Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 593 Winter ([-])

Master Zhu's home is in the suburb of Luochagang. It is a quadrangle courtyard with front and rear entrances. It occupies a large area and has many rooms.It is said that the purchase of land, construction labor, and materials cost a total of more than 700 yuan during the construction, which can be called a sky-high price.However, Master Zhu brought a lot of precious jewels with him when he fled from Shandong, and he had money himself, so he didn't care about these expenses.

Moreover, it is said that when building the house, Mr. Zhu originally planned to build it into the style of a villa on the side of the reservoir in the suburbs of Dongfang County, the capital, but later he was worried that doing so would "overstep the rules", so he gave up.But at present, this kind of building is still very eye-catching and attractive in an economically backward county like Rocha Port.

Master Zhu's family has no servants—in fact, few people on the East Bank can afford servants today.Master Zhu's two sons were serving tea and water, and were responsible for welcoming the guests.They were all born and raised in Qingzhou, and now they have married wives and families. The eldest son married a woman who was also from Daming. According to the rules, the Industrial and Commercial Bureau even fined Zhu Heng [-] yuan in cash for finding fault; when the second son got married, Master Zhu was much more honest. His wife is currently working as a farmer at home, managing [-] acres of farmland, and learning stonemasonry with her father-in-law during the off-season.

Li Qun has been to Mr. Zhu's house several times, and his eldest son is already familiar with him, so he smiled and stepped forward to hold the old horse he rode, and then told him to sit in the hall in the front yard.Li Qun nodded, and went straight to the main room to have a look, and found that there were already a dozen people sitting here, most of whom were the township party members of Master Zhu when he was in Qingzhou.

In addition, there are two businessmen with barbarian faces.Liqun recognized the two, and one of them was from Wuding Township. He was a goldsmith from England at first, and later fled to the east bank with his family because of the gold kept by the client. One is a quasi-scumbag; the other is from Venice. It is said that he was originally a trader, mainly engaged in coffee business. Unfortunately, the European market at this time did not accept this drink very well, and unfortunately went bankrupt.After they came to the east bank, after a lot of hard work, they have now become moderate businessmen—well, only medium businessmen within the scope of Luocha County.

Liqun found a seat closer to Master Zhu and took a sip of tea from the glass on the table. Well, the fresh yerba mate tea from La Plata tastes good.There were also some dried fruits randomly placed on the table, which surprised Liqun a little. Today, after the war has been going on for almost a year, it is still possible to buy these in-demand supplies from the market. Master Zhu is very good at it.

"Everyone." Seeing that the people had almost arrived, Mr. Zhu suddenly put down the teacup in his hand, and then said with a heavy sigh, "Everyone knows that business is not easy now. Since the imperial court...well, the government and the Spanish Since the start of the war, you must have been sitting at home for a long time, right? Boss Qian, I heard that you have been farming and raising pigs at home recently. Why, are you planning to be a farmer for the rest of your life?"

"Master Zhu, in the current situation, if you don't farm at home, is it not easy to eat? It's not easy for us to save some money. If we don't work for a year, maybe we won't have enough capital to do business next year." Boss Qian stroked his shaved body Then he said with a smile: "Master Zhu, you don't know who I am, Boss Qian. In the past, my family had less than a hundred acres of land, and I was busy farming all day long. Now I have been in the East Bank for almost two years. , After not farming for a long time, I really miss it a lot.”

"It's a worthless thing! How much money can you spend in a year by planting some corn and miscellaneous grains?" Master Zhu scolded with a smile, and then said: "But if you want to farm, now there is a promising land farming career waiting for you." I'm looking at you. Do you dare to go to New China to open a plantation?"

"New Huaxia?" Boss Qian's face changed. As immigrants from Daming who came to the east coast, which one of them hasn't lived in Xinhua Port or Tacheng Port for a few months?They were impressed by the hot weather and humid climate there.

"That place is full of miasma and plague, and no less than 400 people die of various diseases every year. What's the point of farming there?" Boss Qian shook his head like a rattle, "Besides, I also know about plantations, Brazil There are a lot of people over there, which requires a lot of labor, and we can't recruit so many people. Besides, I'm afraid the government won't approve me to move here, right?"

"You don't need to worry about this." Master Zhu waved his hand and said, "I learned a few days ago that there was an epidemic in Xinhuaxia last year. The garden became barren. Captain Shi of the New China Pioneering Team publicly auctioned eighteen plantations at the beginning of this year, ranging in size from 20 mu to [-] mu. Most of the land is sisal, and a small part is planted with a medicinal material called Marchianteng. The auction price is extremely low, and the rent for each mu of land is only [-] cents a year, but it needs to be leased for at least [-] years at a time. The rent must be paid immediately. I understand that the crops in these fields have been planted for one to three years, and it will be a big advantage to take over now. What do you think?"

After Master Zhu finished speaking, everyone in the room started to discuss enthusiastically.Going to New China to run a plantation brings both opportunities and risks. There are two main risks. One is the harsh environment and rampant diseases, which can be seen from the annual death rate of up to 10%; the other is the strict household registration system established by the government. The management system prevents everyone from moving in the country at will.Of course, there should be no obstacles in this area now, because the New China Pioneering Team has already publicly auctioned the plantations. This is an act of the government, and the policy obstacles in terms of household registration obviously no longer exist.

After talking about risks, let's talk about opportunities.As Master Zhu said, someone else has been operating a plantation for one to three years, and a lot of initial investment has been spent. Now you take over, it is naturally very advantageous.Moreover, the material of sisal is very tight in China now. With the great development of ocean and offshore fisheries, the domestic demand for fishing nets has greatly increased, and sisal is a very good fiber for weaving fishing nets.And not only in terms of fishery, the navy also needs a lot of nets and ropes, and industry and agriculture also need a lot of high-quality ropes, so the domestic demand for sisal is rising steadily.

Prior to this, the New China region had begun to export some sisal to the mainland, but these were all wild sisal fibers, and the output was limited.Most of the domestic demand is still met by importing hemp fibers from Russia from the Dutch. This is not only time-consuming and expensive, but also very unsafe. Therefore, the Government Affairs Council has promoted the vigorous development of sisal plantations in the New China region to a strategic viewed from a high level.At present, the Ministry of Agriculture has planned a large amount of wasteland, sloping land, and forest land near Xinhua Port for the development of plantations. At the same time, it also encourages private capital to enter here to vigorously develop and develop the Xinhua area.

This time, Master Zhu obviously got hints from some of the cross-travelers, just like Xu Wenxuan, the famous entrepreneur in the north who has been featured in newspapers, to act as white gloves for these people and go to the New China region to develop the plantation economy.In order to strengthen his own strength, and at the same time have more helpers, Master Zhu called some wealthy businessmen from the county to his home for a gathering today, intending to persuade them to invest in New China's "adventure" business together.

Those who can sit here today are either middle-level businessmen who can raise hundreds of yuan in cash at any time, or Master Zhu's former township party members. They are both excited and afraid of Master Zhu's proposal.Of course, I am attracted by this kind of extraordinary business "money scene", but what I am afraid of is the harsh natural environment there. If it passes, I will get some kind of disease and die in a daze, wouldn't it be wronged?Therefore, it was difficult for everyone to make a choice for a while.

Li Qun watched the crowd quarreled for a long time and still couldn't figure it out, so he stepped forward and said: "Master Zhu, I, Lao Li, is not a farmer, and I don't value life and death very much. Since what are you talking about?" The plantation is so easy to make, so let me count it as a share, if there is not much, I will contribute two hundred yuan to make up a share, how about it?"

"If you want to come, of course I can't ask for it." Master Zhu chuckled, then took a pen and wrote it down on the paper.After writing it down, he said: "I didn't say something clearly just now. Some of the labor for running the plantations can be hired by the Eight Banners of the islands there, and some can be settled by the government. I heard that the government plans to come forward to buy it from the Portuguese. Some black slaves from near the Gulf of Guinea are naturally resistant to fever (malaria). Although it is generally difficult for them to live past the age of 40, they are quite good for plantation labor. The price of these slaves should not It will be very expensive, how about it, everyone, are you interested?"

After Mr. Zhu said this, two or three businessmen agreed to buy shares, one of whom was the former English goldsmith.

"Of course, you don't have to worry about funding." Master Zhu saw that everyone was still hesitant, so he added another weight, and only heard him say: "Some important people in Jingli (Dongfang County) told me that if I, Zhu, If you are willing to work hard there, you will give me a sum of more than 2 yuan in cash. At the same time, you will persuade the Northwest Reclamation Bank to arrange a low-interest loan for us. The amount will not be less than 5000 yuan. If we raise money here A few thousand yuan, this matter has great potential! Everyone, the government has been encouraging the development of rich tropical regions to enrich the domestic commodity market. Now that there is such a good opportunity, why are you still sitting still?"

The blockbuster thrown by Master Zhu immediately ignited everyone's enthusiasm.Since there is an endorsement by a big person behind it, the risk is naturally lowered, so five or six people soon agreed to buy shares, including the Venetian merchant.The remaining few people are still hesitant, either out of fear of the disease or because of family reasons.And Master Zhu no longer urged them to invest in a place with a harsh environment like New China. People are afraid, and it is reasonable for them to hesitate.So Master Zhu just smiled with his beard and waited for them to make a decision.

(End of this chapter)