Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1069 Dust Settled ([-])

On November 1655, 7, Xiaoxue.

The weather in the past two years has really been getting colder and colder. Even in a place like New Dundee, which should be very warm, the winter is surprisingly cold. No, there have been several snowfalls since the beginning of winter. Today is no exception.

Blanco de Souza Almeida stood on the bank of the gentle Palajana River, wondering what he was thinking.His loyal servant, Silva, who was originally sent to open a shop in the border trade market of Baoan Township on the east coast, was not far away at this time, and he was gesticulating, not knowing what he was talking to a group of Indian servants, probably to teach How do they bundle goods by category? These natives are always stupid, and it's normal that they can't do this well.

The goods are transported by mules and horses, probably in the form of hundreds of horses, and the scale is quite large. The types of goods are also pins, fishhooks, buttons, cables, standard skins, wooden barrels, brushes, hammers, candlesticks, and scissors. , Insoles, hat brims, sharpening stones and other small daily-use commodities are basically exported to the east coast, and a considerable part of them are produced according to the requirements of the people on the east coast.For this reason, this settled town originally under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Portugal gathered a large number of handicraftsmen from the Old World. Small commodities are then exported to the east coast in exchange for money or items necessary to maintain their own production and life.

This was originally a mutually beneficial business model, but now it seems to be greatly affected: because of the agreement reached between the East Coast and Portugal, these Portuguese who were originally scattered in many towns among the Gerard Mountains have also been affected. Whether to continue to live here, or to move north to the area controlled by Portuguese Brazil, has become a very realistic problem for these craftsmen.After all, the Gerard Mountains were promised to the pagans on the east coast!

Many Portuguese with pure religious beliefs intend to respond to the call of the Brazilian colonial authorities and return to the northern hinterland to settle down. They can also eat with their own skills there. Going to church is much better than the East Bank, which is known as a religious prison. After all, the salvation of the soul is as important as the comfortable life in this world.

However, there are also a considerable number of craftsmen who are unwilling to leave, such as a large number of local Scottish immigrants-the local name is "New Dundee Town", so the name suggests that the early local immigrants mainly came from Dundee, Scotland.The troubled Scots are much more flexible than those Portuguese Catholics. Years of wandering life have made their attitudes more flexible and adaptable, so they plan to continue to stay in the local settlement and trade.In their view, being ruled by people from the east coast means they are governing, and they haven’t completely banned Christ (for example, there is a cathedral in Ping’an County opposite), so what’s the point of staying in a familiar place and continuing to live in a familiar way? Woolen cloth?Hmph, people on the east coast may be more tolerant in terms of religious policies than some countries that cruelly treat heretical sects, such as the English, French, Spaniards, Germans, etc. You must know that the 30-year war has just ended How many years.

This is the case in New Dundee, and the rest, such as Captain Ricardo's Town, Blacksmiths Town, and Slave Town, are similar. Some people want to leave, while others are willing to stay. At the beginning of June, the East Coast Gendarmerie came to these places and reiterated to the local Portuguese officials the principles of "autonomy" and "voluntariness", that is, the Portuguese should not force the local residents to do anything, and everything is up to them to decide.Therefore, by the middle of this month (July), according to the statistics, there are 6 residents in the four towns who are willing to stay and continue to work and live. Most of them are immigrants, and most of them are Scots, Irish and Germans. ; more than 7 residents were relocated, about 1939% of whom were immigrants from Portugal and Italy, and the remaining half were mixed-race whites or Guaranis. No fantasy, just move to the inland areas of Brazil, so as not to be discriminated against in the East Coast control area in the future.

Of course, when these people moved away, they also took away most of the properties that were easy to carry. As for those that were inconvenient to take away, such as simple pedal machine tools, forging hammers and other labor tools, real estate such as houses, farmland, orchards, blacksmith shops, etc. Enterprises such as wood workshops, quarries, etc., can only be sold locally for nothing, which is cheaper for those who are willing to stay.Of course, the East Coast United Industrial Credit Bank also specially sent people to issue low-interest loans to these local craftsmen or workshop owners, encouraging them to eat these things to resume production, and to minimize the impact on counties such as Ping'an, Dingxi, Yiling, and Shenwu. To the lowest level - most of the daily necessities of the local residents are imported from the Gerard Mountains.As for the orchards, pastures, and farmland left over from the local area, the Northwest Reclamation Bank sent special staff to buy them back at a low price, and planned to keep them in their hands first, and then wait for the immigrants organized by the China Railway Corporation to arrive here (in order to dilute the local population. Old Continent European immigrants), and then sell them to them in the form of mortgage loans - this kind of cultivated land that has been cultivated for many years naturally has no worries about buyers.

In short, after the negotiations on the northern border were settled, the Portuguese residents living in New Dundee and other four small towns were worried about the various policies on the east bank and the instigation of the colonial authorities of Portuguese Brazil. A mood of panic ensued in a hasty, tragic relocation.Blanco came here for inspection this time (to see if there is any need for his own shop to continue to operate), and he witnessed this migration with his own eyes, and his heart was naturally filled with endless humiliation.

"After this batch of goods was sold in Bao'an Township of the people on the east coast, the local shops were also sold, and then they bought a farm tool, printed cloth, medicine and steel bars and returned. There is no need to do business there anymore. Go down." Blanco looked at the quietly flowing Palahana River and said in a low tone.After the Gerard Mountains belonged to the pagans on the east coast, it is indeed impossible to continue this kind of border trade business in a short period of time. The people on the east coast have eaten a large number of craftsmen in New Dundee and other places, and the demand for daily necessities will be greatly reduced. , the basis for bilateral trade no longer exists.What should be more worrying in the future is that the boats of the people on the east coast will go upstream along the Sinos River (that is, the Baoan River) and directly enter the Gerard Mountains.There are many hills with extremely gentle slopes in the Gerard Mountains, there are few cut-offs in the meandering rivers, and there are too many shoals. The navigability is still good. People on the east coast can rely on their steam flat-bottomed boats to maneuver quickly , which is extremely important for tightly controlling the entire mountainous area.

It's a pity that the steam engine developed by the family in Lisbon has never been successful. Although it has made some progress compared to before, it is still far from being practical. Now many people in the family are complaining.Of course, huge R&D dollars have been spent, but it has never been successful, and this kind of noise is normal.Now, Blanco hopes that the family can solve the technical difficulties as soon as possible, and produce a practical steam engine as soon as possible, so that their Almeida family will obtain huge benefits beyond imagination, and his position in the family will also be greatly improved. more stable.

"Yes, sir, I will take care of these things." Silva said immediately, "will we trade with the British in the future? I heard that their products are also very good, especially Birmingham's metal products, Although the mechanical equipment and weapons are not as good as those of the people on the east coast, they are also rare and fine products. Now their sea transportation capacity is also very strong, and His Majesty has also given them many trade preferential measures to start trade with the English. It seems that It’s the trend.”

"In the future, the ships needed by the family will not be ordered from the people on the east coast. The ships in London are very good, and the price is not much higher than that on the east coast (British labor is cheaper than on the east coast, and the Portuguese also give them very favorable prices. Tariff rate), this is enough for us to make a choice. Many people in other families also hold the same opinion as me. In the future, there is no need for people on the east coast to earn some money, because we can use it to make friends A real friend, not a wolf like the East Coast." When Blanco said this, there was already a hint of anger in his words, and it could be seen that his opinions on the East Coast people seemed to have become more and more serious in recent years. Da: "We export goods to the east coast, except for the agreed quotas, we try our best to satisfy the English, French and even Italians first. Since the pagans on the east coast bully us so much, then we naturally don't need to accommodate them anymore. I’m going back to Lisbon for a while. Some things need to be publicized to the Lord’s people. The New World is given to believers by the Lord, but the heretics are extremely arrogant here, and some evil and depraved heretics are also colluding with them. This is simply intolerable. We must expose the true face of the people on the east coast, so that the people of the Lord can have a clear understanding. Huh, I don’t believe that the Dutch are all depraved heretics, and there will always be people who are angry with heretics. ..."

"In addition, immediately after returning, we will arrange ships to transport a batch of goods stored in the warehouse back to Lisbon. Your Excellency the Governor will soon restart the war against the Netherlands. Maybe the coast of Brazil will become a battlefield. At that time, the trade will inevitably increase. Affected, so it’s better to send the goods in advance.” Blanco finally stared, “In this war, the New World side is actually not the key point, the most worrying thing is the mainland, I don’t know if they can carry it Don't live under the pressure of the Dutch fleet coming to your door."

(End of this chapter)