Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2291 Unity River ([-])

"Mr. Xiao, why did you come in person?" On January 1696, 1, outside the Fangshan Hotel, Lao Siji asked in surprise looking at Xiao Guang in military uniform.

Now Tuanjiehe has set up a separate regional administrative office, but because it is still under military control, the commissioner of the regional administrative office is concurrently served by the police commander.In other words, Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang is now the top military and political leader in the huge Tuanjiehe area.How could such a big man come to Fangshan County for an investigation?

"Periodic inspections are always necessary, lest the people below fool me." Xiao Guang said that he was not polite, implying that he was not at ease with the material procurement department under the jurisdiction of the regional administration, so he checked the prices of the commodities on the spot. , be aware of it.Although there are many gold mines in the Tuanjie River Basin, most of the profits have been taken by the East Bank Gold Company, which has nothing to do with them. The financial situation of the regional administrative office is not very healthy, and every penny can be broken into Two halves of flowers, it is natural to plan carefully.

The Fangshan Hotel run by Lao Siji is now one of the designated food suppliers in the Tuanjiehe area.For this reason, just after repaying the debt, Lao Siji made up his mind again. Using the restaurant as collateral, he borrowed a sum of money from the Popular Savings Bank that has been cultivating in the Brazilian plateau for many years, and built a new food service outside the city. storehouse.In these warehouses, in addition to normal barns, there are also a large number of canned fruits, canned whale meat, corned beef, salted fish, wine and even spices, which can be described as everything.

Because it is the first time to enter the local food wholesale industry, Lao Siji did not get any good terms during the negotiation, so he needs to spend money to buy most of these stocks in advance, and there is a lot of financial pressure.Fortunately, the administrative office in the Tuanjiehe area was relatively generous. Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang and Lao Shiji's friend Inigo also met several times. The other party purchased a large quantity and paid very promptly, which made Lao Shiji feel a lot easier.

In addition, the Fangshan Hotel he runs also provided a lot of help.The largest and most luxurious restaurant within hundreds of kilometers is really a cash cow. Although it is not as dazzling as the Naryshkin Building in Shanghai County in the south, considering the strong spending power of the people staying here (Often pay the bill directly with gold), not only the accommodation itself is full all the year round, but also various additional multiplication services are also increasing, which makes Lao Siji sigh again and again. Entrepreneurship, this step seems to be the right one.

The current Fangshan Grand Hotel is not only a government official reception place for the Fangshan County Government, but also a resting place for engineers, policemen, military officers, expedition teams, and professional technicians to enter and leave the Tuanjiehe gold mining area. The combination of catering, accommodation, and entertainment, The daily turnover can exceed one hundred yuan, and tens of thousands of yuan a year. Duandi is a good business.

"Boss Lao, please give Xiao Zhang a copy of the recent accounts with our region. He is the leader of our audit team." After sitting down, Xiao Guang asked someone to bring him a pot of tea. Then he pointed to the shy young man behind him and said.

The young man is not very old, he looks less than 30 years old, but he is already the leader of a five-member working group.Lao Siji glanced at him, nodded, and asked his general ledger accountant to take someone to the finance department, where all the information is available.Of course, these materials are all so-called "clean version" materials, and no problems can be found through investigation, but their trade with the Tuanjiehe District Administrative Office is very clean. Small gifts and small gifts are often given, but large amounts But there is no kickback, no one dares to fight to the death with the people in the military area.This is not to say that there are no corrupt people in the army, but that the lunatics of the National Power Alliance are too troublesome. If something happens, his shop will not be able to continue.

"Last time, the potatoes you provided were of good quality and the price was very cheap. My opinion, you can prepare more. We will increase the proportion of potatoes we purchase next time. We can save a little bit." Xiao Guang told Lao Siji to sit down. came in front of him, and said.

Due to the use of mechanically dug potatoes, the sown area of ​​root crops on the east coast has increased rapidly, and the price has dropped sharply, which has attracted many people to purchase.In places like Tuanjiehe where the finances are not very ample, buying more high-yield crops such as potatoes can effectively reduce food expenditures, and the saved money can naturally be invested in medical care and infrastructure construction.

"Potatoes, hehe, these things are really worthless. The environment in Chile is especially suitable for growing them. Now, a large number of potatoes are shipped in every year and sold together with the local ones. The wholesale price has dropped twice in the last month. If you want to eat this, I have no objection, it's really cheap." After hearing this, Lao Siji agreed, then picked up the teapot and poured Xiao Guang a cup of tea.

The tea is a very popular milk tea on the east bank, and it smells like a fragrance. Xiao Guang praised it, took a sip in satisfaction, and said, "Not bad, is the tea from Ningbo? It tastes different from Hejian tea. It can be called It's a top-grade one. Boss Lao's life is not low. It's much better than us rough guys who spend all day. I think when I was out on missions, I had to take a sip of milk tea when I was resting. .”

"Hey, milk tea is a popular food, so it's not a big deal. This tea is also brought from Ningbo, and it's not expensive. Well, the price of tea has been reduced recently, and the market share of Hejian tea is getting bigger and bigger. The price has also been forced to fall. But the price of milk has risen a bit, which should be related to the new law." Lao Siji said indifferently.Even if a boss like him still owes a lot of debts, his standard of living cannot be low. Ningbo tea is also divided into three or six grades. It is a little more expensive, and what Lao Siji enjoys on weekdays is the top-quality tea brought to Ningbo by Huizhou merchants, but there is no need to tell Xiao Guang about this.

But speaking of the tea market, with the increase in local tea production, the overall price of the east coast tea market is indeed slowly declining, and some merchants who are not sensitive enough to the market have suffered a lot.The tea produced locally on the east coast mainly comes from the Xuanwu Plateau in the north of the Hejian area. Chinese tea trees were introduced many years ago, but the amount of tea produced is small and not tasty, and the reputation has always been poor.In recent years, through many years of continuous improvement and cultivation of tea species, the introduced tea trees have basically been domesticated by the local environment. Coupled with the improvement of technology, the quality of Hejian tea has been significantly improved, and the market share has continued to expand, which has a strong impact Lowering the price of the domestic tea market is a good thing for the common people.

As for the rise in the price of milk, it is indeed because of policy, as Rooseigi said.The East Coast government issued a decree in early 1695 that completely banned the import of foreign grains, dairy products and foreign livestock to protect the interests of farmers in the country.Of course, they were not so naked. They still found some reasons, namely the poor quality of foreign grains and dairy products, foreign livestock may carry certain infectious diseases, and so on. In short, the reasons are high-sounding, but the essence is agricultural protection.The east bank government is now very vigilant about the possible depression in agriculture, and is doing everything possible to prevent it and ensure the interests of the farmers who open up the frontier.Although some urban workers complain that it will reduce their choices and increase their cost of living, the government does not care. They think that after 20 years or so, the new generation of young people will get used to it and take this situation for granted. By then the problem will almost be solved.

"The Agricultural Products Act may be expanded to other aspects in the future. There are not many people willing to invest in large farms now, and there are more opportunities in the industrial and commercial fields, and the returns are more lucrative. There is no way, this responsibility can only be shouldered by the country. It is inevitable that capital will enter the agricultural field on a large scale. Well, let’s not talk about this, I will send someone over to give you some arrest warrants later, and ask everyone in the store to take a closer look to see if they have seen these people. If If you find anything, report it to the police station immediately, and our region will send people to help." After quietly drinking half a pot of milk tea, Xiao Guang took out a beautifully printed receipt from his pocket and handed it to Lao Siji, saying: " Here, this is tea money, remember to issue a ticket."

"Hey, is this a gold round coupon?" Lao Siji took the banknote in amazement, played with it in his hand, and found that the quality of the paper was very good, and it was not easy to rot. s level.He is a knowledgeable person, and he knows that this is the paper legal currency gold round coupon that the government has been planning to withdraw, although he has never seen it before.

"The first batch of currency issued by the State Administration of Precious Metals was piloted in the Tuanjiehe area, and we received [-] yuan, which was used to pay salaries and bonuses to government employees." Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang looked at Lao Siji with a smile, and said: " If the results of the pilot are good, the country may expand the scope of the pilot. If there is no accident, it may be rolled out across the country within ten years. Of course, during this period, gold and silver coins will continue to circulate, but the supply will gradually decrease , and eventually completely withdraw from the circulation market.”

"One yuan is fixedly pegged to two grams of gold. The value of this currency is really strong. It seems that the development of the Tuanjiehe gold mining area has made the appearance of the gold yuan many years earlier." Lao Siji sighed.He now knows that the government must have dug up an unimaginable amount of gold in the Tuanjie River Basin. Otherwise, even if the banknote printing and anti-counterfeiting technology are in place, he would not have the confidence to issue this kind of bearer gold exchange coupon now.

Of course, this does not mean that people will exchange them for physical gold as soon as they get the gold coupons.Physical gold is not a legal currency, and cannot be consumed in the East Coast, and there is a limit on the exchange rate. Many people will keep a certain amount of gold coupons on hand for convenience (tax payment, trade and daily consumption), which ensures that the government will not There will be a run on crisis.But even with these factors, there must be a large amount of gold bars in the warehouse of the Precious Metals Administration to cope with the possible exchange tide, and the amount of this reserve must be amazing, otherwise it will not be released so soon, even if this banknote can be Let the government's financial resources greatly increase in the short term (over-issue currency).

"Metal coins will continue to exist in the future, but they are basically auxiliary coins. By the way, the material of auxiliary coins will also change. It is a nickel alloy, which will reduce the weight and greatly enhance the wear resistance. The existing small silver coins and copper coins It will slowly withdraw from the circulation market." Xiao Guang added: "Our country discovered an island almost entirely made of nickel in the South Pacific many years ago, and now there are many people on the island, and nickel mining has also stopped. On the right track, the nickel production required for minting is completely sufficient."

"It's really a technology that is changing with each passing day." Rao Siji sighed.The launch of the gold round coupons will inevitably cause a sharp drop in the domestic silver price on the east coast. Some of his business friends have received a pile of silver bars from the Spaniards. It seems that he will send a telegram to them as soon as possible to avoid the consequences. Big loss.Chief Xiao showed the gold coupon in front of him, probably as a reminder. This is really a great favor. After all, whether you win or lose depends entirely on whether you are one step ahead. Sometimes it takes only a few hours. Can decide your fate.Thinking of this, Lao Siji suddenly felt that he couldn't sit still, and wanted to send a telegram as soon as possible.

"Boss Lao, you can do your work first. Don't forget about what I entrusted to you." After getting up and picking up his military cap, Xiao Guang said with a smile.

"How could it be? Don't worry!" Lao Siji said with a hasty smile.

(End of this chapter)