My British Empire

  Chapter 374 Hanseatic League

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  The opening of the new sea route made the merchants in the entire city of London cheer.

   This is a fat and huge cake.

  From now on, the entire market of the Principality of Moscow has been thrown into the embrace of England. As a result, a large amount of wealth has been monopolized by England, and the number of gold coins in it cannot be counted.

   Just when everyone was happy, another rumor spread: His Majesty the King granted the monopoly of the new route to the newly established Moscow company.

  Everyone saw this, and their mood began to drop. However, although the Moscow company controls the route, the goods are still provided by them. The saddest thing is just those shipping companies!

   "It's really great, what a timely rain! Our company is saved!"

  London, the suburbs, the William Wool Factory is a woolen factory that was established only half a year ago. There are more than 100 male and female workers. In terms of the whole of London, it is only an intermediate level.

  But that's it. The owner of the factory has been booing and sighing for a while, worrying about the future of the whole factory.

  Since Princess Mary married Spain, almost all markets in Spain and the Mediterranean region have opened their arms to English businessmen.

   This is a huge market, and the original textile factory alone cannot fill it anyway.

   At this time, the merchants and nobles in London and England went crazy, investing heavily in pounds and building new factories.

As a result, in less than a year, nearly 500 miles of textile factories were born in less than a year, like mushrooms after rain, with 10,000 looms and more than 20,000 male and female workers. , nearly one-tenth of London's population.

  A large number of refugees and unemployed people came to London, which could not meet the needs of factories.

   At this time, the serfs in Eastern Europe, the savages in Ireland, and the blacks in Africa all became slave labor in factories.

  In this way, the establishment of a large number of factories contributed huge tax revenue to London, and the merchants and investing nobles also made a large amount of profits, and everyone was happy.

  However, in the later period, the blank market has been occupied by the predecessors, and newly established factories like the William Wool Factory can only eat leftovers and barely make a living, let alone profit.

   Regarding this, the owner of the factory, Hoffman William, was so anxious that his head hurt. The half-dead state of the factory made the investors behind him extremely dissatisfied.

More importantly, in order to build the factory, he not only attracted investment from some nobles, but also borrowed a loan of 5,000 pounds from the bank. In three months, he will hand over the principal with interest of 10,000 pounds. What is the current situation? Come up with the money.

   Is it really necessary to mortgage the property? Hoffman hesitated, his eyes kept rolling.

   This is his last retreat, and it is also his only choice at present.

  Hoffman shook his head fiercely, as if he could discard the thought in his mind, but this thought took root and firmly appeared in his heart.

  At this time, he thought of his lovely blond short-haired daughter, his round-headed son who just could talk, and the clips where he would say a few foul words from time to time and like to reprimand his wife and others.

  The corners of his mouth slowly turned up, but in an instant, he turned into the original frowning look, and the gleam in his eyes also scattered, gradually turning gray.

   "Mr. William, Mr. William! It's time for lunch!" At this time, a call came from his ear.

   "Thank you, I'm not hungry, Rona, put it there!"

  Hearing the voice, Hoffman knew that it was the voice of the factory cook. She usually provided lunch for the factory workers.

   "By the way, what happened at the pier today? So lively!"

  Hoffman, who has been busy in the factory for the past few days, only knows that there will be a big bustle at Stington Pier, but he doesn't know the specific situation. The company's plight occupies all his thinking time.

   "It seems that a route to the East has been discovered. I don't know what it is. I only know that a new route has been discovered. His Majesty the King went to welcome him in person and conferred him a knighthood in front of everyone! That's really..."

  Lorna stood in front of Hoffman, with a radiant look on her face, and began to introduce the specific plot to her boss with relish. The more she talked, the more she spoke, her saliva was flying in all directions.

   And the people behind Hoffman didn't listen, and only remembered one word: new route.

  Hearing this, his eyes lit up, he stood up immediately, thought for a while, and then ran out.

   "It's really great, what a timely rain! Our company is saved!"

   "God bless, thank you Lord, thank you Lord!"

   While running, Hoffman's voice spread throughout the office and the factory.

  The workers looked at the somewhat crazy factory manager with surprise on their faces.

   "The factory manager is also crazy, it seems that he can't continue!" "It's a pity, the factory manager is quite handsome! Sigh!"...

   For a while, rumors spread around the William factory, and people panicked.

  Of course, it is not only the workers who are panicking, but also the merchants of the Hanseatic League.

  The Hanseatic League, which is a commercial and political alliance formed between cities in northern Germany.

  The word Hanse means "public office" or "guild hall" in German. It was gradually formed in the 13th century, and reached prosperity in the 14th century, with a maximum of 160 franchised cities.

   To put it bluntly, it is an alliance of commercial cities headed by the four major cities of Lübeck, Hamburg, Cologne, and Bremen.

  From North Germany to the Rhine River, as well as Eastern Europe, Ireland and England, almost all the sphere of influence of the Hanseatic League.

   It has arms and a vault. Most famously, in 1370, the Hanseatic Allied Forces defeated Denmark and signed the Treaty of Stralsund.

   It declined in the 15th century and disintegrated in 1669.

   Among them, London in England, Bruges in Flanders, Bergen in Norway and Novgorod in Russia are the four major trading stations of the Hanseatic League.

  Novgorod was occupied by Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow in 1478, expelling the Hanseatic merchants. In London, England, it is currently abolished by Edward, and also includes some privileges of the Hanseatic League.

  In fact, by this time, the Hanseatic League was already in decline. The Netherlands, Denmark, and England were all taking advantage of the fire and looting, and began to rob the Hanseatic League of business shares.

  By this time, the merchants in the Netherlands were fully capable of replacing the Hanseatic League and supporting huge shipping.

  But the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, still suppressing the Dutch.

  The Netherlanders gradually gained a reputation as sea coachmen.

   "It's unreasonable that the English bypassed us and opened a route to Moscow!"

   In the new hall of the Hanseatic merchants, a Bremen merchant boasted, with an angry look on his face.

  (end of this chapter)