Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 93 Mercosur ([-])

Colonia in spring is beautiful, the green grassland stretches from the foot to the sky, the winding river meanders from the distant horizon, and the grass on the river bank is dotted with some brightly colored wild flowers.The breeze was blowing, bringing the fragrance of wild flowers.

Xiao Baitu was lying on the bank of the river, his bare feet swaying in the clear and flowing river water with small ripples.The warm sun shone on his face, making people sleepy.A steed of steed snorted comfortably beside it, and licked its wet tongue towards Xiao Baitu's face from time to time.

"Xiao, what a leisurely afternoon." Lieutenant Leo unbuttoned the collar of his gorgeous military uniform, sat down beside Xiao Baitu, threw a stone into the small river, and said with a smile.

"Don't sit in your sheriff's office to 'perform your duties', but come to hang out by the river, Mr. Leo, do you know how much money you will lose by doing this?" Xiao Baitu pushed away his beloved horse's tongue, He teased Lieutenant Leo in fluent Spanish.

"Alvaro's Chamber of Commerce controls most of the transactions here. If he lives, I will not lose my share." Lieutenant Leo continued to throw a stone into the river, staring at the water splashed on the river. Shuihua said slowly, "Maybe you are worried about public security? Dear Xiao, I think you are too worried. Those new Italians may be clumsy, but they are still qualified for security work."

"You're wrong, Leo. The fact is that the Italians are very shrewd and cunning, and they've probably made enough extra money for a month's wages while you're gone."

"Then you must be talking about the Lombards, not these stupid Sicilians." Leo lay down comfortably and stretched himself.

"It's said that many Italians have come to Colonia in recent days." General Xiaobaitu put his cap on his face, preventing Aima's tongue from raging further, and said in a low voice.

"It doesn't hurt to tell you. In fact, not only Colonia, but the entire La Plata region came to more than [-] Italian immigrants last month. They are scattered around Buenos Aires, reclaiming wasteland and grazing cattle Cattle and sheep.” Lieutenant Leo said in a strange tone, “There will be more immigrants coming, Sicilians, Lombards, Catalans, etc. Deeply shaken by the defeat, even His Majesty the King has begun to set his sights on the vast La Plata region that has been neglected by him, Shaw, to be frank, you may be in big trouble this time."

Xiao Baitu whistled, and exaggeratedly said: "Wow, what a big deal. 3000 people emigrated at one time, and they are still the 'co-lord of land and sea'——His Majesty Philip IV has courage. Could it be Do you want to carry out the big development of La Plata? What is the population of La Plata now? Thirty thousand or forty thousand? Ah, maybe in a year, the population of La Plata will double, and there will be tens of thousands of people by then. Italians and Catalans rushing to the East Coast looking for jobs?"

"Shaw, this joke is not funny at all." Lieutenant Leo said seriously, "The kingdom is involved in too many wars now. We are at war with the Dutch, and we are at semi-war with the Protestant princes of Sweden and Germany , we have also suffered extreme hostility from France and England, and I don't think it is necessary for the kingdom to get involved in an unseemly war, especially when the kingdom's fragile finances are on the verge of bankruptcy. And the East Coast Republic, what do you think Is it necessary for you to risk a long-term blockade of the coastline and fight a war with the kingdom that is not worth the loss?"

"Okay, dear Lieutenant Leo." Xiaobaitu sat up, spat out a grass stalk he was chewing, and said, "No one wants war. You see, Colonia's trade is now How prosperous, we can freely exchange the goods we need here, and we don’t need to pay attention to those greedy monopoly merchants. The vast majority of people benefit, and only a small number of big merchants suffer. We are following God The previous war was really a tragedy. The nobles and big businessmen hijacked your country's policies and sacrificed the lives of innocent soldiers just to maintain their interests. Leo, think about it, these rotten guys deserve Do you fight for them? The rich and vast La Plata region does not need these blood-sucking kings, nobles and monopoly merchants. La Plata's affairs should be settled by the La Plata people themselves. There is no need for peninsula people here. Noisy."

"Xiao, you are instilling dangerous thoughts in me." Lieutenant Leo said in his mouth, but there was no anger on his face, "Maybe the affairs of La Plata should let the people of the peninsula go away, but I think the same should be let You people from the east coast also go away."

"No, no, no! Leo, listen to me." Xiao Baitu bared his white teeth and smiled, "Do you still remember the 'Mercosur' I told you about? La Plata There are abundant cattle, sheep and timber, Brazil has coffee, cocoa, sugar, iron ore, Chile has copper ore and saltpeter, Peru has silver and spices, New Granada has coal and dyes, and we can provide various industrial products products, look, what a perfect market..."

"Maybe, but I always feel that you people from the east coast are not trustworthy." Lieutenant Leo looked at Xiao Baitu's innocent face, shook his head and said, "Let's not talk about this. Xiao, Alvaro is here, he There might be something for you."

Xiao Baitu turned his head, and saw Alvaro Rodriguez walking towards this side while waving his arms, followed by a young man behind Alvaro, that was his son Alvarez .

"Xiao, I heard that you are not planning to continue buying cattle this month. Is this true?" Alvaro shouted from a long distance away.

"That's right, Alvaro, my friend." Xiao Baitu responded, "You know, our financial situation is very bad. The previous war drained our wealth, and now we can no longer maintain this A huge deal. Maybe when our financial situation improves, we will restart buying again.”

"So that's the case." Alvaro nodded, as if he had known the inside story a long time ago, and mentioning this matter at this moment was just to provoke a certain topic.Sure enough, he quickly said again: "Xiao, listen to me, in fact, you now have a lot of wealth, a lot of wealth. Not many people know this news, but my family and I happen to know, you ducks There is a great cinnamon grove all along the Atlantic Ocean near the lake, and that is an amazing wealth, if you manage to develop it."

"Aha, Alvaro, it seems that you have been staring at our forest for a long time." Xiaobaitu joked, "Well, I admit, it is a forest flowing with gold. However, our country has not yet Enough manpower to develop, and secondly, cinnamon can only be sold at a price in Europe, because the market in La Plata is not big enough to provide us with enough profits. And you know, the East Coast Republic The trade with Europe, which has been interrupted for several months, has not yet resumed. We cannot determine how long it will take to restore this trade link. Maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe half a year or even longer, so it is difficult for me to convince the Executive Committee to mobilize a large number of manpower and material resources to develop this wild wood. It's as simple as that, my friend, this month we will buy some gunpowder, cotton and wool, but that's all. Maybe next month when we have more money After one o'clock, we will resume purchasing, you need a little patience."

"Shaw, our cattle have been shipped from far away Buenos Aires to Colonia, and we cannot wait here indefinitely. But if it is not appropriate to send the cattle back, I think we can temporarily I will give you this batch of cattle on credit. Similarly, I also collected a large amount of wool from Buenos Aires, and I can also give you credit together." Alvaro calmly said something that made people dumbfounded.

"What?!" Xiao Baitu was a little shocked, "Why did you give us such a generous condition? What do you want?"

"It's very simple, if you decide to develop that cinnamon grove, please let me know as soon as possible, and at the same time give me and my family the exclusive trade monopoly of cinnamon in La Plata and Chile." Alvaro looked Xiao Baitu's eyes said.

"Can you sell to the Chilean region?" Xiao Baitu was startled, and then smiled again: "Alvaro, your family is more powerful than I imagined. But I need to ask my superiors for instructions on this matter, because such a big The development of scale is not something people at my level can decide. But seriously, within my scope of authority, I can only give you a three-year trade monopoly at most. Moreover, your conditions need to be small A small correction, that is, I hope that all commodity transactions in Colonia will be settled with the legal currency of the East Coast Republic of China, the "Yuan". Merchants of rubles and other messy currencies have to convert them into 'yuan' before they can trade."

"Deal!" Alvaro readily agreed.

Xiao Baitu also laughed at the same time.The chamber of commerce composed of native white elites in La Plata represented by Álvaro monopolized almost all the transactions in Colonia, and Xiao Baitu had no doubts whether he could fulfill his promise.Moreover, the "Huaxia Yuan" was originally popular among merchants because of its exquisite workmanship, high quality, and ease of calculation. At this moment, it is logical to designate it as the only settlement currency in Colonia.

As Lieutenant Xiaobaitu, who was sent from the army to Colonia to serve as the manager of the East Coast Republic of China, his weight in the hearts of the executive committee will definitely be different after this matter is completed.Based on the current official exchange rate of 1:10 between yuan and riyal, almost every 9-10 yuan of goods traded, the cross-travelers can earn an additional 1 yuan from the coinage.In November, Colonia's total trade volume reached a new high of more than 11 yuan due to the fact that many smuggling ships from other countries also secretly came to trade. Yu Yuan can be described as a great achievement.

(End of this chapter)