Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1217 South Pacific ([-])

"Maurin, Valparaíso, Lima, Guayaquil, and Acapulco are the five major commercial cities that our company entrusted by the executive committee to set up customs ports." Third Fleet On the escort gunship "Big Red Squid", Lieutenant Cai Anguo was talking eloquently.

Along with the "Big Red Squid" are three transport ships of the Southern Railway Company. At this time, they are sailing northward at a high speed of six knots along the strong Peruvian current. They will have just left the bustling Valparaiso Port. It is estimated that it will take about half a month to prepare for the next destination, the port of Guayaquil, which is located in the Prosecutor’s Court District of Quito. Senior officials were there to inspect.

The customs originally set up by the East Coasters in Valparaiso was a bit unstable, because the port of Gein is actually the outer port of San Diego, and the economic hinterland radiated is mostly inland towns, where the Hidalgos are extremely powerful, priests, etc. The influence of conservative forces is also great.Therefore, the opening of the customs of the people on the east coast was not smooth. However, after the naval gunboat came around and successfully delivered a squadron of soldiers from the South Railway Guard Team, the attitude of the local people became more subtle. Changes in the city - this should be a good start, after all, this is also a port city with an annual import and export tariff income of 8 to [-] yuan, so it should not be underestimated.

"The situation in Maolin Customs is relatively optimistic. We have been operating there for many years, and we are familiar with everyone. It is also close to our own territory, and the trade volume far exceeds that of other ports. The business atmosphere is strong, so we can still cover it. "Lieutenant Cai Anguo, who has been sailing in the coastal waters of the Governor's District of Peru all year round, carefully introduced, "But the other four cities are very problematic. There are many cases of refusal to pay taxes or smuggling. It is believed that these smuggled goods are all The inflow from the north, and the root cause is that a small part comes from New Spain, and most of them actually come from the old continent. In addition, the customs officers stationed by our country are bullied, deceived and even hurt by local conservative and xenophobic forces. Last month, your company dispatched a squadron of soldiers from the Southern Railway Guards to the port of Guayaquil, where the disturbances were the most violent, and this suppressed the ferocious flames of the Spanish conservative forces a little."

"This month we sent another squadron of road guard soldiers to Valparaíso. Next month, do we need to send another squadron of road guard soldiers to Acapulco to maintain order?" Liu Ang shook his head. Shaking his head, he said, "There are only five squadrons (one of which is a cavalry squadron) in the South Railway Guard Team, and three infantry squadrons have been dispatched at once. How can we maintain the crucial railway order in the future? Customs officials Things still have to be figured out.”

Of course, Liu Ang also knows that this kind of matter cannot be resolved in the short term.After all, it didn’t take long for the trade between Peru and New Spain on the Pacific side to be fully liberalized. It is only natural that the local vested interests, conservative xenophobic forces, and the church are hostile to the people on the east coast. And cultivate a comprador class that speaks for itself, so it is expected that it will be difficult to start a business.There is no other way to solve this kind of thing. If the situation cannot be broken violently, then you can only use water to infiltrate, divide, and win over a little bit, and finally achieve the goal of fully controlling the local economy. This will undoubtedly take time, so It is also necessary to send some warships to cruise and send some road guard soldiers to hold the line in the early stage, because this can avoid some unnecessary losses.

On August 1659, 8, four ships slowly sailed into the deep tropical port of Guayaquil.However, the city backed by the Guayas River is not as hot as expected. On the contrary, the cool wind blowing from the sea makes the climate here very pleasant, which is much better than places like Xinhua.In fact, it’s not just Guayaquil. The entire Quito prosecutor’s court area is mostly located on the plateau. It’s like spring all year round, with a pleasant climate and rich products. No wonder this is the core area of ​​the ancient Inca Empire. The cool weather is the main reason. !

The port of Guayaquil has a vast hinterland with the Guayas River and many mule and horse roads leading to the inland. It has a large population, rich products, and strong consumption power. Therefore, the annual import and export trade volume is quite large.From here, a large amount of timber, tobacco, cane sugar, leather, cocoa, coffee, dyes (vegetable dyes), grains and other special products are continuously shipped to the subsidiary of the South Railway, while hardware tools, textiles, buildings from the east coast Materials, medicines, dyes (chemical dyes), seafood, refined flour, daily necessities and other special products are transported to the port of Araucan via the Southern Cone and Oceanic Railway, and then shipped to Guayaquil for sale. The trade complementarity between the two parties very strong.

It can be said that if the Spaniards are not so resistant, the entire Quito Procuratorate District (of course, the Bogota, Panama and other trial court districts further north) can slowly prosper relying on trade with the East Coast and maintain a The situation of booming production and sales.Of course, some people may say that the people on the east coast are using industrial scissors to poorly harvest the labor value of the Spaniards, but who cares?The Spaniards were also enslaving the Indians, and the Mestizos worked hard for them. The tropical goods they produced were shipped back to the east coast, which delighted the people on the east coast, and these slave owners could also live a better quality of life. And accumulating more money - of course, if the slave owners are generous enough to slip through their fingers (almost certain), then the entire region will benefit from this economic model.

"The temperature in any area depends on its altitude." The customs chief who was born in Dayuhe Youth Cadre School still knows some geographical knowledge, just listen to him say: "The local people divide the entire Quito Prosecutor's Court into 'hot The hot zone is small, while the warm zone is large, but the cold zone still covers most of the inland towns. Generally speaking, the climate here is very mild. and the production of traditional commodities such as fruit, coffee, potato, cocoa, tobacco, corn, wheat, sugar cane, cotton, sulfur, lead, tin, etc. is large. In addition, in recent years, under the guidance of trade, local plantations The owners began to prefer to grow rice, hemp, beans, yucca, plantain, barley and citrus fruits to export to the east coast for greater economic benefits. In short, this is a very rich place, and the people Life is also very peaceful, even for mestizos of mixed blood or even Indians of inferior blood, life is not so bad."

"Are you in serious trouble here?" Looking at the squadron leader of the Southern Railway Guard Team who came to salute, Liu Ang asked the head of the customs: "Is the hostility of the Spaniards still so great?"

"To be honest, the hostility is still quite high, because we have impacted many people's businesses and attracted hostility from church forces. But after the officers and soldiers of the road guard team arrived, our situation improved a lot. At least, we bought After arriving at a few good houses, I no longer have to spend my days under temporary shacks.” The customs chief complained, “Some Spanish businessmen are willing to contact us, and some of them are speculators with little capital but hope to soar into the sky. Some of them are big local businessmen who have been attacked by us. They all explicitly or secretly offered to cooperate with us to make money. They did not hesitate to set fire to our house in the middle of the night, and officers and soldiers of the road guards opened fire, killing and injuring several people, and these things gradually decreased. All in all, our situation here is not very good, but we have Still collected nearly 7 yuan in import and export duties for the company."

"It's a remarkable achievement." Liu Ang commented, "Work hard, the Southern Railway will not treat you badly, and the officers and soldiers of the road guard team are also your strong backing. We must support the customs and expand trade. In the past, Guaya Kiel is a closed market that we have never been able to enter, and now we can sell so much goods in a year, and a tariff of 7 yuan has been collected.

After inspecting the Guayaquil Customs, Liu Ang took the "Big Red Squid" escort gunboat and turned around, heading towards the Turtle Islands. As for the three transport ships of the Southern Railway Company, two returned with a full load of cargo, and one returned alone. Go north to deliver goods at the port of Acapulco, which is located in the court district of Guadalajara. After all, it is also a large open port.

With the increasing importance of the circular route in the South Pacific, the importance of the Turtle Islands (namely the Galapagos Islands) on the east coast navigation map is also increasing day by day. No, the executive committee has officially authorized the Southern Railway Company A settlement was established near the port of Baquerizo in later generations, named Xuanwu Port, and the entire San Cristobal Island was also named Xuanwu Island.

There are currently only 500 people living in this settlement. It was developed on the basis of the temporary camp set up by the army and navy during the Second East-West War. Due to the drought, the agricultural output is less, and most of the drought-resistant crops such as corn and sorghum are used. Mainly, but it is not bad as a supply base (the ships passing through Xuanwu Port are less manned).And this year, Xuanwu Port has ushered in a considerable number of technicians, and roughly built the skeleton of a small shipyard, making this port truly equipped with the ability of ocean supply ports, and has become a port controlled by people on the east coast. One of the key nodes in the South Pacific.

"This island is inaccessible, and the wonderful thing is that it doesn't even have malaria. Duandi is a good place. It's a bit short of water, but it's not insurmountable." After landing on the land of Xuanwu Port, Liu Ang ate and carried with the boat. Chilean Jiuguo said: "In the future, Xuanwu Port will build a fort and a large wharf to become an excellent bridgehead for the Navy's Third Fleet to advance. You must work hard. Now all places are pioneering, and we can't fall behind! "

(End of this chapter)