Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1005 Commercial ([-])

"Mr. Lopez, how have you been?" Qiang Quansheng said, looking at the president of the Bank of La Plata who was always going to the Three Treasure Hall.

Mr. Lopez has been at the helm of the joint venture bank for four or five years now.He is a qualified bank manager with rich knowledge and experience who was born in the Bank of Rialto Square in Venice. In the past few years, he has managed Bank of La Plata and his performance can even be called "excellent". In St. George's firm, it is a hot situation to represent various East Coast commodities in Europe.

Qiang Quansheng vaguely knew why the other party came this time, and he was mentally prepared, but he still wanted to hear what this shrewd banker would say.

"Yes, my health is very good, and God doesn't want to serve him so early." Mr. Lopez said with great momentum, "But my career has encountered a big setback now, the incomparable La Plata The bank is in trouble. Many businessmen have canceled their accounts in our bank, and then withdrew the money and deposited it in the newly opened account of the commercial settlement bank next door, because the Southern Railway Company currently only accepts this bank. Commercial paper."

"Hehe, but the predicament of Bank de la Plata is only temporary after all. As far as I know, her business volume has actually increased day by day in these years, because the development of the Greater Spain market has deepened day by day, and the commercial development of Morocco has also emerged. Of course St. George's efforts in Italy and Austria cannot be ignored. You see, such a prosperous trade has brought a lot of cash to your branches in Florence, Barcelona, ​​Palermo and Innsbruck Flow, which means a lot of benefits, doesn't it?" Qiang Quansheng asked Lopez's words.

"But the growth rate has been greatly reduced." Lopez stared at a pair of big cloudy eyes, and said: "Well, in fact, you also know that what I mean does not lie in the bank's performance itself. The manager of the commercial bank/bank, while I manage the Bank of La Plata well, I also have to take responsibility for the sharp decline in the performance of the St. George Commercial Bank Qingdao Branch, and you know what this means.”

Qiangquansheng certainly knows what this means.The main function of the St. George Commercial Bank Qingdao Branch is to import a large number of various commodities from the east coast, and then export them to various markets for sale, and one of these markets is the Peruvian market.Obviously, due to the sudden rise of the Southern Railway Company in recent years, the smuggling trade volume of Maolin City has been increasing year by year, and the scale of the Spanish "compradors" who came to sign the purchase and sale contract with the Southern Railway Company is also increasing day by day. This is undoubtedly The income of other merchants targeting this vast market began to decline year by year.

In the past, due to policy restrictions in the vast Governorate of New Spain and Peru, all kinds of commodities from the Old World could only be purchased every year when the treasure fleet arrived, and they were mainly concentrated in Panama and Veracruz. Trading.Of course, unlike the "regular trade" represented by the Treasure Fleet, the Caribbean "smuggling trade" promoted by Britain, the Netherlands, France, Genoa, Denmark, and even Spain is on a larger scale. It is ten times the "regular trade" of the Treasure Fleet, which has to be said to be a great irony.This huge smuggling network is composed of foreign captains, local businessmen and colonial officials. The trading locations are concentrated in remote small ports in Panama and New Granada (Venezuela). Local businessmen (many of whom have invested in local plantations for many years) Genoese merchants) traded directly with foreign captains, colonial officials turned a blind eye, the three parties got what they needed, and business boomed.

But everything changed when the East Coasters stepped in.First, the "immoral" privateering operations of the East Coast Navy in the Caribbean severely hit the supply of smugglers, and then the Southern Railway Company reached a smuggling trade agreement with the Spaniards in north-central Chile and Lima (there were very few Genoese merchants) , and began to supply them in large quantities.Not surprisingly, these goods quickly filled the entire Chilean market, and then slowly spread to surrounding areas.And after the arrival of a considerable number of ships ordered by the Spaniards from the east coast (they also built some of them themselves), the "Spanish compradors" whose transportation efficiency has greatly increased quickly exported the smuggled goods to farther places, which made Maolin City trade volume began to grow rapidly.

In other words, it may not be obvious at first, but after such trade lasted for more than four years, the trade center of the entire Viceroyalty of Peru has begun to gradually shift from Panama and New Granada to Maolin City, and it is showing an accelerating trend.And if you look at the transportation line, it is that the trade line of the Viceroyalty of Peru began to shift from the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the mainland, and the largest ocean in the world now seems to be simply the East Coast and the Spaniards. back yard.There is no violent weather in the Atlantic Ocean, no plethora of pirates, and no criss-crossing forces from various countries. It is definitely a very good place.

And with the cultivation of people from the east coast, the comprador group mainly composed of Chilean and some Lima businessmen has matured day by day, and has gradually become a very large force.I believe that in time, the influence of this comprador group, which is mainly composed of native whites, will become stronger and stronger, until it controls the business of the entire Viceroyalty of Peru, and will drive out those peninsula merchants, Jewish merchants, and Genoese merchants that they have long been unaccustomed to.

Now López — or more precisely, the San Jorge firm — has seen the signs of this, as their exports to Peru via the Caribbean have dwindled.The reason is not difficult to find. They have been in the east coast for so many years, and they still know something about the smuggling trade carried out by the Southern Railway Company, which is almost a semi-public matter, so they quickly entrusted Lopez to find him Come.

Facing the complaints or criticisms from the Genoese at this moment, Qiang Quansheng had actually already thought about how to answer them, because the executive committee had already said something about it.Therefore, I saw him pretending to ponder for a while, and then said: "We are also aware of your difficulties, and we are not completely indifferent. In view of the consistently good relationship between your side and our country, we can Consider some compensation for St. George's in other areas."

"Other compensations? For example?" Lopez rolled his cloudy eyes and asked immediately.In fact, he is also very clear now that it is very unlikely that the people on the east coast will let the Genoese businessmen headed by the St. George Business Bank join the ranks of the Southern Railway Company and conduct smuggling trade to Peru.Because I heard that that powerful company controls the entire Strait of Magellan, and regards the Southern Cone region as its own sphere of influence, and does not allow others to intervene at all. In the past, it was occasionally heard that pirate ships from France, Britain, and the Netherlands entered the Strait of Magellan. What about robbery in the southeast Pacific, but since the people from the east coast came here, these pirates have disappeared all of a sudden, isn't that enough to explain the problem?

"You have invested a lot in our country. Of course you know the consistent policy of our government, so I suggest that you invest in Xinhua Island. This is also a rich tropical island with a large area, rich products, docile people, and a pleasant environment. It’s not bad, you can choose to release your investment to this place. Believe me, you will definitely earn a lot in the future.” Qiang Quansheng threw out his plan to invest in Xinhua Island to the Genoese.

This plan was recently approved by the Executive Committee. They may be very dissatisfied with the progress of the development of this tropical island, they may feel sorry for the Genoese, or they may be interested in the strong resource allocation ability of the Genoese, so start now. Encourage Genoese to invest in Xinhua Island.As for the method of investment, it is naturally imitating the old practice of the Southwest Railway, that is, the people of Genoa send out people and goods plus a small amount of funds, and then with the cooperation of the people on the east coast, they go to Xinhua Island for development, and the income obtained is the same as that of the people on the east coast. distributed in a pre-agreed ratio.The benefits of this are firstly that it increases the output of this tropical island, secondly, it enriches the local population (the pioneers brought by Genoa capital are basically given to the people on the east coast), and thirdly, it gives the east coast industries Development provides sufficient raw materials, and in short the benefits are numerous.

Unexpectedly, Lopez gave such a suggestion, and was a little speechless for a while, apparently quickly judging the gains and losses in it.

Seeing this, Qiang Quansheng smiled slightly, and then continued: "In addition, you can completely start 'self-help'. As far as I know, the Genoese capital represented by St. Both Bello and Lima have abundant capital and a large number of professional business personnel. You can completely shift your focus to Chile in the south. I can make a bold promise here that as long as you set up a business office in Maolin City, we can give The other party has the right of first refusal of goods to a certain extent. You can import a large amount of materials from here, and then transport them to the Governorate of New Spain, which has not been occupied by us in large quantities, for sale. I know that you have very deep personal connections and business operations there for hundreds of years. It’s not difficult for you, and others can’t compete with you in this matter, so why not do it?”

To be honest, this suggestion given by Qiang Quansheng is quite pertinent.Since the day when the Genoese sponsored Columbus’s voyage (Isabella of Aragon sponsored Columbus’s money was provided by Genoese bankers), they followed the navigator to the New World to start trade, and it has been hundreds of years.

And with more than a hundred years of operation, whether they are in the Governorate of New Spain or the Governorate of Peru, their political connections and business networks are not comparable to ordinary people, so the people on the east coast suggest that they also join this game and smuggle The expansion of trade to New Spain, which has a larger population and better development than Peru, is actually a win-win for the Genoese and the people on the east coast. Now it depends on how they take it.

(End of this chapter)