Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 527 Market ([-])

"Xiao Han, congratulations, it's not easy to become a county magistrate!" Shao Shude, who had just finished inspecting the resettlement work in Wudingbao, congratulated Han Gang, the director of Luocha Bulk Trade Center, who came to greet him.

At the beginning of this month (August), the four township-level administrative units in the Luocha area formally jointly established a county-level administrative unit——Luocha County.Luocha County has jurisdiction over Luocha Town (the seat of the county government), Bingtuan Township, Wuding Fort, and Rongjun Farm. If the total population of Bingtuanbao's ten-grade students, teachers and staff and their families is included, it should have exceeded 8 8000 people.This county can be regarded as the fourth county-level administrative unit in the country, leaving far behind the few towns in the Milin Lake Basin that are also eager to establish Meilin County, which makes the newly appointed county magistrate Han Gang extremely proud.

"Isn't it thanks to the blessing of the old officer! Without you running around, Xiao Han, I would not be able to get to where I am today." Han Gang, who quickly stepped forward and shook off the group of followers behind him, immediately turned to Shao Shude in a low voice. Thanks.

"Hehe, Xiao Han, you are working very hard yourself. I can also see this. The affairs of the Luocha Bulk Trade Center are complicated. It is not easy for you to support it alone, and the government affairs of the county are not neglected at ordinary times. The establishment of Luocha Cotton Ginning Factory, Luocha Leather Factory, Nanhai Fishery Company Seafood Processing Factory, the expansion of cotton planting base in Bingtuan Township, the prosperity of Rongjun Farm Vegetable and Fruit Base, Luocha Lake Fishery Wharf and Luocha Port Freight Wharf This is not a real achievement. Everyone sees your contribution, and Chairman Liu of the executive committee also admires you very much. Growing up is a matter of course." Shao Shude patted Han Gang on the shoulder and said solemnly.

Hearing what Shao Shude said, Han Gang was also a little emotional for a while. He felt that so much hard work in the past few years was not in vain, so many sleepless nights of staying up late and working, and so many sweats from running around under the scorching sun. After all, someone appreciates it.Now everything has paid off, and he is now one of the four major county magistrates in the country, and he is also a rising star in the civil service system.If he made some decent political achievements as the county magistrate, after Shao Shude left office, he might not be able to climb to the throne of Xiling District Commissioner, and then attack the central government affairs council and even the executive committee.

"How is the procurement of materials going? You are still serving as the director of the Luocha Bulk Trade Center, so don't mess this up." Shao Shude waved his followers away, and then he simply stayed with Han Gang and the two of them. Take a walk by the picturesque Lake Rocha.

"The people in the military department have started to stockpile bacon, jerky and other food these days. They sent several military representatives to the pier, and they have bought almost seven or eight tons of various meat products. At the same time, some people from They also asked for a portion of tropical dried fruits, shredded tobacco, sucrose, tallow, cowhide, palm oil, paraffin and other materials arriving in Hong Kong from abroad, and they would not allow the customs to charge any fees.” There was a burst of wind blowing on the surface of Luocha Lake in the middle of winter Cold wind, Han Gang tightened the leather jacket on his body, and said to Shao Shude.

"The military started hoarding items so early?" Shao Shude was surprised when he heard the words, "How long can bacon be preserved? Even if it is stored in a high-temperature sterilized glass jar, can it be preserved for one year? I think it is very difficult! That is to say The start of the war planned by the military is not even a year old? Maybe only a few months?!"

"If you ask me, I don't know." Han Gang said with a wry smile, "But it's not necessarily the supplies for the war. Didn't the Army expand its army by two companies recently? I heard that hundreds of Polish troops who landed in Dongfang Port The mercenaries will also be diverted to the mainland instead of being sent to the east. The navy is also discussing that it will temporarily detain the battleship 'Bayezid' built for the Ottoman Empire, and also started the construction of two steam ships A comprehensive supply ship with dual-purpose power and sail, and recruited a lot of sailors from the Caribbean region, maybe these hoarded supplies are prepared for the new soldiers. And recently, not only the regular army, but also the militia training in many towns and towns are also very diligent , The amount of training has increased, and the consumption has also increased greatly, and it is normal to hoard some bacon."

Shao Shude nodded, and then asked again: "Cotton, sulfur, copper, lead, tin, graphite, mercury and other materials should be imported as soon as possible, as much as can be stored. In the past two years, the amount of various commodities exported to the Ottoman Empire has increased. Soon, the national fiscal revenue also temporarily stopped the downward trend, so there is still sufficient financial funds to purchase materials. The Ministry of Finance has also suspended the principal and interest of 30% of the principal and interest to be returned to the La Plata Chamber of Commerce this year and next. A loan of [-] yuan, the money must be converted into supplies as soon as possible. Don’t be afraid to spend more money, after the war, you may not be able to spend the money you want to spend.”

A few years ago, when the businessmen in La Plata were still in the honeymoon period, the people on the east coast had borrowed several emergency funds from them to pay for the Portuguese to transport immigrants from the Far East.The annual interest of these loans is between 5% and 10%. The two largest payments will be repaid this year and next, with a total principal and interest of 30 yuan.However, judging from the current situation, it is obviously inappropriate to repay the loan on time. Therefore, after obtaining the approval of the Executive Committee, the Ministry of Finance temporarily froze the two repayments and diverted the funds to purchase various war materials.

Among all kinds of materials, sulfur related to war naturally ranks first.Although several new equipments have been installed in Ping'an County in China to recover sulfur from the waste gas and waste materials of iron and steel plants, coking plants, and sulfuric acid plants, there are still many problems in this method, and the recovery efficiency needs to be improved. Solve about one-third of domestic daily sulfur consumption.And this is only in peacetime. If a war breaks out, the consumption of sulfur will rise in a straight line. Therefore, it is necessary to purchase a large amount of stockpiles in advance, otherwise it is very likely that there will be no gunpowder available in the middle of the war. Embarrassing situation.

Other materials that must be imported immediately are iron pear wood, an important material for making steamship propeller shaft sleeves, and Brazilian sumac, the hull material for main battleships.Of these two materials, the former can only be imported from Spanish New Spain at present, and the latter can only be imported from New Spain or the Amazon River Basin in northern Brazil controlled by the Dutch.People on the east coast must take advantage of the fact that the current relationship with Spain has not yet completely broken down, and step up importing a batch of hoards.Especially iron pear wood, you can buy a few trees and use them for many years. It would be a fool not to buy a batch now and hoard them, otherwise you should be prepared to use poor quality bronze propeller bushings.

"Recently, we have increased the purchase quota and price of these materials for ships from various countries coming to Rocha Port. At the same time, we have also issued orders to European merchants such as Bordeaux, Florence, Riga, Danzig, Smyrna, and Kaffa through our own merchant ships. The latest instructions have been issued, requiring them to purchase the materials on the list with all their strength, and then transport them back to the country as soon as possible." Many of these things were handled by Han Gang himself, so he was very clear and could answer with a single mouth: "But I also hope that the executive committee will The meeting and the military will try to delay the start of the war with the Spaniards, so that we can speed up our search for more supplies and even transport people back to the country, and the current time is still a little bit rushed."

In fact, since last year, the Executive Committee has instructed the Ministry of Finance to provide a special fund every month—an amount of no less than 3 yuan, which is used to purchase various materials. There are still a lot of material reserves in the warehouse.But no one dares to speak nonsense about how long the war will last. What if the Spaniards go crazy and refuse peace talks, and the war becomes protracted?This is something that can't be said for certain.Therefore, the more supplies you hoard before the war, the better.

In addition to materials, the population must also be introduced vigorously.This requires the efforts of the trading stations in Riga, Danzig, and Florence. Livonians need as much as they have at least this year, and Italians and Poles can also charge more.Moreover, with the expansion of the scale of the war, people on the east bank may need to mobilize the whole country in the country, and a large number of militias need to go to the front line to fight. Then who will farm the land, who will build roads, and who will log in the country will become a confusing question. Not past the conundrum.

From this point of view, it is also necessary to say hello to South Africa and see if they can send more blacks to the mainland to avoid labor shortages.However, this involves the problem of the bottleneck of the fleet's capacity, and I am afraid that few people will not be transported back to the mainland.It seems that it is still necessary to suspend the exile of the captured Guarani people, let them work in the country first, and wait until the war is over.

"We must pay close attention to the purchase of materials, but we must also grasp the scale of the amount of materials released in the domestic market. I can see that many families have already started to rush to buy daily necessities, and the average price of the weighted price index table for a package of commodity prices has also risen compared with a month ago." 5%. Among them, the price of non-staple food has risen rapidly, especially poultry eggs, chicken, duck, fish, seafood, etc., which have risen by more than 10%. Of course, there are seasonal factors in this. During the peak period of consumption, it is understandable that the price rises slightly. But the price should be controlled as much as possible in normal times, especially the price of food and general consumer goods, and it cannot be caused by the government’s bulk purchases to make it rise like a wild horse.” Shao Shude urged again.

In fact, Shao Shude was too worried.With the improvement of domestic transportation conditions, the logistics cost of goods has dropped rapidly, and the state-owned stores insist on selling all kinds of daily necessities and general consumer goods at low prices, so the prices of these common people’s daily purchases are bound to not have much room for growth— —unless someone is hoarding.But once a certain businessman really does this kind of behavior, it is certain that the next day this person will appear in a hard labor camp in the country to participate in hard labor to "cure syphilis".

(End of this chapter)