Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2321 Central Valley (26)

"The Turtle Islands are going to be 'independent' at last!" said Xiang Zirui, who had worked in the Southern Chile Regional Administration for several years and was about to leave, in an unspeakable tone.

He is standing on the pier of Xuanwu Port.This is the largest city in the entire archipelago, with more than 5000 of the total population of more than [-] living here.

Xuanwu Port is the only place on the east coast to go to Australia, Tahiti, and Rabaul under the jurisdiction of the three major management committees, and it is also the only place for ships departing from Chile to mainland China.Captains usually choose to maintain their ships here for the last time and buy a lot of goods, because it will be difficult for them to obtain such supplies in the next voyage—even if there are, there will be more than enough, and the price will be too expensive. You have a toothache.

The advantage of geographical location can sometimes become a resource, a very useful resource.The residents of the Turtle Islands took full advantage of this. With limited arable land and water resources, they developed very efficient agriculture. At the same time, they developed some entrepot trade (mainly for Peru and New Spain).These industries are highly profitable and have very little pressure on the environment. They are very suitable for the current situation of the Turtle Islands and are an important help to the increase of local people's income.

In addition, similar to Ningbo Dinghai Port and Crimea Haji Port, the financial industry of Xuanwu Port in the Turtle Islands is also very developed.The four major commercial banks, East Coast Agricultural Bank, United Industrial Credit Bank, Public Savings Bank, and Commercial Clearing Bank, have all opened branches here, and even policy banks such as the New World Friendship and Mutual Bank have opened branches here. It is used to supervise the use of some policy loans of the state to Peru and New Spain.

The total amount of such policy loans is about 200 million yuan. For example, in the early years, the Castro family, the governor of Peru, built a seafood processing factory in the port of Callao, where the seafood caught by fishermen on the east coast was located here. It can be processed into canned food or feed to make use of the abundant and cheap local labor resources (the final export market is the east coast); another example is the new large-scale trade market in Santiago, Chile, to facilitate trade between businessmen from the two countries (similarly, the local government can have more efficient taxation).Generally speaking, these projects are beneficial to both countries. The New Continent Friendship and Mutual Aid Bank provides loans and agrees that they can only hire relevant technical personnel from the east coast for construction. For this reason, they only charge a low interest rate of 5%, but they must supervise the actual use of the loans situation to prevent misappropriation.

It is ironic to say that at least in these matters, the supervision of the people on the east coast has greatly protected the interests of the people of the Spanish American colonies, because most of the money has actually been implemented.Otherwise, based on the virtues of those officials from the peninsula, I am afraid they would have been carved up.

All the loans of more than 200 million yuan were loaned from Xuanwu Port, but more than 200% of the cash was never even shipped here from the mainland.Because the project was undertaken by Dong'an Company, many equipment and materials that cannot be produced locally were also purchased by Dong'an, so most of the funds were offset by internal transfers.The Spaniards actually only got less than one million in cash (but the loan they were carrying was actually more than [-] million), and most of the funds only circulated on paper, but did not actually flow into Spain, and there was no local support. The economy had a positive impact, which made many local white families criticize it, thinking that it was a debt trap provided by the East Coasters.

New World Amity and Mutual's latest loan came a few months ago.The loan with a total amount of 35 French currency will be used to repair the old terminal of Buenaventura Port, add lifting and transportation equipment, and expand a new terminal nearby to increase the throughput of the port.

The loan was approved because in recent years more and more goods such as grain, timber, dried fruit, livestock and precious stones and gold have been brought to the port via the inland area.

Undoubtedly, the Santa Fe Bogota Procuratorate District has now become another popular gold producing area in the Viceroyalty of Peru - I have to sigh, the resources are really too rich - Antioquia, Tolima, Narini A large number of gold deposits or gold-bearing rivers have been found in Ou, Choco, Caldas, Cauca Valley and other places.Some of these gold mines were mined to varying degrees before the Spanish conquest, and some were mined during the Spanish colonial period in the 16th century. The current annual output is about 80 pesos.

The gold was basically shipped to ports along the Caribbean Sea, and then waited for the arrival of the treasure fleet to be shipped back to Spain.However, the gold smuggled to the east coast through Buenaventura Port has been increasing day by day in recent years, reaching more than 1696 pesos in 60, and the growth rate is very high.

Gold smuggling was run by local native white families.They either underreported actual gold production, or they exploited mines that were not on government records, but business was booming.The East Coast Department of Geology, the General Administration of Precious Metals and the Regional Administration of Southern Chile once jointly sent an investigation team to the gold-producing area of ​​the Santa Fe Bogota Procuratorate District for two years. The conclusion is that the Spaniards’ mining methods are very backward. , a lot of waste.And because of transportation, a lot of gold has not been transported to Puerto Buenaventura.All in all, they believe that if some advanced mining and smelting equipment are exported to the Spaniards, and the local roads and port facilities are refurbished, the amount of smuggled gold transported to the east coast via Buenaventura Port can be reduced in a short period of time. Reach more than 200 million pesos.

In fact, gold mining in later generations of Colombia was mainly after the First World War. Due to the introduction of foreign technology, its annual gold production reached more than 65 ounces (this is troy ounces, very troy ounces), that is, one year About twenty tons.Moreover, this number is still considered to be low, because the gold produced by the local gold mines must be sold to the Bank of the Republic of Colombia at a low price, and the enthusiasm for the production of gold mines is not high, otherwise it may be able to increase significantly.

The expedition team on the east coast expects that there are still a large number of undiscovered gold mines in the local area, and the gold production potential is very high.If it is developed by people from the east coast, with sufficient funds and manpower, and the transportation facilities are improved, it is safe to harvest 8-10 tons of gold a year-of course, it may not be so much at the beginning, there is a production capacity The problem of gradual acceleration - this is the value of 400-500 million French currency.

Of course, there are some silver mines in the above-mentioned areas, and gold mines will also be associated with silver (the ratio of gold to silver is 1:0.65).However, the total output of silver is less than half of that of gold, not to mention the huge difference in price comparison between the two.Even if people from the east coast take over, the annual output will be about 10,000+ French currency, which is too little.But fortunately, these mining operations are incidental, the cost is low, and they can make a little bit of money.

The output of platinum is even lower than that of silver, about one-tenth of that of gold.Moreover, the East Bank is not very keen on this metal, and the common people still prefer gold, but the East Bank government still buys all of them, some of which are used for industrial consumption, and some are stored.Under the government's continuous training for many years and the leadership of the upper class, people on the east coast now have an increasing demand for diamonds and gemstones, which has brought vitality to Colombia's huge emerald industry.According to the private disclosure of the local white family, the number of emeralds smuggled to the east coast has even surpassed that shipped to Spain, and the annual transaction volume is more than 20 yuan, which is amazing.

If a war breaks out between the East and the West in the future, the Third Fleet will carry the army and militia to land at Buenaventura Port as soon as possible, and then follow the road system that will be built soon-the East Coast government just announced this month. Approved, the New World Friendly Mutual Bank will loan 160 million French currency to the Santa Fe Bogota Trial Court District for their construction of roads leading to the inland gold, gemstone, silver production areas and coffee main producing areas - occupying this trial court district The most valuable strategic town.

A few days ago, the commissioner of the Southern Chile Regional Administration even attended the signing ceremony of the loan in Xuanwu Port, and said some routine words of blessing.The local native white aristocratic families are also very satisfied with this. After the port and roads are repaired, the minerals they steal and the tropical products piled up in the manor (even rotting) can also be sold, and the income is expected to increase sharply. cut off, so one by one elated.The only dissatisfaction may be the court in Madrid—even the colonial officials sent by the peninsula have been "fed"—but what can they do?

By the way, the "independence" of the Turtle Islands mentioned earlier is actually because its status is becoming more and more important. established) to better rely on local advantages and develop itself.To put it bluntly, the Turtle Islands are actually a tool for economic plundering of the two major colonies of Peru and New Spain. It not only absorbed a large number of deposits from Spanish-born white noble families, but also gradually controlled all areas of its economy.The loans from the New World Friendship and Mutual Aid Bank, apparently in the name of developing the local economy or a win-win situation, are actually serving the economy of the East Coast—the native white people once said sarcastically that the so-called "win-win" is just the people of the East Coast Just win twice.

People on the east coast never worry that these loans will never be returned.First of all, more than half of the funds have been withdrawn during the construction stage. The remaining half, ports, roads, mines, and farms are still there?The collateral does not have long legs, so it cannot escape by itself.As soon as the war between the two sides broke out, the army on the east bank would be able to control these collateral assets immediately, causing almost no losses, and even making a lot of money.

On February 1697, 2, Xiang Zirui did not stay long in Xuanwu Port, and left by boat on the same day to return to Liucheng Port.While he was leaving, two ships loaded with coal mining machinery also hurriedly docked.They encountered a storm during their arrival, and the hull was severely damaged, so they urgently needed repairs in port.

The cargo on the ship was to be transported to the port of Buenaventura. A large coal mine was recently discovered near the city of Cali in the Cauca Valley, and the quality of the coal was very good. Quickly got developed.The straight-line distance between the coal mine and Buenaventura Port is only a few tens of kilometers. The East Coast Coal Department has even considered whether to apply for the Ministry of Communications to fund the construction of this railway, so that the country can get a lot of Continuous high-quality coal fully guarantees industrial production.

But the Department of Transportation is not very cold about this.They think that the coal reserves here may not be very large (in fact, they are wrong, the amount is quite huge), and the newly discovered coal reserves in Antioquia and Cundinamarca are several times that, which is more valuable for mining.In addition, a large number of shallow-buried high-quality coal mines have also been discovered recently on the Gua Greek Peninsula, with a total reserve of hundreds of millions of tons.This peninsula is located on the west side of the Gulf of Venezuela and at the mouth of Lake Maracaibo. Coal is almost everywhere, and it is right by the sea, so the transportation is very convenient. The militiamen who set off might have landed on the Gua Greek Peninsula, who knows.

People from the east coast don't want to let go of the rich resources in the Santa Fe Bogota Prosecutor's Court District!

I've been so busy lately, I'm powerless. . . . . .

(End of this chapter)