Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1346 Rio ([-])

Two three-masted galleons sailed into Hue Bay one after the other.

Knight Krivitz wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although he has been in the Congo River Basin for so long, he still can't adapt to the extremely humid and sultry climate there. He often misses the cool city of Mitao ( Capital of the Duchy of Courland).It's a pity that he can never go back. His wife and children, his fief, and almost all his wealth are located in New Courland on the banks of the Congo River. Continue to stay in this humid, stuffy place and continue to suffer from the environment.

"It would be great if I could buy some essential oils and cooling oils in Rio de Janeiro. Well, it would be best to have 108 medicinal liquors. These are all in short supply, but I guess it will be difficult. You still have to go to Qingdao to buy these products." When getting off the boat, Knight Krivitz was thinking silently.

The essential oils, refreshing oils, and ax brand wind-dispelling oils produced on the east coast have become popular on both sides of the Congo River since Li Renjun’s trading company staff brought them to New Courland. To purchase essential medicines in these tropics.It's a pity that the East Coast's own production is limited now, and there is still not enough time to meet the domestic needs, so naturally very few are exported to foreign countries.

This time Governor Beveren sent someone to talk about it, raised the purchase price, talked about the traditional friendship between the two countries, and finally complained about how miserable the Courland army was in Luanda, and finally succeeded in persuading the East Coast Health The Ministry issued some drug export quotas to them, and said that the South Sea Transportation Company could only be used as the sole sales agent to transport drugs and other materials to Jakob Harbor on a fixed date every year for delivery, which slightly satisfied the wishes of the Courlandians.

However, whenever any Courlandian ship goes to the east coast, whether for trade or other reasons, its captain and sailors are told to take advantage of the rare opportunity to snap up some medicines in the cities of the east coast people, especially wind oil, which is in short supply. Essence, cooling oil, carminative oil and other commodities.If you really don’t have any (because most of these medicines are sold out as soon as they arrive at the store), you should also buy as much as possible, such as 108 medicinal wine (can treat malaria in the infrared stage), aspirin, opium wine, cod liver oil, aloe vera oil, senna, More than ten kinds of medicines, such as foxglove preparation, Huoluo oil, and safflower oil, were brought back to New Courland to slightly alleviate the pain of the local people's shortage of medicines.

It can be said that the ability of the New Courland Colony to persist and develop more and more outstandingly is inseparable from the medicines, food, weapons, tools, daily necessities and other commodities produced by the people on the east coast, not to mention that the people on the east coast also It is helping the Kurlanders to renovate the urban infrastructure and establish water and sewage facilities and sewage treatment institutions - the way is that the people on the east bank send engineering and technical personnel, and the Kurlanders provide labor and materials (which also need to be purchased from the east bank) ——In order to reduce the outbreak rate of urban epidemics, it can be said that the current New Courland is an economic colony of the East Coast people and is not a country. The trade, cultural and military exchanges between the two sides are quite frequent. Hundreds of New Courland nationals in various ports on the shore can tell.

This time the Krivitz Knights brought two ships to the Port of Rio de Janeiro, which is already in the control zone on the east coast—well, it is now renamed "Hue Port"—for trade, of course, and their two ships The ship was filled with a large amount of tobacco, ivory, wood, Cabinda bark and Congolese black slaves, and a small amount of gold (taken from the natives, the quality is not very good) to balance the trade, and planned to buy it from the people on the east coast A lot of goods, such as: weapons and ammunition, cloth, salt, sugar, tea, wine, spices, tools, metal products, paper, leather goods and a series of goods, some of which are purchased in Hue Port, and some need to Go to Dongfang, Qingdao, or even Yancheng in the south to buy.

Of course, many of the above-mentioned commodities were not bought for New Courland. A considerable part of the daily necessities will be sold in the mid-river region of South Africa, and then replaced with salted fish, cured meat, grains and other foods, and then brought back to New Courland. Sale.The triangular trade is not limited to people from the east coast who can do it themselves, the Courlandians can do it as well!

However, New Courland may not have to work so hard in the future, because under the joint care of the shrewd and capable Governor Beveren and the wise Prince Frederick, New Courland has roughly cleaned up a large area of ​​land on both sides of the Congo River. The colony has already introduced a lot of sugar cane from the Canary Islands and began to try to grow it.Once the sugar cane plantations are successfully developed in the future, it is believed that the New Courland Colony will launch the fourth largest commodity, sugar, after the three major products of tobacco, timber and black slaves, and the development of the entire colony will also reach a new level.

"Mr. Krivitz, you are finally here, more than half a month later than expected, I thought you and your ship would never show up again." He Yuan, who was transferred here from Hong Kong to serve as the head of customs, said teasingly.In fact, he had contact with this Krivitz knight before. At that time, this Germanized Livonian bought some dried fruits, pottery and soap in Hai'an Port. The amount was relatively large, so the two sides had a few chats .

"Mr. He, I heard people from Renjun Trading Company say that you have been promoted from deputy customs chief to customs chief. I didn't expect that you were transferred to the port of Rio de Janeiro. This really surprised me." Kerry temporarily changed into an elegant uniform Knight Witz stepped forward and hugged He Yuan heavily, and said with a smile.

He Yuan smiled and didn't say anything, but he couldn't hide the complacency in his eyes.Thinking about how high-spirited he was when he married Liu Wei, the daughter of Liu Dafa, the veteran of the navy, when he graduated as an honor student from the navigation school. Under the care of my father-in-law, I took up the real position of the newly established deputy customs chief of Hai'an Port, but I couldn't get rid of the depression in my heart.

Fortunately, after so many years, his mood has also adjusted somewhat. After working hard for five or six years as the deputy head of Hai'an Port Customs, last month, after the formal establishment of Hue Port Customs, he again Standing out from the crowd of competitors, he climbed to the throne of Hue Customs Commissioner. In today's east coast, he can't be regarded as a petty official—of course, his wife Liu Wei had to toss again Once, I was transferred from a branch of the Northwest Reclamation Bank in northern Patagonia to work in the newly established branch of the Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperative near the port of Hue, but all this was worth it compared to my husband's high promotion.

"Sea voyages will always have various meanings, and God will not be merciful to me every time, maybe one day I will be swallowed by the boundless waves of the Atlantic Ocean." Knight Krivitz shrugged Shrugged and explained: "However, the important thing is that I finally came, isn't it? The cargo is in the cabin, you can send someone to unload and inspect it, and you can discuss the price with my men in detail, but you can't There was too much deviation before."

"Very good, Mr. Krivitz." He Yuan nodded, and then called his deputy to negotiate with the officials of the Port Authority, intending to settle the calculation of this batch of cargo as soon as possible - the cargo unloaded at Hue Port will be The more than 400 Congolese black slaves on board, these people are the special labor force specially approved by the Executive Committee for the renovation and expansion of the port of Hue (the original primitive facilities of the Portuguese can no longer meet the docking of ships on the east coast). Sloppy.

"Have you got Fengyoujing or Qingliang oil recently? What about Huoluo oil and safflower oil? None? God, this is really bad enough!" Krivitz Knight discovered that there are no such things in a tropical port like Hue Port After the medicines were sold, I felt a little disappointed. The quantity of such medicines transported by the South China Sea Transportation Company of the people on the east coast to Jakob Port for sale was seriously insufficient. I originally expected to purchase some from the east coast to make up the gap, but now it seems that there is no way Yes, but there are more or less other medicines, and I can buy some and bring them back to New Courland, which is barely a consolation.

"The 'goods' you want are in the dock barracks. There are a total of 498 people, half of whom are Portuguese and Mameluco. They are all 'prisoners of war'. You can send someone to check, there should be no problem, bring them back New Courland is also a good labor force, and it has professional skills, which is quite good. If we don’t want to keep these hated guys, we won’t be cheap for you, Mr. Krivitz.” He Yuancong He took out a small notebook in his pocket, and said while recording: "Counting this group and the Portuguese villagers transported from the old continent by our naval escort formation before, you New Kurlanders have introduced a total of more than [-] people. A Portuguese and his mixed descendants, tsk tsk, what a great deal."

"The Kingdom of Portugal has declared war on us, of course we have to express our attitude to them." Krivitz Knight said nonchalantly, "Besides, these people are really relatively useful labor force, many of them also run orchards, Some of the Protestants (referring to the new Christians, the Jews who were ordered to practice by the King of Portugal, and the proportion of these people accounted for [-]% of the early white immigrants in Brazil) are still very Good craftsmen and financial consultants, with a lot of professional knowledge. You must know that before these people came, only those who could speak German in New Courland had some professional financial or management knowledge. Useful. If you don’t want to use these people, then leave them to us. In fact, Governor Beveren has always been very interested in these people. Many people with professional skills have been pardoned by him as slaves. home."

Of course, what Krivitz did not mention is that the environment in the Congo River Basin is too harsh. Many immigrants from Courland or Poland died because of unacceptable water and soil. The causes of death are also strange. In short, this greatly reduces the local The number of white people.Moreover, as the intensity of the Polish-Russian War gradually decreased, and the Russian Imperial Army was gradually expelled from Lithuania, the Principality of Courland basically could not get any immigrants. The great country that made the Principality of Courland look up to and tremble—at least on the surface.

And because of this, now Grand Duke Jacob, Prince Frederick, and Governor Beveren are all very concerned about adding new sources of white immigrants and increasing the number of "civilized people" in Courland. When the East Coasters sold them the Portuguese and the Mamelucos in private, Courland and the East Coast almost hit it off and quickly reached an agreement.It’s just that the arrival of these Portuguese immigrants not only supplemented the white population of New Courland (although they were still indentured slaves), but also improved the local professional technology and management level, which made He Yuan feel a little bit Surprised—well, when the seller was negotiating the price, didn't the outcry be a bit low?

After discussing the general matters with Knight Krivitz, all that was left was for the entourages of the two sides to bargain and complete the transaction. This process lasted only one day.On the second day (July 7), the Kurlanders replenished fresh water at Hue Port, then hurriedly set sail, and headed southward along the Brazilian warm current, heading straight for Dongfang Port, the capital on the east coast.

And after these Baltic people left, on July 7, two merchant ships from the Mediterranean Sea also quietly sailed into the port of Hue. Cheese, white wine, European clothing, livestock, ore, and many daily necessities lacking on the east coast), and was temporarily employed when passing through the Cape Verde Islands, bringing back a batch of spoils captured in the Portuguese battle back to the east coast.

The business instinct of the Italians has always been admired by everyone on the east coast, so it is not without reason that these two merchant ships came to call at Hue Port.In fact, they had already contacted the East Coast government last year, and after the negotiation reached an agreement, these Italians planned to come to Rio de Janeiro General District to investigate the feasibility of opening sugar cane, coffee, cocoa and other tropical cash crops, just like they invested in East Coast before. It is the same as the coastal railway, the opening of forestry enterprises, and the establishment of sugar cane plantations.

Especially today when the international sugar price has risen sharply, opening sugar cane plantations and sugar mills has become more and more profitable. Therefore, Italian businessmen with strong capital can't help but plan to join this gluttony. During the feast.Before, they were unable to colonize the Caribbean, so they could only go to the New World to beat the drums through investment and other means. The income was very limited, and sometimes even their shares were hacked, but this still did not stop them from investing in the tropical economy. Crop determination.And with Dong'an, a long-term and reputable partner, it would be a surprise if these Italians didn't come forward without shame.

Therefore, now He Yuan saw these Italians, a group of greedy businessmen with golden eyes.

(End of this chapter)