Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1967 New Development and New Opportunities ([-])

One after another, two ships sailed into the Uruguay River.

These are two "small boats" with a tonnage of less than [-] tons (in Europe, they are proper medium and large ships). They were bought from the special auction of smuggled goods inspected by the customs. After a little modification and repair in the mainland , and now it is used for ocean-going trade, there is nothing inappropriate about it.

Of course, the goods loaded by the two ships are somewhat different. The first ship is full of goods from India, Australia and Persia, including madder, raw silk (Punjabi silk), carnelian, gemstones, shellac, alfalfa, benzoin, fennel , Mohair (produced in the mountains of Australia, it is the leading product exported to Australia in recent years, the price is very high, and most of them are made of clothes for the rich), etc., with rich varieties and high value.

Indian goods have been sold on the east coast for many years, and the people are still very fond of them. The supply of various goods is often in short supply, so there are many businessmen engaged in this trade.Among them, the state-run East African transportation company is naturally the most important one. However, with the economic development of the east coast and the increase of wealth accumulated by the people, various small-scale private trading companies have also sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and have maintained their status in recent years. Very high growth rate.

It is these people who sell a lot of Indian goods to the East Coast year after year.The total amount of this kind of trade is so large that at a time when the east coast is very strong in trade around the world, it is surprising that India has a trade deficit.A large number of Indians have created a huge amount of wealth, but because of poverty, isolation, and the impact of the small-scale peasant economy, they are very indifferent to the import of external commodities, just like mainland China.The East Coasters, Portuguese, Dutch, British, French, and other European businessmen have collectively struggled for more than 100 years, and only the Indians have accepted steel products (this is the fist commodity exported to India by Britain), hardware appliances, For a small number of commodities including guns and cannons, commercial development is not very ideal.

Fortunately, people on the east coast do not take mercantilism as a fundamental thing like Europeans. They advocate free trade and the elimination of trade barriers in markets around the world. " (a series of Mexican products represented by tequila, cochineal, and lacquer) are not very concerned.Most of the east coast imports from there are primary products, and no matter how much they buy, they will not threaten the local industry. However, what they export is manufactured products, and everyone knows how much profit there is.

Immediately following this ship loaded with Indian Ocean specialty goods was a special ship, an immigrant ship from the Far East.The captain of the ship is Zhang Yilan, who is in his thirties this year. When he was a teenager, he went to South Africa with his family to do business. He opened a quarry and ran a plantation (growing sorghum and wheat), but they were not very profitable. He simply attached himself to the Renjun Trading Company of Li Renjun, a veteran of the East Coast, and started the tobacco and black slave business in New Courland. Only then did he accumulate his first pot of gold.

Zhang Yilan, who has made a fortune, is tired of this multi-corner trade game on both sides of the Atlantic.Born as a descendant of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, he is full of interest in China on the other side of the world. He has always planned to go to Jinan, Shandong, where his father was born and grew up, to see what it is like and how the customs are different from those on the east coast. .Therefore, after confirming that most of the family property will be inherited by his eldest brother, he left home with a few thousand yuan in floating money. He first took pictures of a smuggled merchant ship that was in good condition, and then bought some hardware products, steel bars, and soap , wool, medicine, dyes and other commodities that he thought could be sold at a high price in the Far East, he directly sailed to sea.

There are more than [-] sailors on his ship-in fact, there is no need for so many, but the ocean trade is complicated, and more people are usually deployed in case of emergencies-only seven or eight are from the east coast. They were hired by Zhang Yilan with a high salary, all from his hometown, Yiling County, a small quiet county located at the southern foot of Dingjun Mountain.

The remaining sailors were divided into two groups, mostly Italians recruited.Due to various reasons, these people are unwilling or have not found farming jobs, and the construction team is unwilling to go. On the contrary, they are more interested in sailors with high salaries. Sailors not only have high basic salaries, but also have various bonuses. People carry a suitcase of a specified size to load various commodities—in addition, there are a small number of Indians hired through gray channels. No one can find them anymore.

In short, because of the stability of local life on the east coast and the relative affluence of the people, many young people are unwilling to become sailors except for the navy with a high social status and a strong sense of honor. In a state of urgent need for money.Therefore, even the average age of sailors of state-owned ocean shipping companies is rising, and it is becoming more and more difficult to find new sailors. As a last resort, incentives can only be greatly increased to recruit more young people to participate in the sailing career.Otherwise, who is full enough to go betting life and death with you in the monstrous waves, is it fun?

Compared with the state-run ocean-going trade giants, private captains recruit sailors in a completely different way.They usually form a group with the link of the township party, and each person contributes money, effort, or technology, and takes part of the proceeds of the business.On this basis, they recruited some non-national laborers as sailors, because their wages were low (just like the Dutch directly kidnapped the Germans and the Scots boarded the ship as sailors), which could effectively save costs.

And these recruited sailors with complicated backgrounds will not be unhappy.They are generally people who are relatively short of money, and they are not very interested in step-by-step farming. Therefore, under the temptation of high income, they go to sea as sailors, bet their lives with God, and win the young model in the clubhouse—well, if they win, they will go home Enjoying blessings - if you lose, you will be buried in the belly of a fish, and the last trace of this world will disappear.

Zhang Yilan's boat carried more than 200 immigrants from Ningbo.Due to the fact that there are more local people and less work, many people boarded a boat and came to the east coast mainland in a daze under Zhang's half-coaxing and half-seduction method.When they were in Qingdao Port, officials from the Ministry of Immigration and the State Development Bureau jointly registered and compiled the register. For this reason, they also paid Zhang Yilan a subsidy of 20 yuan per person, which is an income of more than 4000 yuan.

Of course, this is not the entire income of their ship.In fact, after arriving at the final destination of Daxing Port, the local county government will give them a financial subsidy of 40 yuan per person, and the employer (state farm, ranch) will also pay the same amount.In other words, Zhang Yilan and the others will receive a financial subsidy of 9000 yuan for each healthy immigrant who arrives on the east coast, which is quite a lot. For this alone, their ship has earned almost [-] yuan this time.

If you also consider the high ticket fees that these eastern immigrants need to pay—it is obvious that they have no money to pay for the tickets, so they can only owe them first, and wait until they arrive on the east coast. Deducted from the monthly salary income - the total income of their immigration journey should be around 5000 yuan, which is attractive enough for business activities and is worth continuing.Not to mention, the goods they brought to the Far East when they set off were also sold at a good price locally, and the Japanese copper used to ballast the bilge on the return journey was also of high value in the country, so the overall income was considerable, although not as good as The income from selling raw silk, porcelain, and tea from the Far East (these goods are not available to everyone), but it is more than enough. Compared with the many businessmen of the British East India Company who sat in Guangzhou for a year, it is not enough. It's much better to go bankrupt because you can't get what you want, isn't it?

It is worth mentioning that for ship owners like Zhang Yilan who are engaged in private immigration business, in order to pursue timeliness, they all take the Malacca route. Counting the rest time in the middle, it takes about eight months before and after, which is longer than the government-led one. The immigration transport route seems to be twice as fast.Therefore, the Straits of Malacca and Sunda Straits controlled by the Dutch East India Company are still very important. If they insist on blocking these areas and denying the right to rest and resupply migrant ships on the east coast in Malacca, Ceylon and other places, Then this route will become very difficult, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is abolished.Therefore, in Asia, the East Coasters and the Dutch can be said to be holding each other's vitals. Maybe the East Coasters have the upper hand, but this does not mean that the Dutch can't do them harm, although they may never dare to do it. do such stupid things.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Local Immigration, there are currently about [-] private ships engaged in this kind of ocean immigration business, which can add more than [-] immigrants from the East to the mainland every year, which undoubtedly strongly supports the development of the mainland.After seeing the benefits in this regard, the East Coast government has now begun to guide and accelerate the cultivation of this market, advocating new opportunities for development in it.Even, they have already put their ideas on some foreign captains, especially the Portuguese, hoping that they can treat the transportation of oriental immigrants as a business like a few decades ago, although this is impossible for the people on the east coast Then I quoted them a super high price of [-] yuan each.

The combination of official immigration and private immigration is undoubtedly of great significance in the context of the gradual drying up of immigration sources.Those private boat owners are always able to use various means to get some people who are willing to go to sea, and it is also miraculous to do things that the government cannot do.And as of the middle of this year (1686), after the unremitting efforts of all parties, the total population of the East Coast Republic of China has reached a high of 623.2 million, which is the first time in history to break through the 600 million mark. symbolic meaning.

Among these people, the number of Ming people is about 177.7 million, accounting for 28.5%; the number of second-generation nationals born in the native land is about 363 million, accounting for 58.3%, which is undoubtedly the backbone of the population; the population of European descent accounts for The ratio is not much different from before, and it is in a state of slow decline, accounting for about 13.2%. It has been maintained within the range of 20%-10% for more than 20 years.

In addition, the number of non-national laborers has continued to decline due to the reduction in supplementary services. At present, there are only 21.6 people. Among them, the number of whites is the largest, reaching 47%, followed by the number of blacks, with 42%. The rest are basically Indians.According to the national policy, both blacks and Indians will be sent away. Therefore, if you don’t think of a way, the non-national labor group that was once huge and made outstanding contributions to the economic development of the East Coast may shrink to a whopping size. To the point of surprise, this does not seem to be a good thing for the East Bank.Therefore, the officials of the Nancun Water Plant passed on the message to others, asking Goshkin to find a way to "make a big business" in Ukraine. It was said that it was all caused by the lack of coolies.

By the way, I seem to have forgotten to mention one thing before, that is, even the oriental immigrants who come to the east coast by private boat can automatically obtain the nationality of the east coast. in the established resettlement plan.Compared with them, European immigrants are much harder. Each of them has to work in the East Coast for five years and pass the Chinese dialogue test before they can apply for citizenship.

This is no easy job!What kind of work do non-national laborers do and what kind of wages do they get? You can just go to the streets of Qingdao Port and ask a person, and he will tell you one, two, three, four with a pitiful look.What's more, I heard that there is a call to amend the "Homestead Law" in the East Coast recently, that is, to ask to focus on discussing whether to extend the working period of non-national laborers from five years to seven years at the next meeting of the Founders Parliament, so as to further squeeze their blood and sweat.Therefore, compared with them, oriental immigrants who automatically obtain nationality upon arrival and can divide their land do not know where their happiness is.

Many times, Zhang Yilan felt lucky for these people, because it was the East Bank government that was sacrificing the interests of all the old citizens to subsidize them, the new immigrants. This kind of thing may not be able to continue forever.Compared with them, it seems that the correct "operating mode" is the non-national laborers who have spent five years sweating in forest farms, mines, farmland, swamps, sewers and construction sites-these five years are equivalent to their joining the East Bank Tickets are expensive!

"I don't know when this kind of business can be done." Watching the ship slowly approaching the port, Zhang Yilan stood on the front deck bored, still thinking in his mind: "But even if the government cancels the head subsidy for Eastern immigrants in the future , I also want to try my best to continue this business, the big deal is to increase the price of the ferry ticket. Moreover, by that time, the various colonies in the Indian Ocean will also develop very well, and I should make some money doing business along the way, so I shouldn’t lose too much of."

(End of this chapter)