On May 10, the First Fleet left the ocean near Massachusetts in a rainy rain.

Lu Ming was walking on the wide deck of the "August 10th" wearing an oilcloth raincoat. There were some wind and waves on the sea and the ship was jogging violently, but Lu Ming was patrolling the deck like a flat ground. He stayed on the ship for several years, and now he is a veteran sailor.

"The British are so poor. After staying here for a week, he only grabbed a fishing boat that transports fur." ​​Navy Lieutenant Demer, who is already the commander of the battleship "August 10", muttered. He from the Netherlands looked down on these bitter British men. If Lu Ming had not refused, he would have taken people up to take the broken villages of those British men.

"Did you see their poor side?" Lu Ming turned around and looked at the long sailing behind him. At this time, the rain became a little heavier, and the hair on Demer's forehead was completely wet, and he was pressed against his forehead.

"In 1620, the Mayflower was carrying the Laden Mass and some of the Strangers. Half of them died in the first winter. Later, with the help of the Indians, they learned to plant and hunt, and barely took root." Lu Ming said slowly, "It has only been more than ten years. Now the British have spread all over Massachusetts. The immigration ships of the Massachusetts Bay Company have continuously transported a large number of immigrants from the local area. Now, they have an autonomous government. If they can continue to develop like this, they may become a strong competitor of our country in the future." Lu Ming patted Demel's shoulder and said worriedly, "Okay. My sailor is back to your post now. Go and check our route."

"Yes, Captain." Demer saluted and couldn't help asking before turning around and leaving: "Will this colony really become a powerful enemy of our country?"

"Maybe." Lu Ming replied without any comment.

"Then destroy her! We will cut the wool once a year from now on to see how she develops!" Navy Lieutenant Demer clenched his fists and said.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the drainage holes on the battleship "August 10" had been opened. Five warships cut through the waves in the surging sea water and advanced towards the next destination. After wasting days in Massachusetts, the First Fleet had decided to go south to Chesapeake Bay. Only the wealthy Virginia could provide enough wealth for the First Fleet.

Just as the First Fleet was struggling in the storm, the British fleet under the command of William Clifford was openly anchored in the port of St. Augustine, the capital of the Spanish colony of Florida.

Since the large-scale pirate siege two years ago, the Spaniards learned from their mistakes and spent tens of thousands of pesos to repair and expand the forts at the mouth of the Matanzas River and the castles in the river port. Now, the forts at the mouth of the river have been fortified, the number of artillery has increased to 16, and some army soldiers have been deployed to defend. The castle walls in the river port have also been expanded and increased. Not only has the artillery position at the top of the city doubled, but wooden stakes and chains were set up in many places in the river channel to prevent the enemy ships from approaching.

Of course, there are so many new things. No one can do it. For this reason, the general of the Florida, a kingdom of Spain stationed here, asked his superiors to increase their staff. So, last year and this year, the Governor of New Spain sent several batches of immigrants to St. Augustine. Among them, some Indians were transported from Mexico, Spanish and Italians immigrated from their native lands, and many Central Europeans were brought from Austrian prisons.

With these new immigrants, the population of St. Augustine exceeded 3,000 in one fell swoop, becoming one of the few big cities in New Spain. New Central and Southern European immigrants reclaimed many wastelands under the organization of Florida Generals. They planted corn, sugar cane and tobacco leaves on the wastelands. After two years of development, St. Augustine, the best place in East Florida, has once again restored its former prosperity.

This is also the reason why these British fleets came to trade. However, this year, they encountered some different situations - the old market that has remained unchanged in previous years seemed to have undergone some changes this year.

Simply put, these Spanish people don’t seem to be very interested in the cloth they traded for. They seem to be only willing to pick among the velvets, and they are also clamoring that the price is too expensive, which will make the British slightly lower the price.

William Clifford and his deputy Nick looked at each other, and both of them saw something wrong in each other's eyes.

Clifford comes from the East India Company and has always made profits by re-exporting Indian cotton. After the British imposed high tariffs on Indian cotton, he has always used the Netherlands, North France and other regions as the market, among which the Netherlands market is the most important. The rich lowland areas provided Clifford with a large amount of profit, making him a businessman that cannot be underestimated in the East India Company.

However, as the investment in the local cotton textile industry in the Netherlands has increased year by year in recent years, market competition has become increasingly fierce. The quality of cotton fabrics of the Netherlands textiles is getting better and better, and the prices are amazingly cheap, and many Indian cotton markets have been eroded. In order to get rid of this increasingly unfavorable situation, William Clifford spent a lot of money to break through some old relations in the Kingdom of Spain and obtained the right to trade in certain Spanish ports in the New World.

The large market of one or two million people in the New World cannot be underestimated, and these people's purchasing power is generally very strong. In the first few years, William Clifford and some of his partners made a lot of money through this disguised market monopoly, until the black encounter in Colonia two years ago. Since then, they have never been to La Plata, and have not even been to Brazil under the control of the Portuguese. They have basically given up the market there and started to do their best to operate the Caribbean surroundings, which is considered to be in peace with the East Coast people.

But today, something seems to be wrong.

"William, we are old friends, you can't cheat me like this." A middle-aged Spanish businessman looked at William Clifford with a slight look and said, "Look at your Indian cotton cloth, it's light and breathable enough, but it's not tough enough! If I wear this kind of cotton cloth, I will definitely wear out the clothes I can't do for a month. Moreover, your price is 4 pesos per piece! God, East Coast cloth is better than Indian cloth, only 2.5 pesos per piece. If I buy your cloth, I'm sure I can't sell any one. Well, William, for the sake of old friends, I want all the floral and dyed cloth you have on hand, but you have to drop the price. The current price is too high. The East Coast cloth has hit the market very hard this year. Even the high-end cloth market has to lower the price for sales."

"What? Are you talking about East Coast just now?" William Clifford frowned and asked in a consultative tone.

"Yes." The Spanish merchant nodded silently and said, "Some merchants from St. Augustine joined forces to rent a boat to the east coast and bought a large number of East Coast white cotton cloths and returned to St. Augustine. I asked someone to buy one and saw it. The quality is indeed quite good. It is not only light and breathable, but also tough and has a stable quality. To be honest, Indian white cotton cloth is not competitive in this regard, not to mention that you have set an inappropriate price for these cotton cloths. Now, perhaps only on dyed cloths and flower cloths that the East Coast people have not yet entered can you make some money."

"Are you from the East Coast again..." William Clifford was a little annoyed, and thought in fear, "It's not enough to swallow the market in La Plata, and now he has finally extended his tentacles to the market in the Caribbean."

Faced with the complaints of middle-aged Spanish merchants, Clifford was speechless. He was unable to follow up on the price of 2.5 pesos (2 yuan) per white cotton cloth for the East Coast, because this was basically his cost line. It seemed that he could only find a way to transport these Indian white cotton cloth to Guinea and even the Moorish territory for sale.

Soon, Sheldon, Hampton, Hill and others also walked over dejectedly. A lot of their woolen velvets were sold, but the price was far from the high price they imagined. The Spaniards even threatened that if the British insisted on such unreasonable high prices, they would turn to buy woolen from the East Coast people. This trick completely defeated the shareholders of the British merchant adventurer company. After a brief round of negotiations, they had to carry out a painful price cut, almost overwhelming the thinnest profit.

Amid the lament of British merchants, William Clifford, who only sold a small amount of dyed cloth, turned his head to the distance.

"Maybe, it's time to take some measures to limit the unscrupulous development of the East Coast people." He thought to himself, "The bureaucrats of the East India Company should also wake up. It's time to do something."

On May 13, the British merchant fleet, who had been wandering in St. Augustine for two or three days, raised sails and left the city that had brought them countless wealth and headed north towards Jamestown, Virginia.

The unsalable sales of some of the goods in their hands and the cheap sale of large amounts of wool velvet made these British merchants feel a little depressed because it means that they are not able to recover enough funds to acquire tobacco from the Virginia region. If they cannot acquire enough tobacco, it means that they will lose a lot of income. You should know that Virginia tobacco has always been in short supply at this time in the UK and even the European continent.
Chapter completed!