Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1396 Guild ([-])

Li Renjun just woke up from his nap.

He is no longer young and is now in a semi-retired state. Apart from listening to opera, boxing, and pruning flowers and plants every day, he has nothing else to do.A lot of business dealings have been handed over to a few sons and daughters. At most, I can use my spare heat to help them finally take the helm.

After all, he is getting old, so he has to accept his old age.Thinking of the National People's Congress at the end of last year, many familiar old faces were missing, and many new faces of young and middle-aged people were added. A pile of loess?What's the point of fighting and fighting all day long!

However, people always have ties, and he, Li Renjun, was no different.No, after talking to him once, the already semi-retired Li Renjun had no choice but to go into battle again, planning to come forward to establish a tobacco wholesaler's guild.This is also one of the only two tobacco industry associations in the country. The other is the Tobacco Importers Association established in Luocha Port two years ago. It is composed of more than ten tobacco importers. Now the momentum is very bad. Small.

Li Renjun will serve as the chairman of this newly established industry guild, because the ships of the Renjun Trading Company under his name go to New Courland to purchase tobacco and sell it back to the mainland all the year round, coupled with his relatively distinguished status, he is the chairman. There is basically no suspense.Fortunately, this job is also very leisurely on weekdays. The members of the guild probably don't have much time to get together and talk nonsense. It's great to have two or three meetings a year. There are not many things to be busy with, and this is undoubtedly He likes the ones that meet Li Renjun's requirements very much, such as those that are leisurely.

Some people may ask, Li Renjun used to import a large amount of tobacco in New Courland, and also imported a considerable number of Congolese black slaves every year. The trade volume may even exceed the tobacco trade volume by a lot. Why not What about being the leader of the slave merchants' guild?Ahem, are you stupid? What kind of country is the east bank? It is a country without slavery!Although the vast number of non-national laborers have actually played the role of some slaves, considering that they only need to work for more than five years, they can apply for naturalization and become citizens of the East Coast Republic of China, and their daily living conditions are not bad. , There is also such a pitiful salary that you can get, so it is not accurate to say that they are slaves, so what the hell are you setting up a slave merchants guild?That's politically incorrect!

However, this kind of industry guild cannot be established publicly, but it does not mean that the slave trade does not exist in the East Coast.In fact, the ships under the name of Li Renjun transport a large number of black slaves from Port Jacob every year, exceeding 500 people. The gross profit of this item alone exceeds 8000 yuan, making it the most profitable business under the Renjun Trading Company. ,none of them!This is because the East Coast government does not allow local private employers to sign labor contracts with blacks, so that the Congolese black slaves cannot be sold at a high price. If the restrictions on private slavery are relaxed, the price of the Congolese black slaves may not be fixed. To roll up and down.

New Courland, now the east coast is becoming increasingly inseparable from the products they provide, and this may be the reason why Li Renjun, the newly-minted president of the Tobacco Wholesalers Industry Association, came forward to conduct business negotiations with the other party— — Today is the day of the appointment, and the negotiation venue is in the courtyard of Li Renjun in Dongfang Port. On the east bank side is Li Renjun, and on the Courland side is the Knight Krivitz who has now been transferred to the colonial management.

Li Renjun, who had just woken up from his afternoon nap, put on his clothes at a leisurely pace, washed his face, and accompanied by his two younger nephews, he came to the living room to meet Knight Krivitz, who was already waiting here It took more than half an hour.

However, Li Renjun didn't have the slightest sense of being late. He only heard him say in a still loud voice after ordering the servants to serve tea: "Knight Krivitz, it's really not a big deal to find you this time. I just want to confirm some business cooperation with you. I heard that you want to reduce the quota of tobacco, ivory and slaves exported to the east coast. Is this true? I don’t want to hear the reason, but just want to know if it is fact."

Knight Crivitz was a little embarrassed when he heard this, because this was not a "legend", but a "fact". In fact, New Courland wanted to reduce the tobacco and slave quotas exported to the east coast, but the ivory and timber did not. On the contrary, there is a slight increase, because the domestic demand on the east coast is relatively large.

This decision was made by Prince Frederick, lord of the ducal town, supreme authority in New Courland, heir to the duchy, so even Governor Hewitt de Beveren strongly opposed it attitude, but it doesn’t help, because Prince Frederick’s attitude is also very firm—however, in view of New Courland’s extreme dependence on the east coast, Prince Frederick dare not rashly throw out this possibility The policy of offending the people on the east coast, but first carefully released the news through private businessmen, and then sent Krivitz, a moderate official, to purchase goods and inquire about the situation by the way.

The reason why they want to do this is more due to the dual interests of both economics and politics. To be more precise, the Dutch West India Company came to the door and paid the Courlandians at a price that was higher than the market. Buy tobacco.Because of the damn war with the English, they have lost most of their tobacco import sources. A large number of tobacco processing companies in Amsterdam have no choice but to shut down. The idea of ​​the up-and-coming Courlandians on the market.

The Courlandians were naturally very willing to export tobacco to the United Provinces, both for economic and political reasons.The economic factor is naturally that the price given by the Dutch is high enough and attractive enough, and the political factor also has the meaning of being close to their thighs. After all, the dominance of the United Provinces in the Baltic Sea is not just talking about it-Sweden is so invincible The country fought against Poland and Denmark at the beginning, but when the Dutch made up their minds to intervene, they had to withdraw their troops, which shows how strong they are.For such a country, the Principality of Courland, which has always felt precarious, naturally hopes to be curry favor with it. This has nothing to do with anything else, but the instinct of survival.

As with tobacco, so with slaves, but a little more complicated.Because there have been many large-scale infrastructure projects on the east coast in recent years, the demand for Congolese black slaves has remained high, so New Courland has been urged to increase the export of slaves to the east coast every year.As a result, the Kurlanders were a little unhappy. You must know that every time they sold a black slave to the east bank, they usually only received 50-60 yuan, because slaves were not allowed on the east coast. Even blacks who could not apply for naturalization were sent away to the North American Free State after working for seven years at the longest.In such a situation, naturally people from the east coast cannot be expected to pay a high price for a black slave, because they are not enslaved black slaves for life, and cannot accept the price of tens of pounds or hundreds of guilders for a slave, so the Kurlanders have a reason Dissatisfied, after all, they are after profits, but the buyer on the east bank can't give them high profits.Just at this time, people from the Dutch West India Company came to the door, so everything will be a matter of course.

Li Renjun has been in the tobacco and black slave trade for a long time, so he naturally knows all about it.Therefore, as soon as he caught the wind and grass, he immediately understood the minds of these Courlandians, but as a member of the ruling class on the east bank, he couldn't bear this kind of betrayal by the Courlandians.Yes, that's right, what the Kurlanders did was betrayal!You know, because they failed to help the Principality of Courland win reparations in the war against Portugal, the East Coast people have promised to provide New Courland with two low-interest loans totaling 15 yuan, and at the same time give them 30 places to study abroad , Renovate the water and sewage facilities in Duke Town, and increase the share of pharmaceutical exports by one-third.Such conditions are not unreasonable, but in the end, the Courlandians are still like white-eyed wolves. In order to please the Dutch, they even want to sacrifice part of the interests of the east coast. How can this be tolerated?As a result, the people on the east coast became angry, which led to Li Renjun's direct questioning just now.

Of course, Knight Krivitz understood the reasons for the anger of the people on the east coast, and he was also a little apprehensive.But who let Archduke Jacob and Prince Frederick live in Windau or Mitau for most of the year?In their view, New Courland is nothing more than a tropical cash machine compared to that where Courland is fundamentally located—in short, when Courland itself is threatened, the New Courland Courland is an object that can be sacrificed, so they have a move to curry favor with the Dutch, although it is just a debt-ridden and problematic West India Company.

Facing Li Renjun's question at this moment, Knight Krivitz didn't know how to answer, so he could only say helplessly in German: "Honorable Mr. Li, I don't know how to answer your question. I can only say, we I cherish the friendship with your country very much, and Governor Beveren has been working hard to maintain the friendly relationship between the two sides, and has made a lot of efforts for this..."

"Maintenance? Is this how you maintain bilateral relations?" Li Renjun asked indifferently: "Of course you are free to choose your trading partner, and we naturally have no right to interfere in this. But you must know that we can also withdraw our agreement with you at any time. All assistance, security or otherwise! I am already wondering whether it is necessary to load South African grain, salted fish and cured meat on our ship to Jacob's Harbor next month. Yes, because our country's grain production in the past two years has not achieved the expected growth, and grain prices have also risen by 10% in the past six months. Is it inappropriate to export at this time?"

"In addition, Mr. Krivitz, you also know that some key materials are lacking, and the production of many medicines in our country is limited, so the supply is relatively difficult. In order to squeeze out the part exported to New Courland, it has already angered our country. The Xinhua Island colony complained a lot, and they all complained that the government did not care enough about their needs. Therefore, it is debatable whether to change some of the previous export policies at this time to focus on supplying the country." Li Renjun said bluntly Said: "Of course, if your country's New Courland colony does not intend to change the past trade policy, then everything is still negotiable, and we will still cherish the friendship between the two parties."

When Knight Krivitz heard these words relayed by the translator, he could only smile wryly: This result is predictable, and Prince Frederick took it for granted. The United Provinces are a man-eating tiger. Don't wolves eat people?They really think they are easy to talk to!There is no doubt that New Courland cannot continue without aid and trade on the east coast. Therefore, before starting trade with the Dutch, at least give priority to ensuring the supply on the east coast, otherwise the consequences unbearable.

"Also, tell me, have England and the United Provinces declared war?" Li Renjun looked at Krivitz's constantly changing expression, snorted coldly, and asked again.

"Yes, honorable Mr. Li. We just had a fast ship sailing from the Baltic Sea, and they brought the first news. In February this year, Britain and the Netherlands had already declared war on each other, but because of the winter in the North Sea The sea conditions are bad, so the big fleets of the two countries have not yet engaged in a decisive battle, but it will be a matter of time, sir. Moreover, according to the information we have gathered, the Dutch colony in Guyana has been occupied by the British, and so has the New Netherlands. Occupied by the British, Cape Kos is still in the hands of the British, and Druiter's fleet failed to recover it. In addition, Curacao and Tobago are also in danger. In short, the situation of the Dutch is very bad. Wonderful, all fronts have been defeated. But I believe this is because they have not yet used their full strength. Now the monarchs all over Europe want to know whether the large fleet that the Dutch have spent the past two years building up. Being able to really compete with the English at sea is the most important thing." Krivitz Knight said: "Of course, we firmly believe that the Dutch fleet will win this duel, because they really spent A lot of energy."

The news of Britain and the Netherlands declaring war on each other has not yet reached the east coast, so Li Renjun was a little distracted when he heard the Courlandians talking about it. These two old enemies are finally fighting!And does this also mean opportunities for people on the east coast?You know, waiting for an opportunity to seize a piece of New Netherland and British South Africa-of course, the newly appointed members of the new executive committee tend to take British South Africa, because it is close enough to the mainland and the location is critical enough-always It was an important strategic decision made before the war. With the official declaration of war between Britain and the Netherlands, people on the east coast should keep their eyes open and be ready to reap this fruit at any time!

(End of this chapter)