Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1003 Commercial ([-])

"South Railway Company, it's really going too far!" In an office of the Qingdao Expo Hall, a middle-aged man slapped the table and said angrily: "Every day we come to our financial market to blow the autumn wind, and they don't count them. This year we I have already arranged for them to issue bonds several times, but I am still not satisfied, and I want to issue them again, without looking at the financial cost, what a mess!"

Hai Dafu picked up the document that was sent flying to the ground by Qiang Quansheng, with a embarrassed expression on his face.Speaking of my benefactor, Qiang Quansheng, recently it was rumored that he would be re-elected as the second Central Executive Committee—there was even a gossip that he would be pushed out by the civil service system to run for the Communist Party—so his temper really got a lot bigger, Just as Hai Dafu was entrusted by someone to submit the application for the issuance of a new batch of ten-year 5 yuan bonds (annual interest rate 4%) by the Southern Railway Corporation, he was scolded by Qiang Quansheng in disgrace.

This time it was miserable, because of favors, I handed in this application, but in the end, I lost points in the heart of the old superior, a big loss, a big loss!Hai Dafu's heart was bleeding.

"The matter should be looked at from two sides. In fact, the contribution of the Southern Railway is still very great. In particular, the 5 yuan bond they issued this time is said to be to purchase more ships and train more sailors to strengthen the smuggling trade in Peru. In addition, they also plan to install a telegraph system between several settlements on Tierra del Fuego, where it is more troublesome, because the quality of the battery is not up to standard, the battery voltage will be greatly reduced in winter, so it is necessary to build heating facilities, which consumes a lot of money It is relatively large, and there is no way to raise funds by issuing bonds." Zhou Shenwo, director of the State Administration of Precious Metals and president of the New Continent Friendship and Mutual Bank, sat aside and explained with a sudden smile.

Zhou Shenwo's words made Qiang Quansheng pale. As the de facto God of Wealth on the East Coast, Qiang Quansheng has a good impression of companies or individuals that can bring income to the Ministry of Finance.Although the Southern Railway Company pays an average amount of taxes and makes no profit, it indirectly drives the development of the domestic economy.You only need to count how many materials have flowed to Chile through the Southern Railway Company. There are countless domestically profitable companies and individuals. These companies pay a lot of taxes and profits to the country every year, so this is a strong win every year. The reason for approving partial subsidies (including in-kind subsidies and cash subsidies) to the Southern Railway is that people can indeed create wealth.

Don't you see, after the navy stopped privateing in the Caribbean Sea, the Southern Railway Company continued to expand the sphere of influence of goods on the east coast by virtue of its superb methods and influence.They twisted all the Spanish businessmen they had made friends with into one rope, and then opened the way with silver bullets, constantly dragging down the officials of the Peruvian colony, forming a community of interests.Now four or five years have passed, and the influence of this comprador force in Peru is growing, and it is no longer something that can be taken lightly.Coupled with the plantation industry that has sprung up due to the Southern Railway Company’s large purchase of primary products, the owners of these plantations are often local native white elite families with deep-rooted power. , It also needs to be weighed.

As for the extent to which the East Coast goods sold by Southern Railway are selling well now?It cannot be described accurately, and it is not limited to Peru. It can only be used as an example.For example, in Trinidad, which is far away in the Governor's District of New Spain, there have been a lot of cotton cloths of various colors from the east coast in its market recently. Similarly, Maolin City sold some high-quality pearls to the Southern Railway Company last time, and The origin of these pearls is in the Margarita Islands, which also belong to the Governor-General of New Spain; in the first half of this year, the Southern Railway Company ordered a large amount of paper from the Jingjiang Paper Mill, and the final destination of these papers is, It is said to be the island of Hispaniola; what is even more exaggerated is that, according to many people, as the war intensified in the Eastern Ming Dynasty, the export volume of silk, porcelain, and tea dropped sharply (even almost to none at one point), and the rich The aristocrats and merchants in Mexico City could no longer buy enough beautiful silk cloth, so they began to order from the people on the east coast, which made the Rocha textile factory smile crookedly, and the export volume of silk and silk produced by themselves increased greatly. , profits are also rising...

There are too many such things. At this time, even those who have prejudice against the Southern Railway Company have to admit that the Peruvian smuggling trade led by them has indeed contributed a lot to the national economy and industry.Without the Southern Railway Company, the import and export trade of the East Coast Republic would have shrunk by at least one-third.

"Besides, isn't the Southern Railway Company also exporting population to the country?" Zhou Shenwo continued to be persuasive, "President Mo has finally realized that with his poor and empty land, he can't support thousands of people every year. Tens of thousands of Ming people immigrated. All he can do is to 'send' these people to the mainland. Only the mainland can have enough to digest and absorb these Far East immigrants. Therefore, the role of the Southern Railway Company is more positive, and it is worth our efforts to help. Besides, taking a step back, the bonds issued by the Southern Railway They will not steal money from other projects. Minister Qiang, you know that the Genoese have been looking for investment opportunities in our country. Last time, they even deposited the dividends from the Rocha textile factory in the Bank of La Plata. In order to snap up the bonds issued by major companies in the Qingdao market at any time. The 5 yuan bonds issued by the Southern Railway Company are high-quality bonds that will not worry about repayment, let the people of Genoa know about them, and buy them as soon as possible.”

Qiang Quansheng pondered for a while when he heard the words, and nodded slightly, which seemed to agree with Zhou Shenwo's statement.The Genoese are really good friends of the East Coast people. The amount of investment in the East Coast is extremely huge, and what is even more commendable is that cash only accounts for a part of these so-called investments, and a considerable part is in the form of various materials and personnel. Or labor conversion, which is obviously more to the appetite of people on the east coast.

In addition, the investment of the Genoese also brought a large number of markets and technologies, such as the Great Spanish market (Spain, Southern Netherlands, Naples, Parma, Sicily and parts of the Rhine) that were successively opened to people on the east coast, and the ongoing The Moroccan market, which is gradually opening up to people from the east coast (the Genoese are deeply involved in this market and relatively influential), is undoubtedly extremely important for the promotion of industrial products on the east coast.Of course, the Genoese also brought some industrial products or food manufacturing technology that the people on the east coast lacked. This industry has been in business for many years, which is very helpful to improve the level of the working class on the east coast.

"How about it..." Qiang Quansheng took the application report from Hai Dafu again, and after reading it for a while, said dully: "This time the bond of 5 yuan will be issued to him, but it will not be an exception. If Nantie wants to make money in the Qingdao market again, it will have to wait at least after New Year’s Day in 1655, otherwise, will others have to live? The Ministry of Agriculture also wants to issue bonds for water conservancy construction. Once Nantie issues this bond, it is tantamount to crowding out other people’s money. Amount, this matter can never be repeated, so be it!"

After finishing speaking, Qiang Quansheng wrote down his opinions on the application report, and handed it over to Hai Dafu to go through the process.

Hai Dafu took the report carefully, then bowed to Qiang Quansheng and Zhou Shenwo, then turned around and left in a hurry.

After watching Hai Dafu close the door tightly, Qiang Quansheng turned his gaze back, looked at Zhou Shenwo, and said: "Recently some Spanish businessmen in La Plata suggested reopening the Colonia trade market (that is, the East Coast What do you think of this matter to strengthen trade ties between the two places?"

"I also know about this, and someone has approached me to talk about it recently." Zhou Shenwo said cautiously, "In the past few years since the end of the war, the Spaniards have also realized the emptiness of La Plata, so their king went to It is still quite determined to emigrate here vigorously, and at the same time exile a large number of Catalans, Neapolitans, Protestant Southern Netherlanders, and Germans. However, it seems that due to the shortage of funds, this This work has not been carried out very smoothly, but it is so. Now the number of whites in the entire La Plata region (excluding Paraguay) has reached more than 2 again, and it is still growing. This has caused many people to worry, especially the army, who strongly oppose the reopening of the Colonia trade market."

The reason why the Army opposes is very realistic, that is, if the market is reopened, the cost for the Spaniards to settle in La Plata will be greatly reduced, because they can buy a lot of cheap daily necessities and production from the people on the east coast. This is obviously unacceptable to the East Coasters who have long regarded the entire La Plata as their own meal.Of course, some people would say that even if the mall port is no longer open, the Spaniards in La Plata can still buy a lot of supplies through the trade market in Maolin City.Yes, they can!It’s just that in that way, the huge amount of materials to be transported thousands of miles, and the Andes have to be crossed, there is no decent road (meaning that you can only rely on mule gangs), and the distance is still far away, the logistics cost is very scary, and the meaning of the mall port No comparison at all.

"Many people have come to me recently, all with good reasons, and they all want to reopen this market to make a lot of money." Qiang Quansheng rubbed his face wearily, and said, "Even many people in the government are also because of Interests are involved and the ass is not straight, this matter is difficult. Forget it, it’s useless to say more here, come with me to the mall port tomorrow, and see how it is there.”

(End of this chapter)