Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1240 Dinghai ([-])

"Azig has returned to Beijing." On February 1660, 2, Shao Shuguang, who had just returned to the branch of the Bank of Taiwan in Dinghai County, heard Huang Yi who came to visit him say.

Huang Yi has been in the Far East for some years, and now she dresses up as a Ming Dynasty gentry all day long, eating, drinking and having fun at the stability maintenance clubs in various counties, and getting along with a group of so-called "pro-East Coast gentry" so badly that she almost got sworn sworn brothers.That's not to mention, this time traveler, Hanfu lover, and classical music lover also raised a few theater troupes at home, entertaining himself all day long, but he is also good at playing.

Ahem, of course, Huang Yi doesn't play around all day long. He still remembers his own job, which is to find ways to increase the production of tea and raw silk.Among the counties in Ningbo Prefecture under the control of the people from the east coast, except for the capital Yin County, which is a major grain-producing county, the grain production in Fenghua, Cixi, Xiangshan, Changguo, Ninghai, Dinghai and other places is actually very average—except for Dinghai County, which is slightly higher In addition, Cixi is the front line of the two armies. The population has moved inland, and the output of both grain and silk is not large; Fenghua, Ninghai, Xiangshan, and Changguo needless to say, have fewer people and more mountains, and the grain production is barely enough. However, in recent years, as people from the east coast demanded more shipments of raw silk and tea, a large number of fields and manpower were stripped away from food cultivation, which further exacerbated the food shortage in these counties.

However, grain production dropped, but sericulture and tea production increased day by day. Some farmers even planted cotton, which was very popular in the late Ming Dynasty, and spun and weaved it for sale. Zhihu from the two prefectures of Shaoxing was once captured by people from the east bank——and regained some vitality.In short, Ningbo Prefecture, the "granary" originally ruled by the people from the east coast, is now booming in economic crops, and its grain output has been declining year by year. Supplement some food production), but isn't that what he, Huang Yihuang, wants to see?

Raw silk and tea are fundamental!This need not be reminded too much, Huang Yi herself understands how much the local people are eager for these two commodities.For example, raw silk, the thicker raw silk produced in Persia and Punjab has been imported in large quantities (but still not enough), which shows that the textile industry's thirst for this important raw material has reached a certain level.Needless to say about tea, there are nearly a million people in China now, and there are hundreds of thousands of people with spending power. Although these people consume a lot of beverages—wine, liquor, beer, coffee, green tea, yerba mate— But the green tea provided by Ningbo Mansion could not fill the gap no matter what, so that the price remained high, and local businessmen could not buy the goods even waving checks.

Not to mention, now it is necessary to increase the quota for the Dutch three times as agreed, which is simply killing Huang Yi, because it will inevitably reduce the share of raw silk and tea shipped back to the mainland.However, who will make immigrants always the number one task of the Blackwater Pioneering Team? Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture need to be raised. Sooner or later, food imports will be exhausted, so it is inevitable to trade with the Dutch—of course, the people on the east coast also have backups, such as asking North Korea to expand the area of ​​cultivated land, etc.—and since doing trade, increase exports to the East India Company Raw silk and tea are also unavoidable.

Fortunately, this trade is also extremely profitable!Taxes and dividends from the Bank of Taiwan are enough to greatly reduce the financial pressure on the Blackwater Pioneering Team. Maybe there will be a surplus to go to North Korea to buy food, which is considered a good business.In this way, the proper placement of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture will be a little more certain. The bureaucrats of the Blackwater Pioneering Team have all contributed a lot, and everyone is happy to return to the mainland to get promoted and make a fortune.Otherwise, even if your business in the Far East is booming and you earn a lot of money every year, the local executive committee members will not pay more attention to you. In their eyes, people will always come first.

Shao Shuguang greeted Han Jin—the son of Han Keda and brother of Han Yin—bring tea to Huang Yi, and said, "Wanghai tea from Ninghai County is your favorite drink, Uncle Huang. Hehe, Ninghai County has just been captured by our army. It hasn't been long since the recovery, and the local tea gardens have been seriously damaged, and I'm afraid the output this year will be unrealistic."

"Hey, let's recover slowly." Huang Yi sighed, took the tea, and said: "There should be peace for a while, and Ninghai County has plenty of time to recover. By the way, I just said that Azig has returned to Beijing. Do you know what that means?"

"It means that the Qing Dynasty's internal reshuffle is complete?" Shao Shuguang frowned and asked.Although he has only been in Ningbo for a few months, he has also made up for the current situation in China. He knows that Azig is in Xiangyang, presiding over the battle against the Shun army, with an army of more than [-], he is extremely powerful.However, this person is a member of Dorgon's family after all. Now that Dorgon has been dead for so long, the internal cleansing of the Beijing court should have been completed-there is pressure from the East Bank outside and the country has not yet been unified. The intensity of this kind of cleansing should be far less severe than in history. After all, the Tatars are not corrupt. On the contrary, they are smarter than most Ming Dynasty officials in this era. General's support.

Moreover, the Tartars still retain the style of Huang Taiji's era, and they only engage in political strife, not the middle and lower classes. Therefore, very few people die every time the power is reshuffled, which greatly weakens the enemy's will to resist .Didn't you see that the five sons of Dabeile Amin back then still retained their titles after being taken down by Huang Taiji. Compared with the political strife in the Ming Dynasty, which "cut grass and roots" at every turn, it is indeed much more generous.

"The Shun army has already agreed to negotiate peace with the Qing court, and we only informed us afterwards. Maybe they are dissatisfied with our request to stop marching in Hunan and Jiangxi. Hehe, occupying several mansions can't satisfy their appetite. These guys." Huang Yi took a sip of tea and said, "Azig didn't come to Beijing alone, he brought five or six thousand Manchurian Eight Banners, many of them were soldiers with white banners. But what's the use of this? The white banner They have all been taken down. Is it possible that Azig can turn the world upside down? Going to Beijing is a dead end. There is no other way except to rebel immediately in Xiangyang. Tens of thousands of people rebelled, but it was just lingering. Xiangyang still has nearly [-] Manchurian Eight Banners soldiers. Most of these people don’t want to follow Azig, but these people don’t move. It’s only when they move.”

"This..." Shao Shuguang was also a little stunned when he heard the words. He really couldn't imagine that the Ming Dynasty's political reshuffle was so involved. This is the case with Huang Taiji, and even the children of the dead Hauge are still enjoying the glory and wealth, which makes it hard for him to imagine.

"Okay, let's not mention this matter. Now anyway, the North and the South are negotiating peace, and the Qing Dynasty itself has a lot of internal affairs to deal with. Shunjun and Nanming are also at war. Wu Sangui spent three days fishing in Sichuan and two days drying the net. In this land of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that It’s going to take some time to stop, after so many years of fighting, I can’t beat it anymore.” Huang Yi crossed her legs and said while drinking tea comfortably, “What should we do in the future, we have to figure it out To sum it up. Now that there are so many immigrants on hand, it is estimated that there will be no need to go out on a large scale to rob people in five or six years - even if they rob people, they will not be able to support them - so how to straighten out the relationship with the Qing, Ming, and Shun countries, etc. Think carefully about it."

"Then, shall we also discuss peace with Qing?" Shao Shuguang asked.

"Us? That's impossible. Some local people will not agree, and there is no need. If everyone really has a tacit understanding, then maintaining their respective lines of actual control and withdrawing troops is the right thing to do. And do you think this North-South peace negotiation can last for a long time? Also It's all temporary. If these people really want to free up their hands and straighten out internal affairs, the fight will be very fast. Whether it is the Northern Expedition or the Southern Expedition, it will only stop after completely defeating other forces to unify the country, otherwise it will not Stop it." As a time traveler, Huang Yi still knows the traditions of mainland China very well, but there is no need to explain these in too much detail to the new generation like Shao Shuguang, just tell him that the peace negotiation is only temporary.

"Well, Uncle Huang, I'm actually too lazy to care about these things. At present, I'm only interested in expanding the business of Taiwan's banks. This trade with the Dutch made me realize that cross-border trade is really profitable, no wonder The Zheng family pays so much attention to trade with Japan (there is even a small part of trade with Southeast Asia, but most of them are self-expanded businesses by their businessmen), and they can earn a small 300 million yuan a year, almost reaching sixty percent of our country's fiscal revenue. It’s done, anyone else should be tempted.”

"Although the Bank of Taiwan is limited to trade with the Dutch East India Company, its potential is also very large. Especially the production of sugar in Taiwan has been reduced by the Dutch a lot due to the recession in recent years, and the market share is not as good as before. The output At one point it fell to only one-eighth of its heyday. If you have the ability to let that Governor Kuiyi see "Qian Jing" and order to expand the area of ​​sugar plantation again, that's all right. Ningbo, Dengzhou, Hei Water, North Korea, and even the vast areas of the Qing Dynasty (smuggling), what a big consumer market this is. To be honest, Taiwan’s sugar production is not enough. Especially the Qing Dynasty, which has a vast area and a large population. In addition, it has been stable for 15 years, and production recovery is very fast. Hurry up, there is still a consumer market, it depends on how you operate it. In addition, how many years have the luxury goods such as sandalwood and camphor in the hands of the Dutch been out of stock in mainland China? Once the long-suppressed market demand is released, then But it is also a gold mine, and it can be done in the short term. Although it is not as profitable as raw silk, tea, and rice trade in the long run, it is not without small supplements, and it is worth doing.” It is said that Huang Yi also bought 3% of the Bank of Taiwan two days ago. (half of the shares in the public offering are for investors in the Heishui area), and they can be regarded as shareholders of this large syndicate, so it can be regarded as doing their best to give advice to Shao Shuguang.

"I am also very confident in the prospects of Bank of Taiwan, and this is also my career." Shao Shuguang is also a shareholder of the company. Hearing Huang Yi's encouragement at this time, he immediately said with confidence: "Now our army The progress in the south is not slow. Tiantai County, Huangyan County, Haimenwei and other places have been captured, Linhai County has also been besieged, and the city will probably be broken this month. Unfortunately, most of these places will not be occupied for a long time. Instead, it will be handed over to King Lu's department, unfortunately, Commander Liao has to consider the opinions of Captain Chang and the local people after all."

"There were not many Qing troops in Taizhou Prefecture, and the main force had already been wiped out in several battles in Ninghai, Tiantai, and Linhai—the prisoner camp in Ninghai County alone accommodated more than [-] people—the rest may not be able to stop King Lu. With all the land and water troops under the command, the recovery of the entire Taizhou Prefecture is inevitable. Even the Wenzhou Prefecture next door is hard to say, and there are not enough troops there. It is not difficult to say whether it can resist the King of Lu. But fortunately, they rely on northern Fujian Counting the government, how many can get some support, how the battle situation will depend on God’s will. But I remember that Nanming has ceased fighting with the Qing army, will the King of Lu listen to Emperor Yongli?" Shao Shuguang suddenly thought of this question again, So asked.

"Of course I don't want to listen." Huang Yi rolled her eyes, and said as a matter of course: "The King of Lu wants to overthrow a piece of land. He has also entered and exited this area in eastern Zhejiang, and he is very familiar with it. This meeting Given the opportunity, it is natural to seize the foundation of our standing, but this is not bad for us. On the contrary, we have a buffer zone on the flanks, which is not bad. By the way, although we will fight to punish the Qing army. , most of the land will not be occupied for a long time, but I heard that Tiantai County will still be taken. This place is still good, with a lot of flat land, suitable for growing grain and mulberry. Of course, there are more mountainous land, which can be used to grow tea and is also rich in medicinal materials , this is a scarce resource for us. Well, in fact, the above reasons are not sufficient. The real reason is that the local Taoist priests in Yin County insisted on occupying the so-called "Holy Land" in Tiantai County. For this reason, they expressed that they would Write a letter back to the mainland, asking the Religious Affairs Office to intervene in the matter, and let the Executive Committee allow the Southern Theater to control Tiantai County for a long time. The possibility of this is still very high. I heard that Commander Liao has agreed to this matter, and We are starting to set up a stability maintenance committee, overhaul fortresses and garrison stations in this county, and plan to bring them under the direct control of Ningbo Prefecture."

"In this way, we have eight counties under the jurisdiction of Ningbo Prefecture (Changguowei has been changed to a county). Although most counties are sparsely populated, they are better than rich in resources, such as raw silk, tea, medicinal materials, bamboo, and wild products. The output is quite a lot, which is a good thing for Bank of Taiwan.” Shao Shuguang also laughed after hearing this, although Bank of Taiwan currently only has two institutions in Dinghai and Dayuan, it is not a dream to develop in other places in the future—although There is competition from the powerful Northwest Reclamation Bank, but the market is so vast that it is more than enough to accommodate two banks.

After Huang Yi left, Shao Shuguang did not rest, but went to inspect the construction site of the wharf warehouse. Recently, a batch of wine from the south of Yantai arrived in Hong Kong, but the warehouse has not yet been repaired, so he has to keep an eye on it.After all, wine, which he didn't pay much attention to at first, turned out to be one of the key purchases of the Dutch East India Company, which shows how precious it is.

He stayed on the construction site until the sun set, and then, surrounded by guards, he headed for a restaurant in the county. Tonight he will have dinner with the merchants who went to the Dayuan Trading last time.The big staff and his party, the huge profits of cross-border trade are still fresh in everyone's memory, and more and more people want to join. Shao Shuguang, a young man, suddenly became a hot figure.

(End of this chapter)