Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1247 Blending

Mr. Lopez got out of the carriage gently with four well-dressed entourages. Maybe it was because he was too tired from work recently, or maybe it was because he was old. , this is worthy of standing firm.

The driver of the Qingdao Street Car Company who watched him get off the car was also taken aback. It seemed that he had never encountered such a thing as "touching porcelain" in his career as a driver. Now that the other party was fine, he was slightly relieved. He took a deep breath, then rang the bell, carried the remaining five or six passengers in the car, and drove steadily along the track towards the next stop.

"It's really old." Mr. Lopez, who was already full of white hair, sighed inaudibly, and said softly: "I have been working for **** consortium families on the east bank for thirteen years. Yes. This has been a wonderful 13 years, and it is also the 13 years that have touched me the most. I hope that before I am inspired by the Lord, I can see some major events that are destined to be remembered by history."

In front of him was an inconspicuous two-story building—well, inconspicuousness is only relative, Gein Expo Street is full of such two- and three-story buildings—but it occupies a rather large area, and the front of the building is low. There is a large piece of grass within the wall, which is divided into multiple blocks by many newly planted trees. Between the trees are paths paved with stone slabs, leading directly to the innermost main building.

After negotiating with a number of armed guards, Lopez and others were guided by an internal staff member, and then they successfully entered the gate of the State Administration of Precious Metals.At the end of the stone road, there are a few youths who look like students carefully measuring something. Mr. Lopez guesses that they are all students of Qingdao Road and Bridge School, which was established in March 1659 and belongs to the Ministry of Construction, which specializes in training construction talents. , I came here to prepare for some changes to the layout of the building.

"Mr. Lopez, I haven't seen you coming for a long time." Hai Dafu, who had just returned from the north for a few days, came to the gate and greeted the Bank of La Plata group headed by Lopez.

"Director Hai, you'd better not expect me to come here every day, because that will not be good for you." Lopez looked at Hai Dafu who also looked old, and said in Spanish: "Unless you are ready Gold and silver to fill a ship."

"Except for Spain, no one can provide such a ship." Hai Dafu smiled, led everyone into his office, and said, "Well, after the General Administration of Precious Metals moved to Qingdao County, I can be regarded as independent. It’s the office, isn’t the decoration nice?”

"Not very good." Lopez looked at the paintings produced by the Dutch Luke Guild on the wall, shook his head, and said, "Director Hai, I have to say that your taste hasn't improved much over the years. "

"You are still that stubborn old man with a ruthless mouth." Hai Dafu smiled helplessly, and then called the servants to bring everyone yerba mate, green tea and coffee.

"It can be seen that after changing the office, your office funds are relatively sufficient." Hai Dafu looked at the Hejian yerba mate tea, Ningbo green tea and New Huaxia coffee in front of him, and then gave up further teasing Hai Dafu Thoughts, he said straightforwardly: "Director Hai, today I bring you good news. Your request for a loan of five thousand gold marks last year has been approved by investors. I'm sorry, because it is necessary to issue a draft from St. George's Commercial Bank, the cycle It took a long time, but it is finally in place. If you have no problems, then the loan can be released to the account you opened now, and you can use it freely at that time. Please rest assured that this ten thousand gold mark money order Jointly guaranteed by our bank, Bank of San Giorgio, Bank of San Paulo, Bank of Palermo, and Venetian Circular Bank, it will pass through the entire Mediterranean Sea, South Germany and even parts of the Ottoman region."

The gold mark is a unit of bookkeeping currency popular in the western Mediterranean and southern Germany. Local businessmen use the mark as the unit to discuss business when participating in trade fairs.The value of one mark is equivalent to 28 ounces of gold in later generations. Because it is linked to gold, it is called the gold mark, and five thousand gold marks is equivalent to about 198.5 million East Coast silver dollars, which is also a huge sum of money.Italian bankers and consortiums were willing to lend this money to the East Bank at an annual interest rate of 6.5% for ten years, because they also took a fancy to the good financial reputation of the government of the East Coast Republic of China. After all, the first government in 1648 The people on the east coast of a bank loan of 1000 million lira have paid back the principal and interest two years ago, showing a strong ability to repay the loan. It is not an exaggeration to say that the annual interest rate of 20%-30% is not exaggerated. Anyway, those people will stop paying interest at any time, so if the interest rate is low, the risk is really too great.

After the five thousand gold marks are deposited into the special account opened by the Ministry of Finance at the Bank of La Plata, more than half of it (100 million yuan) will be paid to * ***** person, as the first installment of Southwest Railway’s repurchase.As for the second installment, the two parties have basically reached an agreement. Because of the resolute attitude of the East Coast people and the temptation of the New Spain market, the Italians finally agreed that the East Coast people will pay 300 million yuan for the 20-year trade franchise in the New Spain market. The third payment is also the final final payment, which will be paid before the end of 300, in the form of offsetting the goods specified by the **** person, with a total value of 1662 million yuan.

The Southwest Railway repurchase case with a total amount of 1000 million yuan came to an end after two years of repeated negotiations between the two parties. If all costs are included in the investment of **** people, the annual return is probably less than 3.2%. For them with severe excess funds, it cannot be said to be a loss. After all, it is better than the annual return of investment. The 1.2% government pension should be stronger.You know, a lot of people in the country don’t know where to invest their money. They dare not lend to the King of Spain, and they don’t have enough investment channels. In the end, they can only invest in government bonds or annuities , the income could not even outperform the inflation brought about by the Spaniards' "quantitative easing" (referring to transporting American gold and silver back to Europe and putting them into the market).Therefore, if you can have an annual return of 3.2%, for large funds, just make do with it, and don't ask for too much.

After the loan, the total debts of the East Bank government will exceed 500 million yuan. Fortunately, most of the debts are long-term debts, so there is no need to rush to repay them.But even so, the pressure to repay debt and interest is still enormous, especially when there are still a large number of immigrants who need to be resettled, a large number of projects in the country need to be constructed, and the primary school universal plan needs to be invested in the foreseeable future. Burden can wear down almost anyone.

Don’t you see, the construction of the new settlements—including the new villages in the old settlements—is a mess. The number of loan brick houses that used to be one of the benefits has dropped sharply, and the villagers have to build their own shacks, The thatched houses are too much, and when you have enough money, you can build your own houses. Compared with the past, it is a heaven and a ground; in fact, not only houses are like this, but the urban sewage facilities that have been booming for a while are now only in some counties with ample financial resources. It was carried out slowly, and all such projects in other areas that could only be started with funds from the superiors were cut off, which shows the financial strain.

And in such a tight financial situation, the army is actually "crazy" to fight. How can this not make the civil service system, especially the financial department, angry?Don't these horse dung know that once the war starts, only Tianzun will know when it will end?If the Portuguese are determined not to surrender, will this war last for a few more years?Then the cost is not too much?We must know that tens of thousands of people will be mobilized this time. Can this year's military expenditure be reduced without 300 million yuan?Don't even think about it, just more!I can only hope to get some money back from the Brazilians, otherwise I really can't live this life!

"Thank you for the kindness of the Doria family and the Bank of La Plata." Hai Dafu said with a smile, "In order to repay the friendship of **** friends, is your country interested in buying some New World products? Such as sugar, timber, Tobacco, leather, and grain? The price may be very cheap..."

Lopez was a little ponderous when he heard the words. In fact, he knew very well what Hai Dafu was up to, and he also knew very well that the person in front of him must have been instructed by a higher level to discuss this matter with him.Isn't it just a war capture? Who doesn't know?As the president of Banco de la Plata, who has extensive connections on the east coast, Mr. Lopez's eyes and ears are not generally well-informed. It's difficult.

In Mr. Lopez's view, it is actually not difficult for the East Coasters to attack Brazil this time, the difference is only whether the war is profitable or not.Mr. Lopez is not very good at military affairs, so he cannot accurately assess the balance of power between the two sides, but based on his understanding of the Portuguese, he probably feels that they will not give up Brazil easily. Gein, a tropical colony, is becoming more and more important to them now. It has even surpassed the eastern trade, which adds a lot of difficulty to the victory of the people on the east coast.Once the war has been fought for two or three years before it ends, can the people on the east coast really benefit from this war?Anyway, Mr. Lopez can't believe that after spending tens of millions of bank lire in military expenses, the people on the east coast can find money from Brazil to fill this hole. In his opinion, it is too difficult, too difficult!

However, the people on the east coast now invite him and the Italian capital behind them to come and buy the spoils they seized-not directly involved in the war-for them, it is not a bad thing.It is conceivable that because of the large backlog of those spoils, the price must be extremely cheap to deal with, so it is not a bad idea to go up to get a share of the pie. Anyway, most of the people on the east coast have also found other foreign businessmen to help "sell the spoils" (after all, their domestic market is not enough, The strength of the businessman is also very average, and he can't digest the huge amount of spoils. Of course, it does not rule out that there are also elements of goodwill.) Everyone just wants to make money together. Is it possible that the Portuguese will not be satisfied?Hehe, who cared what they thought at that time!

Therefore, after discussing with Hai Dafu, Mr. Lopez agreed in principle to the invitation of the people on the east coast, saying that he would notify the Old Continent as soon as possible and let them send ships (all fleets established in recent years) to come. On the east bank, and before that, he and Siligu will come out to buy some supplies that are in short supply. The price will be discussed at that time, anyway, it will not be too expensive.

It is worth mentioning that the Chinese were pioneers of seafaring in history. They started sailing in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were the first Europeans to reach West Africa and discover the Azores after the Middle Ages. Their history is even older than that of the Portuguese. Earlier, the sugar cane plantations run by them in the Canary Islands and other places at that time were proof.It's just that this country became too successful in business and finance later, and huge profits flowed into their pockets through various channels. Even in the 16th century, the country even replaced Antwerp for a while ( About 20 years) of the European financial center, until finally replaced by Amsterdam, which shows its success.

It's just that if business and finance are successful, no one is willing to work hard to sail. Therefore, the world's maritime industry has declined rapidly, and its talents have flowed into foreign countries.It’s just that after the people from the east coast made their fortunes in the southern New World 30 years ago and had more and more intersections with the Japanese, the Japanese participated more actively or passively in international trade. In terms of affairs—at this time, they had just recovered from the Spanish financial earthquake in 1627, and they had a strong desire to invest abroad, and the rise of the people on the east coast was just right—they began to set up plantations in other places and participated in overseas investment with a lot of money.

In recent years, they have begun to order a large number of ocean-going transport ships in shipyards on the east coast, Spain, and England. At the same time, they have recruited sailors and started their own shipping business. It is reported that the total tonnage of merchant ships capable of running ocean-going ships has exceeded [-] Ton, the growth rate is very fast.

Last year, the people on the east coast tentatively proposed to allow the Japanese people to participate more in the old continent-east coast route, and use their advantages to expand the ocean-going merchant fleet and make up for the east coast ocean-going fleet. Insufficient transport capacity.At that time, Mario Doria had already agreed to this matter on behalf of many consortiums and families of the Communist Party of China, and placed an order for ten flute-shaped transport ships at the three major shipyards of the East Coast People. great.In fact, the idea of ​​​​the **** people is also very clear. Since the Mediterranean shipping business at the doorstep is monopolized by the Netherlands, it might as well specialize in this route from the east coast to the old continent. The prospects are also extremely promising-this time Mr. Lopez promised to send more ships from the mainland to the east coast to pull goods, which is due to the great expansion of his ocean-going fleet over the years.

After the meeting with the Bank of La Plata and his group, Hai Dafu, who got his own satisfactory answer, followed the instructions of his superiors and went to the famous Tulip Shop in the dock area. This is a shop opened by the West India Company. , also assumes a liaison function-plans to discuss with the Dutch about the digestion of the spoils.The Dutch West India Company is currently in a financial crisis. I believe that they will never let go of the opportunity to sweep cheap goods, and this is exactly the purpose of the people on the east coast.Tie the Japanese and the Dutch to their chariots as much as possible (it’s just a little bonus anyway), in case there is any change in the war in the future, the people on the east coast can also have friends who can talk in Europe .In addition, if a truce with the Portuguese is planned in the future, then these two countries are also excellent mediators. They have rich connections and resources to travel between the two countries, and everything will be much easier. doubt.

Compared with the Japanese, the Dutch West India Company was really happy about this "free money" thing. After thinking for a while, their representatives fully agreed to the request of the people on the east coast—— Philippe’s sugar production was greatly reduced due to the war, and the sugar factories in Amsterdam were forced to close not too much. Once the people on the east coast looted a huge amount of sugar from Brazil (in their view, it was almost a certain thing), then by If the West India Company eats it and ships it back to Amsterdam, it will definitely make a fortune and turn around the company's extremely bad financial situation.

After finishing all this, Hai Dafu called his assistant and asked him to go to the telegraph room to send a telegram to the capital as soon as possible, and report the news.Now, everything is ready, and we will officially declare war after the winter broadcast is over!

As I was writing today, I discovered that there was a bug in the previous article. The **** invested [-] gold marks in New China.It's a pity that the background of the new version of the starting point is so bad that I can't even modify the chapters a few days ago, so I can't even change the typos now, so depressed.You can only request to unban and modify it with the editor, which is very troublesome.

(End of this chapter)