Mo San is indeed facing considerable financial difficulties now. △

Since the French issued a tariff increase order for foreign goods in the second half of last year, the sales of East Coast goods in France have plummeted. The local East Coast goods agents Pasquere, the Loris family and the Baron Toulouse family have all cut the import volume of East Coast white cotton cloth to the greatest extent. Not only that, the import volume of finished textile products such as cloaks, burqas, tablecloths, curtains, towels, scarves, socks, etc. has also dropped sharply, and the sales of medium and high-end goods such as dyed cloth, printed cloth, knitwear, and other East Coast goods have also declined significantly; in addition to textiles, the sales of other East Coast goods have also generally encountered Waterloo.

After these unfavorable factors interacted with each other, the profit of Bordeaux, the most profitable merchant station in Europe in the East Coast Republic, dropped sharply. Although the profits of 1649 were not greatly affected because it was a law issued in the second half of last year, the profits of 1649 were not greatly affected, but this year (1650) was definitely over. It would be good to get back a profit of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan throughout the year, which is incomparable to the annual net profit of 100,000 yuan in previous years.

The Bordeaux Merchant Station is like this, and the business of the Merchant Station located in Florence has even declined. In the past two years, the annual profits of the people in the East Coast have been almost tens of thousands of yuan, which is very pitiful. At the end of last year, Mo San went to Florence to check the accounts and found that the annual profit was about 20,000 yuan. This made him urge to close the Merchant Station and divert personnel to other places, but in the end he was reluctant to leave the man in the East Coast Station in northern central Italy. After withdrawing, he could not collect local intelligence and recruit immigrants and technicians. Therefore, he finally decided to keep the Merchant Station in Florence until the end of 1650, and then see the situation before settling.

However, in terms of the current harsh business environment (at the end of 1649, the Grand Duke of Tuscany also issued a law to increase import tariffs on foreign goods). It is difficult to say whether this commercial station can make a profit this year. Mo San has made up his mind. If the commercial station's small profit or loss amount was not very large (within 10,000 yuan), then continue to keep the commercial station for a year; of course, if the loss amount is large, then it must be closed resolutely, and personnel must either be transferred back to the local area or diverted to other profitable commercial stations to help.

The two commercial stations in Bordeaux and Florence were in a dilemma, but Ze Commercial Station was forced to close due to political reasons. The business conditions of Riga Commercial Station, the last commercial station in Europe (excluding the Ottoman Empire), unexpectedly had a turnaround. In this commercial station led by Zheng Yongzhi, the Eastern Coast people obtained a total of about 110,000 yuan in net profit last year. Although the data is not much different from previous years, you should know that the commercial station purchased an old ship in Amsterdam last year and recruited some sailors. In addition, seven ships were sent to the local area to charter ships, and supported a considerable start-up fee to the newly established Arkhangelsk Commercial Station. After removing these large expenses, they could still earn more than 100,000 yuan in cash, which is enough to show that the commercial station is operating properly.

The reason why Riga Trading Stations emerged in a bleak clouds was mainly because they successfully opened up markets in other regions of Livornia, such as the Principality of Kurland, the Principality of Prussia, etc. In addition, although the Kingdom of Poland ordered the East Coast people to close the merchant stations in Danze, there were still some Polish or Dutch merchants (Dutch wholesalers who specialize in Polish business) who used Livornia to sell East Coast goods to Poland, which brought a lot of profits. This allowed the East Coast people to continue to develop in the pearl city of Riga, the Baltic Sea.

After taking stock of these three commercial stations, the rest is naturally the Ottoman market, which is mainly operated by the East Coast Republic. Compared with other places, the East Coast people set up five commercial stations in Smyrna, Thessalonika, Burgas, Kafa and Suez in the Ottoman Empire. The density is amazing. Moreover, these five commercial stations have a wide variety of commercial products, a huge transaction volume, a deep degree of business operations, and a lot of additional tasks that are incomparable to other commercial stations in Europe.

To be honest, the Ottoman Empire is actually the biggest funder of the East Coast people!

Among these five commercial stations, it is not necessary to say that Suez commercial station is a policy commercial station that has always undertaken the heavy responsibility of transporting materials and population. Mo San did not expect it to make money. Therefore, even though this commercial station has been on the brink of profit and loss over the years, Mo San never had the idea of ​​closing it; Smyrna Port was the largest commercial port in the Ottoman Empire at this time, and the merchant station opened by the East Coast people here was also the most profitable of the five commercial stations. It can bring nearly 600,000 yuan in net profit to the East Coast people every year, far exceeding the profit of only 300,000 yuan, and 250,000 yuan respectively; in addition, the merchant stations opened by the East Coast people in Kafa are quite special, and the main face of the Ottomans (Kafa is the regional center of the enclave north of the Black Sea, with a small population), but mainly doing business in the Crimean Khanate.

As we all know, the Tatars in the Crimean Khanate have always been a nomadic people who only know how to plunder but not build. Although their habits have changed in recent years under the influence of the Ottomans. For example, they will capture a large number of Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians and Russians to farm and work for them, the Crimean Khanate is essentially a semi-nova semi-agricultural regime. Therefore, their demand for daily necessities and all other commodities is extremely huge.

Moreover, this group of people were generous and were not used to bargaining, so the large amount of money that came from the Grass Valley each year flowed into the pockets of the large wholesale merchants. In the past, the Jewish merchants in the Ottoman Empire were naturally the Jewish merchants in the Ottoman Empire. Later, the people on the East Coast squeezed in, but with the signs of Nasukh Pasha and other powerful figures, they were only limited to arms business, and they also had to buy a large number of slaves from Jewish merchants every year - this was actually a disguised protection fee - so they barely obtained the qualification to set up a merchant station in Kafa.

But now the backstage of the Jewish merchants on the north coast of the Black Sea has fallen. Whether it is the former Sultan's teacher, Sinsi Hauka, or the Empress Dowager Kosem Sultan, they are all dead and prisoners, and they are in prison, fading out of the political stage. Now the people who call on the stage are naturally the powerful figures of the army who were suppressed in the past (the East Coast people are quite friendly), the palace eunuch Lala Suleiman Aga, the biological mother of Sultan Muhammad, the Russian female slaves, and there are also secular forces, representatives of local power factions, Nasukh Pasha, Navy Pasha, Aleppo Pasha (Governor of Syria), Egypt Pasha, etc.

Among these forces, the East Coast people and the army - whether it is the Ghanisari Legion or the Sipahi Legion - have always had a good relationship. A while ago, the leader of the Ghanisari Legion, Kara Murad Aga even asked Mo San for a project payment that had been owed for more than half a year, which shows the good relationship between the two sides. In addition, the Azov Chamber of Commerce, which is operated by local powerful parties, has been increasingly involved in the slave trade in recent years, and also acted as agents of the East Coast people's martial arts

Products such as instruments, textiles, etc., and sold them to Crimea, Caucasus and other regions, making a lot of profits. Once there is a profit, the relationship between the two parties becomes more stable, which is why the Kafa Trading Station of the East Coast people has become more prosperous in recent years. According to statistics in 1649, Kafa Trading Station contributed about 250,000 yuan in profits to the East Coast people throughout the year, ranking third with the Thessalonika Trading Station, but in terms of growth, it ranks first.

The entire Ottoman market contributes more than 1.4 million yuan in huge profits to the East Coast people every year. This money is the key to maintaining the healthy operation of the economic system, social system and military machines of the entire East Coast. Of course, these huge profits are also the confidence that Mo San relies on to dance in Europe and is engaged in exploring everything. For example, the decision to decide on 15,000 Polish female slaves, and the purchase of Polish prisoners of war, is a big deal of more than one million yuan. Without a large amount of financial support, he cannot do such a big thing.

But now things have obviously changed. Because the profit from the Bordeaux merchant station has dropped sharply by 60 to 70%, and after deducting the cost of purchasing supplies, sending local cash and opening up new markets, Mo San suddenly found that he might not have enough money. Although in a short period of time, the funds have not yet been exhausted, out of the plan to prepare for the future, there will be no more major expenses this year. Well, the Tatars transported quite a lot of Polish women and prisoners of war to the Azov Chamber of Commerce. Polish women may be able to eat it. This is a short "commodity", but prisoners of war are unable to buy it anyway - unless they can re-negotiate, they can only buy a part of it. After all, the funds are too tight.

While calculating the expenditure, Mo San gritted his teeth and took out a sum of funds, intending to continue to expand the number of merchant stations in the Ottoman Empire and further expand his market share. The potential of this huge market with a population of more than 30 million is far from being completely explored. In Mo San's plan, in the next three years, he will open three to four merchant stations in the Ottoman territory, and the locations are almost selected, namely Aleppo, Basra, Alexander and Tirana.
Chapter completed!