Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1345 Rio ([-])

"In the tropical forests of South America, the fishing industry often plays a role in keeping pace with the hunting industry, or even surpasses the hunting industry, in feeding the Indians who are still in the primitive stage. The Indians in the General District of Rio de Janeiro are So. They shoot fish big and small with arrows and spears with great precision. Among the barbarians in other places, there is also a fishing technique called 'dingbo', which is a kind of poison. The upper reaches of the river are sprinkled into the water, and after the fish are poisoned and stunned, they can be easily rounded up in the lower reaches. They get some meat from alligators, lizards and snakes, and besides preying on deer, capybaras, rabbits and other animals, The 'old owners' of this land don't even rule out using monkeys and armadillos as food, of course, they don't eat softshell turtles, this kind of animal is very precious to them..." Lieutenant Zhou Yafu is receiving himself in the port of Hue Zhou Yu, the lieutenant of the navy who returned from the front to rest.

"Although I may not be able to stay here for a long time in Hue Port, I still decided to leave something of myself here and establish some kind of order that conforms to economic laws." Lieutenant Zhou Yafu gave his brother who served in the navy After drinking a cup of green tea, he sat down and said: "I have decided that in the future Hue will mainly be planted with cotton and sugarcane, and some tropical fruits such as bananas, pineapples, and coconuts (need to be imported from Xinhua Island) will be planted. There should be a lot of market. As for coffee, cocoa and so on, I haven’t found an area suitable for planting these crops yet, so let’s leave it to the next generation, because I can’t do everything.”

"What is the biggest problem in the development of the Hue area?" Zhou Yu, the captain of the escort gunboat "Golden River Tiger" and a lieutenant in the navy, asked after drinking Ningbo green tea.

"A lot, the first of which is probably the lack of infrastructure, such as roads, storage facilities, etc. In the era of the Portuguese, these were not well developed, and the plantation owners were content to use bullock carts to transport on muddy roads. Commodities, of course, this is also related to the small population and underdeveloped economy of Rio de Janeiro. If it is in Bahia or Pernambuco in the north, a road like this is definitely unacceptable. Of course, the planters there may More often, river transport is used as the main transportation method.” Zhou Yafu tapped the table with his right index finger, and thoughtfully said: “The so-called roads on the Hue Port side are not even third-class national roads in China, at best they are rural roads. It’s just a dirt road. This kind of road is neither suitable for marching nor for transporting goods. Even traveling alone in rainy weather is a disaster, and it is a big constraint on agricultural production, so it must be improved.”

"Secondly, Brazil's inherent land ownership system also greatly restricts the development of agriculture. Therefore, the existing laws of our country must be strictly enforced, that is, the land held by individuals must not exceed [-] acres, and more must be divested. Because according to syphilis patients According to the report of the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation, in many areas of Brazil, carefully planting grapes, tobacco or figs on two acres of land can guarantee the life of a family, and its income is not much worse than that of some small estates with far more land than them. Because of its high output." Zhou Yafu continued: "Of course, this is also related to the location of the land and whether there is a consumer market nearby. But in any case, it is obvious that many manors in Brazil have too large operating areas, which hinders the effective use of land. , In addition, their planting methods are too rough to be intensively cultivated, and the damage to the land is too great. After a few years of tossing around, they can be downgraded to middle fields, so this situation must be improved. "

"Indeed, I have heard about these things." Zhou Yu said with some agreement, "Generally speaking, the main argument for defending the large estate system is that it is easier to use machines in large estates, but in the current East Shore, such an argument is of little value. What's more, small and medium-sized business units can also use machines, either by joining together to form cooperatives, or asking government-run or privately-run specialized organizations—such as agricultural machinery leasing companies— —Renting equipment is now done in rural areas in many places in China, and this has undoubtedly created a boom in the agricultural machinery leasing and maintenance market, and has a more obvious role in stimulating related industries.”

After the two chatted for a long time, Zhou Yu was invited by his brother to go to the countryside on the outskirts of Hue Port to see what is different about this tropical suburb.

The countryside on the outskirts is currently undergoing a vigorous transformation. Although the new immigrants from the Ming Dynasty are not used to the climate here, they are quite satisfied with the living conditions.For example, most of the houses allocated to them are left over from the Portuguese rule, especially those large manors, which are mostly brick, stone and wood mixed structures, which are relatively strong, solid, and of good quality, and they are quite comfortable to live in. It was distributed to the new immigrants (reasonably arrange the number of households according to the size of the manor building, and let them redeem the property rights of the house in the form of low-interest loans), which made them all grateful.After all, their living environment is much better than that of many new immigrants who live in huts or shacks in the inland areas.

In addition, the new immigrants are quite satisfied with their future lifestyle, especially most of them are farmers from the former Qingjiangpu suburbs, and they usually grow vegetables, fruits, and poultry to supply the needs of urban life.This will bring them to the relatively humid and hot place of Rio de Janeiro, and still let them grow tomatoes and other vegetables, open up some orchards such as citrus, bananas and pineapples, and then raise chickens, ducks, geese and a few cattle and sheep. This life seems to be the same as before. Not too much difference, so one by one is relatively easy, if you ignore the uncomfortable hot and humid climate here.

"Tropical fruits such as bananas, pineapples, and citrus are also in great demand locally. And I also took the time to find out that there is no conflict with the orchard industry that is being developed in Northern Patagonia. There are mostly plums, Plows, apples, grapes, cherries and other fruits are not related to our tropical varieties, so this can be done. You know, in the past years, our country imported from Peru, New Spain, New China and Brazil every year The total amount of tropical dried fruit exceeds 15 yuan, and the market is quite large." Zhou Yafu pointed to a row of orchards (properties left by the Portuguese) on the side of the road, and said: "Now these lands are slowly being divided, immigrants Those who have money can buy it on the spot, and those who have no money can get low-interest loans from the Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperative or the Northwest Reclamation Bank. All they need to do is apply, and the approval process is very fast. Go back, and then gradually repay the principal and interest of the loan after the output is produced, in kind or cash, the conditions are relatively favorable, and it is also welcomed by these new immigrants. With these new and old immigrants taking root here, we can Pat your chest and say that we have established a ruling order here, otherwise it is bullshit."

"Sufficient and timely agricultural loans and flexible and diverse loan repayment methods are probably also a major advantage of China's agriculture." Zhou Yafu said: "In other countries, the scarcity of agricultural credit is probably one of its main shortcomings. In order to obtain loans, farmers have to pay relatively high interest. As a result, they either go bankrupt or raise the cost and price of agricultural products. Of course, this does not help to stimulate production. It is more fertile, and I am afraid it is impossible to have a better effect of stimulating production. Our Brazilian rural financial cooperative has a lower threshold than the Northwest Reclamation Bank, and the interest rate is also lower. Its main mission is to help individual farmers or agricultural cooperatives, Agricultural machinery leasing companies, agricultural machinery maintenance companies, agricultural product sales and transportation companies, etc., and provide funds for the payment of agricultural product production costs, product processing and sales. Although they have not been established for a long time and the capital is not sufficient, they have already established in Brazil The vast rural areas in the occupied areas have played an inestimable role.”

Speaking of this, I have to mention that the Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperative was originally an institution established by the Army system to carry out economic plunder, and it mainly issued military tickets on weekdays.However, after the civil servants "desperately" regained the ownership of this financial institution, after a long period of rectification, this institution that was originally a bait and sell dog meat has really turned into a genuine national brand (the Ministry of Finance holds 80% of the shares) , the introduced strategic investor Dongan Company holds 20% of the shares) as for financial companies, they are completely on the right track.

The Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperative has been carrying out the recycling of various types of military tickets a while ago, and has invested about 30 yuan in funds, solving half of the number of military tickets in circulation (wiping a big butt for the army and navy... ), at present, the agency is still carrying out the follow-up military ticket recovery work in an orderly manner, but the business focus has inevitably shifted to agricultural credit. For example, the agency has issued a total of A low-interest loan of more than 34 yuan was provided to support agricultural production activities in the southern region of Brazil, which is said to be "a lot of waste".

Of course, the amount of loans issued to these plantation investors with a certain amount of capital has never accounted for the mainstream of the total loans of Brazilian rural financial cooperatives. Their main form is still small loans issued by individuals or families. But the advantage lies in the large number of people, and the sum of money is huge.It is also thanks to the mobilization of many people in China to deposit their deposits in the Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperative, which has increased the capital adequacy ratio of the cooperative. Otherwise, there may not be enough funds to issue loans.

Zhou Yu nodded while listening to his brother. He is also very interested in Brazil as he has invested in sisal plantations in Xinhua Island. After all, it is too close to the core consumption area of ​​the country. Time can reach major ports in the south, which makes it possible to transport and sell tropical fruits, without the need to make canned or dried fruits and bring them back to the mainland.The other is that the cotton and sugar cane planted in Rio de Janeiro are closer to the mainland. Although the cost may not be cheaper than that of Xinhua Island, it should not be difficult to compete with other places, such as British North America and Florida. Therefore, it is quite attractive for investors.

Well, if coconuts are introduced from Xinhua Island (coconut palms have not spread to West Africa and America at this time, and it is only a small amount of spread on the coast of East Africa from Southeast Asia), and lemons and other fruits are introduced from Tahiti Island. The variety of agricultural products will also be more abundant, and the future development will be more optimistic.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yu is also thinking about whether he should invest in some industries in the Hue area if he has time in the future. After all, if the money is put in a bank account, there will be no cubs. It is better to invest in real industries. Profit, otherwise it is a dead thing and serves no purpose.

"How about the threat from the Indians here? I mean what is their attitude towards us?" Zhou Yu suddenly thought of a question, so he asked.

"It's not a big problem." Zhou Yafu was taken aback when he heard the words, and then said quite relaxedly: "Although there are a lot of these people, they are not too many for us to deal with. Some of them were originally controlled by the Portuguese. After the war, some were dragged to build roads, some were sent to overseas colonies, and some died or fled, which is no longer the climate; the real worry is actually those half-civilized and half-ignorant barbarians in the mountains or in the woods People, these people may have suffered from the Portuguese and Mameluco people. They have always been hostile to outsiders. If they make a mistake, they will attack and kill them. It is impossible to communicate, so I decided to wipe them all out, so as not to worry about it later. Trouble."

"The only thing to worry about is that the general area of ​​Rio de Janeiro is relatively hot and humid, the environment is relatively harsh, and the terrain is relatively complicated. If the army is dispatched to sweep it, the number of personnel lost due to illness may be exaggerated. The situation is enough to see—they have recruited two new recruits.” Lieutenant Zhou, who once “made famous” in the battle of storming Sugarloaf Mountain and the Fortress of the Conception of the Virgin, said nonchalantly: “But they are all cannon fodder. It’s a consumable, so it’s not a pity to be killed or injured, anyway, their mission is to be the pioneer of the king, to continuously expand new territories for the people of the Eastern China Republic, and it’s best to consume each other with the Indians.”

Zhou Yu was a little speechless after hearing this. My brother is good at everything, but he doesn't take human life seriously. He commands the battle and fights fiercely, with a tough style. I really don't know what to say.

On July 1663, 7, Lieutenant Zhou Yu returned to the navy after rest, and Lieutenant Zhou Yafu, who was stationed in Hue Port, also brought his troops with him, planning to go to the inland area to supervise the bandit suppression work of the Xiayou Army.

(End of this chapter)