Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1872 Central Valley ([-])

"The special envoy from the central government came so quickly?" Beside a bonfire, the commander of the Army's No. 12 mixed battalion leaned on a wooden box and asked Xiang Zirui, director of the preparation office for the four forts of the Corps in front of him.

The two of them are currently the two most powerful people in the land in front of them. One is in charge of the army and the other is in charge of the people, with a combination of civil and military.Of course, in terms of the status of the two parties, there may be some unequal status. Battalion Commander Jiang is a major, one of the top ranks of the army system, but Xiang Zirui is just a junior director at the deputy department level.Moreover, this is the east bank, not the Ming country, and there is no environment where that little seventh-rank civil servant can raise his eyebrows at the general soldier, so if we really want to study the relationship between the two, Jiang Ning is the main one, Xiang Zi Rui often listens to his words and acts on them.

At this time, Xiang Zirui had just rushed over from the newly built shack that was used as his own - the house of the exterminated Spanish nobleman was taken by the army as the battalion headquarters - to discuss matters with Jiang Ning.Jiang Ning is currently resting in the yard of the battalion headquarters, and several orderlies are setting up pots of stew for him, which is also enjoying himself.

In front of them was a huge three-legged iron pot, which contained things like animal hooves and elbows, and under the iron pot was a vigorously burning firewood.Three orderlies were busy around the iron pot, one of them was stirring the pot with a knife in his mouth and a huge wooden handle spoon in both hands; Adding firewood; the last person is preparing spices, sauces and other accompaniments, with a clear division of labor and incomparable familiarity.

There was a sound of footsteps, and a rough-faced non-commissioned officer wearing a military cap walked in quickly, threw a flamingo weighing four to five catties on the ground, and looked proudly at the three people who were sitting in the iron pot. The orderly who was busy in front of him seemed to be showing off.Xiang Zirui also laughed when he saw it, but this man had a reason to show off, because this Chilean flamingo still had a feathered arrow stuck in its body, and it was obvious that he shot it down with a bow and arrow. Knowing his origin, he should be from Shandan or Mongol, otherwise who would have such superb archery skills these days.

The eyes of the man with the knife in his mouth lit up when he saw this, he immediately walked over and picked up the flamingo, ready to cook it and eat it.Jiang Ning was also very happy to see it, and even claimed that Xiang Zirui was lucky, and he ate rare food like geese and geese when he arrived. It would be great if he continued to have good luck in the next negotiation with the Spaniards.

"The special envoy of the central government has arrived at Maolin Port. He came here day and night. I heard that there are many tasks, not just limited to the current mess we are here." Major Jiang Ning moved his chair to the big iron pot, watching With the bubbling pot noodles, he turned to Zirui and said, "Director Xiao Xiang, can you relax a bit now? The central government has sent officials with real power from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to come here solemnly. That is to hold It is obviously beneficial to you and me to solve the purpose of everything once and for all. There is a high probability that the poor foundation that has been made here will not be withdrawn. I will give you a little credit and you will get the future. Work hard Well, Xiao Xiang, many big shots came from southern Chile, and you can do it too."

Xiang Zirui smiled shyly when he heard the words, and said, "Your auspicious words, Battalion Commander Cheng Jiang. However, this time the special envoys have been sent over to negotiate, so it's hard to say how the talks will go. I heard that the Spaniards The special envoy just arrived in Valdivia and did not go to Porto Maureen, what is the reason? Is there something wrong?"

"Probably not." Jiang Ning pondered for a while before answering: "The Spanish special envoy came here on the order of the Governor of Peru. As the special envoy with full powers, he naturally needs to go to the place where the incident happened to understand the situation before we can talk about it. After understanding these things, he will have a new understanding, and then he will rush to Port Maolin for negotiations."

"Besides, it's okay for me to say something, anyway, you will know sooner or later." Major Jiang Ning smelled the aroma of the bowl of broth handed over by the orderly, and then said to Zirui: "I am the day before yesterday I just received an official document from the Ministry of War and letters from some colleagues, and learned that the special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to Maolin Port to negotiate with the Spaniards, mainly to implement three things."

"The first thing is the trade between the two oceans that everyone is most concerned about." Major Jiang Ning raised a finger and said, "To put it simply, the big bosses of the Government Affairs Council want to trade the two oceans that have lasted for many years. Let’s implement the trade, the previous one was too vague, and it’s already expired, it’s not serious enough, and it’s not reassuring, this time I want to confirm in black and white with the Spaniards what to do after the two foreign trade.”

In fact, the government of the East Coast Republic of China has long wanted to clarify the trade with the two viceroyal regions of New Spain and Peru, regardless of the fact that they have been busy with many other things before, and these trades are also continuing smoothly, so there is no more intervene.And this time, there happened to be some conflicts between the East and the West in the southern section of the Central Valley, and Spain even put forward a threat slogan to suspend trade. Then the central government felt that it was indeed time to clarify the things inside, so as to avoid confusion and accidents in the future. .

The Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce jointly promoted this matter. They suggested that the special negotiating envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs try to reach the following agreement with Spain: 400. The existing Atlantic trade model will continue to be maintained, but with minor adjustments, that is, Air Canada will monopolize the trade period Ended, but still manages the customs of the Kingdom of Spain in Bello, Veracruz, Havana, Cartagena and San Augustine around the Caribbean Sea. Other east coast merchants can enter the area for trade, but no longer go through Air Canada; 300. The Pacific trade model has made major adjustments and is still managed by the Southern Railway Company (after the expiration of the Southern Railway trade concession, the Government Affairs Council will accept the company to continue to manage the customs) Acapulco, Panama, and Guaranteed The five major customs offices of Yaquil and Lima were handed over to the management of the central government. At the same time, the Governor of Peru was required to formally recognize that Valparaíso Customs was also managed by the people of the East Coast. A considerable part of the merchants of the two countries in this trade has been transferred to the outer port of Santiago for trade. This time, the people on the east coast officially proposed it, which happened to make up five ports opened by the Spaniards on the Pacific coast; [-]. In order to compensate the Spaniards The New World Friendship and Mutual Bank, a policy bank wholly owned by the government of the East Coast Republic of China, will grant a total credit line of [-] million yuan to the Spanish government within ten years, and allow the Spanish government to issue a maximum of [-] million euros in the Qingdao financial market. long-term bonds.

To be honest, this condition is quite favorable.People from the east coast control a total of ten customs offices in the two oceans, gaining a justifiable trade monopoly, and can freely attack the so-called "pirates" (in fact, most of them are smugglers, or the difference between the two is not too big...), which is very important for dumping Although domestic goods have indescribable benefits, are they not beneficial to the Kingdom of Spain?How can it be!It is the biggest benefit that the Kingdom of Spain can receive customs tax (transferred by the people on the east coast)!

In the past, with their incompetent management level, the top ten customs were basically dominated by smugglers. Smuggling merchant ships from France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and even Sweden, Denmark and other countries frequently "visited" these ports, and a large number of them came from the Old Continent. The goods are sold in, and then the American specialties are taken away, and huge profits are made once in and out.

These commodities undoubtedly squeezed the profit margins of Spanish merchants (the Kingdom of Spain only allowed Spanish ships or foreign ships owned by Spanish merchants to trade in the New World), as evidenced by the fact that 90% of the commodities in the American continent were supplied by smugglers in history.The smuggling is so rampant that the two viceroyalties of Peru and New Spain still charge an egg tariff!

Now that the people from the East Coast have taken over, even though they trade and collect taxes by themselves, the Spaniards can't supervise them, but they will transfer a lot of tariffs to them more or less, and it will be a huge income after a long time. This is all real. The benefits.In this process, the people on the east coast obtain trade benefits by attacking other competitors (in the name of combating pirates and smugglers), and the Spanish Royal Government obtains a sudden tariff revenue, and everyone is happy.

The only ones who suffered losses were probably the smugglers from the Old World.Although they were able to evade attacks from the people on the east coast by going to other small ports for smuggling trade, this undoubtedly greatly affected the efficiency and amount of trade (how can a small port compare to a large port?), and the loss was not small.Oh, by the way, we can't forget the moth officials in the Spanish colonies, their losses were not small!Through collusion with smugglers, these guys have been selling national interests to enrich private individuals for many years. Now that the income of the people on the east coast has dropped sharply, they are naturally full of resentment. This is the dissatisfaction of the customs officials who attacked the east coast and sent them to the past. Concrete embodiment.Fortunately, after years of cleaning up, the nine major customs offices under the control of the people from the east coast have already established a firm foothold, and these people basically can't afford to make waves.

Therefore, based on the above factors, it is very likely that the East Coasters and the Spaniards will reach an agreement on this.Although the officials in Peru, New Spain and other places are not very happy, the resistance is not too great at present, because a considerable part of them have been developed into comprador merchants by the people on the east coast, and they have formed a community of interests with the east coast, so This is basically a certainty that has been confirmed in black and white instead of vaguely as before, which is good for everyone.

"The second thing is that you are concerned about the preparations for the four forts of the Corps." After taking a sip of the fragrant broth from the bowl in his hand, Major Jiang Ning continued: "The official document given to me by the Ministry shows that , our department may be stationed here for a long time, at least six months. And if we don't withdraw, there is a great possibility that you will not withdraw. Moreover, I also vaguely heard people saying that this time the superiors sent people to try to establish the The rhetoric of the Fourth Fort of the Corps is that this is a purely teaching institution that does not have any military purpose, will not have any impact on the production and business activities of the Spaniards, will not interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Spain, and will not use it as an excuse. springboard to invade the gold and silver mines of the Kingdom of Spain."

In fact, as Major Jiang Ning said just now, after a closed-door meeting was held by several bigwigs in the executive committee to discuss, they finally decided on the major premise of insisting on the existence of the Red Flag Prison and the Four Forts of the Corps, and then started negotiations with the Spaniards on this basis , must eventually achieve the goal.Liao Xiaoyao, Chairman of the Executive Committee, believes that this is the best opportunity to test the bottom line of the Kingdom of Spain. He believes that if the special envoy for diplomatic negotiations is shrewd and capable, he should be able to achieve satisfactory results in the end.

In order to reduce the difficulty of negotiations and persuade the Spaniards, the East Coast negotiating envoy is also preparing to offer some bargaining chips that may make the Spaniards more excited.One is to sell many machinery, including mining equipment, to the Kingdom of Spain to help them more efficiently mine many minerals along the line from Valdivia to Villarrica.There is no need to doubt the temptation of this condition. Even the refitted hydraulic mechanical equipment has a very high design, material, work efficiency, reliability, and lifespan. It will definitely help the Spaniards a lot, and they cannot help but be tempted.Second, the East Coast people will also promise to help the Spaniards build a road that runs through Valdivia and Villarrica. For other things, the two sides can jointly use this road and jointly fund and maintain it.

These two conditions are very tempting to the Spaniards. If the eloquence of the negotiating envoy is better, it should be possible to force the Spaniards to admit the fact of inheritance, making them acquiesce in the existence of the Red Flag Prison and the Fourth Fort of the Corps , it all depends on their determination, that is, where is their bottom line-in this matter, the Governor of Peru may throw the blame on Madrid and let King Carlos make a decision, although it is possible for him to making such decisions.

"The third thing is to promise to help the Kingdom of Spain to eliminate the Araucan Indians who are still active in the mountainous or lake areas of central and southern Chile. These people not only do not pay taxes to the Spanish colonial government, do not accept Spanish colonial labor, but also Often resisting, fleeing, and attacking white settlers is a headache for the Spaniards. Therefore, we plan to send some troops to help them wipe out the Indian resistance forces in exchange for their acquiescence to our previous cross-border expansion behavior." Major Jiang Ning finally said: "Of course This eradication may not rely on our No.12 mixed battalion, but rely more on the strength of the militias and guards in the six counties of southern Chile. We may only serve as an auxiliary. Of course, I don’t think this is not worth doing. In my opinion, the relatively large and sparsely populated south-central region of Chile will belong to our East Coast Republic sooner or later. These undisciplined, freedom-loving, and hostile Indian tribes are not a small threat to us. Cleaning up, it’s better to clean up early than late, and now it seems to be helping the Spaniards, but in fact, it’s not helping us.”

"These three things are what the higher-ups will implement this time. You—Xiao Xiang, should you feel relieved now?" Major Jiang Ning said with a laugh after finishing the broth in the bowl.

(End of this chapter)