Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1063 Southwest ([-])

April 1655, 4, sunny.

Li Dayan led a group of young reporters from the "Pravda" newspaper to ride to the port of Shangcheng by land. Recently, the east coast area has been raining continuously in autumn, and the soft prairie has become extremely muddy after absorbing water. This makes Li Dayan and others extremely The embarrassment also delayed their trip.But fortunately, they finally arrived here the day before the port reopened.

On the slightly old pier, there are about three or four ships moored at this time, two of which are from Buenos Aires, which can be regarded as a welcome to come to the mall for trade.Any Spanish businessman who has lived in South America for a long time knows the grandeur of the Peruvian smuggling trade, especially these La Plata businessmen.Once upon a time, in their opinion, the businessmen from the remote areas of Chile (of course this is a bit exaggerated) not only smelled of cow dung, but also had poor financial strength, at least not as good as the La Plata businessmen— —Which of the grain and timber merchants in Paraguay, the shipping and dock merchants in Santa Fe, and the livestock and leather merchants in Buenos Aires are worse than those Chilean merchants from poor valleys?

But the balance of power between La Plata and Chilean businessmen has changed significantly in the last decade.First of all, after the outbreak of the Second East-West War, the whole of La Plata, including Paraguay, was plundered by the army on the east coast, and the merchants suffered heavy losses.Moreover, the Kelandi uprising, which lasted for several years after the end of the war, also made the business conditions of these merchants worse, and they did not get better for a long time.

Secondly, there is the Peruvian smuggling trade that has grown at an alarming rate since 1648.This large-scale smuggling operation, led by the East Coast Southern Railway Company and fully supported by the business circles of the East Coast Republic, flourished when the colonial officials turned a blind eye and the comprador businessmen were vigorously running. So far, it has reached a scale of more than 280 million yuan. In the whole of last year, the South Railway Company imported 143 million yuan from Peru and exported 141 million yuan (the South Railway obtained a high profit of 70 yuan from one import and one export), almost Reached an unattainable peak.

Such a strong total import and export volume naturally fattened up the group of Chilean smugglers, and even the Lima merchants who joined in later made a fortune, and all of them made a lot of money. La Plata businessmen (especially Paraguayan businessmen) are so jealous that they have been looking for the same "traitorous" doorway-oh, I was wrong, it is a trade channel.

But to be honest, in terms of property, La Plata really can't compare with Peru.Yes, the vast La Plata Plain is a thousand miles of fertile soil (fertile volcanic ash soil plains, rich in water systems), but so what?What are you selling to the East Coasters?food?I'm sorry, there is no shortage on the east coast, and the cost is about the same as yours (maybe lower) if you include tariffs, and you can't sell them at all; leather, wool, tallow, beef and mutton?It’s kind of like saying something, but it’s not easy, because these things are also produced locally on the east coast. Although the east coast will have the urge to import them because of the low price, you have to consider the feelings of domestic farmers and herdsmen, right?Therefore, it is almost certain to set import quotas; then you can only sell horses, yerba mate, honey, giant logs and other commodities, especially horses. With the continuous improvement of traffic conditions on the east coast, carriages and rides Horses have become popular, and La Plata's low price of horses has become its biggest advantage. Therefore, once the export is released, it must be a very good business. In recent years, Qingdao Port has imported more than 200 horses from La Plata every year. Lata's horse, if this business is standardized, organized, and large-scaled, the scale of this business will definitely be even larger.

Therefore, in general, the scale of trade between La Plata (including Paraguay) and the East Coast will not be small, but it is destined not to be too large, but it is enough for the port of Mall - Chairman Qiang has personally Promises, the Government Council has also issued a document, in the future, Shangcheng Port will be the only designated trading place for bilateral trade between East and Latin America. Customs officers also collect other taxes), the General Administration of Railways may promise to build a railway branch line from Caijiazhai Township to Shangcheng Port (provided that the Qingdao-Luoqia Railway, which is currently under large-scale construction, is successfully completed), this railway branch line will The length exceeds [-] kilometers. In addition to the two stations of Shangcheng and Caijiazhai, there will be two other stations in the middle. It will also gradually expand into a township), a quarrying township near the small town of Tarariras (Tarariras).

On the west bank of the San Juan River (now renamed as the Noya River), the settlement was established in Noya Township (located near the small village of Los Cerros de San Juan, Uruguay, named after a solitary brick house that was built more than a year ago, and the soil texture is relatively good). Afterwards, four townships, including the Port of Mall, formed the basis of the future Mall County on the Rio de la Plata.After all, as a trade window for China and Latin America designated by the Government Council, Shangcheng Port cannot live without a hinterland. Moreover, the population of Shangcheng Port has exceeded [-], and the proportion of Italian and Hispanic residents is very high. It is time to send them to the inland Migrating to the hinterland, and at the same time bringing in a large number of Ming immigrants to dilute and assimilate, otherwise it will always be an unstable factor.

"A few days ago, people from the Wujiang and Jiaohe areas came to the capital, constantly begging for people, money, and things. The various departments of the central government were so annoyed that they almost glared at these people." Li Dayan called the newspaper office. The younger generations stayed in a hotel with a slightly baroque style (obviously transformed from a building left by the Spaniards), and then said with a smile.

"This..." A young reporter didn't understand, "Is this like a beggar who can ask for something? Is the executive committee so talkative?"

"Of course you couldn't get it in the past, but now, hehe." An older reporter who has been out on the news for several years interjected, "With the Pearl and Jade of the Mall Gang in front, everyone naturally knows what to do. Did the re-opening of the port come for nothing? Heh, that’s what they complained to Chairman Qiang and Minister Zhou in exchange for crying for poverty. Then since Shangcheng Port can cry for poverty in exchange for national investment, then other places set up offices in Beijing in the capital to run What's so strange about projects, investment, and immigration? A familiar official in the Wujiang area told me last time that the gang of "turtle grandson officials" in Shangcheng County were unreasonable and broke the rules set by the executive committee. The policy of focusing on the development of Wujiang and Jiaohe regions has diverted valuable state investment and immigration, and must be severely punished."

"Severe punishment is of course just talk, it's impossible." Another older reporter took up the conversation and said, "But everyone now understands that the new Chairman Qiang who has not been here for a long time is a soft-hearted person, and he likes to say a lot. Say, make a lot of noise, and you can get some benefits to go back, so, you have also seen that now everyone likes to run to the center and cry poor, it is really a good example for the mall port."

Speaking of this, everyone laughed. The country is now developing rapidly, and the subjective initiative of local officials has indeed been greatly improved, because this is linked to their performance appraisal, but any government official who is a bit motivated will think Ways to develop the local economy and make all kinds of work come true.Think about those bastard county magistrates in Daming, they basically do nothing based on the principle that one more thing is worse than one thing less The bureaucracy is not as far away as the east coast.

"Don't say it's useless. It's a serious matter for everyone to sit down and discuss how to do the interview work well in the next few days. "Kommersant" also sent people to interview, but fortunately everyone's interview ideas are different. Sankei Shimbun, we focus on political and social news, but a certain degree of competition is unavoidable. Everyone should keep up their spirits, move around more, dig more, and they must not let the guys from "Kommersant" compare to them. Seeing that everyone was talking about the same thing, Li Dayan tapped on the table lightly and said, "Lao Niu, you can make an appointment with the local township government officials tomorrow to see if they have time for an interview, and try to learn more about it from them." The development ideas of local officials. Lao Lu, you can go to the local Taoist Association to interview. There are more than [-] Catholics in Shangcheng Port (they even raised funds to repair and expand the San Jose Church left by the Spaniards). Religion The atmosphere is strong, this is a piece of news worth digging out, so make an interview plan.”

"Okay..." Everyone responded in a loud voice, and then dispersed one after another, taking their luggage and going back to the room to rest.

Li Dayan strolled to the window and pushed the thick glass window (with some air bubbles and slightly cloudy color) away.This is a guest room facing the sea, with the vast La Plata River outside the window.The ferocious waters of the surging river push the seawater far to the east (in fact, it only pushes away the surface seawater, the freshwater of the La Plata River gathers on the surface, and the middle and lower layers are seawater). Everyone who comes here for the first time is fascinated by it.

"The majestic river, the endless terrain, the land with rich water and grass, the quiet and open harbor..." Li Dayan looked at the pedestrians in different clothes on the street outside the window, and murmured: "This is the foundation of the king, Spain. People lost this place back then, and I’m afraid they regretted it at the beginning—of course, the bigger possibility is that they didn’t know how good it is here. Hehe, if we continue to manage it well, in the future, our army and navy on the east coast will start from here and take down Buyi across the sea. The city of North Aires is nothing more than idle business."

(End of this chapter)