1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 591 "Free Trade"

June 1647, 6, Hanzhou, Weihai (now Cairns, Australia).

With the introduction of more and more spinners and farmers from the Susong area of ​​the Ming Dynasty, the cotton spinning industry in Weihai and Yunyang (now Mackay, Australia) has also become more prosperous.

According to the population statistics in January this year, the mainland of Hanzhou and several overseas territories such as Timor Island and Weiyuan Island have a total population of more than 1 (the number of immigrants arriving this year has not been counted), while the entire eastern part of Hanzhou The population has exceeded 23, of which Weihai has more than 120,000, accounting for nearly half of the population.

The cotton spinning industry is a labor-intensive industry. From cotton planting to cotton ginning, spinning, printing and dyeing, cloth making, and then making clothes, etc., a series of processing links require countless manpower. Therefore, as Weihai Prefecture, the center of the cotton textile industry, and neighboring Yunyang Prefecture received most of the annual immigration quota.

Today, the cotton planting area in the eastern part of Hanzhou is nearly 80 mu, and the cotton output is more than 4 tons. It seems that the total amount is already very huge.But in fact, the cotton yield is only more than 50 kilograms per mu, not to mention that it is not as good as the terrifying data of more than 500 kilograms per mu in Xinjiang (Southern Xinjiang) of China, and even Australia's yield of about [-] kilograms per mu is far inferior.

In fact, cotton planting is greatly affected by the weather, and the Hanzhou mainland has a fragile ecology and uneven distribution of water resources. It is not easy to achieve high yields of cotton. In addition to the weather being the biggest variable that affects per unit yield, there is also the demand for agricultural water.Cotton must undergo three to five rounds of irrigation and water supply before fruiting peaches and bolls. Otherwise, cotton will face premature aging of its root system in the face of high temperature weather, and the photosynthetic rate of cotton plants will decrease or stop, resulting in intensified respiration of cotton and accelerated consumption of organic nutrients. , Leiling fell off in large numbers.The lack of water in cotton will also affect the increase in volume and internal filling of cotton bolls, stop the development of young bolls, and lead to a reduction in boll weight and yield.

Although most of the cotton planting areas in Weihai and Yunyang are located in rivers and valleys, which are convenient for water diversion, but in some years, high temperature and little rain will reduce river runoff and affect farmland irrigation.

Therefore, after the end of the vigorous cotton picking season, various cotton-growing areas in the eastern region have carried out massive farmland and water conservancy construction. Weirs, ponds, reservoirs, and ditches are full of hardworking farmers and many native laborers.

Compared with picking cotton in the cotton fields bent over for a long time, wielding shovels and pickaxes to dig reservoirs and weir ponds is a job that many indigenous people (aboriginals) prefer to do.

During the cotton harvest season, in order to ensure that the cotton in the field is picked back in time, each native (indigenous) is given a specific amount of picking. It is indispensable.

The natives who used to only know how to climb trees to pick wild fruits and catch wild animals in the forest were extremely broken in their hearts during the cotton picking process.Because the Hanzhou people's quota for picking cotton will change every once in a while, and it is often based on those natives who are particularly flexible in their hands and feet and have a relatively large number of picks, and constantly increase the daily cotton picking quota.

Whether the great development of the cotton spinning industry in Hanzhou has been soaked in the blood and tears of countless natives (indigenous people) may not be very clear to these natives, but they work hard every day when they go out early and return late every day, bending over and lying on the cotton pad all day long. They deeply felt the difficulty of picking the cotton in the fields.

When I was thirsty, I didn't have time to drink water, and when I was hungry, I continued to work while eating dry pancakes.At night, I watch with trepidation that the Hanzhou people hold a steelyard and check the fruits of their labor one by one.Complete the task, there will be a sumptuous dinner, and even a glass of mead can be enjoyed.If the quota is not fulfilled, they will be reprimanded and cut down on food, or kicked and whipped in severe cases.All this made all the natives miserable.

Of course, there were also some who couldn't bear the toil and escaped privately, and hid in the inland of Hanzhou.But the ferocious Hanzhou people, armed with muskets, swords, and big dogs, would quickly follow the traces of the escaped natives.Those fugitive natives who were unfortunately caught would be beaten severely by the villagers first, then locked in a dark room and starved for several days, and then continued to work in the cotton fields.

As for those natives who can escape the hunt, their fate is not much better. In the endless mountains, all kinds of poisonous insects and beasts, as well as crocodiles in the streams and swamps, will devour them silently.

Digging ditches and ditches and building reservoirs and dams are equally arduous, but what makes the natives feel relieved is that the rural soldiers who supervise them are not as strict as the cotton picking season.If the excavation task was completed ahead of schedule, everyone could still sit on the ground and lazily bask in the sun without worrying that the Hanzhou people would suddenly rush over and beat them with whips.

"Natives in various farms and colonies should take good care of them, and don't treat them as ordinary consumables." Wang Zhenliang, the prefect of Weihai, accompanied a group of officials, accompanied by Shangshu Luan Jinxing of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and Wu Guoqing, the chief treasurer of Hanzhou Commercial Company, were inspecting various places While working on the expansion of the cotton planting area, he saw from a distance that a local soldier was beating a native for some reason on the reservoir construction site, and then whispered to Fan Jinsheng, the magistrate of Weihai County, who was behind him.

Fan Jinsheng heard the words and immediately ordered a scribe to stop the actions of the village soldier.It's too outrageous, discipline natives can't be done in front of senior ministers and magistrates!These town soldiers don't know the importance at all, and after they return, they must deduct their material subsidies.

"With the gradual expansion of the grain planting area in Daxing (now Brisbane, Australia), it has replaced Weiyuan (now New Guinea) as the most important grain supply area in Hanzhou. Therefore, you Weihai The grain planting area can be gradually reduced, thereby increasing the production of cotton and sugarcane.” Luan Jinxing, Minister of Industry and Commerce, did not blink his eyes at the abuse of natives in the reservoir area, but pointed to Qujiang (now Cairns, Australia) in front of him. The Baron River near the city) said: "This river will be properly rehabilitated during this winter, and we will try to build more reservoirs and weir ponds, which will be enough to expand more than ten thousand mu of farmland and provide thousands of more for Weihai cotton spinning farms." tons of cotton and an even greater amount of sugarcane."

"Lord Luan, it's easy to increase farmland by tens of thousands of acres, but it also requires more people to cultivate it." Wang Zhenliang said with a wry smile: "Since the natives sent to us from Weiyuan and Timor Island two years ago It is getting less and less. As of last month, none of the natives from the above two areas have sent us. How does this allow Weihai Prefecture to continue to expand the area of ​​cotton and sugar cane planting?"

"There is too much demand for native labor in various parts of the mainland. In addition to the original mines such as Heishan and Kaiyuan, the iron mine in Linhai (now Port Hedland, Australia) in the west is also facing development, and the demand for native labor is also calculated in the thousands. In addition, the Jindao (now Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea) copper-gold mine in Weiyuan’s general area will be developed soon, and the local laborers are no longer sufficient.” Luan Jinxing shook his head and said: “So, you Weihai need to tap the local potential For the time being, don’t expect Timor Island and Weiyuan Island to provide you with too much labor.”

When Wang Zhenliang heard this, he also had a wry smile on his face.The Weihai area has been established for seven or eight years, and the surrounding areas have already been mopped up for several rounds. The Hanzhou aboriginals that can be captured have been brought to various farms and settlements, as well as the Jincheng Gold Mine (now the city of Chartersburg in northeastern Australia).If you want to continue to capture more aborigines, you have to go over the mountains (now the Great Divide in Australia) and go to the mountainous areas to find them.It seems that it is necessary to organize an expedition to go to the west side of the mountain to investigate the situation there.

"This year, the cotton spinning products in our country have almost doubled compared with last year, but the market demand has not increased sharply. In order to expand the demand for cotton textiles, our Ministry of Industry and Commerce will carry out a survey on the sphere of influence of the Nanyang Tubang Kingdom and the Dutch East India Company. After some intensive cultivation, we will use it as an established market for our vigorous expansion.”

Luan Jinxing turned his head and said to Wang Zongping, the big shopkeeper of Weihai Cotton Mill: "You don't have to worry about the production of cotton cloth and canvas, and there are no sales outlets. The Ming Dynasty is already in chaos, and there will be no signs of recovery in a short time. The whole world has left a huge product supply gap. It provides a golden opportunity for the rapid development and expansion of our cotton textile products in Qi."

"In the near future, in order to expand the market for our cotton textiles, Qi will start a series of commercial negotiations with the Dutch East India Company and the nearby kingdoms of the state, in order to cancel the restrictions on the entry of goods and the collection of taxes and fees on both sides."

What Luan Jinxing said was that the Qi government recently planned to introduce the so-called free trade policy in the entire Nanyang region, that is, each country and region should not levy corresponding taxes and fees for the commodities imported and exported by the two parties, or set up relevant restrictive measures. All goods should be free to circulate.

It is worth mentioning that when Qi launched this free trade policy, it did not force the other party to impose restrictions on its own imports. What it implemented was unilateral free trade.What does that mean?In short, if I export goods to you, I don't care whether you charge tariffs (or other forms of taxes and fees), but if you want to export goods to me, then I will give you no tariffs.

From this point of view, it is not that the Qi State is very noble, because in this era, it is hard to imagine that a country would make such a big concession for a moral ideal, which is unimaginable.

The reason for this, Gein, is that Qi State in the entire Nanyang region is the only country in the world that has achieved semi-industrialization, and its exports are all manufactured products, while other countries or forces in the Nanyang region will have to accept tariffs regardless of whether they charge tariffs or not. Buy from it.If the tariffs you charge are too high, the sales value of the goods will be high, then your own people will still buy from me through smuggling and other methods.

Moreover, as the only primary industrial country in the region, Qi State basically imports food and raw materials.It proposes a tax-free policy, which means that it can obtain the lowest-cost raw materials from the region, which plays a vital role in controlling its own production costs.

Therefore, the reason why Qi State wants to unilaterally implement the so-called free trade in the Nanyang region is actually to allow Qi State to magnify its own industrial advantages, and start to use the form of industrial and agricultural scissors to deal with the region, including the Dutch East India Company. The local forces and the country in the country have plucked the wool.

(End of this chapter)