Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1113 The Good Times of Diplomats ([-])

April 1656, 12, sunny.

Even on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Republic of Genoa, which is entering the coldest year of the Little Ice Age, has fine snowflakes floating in the sky, but this can't stop everyone's interest. On the narrow and cramped pier in Genoa, several ships from The merchant ship rented by Portugal was ready to go, and the employers who were bidding farewell to their relatives on the shore at this time pulled anchor and set sail after boarding the ship.

The people who hired them were naturally Genoese, to be precise, the rich class of Genoa represented by the Doria family.These people either had family members who joined the Xinhua investigation team more than two years ago, or got some information about Xinhua Island from the words relayed by others, so after repeated deliberation and discussions for a year and a half to two years, , these Italians finally reached an agreement and decided to join forces to form a company called "Genoa Africa Company" (registered capital of 2000 million bank lire), to invest in the Xinhua Island Colony of the East Coast Republic of China. The company's main business is The business is logging, sugarcane planting, tobacco planting, pepper planting, sisal planting and other plantation businesses. In addition, it also has the qualifications to sell all special products such as Xinhua high-quality leather, tropical dried fruits, flavors, and sucrose. Of course, the scope is limited to Italy and Greater Spain. market.

The Genoa Africa Company is the third company in the country to jointly invest in the East Coast and its overseas colonies after the Grassland Railway Company and the Forest Development Company. After the company has obtained a good return on investment, the Genoese with more and more capital in the country now prefer a brand-new market on the east coast. Therefore, there have been almost tens of millions of bank lire (mainly converted from materials and manpower) in the past ten years. Funds poured into the East Coast market.As for whether these investments are worthwhile, it is a matter of opinion. Judging from the attitude of the businessmen, at least it is much more cost-effective than investing in Morocco, Algiers, or even the Spanish American colonies.

According to the agreement with the East Coast government, most of the Genoa Africa Company’s 2000 million lire funds will be used to recruit manpower, hire ships, purchase tools and food in Europe, and the remaining part can be purchased on the East Coast or the New China Colony. .That’s it for the six ships that were making noise on the Genoa pier at this time. Four of them were filled with immigrants and livestock, a total of about 1200 people, men, women and children, and the other two ships were filled with tools and a small amount of food.

And the reason why these ships were only loaded with a little food, and they didn't look like they were going on a long-distance voyage, was mainly because they took a different route this time, that is, the six ships hired by the Genoese They will not go south along the west coast of Africa and then cross the Cape of Good Hope to enter New China—their route is very simple. They will take a boat through the Mediterranean Sea to reach Alexandria, an important town in North Africa of the Ottoman Empire, and then go ashore to the port of Suez on the other side of the Red Sea, and finally Then find a way to reach New China by boat.

There is no doubt that this route is much closer (almost half the voyage) than the traditional route off the coast of Africa, and the mortality rate of immigrants and livestock will also be greatly reduced, but correspondingly, this route runs almost the entire length of the sea. The transportation routes in Egypt are not accessible to everyone, after all, this is the largest territory, otherwise Portugal would not have thought about going south along the coast of Africa to find a new route to the Far East.

However, it may not be easy for other Christians to pass through here, but for Genoese and East Coast people, there is no obstacle here.Needless to say, the relationship between the East Coast Republic of China and the Ottoman Empire is a traditional friendship accumulated over the years. It has reached the level of sending ambassadors to each other. The East Bank will come forward to coordinate some interests and allow these Christians to immigrate and supplies to pass through Ottoman It is not too difficult for the empire to go to Africa.

What's more, the relationship between the Republic of Genoa itself and Ottoman is not bad. When Sultan Murad IV was in power, Ottoman and Genoa even sent a mission to each other to carry out diplomatic activities. As long as some benefits and transit fees are given, the Ottoman Don't mind letting them pass through their North African turf.

Ever since, after this two-pronged approach, whether it is the Ottoman central government or the Egyptian Pasha, or the lake Mamluks that actually control Egypt (the slave trade with the east bank all the year round), they all agreed that these immigrants from Italy docked in Alexandria. Then proceed to the port of Suez by land.

At nine o'clock sharp, the last batch of Italians also boarded the ship. The Portuguese captain ordered to pull anchor and set sail, and left the Genoa pier. will be very safe.At this point, the British finally did a good thing!

"Special envoy Zheng, the company has been established for several months. This is the first group of workers going there. I hope your government can properly arrange them so that they can settle down as soon as possible. We all know that there are tropical islands where diseases are rampant. I hope they can start production as soon as possible.” Alessandro from the Doria family suddenly said to Zheng Yong beside him, “And this is only the first batch of personnel. Five of our own ships (offshore galleys) will be transporting migrants to Alexandria and returning wheat from there. We expect that we will be shipping to Egypt every month as long as the situation does not change drastically At least 800 people, until it ends six months later."

"That's enough for now! Mr. Doria." Zheng Yong turned around and said with a smile: "As long as more than 60 immigrants arrive at Xinhua Island safely, the preliminary work can be done. Of course, the loss of personnel in this process may be quite large , please also prepare your minds with your friends, but once the plantation is completed and successfully connected to our irrigation, transportation and security systems (these systems have a huge initial investment, which is equivalent to providing them to the Genoese for free, It can be regarded as a move to encourage them), then profits can be generated very quickly, just like the many cotton and sugar plantations opened up by the Chinese government on the west coast. Moreover, the land rent we collect is not high, and we will give you [-] yuan at a time One-year tenancy rights, this sincerity is quite sufficient, believe me, the prospect of Genoa Africa Company is very good, if your fundraising activities are not over, I would like to pay for a share."

"Haha, what Genoa lacks has never been money. Just look at the surging funds in the public bond and annuity markets." Alessandro said in a slightly proud tone: "What we lack, after all, is investment. The market. Now the Dutch are crowding us out, and the Portuguese jewish bastards (who replaced the Genoese in lending to the Kingdom of Spain) are in constant competition with us, so that our plantations in Peru and New Spain A lot of them were forced to sell, it’s really hateful! The British are not authentic, they are now trying to meddle in the shipping business of the Mediterranean Sea, and at the same time pull a boatload of American goods to Italy and Austria for sale, almost destroying our business that has been in business for more than 100 years The marketing system is hateful!"

Zheng Yong was silent for a while when he heard the words, and Alessandro was not afraid to expose his shortcomings, but this is not a secret, and if you are interested, you can find out after a few months of collecting.However, what does it mean that this important member of the Doria family suddenly said this?

"Special Envoy Zheng, we also opened up many tropical plantations in Brazil, Peru and New Spain, and gained a lot. As you know, my family was the first group to open warehouses in the port of Cadiz to deal in American specialties. Genoese merchant family, and has continued to this day. But since 1627, our overseas plantations have been in the process of decline, especially after the damn Portuguese Jews gained power, our plantations in the Americas have reached the bottom of the scale In the shrinking state, nearly half of it has been forced to sell now, and it is unknown whether the remaining half can be kept.” Alessandro finally got to the point: “Now, what I want to know is In the future, will your government confiscate or forcibly acquire our plantations like those two countries on the Iberian Peninsula?"

"Mr. Doria, I don't dare to say anything else, but during the validity period of the contract signed by the businessman of your country and our government, such as 30 years, 50 years or 60 years, our government will never confiscate or forcibly buy the other party to develop it. Please rest assured that our government is not so unlimited. We respect the validity of the contract and the contract. I think that in the Luocha Textile Factory, an enterprise with an annual dividend of more than 100 million lire In this matter, our government has accumulated enough credibility, has it not? Alessandro, I thought you would not question this..."

"I'm sorry, I just want to confirm, I don't mean to question." Alessandro said immediately after hearing the words, "Special Envoy Zheng, in fact, I was invited by many families in our country to come forward to confirm with you. If after the Genoa Africa Company is running stably, we use the profits generated by it to buy guns and ammunition, food and ships locally in your country, and then go to explore or trade on the coast of Africa—or even set up a permanent business station—in your country. Is this kind of thing allowed without directly violating the interests of your country?"

"This..." Zheng Yong, who didn't expect the other party to ask this question, was speechless for a while, so he could only perfunctoryly say: "I have to ask the country before I can give an answer, but this does not affect the operation of Genoa Africa Company. Is not it?"

"Of course." Alessandro immediately confirmed.

(End of this chapter)