Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1906 Cape Town and Policy Resources

"Yicheng District is making a bold move, forge ahead!" On the busiest commercial street in Cape County, Bai Yutang, the commissioner of the District Administrative Office, accompanied by his entourage and security personnel, chatted casually while observing the people's sentiments on the street. .

Their topic focused on the Yicheng area next door, and they were talking about the news from the ship that had just docked at the port for maintenance. Large-scale gold mine, and apply for local additional funds, personnel and materials to quickly occupy this gold mining area in order to obtain benefits.

Anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that someone has deliberately spread this news, and the characteristics of its promotion are too obvious, which makes people think that the leader Yang is trying to use a non-existent gold mine to defraud the country's policies and investment.You know, this is not impossible, because this kind of trick has been seen frequently since ancient times. Even in the 21st century, didn't there still happen a certain oil field that lied about military information?Bai Yutang has always been unafraid to speculate on others with the greatest malice, especially the person who released the news is one of the army chiefs he hates more.

In addition, the speed of development of Yicheng area has been step by step in recent years, which also makes the original "big brother" Hezhong area quite nervous and anxious.Especially those merchants who often go to the Yicheng area to sell grain and seafood, often bring the ever-changing changes in that area on the Indian Ocean side back to Cape Town and back to the river - among them, Ximen Fishing Company's Ximen Xiao often brings back some local news and gives it to local businessmen and friends as a reference—making local businessmen envy them, this is the atmosphere that a thriving area should have!

On the contrary, although the Hezhong area relied on local financial subsidies and some poor accumulation, it broke the plan to start the first railway in the African continent - the Hezhong Railway, radiating several counties in the southern part of the Hezhong area, all of which are densely populated areas - but in the industrial The east coast of the founding of the country lacks a high-end heavy industry system, but it is always a flaw, and it is often mentioned by people.

But this is also a helpless thing.The Hezhong area is generally dry and water-scarce, and there is no endowment in terms of resources. That is to say, the development of the Yicheng area is many years earlier than that of the Yicheng area.But now it seems that this first-mover advantage is not big enough. Compared with Yicheng area, which has coal mines, iron mines, gold mines, forests, and no shortage of water, the future of Hezhong does not seem to have any advantage At best, they have a larger population, but can these populations be converted into productivity?The wealth created per capita is probably not as good as that of Yicheng District.

Bai Yutang once heard a saying that the Hezhong area seems to have a larger population and economic strength than the current Yicheng area, but its stamina will soon be insufficient, because Hezhong has never really experienced an industrial revolution.In this area separated from the mainland by the vast Atlantic Ocean, where information transmission is inconvenient and the social atmosphere is very different, people are still adapting to the rhythm of life in an agricultural society, with only a few industrial facilities such as ship repair yards, building materials factories, and seafood processing. Mills, primary factories of flour mills - including their investors, technicians and machinery and equipment - were all transplanted from the native land on the other side of the ocean.It bypasses the primitive accumulation of capital and the process of great technological change, and the whole society lacks a kind of baptism, and people's thinking, behavior patterns and production rhythms are somewhat behind.

Of course, Bai Yutang didn't quite agree with this statement.Because in his opinion, although the industrial foundation of the Hezhong area is weak, is the Yicheng area strong?Isn't it also a full set of transplanted funds, technology and equipment from the local area?Everyone's level is actually about the same, let alone the second brother.

However, he also admitted that the development of heavy industry is the main area in Yicheng area. At present, it seems that its upstream and downstream industrial chain will be relatively strong, and there will be more radiated related enterprises. This will undoubtedly directly or indirectly cultivate a large number of skilled industrial workers and technicians. Engineers, these people will play a key role in the development of Nghe Seng area in the future.Compared with them, the so-called industries in the Hezhong area are a bit of a house, and they can't cultivate too many talents, which makes people quite frustrated-don't believe it, just look at those brick kilns. Most of the workers inside are called "part-time jobs" instead of "going to work", because most of them are engaged in unskilled physical labor, and the personnel are not very fixed. Many people come here temporarily to do part-time jobs after lack of money. , It will be a ghost if it can cultivate some technical masters.

This is exactly what Bai Yutang was worried about.Although his term of office is limited, his sense of responsibility for managing his own affairs in his office also compelled him to be responsible for the future of the Transoxiana region.He once joked with his subordinates, saying that if it develops for more than ten years, maybe the rails and other components needed for the future maintenance of the Hezhong Railway will all be imported from the Yicheng area. A rather embarrassing thing.

"Some things, there is nothing you can do if you don't admit it. Yicheng's conditions are really good. Compared with them, our river is really not loved by the gods. It is dry and rainless, and the loess is everywhere. From the root, we are with them. There is no natural competition in the industry, there is no denying this." Bai Yutang looked at the various shops lined up on the street, and finally shook his head slowly, saying: "Actually, there is nothing embarrassing to admit this, it is not a crime of war. The future In order to develop the Hezhong area, I personally think that we still have to find another way and find a way from a commercial point of view.”

What Bai Yutang said made the followers think deeply.They also often come into contact with various documents and data on weekdays, and they know all the indicators in the river like the back of their hands. When they heard Bai Yutang say this, they couldn't help but feel moved, and gradually followed his train of thought.

"Actually, this is a cliché. Many people have mentioned it before, and they have already started to practice it." Bai Yutang continued: "That is commercialization, thorough commercialization, and the pursuit of the ultimate commercialization. "

While talking, Bai Yutang walked into a shop selling East Indian specialties next to the street.This is a shop opened by a foreign businessman. The owner is a Dutch-Malay mixed-race Protestant. It mainly sells various spices, pearls, Ceylon gems, tortoiseshell, ambergris, sandalwood and other specialties from the East Indies. commodity.Because the Port of Cape Town is a free port, apart from paying some miscellaneous taxes that are not very high, the shopkeeper does not have to pay the import and export duties that account for the bulk of the cost. This is undoubtedly a great advantage in the field of business operations.The "extreme commercialization" Bai Yutang referred to just now is actually not unrelated to this. After all, doing business in Cape Town still has quite an advantage for domestic and foreign businessmen.

Cape Town is the only free port in the Eastern Republic of China today, and its special status is left over from history, that is, when the East Coasters annexed the Dutch South African colony, they had already announced that Cape Town would be a free port from now on Existence, exempt from all import and export duties, allow merchants or ships from various countries to come to the port to berth, trade and invest, provided that they abide by the local laws and regulations of the East Coast Republic and Cape Town Port - this article was originally only valid for the United Provinces, and later the Eastern The shore government simply announced to the world that Cape Town is a free port, that is, ships from all countries are allowed to come to trade, but warships can enter the port only after prior report and approval from the east coast side, otherwise the port on Table Mountain in Cape Town Port Dozens of heavy sea guns have the power to sink it.

Therefore, it can be said that Cape Town is unique on the east coast, and it is also an excellent transit point for merchants engaged in entrepot trade. It can be seen that Cape Town is very attractive to shipowners and traders from all over the world.Even some businessmen from the East Coast countries have come to Cape Town to set up companies and conduct various entrepot trades.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the River Central region is not without "resources". Isn't the "policy resource" of Cape Town Freeport not a resource?If we consider the problem in this way of thinking, the key to the future development of the Hezhong area is ready to come out, that is to rely on the Cape Town Freeport as the core, and at the same time give play to its location advantages. Speaking of which, I have to emphasize that Cape Town is not only in the policy Above is a free port, and geographically speaking, it is also an excellent midway port of call—the focus is on an export-oriented economy, and it strives to drive the economic development of the entire region.

Of course, this so-called driving economic development will definitely not be a heavy industrial enterprise, but a model dominated by light industrial enterprises and commercial enterprises. There may be more financial enterprises such as banks and insurance companies, but there will never be other up.Don’t you see, the investors who have poured into Cape Town’s registered companies in recent years are mostly trading companies, followed by shipping companies (the scale is not large, and many companies have only one ship under their name, or even leased by others) ships), and then small enterprises such as seafood processing, leather processing, food production, etc., which also use the rich fishery resources, leather resources (mainly cattle, sheep, seals and whales) and food resources in South Africa. Machinery processing enterprises are There is no family, which can be seen.

Bai Yutang's idea is actually very simple to put it bluntly, that is to use the advantages of the Cape Town Freeport and the crossroads of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to develop entrepot trade.You must know that ships sailing from the mainland to Africa or the Indian Ocean generally have to call at Cape Town; merchant ships sailing from the east to Europe and the mainland generally have to berth and supply here; , but also to stay here, the location advantage of the so-called crossroads is really not covered, so the basic conditions for entrepot trade exist here, and if it develops well in the future, it should be the main means to increase government revenue.

"From now on, you must redouble your efforts to maintain Cape Town's good business atmosphere so far, and you must not engage in any acts of sabotage or killing chickens. You must understand that Cape Town is your golden rice bowl, In the future, this place will develop into a trade center and a financial center in Southwest Africa." Bai Yutang casually glanced at the products displayed on the shelves in the store, and after buying a tortoiseshell shell under the eager anticipation eyes of the owner, he told the crowd following behind Dao: "Since we can't compete with the Yicheng area in terms of industrial strength, and others say that our industrial foundation is weak here, then we should simply develop business. There is nothing wrong with it. If it is operated well in the future, Cape Town may not be able to It has developed into a trade center, financial center and shipping center for the entire southern Africa. Don’t you know how Amsterdam developed in the first place?”

What Bai Yutang meant was actually to warn these officials who will definitely stay and work in the River Central area for a long time in the future, they must cherish the hard-won situation and not destroy Cape Town's status as a free port, let alone be like Eurasia. A lot of monarchs in the world act like that, confiscating the goods and even ships of foreign merchants at will, and stealing what they don't want. This will damage the image of the free port.And once this image is destroyed, if you want to rebuild it, you will have to spend more energy and time than before, which is not worth the loss.

And once what he said just now, if Cape Town develops into the trade, finance, shipping and other centers of the entire southern Africa in the future, then the local government will naturally have great benefits, and many financial difficulties will be easily solved.And if the government has money, it can naturally feed back many counties and towns in the hinterland of the Freeport through transfer payments, build schools, hospitals, roads, railways, develop many livelihood undertakings, and improve the living standards of residents.

Even, a task related to future generations entrusted to them by the local people—that is, to work with the Latvians in New Courland to study countermeasures to prevent blacks from going south—has funds that have been slowly perfected. After all, conquering and advancing , has always been backed by economic strength.Without money, it was all for nothing, especially when they had the Portuguese colony of Angola between them and New Courland.

Of course, before that, what they need to do first is to do a good job in their own internal affairs, including railways, roads, docks, and farmland water conservancy facilities.In particular, the Hezhong Railway, which is still being built intermittently, has already exhausted the entire region due to lack of funds.

What's more, if Bai Yutang's vision is really followed, if Cape Town wants to develop in the future, its hinterland cannot be limited to the current river area, but must have a wider hinterland, and this needs to be connected by railway, that is, through Railways networked all of southern Africa to better mobilize resources and manpower.These undoubtedly require a lot of money, and in addition to the part invested by the central government, the local government must also allocate a considerable part of the money for railway construction, which is a test of financial resources!

(End of this chapter)