally: "Don't talk about these unconfirmed 'stories', Alessandro, talk about the Spaniards, what else do they do besides borrowing money everywhere?" ”

"There are no forces in the Spanish court in particular against you, and all eyes are still on Paris. It is said that some French aristocrats repeatedly sent people to contact them, the details of which are not known - but it can be guessed. Therefore, the Spaniards did not think you were any big trouble. However, in view of your repeated provocations to the authority of the Kingdom of Spain in the Southern Netherlands, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tyrrhenian Sea, etc., the great Philip IV decided to start construction of 1o galleons of more than three masts to replenish the Mediterranean fleet, which had suffered huge losses, and to ensure the safety of his country's coastal waters. ”

"In addition to these things, the Spaniards were preparing to form three regular infantry regiments to be transferred to Puerto Rico, Cuba and Florida in the Caribbean to guard against increasingly rampant 'pirate attacks.'" Alessandro shrugged his shoulders as he said this, "You see, you are aggressively showing your claws against Spain, but people don't take you seriously at all, and in my opinion, such a boring war should be over." ”

"Ending the war, that's easy to say." Mo San smiled bitterly and said, "But who will mediate, you?" (To be continued......)

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