Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1603 He Jian (29)

Lao Siji finally resigned from Yuedong Restaurant.

Although Xu Hao, the proprietor, has made great efforts to retain him and is willing to give him restaurant stock option incentives, Lao Siji, who is extremely tired of this industry, really does not plan to operate catering and entertainment anymore.Therefore, after a frank discussion with the proprietor Xu Hao, he was finally allowed to resign and go out to manage his own world-in fact, this is Xu Hao who is more kind in the second generation. If he changed some Some small-minded nobles in the Old Continent, Lao Siji has greatly offended them by doing this, and it may cause a lot of inconvenience when running his own business in the future, this is no joke.

Lao Siji, who had been hanging out in the brothel Chuguan for many years in the Ming Dynasty, planned to take a rest at home after resigning, and then try to imitate others.Just during this time, a friend who was lucky enough to meet during the trip came to visit, so after saying goodbye to the proprietor Xu Hao and getting a fairly generous break-up fee, Lao Siji returned to the temporary house in the outskirts of Iguazu County. in residence.

Strictly speaking, this temporary residence is not Lao Siji's home, but the proprietor Xu Hao rented it to him at a symbolic low price, because Xu Hao himself lives in the capital or Qingdao all the year round, and when he comes to Iguazu County It was not too long, so he graciously lent him the house.But now that Lao Siji has resigned, he has to move out of this building, which can be called a mansion, which cannot be said to be a pity.

Don’t think this is nonsense. In fact, this mansion covers a vast area. It was originally built by a Portuguese businessman who had a close relationship with the East Bank. This gentleman had been engaged in transporting immigrants from the Far East for the East Bank government in his early years For this reason, he has accumulated huge profits and rich personal connections.Later, he switched to the trade of Portuguese Brazilian specialty commodities (dried fruit, sugar, tobacco, cotton, cocoa, etc.), and it became even more prosperous. Except for the years when the East Bank government and the Kingdom of Portugal fought against each other and had wars, this guy almost It has been going back and forth between Brazil and the East Coast, and the business is called flying.

Later, because of the long-term trade with the east coast, this gentleman was quite discriminated against by conservative nobles, businessmen and priests in Portugal. It is eyeing its huge wealth.Therefore, in such a harsh living environment, this gentleman secretly transferred his property a few years ago, and then quietly moved to the east bank, which is also decisive.

After moving here, he fell in love with the beautiful natural environment of Iguazu County, so he spent money to buy a piece of land here (the land price in Iguazu was still quite cheap at that time), and then took the trouble to buy land from Italy and France. A well-known architectural designer was invited, and he began to build a mansion according to his ideas for enjoyment.

The peculiarity of this mansion lies in its well-regulated baroque main building, but in its garden that costs no less than the main building.Almost all the art in the garden comes from Italy, such as garden pavilions, lattice flower sheds, bird houses, statues, flower porcelain, and even an organ singing a cappella with splashing water, etc. The cost is jaw-dropping, and I can't help but envy How much money did this Portuguese businessman earn in his years of trade with the East? Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands?

The whole building was only completed in 1665. According to this slightly loud-mouthed Portuguese businessman when he boasted after drinking, if King Louis XIV of France was not jealous of Fouquet's manor mansion, so much money was recruited throughout Europe. Words from construction craftsmen, sculptors, carpenters, painters, painters, and designers——Louis XIV was determined to expand the Palace of Versailles, and invited the architect Leva, who presided over the construction of the castle of Vaux-le-Vicam, to spend a lot of money on the construction. Today in 1671, it is said that more than 2 people and thousands of horses worked hard for the entire project, and at the same time the French were actively preparing for a large-scale war aimed at annexing the entire lowland area, and they were really rich , I have to be convinced-his mansion may not be so "hastily completed", and will continue to improve some interior decoration and so on.

However, perhaps because of too much pretentiousness, this wealthy Portuguese businessman suffered a sudden illness during a visit to Iguazu Falls, and then died suddenly within a few days, which is also speechless.After his death, his widowed wife hurriedly sold the mansion, and then moved to Qingdao County with the rich property left by the businessman. Recently, it is said that she married a widowed army captain. It is also amazing.

Rao Siji has also lived in this mansion for more than two years, and he is still amazed by the vastness of the land - when he goes to the toilet at night, he needs to fumble through three houses - and he has become more determined His determination to do something for himself.He is 50 years old this year. Although he is still in good health, he really doesn't have much time. Therefore, despite the opposition of his family, he resolutely resigned and planned to go to the Pampa Plain in the south with his friend Inigo. There is probably the easiest chance to get rich overnight other than robbery and colonization that Lao Siji knows, and that is to find bison wandering on the grasslands.

"...There are still a lot of bison now, because the number of bison has never decreased. I even suspect that the number of bison killed in Niuzhuang every year can exceed the number of natural reproduction of the cattle. It is simply a super large gold mine, waiting Everyone who wants to get rich digs." Inigo said while gesticulating, uttering Spanish and Chinese mixed in his mouth, looking very excited.

"The premise is that you have the tools for digging gold mines at hand and enough courage to guard the gold mines." Lao Siji poured a cup of yerba mate for Inigo, then sat opposite him, stirring a cup of rich-scented tea Coffee, and said: "I heard that the order there is very chaotic? How chaotic is it? Is it risky?"

Rausji and Inigo met on a boat trip, when Laoshigui returned to Iguazu from a business trip, and Inigo returned from serving in the Caribbean (after the war with the French, the Nationalist Army was Announced disbandment), the two met on a boat, and chatted immediately, and finally felt that they hit it off, so they slowly began to communicate and established a friendship.

In fact, Inigo was the first to bring up the idea of ​​making a fortune on the Pampa grassland in the south this time.This former lieutenant officer of the Army Reserve (served in the battle to seize the island in the Caribbean and was promoted to a higher level) received a lot of money when he retired, but Inigo, who was 15 years old and followed his adoptive father as a mercenary in the North and South, did not know how to grow No matter how much money you have in your hands, you can only sit and eat. Therefore, while you still have capital, you might as well go out to sea and make a fortune. This is hard to say.

However, considering his poor financial management skills and not very strong business management skills, Inigo felt that he still had to find a partner to do business with, and after much deliberation, the only one he knew was Lao Siji, whom he had not known for too long.And this guy is indeed a bachelor, so he did what he thought, bought a boat ticket and went to Iguazu Port to persuade Lao Siji to resign and go to make a fortune with him, so that's what happened next.

Of course, Inigo's success is actually inseparable from Lao Siji's own quietness and thoughtfulness.During the Ming Dynasty, he was very envious of the lives of wealthy businessmen and dignitaries who spent a lot of money and embraced the red and the green, especially in Yangzhou, a place where fireworks are flourishing, where Huaian salt merchants gather in large numbers, and the luxury of life is amazing. , This undoubtedly greatly stimulated the three views of the young Lao Siji, making him extremely thirsty for money and power.

Now that I have come to the east coast, power seems to be hard for me to touch. After 20 years of hard work, I have some money, but it is not enough. I want to live the life of spending money as I imagined. But it's impossible, just like owning a luxury house like your own temporary residence at the moment, don't even think about it.Therefore, he must seize the opportunity now!

"You asked me if the order there is chaotic, I can only say, is there order there?" Inigo laughed and said, "On the Pampa Plain, there are naturally a lot of buffalo herds, whoever finds them can immediately To make a fortune, the premise is that you can safely bring the bison back to Niuzhuang and other places to sell. This is not an easy job. Many lazy, hard-working, and low-minded guys often stay in the middle of the way, doing some murder and robbing activities, and the government I don’t have the energy to pursue such criminal cases. After all, it’s not the East Coast itself, unless the bandit gang reports it internally. Therefore, we still need to recruit more helpers, preferably those who are good at fighting and brave. The counties of Shagou, Wuxin, Wuping, Zhenrong, Tonghe, etc. can recruit some. There are many exiled Ottoman soldiers, former Spanish mercenaries, and Slavic veterans who have retired from the battlefield (mostly served in the former miscellaneous troops). To put it bluntly, it’s a waste of land allocated to them by the government. They don’t know how to farm land at all, and both farmland and vegetable gardens are poorly managed. Moreover, they despise agricultural labor and are naturally not interested in these things, but they don’t know how to farm. They are very good at killing and killing, that is to say, they have no other skills except fighting and killing, but the reality of society does not allow them to be too presumptuous, so the life of these people is not easy now."

"Is it just like you, Inigo?" Lao Siji glanced at this man who had worked in the Spanish mercenary army for 20 years. He went to the Pampa Great Plains to make a living on the biggest reliance.And Lao Siji has many contacts and rich management experience, and the two are simply a perfect match.

The Shagou, Wuxin, and Wuping counties mentioned by Inigo just now are newly established counties this year.Among them, Wuxin County has four settlements under the jurisdiction of Wuxin Town, Qingxi Township, Sijin Township, and Sixian Township (located near the small town of Concepcion in later generations), and Wuping County has jurisdiction over Qingyuan Town, Wuping Township, Fuquan Township, There are four settlements in Ningyang Township, Shagou Town (located near the small town of Itusaingo in later generations), Chunjing Township (located near the small town of San Miguel in later generations) and Hongqi Township (located in the later generations of Beron) under the jurisdiction of Shagou County. near the small town of Astrada), a total of three settlements.

These three counties are also the 93rd, 94th, and 95th county-level administrative units of the East Coast Republic of China, and they are already approaching the round number of one hundred, which is of great symbolic significance.In addition, the establishment of these three counties (Strictly speaking, Shagou County is not qualified to be a county, and was established with the special approval of the Executive Committee), also brought the number of counties in the entire Hejian area to 18. About 19.6 square kilometers of Hejian's four major sub-regions have been "divided up", and the system has officially covered the entire territory. The next step is to continue to fill in people and continuously develop productivity.

However, although the "food" of delicious cocoa in Hejian has been swallowed whole and is in the process of being digested and absorbed, the pursuit of new land and more wealth by the people on the east bank cannot be suppressed no matter what living.No, the eighteen counties of Hejian have only just laid a foundation, and the population is not very rich. People who are not willing to be lonely, such as Lao Siji and Inigo, have already set their sights on the farther south and at the same time More fertile pampas.For this reason, he did not hesitate to spend years of savings, sell some useless family properties to raise funds, and then recruit fierce and brave people to cross the sea to the south, chasing the seemingly illusory dream of getting rich overnight.

On July 1671, 7, Lao Siji's family officially moved out of the mansion of the former proprietor Xu Hao and moved into their own farmhouse in the countryside.However, Lao Siji and Inigo had already arrived in Tonghe County by boat, and successfully persuaded a group of Russians who were living in difficulties.These people are non-citizens who have become regulars. Before they became regulars, they had participated in messy paramilitary organizations such as the National Defense Army and the National Defense Army. They played "peek-a-boo" with native Indians in the mountains and jungles of the Brazilian plateau He has a certain amount of combat experience, so he is an excellent candidate for recruitment.

In fact, these Russians (including many other Slavic peoples) are more willing to be recruited out, because the salaries given by Rausji and Inigo are not bad, at least not better than staying at home farming few.What's more, they don't know how to farm at all, and their family only has five acres. It is indeed difficult to support a large family, so it is better to go out to do the work to subsidize the family. There is one less person in the family to eat, so why not do it?

In addition, Inigo also found a few ex-Spanish mercenaries who have not been doing well so far. Together with the Russians, they made up 15 people, and then purchased some food, tools, and firearms (of course, arquebuses) ) and other necessities, we are ready to set off by boat.As for how to deal with horses, this is really scratching my head, because the east coast is not cheap, so I have to wait until I go to the Pampa Plain to find a way to find a way to buy them from gauchos or Spanish ranchers, which can save a lot of money.

On August 1671, 8, everyone arrived at Jingjiang Port, and then took the cargo ship "Huang Li" of the Messenger Liner Company, and left the mainland for the next destination, Niuzhuang Port.

(End of this chapter)