Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 675 Gradually recovering economy ([-])

After the harvest season ended in February, the data on the country's total grain output was also freshly released: a total of about 4.75 tons of grains and beans were harvested!Compared with the previous survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, this figure is considered a bumper harvest, because in their original estimate, the output may be a little less, about 4.3 tons, but now it has obviously increased by 10%. Let everyone They were all overjoyed.And with the disbandment of some militia brigades and supply units, a large number of capable laborers can return to their hometowns, and the agriculture on the east coast is bound to usher in a strong recovery first. Maybe the worst period has passed?

Among these grains, the output of wheat is 4.1 tons, accounting for 86.3%, and it is the largest crop in China; the remaining rice accounts for about 8.4%, accounting for about 4000 tons, and it is the second largest crop. The farmers in the village grow it privately, that is, self-sow and harvest (non-mechanized harvesting), which is expensive, so the price is extremely expensive; after these two crops are removed, what is left is corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. The miscellaneous grains are gone, and the quantity is very small.

From these data, we can see that potatoes, which once accounted for half of the grain production of the East Coast Republic many years ago, are no longer the mainstream planting products. The proportion of these crops has dropped from 55% at the peak to less than 5% %.Nowadays, in some agricultural towns and towns in China (in fact, most of the towns and towns in the country are agricultural towns), crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes have been reduced to the fragmented plots on both sides of canals and ridges, basically the same as broad beans, taro, black beans and so on. It is a kind of treatment, and it has become a kind of miscellaneous grains that farmers change their tastes-of course, occasionally farmers will bring these things to the market for sale.

The main reason for the decline in the sown area of ​​high-yield crops such as potatoes is market regulation. To put it bluntly, these things cannot be sold at a high price, and they are far less expensive than wheat and rice.Therefore, after calculating the income and expenditure, the farmers decisively stopped the cultivation of this crop.In addition, the state is now advocating the unified planting and harvesting of all townships and even villages (potatoes are extremely labor-intensive and cannot be harvested mechanically), and have given a large amount of "special subsidies for agricultural machinery to the countryside" to guide farmers to purchase agricultural machinery for harvesting crops, improving labor productivity, so it is not surprising that potatoes have gradually disappeared from farmers' planting lists.

Of course, when grains dominate the agricultural product market on the east coast, the prices of potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are increasingly scarce, will gradually increase under the adjustment of the market economy, which will affect some farmers to replant these crops. It's another matter.

On March 1648, 3, with a long whistle, a train carrying nearly 1 tons of wheat and 70 tons of refined flour slowly entered the Rocha Railway Station.Then the workers in charge of loading and unloading immediately began to unload the goods under the command of the foreman, and then transported them to the wharf not far away by horse-drawn rail trucks, and then hoisted them on the ships moored in the special wharf through the pulley boom.

There are a total of [-] ships moored in the dock at the moment, eight of which are from Genoa, seven from the Netherlands, and two from England.All seventeen ships came from the old continent. When they came, they were filled with graphite, mercury, sulfur, lead, tin and zinc, etc., which were urgently needed on the east coast. Some goods were loaded into the port on the east coast and returned.

The Genoese have reached a formal cooperation agreement with the East Coast, and the cooperation between the two parties has also been fully launched. Therefore, with the approval of the Ministry of Trade, the Rocha Bulk Trade Center officially began to sell to St. Supply of wheat from the east coast as part of the Republic of Genoa's plan to diversify food sources.

Although the war in Europe has eased, the recovery of grain production is not easy. Therefore, although the Dutch have made many efforts—such as opening up the grain trade route from Amsterdam to Arkhangelsk, Amsterdam, Seville, etc. Prices in the main grain trading markets such as Lia and Udine are still high, so this makes the grain exported from the east coast to Genoa still maintain a high level of 36 yuan per ton.

"Reserving the grain consumption for the whole year, the current statistics show that the amount of wheat available for export is about [-] tons, and it may be more." Luocha County Magistrate, who also serves as the Luocha Bulk Trade Center Han Gang, the director, stood in front of the window on the third floor, looking at the businessmen from various countries who were trading in the compound on the first floor, and said to Zheng Bin, the deputy minister of agriculture who is also the director of the National Grain Reserve Depot.

"It should be between 1.1 and 1.2 tons, but we have to look at the specific situation." Zheng Bin took over and said, "According to estimates from South Africa and Xinhua, there should be 1.3 tons this year. Ming immigrants came to the mainland. In addition, the female slaves sold by the Crimeans, the Livonian immigrants, the Greek residents of Crete resold by the Ottomans, and the natural increase in the domestic population, by the middle of July this year , the national population may break through 15, a record high. The annual food consumption of 15 people is not a small amount. You must know that the harvest of autumn grain (June) is not as high as that of summer grain, and some deep-processed grain will be removed. Therefore, to be conservative, the export of grain should be controlled within 6 tons. It can also create a profit of about 20 yuan (some grains are collected by state-owned farms, some grains are purchased from farmers, and some grains are public grains handed over by farmers, wheat, sorghum The purchase price and sales price of these two kinds of grains in China are guided by the government, and strict control measures are implemented), which is enough for this year’s business.”

"The profit of 20 yuan is still a bit short. The Ministry of Finance estimates that the fiscal expenditure for this year will be about 375 million yuan, and the fiscal deficit will further expand." Han Gang shook his head and said, "Look, wait until the autumn grain is put into storage in the second half of the year. The higher-ups will definitely arrange for us to export another batch of grains, soybeans or corn (the main harvest crops for autumn grain are corn and soybeans, and generally few people plant two crops of grains in a row). I don't think the Government Affairs Council will let you go."

"Hehe, it's probably as you said." Zheng Bin smiled and said: "The fiscal deficit for the whole year last year was 107.8 million yuan. Sister Nie of the Ministry of Finance said that this year should not exceed 160 million yuan. This is the red line. It is everyone's failure, and there are problems in the work. At the beginning of the year, a full 120 million silver dollars were sent back from the Far East, and the cash brought back from La Plata was close to 90, plus some supplies that are gradually being realized ( The Ministry of Finance has held several roving auctions across the country), it stands to reason that the hole of less than 270 million in the past two years can be filled up..."

"But this year's military expenditure has increased significantly!" Han Gang and Zheng Bin looked at each other and shook their heads, sighing in unison.

Yes, more than 600 officers and soldiers have just returned from the Far East this year. Although these people have poor combat skills and other aspects are a mess, but in the military status of the Ministry of War, these people are serious mercenaries. The monthly maintenance fee is no less than 3 yuan.If it goes to the front line (it has already arrived in Santa Fe and started to fight), it is normal for the maintenance cost to soar to 5 yuan this month, and it will be 60 yuan this year!

Moreover, the conclusion drawn by the Ministry of Finance of this year's fiscal deficit of 160 million was also calculated from last year's trade figures. However, as the war between Spain and France gradually intensified, the sales of goods on the east coast in the French market also went from bad to worse. Coupled with higher and higher tariffs, this profit is getting thinner and thinner. Therefore, the trade income of the Western European market (mainly France) is likely to decline sharply this year.Against such a background, with a strong sense of crisis, the Government Administration Council asked its subordinate departments to dig deep into their potential, set off a climax of export earnings, and then increase imports of materials to reduce domestic price increases.

In fact, if you just want to pay the 60 yuan annual maintenance fee for these thousands of troops, the Ministry of Finance has no choice but to print money!After all, if you pay them silver dollars and pay them banknotes, it will cause inflation in the country. After all, money is a kind of ability to dominate commodities, and it is a concrete manifestation of the commodity standard system.The quantity of goods in your government's hands has not increased, but a large amount of banknotes have been printed in advance, which will inevitably lead to currency devaluation and inflation.

But silver dollars are different from banknotes.Silver dollar is an international hard currency, and you can purchase commodities in the international market and sell them domestically, such as: sugar, tobacco, and leather from Brazil, wood, cocoa, and fruits from Central America, salted fish and cured meat from North America, red wine from the Old World, Advanced fur and so on.The import of these goods has greatly suppressed the speed of domestic inflation to some extent, so that the purchasing power of money has not declined appallingly.

Since last year, many merchants from the Netherlands, Portugal, and England have been selling all kinds of materials listed on the "zero-tariff catalog" on the east coast from the old continent to the new continent like sharks smelling blood. It is obviously impossible to pay for these goods with banknotes.For example, the ships in the port of Rocha are like this, especially the two merchant ships from the United Kingdom, who sold hundreds of tons of salted and dried fish from New England to the east coast, making the east coast with an annual fishing capacity of only 1800 tons The people on the shore were overjoyed, and the price of pickled fish in the market also dropped accordingly.What the people on the east coast pay them for these salted fish is wheat, and these Englishmen will take the wheat back to their home country to sell. You must know that England is also short of food now.

Moreover, the Government Council has issued a large number of bank acceptance bills in order to cope with the financial crisis in the past two years, and it is about to enter the peak payment period at present, and the domestic demand for cash and silver is still relatively large.Therefore, exporting a large amount of silver in exchange for silver has become an important task at this time.As a traditional commodity for foreign exchange earning by exporting on the east coast, grain is naturally given great expectations by the superiors.Moreover, the domestic prices of wheat and sorghum are fixed, and a large amount of exports will not cause fluctuations in the market.

The amount of grain sold to the Dutch and Genoese next year will increase by another 10% on this year's basis, but it doesn't seem to be a big problem now.With expanding livestock populations, gradually improving soil texture and gradually expanding planted areas, next year's East Coast grain production should explode, heralding a full-fledged economic recovery.

(End of this chapter)