Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 970 A new official takes office ([-])

The mid-winter of 1653 did not pass until the middle and late February, and it was only at this time that the harbor of Kushiro Port in Ezo was ready for navigation—although there are still a large number of floating ice visible to the naked eye in the harbor at this moment, But this is not a big problem in the eyes of old sailors who often run this route, as long as they are careful.

"The company's financial situation is not good, and it has recorded a record loss for five consecutive years. Last year, it lost a total of 40 yuan, which also set a record of losses in a single year." Chen Shuo, the general manager of the Japanese company and a student of Wei Boqiu, stood at Kushiro Port On the lighthouse just built outside, I was full of melancholy thoughts.

Since the Japanese company was established five years ago and obtained the privilege of colonizing and developing Ezoji Island, it has achieved quite a lot to be honest.Among other things, it is a great merit to allow about [-] Ming people from Qingzhou Prefecture near Kushiro Port to take root. But how many years have they colonized before they have such a family background, and the people on the east coast can achieve such achievements in five years, which is enough to be proud of.

In addition, after the autumn harvest last year, the Japanese company also relocated some residents (2000 people) who were originally resettled in Kushiro Port, mixed with nearly a thousand North Korean and Ainu convicts, and set off eastward until they arrived at a place called "" A new settlement has been built in the place of “Awk Shore”——According to the latest instructions of the Blackwater Pioneering Team, once the population of any town exceeds [-], it must find a way to divert the population to build new settlements to reduce the local population Density, avoiding the "punishment" of disease.

There are more than 8000 people in two settlements, a port that has begun to take shape, a coal mine with steadily increasing output, four logging camps, a timber processing factory, a seafood processing factory, a briquette workshop, and a reindeer breeding base. It is all the possessions of Dongan Japan Company now-it sounds like a great achievement, but when you learn that this company has been losing money for several years in a row, not only spent all of its registered capital, but also incurred more than 60 yuan in debt In the end, you may be relieved. It turns out that these things are all piled up with money.

"Although most of the debts are long-term debts, the company's cash flow will not be exhausted in the short term, but it's not an option to keep sitting and eating like this." Chen Shuo sighed for a while, and Chen Shuo already has a company that will operate in the next two years. Idea: "I'm afraid there will be no more new immigrants this year and next year. Although these people who immigrate to Ezo are essentially employees of the company, they can create a lot of value for the company in the long run, but in the short term it will be a financial burden. It's too big, so let's stop for a while. Sigh, last year I bought so many livestock from Jeju Island and Temple Street County, and then organized people to plant grass, and also bought rations for new immigrants, building materials for building houses, Heishui Shipyard ordered 6 fishing boats and a large number of fishing gear from the local area; in addition, the teacher also used the company's account to buy a few steam woodworking machines from the local area, which cost tens of thousands of yuan, bah, the design is so bad, the thermal efficiency Such an old-fashioned machine tool with such a low price is actually ashamed to sell such a sky-high price. It is really shameless, and there are also scary sea freight, installation and commissioning fees, personnel training fees and supporting parts costs. Grandma is a bear, tens of thousands of yuan is all that Gone……"

"Why is it so difficult to earn some money now?" The wind on the sea gradually picked up, Chen Shuo wrapped his seal fur coat tightly, walked to the lee of the lighthouse, lit a pipe for himself, and thought while smoking: "Listen The new Standing Committee member Liang Xiangjian and the teacher are not very good at it. Last year, the Standing Committee clearly opposed the teacher's proposal to intervene in the situation in Japan. Bah, a member of the Standing Committee who ranks last is so arrogant. What's wrong with the world now? What's more, this guy also cut off some old steam engines and second-hand machine tools that the teacher liked, and brought them to Heishui County for use. I heard that they also ordered a few sets of industrial windmills. Alas, what a blessing Ah, the company will have another competitor in the future, and life will become more and more difficult."

Chen Shuo's worries were not groundless.In fact, since Liang Xiangjian took office as the county magistrate of Heishui County in the second half of last year as a member of the Standing Committee of Heishui County, he has made a lot of moves. He has not only vigorously rectified immigrants and naturalized Shandan aborigines, but also started to update the slightly backward industrial equipment in Heishui County. , and focused on cultivating technical talents, which made Japanese companies feel a lot of pressure.

You must know that these two businesses actually have a great competitive relationship, such as wood processing, such as the coal industry, and the offshore fishing industry that Chen Shuo plans to vigorously develop (relying on the fishing grounds of the Qiandao Islands) also exists with Heishui County. With a certain degree of competition—of course, Dabo County still has the largest annual fishing volume in this sea area—maybe only the animal husbandry with unique conditions is incomparable to Heishui County, right?

Every time he thought of this, Chen Shuo felt extremely bored.Now the Japanese company has just started, and everything is very difficult. To put it bluntly, if it were not for the maintenance of large orders from the Blackwater Pioneering Team, I am afraid that this company would have gone bankrupt and liquidated-there is no way to make money. way!

Salted fish is facing fierce competition and cannot be sold much; as for timber, your timber is still higher than that of Sakhalin Island; as for coal, Heishui County has more reason to make trouble, because of Shao Shude’s favoritism, Heishui developed The area under the jurisdiction of the team is flooded with Kushiro coal, and black water coal can only be sold in nearby areas except for marine coal, which is very frustrating.After counting around like this, hey, there are really not many places where Japanese companies can make money!

In fact, it is not to blame for Chen Shuo and others' incompetent management. It is more or less related to the general environment of the Heishui area.Without him, this is still a military-controlled area, and it is facing severe external military pressure. It is normal that economic activities are not very active.Coupled with the habit of Ming residents who don't like to spend money (the necessities of life like to produce by themselves), and the company's relatively single product, this product will naturally not be able to sell.Now the company sells a large number of standard wood boards, salted fish, coal, honeycomb coal and a small amount of beef and mutton every year, which are maintained by a large number of orders from the army. Recovery, the operating conditions of Japanese companies should gradually improve in the next few years-but only God knows to what extent.

You must know that the most important thing for the Heishui Pioneering Team besides fighting is to transform the social structure of Denglai, Ningbo and other places (the civilization in the Heishui area is relatively primitive, without too many historical fetters, which is equivalent to a blank sheet of paper , so the transformation is relatively fast), this kind of transformation is firstly based on the absolute military superiority of the people on the east coast in the local area (based on foreign troops or even foreign troops, this kind of army suppressed the conservative forces of the Ming Dynasty mainly composed of gentry Come without mercy) on the basis.

Secondly, taking advantage of the great opportunity when the social order was greatly loosened after the chaos and the power of the landlords and gentry that restrained the peasants was extremely weakened, by strengthening economic and trade ties with the outside world and implementing economic control policies, the economies of Ningbo, Denglai and other places were greatly weakened. The colonial characteristics of the system are becoming more and more apparent, and finally achieve the goal of completely breaking the old local traditional forces and establishing a new order. If the new order is not established, economic development is just empty talk, and it is nothing more than a reincarnation of self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy; Similarly, the budding industries in Heishui County, Kushiro Port and other places will be stillborn. After all, it is obviously unreliable to rely on long-term government investment without a market.

Therefore, Chen Shuo and others are now sincerely looking forward to the success of social transformation in Denglai, Ningbo and other places.However, judging from the current situation, it is not very optimistic. After all, this small-scale peasant economic system that has been settled for 2000 years cannot be broken overnight.Even though it has been extremely weakened now, many landlords and gentry representing the conservative forces were sent to the Blackwater labor camp for labor reform by the people on the east coast under the pretext of being familiar with the Qing Dynasty, but the local ideology and social atmosphere are still relatively conservative. Well, people's desire to spend money is not very strong, it really makes people grey-haired-you can't force them to buy a bunch of goods they don't want to buy with a knife and a gun, can you?The Spaniards have done this before, such as forcibly selling pantyhose and glasses to the Indians, but the people on the east coast can't bear to do such shameless things.

What's more, in the eyes of the locals, the various new ideas, new policies, and new measures promoted by the people on the east coast are simply "perverse actions"!And under the secret instigation of people with good intentions, the people's views on the East Bank are becoming more and more negative-especially in Ningbo Prefecture-the whole society is like a pressure cooker, once the lid of their pot (a powerful army) is suppressed If it is removed, the whole society will immediately be in turmoil.

And seeing this situation, Shao Shude and others completely gave up the idea of ​​transforming the whole of China. It is not something that can be accomplished in one or two generations. After one or two generations, God knows that the successor will be brainwashed by the gentry What is it like? Let's all try our best to maintain and suppress the current situation in Denglai and Ningbo.If there are enough cadres, funds, and propagandists (most of them rely on local support), and the army enforces various policies (at this time, the foreign army will be much more reliable than the Ming army), it is estimated that within 20 to [-] years, the two There will be a benign change in the social atmosphere and thinking of the area—if the demonstration effect of the new vested interest class cultivated by the people on the east coast is relatively strong—but before this transformation is completed, it is conceivable that the industrial development in the Heishui area There won't be much improvement unless you can find another market.

"Could it be possible to implement the teacher's plan to make up for the company's financial deficit in the next few years?" Chen Shuo, who was at a loss for ideas, took a puff of cigarette and thought irritably.

(End of this chapter)