On 10 May 1653, six 650-ton flute transports and two 300-ton refrigerated ships were carefully docked on the Tesserle side off the coast of Zuider, escorted by two sail frigates. After paying the inbound duties, the fleet slowly sailed into the Amsterdam docks under the guidance of the Dutch.

This large port, which used to be berthed with more than 2,000 ships all year round, is now really a little dilapidated, and Moree looked around, and saw less than a thousand ships of various types, which made him very lamented: it is really pitiful that during the war, Dutch commerce has shrunk to such a degree. You know, in the past, this port controlled most of the trade in grain, salt, salted fish, ship gear, and dairy products in Europe, and all kinds of other commodities were generally gathered here in search of buyers; In addition, Amsterdam has a series of titles such as the European financial center, the shipbuilding center, and the largest second-hand ship base, so it can be said that before the war, the city of 150,000-200,000 people was at the peak of its glory.

But now that is a thing of the past! The Dutch navy was never able to break the British interception, a large number of Dutch ships were captured, a large amount of supplies either sank to the bottom of the sea or entered the warehouses of the British in London, trade was greatly affected, the economy plummeted, the people's living standards were declining day by day, and the whole city and even the whole country was filled with a strong sense of insecurity.

One can imagine how happy the Dutch were when the 10 ships led by the Moree entered Amsterdam under such circumstances. Refined flour, butter, cheese, ham, wine, frozen fish, soybeans and other food items were stored in separate compartments and carefully hoisted to the docks by the Dutch using pulley booms and animal cranes, where they were sent to the warehouse for storage.

During the year of the blockade by the British. Amsterdam is not starving. But prices are skyrocketing. Ordinary people don't have enough to eat. In the past, when a ship docked, the goods would be bought as soon as they docked, and then it would take four or five days to unload them - not so fast, of course, but the Dutch would put the goods in the dock storage warehouses and sell them slowly, which has contributed to Amsterdam's reputation for always having plenty of goods to sell.

Amsterdam is one such place to gather, store and sell goods from all over the world. A super-large logistics warehouse, "a trade fair that runs all year round", and a huge flow of goods, cash flow, and people in and out of the city's docks, have brought untold wealth to the Netherlands.

But now the inventory in many warehouses has bottomed out, and the old goods are still snapped up even if the price has risen several times, and the new goods are replenished intermittently, which makes people very worried. The 10 ships carried 4,500 tons of various foodstuffs, which was far from enough to meet Amsterdam's daily consumption, but it was still possible to save a month's expenses; A little more than two months later, another convoy will arrive in the port of Vlissingen in Zeeland, this time on an even larger scale. There were 9 flutes, 2 refrigerated ships and 4 sail frigates (400 tons of tonnage, which could also be used to transport cargo). It is estimated that at least 6,500 tonnes of various supplies (some of which are foodstuffs and some of which are the rest of the commodities ordered) can be transported.

The arrival of these two fleets is of great significance to the daily consumption and industrial production of the two provinces of Holland and Zeeland, but it is also absolutely not to be underestimated. In particular, the first food convoys to arrive in Amsterdam provided them with a wide variety of goods to sustain them for a month, which was so important for the city to survive the war, for which the Dutch should be grateful.

The day after his arrival at the port, Second Lieutenant Morrean was received by Mader, who had just arrived from The Hague. Mader had just arrived in the Netherlands from Kaffa City, and as the first diplomatic envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to the Netherlands, he had been really busy recently, not only visiting the high-level of the Dutch government, but also the parliamentarians of the Dutch provinces and Zeeland provinces; The city councils of other important cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vlissingen, Leiden, Horen and Enkhuizen are also visited, and these councillors are all influential businessmen, and as a diplomatic envoy who also shoulders the important task of promoting business, Mader has not dared to slack off, so he has been very busy lately.

In addition, he was also responsible for preparing for the opening of the Amsterdam trading station, and if Mo San hadn't sent people from various trading stations to support him, he wouldn't have been able to take care of it at all. The trading post was located on the docks in Amsterdam, and Mader rented a small piece of land with ready-made cranes, ready-made warehouses, and even stevedores. The prices are not very high, because now that Amsterdam is in a business recession, many warehouses are empty, and the owners of these warehouses have to reduce their rents drastically, and with the fact that Mader has rented them for ten years, this rent is even cheaper.

"The trading post in Amsterdam will be ready for use in about a month, otherwise you wouldn't have to go to such trouble." Ma De, who was wearing a striking tunic suit, shook Mo Lie's hand, then looked at this second-generation naval lieutenant, and said with a smile: "The younger generation has grown up, I'm very happy." Your dad is still teaching at Rocha Regimental Fort, right? ”

"Yes, he likes to be quiet, and he is still there with his children, and occasionally asks about the family's various investments, but usually my mother is in charge." Mo Liege replied in a modest manner, and added at the end: "Thanks to the Anglo-Dutch war, the prosperity of domestic industry and commerce has risen sharply recently, and the speed of import and export of commodities has been greatly accelerated. Some of the small workshops and trading companies that my family invested in also took advantage of this shareholder to make a small profit, and I really want to thank the British, hehe. ”

"You can only say this in front of me." Ma De laughed, then turned his head to look around, and said: "Domestic industry, agriculture, and commerce are indeed booming, but the Dutch are sluggish, hehe." However, the British are indeed very prosperous now, I don't know how many Dutch merchant ships they have captured, according to my inquiry, there may have been 600-1000 ships, although most of these ships are small tonnage offshore transport ships, but after all, the number of hundreds of ships is there, not counting the price of the ship, the value of the goods alone may have reached several million yuan. Of course, if they only achieve such a small achievement, it may not be enough to make up for the war funding, but so what? In the long run, they broke the economic oppression of the Dutch, gained a lot of markets that they could not have imagined before, and most importantly, weakened the strength and prestige of their direct competitor the Netherlands. ”

"Holland falls, everyone is full, haha, this is a joke that has been circulating in our navy lately." Mo Lie's eel also responded with a smile, "The last time I heard a novel about serving in the Second Fleet, the Dutch have officially handed over the Tulare Merchant Station, the main hall and outbuildings of the Merchant Station, about several hectares of farmland, more than 1,000 sheep, more than 600 head of cattle, less than 200 employees (most of them are German mercenaries) and some inventory goods, which were sold to the New China Pioneer Team at a discount of 500,000 guilders, and the New China side has now sent immigrants to settle down and plant cotton. Speaking of which, this time the Dutch were cheated a lot and had to cut their meat, but it is said that they insisted on refusing to sell Formosa and the Cape Town colony, hehe, it is estimated that they have not been hurt by the British. ”

"Don't talk about that in the future." Mader patted him on the shoulder and said: "The national policy formulated by the Executive Committee is to unite with the Netherlands to control the UK, and what we need to do now is to close the relationship with the Netherlands." There were no such conditions before, but now they have finally caught up with them through the Anglo-Dutch war, and they have also shown a small face, so why wait for the continued deepening of bilateral relations if the iron is not hot? You must know that the Dutch are strong in the sales network, and we are strong in the production capacity, the cooperation with the Genoese is a model, and the Netherlands is a super-large Genoa, this kind of cooperation is beneficial to our country's industry and agriculture. Therefore, supporting the Netherlands and suppressing the United Kingdom is the next long-term national policy, so let's say less in the future. ”

Hearing this, Mo Liege nodded and satisfied the education of Made, who was a good teacher, which made Mader very happy: "I recently met with Speaker De Witt in The Hague and mentioned the matter of strengthening banking business between the two countries, and Speaker De Witt agreed in principle, but I still have to negotiate separately with the Amsterdam Exchange Bank. This negotiation is not expected to be easy, the Dutch have always been arrogant, especially in their extremely strong financial field, and it is estimated that it will be difficult for them to recognize the various commercial papers of our country's Northwest Reclamation Bank, the United Industrial Credit Bank, the Commercial Clearing Bank, and the New World Friendship and Mutual Bank. Well, let's not talk about it, let's go to dinner first, this is not something that can be discussed for a while, just like when we invited the Dutch to open a trading station in Qingdao Port, without going back and forth for months to a year of negotiations, this kind of thing is basically impossible to have any clue. ”

After that, Mader and Moree got into a special carriage brought from the east coast and headed directly for the city of Amsterdam. Although the supply of materials in the whole city is now very scarce, the consumption of the rich has always been the priority to be satisfied. For example, those more upscale restaurants, no matter what the war is going on outside, will always have plenty of ingredients in their kitchens, and they will never worry about running out of business. While ordinary people in Amsterdam are struggling with skyrocketing prices and food shortages, there are always well-dressed people munching on high-end restaurants – this is Amsterdam, the heart of capitalism, a paradise for the rich. (To be continued......)