Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1445 Shandong Severe Drought ([-])

"This year is really a good year!" On the main island of Zhoushan, Min Honggui was leading a group of young students to visit the seafood processing base here.In this rather large processing plant, a large group of Dan people from Guangdong are skillfully disemboweling large yellow croakers, small yellow croakers and other marine products, scraping scales, adding salt, and then neatly stacking fish by size in wooden barrels. It is ready to be shipped to other places—mainly Shandong, which is currently suffering from serious disasters.

Zhoushan, the largest fishing ground in China, has almost become their exclusive fishing ground with the intervention of the people from the east coast.Every year during the fishing season, more than [-] tons of various fish can be caught, creating huge economic value, especially when droughts and locust plagues occur all over the country, and when grain production drops sharply, the role of Zhoushan Fishing Ground as a sea granary is even more important. highlighted.

Of course, compared with the Qiandao Islands fishing ground, the largest fishing ground in the world, Zhoushan’s magnitude is obviously not enough. In addition, people on the east coast have been fishing in Sakhalin Island, Qiandao Islands, and Ezo for many years, and they are familiar with the local fishing grounds. In the Qing Dynasty, there are a large number of skilled fishermen and fishing boats, so the annual fishery output is several times that of Zhoushan, which greatly enriches the food reserve in the Heishui area - all kinds of food reserves that have been built since the era of Marshal Mo. The underground ice cellar was almost filled with all kinds of salted fish and frozen meat the year before last, so that the county governments of Dabo, Heishui, and Miaojie counties were planning the second phase of the ice cellar expansion project. Of course, these projects can be stopped now. Because the inventory in the ice cellar has been sent to Shandong, it is empty enough to run.

"It's a pity that the fish here are not as good as the cold-water fish in the black water. The oil is not thick enough, so they are not hungry, otherwise they can support a lot of food. But even so, these fish are still an important supplement for food. The fish given by God If you don’t eat, you don’t eat for nothing.” Min Honggui patted a wooden barrel by his hand, and said with a smile: “You are all the pillars of the country, and some people will inevitably be assigned to the fishery department in the future. The fishery development of the Zhoushan Islands can be It's up to you guys."

Min Honggui is now considered a department-level cadre, and has been sent to Changsha and Nanchang, and his qualifications are not bad, but he still respects these soldiers who graduated from the Bingtuanbao assigned from the mainland.Because he knows very well that these people are the so-called "Students of the Son of Heaven", rich in knowledge and excellent in loyalty. In the end, his position surpassed that of Min, so it is reasonable to respect them a little bit.

Some people may ask if the Zhoushan fishing ground is not the territory of King Lu, why are there so many people from the east coast occupying it now?Hehe, it's actually very simple, that is, King Lu's troops have almost seized most of the four prefectures of Wenzhou, Taizhou, Chuzhou, and Quzhou. too much.Therefore, when the people on the east bank proposed to use the Zhoushan Islands for fishing, King Lu, Zhang Huangyan and others readily agreed to the request of the people on the east coast because of their past "love" I don't like this island anymore, and of course it may have something to do with the hundred good horses that the people on the east coast gave them.

Therefore, after obtaining the name, the people from the east bank placed thousands of Dan people recruited from Guangdong on the island, and then asked them to join the fishing team under the southern pioneer team, specializing in fishing all kinds of sea creatures in the Zhoushan fishing ground. products to replenish food reserves.In addition, because the King Lu regime has actually withdrawn most of the population of Zhoushan (the population of Zhoushan increased sharply after the Qing army went south, most of them were Ming army officials and family members of soldiers, and now naturally they all go to land to live a "good life" ) and officials, so the administration of this archipelago is essentially in the hands of the people on the east coast. If you count the east coast naval ships cruising in the nearby ocean from time to time, the archipelago is almost irrelevant to the territory of the east coast. Different.No wonder some cadres in Ningbo joked that Zhu Yihai and Zhang Huangyan sold the entire Zhoushan Islands to the people on the east coast at the price of a hundred horses. Of course this was a joke.

After everyone visited the seafood processing plant, they came to the dock area, where two merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company were moored.The two ships set off from Siam in early May, loaded with two full ships of old rice, and shipped them to the Zhoushan Islands for delivery according to the agreement. Because there are also a large number of Shandong disaster victims resettled by people from the east coast, they will be in the government. With the help of officials and local aborigines, tens of thousands of acres of farmland have been sown, and the weather here is relatively smooth, and a large part of the grain can be harvested in the autumn harvest, which should solve a lot of food shortages.

"These are Dutch red-haired merchant ships, and they transported more than [-] heather rice. Because they are old rice, the price is relatively cheap." Seeing some students staring at the two merchant ships, Min Honggui explained: "No The solution is that there is not enough money now, so that’s the only way to go. Moreover, in the future, we may not even be able to buy rice, because the development team Yamen has used up all the money to buy rice in the past two years, and even the Bank of Taiwan has no money. Sufficient funds to buy. Besides, there is a large-scale activity of destroying mulberry to replace grains in various places. Even some corners and slopes are planted with beans and other miscellaneous grains. The production of silk, tea, cotton and hemp has dropped sharply. It has also been greatly reduced, and this business is no longer possible, it is difficult, it is really difficult!"

In fact, what Min Honggui said just now is correct. After the crazy purchase of grain throughout last year and the first half of this year, the current deposits of silver have basically been exhausted, not to mention the burden of the three major towns of Heishui, Denglai, and the South. Chong (raised so many officials and the army), there is no money left to continue to purchase food, and even the Bank of Taiwan, which is regarded as a cash cow, is a little bit overwhelmed by the decline in trade scale, so everyone feels helpless at this time , self-reliance has become the only choice to open up wasteland and grow food. Perhaps this can better explain why people on the east coast have searched all over the world for land that can house the victims of the disaster this year. It is really because they have no money.

At present, Jiang Zhiqing, the southern development team (because they are relatively the richest) who undertakes most of the food procurement tasks, has called a meeting of members (mostly local wealthy businessmen and aristocratic families) of the stability maintenance associations in the counties within the jurisdiction, and plans to ask them Borrow part of the silver to continue to purchase grain from the Dutch. After all, a large amount of grain is still needed to fill the gap before the grain is harvested (a large amount of grain is also needed in the initial stage of land reclamation); at the same time, continue to find suitable areas within the scope of the three major towns for land reclamation and planting , if it doesn’t work, go outside to find a way, in short, do everything possible to increase the sown area of ​​grain, because God knows how long the drought and locust plague will last, and it is not an option to always spend money to buy grain.

Ningbo Prefecture has carried out foreign trade for many years. Most of the participants are members of the local stability maintenance association. Although a considerable part of the profits in the trade have been taken away by the Bank of Taiwan, these members still have a lot of money on hand. The total accumulated over the years Also quite substantial.Therefore, Jiang Zhiqing put his idea on them at this time, that is, he asked these wealthy businessmen to lend "several 10 yuan" to the government of the Southern Pioneering Team to purchase grain from the Dutch East India Company to fill the gap in the second half of this year. Even the food shortage in the first half of next year.

To be honest, this "rude" way of making money disgusts the local gentry and businessmen, not to mention that the amount is still several 10 yuan, which makes people feel even more heartbroken.There are only a few members of the Stability Maintenance Association in a county, and there are only a few counties in Ningbo Prefecture. Even ordinary members of the Stability Maintenance Association in underdeveloped areas (that is, less involved in foreign trade) can get a few thousand yuan. Not to mention wealthy businessmen in wealthy counties such as Yin County, Fenghua, and Dinghai, tens of thousands of yuan cannot escape, so this almost aroused unanimous opposition from the leading figures in all counties.

Especially last year, the east bank had just enforced the destruction of mulberry to replace grain, and the army was brutally dispatched to suppress the gentry who openly opposed it. These members of the Stability Maintenance Association had already accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction in their hearts, and this time they actually had to "borrow" from them. "——It is said to be a loan, but in fact everyone understands that there is a loan without repayment—a few 10 yuan in cash, and no explanation is given. How can everyone bear it?Therefore, this time, the gentry from all over the world were extremely united, and they vented their anger in unison under collusion everywhere. Except for a few businessmen who were timid or fearful or deeply entangled in their interests, they borrowed tens of thousands of yuan to the government of the Southern Exploration Team in a low-key way, and the rest of them went all out together. Jiang Zhiqing was a little annoyed that he didn't pull out a dime, but at the same time he was a little vigilant: Are the members of the Stability Maintenance Association from all over Ningbo Prefecture too united?This is not a good thing for the rule of the people on the east coast!

Therefore, this time Jiang Zhiqing planned to borrow money and rectify the Stability Maintenance Committee at the same time.If necessary, it is inevitable to use some means, after all, it is the East Coast people who hold the knife, not the gentry!But then again, last year these gentry merchants had already suffered a loss in the incident of destroying mulberry and changing food, so why did they not improve their memory so much?Is it really hard to give up good fortune?Is money more important than wealth and life, or do they think that the hundreds of regiments in the training bureaus of the counties at hand can compete with the army on the east coast?It's really incomprehensible!

But in any case, the matter of borrowing money involves the life and death of a large number of hungry people in Shandong, which does not depend on anyone's will.Liang Xiangjian, the captain of the Denglai Pioneering Team, believes that "human life is at stake" and that he should "rescue every disaster victim who comes to Denglai as much as possible" and "keep the vitality of the nation as much as possible". If his ability is limited, he even wants to send people to Chaozhou, Huizhou, Guangdong, which were also affected by the disaster, and the eastern part of Hubei to collect victims-so these people have to borrow or not, 50 yuan in cash, a penny No less!

You must know that in the Far East, immigration is politically correct and the highest interest of the country. Nothing else can compare with it. Suffering a big loss is an unavoidable thing.Speaking of it, this is fate. They quickly made a fortune because of the foreign trade dominated by the East Coast, and then quickly destroyed because of their own short-sightedness and overly inflated hearts, which is embarrassing.

"When I was in Malacca, I heard that the British and Dutch East India Companies fought a big fight, and a large number of Dutch armed merchant ships were held back. At least one-third of the ships that were supposed to leave for Amsterdam in January were detained. Some other mobile armed forces also Being transferred to Malabar Coast, Coromandel Coast, Bay of Bengal, and East Indies to block and intercept British ships, this Dutch red hair may not have much capacity to transport food for us? Although it is now purchased from Nanyang for sale Going to Ningbo and Denglai has become more and more a big business.” A young soldier from Bingtuanbao said, “The British East India Company is not good at it. In recent years, it has imported cotton cloth, saltpetre, gemstones, They have made a lot of money in various specialty products such as silk (cotton cloth alone can earn more than 20 pounds a year), not to mention the lucrative trade in pepper, cloves and nutmeg. How could they be willing to give up this A large gold mine with huge profits? Therefore, it has become an inevitable choice for the British East India Company to increase investment in the East India Sea and try its best to deal with the Dutch East India Company.”

"However, it is estimated that the British East India Company will not be able to compete with the Dutch in the end." Another tall student said: "Before I left, I heard from a classmate who worked in the diplomatic department that the difference in capital between the two companies was too great. There may be a gap of five to ten times. If it weren’t for the fact that the stalls laid by the Dutch were too large, there would be too many islands to guard (each island would also need to build a castle, depending on the importance of stationing tens to hundreds of German hired Bing), if there are too many enemies of the chieftains, the British East India Company will not be able to effectively contend with them. In fact, the situation is now very clear. The Portuguese and the British are united in India and the Spice Islands to keep warm and jointly deal with the wealthy The powerful Dutch East India Company, otherwise, I am afraid that it would not be able to survive at this moment, and would have been driven out of that fertile sea area by the Dutch long ago."

"The British and the Portuguese are said to have lost more than ten ships from last year to this year. Most of them were captured by the Dutch, and a few were destroyed. Of course, they also captured or sunk many Dutch merchant ships. But if the competition continues like this , I really doubt how long the Portuguese and the British can last, after all, no one can beat the Dutch.” Another person interrupted, seeming to be very worried about the British and Portuguese in his words, probably because he also I don't want to see the Dutch East India Company dominate the Far East and break the balance of the situation.Although the people on the east bank are currently cooperating with them happily, it does not mean that they want the power of the Dutch East India Company to continue to expand. This is not very beneficial to the people on the east coast. Does Li have any adverse actions against the east bank, such as continuing to stealthily trade with the Manchus or something.

After seeing the proud sons of heaven happily discussing the situation of the Anglo-Dutch war, Min Honggui could only open his mouth in a daze. His lack of global vision is the biggest weakness of "local turtle officials" like him, and it is also the glass ceiling for their promotion. , so he listened enviously to the discussion of these students, and his thoughts seemed to fly to the surface of the North Sea, which was full of artillery fire.

(End of this chapter)