Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1783 Trading Port

Leon Wolfgang Wagner arrived at Jiaohe Port on a ship.

This ship is a 650-ton flute-shaped transport ship produced by the Zhenhai Shipyard on the East Coast. In addition to tobacco, coffee, cocoa, dried fruits, cane sugar, pepper, cinnamon and other tropical specialties, the cargo in the cabin also has many masts. , wood tar, cables and other boats.The latter is an industry developed in the New Courland Colony in recent years. It mainly uses the unique natural resources of the Congo River Basin, imports machinery and equipment from the east bank, hires technicians, and establishes a series of industries aimed at utilizing these resources. workshop type enterprise.Among them, ship products such as masts, wood tar, and cables are the focus of the development of the Courlandians, because they have similar industries in the Baltic Sea of ​​the Old World, and they are now familiar with making them. Just pile up unfamiliar equipment to improve labor efficiency.

In fact, according to common sense, although the Courlandians are used to the boat business in the Baltic Sea, and even have a large-scale shipyard in Wendau Port, their products are not too many on the east coast. Competitive, especially when adding transoceanic shipping costs and import and export duties.In other words, from a purely commercial point of view, they should not and cannot sell these commodities to the east coast market for profit.

But who made the East Coast government have a very criticized policy?That is, out of some political or other interests, they deliberately support some companies or countries that they think should be supported, such as the Dutch West India Company, the North American Free State, New Courland, etc. Every year, there are certain imports from the above companies or countries. The indicators of regional specialty products have made many domestic businessmen very dissatisfied, but there is nothing they can do.

Therefore, that is to say, the economies of regions such as New Courland are heavily dependent on the market demand of the East Coast Republic of China, and the degree of prosperity is almost exactly the same as that of the East Coast.Especially when the population of this country has already reached more than 1678 million, and the number of consumers has greatly increased—according to the latest estimates, by the end of August 8, the total population of the East China Republic had reached 413.47 Historically high, among them Ming people accounted for 35.46%, second-generation nationals accounted for 50.47%, and the number of whites added up to about 14.1%. In addition, there are about 36.6 non-nationals, which is also the highest peak in recent years. This is mainly due to It is due to the large-scale infrastructure construction in China in recent years.

A country with a population of more than 400 million is really not a small country, especially the gap between the rich and the poor in this country is really small (even non-national laborers have a certain consumption power), and there are a large number of self-cultivating farmers (transformation) A large middle-class group consisting of agricultural operators who have joined cooperatives), workers, businessmen, soldiers, civil servants, and handicraftsmen. With the improvement of their living standards, the consumption of various resources at home and abroad has also begun to intensify. Among them, there are many Less tropical goods from overseas were key to the survival of the colony of New Courland.

The Latvians who built New Courland certainly understood the key to this, knowing who their parents were.Therefore, Beveren and Wagner, the two governors of the New Courland Colony, paid the highest level of attention to the east coast. This is from the fact that they personally come to the east coast by boat almost every two years to visit various old relationships. If you look at them and old friends, you can see that they deeply understand where their source of wealth is.

Today, Leon Wolfgang Wagner, the second governor of New Courland, came to the east coast by boat. Speaking of which, it was the first time he visited alone since Governor Beveren retired and returned to live in the Baltic Sea.If you start from Jacobs Harbor and cross the Atlantic Ocean, the first stop the ship arrives at is Jiaohe Port, which is the northernmost point of the east coast border and is located in a hot area.

Jiaohe Port is now the county seat of Jiaohe County, with a relatively developed economy.The county was established in the middle of this year and is the 126th county-level administrative unit in the country. It has jurisdiction over Jiaohe Township, Suiye Township, Gushu Township, Yanran Township (located near the small town of Itamalaju in later generations) and Gexi Township ( It is located near the small town of Guaratinga in later generations), a five-settlement settlement with [-] to [-] residents, high per capita income and high consumption capacity.

It was established together with Gaochang County, the 127th county-level administrative unit in the country.The county has jurisdiction over Gaochang Township, Shule Township, Xuanchi Township, Huozhou Township (located near the later Teixeira de Freitas City) and Loulan Township (located near the later Nanuki Township). It is a settlement with a population of more than 1, mainly based on tropical plantation economy, logging and planting.

In addition, there are several isolated settlements established in recent years, namely Puchangxiang near the later town of St. Mateus, Tuman Township near the later town of Linyaris, and Xianqing Township near the town of Si, Cheshi Township near the town of Velia in later generations, Qianting Township near the town of Guarapari in later generations, Wusun Township near the town of Coratina in later generations, and Liuzhong Township near the small town of New Venice in later generations.

The above-mentioned isolated settlements are managed by two nearby counties, and life is already hard.Coupled with the drastic reforms carried out by Chairman Liao in the past two years after he came to power, the "disaster" of these settlements has become even more serious. At present, they are basically in a state of barely operating, with neither foreign investment nor internal immigration. Well, grandma doesn't love my uncle, I'm afraid I can only rely on my own poor accumulation to develop slowly, which is miserable to say the least.

Of course, these places are so miserable, but the life of Jiaohe County, the leader of the region, is not bad, because its superior geographical location is unmatched by other places.Thanks to the blessings of the previous two governments, Jiaohe Port currently has a port facility that looks passable in China on the east coast, with all kinds of equipment and ships for the dock, as well as a medium-sized ship repair shop and support A small-scale marine industry chain exists in this repair shop, which makes Jiaohe Port capable of providing anchorage, supply, repair and maintenance services for ocean-going ships, and can attract many merchant ships.

In addition, Jiaohe Port is the only way for ships on the west coast of the African continent to cross the Atlantic Ocean to South America. All kinds of goods and people gather here, so it is difficult to think about it.For example, Governor Wagner knew that the Courlandians wanted to purchase production materials and labor tools, such as steel bars, gears, saw blades, blades, bolts, etc., which can be found in various shops in Jiaohe Port. The difference is nothing more than price It’s just a little more expensive, so when merchant ships from Africa arrive in the New World, they like to buy part of it at the first port of call and put it away. Then when they return south, they go to other east coast ports to see if they want goods. Gradually replenish the required purchases.

Even, you can even buy daily necessities here.The only domestic pharmaceutical company on the east coast, the state-owned North Pharmaceutical Factory, has set up a store here to sell medicines including aspirin.Especially for tropical products such as essential oils, carminative oils, and cooling oils, the containers are never full, and they are always snapped up early.

In addition, wine, liquor, beer, biscuits, bacon, canned food, chocolate, coffee, cigarettes, matches and other common daily necessities on the east coast—even less common commodities such as musical instruments, paintings, sculptures, etc. It can be found in the rows of shops on the pier street here.Everyone, as long as you have money, no matter if you are from the east coast, European, Indian or black, you can buy here, no cheating, fair trade.

It can be seen from this that the development of Jiaohe Port and Jiaohe County is based on the passenger flow and the prosperous business that comes with it.Without the berthing of a large number of merchant ships and warships traveling to and from South America, Africa and the Caribbean, this county has become a small and featureless seaport city in general, just like it was in the hands of the Portuguese, although it was a port city at that time. The capital of the General Seguro District of the Kingdom of Portugal.

The officials of Jiaohe County are not stupid, so they can naturally see their future development model.Especially now that the local area has been "short of food"-well, maybe it is not very appropriate to say that it has been cut off, but it is obvious that the focus of development has shifted to the south-they should figure out their own way and see what path they should take in the future.Just as the Bac Ninh region has identified its own position and intends to develop canned food, biscuits, dried fruits and other food deep processing industries and supporting food machinery design, manufacture and repair, Hue region focuses on the development of sugar refining, by-product development, wood industry and corresponding machinery design , manufacturing, and repair industries, it is already a high probability event that the Jiaohe area (already in preparation for establishment) will take the commercial route in the future.

At present, although the local people don't "want to see" these tropical areas anymore, it is not impossible to get some support. For example, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should be a little interested in the proposal of Jiaohe Port to focus on building an international trade port, and give them some support. Talent and technical support.For example, Dayuhe Higher Finance College has arranged hundreds of graduates here to engage in import and export trade and daily financial management, which has strongly supported the development of Jiaohe County.

As a very important business partner of the East Coast Republic, Governor Wagner has naturally received news about this. Therefore, this time he took a boat to the East Bank for activities, he planned to stay in Jiaohe Port for a while and find someone to learn about Jiaohe Port. Details of future developments.If necessary, the New Courland Colony should purchase land, build warehouses, and open shops selling goods at Jiaohe Port, because it is said that Jiaohe Port is likely to obtain a lower commodity import and export tariff from the east bank government. The tax rate is the basis for the future development of this port city.

To be honest, low tariffs are a very big temptation for legal businessmen, especially in the east coast offshore.This country has a large number of light and fast "Star"-class light cruisers, patrolling the offshore waters from time to time, hunting down pirate ships and chasing smuggling ships. It is very efficient. It cannot be said that there is no smuggling at all. That is unrealistic, but it is definitely better than other countries. There are much fewer coastlines, and the risk that smugglers need to take is extremely high, and the cost is too high, so it cannot be done without profiteering commodities.Therefore, the vast majority of businessmen who trade with the east coast are still willing to go to the port to trade through formal channels. Although paying import and export duties, port entry fees, and service fees are more painful, they can only bear it.

And if the port of Jiaohe successfully obtains a lower tariff rate from the east bank government this time, and at the same time reduces the amount of miscellaneous fees such as ship entry fees and service fees, it will definitely attract more merchants to come to trade , whether it is a domestic businessman on the east coast or a businessman from overseas.

Governor Wagner stayed here for more than half a month. During the period, he visited many contacts accumulated in the time of Governor Beveren, learned some little-known things, and became more and more optimistic about the future of Jiaohe Port.Therefore, he has basically determined that after returning to Jakobshaven, he will start deploying manpower and go to Jiaohe Port on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to set up offices, warehouses and shops as a display window for New Courland products on the east coast.

You know, even the well-known Dutch West India Company plans to set up a branch here, and it is a decision made when the company has been entangled with the English and French in the Atlantic for many years and its finances are becoming increasingly distressed. It can be seen that this large colonial company has already bet its treasure on the East Bank, and it is counting on this to make a comeback.

And the Dutch West India Company can make up their minds to do so. What reason is there for the New Courland Colony, which does not have such a big financial pressure, not to keep up?Whether to closely follow the policies of the East Bank and respond to the call of the East Bank is a major issue related to the future development of New Courland, such as investing in the establishment of a commercial organization in Jiaohe Port, which has practical benefits and can sell East Coast people a good thing, why? not to do it?Are you stupid?

What's more, since the people on the east coast and the United Provinces turned against each other and sales in the Baltic Sea market plummeted, the Principality of Courland has become the de facto largest agent of goods on the east coast around the Baltic Sea, shouldering the responsibility of opening up markets for goods on the east coast and regaining lost ground. important task.At present, they are not doing very well in this work, the progress is very limited, and the east bank is also faintly dissatisfied. His Majesty the Grand Duke is worried about this and has been trying to find a way.And if the Principality of Courland can purchase goods on the east coast at Jiaohe Port at a relatively low price next, it will have a certain positive effect on the work they are currently working hard on, right?At least they can give the agents more leeway, can't they?

"The Principality of Courland lacks strategic depth in the Old Continent, the country is small and weak, and its neighbors are full of wolves, tigers and leopards. If you are not careful, it will be swallowed by people. Therefore, the back road of New Courland is extremely important. In this regard But we must not disobey the people on the east bank. The Jiaohe area is going to be transformed and an international trade port is to be established, so we must closely participate in it." Governor Leon Wolfgang Wagner thought.

(End of this chapter)