Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2003 Hunting Country ([-])

252 The Land of Hunting ([-])

"We have already approached Mr. Trinidad, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Dongfang County, and focused on talking about the import and export tariffs of agricultural products. At present, we have some clues. In short, through the joint efforts of both of us, the special The Ambassador of Linida finally agreed with the General Administration of Customs’ opinion on increasing the import of Peruvian grains. Although this matter still needs to be reported to the Governor of Peru and King Carlos for approval, I think there is no problem. From this point of view, the central government is still concerned The interest of the peasants is still concerned with the common people, and it is also a great benefit to those who open up wasteland against the harsh natural environment, which is worth celebrating." On December 1687, 12, the newly established Jinjin Township on the right bank of the Paraná River (located in Wang Dazhuang, who supervised the construction of irrigation canals outside the settlement near the town of Basel in the southwest of Resistencia in later generations, heard what the special commissioner of the Ministry of Agriculture said.

The special commissioner is also an old acquaintance of Wang Dazhuang, his boyhood playmate, Jin Dalai, the grandson of Jin Kela, the veteran of the agricultural system, and a deputy director-level inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture.Jindalai came to the Hexi area (the area west of the Parana River and the west of the Paraguay River) this time. He was ordered by the Ministry of Agriculture to investigate the cross-border reclamation of the people on the east bank.In the first half of next year, the Executive Committee will take the lead in organizing a meeting on cross-border reclamation and agricultural work. The leaders of the ministry don't want to have nothing to say at the meeting, so they send people over in advance to investigate and check to see if there is any need place to help.

In this way, Jin Dalai came here under the command, and then unexpectedly met Wang Dazhuang in Jinjin Township.The two chatted excitedly, and there was no shortage of complaints about the Kingdom of Spain in their words. The focus of it was naturally the matter of grain import tariffs that had just been discussed a while ago.This matter is not a secret in the capital, and many people know it, so Jin Dalai also disclosed it to Wang Dazhuang.

The matter of importing food from Peru began with the Southern Railway Company.At that time, the company imported ship after ship of grain from Lima and other places to supply counties and townships in the Southern Cone region, and even sold some back to the core areas of the country, earning a lot of money.The cost of growing food for the Spaniards is very low (manor plantation mode), coupled with the unbelievably low import and export tariffs, so these foods are popular in the east coast, on the tables of many people, and at the same time strongly boosted the The economies of places such as Peru allow them to have more funds to buy various commodities produced on the east coast.

It should be said that the industrial and commercial enterprises on the east coast are more welcome to this model.Entrust the production of food to foreigners, let them maintain a little purchasing power, and then buy the industrial products they produce or sell, and use industry to exploit agriculture. Everyone is profitable, which sounds very good.But this ignores a key factor, that is, the interests of farmers on the east coast, especially those who have overcome all kinds of hardships and opened up territories for the country in the frontier areas. Their interests have been greatly affected by the drop in food prices. minor damage.

As a last resort, farmers on the east coast can only find ways to reduce costs, improve agricultural production efficiency, and provide the market with a variety of products to maintain their income at a reasonable level.Taking the Dongprairie and Yazihu ​​watersheds that were developed earlier as an example, local farmers began to form agricultural production cooperatives in villages—even in the case of multiple villages forming large-scale agricultural cooperatives—to find ways to rent agricultural machinery together, Purchasing seeds and fertilizers together, buying insurance together, and selling agricultural products together, these measures undoubtedly greatly strengthened the bargaining power of farmers, reduced production costs, and had an immediate effect on increasing income.

But in fact, this only reduces their unit production cost, and the effect is not unlimited. After the cost is reduced to a certain level, it will be difficult to further reduce it, unless they have a major breakthrough in production mode or technology. But how difficult it is.In other words, the model of agricultural production cooperatives is of great benefit to farmers, and the low-interest loans issued to farmers by the Popular Savings Bank and the Northwest Reclamation Bank also have a certain positive effect, but neither of them can effectively solve a problem, that is, grain prices slow decline.

To put it bluntly, the supply of grain in the domestic market is too abundant, resulting in weak prices and farmers' income not meeting expectations. As a result, various problems have arisen, such as the decline in motivation to buy land in frontier areas and expand wasteland.To solve this problem, there are two ways: one is to increase the export volume of grain, reduce the silt of unsalable grain in the domestic market, and let the price rise; the other is to reduce the supply, that is, to artificially reduce the domestic Grain production capacity may limit the import of cheap foreign food, change the current imbalance between supply and demand, let the market play its role, and eventually restore the price to an acceptable level.

Of course, there is another way, which is to increase financial subsidies for agriculture and the government to support food prices, but this model requires a lot of money and cannot be accepted by the government, and it is not accepted by the wise—even future generations of China will not be able to fill it in. The big black hole of Daman’s grain protection purchase price, not to mention the current east coast, should honestly find ways to increase exports, reduce imports, and eliminate production capacity. This is good for everyone.

This time, the East Coast government came forward to negotiate with the Spaniards and demanded a uniform 30% import tariff on the four grains of rice, wheat, corn, and sorghum produced in Peru and New Spain. It was against this background that it came into being.The National Reserve Grain Depository has canceled the protective purchase of 100 million tons of grain per year. It is necessary to give some sweetness to the farmers. Otherwise, the negative impact on the immigration policy will be too great over time.

To be honest, the Spaniards are quite disgusted with this move on the East Bank, and they have tried every means to stop it.But unfortunately, the executive committee is very determined on this matter, and must tax Spanish food imports, and said that the unequal competition in the trade of agricultural products between the two countries has a long history, and the East Coast Republic has suffered for many years Unfortunately, farmers on the east bank also lost a lot of benefits, and this abnormal state must be corrected.

The Ambassador of Trinidad wanted to cry, but there was no better way.For many years, the Kingdom of Spain has been so weak when facing the people on the east coast, and dare not resist, fearing that it will cause greater losses.For all kinds of bullying imposed on them by the people on the east coast, they could only endure in silence, and after a long time, their energy was almost completely lost.

The ambassador of Trinidad does not think that the Governor will do anything about the sharp increase in food import tariffs for people on the east coast. He also does not think that King Carlos in Madrid will do anything. Planting should be greatly cooled.In the future, the farmlands that used to grow wheat and corn should be largely turned to the cultivation of cash crops such as peppers, tobacco, and peanuts, right?People on the east coast of these agricultural products have not set any tariffs for the time being, and some are symbolic 5% or 10%, which is completely acceptable, so it is foreseeable that the Peruvian manor owners will work hard in this direction.Especially for peppers and other seasonings, people on the east coast have no import tariffs at all, and they are all open to imports. There is still a lot to do.

"The country should pay attention to the farmers on the frontier. They are all good children. They cannot inherit land and property in their hometown. How many people know? Moreover, they are newcomers, lack of capital, poor organizational skills, and there are many difficulties in forming agricultural production cooperatives. The damn Northwest Reclamation Bank is still high, there are too many red tapes, and the efficiency is not high. It takes a lot to get a loan in kind The day lily has been cold for several months. Where are these guys supporting the farmers?" Wang Dazhuang said with some resentment without hiding anything in front of his friends.

"Don't worry too much. I heard that the Northwest Reclamation Bank will be reorganized next year, focusing on the agricultural sector and providing small and micro loans in kind. Or cash loans can be accurately delivered to farmers in need to help them better carry out production and management activities, and ultimately promote the prosperity of the entire farmer group. Ah, yes, I heard that the name of this bank will also be changed to Dong’an Agricultural Bank of China, and introduced Dong’an Company as a strategic investor, accounting for 20% of the shares. The Precious Metals Administration believes that after introducing the professional management technology, ideas and network of contacts of Dong’an Company, Dong’an Agricultural Bank will achieve more than before. Great development." Jin Dalai said with a smile.

If it is said that he was still speaking seriously before this paragraph, then the latter paragraph is nonsense.Dongan Company has now transferred all its physical businesses, and is no longer involved in industrial production, agricultural planting, commercial sales or any other production and operation activities. It is already a pure equity investment fund. Otherwise, where do you think his nickname of Mr. 20% is? here?

There is no doubt that the influence of the East Coast Company has penetrated into all aspects of the economy of the East Coast Republic. It invests in various fields such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, mining and transportation, industrial production, commercial sales, banking and finance, and generally invests in industries. A leading, high-quality enterprise, the annual dividends are huge.And this also ensures that the company has sufficient cash flow in hand, and can make any investment it wants when an opportunity arises. The two are a virtuous circle of promoting relationship.

Generally speaking, the East Coast Company does not interfere with the daily operation of the joint-stock enterprises.For example, Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop, a well-known chain shopping mall on the east coast, holds a seat on the board of directors of Dongan Company, which accounts for 20% of the shares, but its representative rarely speaks. To its management team, it seems very open.The style of East Coast Company, on the other hand, also makes many entrepreneurs have a good impression of them—especially some enterprises in the period of rapid expansion—hope that their companies can introduce East Coast Company as a shareholder, which can be Bringing them much-needed development capital, and possibly some networking, can be hugely rewarding.

Of course, not all the companies that Dongan Company invests in are profitable. In fact, sometimes Dongan Company also invests in some seemingly unprofitable but very important companies, such as Dongan Power Company.Of course, they know that electricity will not become the main power source of society for a long time in the future, which means that they only have investment in the near future, but no output. From the perspective of investment, it is actually not beneficial to invest in such a cutting-edge enterprise.

But who made them still need to take social responsibility?In order to make up for the lack of scientific research funds for the Science Spring Program, Dongan Company, after obtaining the consent of most shareholders, brought funds into the shareholder electricity and became its third largest shareholder.For this reason, in the case of Dongdian Corporation’s small revenue but considerable scientific research expenditure, Dongan Corporation has to fulfill its funding obligations with other shareholders (mainly the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Engineering Technology Research Institute) every year to ensure its own If the equity is not diluted, there is no one left.

The restructured East Coast Agricultural Bank they invested in this time is not a particularly good investment to be honest.The bad debt rate of the largest domestic financial company on the east coast is actually quite high, because it mostly borrows from individual farmers and herdsmen, agricultural cooperatives or agricultural enterprises, and the interest is very low, and sometimes even needs to be waived to earn money. Profits can be described as very meager.In addition, many farmers (starting small farming enterprises) or fishermen (buying fishing boats) are not doing well, and their loans cannot be repaid, resulting in a high bad debt rate and very ugly accounts.

From a pure investment point of view, the investment value of East Coast Agricultural Bank is not even as good as that policy bank New World Friendly Mutual Bank.Although the bank's business volume is small, its loan interest rate is high. Most of its targets are some large estate owners and mine owners in New Courland and the Viceroyalty of Peru. They have clear collateral and are not worried about their non-repayment, so Yields are still high.Maybe the total amount is not as good as that of the Northwest Reclamation Bank, but the profit rate is not an order of magnitude higher. This is the difference.

Dong’an Company’s strong shareholding in the restructured Dong’an Agricultural Bank actually has the purpose of improving its financial situation and providing it with more sufficient capital to a certain extent, because the State Administration of Precious Metals The estimates of bloated financial companies are very high, so that Dongan Company has acquired a 20% stake in the restructured bank at a premium.

"This is a broken bank!" Wang Dazhuang said in a tone of hatred for iron and steel: "It is the biggest reliance of the farmers on the east bank. I hope it can be improved in the future, otherwise I think they will not be able to operate. Now the Hexi area has set up We have built several settlements, and there are quite a few people who come here. I hope they can improve their operating efficiency and serve the farmers better. These pioneers are courageous young people. They are knowledgeable and talented. Enthusiasm and determination, we can’t deceive them, or my conscience will be disturbed.” Wang Dazhuang is now basically the head of the pioneering work in the Hexi area, and he is also the head of several townships. It is said that he will be promoted next year. As a deputy director-level cadre, he has justifiably coordinated the development of several newly established towns, so now he regards these settlements and their people as "his own people" and is very concerned about their production and living conditions. Gein It is related to his future career promotion, so he has to be cautious.

"It's really not easy for these young people." Jin Dalai agreed with Wang Dazhuang's evaluation of these pioneers, only to hear him say: "In fact, the higher-ups are also very concerned about them. This time not only restricted the import of foreign food, but also raised tariffs. At the same time, we are also trying to find ways for them to expand the demand of overseas markets. Just look, there will be a delegation to Portuguese Brazil in the near future, asking them to increase the purchase of grain from our country. New Courland and the Caribbean will also Similarly, they must be named one by one. Generally speaking, the country still misses them and is actively trying to find a way for them. The cross-border reclamation operations in the Chaco Plain will not be affected, so you should rest assured, haha."

(End of this chapter)