Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 765 Chaos and Order ([-])

Father and son Alvaro and Alvarez walked slowly on the "People's Avenue" in the Port of Mall (formerly Colonia Trade City).This wide road paved with gravel is the widest and most prosperous road in the whole city. There are many brick and tile buildings with almost the same style on both sides. Most of them are residential buildings, and a few are government agencies and commercial facilities. .

The city is so small that a mere 300 meters of streets will cover all kinds of institutions, including the town government, material depots, department stores, and militia training camps.The houses facing the street have also been slightly remodeled by the residents, and some craftsmen have started to operate here, such as tailor shops, wine making workshops, leather goods processing workshops, etc., but their customers are limited to more than [-] local residents in the mall. It is a standard small-scale peasant natural economy.

Since the war with the Spaniards began three years ago, the port of Mall (then called Colonia City), the city that assumed the function of the trade window to La Plata, has completely declined, and the decade-old The long-standing "commercial" halo has once again returned to the true nature of "agriculture".The original row upon row of commercial warehouses and warehouses on the pier were also vacant. Considering the uncertain business situation in the future, their owners changed hands one after another and sold them to people from the east coast at a low price.

This time, Alvaro and his son came to Shangcheng Port to sell their family's two material warehouses on the dock. One of the largest enterprises in the country on the east coast, the large trust of the National Reserve Grain Depot built this brick and stone building. The warehouses were bought to expand the storage capacity of their grain depots.

However, Alvaro and his son sold the warehouse in the Port of Mall, but it did not mean that the Rodriguez family had completely withdrawn from the East Coast trade circle.On the contrary, this native-born white elite family, which began to transfer property before the outbreak of the war, and even took refuge in San Diego during the war, boldly judged that the peace between the East Coast and Spain might last for a long time, so it spent huge sums of money I bought a piece of land on the Qingdao Port Wharf, which is known as "an inch of land is an inch of gold", and started to build my own commercial warehouse, preparing to reopen the cross-border trade that was in full swing three years ago, and by the way, to please the civil servants of the east coast economic and trade system them.

In addition, they also purchased 20 yuan (24 pesos) of 20-year bonds of the Southern Railway Company, and will also invest 2 yuan to subscribe for a [-]% stake in the Southern Railway Company (currently subject to approval by the East Coast government. ), to show favor to the military forces in the east coast.This speculative and unscrupulous businessman family knows very well that only by pleasing the military and political aspects of the East Bank at the same time can they enjoy many conveniences in doing business in this country.

"Continuing trade with the East Bank is the established policy of the family." It was late autumn on the East Bank, and Alvaro wrapped himself in a fine woolen coat, and said earnestly to his eldest son, Alvarez, who was by his side.His woolen coat has strong Spanish pop colors and has complicated lace on the edges, which looks very eye-catching.There is no doubt that this garment may not have been produced by the East Coast, but the raw materials used in it basically come from the East Coast.

Think about it too, under the policy of restricting colonial industries that the Kingdom of Spain has insisted on for many years (they even had to import bricks and tiles from the old continent), they are basically still under an agricultural society, but the commodity economy and business atmosphere are still good. The thick Chilean, Chalkas, Peru and other places are basically unable to resist the invasion of goods from the east coast.Even though the government of the Kingdom of Spain strictly restricted the trade between the colonies and the outside world, just as the later New World could not resist the smuggled goods of Britain and the Netherlands, they also could not resist the invasion of goods from the east coast, and became the raw material base and commodity dumping place on the east coast. It is inevitable.In fact, even during the two or three years of the war with Spain on the east coast, the trade between the two sides has been maintained through the Portuguese in Brazil, almost never interrupted, which can be called a miracle in the history of trade.

"God never wanted the Rodriguez family to stay away from money." Alvarez made a cross on his chest, then nodded vigorously and said: "Your Majesty the King is very concerned about accelerating the development of La Plata. I learned from my friend Julio that the West Indian Affairs Council, adhering to the will of the king, is going to exile those who committed crimes against the king in Catalonia to La Plata. In this way, maybe Ben The population growth rate in the area will far exceed our imagination. I think that if the family seizes the opportunity, it should be able to reap enough benefits from it."

"What the king cares most about is never La Plata, but Charcas, my son." Alvaro looked at his son and reminded: "The greatest meaning of La Plata's existence is actually to serve as a The barrier of the Chalcas trial court area, where the money bags of the king and many big figures, and the Dutch are also very concerned (Spain sends half of the American silver to the Netherlands every year to repay the debt principal and interest). The development of La Plata requires a lot of investment Well, the king can't afford the money. Of course, maybe the Dutch or the Genoese can provide such a huge amount of money, but they have such a close relationship with the east coast now that they should not be involved in such unwise diplomatic risks. So, Alvarez, never have too many unrealistic hopes for the development of La Plata, this will only make you make wrong judgments and cause unnecessary losses.”

"La Plata..." At this point, Alvaro's tone inevitably showed a hint of helplessness: "La Plata is destined to become the foundation for the rise of the people on the east coast in the future. The peninsula people in the old continent don't understand this. How fertile the land is, they don’t farm, and they have never seen a good land that can get a good harvest by sowing a handful of seeds. The reality is always cruel. His Majesty the King has ruled La Plata for more than a hundred years, but his It is a shame that officials have never even conducted a serious survey of this vast and fertile land, and their knowledge of La Plata is limited even to published geography books on the east coast. Over the years, how many east coast People have entered various places in La Plata to draw maps and survey landforms? How many people from the east coast have gone deep into the villages of the Kelandi people to understand their reality? How much of the wealth in La Plata has been developed? For example, the salt desert in the port of Blanca, if the people on the east coast did not vigorously develop it, maybe we would not know that there is such a large piece of wealth bestowed by God here. It is a pity that the Lord’s people did not cherish it, but let the yellow-skinned Heretics took advantage of this."

The port of Blanca that Alvaro said has been renamed Yancheng Port. The basic scope is to extend from the territory originally occupied by the people on the east coast (port docks, urban areas, and part of the inland salt marshes). The demarcation of the border has been jointly witnessed by officials from both sides.The East Bank government also took great pains for this demarcation. The northern arsenal spent a huge price and spent countless billets, and finally cast an 18-pound long-barreled cannon.This heavy artillery with an astonishing range of 1980 meters almost stunned the Spanish officials who came to demarcate the border, and also made the range of Yancheng Port on the east bank much larger than the Spaniards expected. The small salt lake is also included.

This year, the government relocated more than a thousand people to Yancheng Port, and there may be hundreds of Slavic women who will continue to settle there.And this port city sitting on the golden mountain has lived up to expectations, and has been profitable since January: the hake and soft fish from the nearby fishing grounds, as well as the coarse salt and refined salt produced in large quantities in the inland salt desert have all become local exports. Fist merchandise.

People on the east bank had an urgent desire to develop the salt industry. They not only recruited many saltwork technicians from the Netherlands and France, but also recruited some saltworkers from Daming. The cost of refined salt has been reduced to an astonishing extent.In addition to being used locally, these salts have gradually entered the Brazilian market where it is rainy and difficult to dry salt by virtue of their cheap and high-quality characteristics, squeezing out the Dutch salt there and gaining considerable benefits.And now, the east coast salt has started to enter La Plata and Chile again. For example, the Southern Railway Company has just ordered a considerable amount of coarse salt a while ago, and it is going to be shipped to the port of Araucan, part of which is used to marinate horse mackerel. , part of which was sold to the Araucans and Spaniards.

These "smuggled salt" from the east coast are undoubtedly much better than the low-quality Peruvian salt that is widely consumed in Chile. Not only is the quality good, but the price is also very cheap, if the interference factors of the local vested interests are not considered. , It is easy to dominate the Chilean salt industry market.And I believe that after the official opening of the Liangyang Railway, with the reduction of transportation costs, the cost-effective advantages of east coast salt will become more and more prominent. In the future, entering Chalkas, Peru and other regions will no longer be a dream.

Every Spanish official who had been to the salt desert shook his head and sighed when he returned, lamenting that the king lost a huge fortune and the pagans picked up a big gold mine.Later, even Dutch businessmen who heard about this incident went to investigate near the salt marsh. They also wanted to know why their products (produced in the salt lake near Venezuela) were squeezed out of the Brazilian market.

"The king will not let La Plata be taken by heretics." The young Alvarez disagreed with his father and continued to talk about the news he had inquired: "The king intends to form a new army in La Plata." The army, including a gentleman's regiment (mainly peninsular and native whites), a Mestizo regiment (mainly mixed-race whites), two Krandi regiments (mainly Krandi who belonged to the Spanish rule) and A gaucho cavalry battalion with a total strength of more than 5000 men. These soldiers will undergo rigorous training, and the frequency may exceed that of the original La Plata infantry regiment. In short, the king has noticed here, heretics will not succeed of."

"Really?" Alvaro glanced at his son, unwilling to argue with him, shook his head and continued walking forward.His schedule was in a hurry. After dealing with the affairs at the Shangcheng Port, he had to take a boat to Qingdao Port to discuss with the South Railway Company's office here about the sales agency rights for East Coast commodities in Chile.This is also a piece of fat, and the Rodriguez family must hold it tightly.

(End of this chapter)