Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1134 Opportunity ([-])

On August 1657, 8, two steam engine sailboats slowly docked at Guanhai Harbor.

This port town under the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway Company now has more than 3000 residents, and produces a large amount of potatoes, wheat, and vegetables every year to supply passing ships—not only people from the east coast, but Spanish businessmen from Maolin City often come to buy food by boat—in addition There are a large number of shellfish, sea crabs and other products collected by the sea for sale, and the life of the residents is fairly passable.

After the two ships docked at the wharf, the staff of the Southern Railway Company waiting at the wharf first picked up the poor hundreds of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, and then ordered the wharf workers to unload the cargo with the assistance of the steam boom.Most of the goods are tea, raw silk, fur and medicinal materials, especially dozens of boxes of various herbal medicines imported from North Korea, which are urgently needed by the East Coast Republic.

This is not a joke. With the successive completion of the "Song Medical Records Examination" and "Ming Medical Records Examination" compiled by doctors organized by the Ministry of Health and the Southern Railway Health Research Institute, some traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions that have been proven to be "really effective" or "probably effective" began to It is promoted nationwide, and at the same time, some people are also conducting public lectures within the Ministry of Health system to accelerate the training of grassroots medical personnel.

However, in order for Chinese medicine prescriptions to produce curative effects, it is naturally best to use medicinal materials from the place of origin, otherwise the effect may be lost due to insufficient concentration or mutation of certain ingredients-this is not groundless, many Chinese medicinal materials introduced locally on the east coast are It has been proved to be ineffective or ineffective, so it still has to be imported in large quantities from the Far East, and North Korea, which has a tradition of cultivating medicinal materials since ancient times, is naturally one of the main producing areas.

The medicinal materials shipped by these two ships were all procured in Wonsanjin, and the seller was said to be a relative of the family of Song Shiyeol, a great Korean scholar.In vain, Song Shilie was very picky about the people on the East Bank, but his family and relatives did business with the East Bank unambiguously, and the scale was even much larger than that of ordinary North Korean businessmen, ranging from grain , Medicinal materials, livestock, iron materials, honey, wood, etc., covering a wide range, it is no exaggeration to make money every day.

It is said that as the east coast is becoming more and more powerful in the Heishui area of ​​the Far East—especially in the northeast region—the Kingdom of Korea and the Qing Dynasty are accelerating their separation from Germany. This country with a population of millions is being forcibly opened After Guomen (leasing Wonsanjin and Busan Port), the economic system has more and more frequent exchanges with the outside world: they export a large number of grains, medicinal materials, iron materials, timber, honey, tobacco, vegetables, fruits and other products to the east coast every year. Then they also imported a lot of seafood, building materials, briquettes, metal products, raw silk, cloth, livestock, salt and other things.Although the current trade volume is relatively limited due to the obstacles of the small-scale peasant economy, with the deepening of economic exchanges with the east coast, the country's commercial system will gradually develop sooner or later, and then better integrate into the Far East dominated by the east coast. The economic circle—including Denglai, Heishui, North Korea, Ningbo and even some markets in northeastern Japan—is no longer a small market.

After the two ships finished unloading some medicinal materials at Guanhai Port, they will stay here for a long time.They will repair and maintain ships here, purchase goods (which need to be shipped from the mainland), and at the same time give the sailors a holiday. Finally, they will set off northward in September and arrive at Jinshan Port in Australia via the Turtle Islands and Tahiti. Their journey around the South Pacific.

At this time, a fishing boat of the Southern Railway Company returned from the Maolin River Basin brought an explosive news to everyone: in the early spring of the Old Continent more than four months ago, the England fleet commanded by Robert Blake The Spanish ports of Santa Cruz and Tenerife were attacked near the Canary Islands. Of course, it is a bit exaggerated to use warships to attack ports with complete coastal defense facilities, but these things are nothing compared to the subsequent news. Yes - when the English attacked the Canary Islands, they also intercepted some of the Spanish Treasure Fleet ships that were docking in the port of Santa Cruz.The ecstatic British originally wanted to capture these ships—because they were full of gold, silver and valuable goods, but the desperate resistance of the Spaniards prevented their attempt from being realized, so the English fired in anger. Most of these ships were sunk, and the Spaniards suffered heavy losses immediately!

Naturally, such explosive news cannot be concealed for a long time. In fact, within a month after the attack on Santa Cruz Port, the news spread throughout Granada, Andalusia, and Catalonia. Then it quickly spread to other parts of the Kingdom of Spain and even other countries in Western Europe-no way, who made this news so amazing?That was a loss of more than 1000 million pesos (including the goods of the merchants and the gold and silver transported back to the old continent by the royal family and bureaucrats). At this time, Europe is probably the only one that can calmly digest such a huge deficit, the United Provinces?I really don't know how the Spaniards got through this.

And just after the news began to spread and spread in Western Europe, what happened in the Canary Islands was also transmitted as quickly as possible back to the starting point of the treasure fleet - the port of Veracruz in New Spain, and then the next step in the south Passed to Guayaquil, Panama, Quito, Lima, Santiago, Chalcas and many other prosecutorial court districts, and caused a huge sensation here-colonial officials who brought back a large number of legal and illegal income Businessmen who lost their concubines and lost their goods were on the verge of bankruptcy.Of course, people are not without luck. Some chemists and foundry officials of the Chalkas Silver Mine breathed a sigh of relief. They were worried that the inferior silver bars sent back to the Old World would be found, but now they are fine. Let the officials of the damned West India Affairs Office go to the seabed for testing, and they can sit back and relax with the embezzled money!

After the news spread to the Viceroyalty of Peru, everyone who heard the news told the surrounding people with an incredible expression. Everyone generally believed that the loss of the lords this time (not to mention the goods, but the treasure fleet A considerable part of the gold and silver carried was secretly remitted back to the mainland by officials at all levels in the colonies) not less than 1000 million pesos. Now, whether it is Mexico, Panama or Lima, it is gloomy and mournful. Many people I can't help but recall the major "accident" that the Dutch West India Company intercepted some of the straggler ships of the Spanish treasure fleet 30 years ago and made a fortune. At that time, many people went bankrupt and many gentlemen lost their heads. , I just don’t know what will happen this time. It is estimated that King Philip will be shocked, angry and even terrified. After all, what happened this time is really too big, and it is so big that it may shake the battle ahead.The poor Kingdom of Spain has just won a battle in the Southern Netherland and captured the French Marshal. This is a disaster. Once the supplies and money in front are cut off, many mercenaries who are extremely good at fighting will naturally stop working hard. The Kingdom of Spain, which has just started to improve, is about to repeat the rhythm of losing thousands of miles and losing ground.

And when this breaking news was quietly brought to Maolingang, a famous smuggling and trading city by businessmen from Lima, the staff of the Southern Railway Company also reported to the rear as quickly as possible, and at the same time brought this "gossip" news to Qilin. Guanhai County on Loe Island.Liu Jianguo, as a middle-level cadre of the Southern Railway Company and acting as the county magistrate of Guanhai County, naturally heard about this incident at the first time. He was keenly aware that the Spaniard who had suffered such a heavy blow was probably already headless at this time. Flies don't know what to do, so maybe the opportunity for the people on the east coast has come. Under the pressure of the situation, the Spaniards are likely to make some concessions that were never possible before, in exchange for the republic of the east coast to treat them some kind of support.

"It's really difficult for the Spaniards now..." After sitting at the desk and thinking for a while, Liu Jianguo let out a sigh of relief, and thought: "But isn't this the opportunity for our Dadong'an? Don't say anything else, now The colonial officials in the two viceroyalty districts of Peru and New Spain have suffered heavy losses, and many businessmen are on the verge of bankruptcy. From a commercial point of view, it may not be a good opportunity for the capital of the East Coast Republic of China to expand. The industries that the Spaniards were unwilling to sell before, The forest farms, pastures, and fisheries that are unwilling to open up, the mines that cannot be developed, and the ports that are unwilling to open up, maybe they can all be discussed now? Anyway, in this southern New World—especially on the Pacific side—my east coast The military power of the Republic is second to none, and there is no rival, so the security of these commercial investments can also be fully guaranteed. The company has been developing in the Peruvian market for many years, and has rich contacts. Those who haven't figured it out will take the first step, expand their business in Peru, and establish an advantageous position over latecomers. Well, I have to write to Dad immediately to report this idea, because it is really worth trying. As for The funds needed for business expansion may be difficult, but it is not completely unsolvable. We can issue bonds in Qingdao and West Lake markets for financing! In addition, Bank of La Plata, Newland Friendship and Mutual Bank and our relationship are very good. It’s not bad, we can discuss getting a loan to come and use it. No, this matter can’t be delayed, I’ll start writing a letter now, so as not to have long nights and dreams, and it will be troublesome if someone else snatches it first in the future...”

As the saying goes, if good things don’t go out, bad things spread thousands of miles. Just when the news of the hijacking of the Spanish treasure fleet spread from Peru to the subsidiary of the Southern Railway, several east coast merchant ships returning from the old continent also brought the news to the capital Dongfang Port.

(End of this chapter)