Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 635 All Quiet on the Eastern Front ([-])

Xinhua Port, which is in the rainy season, had a rare sunny day.

Mr. Zhu was sitting in a small tavern by the pier, blowing the refreshing sea breeze, drinking the famous local "Fat Fortune Wine" (namely 108 drugs, the ingredients contained in it have a certain inhibitory effect on malaria in the early stage of liver cells) , the drug was extracted after being soaked in wine, the effect is stronger, and it can effectively reduce the chance of getting malaria, see Chapter 217 of this volume for details), but his eyes were fixed on a group of single-masted fishing boats returning home in New Huaxia Bay.

These fishing boats were all built by the local Xinhua Shipyard, using high-quality wood such as red sandalwood, rosewood, and red sandalwood, which are extremely abundant on the back mountain.At present, there are more than 30 such fishing boats in Xinhua Bay. Each boat is equipped with seven or eight fishermen. During the fishing period, they go fishing in the fishing grounds designated by the government. The fish and shrimp caught are purchased by the government and then processed.

The fleet in front of him consisted of 5 fishing boats and 1 processing boat. Looking at the red face of the leader of the leading boat, he knew that he must have gained a lot this time.Sure enough, after these ships deftly made use of the current in the bay and the southeast wind blowing over the bay to dock on the pier, the boat boss jumped onto the pier first, and then shouted loudly: "Old man, die quickly!" Come out, I was lucky this time, and I caught a big-eyed tuna by the way! Hey, this is the first time I caught it. I caught it at night. It is said that this thing dives very deep during the day. It’s not easy to catch. It’s better to use the longline fishing method, and you can also catch fish while catching shrimp, which kills two birds with one stone, hey!”

"Where is it?" Boss Sun of the tavern, wrapped in an apron, was making fish for Zhu Heng in the back kitchen. At this moment, he heard the yelling on the pier, and he rushed out with a kitchen knife in his hand.Behind him, there were two snot-nosed kids. They wore coats that were made from adult clothes and stuffed dried shrimps into their mouths, while they rushed over to watch the excitement.

Although Zhu Heng respected his status and was embarrassed to push over to look at it, he was actually quite curious.He can be considered a rich man in his own country, but he can't usually eat this tuna, not because he can't afford it, but because he can't afford it!It is not sold in the market at all!I used to hear that the New Huaxia region is rich in tuna, but because the local fishermen focus on prawns such as monodon prawns, pink prawns, lobsters, and eagle claw prawns, the occasional tuna caught is marinated or dried as a "tribute" "Exported to the mainland, it is exclusively for the dignitaries (travelers) to enjoy.

At that time, Mr. Zhu paid attention to this kind of fish, because he vaguely heard that the nobles in the capital flocked to this kind of fish, and even spent a lot of money for it.Under such circumstances, the fishermen in Xinhua Port have actually paid more attention to this kind of big fish over the years. This can be seen from the fact that they catch shrimp during the day and longline tuna at night.

"You kid is making a lot of money. If you sell this to the factory, you can earn at least a hundred yuan." Boss Sun looked at this big-eyed tuna weighing hundreds of kilograms, and said with some regret: "You kid is really Good luck, in previous years, you could catch a few fishes a year, so you can catch up."

The boss of the boat laughed, and while instructing his men to quickly send the marinated tuna to the seafood processing factory not far away, he said: "This time I went to sea with good luck. Apart from those shrimps, I also caught a lot of gold and precious fish. Well, according to the catalog above, they should be called sea cucumbers and blue crabs respectively, hehe, they are all in short supply in demand in the local area. These days can finally relax, I was so unlucky before!”

"Hey, the hurricane season (November to March of the following year) is about to enter the fishing moratorium, and you kid can also feel at home as an outsider. I can't do it, guarding such a dilapidated tavern, pulling Two little grandchildren, if you don’t work for a day, you won’t have anything to eat, alas, you’ve worked so hard.” The old grandson shook his head and said in an envious tone.His son and daughter-in-law are both from Daming. After coming to New China from Shandong, both died in an epidemic, leaving behind two grandchildren.

Hearing what Lao Suntou said, the boat boss who came with him from Dengzhou patted him on the shoulder as a sign of comfort, then changed the subject and said: "By the way, you will bring me 6 bottles of Facai wine later, everyone has been at sea for so long Alright, let’s have a couple of sips to satisfy my hunger. When you’re done with your work, give me a whole table of dishes tonight. Don’t make all the fish, everyone’s about to vomit. Just beef and mutton, I’ll have a banquet at your place tonight. Fleet, this trip to sea has yielded so much, let’s have fun together.”

"No problem." The old grandson said, patting his chest. After he finished speaking, he seemed to have remembered something. He walked up to Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu in a few steps, and said at a loss: "It's a sin, a sin, I saw a rare fish caught outside. I forgot that the crucian carp that the guest officer made is still in the kitchen. Don’t blame the guest officer, the little old man will do it now.”

The crucian carp that Zhu Heng focuses on is naturally the African crucian carp.These African crucian carp are all artificially raised, and they are raised in a large rice field in Xixiang.The fish is adaptable and can also eat mosquito larvae in rice fields, so it is bred in large numbers.However, this kind of fish raised in rice fields may not be seen much in the future, because the New China Development Team has officially decided not to plant rice in the next year—because there are a lot of mosquitoes in that rice planting area, which has caused many people to get sick—— And instead of corn.

"It's okay." Zhu Heng said with a smile.After seeing the old grandson turn his head to the kitchen at the back, Zhu Heng turned his attention to the group of fishermen who were still talking at the pier, but his heart gradually became alive.

A bigeye tuna weighing hundreds of kilograms is sold to a seafood factory for hundreds of dollars?It's true that country people don't know much about it. If this fish is sold to Dongfang Port, it can be sold for at least three hundred yuan. If you meet someone who likes it, you can buy it for five hundred yuan.Calculated in this way, this business is really profitable!

Thinking of this, Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu carefully calculated again. He has long heard friends from the Ministry of Agriculture reveal that the northwest of Xinhua Island is from Mazhenga to Bei Island, the northeast of St. Mary Island, the north coast of Xinhua Port, and Tacheng in the middle. One hundred nautical miles southeast of the port are ideal fishing grounds.Among them, the northern area of ​​Majunga in the west is extremely rich in shrimp resources, and is known as the "shrimp bank". Even La Plata, which is rich in red shrimp, cannot compare with this place.I heard that the local natives are backward in shrimp fishing technology, and they dive naked to the bottom of the sea to catch sea cucumbers and lobsters with their hands, and they still harvest a lot every day, which shows that the resources here are rich.Those ordinary monodon prawns are fine, but the supply of sea cucumbers, blue crabs, and large lobsters is indeed in short supply in the local area, so it is worth doing it.

In addition, there are many shrimps around St. Mary's Island, which are also worth catching.However, the most famous ones in this area are not shrimps, but fish such as grouper, hairtail, eel, etc. These are also warm-water fish that do not exist in the local area (mostly cold-water fish in the local area). According to observations, the market sales have been very good. good.

Of course, Xinhuaxia Island is most famous for its tuna.This kind of huge fish that swims in the sea all year round has always been favored by dignitaries for some reason.No matter whether the caught tuna is made into dried fish, salted fish or canned fish, they can send agents to snap up all the tuna in a short time, which is amazing.

The entire surrounding area of ​​Xinhuaxia Island (including the coasts of Mauritius, Seychelles and Tanzania) is famous for bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna fishing grounds. If there are two boats and more than ten fish a year, it will cost thousands of dollars. No matter what you do, you will make money.Thinking of this, Master Zhu began to nervously calculate the investment required for this business.

First, a steam-powered tuna fishing boat is a must.Well, it's better to modify it. The hooks should be more diverse, and you can also catch squid here.After all, whether you can catch tuna depends on your luck. Many times you may not be able to catch tuna for ten and a half months when you go out to sea. Subsidize how much to reduce costs.It's just that such a boat can't afford 5000 yuan, and you have to prepare fishing tackle and supplies, and usually maintain the boat. Oh, this is really not something ordinary people can afford.

Secondly, you have to obtain a fishing license issued by the government.I'm not a local, so I'm afraid it's a bit difficult to get this license, but it's not impossible if I start a relationship, it just takes a lot of trouble.

In the end, recruiting sailors was a headache.Although the government has now relaxed the prohibition on the entry of private capital in some industries, it has also set up some unspoken rules to restrict private capital.Take the fishing industry as an example, you can apply for a fishing license for private individuals, and boats can also be ordered domestically—even the government has a discount (because it can train reserve sailors), but fishing boat owners are prohibited from recruiting sailors domestically, because This is obviously competing for business with the state-run South China Sea Fisheries Company and even the Navy.Therefore, if Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu really wants to start his own ocean fishing business, it is necessary to recruit sailors from abroad, and this is obviously a difficult problem, which will test their network and background.

This fishing business must be started!After thinking about it for a long time, Master Zhu finally made up his mind. He still has a lot of money left on hand. If he goes back and has the cheek to ask someone to get a loan, mobilize a few township parties to raise some money, and buy two steam tuna fishing boats Not a problem.The remaining money can also be used to set up a fishery product processing workshop in Xinhua Port, using the raw materials ordered from the local area to make various canned fishery products, and selling them back to the local area will surely make a lot of money.

But this workshop also has to recruit manpower, alas, I am really worried.It would cost a lot of money to recruit workers from abroad, yes, after finishing the plantation here this time, hurry back to the county, or even to the capital, to attract more owners with spare money to make a fortune here.Xinhua Island is a treasure island, and there are business opportunities everywhere. If it is well managed, it will really be a cornucopia!

(End of this chapter)