Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 876 Southeast Pacific ([-])

The Maolin River flows quietly, just as she has done for thousands of years.But compared to the calmness of countless years in the past, in the past two years, the hustle and bustle has gradually filled the originally silent river valley - a large number of humans have begun to set foot here.

Baron Angel Bravo walked out of the cabin of the three-masted ship "Thrush" he was on, a medium-sized sailing ship built in Panama.The fresh air outside slightly relieved his frowning brows, and he handed the ivory staff to his followers, then took off the beaver fur hat on his head, looked around, and beckoned He took a carriage and headed for the busiest trading area.As for his entourage, except for the two personal guards carrying swords, the rest of them could only trot and follow behind.

Today's Maolin City is really getting more and more prosperous-of course, this kind of prosperity only refers to the business and popularity here. As for the excellent hardware facilities of this city with messy planning, simple houses, and worrying sanitary conditions, that is purely It's nonsense.In this city that flourished due to the smuggling trade, there are only a few slightly solid masonry houses, which seem to be used as warehouses.Of course, today, when the smuggling trade has been going on for two full years and the trade volume is getting higher and higher, more and more Spanish, Genoese, and Portuguese Jewish businessmen have tried their best to rush here to build business houses so that they can Get a piece of the feast.Although these later businessmen failed to seize the first opportunity when the smuggling trade was launched, they were rich and powerful, and all the building materials needed to build the business hall were purchased from the people on the east coast at high prices, and they looked like they were doing a lot. .

According to some people's private statistics, the total number of merchants and their entourages in Maolin City may have exceeded 600.And if you count the translators, tailors, blacksmiths, fishermen, ship repairers, coopers, bakers, winemakers and other professionals serving these merchants, the number is well over [-].As for the food these people need, part of it is supplied by the Southern Railway Company (they provide high-quality butter, flour, and pickled products), and part of it is supplied by the food wholesalers from Peru—because they can provide more food than people on the east coast. Low grain prices, thanks to the abundance of slave Indian-based agricultural plantations in Peru.

For the prosperity and development of Maolin City, the people on the east bank are actually happy to see the success.In this interest chain with Peruvians as the end consumers, domestic enterprises, industrial workers, Southern Railway Company and Spanish compradors have all made a lot of money. As for the victims, of course, the territory of the Governor General of Peru was not A well-developed handicraft workshop industry, these original industrial producers who could not compete with cheap east coast goods, have now switched jobs or moved to them - such as the Governorate of New Spain.

In fact, the Peruvian industry originally based on the most densely populated and industrially developed Lima, Quito and other procuratorial court districts (including most of today's Peru and Ecuador) was not too developed.Let’s not talk about those with small capital among these budding industries. Most of these industries were started by individual craftsmen. The large workshops of the Indians.

These large-scale workshops are generally invested and built by people from the peninsula, and some are built by local business capital in Peru. However, there is no doubt that the capital for these workshops is highly parasitic, that is, they are generally associated with colonial officials and even old people. The Spanish nobility on the mainland are inextricably linked.Their production technology and production mode have not changed in 100 years, and they are basically stagnant.

At the same time, because they also have the attributes of commercial capital, they are engaged in the exchange trade of some old continent industrial products and local special products, so they will naturally choose to avoid projects that have competition risks with the old continent industrial products, so their industrial categories It is also naturally limited to a specific frame, extremely single, and the colonial characteristics are very obvious.All of this ultimately leads to the fact that the Viceroyalty of Peru has never seen any large-scale production materials manufacturers, and there is really no soil for the survival of these industrial categories.

And as the Southern Railway Company reached a smuggling agreement with the Spanish compradors in Peru, a large number of cheap industrial products from the east coast poured into Peru, and the already difficult industrial system in the area suddenly collapsed.Capital also no longer favors these industries that cannot provide them with profits, and instead invests heavily in special products such as grain, tobacco, sugar cane, cocoa, coffee, and tropical giant trees, and exports them to the east coast in large quantities, earning a lot of money. profit.You only need to go to Maolin City, the center of the smuggling trade, to see what goods are loaded by Spanish ships that dock or caravans from afar, and you can almost know the actual production situation in Peru today-this vast governor’s district is basically gone. No more industrial products are exported.

If you still don't believe it, then Baron Angel Bravo, who has just landed on the shore, will surely tell you the truth - this peninsula man who has become a middleman in contact with the Southern Railway Company has come to Maolin Port this time , just for the purpose of negotiating with the business representatives sent here by the Southern Railway Company.Baron Bravo, entrusted by many large plantation owners in Peru, made a special trip to Puerto Maureen in order to request the Southern Railway Company to lower the tariffs on Peruvian grain entering the Southern Patagonia region.

As we all know, although the southern Patagonia area currently operated by the Southern Railway Company is extremely rich in resources, the land is relatively barren in general and the development years are not long, so food has not been self-sufficient.Most of their food gap was made up by imports from the East Coast, and a small part was imported from Peru (just started last year).In recent years, the weather in Peru has been favorable, and the grain harvest has been unsurprisingly great. Unfortunately, this does not mean good news for plantation owners-according to past practice, if grain production increases by 10%, then the price may fall 30%, which is extremely unfavorable to them.

At this time in the past, if there were no ships from the Old Continent to come and buy the grain, then perhaps the plantation owners would have to take the initiative to destroy some of the grain to maintain the precarious price in the market—if they didn’t do so, they would losses are often greater.What?You say the poor have nothing to eat?What does that matter to me?Is that my fault?If I give food to the poor, will anyone fucking buy my food?All losses shall be borne by me?God, I'm not a philanthropist, please don't make it so difficult for me.

And because of the privateering activities of ships on the east coast in the Caribbean Sea and the restoration of European agricultural production order, the backlog of food on hand of these Peruvian planters is destined to be unable to sell.Therefore, they began to set their sights on the people on the east coast who were close at hand. To be precise, it was the several strongholds and tens of thousands of settlers under the East Coast Southern Railway Company.

However, it is not an easy task to export grain to the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway Company.Because the Southern Railway Company has set tariffs for many foreign commodities entering the region, including grain (the tariff rate generally ranges from 9.5% to 16.5% depending on the variety), this is the biggest obstacle for Peruvian grain to enter the market .Although Peruvian plantation owners enslaved Indians in large numbers, due to backward production methods and expensive means of production, their food prices were not much lower than those on the east coast. After adding import tariffs, it was no longer enough Maintain an absolute advantage in the competition with the food from the east coast.Therefore, in order to solve their crisis of food surplus and seize the market of Southern Railway Company, it is necessary to persuade Southern Railway Company to agree to reduce or even cancel the tariff on Peruvian food imports.

This is not an easy task, but Baron Bravo has no way out, he must persuade the Southern Railway Company to accept this proposal, and then openly import wheat, rice, and corn from Peru.He even put himself in the shoes of the Southern Railway Company and thought about it. They could import cheap Peruvian grains, process them and sell them back to the mainland on the east coast, and they would definitely make a fortune.In addition, he is going to point out the fact to the business representatives of the Southern Railway Company that if they are open to importing grain from Peru, then this will definitely stimulate Peruvian plantation owners to increase investment and buy more grain from the Southern Railway Company. Metal farm tools, bean cakes, and more labor force hired from the old continent, these labor forces are the potential consumer market for goods on the east coast, and the relationship between the two parties is completely mutually beneficial.

Baron Bravo, who has consciously become the spokesperson of capital, did not expect that the Southern Railway Company had actually planned to import Peruvian grain which was cheaper than domestic ones.The Southern Railway Company is first and foremost an enterprise, and its primary consideration is undoubtedly its own operating conditions.With the success of the Pacific immigration route, a large number of Ming people from the Far East entered the Southern Cone region through the South Pacific. How to resettle these people has now become a big burden for the company.After all, food, drink, food, shelter, and transportation for tens of thousands of people is not a small amount. For a large-scale concern company like the Southern Railway Company, which is responsible for its own profits and losses, every penny is eager to spend in half.

Importing cheap Peruvian grain will undoubtedly save the company a lot of money.Therefore, if Baron Bravo does not come to the East Coast people this time, the East Coast people will also go to him recently to discuss the purchase of food from Peru.But now that the Peruvians are the first to come to the door, the initiative is in the hands of the people on the east coast, and they will undoubtedly get more benefits during the negotiations.

In addition, tens of thousands of Ming people who could be said to have nothing poured into the Southern Cone region. This is not only a burden, but also a huge resource - cheap labor resources.In view of the strong westerly wind blowing in the Southern Cone all year round, if a large number of wind mills are built in open areas (usually along the seaside or along the railway line, and the transportation is also convenient), then the cheap food imported from Peru will be processed, and finally exported to the mainland and even Neighboring Brazil must be a good way.

The price of raw materials is low, the wages of workers are low, and the cost of equipment operation is low. Many local machine flour mills who are playing the game of big fish eating small fish may be in big trouble.

(End of this chapter)