Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2007 Hue ([-])

After the performance, everyone left without stopping.However, He Yuan, the commissioner of the Hue District Administrative Office, did not return to his office. Instead, he went to a teahouse in the county town and had talks with Dirk Cornelis, a representative of the Dutch West India Company.

Dirk Cornelis, as can be seen from his surname, is a member of the famous Dutch Cornelis family. He is currently one of the two major business representatives of the West India Company on the east coast. He is resident in Hue Port and is in charge of Manage and operate the company's industries here, including several sugarcane and tobacco plantations and a processing center.

It is worth mentioning that the Dutch West India Company was almost disbanded due to the financial crisis more than ten years ago. In the end, it was able to continue with the joint capital injection of Zeeland merchants and the East India Company.However, after two capital injections, the shares of the East India Company in it increased greatly, and the right to speak became stronger day by day, which inevitably affected many of the West India Company's daily business strategies.

First of all, this large colonial and trading company still has not given up its business in the Caribbean Sea, but has been competing locally with the East Coasters, the British, and the French.This is actually not in the interests of the West India Company, because the Caribbean trade has developed to the present, and the competition has become very cruel. The East, Britain, and France have used their own methods to maintain their own colonial trade. Fighting is going on.

At present, it seems that the Caribbean shipping company of the East Coasters has the upper hand in the trade of the Spanish colonies because of various prior arrangements.They controlled five important commercial ports, and by collecting tariffs on behalf of them, they justifiably cracked down on smuggling merchant ships from other countries, monopolized the trade of these major commercial ports, and obtained huge profits.Businessmen from Britain, France, the Netherlands, and even some small Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and the German states can only venture to other small cities and small ports for trade. cause heavy losses.

Therefore, the Dutch West India Company still insisted on conducting Caribbean trade at this time. Although it does not mean that there is no profit and no money, why bother?Why bother?With this energy, it is better to think about how to better compete with British merchants in North America and erode the trade share of the British North American colonies.

In fact, people on the east coast also speculate that the reason why the Dutch West India Company is so strong and does not give up the trade between the two viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru is probably because of competition with the people on the east coast besides profit factors. Obviously, it was due to the strong demand of the company's shareholders, the East India Company.People on the east coast can only say hehe. Air Canada has controlled the trade of the five most lucrative trading ports. It really doesn’t like the trade of other small broken ports and small fishing villages. If the Dutch are willing to go there Go ahead, it doesn't matter.What's more, Air Canada's ships will go out to patrol the sea when they are free, and they don't mind going up to intercept foreign merchant ships. Therefore, it is not wise for the Dutch West India Company to still toss in this muddy water. It is better to focus on Put it in other aspects, so maybe some new breakthroughs can be made.

Secondly, the company was also forced to make important investments on the coast of West Africa and established some strongholds, most of which were in the nature of commercial stations.Although these commercial stations are built like a fortress, the commercial stations are commercial stations, and the garrison, administrative and business personnel ranging from dozens to 100 people were killed, and there was nothing else.

The warships of the people from the east coast once "visited" some of the trading stations, and finally found that except for a few trading stations that had the ability to repair ships, most of the rest could only supply fresh water and accommodate a few wounded and sick.Compared with these low logistical capabilities, almost every Dutch trading station can provide a series of commodities including gold, ivory, leather, slaves-especially slaves, which is also drunk.To put it vividly, the Dutch West India Company did not care about the status of the crew and ships at all, and did not intend to establish a supply base like a string of pearls (their crew could even sail for six months without disembarking. No. [-] in the world), it is purely for business, it is too simple and rude.

Now people on the east coast have basically come to the conclusion that the Dutch West India Company has basically no threat to the trade and economy of the east coast, and there is no need to pay special attention to it or target it.What's more, people also purchase a lot of goods from the east coast to sell in the Caribbean, North America and even Europe. There is a low level of competition with the Caribbean shipping companies, but it is good for the industry and commerce on the east coast, and it is a harmless enterprise.

It is precisely because of this conclusion that people on the east coast continue to be open to the investment of the Dutch West India Company in the east coast, especially the Hue Regional Administration, which welcomes the company to continue to invest in the local plantation industry, provided that I have brought people from Europe, and the east coast does not allow them to hire labor in the domestic market. Of course, the Dutch can't afford it either.

Today, He Yuan went to Dingfeng Teahouse to meet with the members of the Cornelis family, and the discussion was mainly on the follow-up investment in related industries, which is quite important for the development of the local economy.Moreover, compared with commercial and trading enterprises, he hopes that the Dutch will invest more in some industries, that is, to help local governments undertake some wasteland reclamation work. For this reason, even if the land lease period is extended and the rent is reduced, it is not unacceptable.

He Yuan didn't think the Dutch would accept the offer.Compared with the chaotic situation in the Caribbean, where there are frequent fights and killings, the investment environment provided by the people on the east coast is so good that it is boundless.Although the initial investment may be relatively huge, which sets a high threshold for some small businessmen, the safe environment, stable political situation, and the convenience of purchasing various daily necessities, consumables, and medicines all have a strong attraction for investors .Not to mention, the East Coast Republic of China itself is a huge market for tropical commodities, and the people have strong spending power and are willing to spend, so investing here is really a perfect fit.

"Your company has invested in Hue County for many years and has made great contributions to the local economy. It is also a major local taxpayer. I hope that your company can continue to invest in this area in the future. We will give a certain degree of cooperation and cooperate with you It’s a win-win situation.” He Yuan first let Dirk Cornelis taste the green tea imported from China, and then said with a smile.

After He Yuan's words fell, the secretary standing aside quickly stepped forward, and placed a small map in front of the two of them, which circled some areas to be developed by the Hue District Administration, which are basically new ones that will be established in the future. place of settlement.What He Yuan means is that he hopes that the Dutch West India Company will give more consideration to these places and invest in these places. The east coast government will provide them with security guarantees. At the same time, they will also spend a lot of money to build a second-class national road to connect these areas. for the transfer of various materials.

Needless to say, the proposal put the Dutch in a bit of a bind.According to their original intention, it is to develop a vacant land in the coastal circle of Hue County, that is, to set up a timber company first, cut down the forest, and sell the timber to the east coast prairie and Pampa plain in the south, where the largest consumer market.Then, on this basis, clear the shrubs, level the land, and set up plantations for tropical specialties such as coffee, pepper, tobacco, and sugar cane. After deep processing, some of the products produced are sold locally on the east coast, and some are shipped back to Europe for sale. This profit.

But now people from the east coast ask them to invest in more inland places, which is a bit difficult for others.You must know that the environment in the inland area is harsh, and it is basically in a state of development. Not only is there a shortage of living materials (if any, the price will be high), but the transportation costs incurred along the way are not small.Although the people on the east coast promised to build a high-grade road, God knows when it will be completed!Once they haven't finished in five or ten years, why don't they open this plantation?Therefore, Dirk Cornelis was extremely unwilling to go to the inland area to open up wasteland for the people on the east coast, for no other reason than cost!

But now the people on the east coast have made things clear and they are asking you to go to the inland for development. Is it really possible to refuse?Dirk Cornelis is not very sure. He has just received an order from Amsterdam recently. In the order, the company's senior management instructed him to strengthen business ties with people on the east coast. There are even people from the East India Company stationed in the West India Company. Representative's signature, what does this mean?It shows that both the East India Company and the West India Company now hope to improve their relationship with the people on the east coast and maintain a closer relationship than before.

Dirk Cornelis is not an idiot, nor is he a person with no information. He vaguely guessed that this is also related to the domestic situation in the United Provinces. Some people do not want to offend the people on the east coast at this time, on the contrary, they may want to please them more.If he thinks about it this way, then he actually doesn't have many choices. He has to pick and choose from the places circled on the east coast, and strive for other preferential measures, such as land lease, rent and financing.Therefore, he quickly put forward the requirements in this regard to He Yuan, especially the issue of bank financing. He emphasized that he hoped that the people on the east bank could open the Internet on this basis and give them domestic capital as foreign investors. The equal treatment can also provide local financing within the east coast banking system, reducing the pressure on funds.

He Yuan had already prepared for this.Therefore, after a few back and forth talks, he agreed to extend the lease term of the plantation land invested by the West India Company to 60 years, and at the same time offered a major preferential measure of halving the rent for the first 20 years, which can be described as sincerity It was so exciting that Dirk Cornelis was also very moved, and began to seriously calculate the pros and cons of this.

Of course, he didn't forget to ask He Yuan about the release of financing restrictions, but He Yuan couldn't make the decision on this matter, he could only infer that he would report it to the higher-level government for decision.The Public Savings Bank has just been "caught by a handful of wool" by him, and he has nothing to do with other banks. Although his wife Liu Wei is a middle-level cadre of the East Coast Agricultural Bank, she has no decision-making power. Anyway, he is a real helper in this matter. I'm not busy, so I can only try to report it and see what it says.

However, he is confident that the State Administration of Precious Metals will finally approve the granting of financing rights to the Dutch West India Company.There are two reasons. The first is that the New World Friendship and Mutual Bank loaned money to this colonial enterprise before. This is one of the two, and everything is easy to say. Merchants and colonial trading companies, strengthen ties with them, and at the same time let them join the republican parliamentarians, and become an important force in the Netherlands to contain the Prince of Orange, laying a solid foundation for future plans.

And it just so happens that representative companies like the Dutch East India Company also want to ease relations with the East Bank, so there is a basis for cooperation between the two parties.Two companies like East and West India are based in the United Provinces. Are they really not afraid of the merger of Britain and the Netherlands, which will harm their interests?You know, they are now able to call the shots in the Netherlands, but once the two countries merge, can they still call the shots in the new merged system?I'm afraid not!Therefore, the people on the east coast believe that these are forces that can be fought for. Once William III enters London in the future, the people on the east coast should unite the bourgeois groups in the Netherlands to fight against the forces of the Prince of Orange and try their best to preserve the United Provinces. interests, but also to protect the interests of the East Coast Republic.

From this point of view, in fact, giving the Dutch West India Company a little convenience in terms of financing does not seem to be a problem, and the possibility of passing it should be very high.

(End of this chapter)