Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1839 Fruits

The typhoon crossed the border, and it was a mess.

Han Yin looked at the warehouse of the commercial station worriedly and sighed heavily. Although many precautionary measures were taken in advance this time, the power of the typhoon was indeed beyond expectations. It is conservatively estimated that it caused a loss of about several thousand yuan.

Han Yin thought to himself that if such a mistake happened, even if General Manager Shao would not transfer him out of his post because of his many years of hard work, it was inevitable that he would be reprimanded.Moreover, I am afraid that the salary will be fined for several months, and the end of the year will naturally be ruined, and the future future will also be affected to a certain extent, which will be a big loss.

"The undamaged cargo should be processed quickly, repackaged, and transported to the cabin of the dock. The 'Kamchatka' is about to leave after repairs. I have already negotiated with the captain, Lao Lin. He will adjust the route midway and help me deliver the cargo to Jiaozhou Port. It’s really bad luck. How can this year’s typhoon be so violent? The Dutch have suffered a lot, right?” Han Yin asked.

"It's not small. There are a lot of rice shipped from Nanyang, and this time it was affected by the damp. You can see that the Dutch are trying to find a way, but whether it is to deal with it at a low price on the spot or take the time to dry it, there must be some losses. A subordinate replied: "Rice, spices, sucrose and so on, all of which lose points, the sum is not a small amount."

Han Yin felt a little comforted when he heard that, after all, he was not alone in his misfortune.Then, after thinking for a while, he said to the left and right: "Let's go, let's go to the market to see if we can dispose of some damp goods and recover some losses. There are a large number of them from The cloth shipped from Ningbo was originally intended to be sold in Taiwan, but now the color has changed due to the damp, but the price has been lowered, and many Dutch or aborigines still buy it.”

As soon as the followers heard this, they all started together, and then transported it to the market near the pier by bullock cart.There is a church near the market, which is the only way to pass. When everyone passed by, a wedding was being held here.The man at the wedding was a small military officer of Southern Netherland origin, and the woman was a descendant of Han immigrants who came to Taiwan to reclaim wasteland in the early years. A priest from the countryside of Gelderland held the wedding for them.

Han Yin watched silently and said nothing.The importance of Taiwan Island to the Dutch is increasing day by day. They have a large number of aboriginal tribes here. At the same time, in the early years, they also attracted many Fujianese, Cantonese and Xiaoliuqiu people to come to farm, rice fields and sugarcane fields. The area is very large, and at the same time, it has received a large amount of taxes in kind, including placer gold, buckskin, and camphor. In the early years, it accounted for about one-sixth of the profits of the East India Company.Later, after the trade with people on the east coast continued to deepen, the colony of Taiwan Island became even more important. If food and other trades were counted, the income of this island once accounted for one-third of the Dutch East India Company’s total profits. Although it has declined in 20, it is not a problem to maintain it at more than [-]% overall.

Therefore, the Dutch have used various methods over the years to strengthen their rule over the island.

Among these methods, the most common ones are naturally marriages and cultivating local snake agents, which are no different from the methods they used in the East Indies.There are probably more than 1500 German mercenaries and nearly a thousand colonial officials, businessmen, technicians, teachers, religious figures, navigators, and adventurers on the island. These people are basically white and male, so over the years The only marriage partners are local Asians.This can be seen from the archives of the local government. Last year (1680), a total of 195 people registered for marriage in Zeelandia Fort, of which 160 were whites from Europe, 10 were Indians, and 12 were horses. Come, the remaining 13 are locals born in Taiwan.

From these simple data, it can be seen that the main marriage partner of the Europeans on Taiwan Island—or the only marriage partner—is the local aborigines, including the aborigines and the Han Chinese who reclaimed wasteland.They belong to the upper class in the local area, and their monthly income is between 18 and 300 dong, which is far above the average level. Moreover, they also enjoy political priority, and it is natural to have an absolute advantage in terms of competitiveness.

Similar to the Portuguese in Goa, after they get married, their wives and children will obviously believe in Protestantism, especially the aboriginal women with a lower level of civilization. Assimilation, which is of great benefit to expanding the ruling base of the Dutch East India Company-in fact, at the beginning, they were not very willing to do these seemingly futile things, they were only interested in making money, but in the Now that the island of Taiwan is becoming more and more important, the Dutch found that if some measures were not taken, the island of Taiwan would be a little unstable. That's why they sent a large number of people here to marry the natives, win over local snakes, train compradors, and adopt orphans. things happen.

The efforts of the Dutch have been vigorously implemented since the time of Governor Kuiyi. By the generation of Hugo Rolle, they have begun to bear fruit slowly, which can be seen from their gradual deepening of control over the entire island.Otherwise, you have so many rice fields and sugarcane fields for nothing?

In addition, to be honest, the Dutch are relatively good to the aborigines among the colonists from all walks of life. They are relatively tolerant of heretics, and they will not kill people like the Spaniards at every turn.At least, even in the East Indies, where the Dutch East India Company has an absolute advantage, they exchanged food, cloth and other daily necessities for spices from the natives, instead of forcing the Indians to farm for them for free like the Spaniards , grazing, and mining, which led to a large number of deaths.

In a word, they are businessmen, and the starting point of all things is to consider from the perspective of maximizing profits, and they will not do some inexplicable things.You know, the natives in the colonies are also wealth, if you kill them, no one will create wealth for you!In addition, the country of the United Provinces is much more civilized than Spain, with a more advanced system and a more developed atmosphere. You will not do many fearless things unless you clearly do not listen to their orders or even simply rebel.

People on the east coast had complicated feelings about the rule of the Dutch East India Company on the island of Taiwan, and their motives were not pure.First of all, they naturally hope that the Dutch East India Company will have a place on the island, because they can transport food (this is very important), cane sugar, spices and various Nanyang specialties for the people on the east coast, and at the same time buy them from the people on the east coast. All kinds of commodities, including high-grade furs, ironware, raw silk, silk, and tea, made huge profits. Whether it was the Bank of Taiwan, the Far East San Francisco, or local businessmen, they all got enough benefits from it.Therefore, for reasons and reasons, they don't want the Dutch to go!

Secondly, they are also very vigilant about the Dutch domination of the so-called Formosa Island and the Pescaldo Islands.There is no reason, this is likely to cause the Dutch East India Company to gain power in the coastal areas of China, and then start fierce trade competition with the people on the east coast, and divide the profits of the East Coast money-making tools such as the Bank of Taiwan, which is unacceptable to them of.You must know that the people from the east coast who claim to be authentic in China have always regarded mainland China as their own taboo. This can be seen from their many times "flying away" in various ports in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They really want to monopolize Although the mainland's foreign trade is still far away from achieving this goal.

Based on this kind of thinking, it is easy to understand that the people on the East Coast have been supporting the Fujian Zheng Group on a small scale and conditionally for so many years, and have given a lot of help to their official and private reclamation accounts in the northern part of Taiwan Island.What's more, the last time the Dutch East India Company and Zheng's conflict broke out on Taiwan Island, it was once tense, and in the end it was the people from the east coast who came forward to mediate.Moreover, Shao Shuguang, the general manager of the Bank of Taiwan who presided over the mediation at that time, took the opportunity to set the dividing line between the two sides on the island (taking the watershed in central Taiwan as the boundary), which is undoubtedly a concrete manifestation of the thinking of the people on the east coast—— Let the Dutch East India Company and Zheng's hold each other on the island, and neither side can be bigger. The way is king.

"Let's sell the cloth publicly in the market, and find a familiar agent. If there are chieftains from the countryside who come to the city to purchase, you can take the initiative to sell them. Those people don't care about the soil, but they have good hands. There are a lot of goods. Although these dyed cloths are a little faded, the price-performance ratio is still very high after we cut the price. They should have a certain willingness to purchase. Well, if the Dutch are present during the trade, they will pay taxes, and if they are not, forget it.” Han Yinchao attendant they commanded.

After saying this, he ordered two relatively smart followers, and then walked to the home of a familiar Dutch grain wholesaler.This guy was born in the countryside of Dortrecht, and he was from the same town as Speaker De Witt. He was originally penniless in the Netherlands, but after a few years of traveling across the ocean to the Far East, he gradually made a fortune.Later, this guy persuaded several agents of the East India Company to start a business of reselling Nanyang grain to Ningbo and Denglai, and the speed of wealth accumulation took a leap.

Now, he has settled in Zeelandia Castle and brought his family here from Batavia, leaving only a few relatives who came from the old continent to seek refuge in the Maluku Islands to raise food, and then use his name The merchant ships transported to Zeelandia Port for storage, waiting for people from the east coast to pick up the goods.Or, if the people on the east coast are willing to pay a certain fee, they don’t mind home delivery. Dinghai, Jiaozhou, and Yantai are all fine!

Han Yin came to his mansion today—a three-story villa with a large garden specially designed by a European designer—mainly to discuss some grain trade matters, and by the way, ask if Zheng Jing’s people abide by the rules, right? It also attacked the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company from behind, including the Dutch grain ships that the people on the east coast kept a close eye on and repeatedly ordered Zheng not to be harmed.

The suddenly rich grain wholesaler warmly received Han Yin, an old customer, and then answered the questions truthfully.Judging from what he has learned, he believes that after the end of the mediation by the people on the east coast last time, Zheng Jing still kept his promise and withdrew most of the ships. At present, the Taiwan Strait has resumed navigation. Trade with the mainland has also resumed.In the past two years, there was probably only one merchant ship that was unlucky. Unfortunately, it sank in the coastal waters near the junction of Guangdong and Fujian, and a ship of grain was wiped out. So much so that everyone was brought into a ditch, struck a rock and sank.

Han Yin nodded after hearing this, and then reiterated that the people on the east coast did not want to see the Dutch East India Company and the troops of the Yanping County King clash. Taiwan Island should also be at peace forever. The Bank of Taiwan and even the colonial government on the east coast attacked vigorously.The agreement signed by the two sides with the central part of the watershed as the boundary is sacred, solemn, and has serious legal effect. It is strictly forbidden for anyone to destroy it without permission.

Later, he discussed with the grain wholesaler about renewing the three-year grain purchase contract, and the other party agreed and said that he could sign the contract at any time.Han Yin is very satisfied with this, because the original contract has expired intensively, he has also negotiated a series of contracts with several other wholesalers in the past few days, reaffirming the huge demand of the Bank of Taiwan for Nanyang grain, which made all of them The agents of the East India Company, who specialize in the grain business, were very satisfied.And these will undoubtedly greatly increase the voice of the local Asian trade faction within the East India Company, making it gradually fall into the hands of the Far East trade dominated by the East Coast people.

After finishing his visit here, Han Yin had lunch in the villa before returning to the market with two entourages.At this time, a large part of the dyed cloth has indeed been bought, but the price is not high, so it can only be said to make up for some losses.At the same time, he also lamented that with the prevalence of Eastern trade, this island of Taiwan is indeed getting richer and richer. Even decent people in those villages can easily spend a few silver dollars to buy things now. Really Impressive.And if it is those who believe in religion, even Indians and Malays, because of their position or power, their spending power is quite considerable.

"The fruit of Taiwan Island is getting more and more mature. Not only does it have some basic and simple industrial facilities, but this person is also a lot richer. It's no wonder that Mrs. Zheng covets this place, hum, and doesn't take a pee. Look at your own virtue, Taiwan is such a big island, can you Zheng Jing eat it? You are not afraid of choking yourself!" Looking at the bustling trading market in front of him, Han Yin thought silently: "If you want to pick this fruit, it will take your turn. Not to your Zheng family! You should sort out the chaos on this land first, but don’t let people accidentally take over their old lair, it will really become a lost dog, and there is no longer any value to use. "

(End of this chapter)