Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2089 West Indian Ocean (25)

Great Circle Harbor is the largest and busiest port in South Africa.

Merchant ships from all over the east coast docked here, people gathered here, and commodities were exchanged here, which brought great economic prosperity to Dayuan Port.Local industrial products are very popular here, and the booming South African economy has a great demand for these products, and huge sums of money are spent on procurement every year, mainly including agricultural machinery, mining machinery, textile machinery, transport vehicles, and steam units , hardware tools, iron ingots and steel bars, chemicals, etc., involving all aspects of social economy.

On the other hand, wool, leather, wine, coal, gold, and diamonds produced locally in South Africa were also exported to the mainland in large quantities.Thanks to the confirmation of the political status of South Africa’s Hezhong and Yicheng regions, all import and export duties between South Africa and the mainland have been cancelled. Over the years, a large number of local enterprises have emerged in South Africa, accumulating considerable capital and technology.

It is true that South Africa's development has always been restricted to a certain extent because it is separated from the mainland by the Atlantic Ocean.It is difficult for local capital to flow here (except for the mining industry), and it is difficult for technical talents to convince themselves to travel across the ocean to live in South Africa. The cost of various industrial products is also much higher than that of the local, but after all these years, Still accumulated a certain amount of capital.

However, we should also see that there has always been a huge deficit in the trade between South Africa and the mainland, that is, the amount of goods imported from the mainland is much higher than the amount exported to the mainland, so that a large amount of local precious metals have flowed out, which is worrying. .Fortunately, South Africa has trade surpluses with Portuguese Angola, New Courland, New China, Portuguese Mozambique, Djibouti and other places, and they are not bad. These have effectively supplemented the trade deficit between South Africa and the mainland, supporting the the rapid development of South Africa.

Of course, South Africa has another income, that is, the income brought by Cape Town as a free port.The port was initially only open to domestic ships and Dutch ships. Other foreign merchant ships needed to apply before entering the port and pay a port entry fee before they could enter.

Later, ships from Genoa and Courland were allowed to enter and leave freely.Later, ships from Portugal, Venice, and Tuscany (which had a fleet in the port of Livorno) also had free entry.Now, ships from all countries can enter freely, and all goods are tax-free within the Cape Town urban area (within the town), becoming a truly free port, which greatly increases the attraction of Cape Town Port The trade volume began to grow explosively, and the government also obtained considerable income from it.

It is reported that there are now many ships returning from the East calling at Cape Town. After selling out the goods on hand, they buy a large amount of guns and ammunition, daily necessities, medicines and alcohol, and hardware tools from here. All kinds of commodities, brought back to the colony to sell, making money twice once.The oriental goods they sold were purchased in Cape Town by ships from the Netherlands, England, Portugal, France, and the mainland on the east coast, and shipped to various places for sale.

In other words, Cape Town has now become a distribution center for goods from the East and the West, and various specialized commodity markets have begun to take shape, such as the spice market, textile market, steel market, hardware market, etc., all of which are quite large in scale.As a result, the land in and around Cape Town began to increase in value sharply. People began to build various buildings and museums one after another. The rent of existing houses and shops also began to rise sharply. The market economy fell into a state of extreme prosperity for a while.

Therefore, regardless of the fact that there are no resources in the mid-river area of ​​South Africa, the soil is so-so, and some places are relatively short of water, but they have struggled to develop through various means. Although it is not as good as the old local areas, it is comparable to the Southern Cone and the Brazilian plateau. Compared with some areas, there is no obvious disadvantage. If it is dead, the level of education and medical care is lower, and the development of science and technology is slower.

It can be said that the mid-river region of South Africa thrives because of trade, and various policies are also inclined to trade.In this land, commerce is more important than industry, industry is subordinate, and entrepot trade brings people profits.And it is precisely because of this situation that many people are surprised by the tightening of grain exports in the Hezhong area this time: Aren't they going to make money?Where did all the food go?Are there too many foreign merchant ships and sailors traveling to and from Cape Town?

Of course, the above are just the confusions of the businessmen from Portuguese Angola and New Courland.As Colonel Yang Liang, who has served in South Africa for many years, he is not too confused about this. In fact, he is very familiar with the reasons for the tightening of grain exports in South Africa.

From the beginning of the autumn grain in 1689, the grain in the mid-river region of South Africa has been in short supply.Due to severe drought and pests, the autumn grain harvest at the beginning of this year was very dismal. In order to stabilize grain prices, the regional administration had to negotiate with the national grain reserve depot and use the grain stored in the three large grain depots in Hezhong, Cape, and Tianxiong. Openly priced on the market.And when the summer grain was harvested a while ago, the national reserve grain depot had to open the warehouse again, selling a large amount of grain to supplement the market, and to stabilize the somewhat imminent grain price.

After these two openings, the Hezhong Branch of the National Reserve Grain Depot received an official letter from the Yicheng District Administrative Office, requesting to transfer a batch of stored grain to supplement the huge local grain consumption.Xiao Jingzong, commissioner of the Yicheng District Administrative Office, also sent someone to explain that the successive discoveries of large gold mines in the inland area attracted many gold diggers.First, the local people in Yicheng, and then the people in Xinhuaxia Island and the Hezhong area.They were so fanatical that some people with legitimate jobs resigned and left home to go to the sea to pan for gold, making people speechless.

And until last month, a merchant ship of a messenger liner company brought them more than a hundred unkempt gold diggers.The special thing is that most of these gold diggers are from the local area. Because there are too many people going to the Tuanjie River Basin, they feel that the chance is not great, so they take a boat to the Yicheng area, intending to touch the newly discovered gold mine here. luck.

To be fair, there's nothing wrong with them thinking that way.Because the population of Ue Seng has always been insufficient, even if a super-large gold mine is discovered in the inland area, it is empty talk to carry out effective development.This is undoubtedly great news for private gold diggers!They all know that the rich and powerful East Coast Gold Company occupied the eight best gold mines in the Tuanjie River Basin in one go, and then carried out mining and smelting by itself, hardly giving others too many opportunities.

In South Africa, due to factors such as population and capital, the local government is unable to carry out large-scale mining, and the East Coast Gold Company does not have enough funds, manpower and equipment to open up a "second battlefield". Therefore, it is indeed the gold that private gold diggers enter. Chance.If they can seize the opportunity to mine some gold before the East Coast Gold Company's newly trained staff, newly purchased equipment, and newly raised funds are in place, getting rich overnight is not a legend, but a real thing!

The Ghee Seng District Administrative Office has a delicate attitude towards the arrival of a large number of gold diggers.In recent years, they have focused on the construction of the Yicheng Railway, the Yicheng Iron and Steel Plant, and the Yicheng Port Wharf. Very pessimistic, owed a lot of debt to the bank.Now they are like a giant snake that has just swallowed food and is in the digestion period.Although a lot of delicious food appeared in front of me again, but I was sorry, I was unable to move for a while, so I could only watch.

The arrival of the gold diggers provides a new opportunity to break the current situation.The Ghee Seng District Administration felt that with the help of the thousands of gold diggers who came earlier, they could make a fortune.What's more, many of these gold diggers are desperadoes—even if they are not desperadoes now, they will soon become desperadoes—with weapons, their combat effectiveness should not be inferior to those of black people.You must know that although the gold mine has been discovered, they are still unable to clean up the local natives due to the limitation of manpower and development level.

Maybe the gold diggers can help them solve this trouble?This is the natural thought of the officials of the Ue Seng District Administrative Office.So, as you can see, they asked the National Reserve Grain Depot and the Component Depot to come forward and coordinate with the Hezhong Branch Depot to mobilize some grain and stock it up in advance to cope with the sudden increase in food demand after the population explosion.You know, no one can predict how many gold diggers will come, maybe [-], maybe [-], or more, no one can tell, so we can only think about it.

Of course, the Yicheng District Administration is also stepping up the purchase of various daily necessities, such as cloth, alcohol, tools, medicines, etc. Some purchase from Xinhua Island, some purchase from the river, and some place orders from the local area, but this is It's another matter.

All in all, with such an official letter from the Yicheng District Administrative Office, the people in the Hezhong sub-store of the National Grain Reserve Depository were very unhappy, no matter how unhappy they were.If they refuse directly, how will the brother unit (Yiefenku) carry out work in the local area in the future?The superior leaders should not scold them bloody!

As a result, under the combined effect of these two factors, the grain inventory of the Hezhong sub-library of the State Grain Reserve suddenly dropped to a terrible low level and had to be replenished.Fortunately, the local grain production situation in the past two years is not bad, and the downward pressure on grain prices is great. I dare not say that all the sub-warehouses of the State Grain Reserve are full, at least [-]% to [-]% of the storage capacity is true.The sub-store in the river can completely negotiate with the company headquarters, allocate a batch of grain from local brother units, and pull it to Dayuan Port in South Africa by boat to replenish the precarious stock.

In addition, some grain processing companies on the market in the Hezhong area also have a batch of grain in their warehouses.These guys have obviously slowed down their production speed at present, and they are showing signs of hoarding. They must be beaten hard to let them speed up their production progress and supplement the food supply on the market.Although the National Grain Reserve has no law enforcement powers, as the leader in the grain market, it still has the ability to rectify the younger brothers, which can reduce their own consumption.

The above two means of replenishing grain and reducing inventory consumption will undoubtedly take time.Especially the former, coordinate with the headquarters of the local company, and then go through the formalities, hire ships, transship and allocate, unload and put the goods into storage. Judging from the current information and logistics speed, it can't be done in half a year.And within six months, I'm sorry, traditional customers like New Courland can only be wronged for a while!It is not to completely cut off the export to you, it is not in line with the spirit of the commercial contract, and it is even more inhumane. It can only cut the export volume by half, let's wait for a while.I believe that with the abundance of food in the tropics and your own stocks, there should be no major problems!

Colonel Yang Liang is well aware of the twists and turns, and he has also made some "contributions": he has called the Hezhong District Administrative Office and the Hezhong Branch of the State Grain Reserve, and dispatched a batch of grain and horse feed as soon as possible To store it in Guangcheng Port, he will organize a large-scale raid with a scale of 6000-7000 people to completely destroy the Karma Kingdom, which has gradually degenerated into a tribal alliance, and completely make it history.

(End of this chapter)