Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 679 Across the Ocean ([-])

On March 1648, 3, Xinhua Port, which was already at the end of the rainy season (hot season), was extremely hot.Although it didn't rain today, the air was still filled with thick water vapor, which made people who came here for the first time feel extremely uncomfortable.

The "Discovery" expedition ship has been moored at the pier for two days. The ship encountered wind and waves when crossing the Cape of Good Hope, and the ship board was damaged in many places. It is still undergoing emergency repairs in the ship repair yard in Xinhua Port.I don't know if it's because the workers in the repair shop are poorly skilled or what the reason is, but after two days of repairs the boat is still not in order, which makes Zhang Jinhua very depressed.

After asking someone to inquire, sure enough, several masters with the best skills in the factory died of illness a few days ago because of a "plague" that occurred for unknown reasons and then disappeared for unknown reasons. , the middle-level technicians who have recently been promoted to the top are not experienced enough, so they are in a hurry for a while.

Zhang Jinhua was a little helpless when he heard the news, so he simply called the crew to disembark and go to the pier to have fun.Sun Kee Restaurant on the wharf has recently launched a number of new varieties: eel rice, cold sea cucumber, and drunken shrimp. They are all new dishes made from local ingredients. They are cheap and plentiful, and are very popular among sailors with little money favorite.They can't afford expensive beef and mutton, so they can only eat some local abundant seafood.

It was almost noon at this time, and Zhang Jinhua was sitting in the dining room where the draft was blowing, pinching drunk shrimp, sipping some fortune wine from time to time, and the small days were quite moist.But at this moment, a cargo ship powered by a steam engine sailed in from the harbor, and more than [-] men in faded old military uniforms jumped off the deck of the ship after it had stopped, and walked in quietly. out of the restaurant.

Zhang Jinhua looked around, and saw these people walking with their heads held high, not like ordinary people with their heads slightly lowered.A few middle-aged people with vicissitudes of life walked in the front, and the others took half a step behind, and their steps were more orderly, so that outsiders could tell at a glance that this group of people were all from Qiu Ba.

The leading man with a bright face is not tall, about 1.6 meters five, but looking at the bulging military uniform, he knows that this man is strong and strong, and he fights those skinny Indians with a bayonet Absolutely one-on-one.At this time, he saw Zhang Jinhua sitting there in the dining room, wearing a navy captain's military uniform that he didn't know where he found, so after hesitating for a while, he went forward to give a military salute, and then took the clothes behind him. A group of people sat next to it.

After more than [-] people took their seats, the somewhat empty restaurant was filled up at once. Boss Sun immediately came up with his grandchildren cheerfully to say hello to the business, and at this time the group of men also opened up the chatterbox.

"Brother Zhai, I have been waiting here for many days and spent a lot of money, but I haven't even found a piece of land. Seeing that the return date is approaching, what should I do? All the brothers are still waiting for me to go back after finishing the business. Right now But the money was spent, and the work was not done, and it is frustrating to think about it!" A man opened his mouth after taking two sips of wine.

His words quickly aroused the echo of some people: "The Chuangji Investment Company is also deceiving people too much. They even robbed two pieces of land that Brother Zhai is interested in. If I didn't see how many people they have, they would have called the door to argue."

"Fart! Big fart!" The man called Big Brother Zhai slapped the table twice, then silently said "quality, quality, don't swear", and then swept around the people sitting around him. Brother, he said in as calm a tone as possible: "Don't make trouble for me, or you won't blame me for not being brotherly. What is the background of Chuangji Investment Company, and you dare to come and make trouble without asking about it? It's absurd! Damn, Now I will explain clearly to you, so that you will not know how to die when the time comes! The Chuangji Investment Company is now managed by Li Zhengang, who is Li Zhengang? That is the celebrity in front of the celestial Marshal Mo People are the guests of Dashun Li, Gao, Yuan, and Guo Zhushuai, and now they are in charge of Laoshizi Chuangji Investment Company, so the **** is here to make money for Dashuai Mo, and he is also managing for Dashun Little Li. Those who are on the back road, if you dare to quarrel, go ahead, no one can control you if you are eager to reincarnate!"

"He has a strong background in Chuangji Investment Company, and our Patriotic Industry Promotion Association was raised by his stepmother..." A man muttered a few words in a low voice, but he was stared at by Brother Zhai and swallowed the second half of the sentence. Stomach.

"The Patriotic Industry Promotion Association is small and weak this time, and it is normal that we can't compete with them. But we can't get the good land in Xinhua Port, so we go to the west of the island, where the imperial court opened up Because it is a new land, the rent is extremely low, and cotton can be sold at a high price in the country, so it is suitable for me to go to enclose the land." After a pause, Brother Zhai said own idea.

Unsurprisingly, his idea aroused whispers among the people around him, and he didn't pay much attention to it. Instead, he seemed to drink a little wine leisurely, as if he was waiting for a group of brothers around him to unify their opinions.

Zhang Jinhua listened interestingly while pinching the shrimp.Of course, he is very clear about what these people are talking about. In fact, in order to solve the pressure of excess domestic funds, the government encourages those soldiers with a lot of money in their hands to invest in overseas New China regions.Of course, this kind of investment mainly refers to investment in plantations, namely sisal and coffee plantations, and of course there are more pepper and cotton plantations now.The pepper plantations are located on St. Mary's Island and Tacheng Port, and the cotton plantations are far away. They are located on the north bank of the Fehranana River in the west of the island (tropical grassland climate), that is, not very far from the Dutch colonial map of Lyle. Far.

This place is the traditional cotton planting area of ​​Madagascar in later generations. The climate is dry, the sunshine is strong, and there is a big river flowing into the sea next to it. It is very convenient to fetch water for irrigation. It is an ideal cotton planting area.After reporting to the Executive Committee for approval, the New China Pioneering Team allocated a large area of ​​land on the north bank of the Fehranana River into the territory of the East Bank Republic of China, and then sent people to bury the Sovereignty Monument, held a The flag-raising ceremony was held, which surprised a few Dutch people on the south bank of the river.

It is said that the Dutch business station in Tulare has become more and more withered in the past few years. Not only has the number of soldiers dropped from more than 50 to more than 20 (most of them died of illness, without supplements), the business of slave hunting is also getting more and more difficult. Do.Almost all the Malay descendants in the vicinity have been captured by them, and there are no local specialties worth mentioning. Maybe after a while, the Tulare trading station will be the same as the trading station in Bandar Abbas back then. Profitable and closed by the East India Company.

You must know that the East India Company is a highly efficient company with strict management. They have always held an intolerant attitude towards commercial stations that failed to generate profits for the company. And so it was abandoned.Perhaps in two years' time Tulare Trading Post would have vanished as well as those strongholds that had disappeared from the East India Company's books.

After careful deduction of the international situation after the end of the 30-year war, the members of the Executive Committee agreed that the future trade situation on the East Coast will be very pessimistic, especially the textile trade.According to incomplete statistics, England, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Venice have plans to develop the cotton textile industry. Except for Venice, which is involved in the war and is likely to be stranded, the rest of the countries have plans. It is developing the textile industry in a down-to-earth manner.While robbing cotton resources in the New World, they used various relationships to implement trade protection and tariff barriers in the Old World in an attempt to keep the high-quality and cheap East Coast textiles out of their sphere of influence.

In order to deal with this situation, people on the east coast must make various preparations in advance, and having their own independent cotton source is the most important part of it.After calculating the land at hand, the executive committee found that there was no place suitable for growing cotton (the quality and output of local cotton were not satisfactory).Fortunately, they later discovered that the arid and semi-arid area in the west of Xinhuaxia Island has a tropical grassland climate, with long hours of sunshine, high intensity, and little precipitation, and there are many large rivers with abundant water passing by nearby (cotton growth consumes a lot of water), which is ideal. cotton growing area.

In addition, there are no strong indigenous forces or European colonial forces nearby (the Dutch trading post with only a few dozen soldiers was gorgeously ignored), so the Executive Committee quickly approved the proposal submitted by the leader of the New China Pioneering Team, Shi Qingjie A report on the development of cotton plantations on both sides of the Fehranana River, and the introduction of surplus domestic funds to open plantations here, so as to ensure the safety of the source of raw materials for the textile industry on the east bank.

Right now, the cotton plantation on the west side of the island that Brother Zhai mentioned is located in this area.Moreover, because this is a newly opened land, the land rent is indeed extremely low, which is not much different from free gifts. These investors only need to solve the source of labor and basically start planting.Regardless of the quality of the cotton planted, it will basically be taken away by the merchants, because the price of cotton will rise slowly for a long time in the future. It is too late for everyone to scramble for raw materials, so how can they be picky? Four.

"We can't afford to provoke big and powerful names such as Dongfang County Industrial Rejuvenation League, Ping'an County Soldiers Investment Association, Luocha County Rongjun Farm Investment Fund, etc., but we can't afford to hide them! Then we will stay away from them." They, go to the west to grow cotton! They grow their sisal, coffee, and pepper, and we grow our cotton, each going his own way!" Brother Zhai saw that after discussing for a while, everyone was inclined to his own opinion, so He hit the iron while it was hot and said, "Brothers, don't worry too much. Although it is a newly opened land, the natives nearby are not very powerful. Besides, we have all been on the battlefield. If you can’t do it, you’re still a fool! It’s settled like this, our Patriotic Industry Promotion Association will go to the west to lease land to grow cotton, and if any natives come, we will fuck them!”

Everyone agreed with a loud bang, and then drank wine enthusiastically.In a place like Xinhua Island, if you don't want to get malaria out of nowhere, you'd better drink more Facai wine.

Zhang Jinhua also took a sip of the old wine with a smile, then pushed the plate with shrimp aside, took a bowl of eel rice and started to eat.Later, I will go to the repair shop to urge the progress of the ship's repair, so let's have a full meal first.

(End of this chapter)