Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1006 Commercial ([-])

After several days of delay in Qingdao Port, on October 10, Qiang Quansheng returned to the capital Dongfang Port.And on the next day, Lopez, the president of the Bank of La Plata, and Sirigu, the plenipotentiary commercial representative of Genoa on the east coast, visited together. Xu Xin, who is in charge of foreign and trade affairs.

Xu Xin was not at all surprised by the visit of the Genoese. In fact, he felt that the Genoese were too tolerant and came to him too late, because the obvious fact was that Genoese businessmen were gradually marginalized in the Viceroyalty of Peru, and their interests After being violated to a certain extent, they only now came to negotiate with the people from the east bank. Obviously, their patience is quite good.

Of course, Xu Xin already had a plan for how to deal with the Genoese, because this was the unanimous opinion of the members of the Executive Committee, but at this moment it was decided through him and the Genoese—it was actually very simple, and the meaning was the same as strong. What Quansheng said before was similar to what Genoa said, that is, to encourage Genoese to go to the east bank to deepen investment, while digesting excess capital, and at the same time obtain projects that can earn long-term benefits. As the saying goes, kill three birds with one stone, absolute win-win and mutual benefit.

You know, since the capital of Genoa withdrew from the Spanish credit market in 1627, they have already held a huge amount of money and don't know what to do. After all, the competition is so fierce these years, and almost every city in every country has been divided up. complete.If you want to find an outlet for your huge excess capital, you must find another way - the East Coast Republic of China, which is full of opportunities, is obviously such a value depression.

Perhaps the only thing the Genoese need to worry about is their lack of ocean-going sailing ability.But if you think about it carefully, the problem in this aspect is actually not that big. On the one hand, they can hire merchant ships from other countries. On the other hand, the Genoese are actually quite good at sailing. After all, they were also pioneers in sailing.

As early as the 13th century, the Genoese had already controlled the trade in the Western Mediterranean, and regularly traded between Bruges, London, Morocco and Italy, accumulating the first pot of gold for them. In 1291, the Vivaldi brothers sailed to the Gulf of Guinea for the first time in search of sugar, gold and dragon's blood (resin).

The Genoese were also the first people to reach the Azores. As early as 1351, a Genoese nautical chart had already marked 4 small islands in the Azores, 1370 in 7, and 1385. It can be seen that they have sailed here many times before the Portuguese; in 8, the Genoese arrived in the Canary Islands and drew a map. Lanzarote named one of the islands after himself. People arrive here for the first time.

Later, the sugar sales in Madeira were basically controlled by Genoese merchants, and most of the merchants active in Bruges and Lisbon were Genoese.Later, Columbus, who sailed to the New World for Spain, was a Genoese. Even the funds for his voyage were provided by Genoese bankers to Queen Isabella. In addition, Capote, who was looking for the Northwest Route for Britain, was also born in Genoa.In short, from the 14th to the 16th centuries, Genoa's navigation technology has always been in the leading position in Europe, but later due to the hegemony with Venice and the invasion of the mainland by foreign enemies, the country's navigation miracle was terminated. After that, Ibi The sailors on the Lia Peninsula took over the flag of the Genoese and began to explore the ocean.

After the new trade route was opened up by the Portuguese, the trade in the Mediterranean immediately plummeted, and Genoa's industrial economy was also in a great depression. As a result, more and more capital in this country was turned to the credit field, and eventually it was completely "de-industrialized". ", became a remarkable usury country.After that, the entrepot trade of lending loans to the King of Spain and operating the special products of the New World became the economic pillar of the Genoese, and it was maintained until 1627.

Originally, Genoa in history may have been doing nothing like this, and then sank, just like her old enemy Venice for hundreds of years.But in this time and space, the Genoese seem to have found a new economic growth point, which is to invest in the east coast.They are now like Japan in the 80s. The check books in their hands are ridiculously thick, but they are guilty of their crimes, and catastrophe is not far away.

Such a country has strong capital, fair navigation skills, and not bad connections in Europe, but it is on the verge of decline, and it is suitable for all-round cooperation with the East Coast Republic.

Of course, the people on the east coast are not interested in the money in Genoa's hands. What they are really interested in is that the Genoese can use the money to collect immigrants in Europe, recruit craftsmen, hire soldiers, purchase supplies, and then sail overseas to do whatever they want. What they do is their own pleasure in the early stage.Don’t underestimate this ability. The same amount of money in the hands of the East Bank will never achieve such an effect. Only the Genoese who are deeply rooted in Europe can easily complete the above work. If the East Coast people have no connections, Second, they are pagans and cannot do these things at all.

And it is precisely this ability that makes the Genoese people valued by the upper echelons on the east coast, and out of the desire to appease them, they plan to guide them to invest in the overseas colonies on the east coast to speed up the development progress there.Anyway, those places are under the control of the people on the east coast, and the Genoese are still unable to overcome the big waves. They can at best grab some economic benefits, but of course the developed land, manors, towns, and ports, including the population, will all be taken by the East in the future. The people on the coast laughed and accepted it—the Genoese naturally understood this, but as long as you like it and I want it, you make money and I get the land.

"Mr. Lopez, Mr. Sirigu, good morning." Xu Xin, who opened the window to let in the fresh air, looked at the two of them and said with a smile, "You two must have already made up your mind to visit together?"

Lopez and Siligu looked at each other, and then Siligu came forward and said: "We are a little interested in your country's proposal to develop Xinhua Island, and we have also seen the initial investment plan your country provided us, but we I still have some doubts about this, and I hope His Excellency the Minister can give us some answers."

"Of course, please say." Xu Xin raised his hands falsely, motioning for them to speak.

"Your country pointed out that our government or businessmen can be allowed to operate all industries in Xinhuaxia Island, so does this mean that we can invest in industries including coal mining, logging, sugar extraction, fishing, and shipbuilding?" Siligu asked .

"We will not make random promises. Remember, Sirigu, this is a promise to our friends in Genoa. Others don't have such good things. For example, we promised you 30 years of management rights for the plantation. If you are a Spaniard, we I won’t promise them for three days.” Xu Xin said without hesitation.

"So can we also open up pepper and other spice plantations on it? And also allow us to ship the goods back to Europe for sale?" Sirigu continued to ask.

"Of course, as long as you pay taxes according to the regulations, then I don't think anyone will stop your normal business practices." Xu Xin said.

Siligu and Lopez looked at each other, and both sides could see a trace of satisfaction in each other's eyes. You must know that such a large tropical island is rare, and then just listened to Siligu continue to ask: "Does your country provide security? protection? I heard that the natives there are very fierce, and the French are also scum of pirate origin, and their morals are not good."

"The land you opened up is legally the land of our East Coast Republic of China, so we will of course promise to give you the necessary military protection so that the normal production order will not be hindered. This is supported by our loyal army and powerful You and your government can trust the Second Fleet of the Navy for the endorsement. In addition, since you are old friends of the people on the east coast, we also solemnly promise that if your investment in New China fails, then our government will How about repurchasing these failed projects, isn’t the condition generous enough?” Xu Xin said with a smile.

People from the east coast are already very sincere with such conditions, and the people of Genoa are generally more satisfied.Some of the factories they co-founded with people from the East Coast in Luocha Port have been in operation for many years, and the income is not bad. Among them, the Luocha Textile Factory, which is mainly made of silk products, is the most famous. Its dividends this year may be hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. Wan Lila, this must not be underestimated.In addition, the business of knitting lace factories, wineries, and cheese and ham workshops is also so-so. These businesses that are likely to gradually close down in Genoa have gained a new life after they came to the east coast, making Genoa Investors were thrilled.In recent years, they have successively migrated more than 1000 skilled workers from the old continent to the east bank. It seems that they will continue to expand the scale of investment in the future, and continue to bring workers from Italy to contribute to the industrial development of the east bank.

And it is precisely because of these successful precedents that the Genoese are fully interested in investing in Xinhua Island.If they decide that there is great profit in it, then they will undoubtedly organize their own ships and manpower, and then go to this tropical island in the Indian Ocean in a mighty way, and invest under the management of the colonial government on the east coast.You know, they are all rich and powerful people, and they are not afraid of the huge investment in the early stage, as long as the project can finally bring them benefits-in fact, if you think about it, it is clear that they are even chasing projects with an annual income of 1.2%, so why not Will you care about the long return on investment period?Obviously not!

On October 10, the Genoese sent a liaison clipper purchased from the east coast from the port of Rocha and headed for the Old Continent. Sirigu and Lopez obviously had important matters to discuss with the mainland.

(End of this chapter)