Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1496 Central Valley ([-])

"So, Mr. Casemiro, almost all the documents to be handed over have been handed over. Can you tell us about your experience and gratitude for working in this area for so many years? I believe this is very useful for our own management. Meaning, of course, this is not free, we have prepared some small gifts, I hope you like it." After saying this, Liu Jianguo, the commissioner of the Southern Chile Regional Administration, waved his hand, and then his secretary brought a Turin Sao Paulo A bank check worth [-] bank lire, Liu Jianguo pushed the check in front of Casemiro, and said, "For friends, we people on the east coast are never stingy."

Casemiro quickly glanced at the check in front of him, and after recognizing the beautiful cursive Latin and the logo of the Bank of Sao Paulo on it, he put the check in his pocket calmly, then cleared his throat, and said: "We have only two cities and a few decent villages and towns in the area south of the Bueno River. The economy is mainly based on entrepot trade. As you know, this trade feeds more than one-third of the people here. Population. However, after the towns are handed over to you, I am not optimistic about the future of this trade. If the area south of the Bueno River wants to develop, a new way must be found, and I Thinking that this new approach is out there, that’s what we’ve been doing before.”

"Do you mean mining? Sulfur mining near the Andes, and quarrying along the western coast? Yes, those are good economic growth points, I remember you employing a lot of Araucan there People? How is the situation now?" Liu Jianguo asked with great interest.

"At present, they should still be in the mines, there are mercenary guards, and they should not be able to escape. But if my prediction is correct, those mines should be in a state of suspension or semi-production now, because of the uncertainty of the situation." Kasai Miro said: "They may want to wait and see what your government will do with their investment and the Araucan miners they hire. Well, it's not actually a hire, it's a 'Mita' The Indians who were forced to serve in the mines, although their families were detained in the mines, but these people often escape. To be honest, they are not very good miners. They are not as resistant to rough and heavy work as the blacks. They are weak and disease-resistant They are not capable enough, and they love freedom by nature, and they always like to challenge the authority of the mine supervisors. But who made the cost of importing black slaves too high, and the Hidalgos only have cheap Indians available."

Casemiro is the mayor of Puerto Barrios appointed by the Governor of Peru de Lorenzo, and he is quite clear about some things in the jurisdiction.Especially those sulfur mines, stone mines, lumberyards, and struvite-collecting areas with large output and high sales, he even knew which nobles or priests were the industries, so the people on the east coast asked him to learn about the situation in the area. , It is indeed more appropriate-now there is a surprise, Liu Jianguo had only vaguely heard that many Spanish nobles and priests in the area south of the Bueno River were affected by the market demand on the east coast and started to operate some industries , to export large stones, crude sulfur, various round logs, struvite, seal droppings, etc. to the east coast.The Araucan Indians are undoubtedly used by these industries, but the specific number and scale are unknown. Now it seems that we can get very detailed and accurate information from Casemiro.

It may be necessary to explain here that the laborers used in these industries run by the Spaniards mentioned by Casemiro just now were Indian laborers recruited through the "Mita" system.These people were recruited from their respective places of residence, and then brought daily necessities, daily household items, wives and children, and followed the Spanish rulers to their destinations to work, often receiving very meager salary subsidies.These jobs are very heavy, hard and dangerous, the death rate is extremely high, and it takes several years to do it. In addition, the living conditions are not good, and the hygienic environment in the working area is also extremely poor. Therefore, almost all Indians are unwilling to continue to be restrained On these "lands of the dead".

But they don't have much to do, they have to do it, because the price of fleeing is too heavy, not to mention those mercenary supervisors who are fully armed, experienced, and equipped with horses, just say that you are dragging your family and you how to run?And even if the whole family escaped by luck, what are you going to live on in the wilderness?These are very realistic issues. Although the Araucan people are not very civilized, it does not mean that they are fools. Therefore, after so many years, only a few left their families and fled alone. Most of them encouraged the miners to fight together. Although The end is often miserable, but it is a drama that has been repeated.

"In the short term, if you want to have enough manpower, it seems that only these Araucans can do it." Casemiro continued: "But I still have to say that the Araucans are really not very good. Qualified workers, they have many character defects that are difficult to overcome by themselves, which should be inherent in their inferior civilization. First of all, they will do whatever they want, drink up all their money and spend all their money at the first opportunity. The property obtained is sent to the pawn shop, sometimes even tools, which can only be redeemed by the guards from the hands of profiteers; secondly, they often like to sit there in a daze, unwilling to work, even if the work is easy , It often requires the supervisors to use the whip to drive them out."

Liu Jianguo smiled slightly when he heard the words. He had already heard about the virtues of the Araucan people.The many Araucan miners employed by the Montenegrin Coal Mine made many managers of the Southern Railway Company yell at them anxiously. It is also very strange to be able to go to the wild to find food, or simply rely on others to help. The management staff of the Southern Railway who knows the inside story repeatedly lamented that "barbarians are barbarians, and their blood lacks all positive factors to become civilized people." .Therefore, these people, he doesn’t plan to stay in the Southern Chile area. First, they are an eyesore and do not conform to the policy. Second, they have already agreed to Wang Yan of the Australian Pioneering Team. Third, they really don’t like it. Using these People, it is better to use Russian and Irish laborers from the old continent, they are better.

Then Casemiro talked about some other affairs, involving the economy, religion and other aspects of the various ethnic groups and races in the jurisdiction, providing Liu Jianguo with a lot of unparalleled information and evidence for his future governance plan.For these alone, he felt that the three thousand lire was worth it, and it was very worth it!

After seeing off Casemiro, Liu Jianguo immediately got up and went to the Liucheng Port Wharf, which was under construction. At the moment, there were many large sailing ships moored on the wharf, all of which came from the south.Except for two ships that transport materials and personnel from the port of Araucan, and one that returns from fishing, the rest of the ships are all transport ships that specialize in the South Pacific route—few ships that take the South Pacific route are dedicated to immigrants. Ships, except for a few government ships, basically carry people and goods together. This condition is naturally not good, but there is no way, everything has to be costly.

At this time, these transport ships brought a lot of building materials from the south by the way, for the construction of Liucheng Port.Liu Jianguo saw an old acquaintance here, Yu Lian, the director of the Academic Affairs Office of the Nautical School, and Yu Xingguo, the eldest son of the businessman Mathilde and his wife, a captain who met Liu Jianguo a few times when he was sailing a ship many years ago.

Sailing is, after all, a dangerous career and a game for the brave. Naturally, the wealthy Yu family would not allow the eldest son, who had high hopes, to "travel" in the rough South Pacific all day long. Therefore, after being called home many years ago to reprimand him , Yu Xingguo had to give up his favorite sailing career, suppress the impulsive adventure factor in his blood, and instead leased a large warehouse in Araucan Port, Xingnan Port and the mainland, and honestly started logistics And trade—in fact, it is an agent of the Southern Railway Company, specializing in Lima, Guayaquil, Panama, Acapulco and other coastal ports.

Now that he met an acquaintance, Liu Jianguo naturally would not stop talking for a few words, and Yu Xingguo was also very pleasantly surprised to see him. He naturally knew Liu Jianguo's current identity, so he was also very happy for this kind of small talk that could narrow the distance between each other .

"Oh, since the war with the French broke out, thanks to Tianzun's blessing, our company's product shipments have increased by more than one-third, which is really a surprise that was unimaginable in previous years." Yu Xingguo pointed to the dock in the bay. The two own ships unloading said beamingly: "This time I brought a large amount of wine, refined flour, premium butter and cheese from the mainland, as well as some textiles such as silk, velvet, and lace, to Lima. It will definitely be sold out. Haha, those Spaniards have been waiting for these products for a long time. Especially those vain women, who can change several sets of clothes in a day and night, because of the war with the French, the Caribbean trade has been greatly affected. Even the Gaya Anes fleet, which departed from the mainland, has received some influence. This year it seems that it failed to arrive at Puerto Bello on schedule. This business is not easy to do, and there is not much bargaining. "

The surge in Peru's trade that Yu Xingguo said was only gradually revealed in the first half of this year.As Spain and the East Coast declared war on the Kingdom of France one after another, the three countries began to fight in the Old Continent, the Caribbean Sea and even North America. Among them, the people from the East Coast were particularly aggressive in the Caribbean Sea. Occupying half of St. Christopher Island, captured a town on Martinique, and is currently gathering manpower, ships, and supplies to prepare to attack Guadeloupe—as for St. Christopher, Martinique, etc. The remaining French strongholds on the island were forced to abandon because of the strong enemy fortifications and tenacious resistance.Because no matter for the army or the navy, it is impossible to attack a fortified point, and a long-term siege cannot afford it, so it can only be skipped and ignored.Otherwise, if it can be taken down in one go, wouldn't it be flattering to take it down?

Let’s not talk about the tricks of the East Coast, Spain, and French fleets “harming each other” in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea—in fact, the East Coast hurts France, and France hurts Spain, because the Mediterranean Fleet was defeated by the French Eastern Fleet, and the Spanish Treasure Fleet sailed. It had a great impact, and the date was postponed and kept strictly confidential—just in the Caribbean Sea, as the naval fleet on the east coast gathered to escort the army and at the same time protect its own fragile transportation lines, the entire Caribbean is now almost in a state of turmoil. In the vacuum of power, the pirates quickly became active (as if they had received an order). In the past, the Dutch, British, and French merchant ships that transported a large amount of Old Continent goods to New Spain and Peru were attacked in large numbers (French merchant ships may be safer, Because many pirates have an inexplicable relationship with them), this undoubtedly led to a shortage of goods and materials in Spanish America, not to mention the huge impact of the failure of the Gaia Anes fleet.

The news of the shortage of goods and materials in New Spain and Peru was naturally sent back to the east coast by interested people, and then the domestic businessmen immediately boiled over.They organized their sources of goods one after another, and began to ship goods to Peru and New Spain through two major channels (namely, the channels of Southern Railway and Air Canada). He also made a lot of money.

You know, although Southern Railway and Air Canada are considered to be invincible in the colonial trade of the Spaniards in South America, in the final analysis they still cannot cover the sky with one hand, and it is impossible to occupy all market shares.For example, the market share of the goods carried by the Spaniards’ two treasure fleets of Forota and Gaiañes has to be reserved every year; for another example, the goods carried by the plentiful and unpredictable smuggling ships also occupy the market Because these smugglers often have vague connections with Spanish colonial officials, nobles, and priests; finally, as the Dutch West India Company and some RNY businessmen who are friendly to the East Bank, they go west It belongs to the colony to sell goods, and the people on the east coast have no right to stop them, because in the end, the east coast does not have the monopoly of goods in these two colonies. You can play tricks on other smugglers, but you can't treat good friends!

But now with the outbreak of the Legacy War, everything is easily solved.The activity of many pirates who obeyed the orders of the Frenchmen in the coastal waters, as well as the troubled waters of some pirates from other countries, caused many smuggling merchant ships to suffer bad luck. Except for a small part of the goods on board, they entered New Spain through various secret sales channels. Outside of Peru and Peru, other commodities were stored in the secret lairs of the pirates, and then shipped to other places in batches to be digested slowly. The merchants from An'an have seized the opportunity, and Yu Xingguo is undoubtedly the best among them.

(End of this chapter)