In mid-June 1688, at the Iron Mansion in London, Cai Zhenguo, the ambassador of the East Coast Republic of China to London, had just sent off Sir Temple, a member of the English Parliament.

Temple is an interesting person. As a young man, he served as an envoy to The Hague, was fluent in English, French, and Dutch, and published books in all three languages, and had a very unique insight into law, trade, and diplomacy. What is even more rare is that this man not only has a good relationship with the late King Charles II, but also mingles with the enlightened nobles and merchant members of Parliament (or he was originally from a knightly family, made a fortune in middle age, and is naturally a member of the Parliamentary line), and is a natural lubricant between the royal family and Parliament, so even though he is now dying, he still works hard from time to time to serve the interests of England.

Temple, the old man, had come to the Iron Mansion today to discuss with the people of the East Coast about the export of the steam engine. Sir Temple, in keeping with the king's will, and with the backing of the Parliament - the royal family and the parliament are rarely united in the introduction of advanced technology - formally submitted a request to the East Coast Republic of China to import more than a dozen steam engines of various types ranging from 7.5 hp to 300 hp (with transmission systems). To this end, they are willing to purchase 50% higher than the domestic sales price of the East Coast, and at the same time, they will also give high employment fees to the engineers who come to install and debug, and the market for some domestic goods will be further opened to the East Coast.

Cai Zhenguo was a little surprised when he heard the request of the British, but at the same time felt that it was reasonable. In recent years, the situation on the European continent has been unstable, and many capital, technology and talent have fled, especially from the United Provinces and France, most of these people are merchants, craftsmen, scholars and bankers, who have fled to England and injected new vitality into the society and economy of England, so that the scale of the productive forces of this country, which is already a European factory, has been further expanded, and the various commodities produced are sold in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and part of the Mediterranean region, and the country's upward momentum is very obvious.

There is no doubt that England was at the forefront of Europe in the use of new production systems and the introduction of new production lines, which is not surprising by the nature of their country and the (relatively) nature of their country. Therefore, after seeing that a large number of steam engines and ancillary equipment were exported from France on the east coast, the British were also moved and wanted to paint a scoop according to the gourd, and also introduced a batch of steam engine equipment from the east coast, which on the one hand could improve the overall industrial level of the country, and at the same time could also play a role in promoting the research and development of steam engines in their country.

However, Cai Zhenguo also learned that the steam engine model that the British wanted to import was quite different from the French one, which was generally more advanced and of better quality. Back then, when the East Coast people decided to export steam engine equipment to France in exchange for the market, it was still quite difficult, because those equipment were about to be eliminated or had been eliminated in the East Coast, and the overall performance was very backward. Cai Zhenguo also learned through letters to China that it was the Montenegro Industrial Company that contracted the project, for which they opened an old steam engine production workshop that had been abandoned and was about to be dismantled, and transferred a large group of apprentices to produce these steam engines and some accompanying machinery and equipment under the leadership of several masters.

In other words, the equipment exported to France belongs to the old models that have long been discontinued in the East Coast, and they are not much better than the most advanced steam engines in England now, on a horizontal line. Moreover, the manufacture of these steam engines was mainly made of cheap iron, and steel was not used much, which shows the cautious attitude of the East Coasters in the matter of technology diffusion, as evidenced by the officials of the Syphilis Statistical Survey Bureau stationed at the factory.

Compared to the equipment exported to France, the British had a great appetite for this time, as most of the equipment required was the steam engine equipment used on the East Coast today. Although the models are not very advanced, many of them were developed in the fifties, and the reason why they are still in use is because it also costs to replace them, but in any case, these steam engines could not be produced in Britain at this time, or they were expensive to produce and could only be used as toys, so Cai Zhenguo was surprised by the appetite of the British.

At the same time, he was wary of the ambition of the British, feeling that the country was a little too aggressive, which was not good. Ambassador Tsai has received information from the Embassy's intelligence chief that the British are testing marine steam engine propulsion systems in Portsmouth and Liverpool. They didn't know where they got a marine propeller propulsion system made by the Easterners (perhaps from a decommissioned or sunken ship of the Easterners), and then researched and copied it, intending to link it to a steam engine to create their own marine steam propulsion system.

Objectively speaking, whether it is the English, the Dutch, or the French, they all have a strong desire to acquire the sailing skills of the East coasters. The difference is only that the French are still at a relatively low level of technology, and the obsolete steam engine equipment on the east coast is enough to meet their needs, but the British have insisted on investing in this area for many years and have a certain amount of technology accumulation, so it is not surprising that they naturally look at the better equipment.

Of course, they may also know from some channel that such equipment on the east coast is about to enter a large-scale retirement and replacement period, so they want to take advantage of this east wind to buy some and improve their technical level. However, as everyone knows, the equipment that is about to be retired in the East Coast will be slowly sold half and half to the New China Island, Australia, the Far East and the Pacific Island colonies in the future, and it is really unlikely that it will be sold to foreign countries, so their hope is just an expectation, and it is difficult to realize.

Therefore, Cai Zhenguo only politely said that he would consult the domestic opinion on Sir Temple's request, but in fact, he had already concluded in his heart that it would be difficult to achieve this request, and the relationship between the East Coast and England had not yet reached this point. In fact, according to the report of the General Intelligence Service, the Executive Committee agreed that the East Coast's layout in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic was established, and that they had firmly controlled these seas through a scattered "string of pearls". Under these circumstances, why should England, which could not monopolize India and the commercial interests of China's Yangtze River valley, fight with the east coast? They can't even get past Cape Town, what else to talk about!

At present, England has basically slowly shifted a considerable part of its energy to the operation of the North American and Caribbean colonies. Not only are the populations of those places far larger than those of the same period in history, but they are also very active in terms of trade. In the case of the British North American colonies, for example, trade with England has reached more than a million pounds, surpassing the total trade of the British Caribbean islands, which is very staggering.

But there is no doubt that such a volume of trade is still not enough to monopolize India's trade. Moreover, the North American colonies were wastelands, with few and fierce natives on them, so the wealth that could be created was relatively limited, and most of the immigrants from England needed to create it themselves, which was completely different from the familiar land in India with a population of nearly 150 million. Therefore, England without India has a predictable ceiling, and there is no need for the East Coasters to worry too much. The reason why the people of the East Coast have restricted their technology is not because they are afraid, but because they are subconsciously suppressed. I believe that when the situation changes in the future, if a great power with a tendency to unify the countries emerges on the European continent (such as Napoleon's France and Germany in World War II), then I believe that they will immediately come to the aid of England and quickly arm it as an important pawn to intervene in the situation on the European continent on the east coast, but it is obviously not time yet.

In addition to the importation of machinery and equipment from the East Coast, Sir Temple also spoke of a Russian mission that had just arrived in London after a lot of turmoil. The mission departed overland, arrived at the Baltic Sea, returned to London on a British ship, and stayed in a hotel arranged by the British. Their purpose, according to Sir Temple, was to come to negotiate with the people on the East Coast to see if there was any possibility of reconciliation between the two countries in Ukraine. The Russians already knew that the East Bank had a strong involvement in the siege of Azov, not only providing the Crimean Khanate as the main attacker, but also bringing large loans to the Ottoman Turkish Empire (in the form of minting dinar currency). They knew that in order to completely solve the Ukrainian problem and drink the Black Sea, the East Coast people were already an insurmountable obstacle, so they sent a mission to London, intending to make contact with the East Coast people in advance and find out the situation.

Sir Temple stated that the Kingdom of England was merely an introducer and did not represent any position on their part. Because of the continuous expansion of trade with Russia over the years, their commercial interests have become very deep, so it is understandable that they will act as peacemakers on the east coast and arrange a meeting with Russia.

Cai Zhenguo was vague about whether he would meet with the Russians, and did not make a clear statement, because in fact he did not have any authorization from Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe on the east coast, and there was no way to talk to them. If you die, you can just be a microphone, saying that you will report the news. Of course, he also knocked on the side from Sir Temple to find some useful information, that is, after the failure of more than 100,000 Russian troops to conquer Port Azov in the south, a rather fierce conflict has broken out in Moscow, and the regent Princess Sophia is faintly unable to control the situation, and was attacked by many people at the All-Russian Noble Duma meeting, so she is not embarrassed.

Those old Russian aristocrats became more and more disgusted with Sophia's face covering the sky with one hand, and grabbed her lover Golitsyn to make a fuss, which once caused great repercussions. Although the matter ended with Princess Sophia's victory, she also consumed too many political resources in the operation to quell the turmoil, and had to promote some noble children who opposed him into the inner circle of power in order to divide and disintegrate the Duma meeting, but these eventually further shook her political base, in short, it was very embarrassing.

Sir Temple told Cai Zhenguo that the Russian mission was Princess Sophia's men, and their appeal was to demand that the people on the east coast withdraw from South Russia and cut off aid to the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, so that they could open the Russian market to the east bank and let their merchants come freely to do business and make money.

Such a condition, to be honest, Cai Zhenguo just wanted to laugh when he heard it. The Russian market is indeed okay, not small, but the problem is that the business environment there is very bad, which is a well-known fact, so no one can guarantee how much money you can make if you plunge into business activities as an outsider.

What's more, the commercial interests of the Russian market can be compared with the interests of the people on the East coast in the Black Sea region? At present, it seems that it is not an order of magnitude, right? Therefore, Cai Zhenguo just wanted to laugh when he heard it, this Russian is really stupid and cute, obviously he doesn't have enough chips, but he looks like he is very bullish, asking for this and that, and the final outcome can only be ridiculed and ridiculed, and he won't get anything.

They also don't want to think about it, how can the people on the east coast make you feel better and not contain you, a land power country like you, Russia? Drinking horses in the Black Sea, I'm afraid it can only be achieved in dreams! Moreover, the Russians did not know that the people of the East Bank had been secretly contacting the Oirat Mongols, who had been nomadic in the lower Volga for hundreds of years, and planned to help them establish a kingdom of the yellow race in the North Caucasus. If this is known, this wave of Russian envoys is afraid that there is no need to talk about it, and it will be better to go back directly to prepare for war, because the people on the east coast have completely denied them a way to live, and want to completely cut off their expansion efforts on the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Therefore, considering these factors, in fact, Cai Zhenguo felt that there was no need for him to meet these Russian envoys in person. Just send your own deputies to talk about it casually and find out the bottom line of these Russians. As for himself, it seems better to focus more on England and the United Provinces, because the situation here is already quite delicate, King James II and Parliament are already on the same page, and William III of Amsterdam may enter England at any time, which is the diplomatic highlight of the year, rather than talking nonsense with the Russians.

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