Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2263 Pampa (37)

On November 1694, 11, the small steamer filled with members of the Korean mission unanimously set sail again, left Hening Port, and headed for Mingfu Port on the upper reaches of the Bian River.

When their ship left, several small steamers full of immigrants were entering the port.These are merchant ships of the Inland Waterway Transport Company, rented by the State Development Bureau to transport immigrants and supplies to the Hening Port area.The above has just confirmed that several new settlements will be established in the hinterland of Hening Port, namely: Guanping Township (located near the later town of Casilda), Jinsui Township (located near the later town of Fermat), Wu Lu Township (located near the later town of Marcos Juarez) and Qingping Township (located near the later town of Las Rozas), there are a total of four towns. It is expected that the first batch will resettle more than [-] immigrants to engage in agricultural and animal husbandry production , to lay a solid foundation as soon as possible, and provide assistance for the future development of the industrial production base of Hening Port.

Agriculture is the basis of all production and business activities.Food is the most important thing for the people. Only when the food problem is solved, can the local immigrants settle down, prosper, and form a city as it should be.Even in a seemingly industrialized country like the East Coast, agriculture is still the foundation of all social activities.

The small steamer full of North Korean missions sailed up the river for a day, and arrived at Mingfu Port, an important town on the right bank of the Bian River, early the next morning.The population of this city is really quite large, there are about tens of thousands of people at present (the population of the whole county is close to [-]), and it is really the largest city on the left bank of the Bian River besides Shanghai.

Mingfu County is located at the intersection of east, west, north and south, and its geographical location is very superior, so the industries in the county are quite complicated.But after a closer look, the textile industry is actually more powerful.This is not only because the Ministry of Textile Industry has invested in the construction of a new textile industrial park here, but it is also related to the large cotton planting area planned on the Chaco Plain in the north.

The climate and sunshine of the Chaco Plain are very suitable for cotton planting, growing and picking, so it was designated by the Ministry of Agriculture as the main cotton-producing area on the east coast.After the local cotton is harvested and roughly processed, it is basically transported to the banks of the Bian River in various ways, and then shipped to the downstream Mingfu Port area for sale.

Mingfu Port now has the only cotton road goods trading center in the country, and it will become the largest cotton distribution center in the future. Therefore, the conditions for the development of the cotton textile industry here are actually very prominent.Now there are several enterprises settled in Mingfu Textile Industrial Park, the largest of which is Dayuhe Textile Factory, a well-known state-owned enterprise.This factory has a joint-venture wool textile factory in the South Cone area, but the headquarter of the factory is still in Dongfang County, and the main production capacity is also concentrated there, processing cotton imported from the Caribbean Sea and Xinhuaxia Island.However, after careful consideration and approval by the Ministry of Textile Industry, Dayuhe Textile Factory decided to gradually move away from Dongfang County, and set up the factory headquarters in Mingfu Port on the bank of the Bian River, so as to use the nearby resources of the Chaco Plain for production. .

There is no doubt that the poor Dongfang county government will lose another big source of income, and at the same time, a large number of local jobs will also be lost.Well, maybe Dongfang County has become numb, and it has really lost too many enterprises in recent years, such as Dayuhe Naval Shipyard (relocated to Shanghai), Dayuhe Textile Factory (relocated to Mingfu), Dayuhe Arsenal (Moved to Xincao) Wait, this city is declining at a speed visible to the naked eye. It may be the only city in the country whose population is slowly decreasing.But in any case, things are happening, and the local government and people must gradually deepen their understanding. Their hometowns do not have many advantages in terms of environment or location, and they are destined to be unable to keep these high-quality enterprises—in fact, Dongfang County is not the most miserable now. When it was time, imagine, when all the departments of the capital moved out to Luoyang Mansion, what kind of scene would the local area be like?

Park Shitang and his team carefully visited the new factory area of ​​Dayuhe Textile Factory, which is undergoing debugging of machinery and equipment, and were amazed by it.The large-scale modern textile enterprises are naturally not comparable to those handicraft workshops in North Korea. Their production efficiency of cotton cloth is many times higher than that of North Koreans, which is simply blinding their eyes.Moreover, the cotton cloth produced by the people on the east bank seems to be far softer, whiter and more styles than the homemade cloth produced in North Korea. I believe that if it were not for the long distance and the time cost of spinning by North Korean farmers in their spare time, the cotton cloth on the east bank would have been completely conquered long ago. The North Korean textile market? In fact, a lot of Ningbo cloth has entered North Korea through ports such as Busan and Wonsan. Fortunately, the production costs of North Korean farmers are low enough that the market has not been encroached on a large scale. However, their How long can this persistence last?

"This is a cotton beating machine using waste fabrics. It can effectively reduce production costs and reduce waste... This is the latest automatic wool feeding machine, which can reduce the use of labor and reduce costs... The wool feeding machine is a new rubbing machine. The appearance of the sliver machine, which replaced the old-fashioned roving frame, has greatly improved the efficiency... This is the rotary flat carding machine. Its existence enables a large amount of short fibers to be utilized, which has a huge role in promoting the entire industry... This is The hat spindle and the ring spindle replaced the previous low-speed wing spinning frame..." As the staff introduced them one by one, the mouths of Pu Shitang and others grew bigger and bigger.They never imagined that the people on the east bank could turn spinning and weaving into an art. The smooth and fast production rhythm, the high production efficiency of cold storage, and the low production cost of making full use of all resources, everything seems to be Laughing at the textile handicraft industry of the traditional farming society.

Pu Shitang reckoned that most of these textile machines from Tianmotherland hadn't been introduced to Ningbo yet.Otherwise, if the Dinghai Textile Factory is fully activated and produces a large amount of cotton cloth at an outrageously low price, how much market share will the local cotton cloth lose with North Korea's current import tariff level (specified by the people on the east coast)?I can't even imagine it!

But after looking at these new textile machines, Pu Shitang and others' minds also came alive.They looked at each other several times, and they both understood what each other meant, that is, to find a way to purchase some textile equipment from the Heavenly Motherland and bring them back—even if it is two generations or two lower in technology—it doesn’t matter—to develop North Korea’s own machine textile industry .The number of textile machines does not need to be large, one set is enough, and some vulnerable parts are purchased in addition, and the work is basically done.The only thing to worry about is that North Korea's own cotton production is not large, and it has to find a way to solve the problem of the source of cotton raw materials. Maybe it has to be found in mainland China.

In addition to textile equipment, they also want to purchase some sewing and fabric cutting machines for the development of North Korea's own quilt processing industry.They stayed in Shanghai for a few days before and saw that there are many privately invested quilt factories in the local area. Those factories can use a large machine to cut the fabric according to the specified size, and then let the workers use sewing machines to make clothes and trousers. The efficiency is very low. look.North Korea has a large population and low wages. If the development of the textile industry fails in the future, it is also a way to change the course and import fabrics from Ningbo, and then process and produce quilts by ourselves.

In fact, there are already some signs now.Some businessmen in Ningbo have tried to set up several quilt factories in the coastal port cities of Jeolla-do after inspecting the salary level of North Korea to provide all kinds of clothing for the navy on the east coast. Less business comes——No way, the cost of building factories in North Korea is low, the wages of workers are low, and the government doesn’t dare to ask them to collect taxes (many times it’s symbolic, and it’s very common for companies to evade taxes). Work-related accidents and fatal accidents do not even need to lose money, which is very attractive to private bosses.

Pu Shitang is quite familiar with these situations.The two groups of ministers in the court asked the factory owners in Ping'an and Huanghai provinces that they were never lenient in collecting money, but they didn't care about the quilt factories of Ningbo businessmen in Muan County, Jeolla Province. The tax depends on the other party's voluntary payment, which is simply two worlds.However, he didn't care too much. The quilt factory was opened there, the workers employed were still local, and the market prospered, which was of great benefit to Jeolla-do.If one day the bosses in Ningbo are unwilling to do this, they can happily take over the plate and do it themselves, how great!

After visiting the new factory area of ​​Dayuhe Textile Factory, they went to the cotton trading center also near the wharf, and saw many cotton traders sitting behind the tables and whispering.From time to time, the staff of the trading center would rush to a huge blackboard and chalk down the price of the latest cotton transaction, which would not surprisingly cause a louder chatter.

It was the first time for Park Shitang and others to see such a novel scene, but they didn't understand what it meant, they just found it novel.They don't have enough financial knowledge, so even when the staff accompanying the visit told them that it involves the pricing power of cotton, he still just nodded ignorantly and didn't say much.North Korea is too backward, there is no need to be as fancy as the Heavenly Motherland, just earn some hard-earned money, otherwise the Heavenly Motherland will be unhappy!

On November 11, after staying in Mingfu Port for a few days, the delegation of Park Setang changed to a carriage and started westward along the highway under construction, with the destination being Luoyang, the new capital on the east coast.According to the plan, they will stay in Luoyang for a few days, and then take advantage of the warm weather to go west through the Andes Mountains and enter the coastal areas of Chile.They will stay in the Spanish port city of Concepcion, waiting for the ship they came to come here around Cape Horn to pick them up from the Pacific Ocean and return to North Korea - with an east coast merchant fleet, of course. It's time to go back, otherwise, with the navigation skills of the Koreans, I'm afraid they won't be able to find their way back.

(End of this chapter)