Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1048 Heaven-sent Land ([-])

The weather is a bit cloudy today, but the surrounding air is still full of humid and stuffy feeling, which makes Ma Wanpeng, who has been wandering outdoors for a long time, a little irritable, so he quickly finds a shade to sit down and rest.Secretary Xiao Liu directed the entourage to spread out a simple folding table and chair, and then brought out some snacks and drinks from the food box they carried with them for Ma Wanpeng to take at any time—after running outside for so long, everyone really Is tired and hungry.

The development process of people from the east coast on Bei Island is indeed getting faster and faster, especially after Xinhua Port closed some forest areas (temporarily prohibiting logging and replanting a large number of saplings to maintain and conserve water and soil). Part of the demand for timber is placed on the two outlying islands of Guihua Island and Bei Island.As for Xinhua Port, where the timber industry was extremely prosperous, well, now the main products have become rice, corn, rubber, sisal, etc., and a considerable number of loggers and wood processing factory technicians have transferred to lobster. Hong Kong and Guihua Hong Kong—what Ma Wanpeng inspected today is a local medium-sized state-owned enterprise that integrates logging and processing.

Although it is the cool season at this time, Bei Island, one of the world's top ten island tourist attractions in the northwest of New China, is still extremely hot and humid, which makes Ma Wanpeng and others extremely uncomfortable.No, he picked up the teapot that Secretary Liu handed over, drank a few mouthfuls of herbal tea, then wiped off his sweat with a towel, and then spit out the sentence "the weather is really hot in dog day".

The chef accompanying the service cut several pieces of glutinous rice cake, and Ma Wanpeng took a piece with his chopsticks, dipped it in a plate with honey, and then swallowed it.

"It tastes good, the pastry is good, and the honey is even better." Ma Wanpeng praised vaguely while eating.The honey he eats now comes from the Xinhua Port area, where the beekeeping industry has developed rapidly in recent years and has gradually become a distinctive industry with a certain scale.Even now, many local dignitaries, wealthy businessmen are attracted to buy a large amount of Xinhuaxia honey, which has greatly stimulated the development of this industry, so many people are predicting that it may not take many years, Xinhuaxia Island I am afraid that the honey will become one of its important export commodities again.

There is no doubt that Xinhua Island has all the positive factors for the development of beekeeping. This is a closed island separated from the mainland since ancient times, so most of its species are unique to it.Correspondingly, some animal and plant diseases and insect pests that are common on the mainland are also missing here - some natural enemies of bees are not here - therefore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the development of bee breeding in Xinhua Island, and this industry will become popular here in later generations. Its high-quality honey is also exported to France in large quantities, and the profits are quite lucrative.In this era of the 17th century, honey was still a luxury that was not very common—at least it was difficult for ordinary people to taste—the market demand was huge and the price was high. A blockbuster product in the future.

Thinking of this, Ma Wanpeng felt a little moved: "In the whole of last year, Xinhua Island exported 23.2 yuan of timber, 13.9 yuan of cotton, 10 yuan of clean coal (severely attacked by Montenegro coal), and 7.8 yuan of sisal to the mainland. 3 yuan, 2.4 yuan for seafood, 2.2 yuan for rubber, 2.2 yuan for cocoa, 1.5 yuan for tropical dried fruit, 5 yuan for coffee, and other odds and ends. Wouldn’t it be better to expand and create more profits and taxes for the local finances? The central government has the will of the central government, and the local governments also have local ideas. The happy life of the more than [-] residents of the island also needs more resources and money to support it. "

In fact, among the more than 5 residents of Xinhua Island, the Daqing Basin has not been opened for a long time, let alone him, and the old settlements are Xinhua County (Xinhua Town, Xixiang), Tacheng Port, Guihua Port, etc. The living standard of the residents is actually quite good. Their income is not low. In addition to enjoying a large number of local products, they also import tobacco leaves, palm oil, and cashew nuts from Portuguese East Africa, and sesame, watermelon, sorghum, spirits, and wine from South Africa. Importing all kinds of daily necessities and food from the mainland - of course, importing female slaves from Persia and Ottomans - this kind of quality of life is not far from the local eastern coastal area.

A small Xinhua Island, now its rich reputation is getting louder and louder in the local area (the bilateral trade volume has exceeded 100 million yuan, almost reaching a quarter of the total trade with Ottomans), attracting a large group of people with spare money People want to come here to invest in order to earn excess profits.It can be said that the fourth largest island in the world is good except that it is hot and humid (of course the western grasslands are arid, but undoubtedly hotter) which makes it difficult for many first-timers to adapt. Good income, of course, very nice.

"Xiao Liu, have you found the labor force for the lumber mill on the island?" After eating the glutinous rice cakes, Ma Wanpeng casually asked the secretary sitting beside him.The young secretary was holding a briefcase in his hand, and his clothes were soaked in sweat. The sweltering weather in Xinhua Island was really unfriendly to people.

When Secretary Liu heard Ma Wanpeng's question, he immediately replied: "Six hundred Sakarava slaves were sent over from Mianhe Port last month. They were captured by Commander Xiaobai Tuxiao's army; The two roads advanced along the southern jungle and the eastern coast respectively, and defeated many tribes of the Bezimisaraka people. Except for some of them, they also sent about 2600 slaves; in addition, Commander, before you The resumption of plundering operations against the Comorians has just been approved, and the results of the battle came earlier this month. Captain Zhai Xiaoshan Zhai sent two batches of about 200 Comorians to Lobster Port. Adding up the three, There are already [-] people, which is enough for us to carry out the first phase of the development plan of Isle of Be. By the way, the garrison of Isle of Be has also been initially formed, with a tentative number of [-] people, including soldiers from the Ganisari Army who are skilled in combat. Accounted for a third, enough to suppress these slaves."

"I have already reported the change of the New China Infantry Company to the mainland, and the preliminary work can now be started. In the past year, more than 5 soldiers have rushed to the island, and at least one third of them are experienced Although the abundant soldiers are not a big hidden danger, they still deserve our vigilance. Changing the battalion company is only the first step to prepare for a rainy day. In addition, the garrison teams from all over the country must also be firmly in our hands. There are more than 300 people on the island. Ming people accounted for a full [-]%, as long as we don’t make mistakes, the situation can’t be reversed.” Ma Wanpeng suddenly changed the topic to something else, which made Secretary Liu a little bit behind his train of thought, and Ma Wanpeng continued to say: "These soldiers of the Ganishari Legion were Christians when they were young, but they were forcibly converted to Christianity. Huh, if you can change your letter once, you can definitely change it a second time. We must pay close attention to this aspect of work, of course. Pay attention to the method and method, and don’t make trouble. Of course, don’t be afraid, these people have been dispersed by us and settled in ten settlements on the island. There are only more than [-] people in one place, and they don’t communicate with each other. , nothing serious will happen. Besides, what happened to the Italians who took a boat to investigate around the island a few days ago?"

"They have finished their inspection and returned to Xinhua Port to rest, but their luck was bad. Eleven of the 25-member inspection team fell ill one after another during the inspection of the eastern plantation. Among them, 11 died and 2 was not optimistic. Fortunately, the rest All 1 people have recovered one after another..." Secretary Liu said with some concern, "This obviously hit their morale and made some people have doubts about the harsh local natural environment. I think this will inevitably lead some people to withdraw from investment. Commander, I think we should take some public relations measures to get as many businessmen as possible to stay and invest. After all, they can attract a lot of people from the old continent, which is of great benefit to the development of the whole island. Some financial benefit to them is worth it."

"That's the reason." Ma Wanpeng took the mountain spring water handed over by his entourage, rinsed his mouth, then stood up and said, "Who are Genoese? Merchants! Merchants naturally like money! Let's transfer some benefits, It is acceptable for them to bring in more people and develop more land, even if we don’t charge rent at all, it doesn’t matter if we have 30-year or 50-year land lease rights, as long as they bring in people and develop the land well , We just made a lot of money! Genoese people like money, so we create an environment that allows them to make money, hehe, of course we like money, but compared with mature land, money is not so important, we What matters is the long-term interests.”

"How about this, Secretary Liu, you should compress the itinerary for the next few days as much as possible. I plan to return to Xinhua Port as soon as possible. The rainy season will come in one month. It is impossible to sail on the sea." Ma Wanpeng turned to his secretary and said, "I have seen it for the past few days, and I think the mayor of Lobster Harbor has done a good job, let him continue to work hard and do a good job. The Ka coffee bean plantation (opened on the slopes where the forest has been cleared), the Ylang Ylang plantation (the Ma family's private property), the pepper plantation, the cocoa plantation, and the sisal plantation are all still in the initial stage. Don’t be sloppy, and take good care of it. In addition, the land that has been felled in the dark forest on the island must be replanted with saplings, and the soil must not be degraded into “dead soil”; as for the bright forest near the sea (coastal mangrove forest ), you must resolutely not log, and offenders will be fined or even reformed through labor. This must be publicized in place.”

"Finally, organize people to collect more coconuts before the rainy season. The local people have increased their purchases this year. This business is still not small. Hehe, it's all a gift of nature. This island is really quite rich." Ma Wanpeng finally gave orders in a rambling manner.

(End of this chapter)