Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1497 Invigorating Circulation

Liu Deshan immediately bought several hundred stones of Fujian sugar goods, and the money and goods were delivered clearly. The Zheng family sent several people on board to ask Liu Deshan and Chen Huamin about the Australians.According to the instructions of the Australians, Liu Deshan said a lot in random except that he was not mentioned about being inspected.He intentionally exaggerated the strength of the Australians, and he couldn't help adding fuel to the picture, which made the faces of the Zheng family members even more serious.

The steward of the Zheng family asked about the origin of Dongshan House.I heard that it was bought from a shipyard in Hong Kong, and everyone became more and more discouraged.Although there is no artillery equipment on the Dongshanju, the tonnage of the ship and the wide double deck indicate that the ship has great combat potential.Placed here by Zheng Zhifeng, it is also the first-class main battleship-several large European-style ships that are being imitated on Kinmen Island. Although the size and tonnage are much larger than Dongshanju, even laymen can see the shape of Dongshanju. Smooth, quick ride.

The fact that the Australians can export such a large ship as a merchant ship shows how much their fleet has expanded!Thinking of this, several people couldn't help feeling discouraged.

After loading the sugar cargo, Dongshanju anchored and sailed away——Weitouwan is now a place of right and wrong, so it is better to stay less.Dongshanju sailed west all the way, heading for Dayuan.

As a trade port between the Dutch East India Company and Lingao, Dayuan immediately got rid of the half-dead state of the past after signing the trade contract between the two parties.Compared with the Zheng Zhilong Group, which keeps changing orders and constantly raising conditions, the "contract spirit" of the Australians is very good, and there is no difference in the execution of contracts-of course, they have always been strict with other people's execution of contracts.Hans Putmans originally lacked confidence in opening up the big business: In his opinion, Chinese businessmen are too cunning and have always been treacherous, and it is difficult to make a big breakthrough without escorting trade by force.Unfortunately, the situation along the coast of China is so chaotic, and the force at the company's disposal in East Asia is too weak.

After signing a trade agreement with the Australians, the situation in Dayuan changed immediately. The Australian ships entered Dayuan Port continuously, bringing in the Chinese goods that countless companies had dreamed of—and a large number of them were becoming more and more popular. The Australian products, Hans Putmans' performance is booming, the company praises him, and naturally his personal benefits are also rolling in.In particular, Australians are not as obsessed with silver as Chinese businessmen, and have an excellent appetite for all kinds of goods, which greatly eased the "silver shortage" situation in the trade with the Dutch East India Company to China.Less than half a year after the signing of the agreement, Dayuan has jumped from a trading base that was almost abandoned to a "pearl" of the Dutch East India Company.

Since the opening of Kaohsiung, the supply cycle of the Australians has been continuously shortened - Hans Putmans soon discovered that the Australians have established a transit warehouse in Kaohsiung, accumulating a large amount of goods.He also once thought that if he could capture Kaohsiung through a surprise attack, he would not only get a lot of spoils, but also add a bright pearl to the company: Compared with the big officials who only have a castle and a few forts, Kaohsiung is more and more important. It looks more and more like a real city.

When he witnessed Lingao's fleet stationed in Kaohsiung, this arrogant idea disappeared immediately.After the news of Zheng Zhilong's demise was brought back by Trodnius, a businessman stationed in Zhangzhou Bay, he immediately began to think about how to keep the senior staff for the company—not by force, of course.

Although Zeelandia Castle is still under construction—after all, the company has invested a lot of money in the castle, it is impossible to give up halfway, and it is always a lucrative job to preside over the construction project—His Excellency, the matter of strengthening the defense of the officers He is not interested at all, and basically does what the company instructs him to do.The natives who used to be a great threat to the big officials and often "cave" and "headhunt" outside the city, after experiencing several conflicts with the Australians, now seldom appear near the big officials.As a result, the overland route from Dayuan to Kaohsiung has also become safer, and the Australians even started to build a road between the two places without caring.

At a reception where he drank too much Australian rum, he shouted at Captain Heinrich Weidenfeller, the garrison commander of the senior officer: "You think the senior officer is still in the company's hands because of your subordinates." Four hundred consumptives with matchlock guns? No, we're here only because of the kindness of the Australians!"

Indeed, judging from the exchanges between the two parties, the Australians have no malice towards the Dutch, and they can be said to be full of goodwill: the Dutch can not only go to Kaohsiung to purchase all kinds of fresh food to supplement their lack of supplies--they can also buy Various recreational items: cigars, liquors and drinks.If you are willing to pay a big price, you can also buy ice cubes to cool off the heat.So much so that the Batavian side believed that there was no need to send supplies to the senior officials, and Kaohsiung "can buy everything" except gunpowder and guns.The vacated space can transport more trade goods for trading.

As a result, the Dutch became more and more dependent on supplies from Kaohsiung. Gradually, the senior Dutch people wore sweaters, shirts and trousers made of imported Dutch linen made by the Kaohsiung Quilt Factory, and rattan made in Lingao. Sandals and a rattan helmet are more suitable for the Formosa climate than the cumbersome and stuffy clothes of the Dutch.The Dutch also drank a lot of rum, salt soda and kvass produced in Lingao.

Not only are most of the supplies purchased from Kaohsiung, but even ship repairs are made at Kaohsiung's ship repair yard - there are large dry docks and heavy cranes.Repairing and maintaining several Dutch round ships is a no-brainer.

As for the sailors and soldiers of the big men, as long as they can abide by the rules, they can enter and exit Kaohsiung’s business district at will for entertainment. Compared with the business district under the simple Zeelandia Castle, there is no doubt that Kaohsiung’s business district has more choices .If they get sick, as long as they want, they can also receive treatment from Chinese doctors locally. Compared with the stinky German doctors, the medicine and acupuncture treatments of Chinese doctors in Kaohsiung are more effective.

Even the workers working on the Zeelandia Castle and Fort that were being built were many Australian slaves—a word Hans Putmans couldn't describe except for those who were shipped off to be housed in huge camps of bamboo huts. People, when the Dutch suffered from too few workers and slow progress, the Australians immediately offered to provide labor subcontracting projects.

Putmans had no choice, and it turned out that the Chinese slave laborers under the management of these Australians worked hard and worked very efficiently, and the castle was changing with each passing day under their participation in the construction.

Hans Putmans is a shrewd and capable businessman. Under the good situation of "Australian-Dutch Concord", he does not believe that Australians are "peace-loving". What they did in Weitou Bay fully demonstrates that they are in need. When they do it, they will be merciless, even cruel.

Obviously, the Australians don't want to touch the big officials, they still need to trade with the company. If one day this kind of trade becomes insignificant to them, they will come to capture the big officials, and then occupy the entire Formosa Island.

How can we ensure the continued existence of the company in Formosa?Governor Hans Putmans has been considering this issue recently. For this reason, he specially sent a group of spies to Kaohsiung to inquire about the situation of the Australians, especially the types and quantities of ships entering and leaving the port and trade goods.

Dongshanju sailed into Taijiang under such an atmosphere.

This is not the first time for Chen Huamin and Liu Deshan to come to Dayuan, but this time it still surprised them a little: Dayuan is much more prosperous than before.The Dutch East India Company sent several times more ships here than in the past because of the substantial increase in trade volume with the Australians.Even the market with big people has prospered, and facilities have been added accordingly.

The Zeelandia Castle, which had been under construction and never completed the first floor, has risen from the ground. Scaffolding is everywhere on the masonry wall, and a tower has been erected.The other buildings are also half completed, and it can be seen that it will not take long to complete.On the other side of the harbor, on the east side of the Taijiang River, the former small and crude walled city has now become a small but very strong bastion.A new fortress is also being built on Beixian Island in the harbor.Ships transporting construction materials and workers streamed through the harbour.

In addition to the Australian trading ships, after Zheng Zhilong's downfall, the trade monopoly from Fujian to Taiwan was completely broken, and there were many more Ming businessmen who came to Dayuan Trading.There are many ships of different sizes moored around the pier, except for a few Dutch ships, most of them are Chinese ships such as Guangzhou Shipyard and Fuchuan.Therefore, many new buildings were built on the wharf in front of the Zeelandia Castle, and rows of new warehouses and storage yards were built, and the goods waiting to be shipped were piled up like mountains.

"I didn't expect the big business to be so prosperous!" Liu Deshan nodded, "I thought it would be very sluggish here."

"What did my cousin say? Zheng Zhilong's business is monopolized by Zheng Zhilong. How can idle businessmen dare to come here to trade? Now that the Zheng family has suffered a complete defeat, and everyone is not a fool, naturally they all want to come here to make a fortune."

Compared with the Zheng family's 2000 taels a year in the past, the Class B license issued by Australians to travel to and from the coastal trade is only 100 taels a year. Many small and medium businessmen who only go to the coast can also afford the merchant ships to Taiwan. There are also more goods, and the goods traded are no longer limited to foreign goods such as porcelain, silk products, and sugar in the past.Trade activity has risen sharply.

The elimination of coastal sea owners is not just to monopolize trade - as the Senate, only by promoting commercial circulation can it provide a better foundation for the next step of social reform, although the Senate can monopolize Taiwan Island and the Netherlands Human trade, but not so.

(End of this chapter)