Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 265 Spring in the New China Colony ([-])

"Hey, by the way, why did the Executive Committee suddenly decide to speed up the construction of the New China Colony?" Shi Qinjie, who had been excited for a long time, suddenly remembered this question at this moment, and asked: "It's so sudden, it seems to be in a hurry look."

"This matter is a bit complicated, and I heard people say it." Liu Ang said: "That's right, you know, didn't we ask the Portuguese to increase their efforts to transport Ming people to the east coast? No, this year The Portuguese set up a large fleet all at once, and transported 2500 Ming people and 500 North Koreans and Japanese over here, good guy, the total price was 110 million yuan in the end!"

"110 million..." Shi Qinjie was a little dizzy when he heard this number. He didn't know the fiscal revenue of the East Coast Republic last year, but he knew that it was definitely not 110 million, and it should be a bit short of the boss.

Seeing Shi Qinjie's dazed look, Liu Ang smiled understandingly, then took out a copy of "Pravda" internal reference from his pocket, turned to an article, and said: "This is the second half of this year. Pravda invited Xu Xin, China's plenipotentiary representative in Bordeaux, to write a draft. In this article, Xu Xin believed that thanks to years of business development and increasingly extensive personal connections, the textiles of the East Coast Republic of China are now popular in France, especially among them. Sales in some southern provinces showed a good growth trend. It is estimated that the total sales volume of France (with Bordeaux as the sales center) and Tuscany (with Florence as the sales center) will exceed 1640 in 40. Among them, white cotton cloth accounted for 50%, dyed cloth and printed cloth accounted for 45% for the first time in history. We earn one yuan for each piece of white cotton cloth, and three yuan for each piece of dyed cloth. The operating profit reached [-] yuan. Some freight, machine depreciation, French customs, and patrolling naval officials' expenses, the net profit is still maintained at more than [-] yuan."

"Look at this article again, the newsletter from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce." Liu Ang turned the internal reference to the other side, and continued: "The Ministry of Industry and Commerce optimistically predicts that the military industry will suddenly emerge in 1640, and it has become the other pole of the country's economic growth. Throughout the year A total of ten warships and a large amount of army equipment were sold, with a net profit of more than 35 yuan. By the way, some cotton cloth, woolen cloth and leather goods were sold to the Ottoman Empire, and the total profit was about 20 yuan. Plus The profits of textiles, building materials, hardware products, honeycomb coal, clean coal and other commodities exported to La Plata, Peru, Chalkas, New Spain and Portuguese Angola, etc., the total profit of industrial exports for the year will probably reach 130 It looks like 5 yuan. However, this figure is only a theoretical value. In fact, many accounts have not been recovered. For example, the Ottomans only paid half of the shipbuilding costs. And they will not pay cash for the remaining shipbuilding costs. Instead, there will be a large amount of minerals, wool, livestock and slaves. I heard from a colleague of the Ministry of Finance that in order to pay the huge immigration costs of the Portuguese, the Ministry of Finance urgently borrowed money from the Brazilians at an annual interest rate of two cents. With a sum of [-] yuan, we managed to overcome the difficulties. At present, domestic economic construction, military maintenance expenses, and government administrative officials’ salaries are all maintained by domestic taxation and the trade income of Colonia City.”

"This..." Shi Qinjie was a little surprised, "Doesn't this mean that we have been busy for a year, and finally we are still working for the Portuguese?"

"You can say that." Liu Ang nodded heavily, and then said: "You don't know, just for the East Asian immigrants transported by the Portuguese to us this year, the profits they get will account for their government's annual fiscal revenue." over 10% of their income. This has become an extremely important income for them every year. After so many years, the commercial behavior of transporting Easterners to the East Bank has become a big business involving many merchants and nobles. And get rich. The extension of this industrial chain is unimaginable, from nobles and big businessmen in Portugal, to the governor of Brazil and Goa, to some famous captains, the Jesuits of Macau and those in the Ming Dynasty. Many agents in the country, everyone is lying on this golden rice bowl to eat, and they all eat their mouths full of grease."

"It's really outrageous!" Hearing that the people on the east bank are desperately developing industry and exporting goods to support such a group of things, even the honest man Shi Qinjie was a little angry, and he quickly thought of this incident and the current situation. The connection between the New China colonies: "So, the executive committee decided to invest heavily in the New China colonies, even at the expense of developing the shipbuilding industry here, so that we can directly sail to Daming as soon as possible and transport people ourselves?"

"There is such a meaning in it." Liu Ang said after thinking for a while, "You also know that a major cost of shipbuilding is ship materials. At present, all the wood we use to build warships is sumac imported from Brazil. Waiting for merchant ships, the ship materials are also high-quality hardwoods imported from Paraguay, which has led to high costs. Now, since Madagascar is so rich in high-quality timber resources, and it is still a land without an owner, then the executive It is natural for the committee to come here. It is therefore easy to understand why a wood processing plant, a wood drying kiln and a shipyard would be set up here."

"On the other hand, the executive committee has also raised objections to the high shipping fee of 400 yuan per Ming person that has lasted for many years with the Portuguese, and has formally lodged a negotiation with the Portuguese." Liu Ang continued. , "The executive committee believes that the high price of 400 yuan per Ming person is a special product of the special period of the year, and it is no longer applicable now, and strongly urges the Portuguese to lower the immigration fee. The Portuguese are not very willing about this, after all, the price The change will affect the interests of quite a few people. However, the executive committee later gave them a suggestion, that is, let them transport the Ming people to the new Chinese colony by boat, which is equivalent to shortening the Portuguese voyage by half. And if they If you move fast enough, you can start at the beginning of the northeast monsoon in October every year, and you will reach Xinhua Bay in just one or two months. Then you will return to Malacca along the ocean current. If all goes well, the northeast monsoon may not have passed by this time. , they can still transport people to Xinhua Bay with the wind and water. It is equivalent to doing business twice a year, and the efficiency has doubled compared to before. After a comprehensive consideration, the Portuguese finally decided to accept our offer This new way of doing business."

"So, what is the new transaction price?" Shi Qinjie asked.

"300 yuan per person." Liu Ang said with a sigh, "this is already the best price the executive committee can strive for. After all, a slave transported from West Africa to St. Augustine can often be sold for more than 100 yuan 300 yuan to buy a Ming person is no longer considered expensive. Moreover, the Portuguese are not afraid of us asking the Dutch or the Spaniards for help, so the final price is actually the price after the final compromise between the two parties.”

"I understand." Shi Qinjie exhaled, and said, "If we want to get rid of this extremely heavy financial burden, and if we don't want to be exploited by the Portuguese, we have to find a way to fly directly to Daming by ourselves. And this The foundation of everything is to rapidly develop the New China Colony as a stable rear for direct flights to Ming Dynasty in the future."

"Not bad." Liu Ang agreed, "Captain Shi, you New China colony can be said to have hit the big luck this time and caught up with the good times. The higher-ups pay attention to it, you want money and people, and in the future you will send Power, this River Fort colony can be compared to you."

……

Liu Ang didn't stay in Xinhua Castle for too long.In the afternoon of the next day, he left Xinhua Bay with the returning "Chaoyong" and "Fangzhang" and headed for Hezhong Harbor.

At this time, Shi Qinjie, who had received the exact news, also burst out with boundless energy.Carrying a strong sense of responsibility and mission, he quickly called a meeting of the main leaders of the New China Colony to focus on the construction direction and construction focus in the next period of time.

First of all, the goal of the first key construction is naturally the city wall of Xinhua Castle and the cement kiln outside the city.If the city wall is not completed, the residents of the colony will feel insecure; and the construction of cement kilns is also of great significance, because a large number of construction projects that will follow in the future will all use a large amount of cement.

The second is the reclamation of cultivated land near the Coconut Creek Reservoir and the construction of irrigation networks.If these days are not done well, the New China colony will not be able to obtain a stable source of food for a day. After all, it is actually a very uneconomical thing to transport food from South Africa to here, especially now that the domestic shipping capacity is still very tight.And it is also very unsafe, which means that the colony does not have the ability to be self-sufficient. Once the sea line of communication is cut off, it is very likely that there will be big troubles.

The third thing is naturally the need to increase investment in logging camps, and strive to greatly increase timber production to meet the growing domestic demand for high-quality ship materials and high-end furniture timber.Of course, the construction of wood drying kilns and wood processing plants is also urgent. After all, so many trees have been cut down, and the processing capacity has to keep up with it.In addition to these two, the construction of the shipyard with the highest "technical content" in the entire colony is even more important. According to Shi Qinjie's plan, this shipbuilding industry can become a pillar industry in New China in the future. one of the ah.

In addition to the above-mentioned things, the importance of some other projects and projects has suddenly decreased a lot.For example, the picking and deep processing of coconuts, the construction of the cement Yonggu Wharf, the construction of the highway to clear the port, the construction of houses in the city, etc., these are no longer Shi Qinjie's primary focus.Maybe when the manpower is sufficient in the future, he will assign some manpower to follow up on these projects, but not now.

After the thinking is unified, the next thing will be easy to handle.The main people in charge here are all doers, and everyone didn't talk nonsense. After the meeting was over, they each found someone to work on the project they were in charge of.

(End of this chapter)