1635 Han style rises again

On October 1678, 10, Portuguese Brazil, Bahia (now Salvador, Brazil).

Two armed merchant ships belonging to the Qiguo African Trading Company slowly sailed into the port, and then, led by a guiding ship, docked at the berth on the west side of the pier.

"What did that guy say?" Qiao Yuanfu, the shopkeeper of the trading company who led the team, immediately smiled when he saw the Portuguese Brazilian colonial official took the bribe, and explained something to the interpreter Diogo Costa very kindly. After staring at them for a long time, they left.

"Sir, he said just now that the colonial forces of the State of Qi located at the southern tip of America severely damaged the Spaniards half a month ago, and also captured the important city of La Plata - Buenos Aires." Diogo Costa's face He showed a shocked expression on his face, "Now, the entire Spanish American territory has entered a new round of military mobilization, and is preparing to gather a large army again to conquer the American territories. Moreover, the Spaniards will not rule out asking for help from mainland Europe in order to obtain More military reinforcements!"

"..." Qiao Yuanfu was stunned when he heard this, "Hey, His Royal Highness Prince Qing has stabbed a hornet's nest! ... But the problem is, with their tens of thousands of people, and more than half of them are local aborigines, How can we deal with the all-powerful blow of the Spaniard?"

"Will the Spaniards start a war with our country of Qi because of this?" A head of a trading company came over and asked worriedly.

"Spain is so far away from our country of Qi, so it probably won't be able to hit us." Qiao Yuanfu smiled bitterly, shook his head and said, "However, in the Americas, there might be an unnecessary war of attrition with our country of Qi. Your Highness King Qing In less than ten years, the affairs of colonizing the Americas have been made so powerful. Isn’t this just a fire? The Spaniards have colonized the Americas for nearly 200 years, and so far, no country has come to interfere with them The territory of the Americas is enough to prove that the Spaniards have a deep foundation and strength in this area. Hehe..., it is good for our Highness Prince Qing, instead of quietly accumulating strength and gradually developing, in such a short period of time, he has directly contacted the Spaniards. Matched!"

"If His Royal Highness King Qing fights with the Spaniards in America, Hanzhou will definitely not sit idly by. In this case, our African trading company may also be involved. It is imperative to support them with the necessary manpower, money and goods." The owner of the trading company looked tangled, and said bitterly: "You said, our trading company managed to monopolize part of the trade with Europe by taking advantage of the war with the Mughal Empire, and opened up the trade route of Portuguese Brazil." , the profit is also doubling every year, and these days are getting more and more prosperous. If the dispute over the American affairs affects our trade growth, then the domestic shareholders and investors will have to scold their mothers!"

Five years ago, under the leadership of several Portuguese sailors, a merchant ship under the African Trading Company sailed along the west coast of Africa with the help of the strong Benguela cold current to the Gulf of Guinea, and then sailed across the Atlantic Ocean along the southern equatorial warm current. Arrived in the Portuguese colony of Brazil and traded with the local Portuguese.

Corresponding industrial products such as cotton cloth, clocks and watches, whale products, coffee, oil, ironware, hardware, machinery, soap and scented soap produced locally in Qi State; tea, silk and porcelain re-exported from the mainland; spices and ambergris from the Nanyang region; Ivory and medicinal materials from Madagascar, Mozambique, and the east coast of Africa, as well as indigo and saltpetre from India.All these commodities were warmly welcomed by many merchants and consumers in the Portuguese Brazilian colony, and countless gold and silver piled up immediately in the cabins of Qi merchant ships.

The merchant ships that arrived in Brazil took out some gold and silver, purchased sugar, tobacco, grain, gunpowder, precious mahogany, metal minerals and other commodities locally, and then traveled southward along the Brazilian warm current to the Qi American colonies to sell sugar, tobacco, gunpowder , food, and then fill the cabin with raw materials such as wool, seal (sea lion) skin, and whale oil produced and processed in the area, and finally return to South Africa along the westerly belt to complete a triangular trade around the South Atlantic Ocean.

In recent years, at the request of the colonial authorities of Portuguese Brazil, the merchant ships of the Qiguo African Trading Company to Brazil added a new commodity—slaves, in addition to shipping a large number of industrial products and re-exports. The black natives obtained were sold to various plantation owners in Brazil.

Throughout the Americas, the culture and traditions of the Indians very much reject high-intensity, regular hard labor, and are not at all compatible with the forced labor in the minds of Europeans.The Indians are not idle, or even lazy, they only engage in the labor necessary to maintain their basic life, and this kind of labor does not require much, because the local fish, fruit and animal resources are very abundant, which can fully meet their minimum needs. Material needs.

Indians spend most of their energy and imagination on ritual, celebration, and warfare, and that kind of constant work, trying to develop the concept of so-called "productivity" is alien to their philosophy.

In the face of the oppression and coercion of the colonists, the Indians were unwilling to submit, and adopted various forms of resistance, launching wars, fleeing, and refusing forced labor.

In comparison, the local Indians have an advantage in resistance over those slaves from the African continent because they are in their hometown.Those poor African slaves came to this strange foreign land from the distant African continent, across thousands of miles of sea waves. They were unfamiliar with the place, so it was difficult for them to have the idea of ​​escaping.

The Brazilian trade route opened up by the Qiguo African Trading Company was actually an illegal act for the Portuguese royal family, that is, a smuggling act that did not grant trade rights.

For more than 100 years, the Portuguese Crown sought to secure the maximum profit from its colonial enterprise through strategies closely related to the prevailing mercantile economic policy philosophy.This policy asserted that the colony should contribute to the self-sufficiency of the mother country and should serve as a reserve for internationally competing colonial powers.

The Portuguese royal family established a mandatory system of rules and customs in various cities in Brazil to prevent competitors from plundering colonies within the framework of its specific colonial system.The fundamental purpose of this system is "exclusive", that is, the colony should only trade with the capital of Portugal itself.

However, for a long period of time, the Portuguese colonial franchise will be shaken with changes in the international and regional situation.Sometimes trade is relatively open, and sometimes it is tightly controlled and constrained by the royal family.

Twenty years ago, in order to get rid of the rule of the Spaniards and gain an independent status, the Portuguese granted the British trade concessions, hoping to obtain the support and protection of the British.

The Qiguo African Business Association also hoped to receive the same treatment as the British, but was rejected by the Portuguese.However, under the help of the colonial authorities of Portuguese India, coupled with the knowledge and interest of businessmen from Qi, they voluntarily paid certain "tariffs" to the local colonial government of Portuguese Brazil. This kind of trade behavior that was not tolerated by the Portuguese royal family However, it has been carried out secretly for five years, not only meeting their respective needs, but also making both sides earn a lot of money.

The focus of the development of the Spanish American colonies was in the cities. Almost all the large manor owners, large plantation owners, large ranchers, mine owners, and large businessmen usually lived in the cities, and the colonial government agencies were also located in the cities.As such, the city was the center of the political, economic, and social life of the colony.

The focus of development in Portuguese Brazil is on economic units such as plantations, ranches and mines.In these economic units, there are not only certain crop planting or mineral mining activities, but also agricultural and animal husbandry products or mineral product processing factories, as well as subsidiary handicraft workshops that serve production and life, such as iron manufacturing, carpentry, textile, manufacturing, etc. Leather, garments, etc., as well as commercial and religious activities.On this basis, small towns gradually formed.It can be said that towns and cities are just "derivatives" of economic activities, fully serving local economic activities.

Large cities like Bahia and other port cities became distribution centers for imported and exported goods.Although planters, ranchers, and mine owners also have residences in cities, they only temporarily stop when they conduct political activities or trade activities.Therefore, the social model of Portuguese Brazil was exactly the opposite of that of the Spanish American colonies, forming a pattern of "rural-urban".

Therefore, although Bahia is the seat of the Governor's Office of Portuguese Brazil, the whole city is not very prosperous and lacks the necessary economic vitality, giving people a lifeless feeling.Although the city's population was around 2 people, half of them were slaves.

Well, the whole of Brazil is actually a slavery society, except for colonial officials, big plantation owners, big ranchers, big merchants and mine owners, everyone else is a slave.

From the beginning of the Portuguese colonization of the Americas, northeastern Brazil has been the center of the most important economic and social activities of the colony.During this period, the South was still marginalized, with only a few cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and there was no direct connection with the export economy.

The sugar industry is the core of socio-economic activities in northeastern Brazil, and the main centers of sugar production are located in Pernambuco and Bahia.

Decades ago, the Dutch West India Company fought a war with the Portuguese Brazilian colonial authorities for more than 20 years in order to seize this sugar production center.If it weren't for the first Anglo-Dutch war that greatly consumed the Dutch's war resources, the Portuguese might have to wait longer to fully recover the Pernambuco area occupied by them.

"British?" In a luxurious hotel in the city, Qiao Yuanfu and his group met a group of businessmen with European faces. The other party cast their eyes on them with a hint of hostility and disgust.

"Yes, sir." Interpreter Diogo Costa glanced over there, and immediately responded affirmatively: "They should be businessmen from the British Royal African Company, um, or a group of slave traders. A few years ago, they obtained a charter from the British royal family to engage in the exclusive slave trade in Gambia and the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Their predecessor was the Royal African Adventure Merchant Company, which went bankrupt during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and was then The present Royal African Company has been taken over."

"They seem to be full of hostility towards us!" Qiao Yuanfu frowned and said, "It seems that our African trading company didn't provoke them much?"

"Sir, during the war between your country and the Mughal Empire two years ago, you sank a British merchant ship near the Daman Sea, killing more than 60 sailors." Diogo Costa carefully reminded Said: "It is said that after this incident spread to the UK, it aroused the indignation of the whole country, claiming to retaliate against it."

"Uh..." Qiao Yuanfu immediately smiled wryly when he heard the words. Our Qi Navy acted so aggressively, but we didn't want to offend the British.They can't do anything to our Qi people in the Indian Ocean region, and they may make some small moves in the Atlantic Ocean and the Americas to retaliate against the "tyrannical" acts of our Qi people.

"They won't be so bold to attack us at sea, right? You know, we have two ships here this time, and they are not something that can be easily dealt with by slave ships like them!"

"That's not necessarily the case." Qiao Yuanfu shook his head with a dignified expression, "A few years ago, Britain suddenly changed its position and joined the anti-French alliance, forcing France to join forces with the Netherlands, Spain, Brandenburg and many other countries. In this way, The United Kingdom can be said to be an ally of Spain, and under such circumstances, the British can definitely link up with the Spaniards, entangle several armed merchant ships, and come together to besiege our two ships."

"Then shall we continue to go south to the Gyeongju area (now Gotabonia)?"

"Above the sea, there is a vast expanse. Even if we are really besieged by many armed merchant ships from Britain and the West, can't we still escape?" Qiao Yuanfu thought for a while, and said fiercely: "I don't believe it, the British really They dare to turn against us blatantly! You know, we have absolute control over the coastal areas of South Africa, once they mess with us, there is no way for any ship to go to the Indian Ocean region!"

On November 11, two armed merchant ships under the banner of Qiguo Africa Trading Company sailed away from Bahia, and then headed south along the coastline and along the warm current of Brazil.

Considering that the U.S. colonies are fighting with Spain in order to grab territory, it is very lively, and may be in urgent need of various war supplies.The two merchant ships specially purchased a large amount of gunpowder, grain, sugar, quilts, medicinal materials and other commodities in Brazil, and prepared to sell them to His Royal Highness King Qing.

I heard that they captured Buenos Aires and several Spanish towns and strongholds in the surrounding area, and they must have obtained a lot of spoils. They should be able to earn some hard-working errands from them.

Not long after the two ships sailed, two "tails" followed, following all the way, obviously with malicious intentions.Although the other party did not fly any flags to indicate their identity, the people of Qi could still guess that this must be a sneaky British, who was planning to do something wrong when Qi's merchant ships were slack.