Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2083 Sightseeing and India

The train stopped at Bailu Township Station in Hengtang County.Here, the train needs to be filled with water and coal. At the same time, many materials on the train will also be unloaded, some fuel will be loaded into the train, and people get on and off the train frequently. In short, it is still very busy.

There is no doubt that Bailu Township Railway Station is a big station, even bigger than the previous station, Hengtang Town Station.Here, a railway branch line leading to Kaiyuan County in the west has been opened long ago, and a steady stream of coal is transported from the west, and then transported to surrounding places, becoming the main source of industrial coal and residential coal.

In the economically developed and densely populated eastern prairie, even after many years of afforestation campaign by the eastern people, the forest coverage rate is still very low, and the timber resources are not rich at all.Of course, the law does not allow trees to be cut down at will, let alone used as fuel after cutting down. This kind of low-end utilization is strictly prohibited on the eastern prairie.Therefore, the local industrial and living fuels are completely settled by importing coal and honeycomb coal from outside.

Chengji Coal Mine is the largest coal mine on the east coast. Whether it is reserves or mining volume, it far exceeds the mature coal mines in operation on the east coast, such as Ping'an Coal Mine, Tieling Coal Mine, Heishan Coal Mine, and Heijindao Coal Mine.At present, the coal mine is managed by the Ministry of Coal, which was established less than two years ago, and this is one of the only two self-operated coal mines under the Ministry of Coal, the other being the Heijindao Coal Mine.

It has to be mentioned here that due to the impact of the early economic inertia on the east coast, the ownership of the earliest coal mines developed in China was not in the hands of the Ministry of Coal.For example, the Tieling Coal Mine is in the hands of the Tieling Heavy Industry Consortium, the Ping'an Mining Bureau is a subordinate unit of the Ping An Coal and Steel Consortium, and the Heishan Coal Mine is owned by the Heishan Industrial Company.As for the earliest development of the Tacheng Coal Mine, it was owned by the local government and had little to do with the local people on the east coast.

Therefore, this newly established coal department is actually quite hard-working. It can only manage two coal mines, one in the south and one in the north, which looks a bit shabby.Fortunately, the Chengji Coal Mine has huge reserves, and even after 300 years, it is still a world-class large coal mine. Although the quality of the coal is not good, the calorific value of combustion is low, the ash content is large, and the sulfur content is high, is it coal?Although the Navy doesn’t like it, and some picky industrial departments also don’t like it, but in terms of heating, cooking, and boilers, there are no major problems. Therefore, after several expansions of production scale, the total profit of Chengji Coal Mine has steadily increased. Occupying the largest share in the domestic commercial coal market, the Ministry of Coal began to have more funds on hand. It can afford to build various coal storage bases in the country, conduct large-scale exploration within the national territory, and start further development. overseas expansion.

In terms of the latter, the coal ministry is currently investing in South Africa's east coast.They not only invested in the construction of large-scale open-pit coal storage bases, coal washing plants, and honeycomb coal plants in Yiyang Bay, but also actively recruited manpower, explored mining areas, and bid for mining rights.Considering that the coal mining industry now requires a license to enter, and private investors must form a consortium to operate coal mines, the South African competitor of the Ministry of Coal is just a steel factory.And this company has already signed a long-term supply agreement with Chenggao Coal Mine, a local energy company, so it has little interest in the remaining coal mines in South Africa (in fact, it mainly has no money), so the Ministry of Coal has almost no competitors in South Africa.As long as the funds are in place, the large coal storage belt sweeping across the east coast is just a matter of leisure, and the future prospects are really limitless.

Of course, these plans are for the future.As far as the current situation is concerned, the Ministry of Coal has not yet had much energy to invest overseas for further investment because it has spent a lot of money in the country, and at the same time, the Government Affairs Council has taken a lot of profits to subsidize the water conservancy construction holes in the Hejian area.All they can do is to eat up the coal mines they have discovered, and then hope that the Ministry of Communications will improve the road infrastructure on the east coast of South Africa as soon as possible, so that they can transport coal to Yiyang Port for sea at a lower cost, that's all ——Everything has to be done slowly!

Luis Almeida disembarked, escorted by the East Coasters, and wandered around the train station.The sky is a little gray. I don't know if it's because of the cloudy sky itself, or because of the heavy coal pollution here, or maybe a combination of both.

Except for a few places where the ground near the railway station is paved with stone slabs, most of the places are cinder pavement, which is also the norm in cities near the East Coast Railway Line.Both sides of the cinder road are full of large and small carriages, some of which are transporting goods, and some are pulling people, but it seems that most of them are pulling people.Louis observed that from time to time, travelers in fur hats came over, bargained for a price, and then boarded the carriage.When a carriage was almost full, the driver whipped his whip and left yelling.

"A very lively town." Louis nodded, and said to the diplomat on the east coast accompanying him: "I have lived in Bahia and Pernambuco for a while, and there are also very prosperous towns there. But to be honest, it's not as good as here. There's a smell here that I can't describe, well, the city is cleaner, the people are more energetic, the pace is faster, that's about it. I don't know what magic you use, but it should be pretty It works, at least everyone is mobilized and hopeful."

"It's a magic called money." Zheng Dexiang said with a smile: "Silver coins travel from one city to another, bringing goods, prospering the market, and driving everyone to fight for what they want." Efforts. This kind of magic once prevailed in the United Provinces, ah, it must have flourished in Lisbon earlier."

"It's a pity that there is not enough money flowing into Lisbon now. From the king to the common people, everyone is eager for money. To be honest, the series of gold mines that happened in the San Francisco River Basin in your country shocked me a lot. Lisbon capital market. I don’t know how many people regretted and regretted losing this piece of land so easily, because in their opinion, the gold could have entered their pockets and could have contributed to the construction of Lisbon, but now all this It’s all gone.” Luis Almeida said with a self-deprecating tone: “The already lost Duke Mallor has been found out by many people, and people have accused him of easily ceding this large piece of land to you. The poor Duke can’t argue , what can he say? He is just an outdated old nobleman now, and he is hated by the king, so he can't say anything."

"Dear friends, I don't think you should always stare at gold. To be honest, these things mined by our country are only stored as strategic reserves. Although they are very useful, they are not as big as you imagine. Of course our country pursues Money, but this is only the process, not the result, which seems difficult for outsiders to understand." Zheng Dexiang said.

In fact, he did not intend to explain the economic principles and other factors to Almeida, because it would be difficult.In fact, even on the east coast where the country is founded on industry, there are many people in the country clamoring that the government is short of money?Go grab the silver mine!Why do you have to work hard to do business and compete with others for the market?Go dig a gold mine!

Grabbing silver mines and digging gold mines sounds simple, but it can also quickly accumulate hard currency.But the question is, what are you doing after hard currency?The national policy of the east coast is to develop industry, improve the level of technology, and continuously push productivity to a higher level.In this process, gold and silver are only necessary catalysts, and the pursuit of profit is a process and a means, not the ultimate goal!

The East Coast Republic continues to expand overseas markets and sell domestic industrial products to them.In this process, the enterprise obtains profits, and then due to competitive factors, it has to reinvest a lot of profits into production management, technological improvement, and theoretical innovation, and then produce more competitive commodities, such a virtuous circle.

And this is also the most important factor for people from the east coast to continue to grab the market.How can a business operate without a market?Without user feedback, how do you know what to improve?Can these things be solved by robbing silver mines and digging gold mines?It is completely putting the cart before the horse!

The East Coast government is now also planning to mine gold mines.However, we have always been very cautious about how to use the gold mined every year. It can be said that most of it is used to repay foreign debts, and a small part is invested in the domestic market.The officials of the State Administration of Precious Metals understand that if the productivity level has not been improved, investing a large amount of money in the market will not be able to obtain enough goods and services, and the effect is actually diminishing. In addition to causing inflation, the benefits Not really.The currency put into the market every year must be commensurate with the population size, land area and economic development level, not as much as you want.From this point of view, although gold and silver mines are very important to the east coast, they are not so important that they can dig and grab them desperately. They are not that stupid.

"Louis, I probably understand what you mean by mentioning the gold mine. Sometimes I think you Portuguese are still very flexible and can come up with a lot of good ideas. Yes, we took away your gold mine, but that's How? India is a bigger and inexhaustible gold mine. Indians as many as ants can create huge wealth with their hands. As long as India is controlled, no gold mine can produce more than it " Zheng Dexiang said with a smile: "Indian trade has always been an important source of wealth for you, and I think you should also understand this truth. But to be honest, it is not a good idea to send troops to capture the fort that the Dutch have already occupied. It will only cause you to suffer greater losses. And as you know, if the Dutch republican government is in power and has a good relationship with our country, big contracts will be signed one after another. In this case, no one is willing to fight for you Offending the number one customer for the benefit of India. The Cape Verde Islands are not worth it, understand, Luis?"

"Of course we are not ignoring the interests of your country. In fact we think that instead of wasting a lot of energy on the Dutch, we should invest in more efficient places. You know, the current Mughal dynasty is In the midst of the storm, local rebellion and wildfire are spreading everywhere, and the rebels with hatred, the generals full of ambition, and the foreign powers who fish in troubled waters have messed up the peaceful situation of this country." Without waiting for Louis to speak, Zheng Dexiang continued: "We have been operating in Diu for some years, and your country also has a solid foundation in Daman and Goa, so why don't we carry out further expansion? Indians We don’t have much energy to deal with external affairs now, as long as we don’t show obvious hostility, then we are safe. Aurangzeb has no reason to target us in particular, he is very busy.”

"You mean... to expand the sphere of influence through trade?" Luis Almeida asked with some doubts.

"That's right. As long as it is a legitimate trade behavior, it will give Aurangzeb face. In addition, he needs money and arms now. Then we can easily get a trade license, and then we can take the opportunity to build a business station." , Fortress, and step-by-step expansion of power. I don’t need to teach you this, you seem to be more proficient.” Zheng Dexiang teased: “India’s rebellion will not end in a short while, and Aurangzeb will be trapped in this situation for a long time. We cannot extricate ourselves from the quagmire, and finally we are exhausted. Then is our chance. Think about it, a vast country, a large number of people, and countless wealth. What are you waiting for? My friend."

"So, if we agree to expand in the northwestern part of India, what kind of help can your country provide?" Luis Almeida asked.These are all questions that must be clarified, otherwise he will not be able to make a statement to King Pedro when he goes back.

"Aid from the navy is to ensure that others will not disturb our good deeds." Zheng Dexiang said while breaking his fingers: "Aid from the army includes providing army equipment and helping to train some army soldiers. The general manager of all ordnance and services The value exceeds 10 yuan. Of course, there is the last point, we can provide agency rights for some commodities, and your country can get goods from us at a preferential price, and then sell them to the Indian subcontinent. Speaking of which, these three points are very important Sincerely, more real money than real money, how about it? Luis, if you miss this village, you won’t have this shop! The little money for purchasing the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, compared with the huge benefits of India, can be said It’s not worth mentioning. And this is actually a very rare opportunity for the Chinese government to take care of you based on the traditional friendship between East and Portugal.”

Louis listened silently without speaking.The conditions offered by the people on the east coast sounded really good and attractive, but the question was whether there were any pitfalls in it?The people on the east coast have always been unprofitable, and they are so generous because of the purchase of the Cape Verde Islands, which always makes people feel a little suspicious. Could it be that they did something sorry for us in Brazil?

Louis thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Finally, he had no choice but to think about it. He followed Zheng Dexiang to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and then boarded the Dong'an Star Train again, heading north to continue his "sightseeing journey" ".

(End of this chapter)