Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 98 Privateering

The problem of the source of cotton has finally been initially resolved.Next, the members of the Pasquale family will still stay in Porto Oriental for a period of time, and then set off to Colonia and Buenos Aires for a walk, before returning to Haiti Island.At that time, the East Coast Republic will also send several representatives from the Ministry of Trade to accompany them back to Haiti for inspection.After all, everything is seen to be believed.Of course, if there is a chance, they are also going to take the Pasquale family's convenience boat to Bordeaux to conduct some research and explore the market.France, a big country and a big market with a population of more than 800 million at this time, absolutely cannot be ignored.

Mathilde of the Pasquale family bought a piece of land in the north of the city, planning to build a high-end residence here for her future residence.At the same time, she also asked people to register a trading firm with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. On the one hand, they sold cotton from Haiti Island for sale, and on the other hand, they bought products from Oriental Port and returned them to Haiti or even Bordeaux for sale.According to the gossip from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, besides Ms. Matilde herself, the shareholders of this firm also include Mr. Julien d'Eblol, a naval lieutenant of the East Coast Republic of China.

After finishing these things, Mathilde and her brother Julian took their family's ship "Butterfly" to Colonia and Buenos Aires for a visit, and inspected the market by the way.

The executive committee was also aware of the air confrontation with the British cloth merchants in Colonia a while ago. After discussion, the executive committee believed that this incident should neither overestimate the reaction of the British to this matter. But it cannot be ignored.

This kind of life-and-death industrial competition between the two sides has no retreat at all. The market in La Plata is relatively small. Sooner or later, the British would not be able to tolerate markets such as Upper Peru and New Granada, and would resort to more drastic measures such as resorting to force against the East China Republic.This was almost inevitable, since the textile industry was one of the two main financial pillars of Britain at this time (the other being entrepot trade).

For this reason, the Executive Committee decided to speed up the appropriation of the battleship "August 5000th" which is under construction in the Dayuhekou Naval Shipyard, increasing the previous monthly appropriation of [-] yuan to [-] yuan, striving to complete the project as soon as possible. .At the same time, the Ministry of the Navy also proposed a plan to build a second "August [-]" class battleship "Common Market", but it was stranded due to excessive financial pressure and lack of sufficient skilled craftsmen.

Minister of the Navy Wang Qinian is having a hard time recently, and finally he can't cover up the fact that he cheated the executive committee on the cost of the ship.The Executive Committee is not an idiot either. From the comparison of the appropriation amount and the construction progress of the ship, it can be concluded that the cost of this warship is likely to be close to 10 yuan, not the 5 yuan that Wang Qinian said.This annoyed the Executive Committee very much. The finances were already very tight, and now they have to spend tens of thousands of dollars unplanned to make up for the shortfall. This is not a joke.

For this reason, Wang Qinian not only lost the important position of the Chief of Staff of the National Armed Forces, but also his reputation in the eyes of the Ministry of Finance plummeted, and he became the chief culprit who dragged the Ministry of Finance into the abyss of bankruptcy step by step.And Peng Zhicheng of the Ministry of the Army took the opportunity to add insult to injury. This year, the military expenditure of the navy and army is only 3 yuan, and if the navy spends more money, the army will lose one dollar.After the navy's "August [-]th" battleship is completed, the required personnel and equipment will consume a huge amount of funds, which will inevitably reduce the army's limited military expenditure.Therefore, under such directly related interest competition, Peng Zhicheng began to urge the Executive Committee to prohibit the Navy from building any new warships within two years. For a while, it really got the support of many unknown and competing cross-travelers, which suddenly increased the pressure on the Admiralty.

In order to reverse the unfavorable situation, to improve the image of the Ministry of the Navy, and at the same time to save the precarious finances, Wang Qinian and a group of staff officers in the Ministry jointly concocted a battle plan and submitted it to the Executive Committee under heavy pressure. .In this plan, the Navy will dispatch the only two escort gunboats currently available, the "East Coast Eagle" and the "Red Trout", to the affluent Caribbean region, waiting for opportunities to plunder without revealing their identities. Passing ships or coming ashore attacked weakly defended (mainly Spanish) towns and cities.Half of the wealth obtained will be turned over to the national treasury, and the other half will be used for naval shipbuilding and personnel training except for some bonuses.

After the plan was reported to the Executive Committee, all the members of the Executive Committee lost their voices for a while, and then there was a heated debate.

In fact, the members of the executive committee did not have any moral or psychological obstacles to being pirates. They were mainly worried that the battleship "August [-]" had not yet been completed, and the two small battleships would not be able to get any cheap money if they went out; I am also worried about retaliation from other countries (mainly the Spaniards), especially since the two sides have just signed a peace treaty less than half a year ago. The common market will all be in vain.

But on the other hand, the profit of being a pirate is also huge, which is an irresistible temptation for the current time travelers.If a huge sum of money can be looted, then the finances that are currently full of holes will be injected with a shot in the arm, many projects can be launched in large quantities, and the development of many businesses across the country will also be greatly accelerated.

According to the five-year development plan being prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce: This year, an iron-making blast furnace, a steel-making open hearth furnace, a new military factory, a machinery manufacturing factory, and a brick kiln will be built near Pinganbao. A briquette factory and a briquette factory; Zhenhai Fort needs to build two forts and a new shipyard; in addition, industrial technologies such as the research and development of steam engines, the start of the chemical industry, and the introduction of various technical personnel will also cost a lot of money. At the same time, the dredging of the Duck Lake waterway will also start, and the San Gonzalos waterway connecting Milin Lake and Duck Lake will also start to widen and dredge. The planned iron ore canal project; and it seems that the immigration fee of 25 yuan at the beginning of the year is too conservative.In short, there are many places to spend money, and a lot of money is needed. The financial budget report made by the Ministry of Finance years ago can be used to wipe the ass.

In short, this is a very tangled plan. On the one hand, I am afraid of not having enough strength or being discovered, and on the other hand, I am coveting those wealth. It is really tangled and tangled.

It is estimated that there are 2 pirates in and around the Bahamas in the Caribbean.Members are from all countries, including British, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spaniards, Nordics, and even blacks. These pirates and scum gather together and often attack merchant ships and smuggling ships in groups. They even assembled and went ashore to attack Spanish towns.The famous pirate Drake and Morgan, who appeared later, attacked and burned Spanish towns countless times, even some strong cities were not spared. Their actions caused the Spanish Kingdom to lose millions of pounds of property.If the cross-travelers send two boats with hundreds of people, it will not be conspicuous at all to do a few cases in it.

The large number of pirates gathered here is also a kind of resource in a sense.These pirate members are wanted criminals in various countries at this time, because they even rob their own ships.These people can't return to their homeland, so they either spend money like water in some pirate dens, dream about their lives, and die in poverty and sickness in obscurity after spending all the money they have earned with their lives; or they wait for the slim chance of the king's amnesty, hoping You can take this opportunity to bring your wealth back to your country to become a good person.

As long as you give these people an official identity, some of them who have made enough money are likely to come to the east bank to settle down. On the one hand, these people are rare naval talents, and on the other hand, they can also bring a lot of money to the East Coast Republic. There is no reason for the people to give up the wealth.

The advantages and disadvantages are obvious, and the members of the executive committee had difficulty making a decision at the moment, so they had to decide by a show of hands.The results of the final vote showed that the desire for much-needed funds for nation-building prevailed among the 11 members of the executive committee. Six of the 11 members voted in favor, three against, and two abstained. The proposal was officially passed.

After the proposal was passed, the Ministry of the Navy immediately began intensive preparations. The first thing they carried out was the transformation of the battleship "Red Trout".When this battleship was captured from the Spaniards before, it carried a total of 16 brass cannons, and the firepower can only be said to be average.From the end of August last year to the present, apart from adding two 8-pound steel cannons to the bow and stern, the navy has not added other cannons, and those brass cannons have not had time to be replaced.This time, the Ministry of the Navy plans to seize the time to replace all these brass artillery with backward performance with steel artillery.It is estimated that four 12-pound guns, four 4-pound guns and four 24-pound guns can be installed on each side of the ship. After all the refitting is completed, this 4-ton warship will have the powerful firepower of 18 guns, which is enough to be used by ordinary warships. Show off your might in front of you.

(End of this chapter)