The winter in the Principal of Moscow is extremely cold. Compared with the "gentle" winter in Lavonia, the winter in Arhangel is simply not something that people can live. At least, judging from the feeling of Zheng Yong's first winter here, he may no longer want to return to this place that is so cold that it can freeze people's ears.

However, Zheng Yong also knew that this was just a saying. When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clearly stated that it is important to operate the Greater Northern Region, as the general head of diplomacy, business, intelligence and other affairs in this region, Zheng Yong must have been back and forth between Riga, Arhangel and even Moscow for a long time.

With the complete loss of the French market (now maintained by part of the smuggling trade only), the markets in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and northern Italy (the status of Florence commercial stations is becoming increasingly awkward) are also shrinking under the intentional or unintentional restrictions of locals. Today, the East Coast industry has reached an urgent need to find new alternative markets.

The Greater Northern Region (King of Sweden, Livonia, and Moscow) has a population of nearly 20 million. Originally, only Dutch merchants and a few British merchants were involved. In terms of industry and commerce, it was basically a primitive virgin land. This is also the only market left for East Coast people to explore today. After all, compared with opening up markets in other mature countries, although the residents here have limited consumption capacity, the competition is not fierce at all, and there is no need to risk offending vested interests - this is very important - very suitable for the operation of today's East Coast Republic.

Therefore, the local foreign ministry has officially made major decisions: in the future, the focus of diplomatic resources and commercial resources will be shifted to the three major regions, namely the Greater Spain, the Ottoman Empire and the Greater Northern Region. Among these three regions, Greater Spain and the Ottoman Empire obviously need to compete with merchants from other countries. At present, the market share of East Coast commodities in Greater Spain has steadily increased. But there will be an upper limit in the end; and the Ottoman Empire is too chaotic, and a lot of money cannot be returned in time, and the competition is quite fierce, so these two markets are more or less flawed.

But the market in the north is different. Not to mention the Swedish kingdom that the Dutch focused on, as well as the Livornian market divided by the Netherlands, the East Coast and the German merchants. Just talking about the huge market of the Principal of Moscow could dominate, it would be enough to make people excited. What's even better is that the development of this market has only been in recent decades in Europe. At first, it was the English, and then the Dutch also followed the English's footsteps and made a strife.

In other words, if the East Coast people wanted to enter this market, they would have only these two competitors. No, perhaps only the Netherlands is left now! Because after the British executed King Charles I, Moscow was extremely angry. Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich ordered the severance of all diplomatic relations with Britain and restrict British merchants from trading at the Port of Arhangel - of course a few were pardoned. For example, the famous Sir John Merik, but the British merchants as a whole no longer existed - and the Tsar also used money and food to fund Charles II in exile.

The first English merchants to explore the market of the Principality of Moscow suffered this unrestrained disaster. They were all in tears, but the will of the Tsar was not something they could turn around, so most of them had to take a burden and roll back to their hometowns and wait for the situation to change quietly. At this time, it was obvious that the East Coast merchants were given the opportunity to intervene. Moreover, the Moscows also issued a clear invitation, and they invited the East Coast Republic to change their clothes for their numerous and large-scale troops.

After receiving this invitation, Mo San spent more than a year in contact with the local area, and finally made up his mind to open a business station in the port of Arhangel to fully operate this huge market with a population of more than 16 million. Because this can greatly avoid the fiercely competitive Western and Central European markets and avoid offending the Dutch businessmen with deep power here. After all, in the Principality of Moscow, the Dutch have only been here for a while, and the scale of business and connections are not very good, and it is limited to the people on the East Coast. It can be said that as long as the East Coast finds ways to stabilize these Dutch merchants and eliminate their dissatisfaction, then they can completely control the huge market of the Principality of Moscow. Although in this country with most serfs, the number of consumer groups is limited, but they have a population of 16 million, and the total consumption cannot be underestimated.

In Zheng Yong's opinion, it was not a big deal to stabilize these small Dutch merchants. These Dutch people mainly engaged in grain trade, that is, transporting cheap rye produced in large quantities in the Principal of Moscow to Amsterdam as a strategic weapon for the Dutch to indirectly influence European countries (the Amsterdam market controls nearly 70% of the grain trade volume in Europe). In addition, the scale of the paraffin, rope, wood, and tar business is still quite small and is not the focus of the Dutch's business.

In other words, as long as they promise not to interfere with the Dutch's tight food business, these Dutch merchants would most likely take a default attitude towards the competitor who suddenly broke into the East Coast, which would be much easier! What's more, in the plan of Mosan and others, as the British-Dutch war approached, the environment of the East Coast people in the Principal of Moscow would be increasingly improved, that is, if the locals in the East Coast coordinate interests with the Dutch and reach some commercial agreements - such as asking the Dutch to give up other commercial activities in the Principal of Moscow, it would not be out of reach to completely exclude other competitors and dominate the entire Moscow market.

At that time, textiles, high-end leather goods, metal agricultural tools, high-quality weapons, mining machinery, ships, spirits, drugs and even some building materials on the east coast will pour into this unguarded country like a tide. While making a fortune, it will also greatly drive the development of domestic industry, agriculture and shipping industries, and have an immeasurable positive impact on the entire economy and society.

In addition, for some goods that are expensive to produce or do not produce at all, the East Coast can also act as a dealer like the Dutch, purchase them from other markets, and then resell them to Moscows, and make a lot of money from them. The specific operation method can be learned from the Dutch, which they did in the Baltic countries. They controlled everything from Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and North Germany, sold Western European industrial products to these countries, and then transported all kinds of goods such as grain, livestock, leather, ships, masts, ropes, hemp, paraffin, honey, tar, copper, iron, lead and tin back to Amsterdam for sale. Not only did they make a lot of money from these re-handling trades, they also used this killer weapon to control the flow of goods to seek many political benefits - Dutch merchants are really the smartest group of people in Europe.

Since people can do this, there is no reason for the East Coast people not to do this. What? Will the Dutch express dissatisfaction? Don't worry, this will not be a problem soon! The only thing to worry about now is that the East Coast people are not in the Duchy of Moscow and cannot operate such a big scene. However, this problem is not unsolvable. Zheng Yong focused on visiting the famous nobles, merchants and priests in the Arhangel area to raise relations with them, send gifts, and tentatively proposed the idea of ​​going to Moscow to meet His Majesty the Tsar.

The situation in Ukraine is becoming increasingly tense, and it is when Moscows have a desire for the East Coast. Even the Polish and Lithuanian Commonwealth are a little regretful. They feel that they should not have cut off relations with the East Coast so resolutely before, so that the cost of war has increased significantly. Therefore, Zheng Yong felt that he should seize the opportunity to meet the Tsar and some Duma members in Moscow (usually aristocrats), establish some cooperation channels, finalize some investment agreements, and complete some commercial orders.

You should know that the British initially took advantage of the Moscow's desire for Western technology to invest heavily in the Principality of Moscow and gain an advantageous position. For example, Sir John Merik, who now controls a large proportion of the marijuana cultivation and rope making industry in the Principality of Moscow, is the best among these merchants. He even worked as an intermediary for the signing of a peace treaty between Moscow and Sweden more than 30 years ago, which shows how powerful his influence is.

Sir Merik, who was born into a businessman, has made such a big situation in Moscow. Zheng Yong, who was strongly supported by the East Coast Republic of China, naturally had the confidence to make a huge world in the Principality of Moscow. This country on the brink of civilization is now a paradise for adventurers. The British invested in the rope industry, the Swedes established iron workshops here, the Dutch controlled the grain trade, and the Principality of Moscow started the start of industry with a difficult time under the new ideas and new technologies brought by these foreign merchants. Now the reputation of industrial goods on the East Coast is high quality and low quality and reliable quality has spread in many regions, and the Moscow people naturally have heard of it. Therefore, they urgently hope that the East Coast merchants and even the government can invest in them, help them improve various technologies, and even help them cultivate technical talents to enhance the strength of the Principality of Moscow.

Moscow still remembers the war for the throne many years ago, and the Smolensk War. They can't forget that the Ukrainians asked them for help three times in recent decades, but they refused because they were afraid of Poland. This was a heart-warming shame for the young tsar!
Chapter completed!