Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1102 Indian Ocean Trial

On June 1656, 6, the four-masted sailing ship "Exploration" with "twin shafts and two oars" of 18 horsepower had just left Zanzibar Island.Sailing with her is an expedition ship of the same level and two 170-ton motor sailboats belonging to the Immigration Department. These are immigration ships that are about to sail to the Blackwater area—new ships ordered by the Immigration Department in the past two years Slightly less than usual, everyone seems to be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the ever-increasing size of the migrant transport task.

Lieutenant Ji Wen, who was the leader of the team, listened to the discussions of the colonial officials when he was in Xinhua Port. The number of immigrants sent to the mainland this year after deducting losses (including the part intercepted by the colonies) is likely to reach as many as 3.7.

"The shipping cost of 3.7 people is not a small amount. How much does it cost to order a new ship every year, repair and maintenance costs for old ships, sailor salaries, port maintenance costs along the way, pensions for sunken ship crews, etc.?" Ji Wen The second lieutenant couldn't figure it out, but he felt it must be a lot.

In fact, during the immigration transportation season from 1655 to 1656, the East Coast Republic of Huaxia almost had to spend a huge amount of nearly 100 million yuan (fortunately, not all expenses were paid by the central government, and the central government only paid about 60%, or 60 yuan. The rest was paid in kind by the colonies) to secure immigration, a staggeringly large amount.

Of course, spending such a huge amount of money is actually worth it in the long run.As the country's population increases, the labor force will also increase, and the market will also expand, which is of great benefit to the country's industrial and agricultural development. 3.7 immigrants from the Ming Dynasty plus immigrants from other places - the two years of war in Eastern Europe have led to a large number of Lithuanian and Ukrainian (mostly women) being imported - as well as the new domestic population, the national population of the East Coast Republic of China The total number has reached 62.3 (among them Ming people accounted for about 47%), a record high, while the number of non-nationals has also climbed to an all-time high of 9.8.

The country has increased by nearly 7 citizens at once, which is a bit unbearable for the east coast, which was not big before.In fact, it’s not just this year. In the past, when [-] people were added every year, the national strength was already a bit unbearable. Don’t you see that the new immigrants now live in shacks for longer and longer, waiting for sub-brick houses (low-interest loans from Northwest Reclamation Bank) ) cycle is getting longer and longer, the construction of new settlements is lagging behind, and the facilities of old settlements are becoming more and more overwhelmed, and the whole country is in a state of mild indigestion.

7 people are like this, and 10 people are even more unbearable. This year's domestic resettlement work will definitely make the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Immigration, the State Development Administration, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Finance grey. .Fortunately, such opportunities as the Eastern European War are not very common. It is indeed a good choice to take advantage of this melee involving multiple countries and hundreds of thousands of troops to gain more population (especially young women), and to digest it slowly later. .After these two years, try to find a way to reduce the number of European immigrants and increase the share of Far East immigrants (while gradually balancing the ratio of men and women). At this time, the national strength will gradually catch up, so you can almost breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, before and after it is only a few years of digestion and consolidation time.

The three ships replenished some fruits, vegetables, fresh water and cattle and sheep in Zanzibar Island.This important island on the Swahili coast is currently under the control of the Muscats, of course indirectly. The local native chiefs expressed their surrender to Sultan Saif, and at the same time paid taxes and assumed certain obligations to send troops, but On weekdays, I still make my own decisions.The people on the east coast have also dealt with them many times, so after paying a very low entry fee, they got supplies smoothly.

And just as they left Zanzibar Island, two naval armed transport ships just sailed over.Captain Ji Wen sent someone to negotiate, and learned that the two ships were full of various materials (mostly high-value commodities such as gold placer, ivory, leather, and pepper) and about [-] Swahili slaves. After drinking water, drive to Xinhua Port.It is said that the main force of the navy has anchored near Kilwa at this time, and the officers and soldiers of the third battalion of the army are already attacking the city. If a city-state or kingdom signs a trade agreement, then everything will be more perfect.

After exchanging respects with the ships of the navy, the four-ship formation headed by "Discovery" and "Curiosity" turned north by east, and sailed towards the Arabian Sea along the strong southwest wind. Their next destination was In the Port of Basra of the Ottoman Empire, there is a commercial station on the east bank. The annual trade volume is not large, about tens of thousands of yuan. It mainly imports things like dates, horses, camels, and tapestries.

On July 1656, 7, after avoiding a storm, four ships quietly sailed through the waters off Muscat—they did not rush to request a port stop, although the two countries are currently negotiating trade matters—then Head across the Gulf to Bandar Abbas in Persia.This is a temporary decision made by Captain Ji Wen. He intends to take a look at this famous port that he visited many years ago. However, the head of the Abbas East Bank Commercial Station that he met before is not there. It is said that he will go to Isfahan to discuss business. Therefore, Second Lieutenant Ji Wen could only resupply a little water here, and then set sail and headed for the port of Basra at the northern end of the Persian Gulf—but their four huge ships (compared to ships outside Europe at this time) However, the arrival of the people of the east bank also gave encouragement to the commercial station set up here, and made the Persians realize how powerful the east bank is, which is also of great benefit to the operation of the commercial station here.

You know, the business of Persia, an ancient civilization, is now more and more valued by the Executive Committee. This country has a large population and is relatively rich, and it has a unified political power. It is most suitable to develop commerce. This country imports a large amount of raw silk, livestock, and porcelain (mainly ceramic tiles, porcelain bowls, and a few custom-made porcelains. For example, Ma Wanpeng ordered a handmade porcelain toilet from Persia), and at the same time exports a large amount of cheap and high-quality goods such as munitions, textiles, and steel bars. Commodities, bilateral trade volume is also hitting new highs.

On July 7, four ships arrived at the sea off the port of Basra. After obtaining the consent of the Turks, they sailed into the port one by one, and sent a batch of goods to the east coast trading station on the pier.There are many local Persian merchants in Basra. After all, this land has just been conquered by the Ottomans for only a few decades (a lot of Iraq’s territory was Persian before), and a large number of Persian survivors in the Mesopotamia have not been assimilated, so the Ottomans are here. There are quite a few troops, including some cavalry from the Spazi Legion who are familiar with the east bank, and some sabers, spears, saddles and other commodities brought by the people from the east bank are also to be handed over to them.

After chatting briefly with the head of the commercial station in the city about the political situation of the Ottoman Empire and the market conditions of the coffee market, on July 7, the four ships set sail again, left the extremely hot Basra Port, and headed for the next destination. Port Le Port.This time they sailed along the circulation of the North Indian Ocean, and the wind direction was wrong. Therefore, in order to increase the speed, the steam power system was also activated, and finally arrived at the port of Galle on the island of Ceylon, which was controlled by the Dutch, in the early morning of July 8.

The Dutch East India Company stationed a large fleet (12 armed merchant ships) here to suppress the Portuguese activities in the East Indies and the Indian coast. It was also responsible for patrolling the Strait of Malacca to prevent the invasion of hostile forces.And the people on the east coast are naturally not a hostile force, because regardless of whether the East India Company is willing or not, their government has signed a port opening agreement with the East Coast Republic, so ships on the east coast can pass freely in the nearby waters, and After paying the specified amount of fees, they can freely sail into any commercial port under the control of the Netherlands for docking.

The four ships stayed in the port of Galle for only two days before setting sail for the port of Malacca.At this time, Malacca had just come out of the plague, and the population was low and the business was withered. This disappointed Captain Jiwen who was investigating.However, considering that if the people on the east coast really set up an immigration route in the future, it will only be here to rest and replenish supplies, and the requirements for business are not very big, so there is nothing wrong with it.

After leaving Malacca, the four ships turned around and headed north, heading straight for their next destination, Ningbo Fuding Harbor.The trip was safe and sound. Except for avoiding a typhoon off the coast of Guangdong, basically no bad weather was encountered. The four ships finally arrived at the Dinghai County Wharf at noon on August 8, and then sent people ashore. To Yin County, got in touch with the Southern Theater Command.

Liu Haiyang is more interested in the executive committee's plan to test the Indian Ocean immigration/commercial dual-use route (to reduce immigration costs), but he is not a decision maker, so under his suggestion, Captain Shay and others after rough repairs to the ship, They went north to the Heishui area non-stop (and transported a few boats of rice and salt along the way)—because they heard that Chang Kaisheng, the new captain of the Heishui pioneering team, did not sit in Yantai, but went to the northern Amur River Basin to supervise the battle, probably because It may be because of its old background in operation for many years and its commanding skills.

In desperation, the four ships had to go north again.This time, riding the southeast wind, they sailed at an extremely fast speed, coupled with the assistance of steam power, it took only about ten days along the way to arrive at Heishui Port in Sakhalin Island.After arriving at Heishui Port, they did not go north again, because they heard that Chang Kaisheng had won the battle against the Qing in the Amur River area. At this time, they had already arrived at Temple Street Port. They believed that they would arrive in Heishui soon, so they decided to Be patient here.

(End of this chapter)