Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 607 Wei's Economics ([-])

On July 1647, 7, Dabo Port.

The morning sun broke through the mist that covered the city all night. Wei Boqiu sat on the balcony of a small two-story stone building, while watching the Ming people who were queuing up to work in the field in the distance, while eating delicious food. of cereal.The oatmeal in the porridge is made of oatmeal. After soaking the oatmeal in milk to make oatmeal, it is supplemented with sucrose and dried fruits to make porridge. The breakfast of Deputy Commander Wei Boqiu Wei is quite luxurious in the Heishui area.

After breakfast, the orderly came to clear away the tableware, and then his student Chen Shuo appeared on the balcony.

"Teacher, the Matsumae clan has recently recruited more than 100 women from Japan, and Jin Wugui from Busan has also brought more than 200 family members of North Korean prisoners. With these people and the original number, the size of the women's standing team has almost reached 600. There are more than one person." Standing straight beside Wei Boqiu, Chen Shuo opened a small notebook in his hand, and then began a daily routine report: "The number of people is 600, and the number of daily pick-ups is limited to..."

"Okay!" Wei Boqiu interrupted Chen Shuo's embarrassing statistics, then he lit a pipe for himself, took two puffs before saying, "These people can recover 10 yuan for us almost every year." currency, but this is not enough, the channels for recycling currency must be diversified, and it is not enough to open brothels alone.”

In fact, the side effects of opening a brothel are quite serious.For example, the soldiers of the 30st Regiment who frequented the women's stand-up team, their morale was not easy to maintain in the long run.Looting property to get loot, then spending time and money looking for women, and then going out with the army to plunder after spending money, such a vicious circle, in the long run, this army will degenerate into an army of locusts without a sense of honor, just like the European countries in the Thirty Years War at this time The army is the same as the Manchu and Nanming armies.Maybe they are better than those people in terms of tactics and organization, but they are on the same level as them in terms of morale and sense of honor to maintain combat effectiveness.

On the contrary, several Army regular companies and some black infantry battalions from the east bank did not participate in this kind of operation because of the strict prohibition of the officers.Especially the Xhosa blacks with three infantry battalions, they were not allowed to patronize the women's stand-up team under the order of the standard commander Liu Zhong.Liu Zhong was both their superior and the bannerman of many of them, because no one dared to object.They honestly remitted the looted money to their relatives in the country through the bank to improve their lives. At the same time, the ships from the mainland every year also bring bundles of letters, and the letters from South Africa are naturally an important part of it. part.

Officers will often read letters from some soldiers’ families in public (written by local Ming people). The soldiers roared with laughter when they read the few words, such as scratched, and I miss you the day after tomorrow, but they miraculously maintained the morale and combat effectiveness of the army.The heavy infantry battalion from South Africa is the unit with the highest combat effectiveness and the most tenacious fighting will among the various ministries under the Far Eastern Army at this time except the East Coast Army.When they are tall and put on heavy armor, hold a 4.2-meter hardwood spear, and stand still under the watch of the enemy cavalry, anyone will admire that this is a combat-effective team.

The black South Africans of this era are simple and warlike, and once conquered, they are a good source of soldiers.Later generations of the British recruited a large number of black teams when they colonized South Africa, and their combat effectiveness was quite good, not to mention their opponents, the Zulus.At this time, the blacks were still in the early stage of slave society, and they could make metal farm tools. The level of civilization was not low. On the contrary, it was the arrival of the Europeans that caused their civilization and society to continuously regress, changing from farming civilization to gathering and hunting civilization.

However, after the arrival of the people from the east coast, their society and culture developed toward a highly organized and militarized state, and their discipline was greatly enhanced to the original level. With the help of strict training and continuous war training, Combat strength has improved rapidly.

"At present, with the increasing number of ships every year, the various materials shipped from the mainland are also increasing day by day, such as sugar, shredded tobacco, spirits and other commodities. These things can also excellently recover the currency in the hands of soldiers .” Chen Shuo continued to report.

"Relying on these recycling is not a long-term solution. After all, the local area still has no hematopoietic function." Wei Boqiu stood up and walked to the railing, looking at the brick-wood mixed-structure houses lined up in the distance by the sea, and then said: "Do you see that Dabo is so good?" There are only [-] officially settled residents in this place, and they are full of old, weak, sick and disabled, either Ming people who are old and infirm and unable to sail far, or mercenaries who have retired from the army due to injuries. Although they are all married now, some even There is more than one, but the population will not be able to reproduce in a short period of time. Without the population, one’s own hematopoietic function will never develop, so how can we establish an effective and sustainable economic system here?”

"Heishui Port already has [-] residents, but the economic system has not yet been effectively established. The local Executive Committee and the Government Council have a lot of constraints on the Heishui area. The economy can be developed freely. Expanding domestic demand and recycling the currency in the hands of the soldiers are only expedient measures after all. What we really need to do is to figure out how to make the cake of the Great Far East." Wei Boqiu folded his arms, and outside the balcony was a large beautiful landscape. In the poplar forest, some small animals can be vaguely seen looking for food in the forest. "Such a beautiful and rich land, if there is no population, it will all be taken away by outsiders. How can I be reconciled to this."

In fact, the current Heishui area is quite embarrassing.Although the local pioneering operations have been carried out for four or five years, there is still a large food gap, and a large amount of fishing is needed to make up for the gap every year-of course, this is far from enough, and they still need to rack their brains to buy some from Japan and North Korea.If this is the case, if we do not plunder some food and livestock from the mainland every year, it may still be difficult to feed everyone.

Of course, since the people on the east coast defeated North Korea and occupied Jeju Island and Busan Port, the food shortage situation has been alleviated to some extent.Judging from the current reclamation efforts, the food problem may be completely solved in another five or six years.But five or six years is too extravagant. With this time, I am afraid that the Manchu and Qing dynasties will hit Yunnan and Guizhou in Sichuan.

"It is still necessary to expand the population." Wei Boqiu took a puff of cigarette and said harshly: "All the colonies along the way are intentionally or unintentionally intercepting the population, and it is necessary to do the same in the Blackwater area, so let's start with Dabo. An important commercial port such as Dabo has no city walls, nor a decent permanent wharf and coastal defense fort. What is the matter? This year, thousands of people will be detained to build infrastructure. What's more, it is now fighting with the Japanese Matsumae clan The Shandan trade in Shandan is getting more and more prosperous, and the trade volume of last year has exceeded 9 yuan. Horses, high-quality leather, tallow, and medicinal materials in Manchuria are commodities that the Japanese urgently need, and the goods we resell from the east coast Even more so, the Japanese snapped them up every time. It seems that this year's trade volume will reach [-] to [-] yuan. In addition, the purchase price of the tea, silk, and porcelain we robbed from the mainland is too high. If it’s low, it’s better to retain some and sell them to the Japanese, so that we can make more money.”

Hearing what his teacher said, Chen Shuo was a little speechless.Which of these is not in danger of stepping on the red line of the Executive Committee?If you really want to do this, I'm afraid the political risk is very high.But the executive committee is really serious. Since the teacher is asked to revitalize the economy of the Heishui area, but there are so many restrictions, then let people not work?The fact that the executive committee does this can only show that the executive committee is also very contradictory. It hopes that the Heishui area's own hematopoietic ability will be improved, but it does not want to see the Heishui area develop too powerfully. It is really speechless.

"Don't worry about it too much." Wei Boqiu turned to look at his students, and said with a smile, "It's not a big deal. Since the Executive Committee has given me full power, I naturally have a certain degree of freedom. The construction of the Dabo area must be put forward The agenda, clearing the waterway, building lighthouses and permanent docks, building brick and tile wheel kilns, building a large number of new winter houses, and reclaiming more wasteland, these infrastructure projects must be at the forefront. If these cannot be completed, many tasks will not be able to be carried out. Of course , The most important thing for us at present is to expand financial resources, this one relies on recycling the currency in the hands of soldiers, and the other relies on trade. Walking on two legs goes hand in hand, and in the long run, trade will have a greater impact on us.”

"Can the trade with the Dutch be expanded? After all, they have a lot of food that we urgently need." Chen Shuo asked at this time.Not long after the Dutch left, when they came to deliver rice, they asked Wei Boqiu straightforwardly if the people on the east coast could sell them a large number of people. As for the North Koreans, they just sold them to the Dutch in exchange for valuable food.

In fact, the lack of population of the Dutch is not a secret. They need a large number of people in South Africa and the East Indies to open up new spice planting areas.For example, in South Africa, they heard that French farmers were very good at farming, so their Batavia High Court exiled a large number of Ming people scattered in the area under their control to Cape Town to grow food and fruits for them.

After introducing these farmers in Cape Town, they found that they were hardworking, docile, and very easy to use, so they continued to ask Batavia to exile more Ming people.But Batavia doesn't have enough manpower, how can there be extra for South Africa?However, in this way, the introduction of a large number of people from the Ming Dynasty to develop their own colonies was on the agenda of the Dutch.And just at this time, the Dutch wanted to develop the inaccessible Moluccas, which required a huge amount of manpower, so they moved their minds to buy population from the people on the east coast, because they heard that the people on the east coast were very useful in fishing for people on the mainland. one hand.

"It can be expanded. We can sell the Dutch what they need. We only need their food." Wei Boqiu said naturally: "But in the short term, we may only sell the population to the Dutch. Well, this matter has to be done quickly, I am going to Jeju and Busan to implement this matter as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)