February 15, 1647, sunny Marseille.

This historic city is located in the poorer Provence region of south-west France, which is one of the poorer of the 30 or so departments in France, although rich in wine and wheat. The city is also an odd city, and although it is a wheat-producing region, the local population is disturbed by the high prices of grain that need to be exported to the Aquitaine region (i.e. Gascony) and even Genoa.

On the other hand, the city is filled with foreign merchants or sailors who speak various languages, and the buildings are exotic. Someone once quipped: "Marseille is not so much a typical French port as a Berber or Levantine port." This is a reference to the presence of merchants and sailors from Muslim countries in the city today. France had allied with the Ottoman Empire in the last century to work together against Spain, which shocked all of Europe at the time. But the French, who went their own way, did not see anything wrong with this, and Marseille was still the most Ottoman-friendly city in the western Mediterranean, and many Muslim merchant ships came to trade every year, creating a rare fortune for poor Provence.

Mo San had been here for almost half a month, when he arrived at the port of Marseille with a few retinues from Istanbul on an Ottoman merchant ship, and then contacted a merchandise agent of the Eastern Republic in the area, who was a relative of the Baron of Toulouse, and settled down. Unexpectedly, just as he had rested for a while, and was about to set off again on his overland journey to Arles, an uninvited guest with great powers came to the door.

Yes. This man was Mario of the famous Doria family in Genoa. This gentleman Mo San has only met him once. It was a while ago when his Ottoman ship docked at Livorno, a port heavily influenced by Genoa's economy. The man sent a shipment of dyed cloth from the East Coast in the port, which was said to be sold to Mexico. Mo San, who was present at the time, chatted casually with him for a while, and then went their separate ways. I didn't expect to meet him again in Marseille, and he was actually approached by someone else, which made Mo San very surprised and muttered to himself at the same time: I only told him that I would go to Marseille, but I didn't expect people to be able to accurately find their foothold in the huge city of Marseille, this kind of energy is not something that ordinary businessmen can exert, this Italian is not small.

The two sides spent two days wandering around the exotic city of Marseille. During this period, we talked about some business issues. From time to time, the other party revealed his intention to invest in the East Coast Republic of the New World, which made Mo San a little hesitant. In fact, if the other party directly proposed to be the agent of goods on the east coast and use the distribution network built by the Genoese for hundreds of years to distribute the goods, then Mo San would have agreed a long time ago. However, the other party proposed to invest in the New World to set up factories, which made Mo San a little undecided, and the country does not seem to have introduced a policy to treat foreign investment!

"We can bring our workers, who have many years of technical experience in the Genoese fabric workshops." Mario said in as calm a tone as possible at the moment, his French was very good, and Mo San even felt a unique rhythm when he listened to it: "Our Doria family has been doing business in Spain for more than a hundred years, both in Spain itself and in its territory in the New World. We both have strong connections. We have a local bank branch and a distribution office for goods, which accepts commercial drafts from our family-owned comptoir of Guò Saint-Georges. This is more conducive to cash flow. ”

"We can also send a lot of designers to the East Coast." Mario continued: "They know the Spanish aesthetic and consumption habits, and they know the Spanish hobbies very well. For example, some of the large open silks that the Spaniards liked, decorated with small flowers, embroidered with dense layers of slightly raised flowers at one end. You know, these thickeners used to make zuò festive costumes are not cheap, they are quite ornate and very popular with the wealthy class of Spain. My family has a paper mill in Waltery, and the cigarette papers we produce have been sold to India, where people use them to smoke cigarettes, and I think there is a lot of promise in the New World as well. ”

"But we don't have the raw materials needed to develop the silk weaving industry...... "Mo San asked.

"Don't worry. You see, noble Mo, I am on my way to Lyon, where our family has a large trading house, and a silk weaving workshop specializing in the production of beautiful taffeta. These sold well in both the New World and the Old World, especially the nouveau riche and nouveau riche of Acapulco, who were attracted to silk products. With our family's years of experience, there's a lot to be paid for, especially when paired with your amazing dyeing skills. Mario finished in one breath, and then looked at Mo San with expectant eyes.

In fact, Mario said that Lyon, the most economically powerful city in France at this time, did have a very strong silk weaving industry, which included the entire city of Lyon and the neighboring regions of Saint-Etienne, Naverville, Saint-Chamond, etc., forming a huge industrial chain. They import raw silk weaving materials from China, which are then processed into fine silk of various styles, which are then exported everywhere. This extremely lucrative business was now controlled by the Florentines and Genoese and their agents there, and in fact the prosperity of Lyon was created by these Italians.

Mo San's eyes rolled, he considered the pros and cons, and then said, "I'm sorry, I need to ask the country for advice on this matter." But with all due respect, what kind of cooperation law are you in mind? Is it a separate factory or a cooperative factory? If it's the former, I'm not optimistic. ”

"Of course, the specific way of cooperation can be discussed on a case-by-case basis." Mario shrugged his shoulders and said indifferently: "Given your country's leading position in textile technology, I think we can cooperate to set up a factory." Don't worry, we don't covet your technology, we're only interested in developing markets in the New World, because there's a huge profit there that no one can imagine. Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you that the Dutch, after all these years of hard work, are said to have developed a more advanced weaving machine, qì, which can reduce the cost of existing weaving by more than a quarter, which may have some adverse effects on you. Some businessmen from France, Sweden, and England are currently negotiating with them, and it seems that they want to introduce this advanced machine. ”

Hearing Mario say this, Mo San was also a little moved, but he didn't dare to be good at this time, so he turned the topic away and talked about the diplomatic trip to Paris that was about to begin. Of course, this is a diplomatic effort on the east coast alone, and only God knows what the attitude of the proud French is.

Mario was well aware of the Motives of the East Coasters to go to Paris for diplomatic activities, but he was not very interested in it, and as a frequent resident of Lyon, he did not like the city of Paris. He felt that the ostentatious and extravagant city was inhabited by a group of stupid and arrogant aristocrats, who regarded France outside Paris as a colony, wantonly sucked blood to feed Paris, and created the prosperity of the city of Paris and the amazement of foreigners, but this was at the expense of the interests of most of the inhabitants of the provinces of France.

However, he invited Mo San to join him on the road, because travelers from Marseille to Paris usually had to arrive in Lyon first, and then hire a comfortable horse-drawn carriage in the prosperous commercial city full of trade fairs to go to Roanne via the wide overland mail route built by the kings of France in Guò. Once in the merchant city of Roanne, travelers or merchants had the option of taking a trade with foreign countries on the merchant ships that carried supplies along the Boire River, often with only one sail, and traveled to and from various cities along the river, as far as the port of Nantes in Brittany.

The Loire has a gentle flow and few shoals, making it ideal for transporting supplies over long distances. The tax card on the river is not very expensive, and it is very competitive compared to land transportation in terms of transportation volume and tax costs, so it is generally the first choice for merchants. Since the trip from Roanne to the Paris region is downstream, the speed is generally relatively fast, and with the sail power (and the slender man with the help of fiber pulling when the wind is low), you can reach Orleans in less than a week.

Orleans is a large commercial port and a distribution center for goods. Once here, you can easily hire some boats that go to Paris via the Guò Canal. The Canal d'Orleans is an important channel connecting the Loire and Seine, and is responsible for transporting the wheat that has accumulated in Orleans to Paris. Of course, you can also disembark in advance and take a boat on the newly built Briyar Canal to the Seine, which complements the Orleans Canal and is also responsible for transporting supplies from other provinces to Paris.

After arriving in Paris, how to operate depends on Mo San's ability. Sturdy merchant Didier in the Ottoman Empire. Flores introduced Mo San to a count who had lived in Paris for a long time, and it was said that he had some energy, but he was not sure whether he could successfully meet and persuade the count to act according to the wishes of the East Coast. Besides, if the so-called count did not hold any important position, it might not be of any use in Paris, where there were so many nobles like dogs.

However, having said that, Mo San was not ready to give up, and contacting the French would be very helpful to the East Coast, which was in a state of war, and would help reduce the pressure of war on the East Coast. Therefore, no matter whether it can be done or not, no matter how much face the French give him, no matter how much humiliation he suffers, he is ready to try his luck, maybe the thing will be done? (To be continued......)