Since James Lancaster led his fleet to establish the first business station in Java in the autumn of 1599, with the prosperity of the British economy, Eastern trade began to enter the sight of mainstream British merchants. Against this background, "the company and adjudication agency of London merchants' trade in East India" (the full name of the British East India Company) came into being.

By 1636, the company had organized dozens of voyages between the East Indies and its homeland, and had made huge profits. In addition, the company also established more than a dozen commercial stations within the Mughal dynasty and the jurisdiction of the South Indian kings. Among them, commercial stations in Surat, Tranquibar Port and other places built forts and dispatched dozens of British soldiers to defend.

Of course, the company's maritime strength is also very strong. According to historical records, between 1600 and 1640, the company had 76 ships, of which 49 had tonnage of more than 300 tons, and some even exceeded 1,000 tons.

Such a powerful company is naturally impressive in the UK. At this time, perhaps only the Livante Company, which operates the Eastern Mediterranean Turkey trade, can stabilize the East India Company. Of course, many shareholders of the East India Company are also shareholders of the Livante Company.

Nicholas Green is such a great businessman with great energy. His thousands of pounds of investment in Turkish companies (the predecessor of Levante, merged with Venice to form Levante) in his early years have brought him dozens of times more returns. In recent years, his investment in Moscow companies, Virginia companies and East India companies have made his assets rise steadily.

The success of business investment has won a lot of praise in the circle of London merchants and aristocratic people. Some nobles and even close ministers of the king secretly asked him to trade with shareholders India. This made him feel very good, and everyone, including himself, thought that he could continue to succeed until the bad news he got this morning.

"What did you say? William is dead?" Nicholas Green asked Nick standing in front of him angrily. The slightly trembling voice showed the violent fluctuations in his mood at this moment.

"Yes, honorable Mr. Green." Nick Warnham, former close assistant of William Clifford, said sadly: "The captain blamed himself for his rash initiation of war with the East Coast people. He decided to sink with the Lucky Gianni and compensate all the captains who accompanied him for their losses."

"William has such a personality!" Green slapped the table heavily, then looked at Nick coldly, and said, "Newcastle people, can you ten ships not beat the five ships of the East Coast? And then it also caused my nephew William to be defeated and sunk? What a ridiculous thing!"

"God testified!" Nick Warnham said excitedly: "I regret not following the captain at that moment a hundred times, but I have a more important task. The East Coast people of the New World have intercepted merchant ships attacking the Kingdom in the vast waters from Massachusetts Bay to Chesapeake Bay for two consecutive years. They are also engaged in trade competition with the Kingdom in La Plata, Brazil, and New Spain. The trade volume of many kingdom merchants has shrunk significantly and they have to turn to other regions to operate, which has disrupted the economic order elsewhere. Mr. Green, you are a veteran of the Levant Company and a senator of the East India Company. The war-sinking Virginia Company's "Warrior" merchant ship has your cargo. Please join other damaged shipowners and companies as soon as possible to put pressure on the parliament and the king, and take decisive measures to stop the evil actions of the East Coast people."

Green looked at Nick coldly for several minutes. Then he adjusted his mood and asked reluctantly: "What ships have you lost this time?"

"The Lucky Jenny of the East India Company was defeated and captured; the Warrior of the Virginia Company was sunk; the Flying Bird of the Merchant Adventurer Company lost two-thirds of the cargo; in addition, the Virginia Company's "Prosperity" was severely damaged and needed overhaul; in addition, we lost about four hundred sailors in total." Nick said in detail, all of which were counted after he returned to Portsmouth.

Nicholas Green pondered for a long time before asking, "Why are it sure that it was made by the East Coast?"

"Their artillery fire rate is very fast and has high accuracy. The ships with the same tonnage carry twice as many artillery artillery than those of the kingdom. According to the judgment of the captains, everyone agreed that this was the 'Tatan cannon'. The naval East Coast people of the 'Tatan cannon' are never sold, and they are always reserved for their own use. Therefore, it is basically certain that the enemy we encountered this time was the East Coast people from the New World." The reasons Nick mentioned were also the unanimous views of the captains after the war. Even according to a sailor who had boarded the East Coast people's warships, he even saw the faces of the East Coast people in the battle. Combined with the analysis of intelligence from all aspects, this was obviously a senior officer of the East Coast people.

"Did people from the East Coast come last year?"

"Yes." Nick nodded affirmatively. "Last year, three Virginia ships full of tobacco disappeared, and we have good reason to suspect that this was also done by the East Coast people."

After hearing this, Nicholas Green fell into silence for a longer time.

"The Kingdom will not fight any war now." After a long time, Green spoke slowly and said: "The King's attention has never been to the Habsburg family. Small-scale naval wars far away in the New World are far from arousing his interest. Last year, the Mediterranean trade accounted for 45% of the total exports of the Kingdom's commodity, and exports to Western Europe, Northern Europe, Baltic region, Russia and other traditional markets accounted for 47%. In contrast, exports to the New World and the Far East accounted for only 8% of the total exports of the Kingdom's commodity. The king and gentlemen can naturally distinguish between the more important ones."

Nick closed his eyes in disappointment. Mr. Green had made it clear that the king and all the big men would not start a light battle with other countries for this small dispute, especially at the moment when the kingdom government is in extremely difficult finances.

In order to support Sweden to continue the war with the Habsburgs, the king not only levied a large amount of heavy taxes in the country, but even sold the dowry of his wife, Princess Maria, the sister of Louis XIII, which shows the financial difficulties of Britain. At this time, another huge expedition to the New World was launched. Nick used his toes to think about it and knew that this was impossible.

"The war at the national level is impossible, but we can think of other ways." Nicholas Green suddenly said, "Although I don't do textile business, I also know that cotton textiles from India now account for a higher proportion of East India companies. Now the East Coast people sell textiles everywhere, and even I have heard of them in London. The South France region has become a paradise for East Coast businessmen to revel in. Many senators in the company have been dissatisfied with this for a long time. Now, East Coast people's textiles are gradually eroding the market originally occupied by Indian cotton at a slow but firm pace. It is time to end their golden time."

"What will the gentlemen of the East India Company do?"

"What else can I do?" Nicholas Green glared at Nick: "As long as their goods cannot reach the ports of France, how can they do business? We have never said that kindness to our competitors, whether they are Dutch, Venetian or East Coast! Also, there are many partnership joint-stock companies on the docks in Portsmouth, London and other places. You can go to them and tell them how wealthy the East Coast people are and how busy the merchant ships traveling to and from the Old Continent are. Don't worry, someone will be moved."

Nick nodded in understanding.

"No one can continue to get away with the law after hurting my nephew!" Nicholas Green murmured as he looked at the rainy London days outside the window.

The following month of July, London was spent in a restless atmosphere.

Because the king appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked the Scottish elders' church to adopt the prayer book of the Anglican Church when praying, the relationship between Scotland and England became increasingly tense. The king wanted to increase taxes to raise military expenses to attack Scotland, but the conditions proposed by the members of the parliament were quite harsh. The king was furious and did not agree, so the two sides continued to have endless disputes.

When these political events attracted the attention of the vast majority of people, Nicholas Green's unremitting running, East India Company, Virginia Company, Massachusetts Bay Company in London, Bermuda Company, Plymouth Company in London, and some representatives of less-influential companies such as Canadian companies, Provence Company, and Guyana Company gathered together. After several rounds of repeated consultations, these companies with their respective colonial and commercial interests in the New World reached a preliminary agreement that the East Coast people must resolutely curb privateing activities near the East Coast coast, and give them the necessary punishment, and actively demand compensation for previous piracy through diplomatic means.

Many companies have colonies in the Americas, and they are deeply distressed by the pirate invasion of the East Coast people. The East Indian company has a high degree of commercial competition with the East Coast people, so they quickly reached a plan to dispatch a joint fleet to attack the East Coast people's maritime transportation lines and even attack the East Coast people's local area.

As for the specific details of the plan, since it involves the amount of warships, personnel, materials sent by various companies and the way of raising funds, it may be difficult to figure it out for a while, but things are moving forward in an irreversible way.
Chapter completed!