Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2252 New Era ([-])

"Another silver ship?" On the night of August 1694, 8, in Brunei Port, an east coast merchant ship from Jiaozhou had just anchored.

The dock officials immediately received the relevant documents sent by the captain, and after a hasty glance, sweat broke out on their foreheads.There is no other reason. This motor sailing ship is loaded with gold and silver coins worth 100 million yuan, and there are also many copper pieces purchased from Japan as ballast, so people have to be alert.

The dock officials quickly reported the information to the deputy director of the Port Authority who was on duty tonight. The deputy director did not dare to neglect, and went to the nearby military camp in person, found Naoto Nozawa, the squadron leader stationed at the dock, and asked him to dispatch manpower to help maintain order at the dock .Naoto Nozawa knew what was going on, so he didn't talk too much nonsense, and directly pulled over a hundred people from the entire squadron, and worked with the police on the pier to maintain order and prevent idlers from approaching.At the same time, the fort, which is being expanded (relying on the destroyed Brunei turret), has also entered a state of combat readiness.The gunners stared wide-eyed at the possible enemies on the sea, not daring to relax in the slightest.

So much precious metals, no one dares to take it lightly!Once something goes wrong, there are countless people who will be responsible from top to bottom, even Jiang Yunfan, director of the Lianwu Management Committee in Wuzhou, has to take leadership responsibility!

"This is the second ship this year!" The deputy director of the Port Authority, who had just been on the ship once, said in a low voice: "There are boxes and boxes of gold and silver coins, totaling more than 100 million, mainly gold. You know, Manmeng, Gold mines mined in Dunley and other places, and gold from trade. Well, there are many pieces of copper, lead, which are also valuable. Uh, well, there is also a lot of leather in the cabin, like mink , tiger skin, wolf skin, fox skin, bear skin, etc., as well as medicinal materials, books and handicrafts, in short, this is a priceless treasure ship."

Naoto Nozawa laughed when he heard the word "treasure ship". He is not a native who knows nothing.In fact, he has been actively learning Chinese and trying to read books and newspapers in his spare time.Knowledge—especially new knowledge—are all recorded in Chinese. Just knowing Japanese is not enough. Although you can guess well, there will be problems after all. Therefore, it is better to study hard, which is also beneficial to your career. benefit.

The first time he heard the term treasure ship was in a geography magazine.That magazine seemed to close down after only a few issues. The last issue just before closing down happened to tell the story of the Spanish treasure fleet more than 100 years ago. The pirates are still fascinated.Today, when the deputy director of the Port Authority mentioned that the ship in front of him was a treasure ship, he checked it carefully and found that it was indeed.

It's just that compared with the Spaniards, the treasure ship of the people on the east coast is much bigger.Not only is it larger in tonnage, but it is also dual-powered by steam and sails. Although a lot of space is lost due to the need to carry coal, its maneuverability and flexibility are unparalleled. If the pirate ship does not have unlucky luck, it is really impossible to catch them—— I dare to run to the windless belt, do you dare?

Therefore, the treasure ships of the East Coast people have always acted alone, because most of the supplies can be loaded on one ship, and the safety is very high. There is really no need for professional naval warships to escort them all the way.But there is one thing, that is, when docking at the port, because the power is turned off, the front and rear double anchors are dropped, and they cannot move in a short period of time, which is the most dangerous time.Whenever this time is also the busiest time for the port and the garrison, they must block the news while actively deploying defenses and make every effort to ensure the safety of the ships.

"I can understand the gold coin. It is a currency made by mining and trading gold. But is it necessary to carry silver?" Naoto Nozawa held a samurai sword, scanned the surroundings with vigilant eyes, and asked softly.

"I heard from my relatives in Ningbo that the tax and equity dividends in the accounts of the Central Agricultural Bank of the East Bank and the Bank of Taiwan are all deposited by the central government. Over the years, even if some investments are removed, there is still a lot left. The two banks follow the regulations. Transport some of the silver dollars back to the mainland, and of course Ningshao and Denglai still have enough cash." The deputy director looked around and said mysteriously: "There is too much money in the bank vault, send some to the mainland."

"This..." Nozawa Naoto was a little puzzled after hearing this, but also a little stunned.In recent years, the trade volume between the mainland and the Far East has increased greatly, and the trade deficit has decreased. In addition, the banking system has begun to penetrate into all aspects of society, and various deposits have surged—many are even anonymous accounts with unknown identities. After the amount of funds required for daily business transactions and a large amount of reserve funds were reserved, the two banks unanimously decided to withdraw part of the cash and ship it back to the mainland, and hand it over to the head office for proper disposal to preserve and increase the value.

Another thing worth noting here is that the mainland has begun to collect certain taxes from the Far Eastern vassals, which seems to mean a subtle change in policy.Once upon a time, the basic policy formulated by the central government was that the Far Eastern vassals financed their own finances, and even subsidized many real objects, such as machinery and equipment, weapons and ammunition, books and medicines, etc. The cost of the navy and so on, these are all a lot of money.The feudal vassals in the Far East only need to ensure a sufficient number of immigrants to the mainland, and everything will be fine.

Later, with the prevalence of commercial trade represented by the Bank of Taiwan, the Far Eastern vassals added another task, which was to ensure the trade between China and the mainland on the east coast.The prevalence of trade has naturally led to a substantial increase in the fiscal revenue of the various vassals, and gradually reached the point where they no longer need local subsidies-they can use money to buy-especially the richest Ningshao Pioneering Team, their financial revenue is so high It is so high that it can carry out large-scale construction in the territory and complete various infrastructure projects. At the same time, it deeply interferes in the situation of King Lu, Zheng, Guangdong and Shun, which shows the degree of its wealth.

In view of this, after a heated debate, the local government began to try to collect certain taxes in Ningshao and Denglai.The number is not very large, but the symbolic meaning is very strong, because it means that after decades of operation, the two overseas colonies of Ningshao and Denglai have changed from a negative asset that requires continuous investment to a benign one that can continue to generate income. assets.In this case, the size of the immigrant population is not particularly important, and the rising tax revenue is the biggest bright spot.

Now some people in the local area are looking at this place with a kind of interest, seeing that these two colonies with relatively good economies can rely on the rich and vast Chinese mainland market, gradually strengthen themselves, and eventually become the top ranking in the economic territory of the East Coast Republic of China. relatively frontal existence.

Of course, there are also some small problems in tax collection in Ningshao and Denglai, technical problems.That is, these two places are the territory of the east coast, and they implement the laws of the east coast, and at the same time pay taxes to the central government, so is it enough to give them a certain political status?This is a very sensitive issue, and it has caused a lot of controversy in the local area. After all, the people living in these lands are of the same language and species as the natives on the east coast, and they are still different from other colonies.

The people of Ningshao and Denglai also have reason to question this.We have contributed taxes to the whole country, so should we be allowed to join the whole family?They can even take the British North American colonies as an example. Apart from the normal import and export duties, the Kingdom of England now has almost no local taxes, so the locals are also open to having no political rights.But once you want to collect taxes normally, are you going to allow us to elect members of parliament and participate in politics in London?Not allowed?That is to blatantly discriminate against us and exploit us, and we can only resort to force!

Therefore, this is a very sensitive issue, but it is also a very realistic issue. The members of the Executive Committee have not yet reached a consensus on this issue. A little tax collected now may also be abolished in the future. In short, there is a lot of uncertainty.But in any case, these things show that the roles played by the Far Eastern vassals have changed to a certain extent. They are no longer purely immigrant export places, and their economic, political and military roles have gradually emerged, that is, to protect the local Trade, providing taxation, attracting outstanding talents from the mainland, curbing the reunification of the mainland, etc., in short, the role has begun to develop in an all-round way, which requires a new generation of leadership to look at it with a new perspective, and can no longer restrict or ignore many of them as in the past Don't ask.

"The mainland is really a treasure house!" Naoto Nozawa sighed, and said, "Not only are there a large number of talents, but the products are also extremely abundant. It will definitely become a rich and powerful place in the future."

"Actually, it's not that exaggerated. The world is so big, and mainland China is certainly a rich and vast place, but aren't the products in other places rich? Isn't there money?" The deputy director of the Port Authority replied: "Look at Brunei. It's just a port city that collects a lot of taxes every day. All kinds of people and goods gather here, and a large amount of rice, vegetables, fruits, wood, and spices are also produced nearby. It is also a rich place. Ah. Look at the East Indies in the west. It’s even worse. The Dutch East India Company only controls a part of it, and it’s already very rich. Look at India, where it has a large population and produces all kinds of products. Aren’t imaginable or unimaginable commodities rich? I heard that the amount of gold our country obtains in India every year exceeds the sum of Xinhuaxia Island and the Tieling gold mine in China. Although China is large, it is only A part of the Far East, but we are looking at the whole world."

Hearing what the deputy director said, Naoto Nozawa became a little excited.Yes, the world is very big. We should not only focus on the situation in one place, but should have a global perspective.As far as I am concerned, it is to try to digest the Brunei-controlled area-the current Brunei Sultan is completely a puppet, obeying the east coast, and the local population has been forcibly relocated-constantly increasing the immigrant population and changing the local situation. The proportion of the population, and then slowly expand to the periphery, logging trees, growing food, fishing, mining minerals, creating wealth for the country and itself.

After Brunei ends, there is Malacca, and after Malacca ends, there are northwest India, Bahrain, and the Swahili coast of East Africa.Oh, by the way, there are many rich islands in the vast Pacific Ocean!Especially in the South Pacific, countries have been developing those islands more and more in recent years, a large number of tropical products have been produced, and the trend of economic rise has become more and more obvious.Some people have already joked that those islands are the "Caribbean Islands" of the Eastern China Republic.

Look, look, what a world this is!It is completely waiting for us to conquer, colonize, acquire wealth, and spread culture!Now other countries are either muddled or powerless, no one or force can stop us from doing all this!So what is there to hesitate about?Work hard, let go and do it!

As for how the mainland will look at these colonies scattered all over the world in the future, that is a matter for the future!Maybe there will be a political storm, maybe there will be some chaos, but so what?The East Coast Republic of China is great, a great country will not be stumbled by these trivial matters, and there will always be a solution in the future, there is no doubt about it!

(End of this chapter)