Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1138 Opportunity ([-])

Hubert de Beveren, who was dressed in elegant silk clothes, arrived at Dongfang Port by boat, and then stayed in the Dongfang Hotel, which is quite famous among foreigners, waiting to be received by diplomatic officials on the east coast.

And during the few days of waiting, he met a new friend who lived in the suite next door, that is Mario Doria from the Republic of Genoa.This time, Mario represented his family and even many consortiums in Genoa to Xinhua Island to host the Genoa Africa Company. He was on a four-masted large sailing ship newly ordered in London, with a maximum displacement of more than 800 tons. One of the important fixed assets.

This ship was fully loaded with a whole ship of lead-tin ore, horses and camels, daily necessities, and European specialty food—of course, the most important thing was a full 480 Polish refugees who had taken refuge, most of whom were women, and many of them were nobles—and now they are in the East. After the Hong Kong sale is completed, we will wait for some seeds, tools, weapons and ammunition, and building materials for land reclamation, and then set off for New China Island.However, before departure, the first manager of the Genoa Africa Company also planned to communicate with the high-level officials of the East Coast government on the way, so that the plantation in Xinhuaxia Island could be operated more smoothly in the future.

And Hubert de Beveren is the trusted confidant of the Grand Duke Jacob of Courland, and he is also the new Governor of Courland appointed by him. ——Port Jacob (located near Cabinda) established in early 1651 and Knights Fortress established in early 1653 (located on the north bank of the Congo River mouth).

The current number of civilized people in these two towns has increased to more than [-] after being supplemented by Lithuanian refugees, and they control a narrow strip along the coast of the Congo. , Cabinda bark, and Congolese black slaves have accumulated a lot of money, and at the same time, they can import construction materials and medicines from the east coast at relatively low prices-the population growth of the two places is relatively rapid, especially today when the Baltic Sea War is in-depth, On the one hand, the Principality of Courland transfers technical talents and money to overseas colonies from the government level. On the other hand, many businessmen from the people have begun to recruit people to go to New Courland to develop, so as to avoid the war that may ignite in Courland. You must know that both the Russians and the Swedes are known for their poor military discipline.

Mario Doria, an authentic member of the Genoese consortium family, and Beveren, an important minister of the Duchy of Courland, were strangers to each other at first, but one of them will soon be in charge of the Genoa Africa Company, and the other will control the New Courland Colony , the commonality between the two is that they both rely on the East Coast Republic for their livelihood, so they have a lot of common topics.After chatting about the business with the East Coast, Mario also made a verbal agreement with Beveren: the Genoa African Company and the New Courland Colony can also exchange needs under appropriate opportunities.

On October 10th, Beveren left Port Orient after being received by Mo San, and then departed for New Courland via the South African River Port, while Mario had some other discussions with the East Coast Foreign Minister Mo San in the Oriental Hotel. Questions were discussed in depth.

"The Luocha United Textile Factory and the Forest Development Company are running well. The construction of the Grassland Railway Company—well, there may be some financial and personnel problems, but the progress is not bad." Mo San looked kindly at Haoanda on the east coast A native of Genoa said: "It is a good move for your country to invest in Genoa Africa Company. The short-term and long-term benefits are visible. As long as you continue to invest, Africa Company will definitely become a milk cow for shareholders. Trust me. In addition, your country has opened up many markets in Greater Spain and Italy for goods on the east coast over the years, and at the same time provided convenience for our country's financial system in Europe. We keep this in mind and hope that our cooperation can continue."

Mario nodded slightly when he heard the words, with a professional smile on his face. After seeing Mo San bowed his head to drink tea, he suddenly said in Spanish: "Minister Mo, I heard that your country is negotiating comprehensive trade with the Kingdom of Spain." I don’t know if the Republic of Genoa can participate in it? I know that the east coast can’t produce all commodities by itself. For these commodities without competition, the Republic of Genoa can purchase them from the Old Continent and ship them for sale—of course this is It is completely sold in the name of your country’s commodities, which is also of great benefit to your country’s monopoly on the entire market. You must know that monopoly merchants have the benefits of monopoly, but at the same time they also have to shoulder the responsibility of enriching the commodity market. Our country happens to be able to Satisfied with this, we still have a little influence in Italy and southern Germany, and it is not a problem to purchase some Old World goods.”

Mo San remained calm when he heard the words, but he was already a little annoyed in his heart - what he was annoyed was not other things, but why the Genoese were able to know what was being discussed between the East Bank and Spain so quickly.This matter has only been going on for about half a month so far, but how come even Mario Doria, who just arrived here, knows, who leaked the secret?

Mo San thought about it for a while. There were dozens of officials and entourages from the East Coast side involved in this matter. If the Spanish side is included, there are about 80 to 16 people from both sides who participated in this negotiation successively. This needs to be traced. It's very troublesome, and it doesn't necessarily mean that the people on the east coast have leaked the news. What if the Spaniards are not so popular?After all, the Doria family in Genoa has been rooted in Cadiz and Peru since the [-]th century to run business, and is inextricably linked with Spain.

But no matter what, it is always very irritating that the contents of commercial negotiations are leaked—although the East and the West have reached an agreement in principle, they are currently negotiating details, which does not affect the overall situation—think of the fact that the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France all They have sent spies to spy on technical secrets one after another, and the Genoese may have sent someone to spy on commercial secrets. Is the officialdom on the Great East Coast becoming a sieve like the Dutch three-level parliament?It seems that it is necessary to let the Mei Agency come in to rectify and rectify. The investigation begins with who Mario has contacted after landing.

Mo San turned around in his heart, but his mouth was not slow. He only heard him say: "Mario, you are really well-informed, but there is no clue about this matter. Of course, if an agreement is finally reached with the Spaniards, We will consider the merchants of your country, especially our good partners, the Doria family, but it is too early to talk about these things."

"Naturally." Mario Doria nodded and said with a smile.

……

After sending away the annoying Mario, Mo San was invited to participate in an enlarged meeting attended by officials from various systems.The main content of this meeting was to discuss how to digest the commercial interests newly obtained from Spain. To put it more bluntly, that is how to manage the customs of the Spanish - this is not an easy task, especially in the New Spain area In the past, people from the east bank rarely set foot in this place before, and the local commercial interests already belonged to them. Although King Philip of Spain took the opportunity to package and "sell" these benefits to the east bank this time (he himself did not take the opportunity The abacus of obtaining income), but this also requires the people on the east coast to have the ability to obtain it.In other words, if the local vested interests are not dealt with, the people from the east bank may not be able to pass through the local customs.

"We couldn't enter the markets of Concepcion, Lima, Valdivia and other places in the Viceroyalty of Peru before. Most of the local residents came into contact with European goods shipped from the Isthmus of Panama. This time we have to do a good job. Make a plan to knock down this stubborn bastion that hinders the free market.” During the free discussion session of the meeting, a trade official said: “These areas are still relatively rich, and the profits can be quite a lot.”

"In the past, there were a lot of Spanish bigwigs in Lima, and the sales of our goods there were quite unfavorable. Sometimes the local officials even seized the goods shipped by our agents. I see how these Hidalgos can prevent us from entering the vast Lima market." Some trade officials showed joy, as if they could smash the only remaining local trade protection at once, and then let a large number of goods The goods from the shore flooded in, destroying the last trace of local industrial vitality.

"The problem of the Viceroyalty of Peru is actually easy to solve. We have been operating there for almost ten years, and we have accumulated quite a lot of contacts. It is also more convenient to build a new business order-the customs are all our people, and how much tariffs are collected? It's not up to us - but as our weaker Viceroyalty of New Spain, if we crack the tortoise shells of local vested interests and turn them into agents of ours tied to our Great East Coast Getting on the car is indeed a very delicate job. Not only do we need to send a large number of business and management talents to enter several local commercial ports, but we also have to send a naval fleet to endorse in the early stage, so as to deter some young people." A member of the Corps An industrial and commercial cadre from Fort said, "Moreover, these Spanish vested interests are mostly native-born whites, who have inextricable connections in the Old World, and the network of smugglers who deal with them also extends in all directions. We snatched from them Food will inevitably be hostile to them. How to solve this problem must be planned in advance. I am not worried about Peru, but I am worried about New Spain. This must be paid attention to. Of course, it has nothing to do with entering these markets These costs are bearable compared with the exciting benefits..."

The turbulent discussion lasted for a whole afternoon, Mo San listened with a smile while drinking tea and snacks.In his opinion, the economic colonization measures of the entire Peru and New Spain on the east coast came out of these discussions, and he enjoyed this process very much, because it gave the founders of these countries great benefits. Great satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)