In mid-July 1658, the Port of Arhangel. The war that lasted for several years (Poland-Russia War, Poland-Russia War) greatly consumed Russia's national strength, and at the same time made trade more and more popular because Russia needed money.

Cod, salmon, whale oil, animal fat, fur, wax, wood, mast, tar, asphalt, hemp, flax, rope, honey, of course, the largest rye, is a traditional Russian export commodity, which is now packed by a bundled Ross farmer (part-time to obtain valuable cash income, which is extremely important for tax payment in the spring of the following year) and then transported to various ports of Western countries through the White Sea for trade for trade in commercial cities such as Bergen, Hamburg, London, Amsterdam, and Antwerp.

Yang Liang had just arrived here from Moscow, and between them, he had lived in a city with a large number of chaotic wooden houses and various curved alleys for half a year. On the one hand, he was reminiscing with the Russian nobles who had made friends with the army during the war (he was the leader of the East Coast battlefield tour group), and on the other hand, he was on behalf of Zheng Yong, the special envoy of the East Coast plenipotentiary, and came to submit a letter of nationality and wait for the Tsar's reply.

While waiting in Moscow, he received great favor from the Russians. The young Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich warmly invited him to stay in the defensive fortress in the Kremlin Moscow city, which was also the center of political and religious life.

But despite this, he was still very uncomfortable with his life in Russia. He was surprised by the people living on this land. They were so rough and so patient that the soldiers had no complaints about the difficulties they had experienced; the nobles fought twice every day for money, and sometimes were jealous of the situation; the judges randomly decided the case. The defendants were publicly beaten after being arrested until he paid the deposit; the streets were full of drunk men, who were kicked roughly with leather boots by the police officers and soldiers after they got drunk, and were dragged away like dead dogs...

All of this made Yang Liang, a young officer who claimed to be from the east coast of a civilized country, extremely uncomfortable. He once tried to understand all this like an ordinary Russian. However, after a widowed Russian princess fell in love with him, Yang Liang, who was afraid of being forced to convert to the Orthodox Church, immediately ended his life in Moscow, and then ran back to Arkhangel Port in shame with the Tsar's reply, intending to run back to the east coast as soon as possible.

To be fair, Tsar Alexey's favor for East Coast merchants was unparalleled, thanks to the East Coast government's formal approval of the establishment of a shipyard, Xiaoxingxing Shipyard in the later North Devinsk near the estuary of the North Devinsk. The ownership of the shipyard is shared by the East Coast and Russia. The technology (both common in Western Europe at this time, but it is no different from advanced technology for the Russians) and management use East Coast workers, but the ships built are given priority to supply Russia at low prices.

The construction of the Xiaoxing Shipyard greatly consolidated the relationship between Russia and the East Coast, and the Tsar also took the opportunity to give East Coast merchants greater privileges in Russia: "The franchise merchants from the East Coast Republic of China (the number of places agreed separately) will be permanently granted free business licenses and powers. They themselves, their entourages, ships, commodities and all other things shipped by ships are peaceful and free in the territory of Ross. There are no restrictions, criticisms and levies, no direct taxes, tolls and any tariffs. They will not be required to pay any subsidies, and will not be implied to collect them at any time in the future..."

In addition, the Tsar also promised in front of the ministers that East Coast merchants would not be arrested at will in Russia, and would not be detained at will, and would not be hindered by debt or taxes, and could freely believe in their own religion; East Coast merchants could choose agents, shippers, packers, pounders, surveyors and coachmen in Russia at will, and if any misconduct is found, they can be punished and fired; if any East Coast merchants were injured in Russia, the Tsar's officials would implement the punishment they deserve without hesitation in accordance with the emergency situation.

Such generous conditions surprised the East Coast Executive Committee, so they quickly agreed to set up a large-scale gun repair shop in Arkhangel (also using East Coast management and technicians and employed some Russian workers) to specifically use parts transported from the East Coast to repair damaged East Coast rifles. Of course, foreign rifles can also be repaired. As long as the Russians can afford high costs, it can be said to be precise. This is the second domestic furniture in Russia after the Tula Arsenal.

The factory that repairs firearms capabilities, while the construction of the Tula Arsenal was during the honeymoon period of the British-Russian trade. Later, Britain and Russia broke off diplomatic relations, and Russia's technology was not updated. It is conceivable how eager they are for advanced technology from the East Coast. At the same time, the East Coast government also purchased a residential land and its annexes near the St. Maxim Church in Moscow, and then transformed it into a Moscow Merchant Station, which opened up East Coast goods. The trade ties between the two sides are increasingly close.

However, considering the Russians' consistent character, a large number of British technicians came to Russia to guide them in mining and smelting iron, but after their own workers were trained and trained and Ivan IV passed away, the new Tsar immediately confiscated these foreign assets and reclaimed the mines and iron smelting workshops. With such a criminal record, the East Coast people naturally had to guard against the fact that they were left behind in the streets. But even the mainstream technology in Western Europe (not advanced for the East Coast people) had to hide it from the Russians and not let it go if they could not get any benefits. This should be paid attention to.

But no matter what, despite all the bumps and stumbling (for example, the Tsar forced the East Coast people to buy his goods at prices higher than the market, the Tsar often did not abide by the credit levies, the Russian agents ran away, which made it difficult to recover the payment, etc.), the prospect of East Coast trade was still praised by many upper-class people in the two countries, and the annual total import and export volume had risen to more than 300,000 yuan in 1657, which was already a good place for the East Coast dumping. Although the small Brandenburg-Prussia trade volume has also reached 200,000 yuan.

"Recently, some local Russian merchants are clamoring to impose tariffs on us. They are clamoring to impose import tariffs of at least 3% (at this time, the commodity tariffs in other countries are generally above 4%), and at the same time, leaving Arkhangel to sell for the mainland, a 2% toll tax is required. Although Tsar Alexey refused, he could see that he was a little moved. So, Webmaster Shi, please be careful and cautious about everything about Russia. After all, Russians are famous for rebelling." Looking at the five ships loaded with Russian rye (three of which were hired from Hamburg) slowly leaving port to Bax, Spain, Yang Liang said to Schneider, the website manager of Moscow Business Station, who came to see him off, "But don't worry too much."

The Russians are not stupid. They are still fighting a long war with the Poles and have a huge demand for all kinds of war materials. After all, the total number of troops fighting abroad is as high as 150,000 to 200,000, which consumes a huge amount. Look, now he is very flattering to us, the Dutch and some German merchants, and is counting on us to transport military funds for them. In addition, don’t the Tsar also order the two rope making factories of Arhangel to the British? Haha, at the beginning, the current British government kept saying that the king’s blood was soaked with both hands, and was a regicide, but now the situation is pressing, they plan to increase trade ties with the UK. Who doesn’t understand the Russians’ conduct?”

"Yesterday, the Tsar officials of Arkhangel forcibly confiscated more than 2,000 white cotton cloth on the grounds that we bought some Russian prisoners of war from the Tatars. However, according to my observation, the Russians did not really blame us for purchasing Russian slaves. They were just to satisfy their own robbery, a bunch of Slavic barbarians!" Webmaster Schneider said with a smile, "By the way, now I heard that both British and German merchants are going to be in St. Nicholas,

Ports such as Arkhangel pay tariffs normally, and goods are also subject to a lot of taxes when transported to Moscow by water through these places. Dutch merchants' goods can be halved for taxes, but the goods on our east coast are exempted. Although the Tsar officials still imposed some taxes in the actual operation, the burden on them is generally lighter than other countries, which makes us the target of public criticism. Both Russian and European merchants are very jealous..."

"Don't pay attention to them." Yang Liang directed his entourage to pack some of his private luggage in a dozen boxes onto the ship, and then pulled the rope net hanging down from the side of the ship and said, "It's all small things and is not worth mentioning. As long as the Tsar still needs our military resources, goods and technology, he will never completely put his face down to give us good looks. Maybe they will cancel some of our privileges later, but it doesn't matter. We don't point to a Russian market to live, afraid of hair! What we need to worry about now is the attitude of the Swedes. After all, we are too close to the Russians now. Sweden has repeatedly warned us that we will be in trouble in the Livornian market in the future, and maybe we will be raised in tariffs. However, compared with the Russian market, which is more important or less important. Moreover, Russia can export a large amount of food to Spain, which is also of great help to us launch diplomatic actions..."
Chapter completed!