Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1393 Guild ([-])

In March, the sky at Qingdao Port was high and the clouds were light, making it extremely comfortable.

Captain Couette stood next to the warehouse built by his family in the dock area, while blowing the cool sea breeze, while looking at the barrels of pepper in the warehouse with satisfaction, thinking about how much money this batch of goods could earn—although Now most of the family business is handed over to the eldest son, but Captain Couette also participates in the family business decision-making from time to time and continues to play his role; More than 30 years ago, he always received a lot of benefits or promises for the "big favor" to the East Bank, which was in its early construction period. This is a life experience, which cannot be copied by others.

Captain Couette was in the shipping business in his early years. In his heyday, he had three or four ships. He ran the trade between the United Provinces and the East Coast all the year round (sometimes reselling West India Company goods), and made a lot of profits. He is one of the richest people in the east bank with a relatively solid family background.

Now, after many years of development, their Ku family has become more and more powerful, and they have faintly become one of the more appealing businessmen in Qingdao Port, and this is obviously the reason why the Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau approached him.There is nothing else, let it pass information to the May agency to strengthen the government's understanding and control of these rising bourgeois businessmen.

The year before last (1663), after integrating the miscellaneous businesses of the family, the Ku family basically determined the main direction of attack in the future, that is, pepper and shipping.Pepper is currently one of the three mainstream spices in the world (the other two are nutmeg and cloves), and the domestic demand on the east coast is very light. Whether it is marinating meat or daily cooking, it is basically needed. A cheap spice, it can be said that the market is extremely wide.

Of course, as the only variety among the three major spices that has not been monopolized by the Dutch, it has been transplanted and planted in the East Indies, Ceylon, and the Malabar coast of India (the Coromandel coast has also begun to be transplanted in recent years, and the New Huaxia Island on the east coast There are also a small amount of planting) The price of widely planted pepper is not high, and it is relatively close to the people.But it is also because the price is not high, so the sales volume is very large, and the overall profit is not much inferior to that of other spices. Therefore, in recent years, many businessmen have squeezed into this business, planning to lay out and secure positions as soon as possible, so as to lay a good foundation for the future. Good foundation, Captain Couette's family had such an idea.

As a not so pure businessman, Captain Couette always has to bow to the will of the government and serve their interests.Therefore, recently, the Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau sent someone to quietly convey an instruction to him, that is, to form a so-called pepper plantation industry association in Qingdao Port, to bring together all businessmen who are interested in investing in pepper plantation, and then A group went to the east coast of Xinhuaxia Island (where it is most suitable for the cultivation of pepper, a spice) for development.

To be honest, Captain Couette himself actually likes the establishment of such an industry association. After all, there are many people and strength, and they can watch and help each other when they are in a group. The investment risk is shared a lot, and this is a kind of Social prestige and status, Captain Couette, who is in his old age, attaches great importance to this.But the problem is - this is a fucking guild led by a secret service organization like the Mei Agency, how will I behave in the future!Every time he thinks of this, Captain Couette feels very sad. He feels that the country on the east coast is really too unfree, and it is far worse than the United Provinces ruled by merchants.

Captain Couette's son, however, seemed excited about it, because he thought it was clearly not a bad thing.His father always didn't want to have anything to do with the spy organization, but he felt that using the other party's power to gain benefits at a critical moment seemed to be more helpful to his career, not to mention that their family had no other choice, didn't they?The Bureau of Statistics and Investigation of Syphilis Patients is not a public welfare organization, but a "demon" that eats people without spitting out their bones. Who dares to refuse their request?Don't want to live anymore!

The Pepper Plantation Owners Association currently has 12 registered members, and their own funds and bank loans total more than 25 yuan, which is enough to open up a certain situation on the east coast of Xinhua Island.In addition, I don't know whether it is to encourage more funds to be invested in the relatively wild east coast of New China or for other reasons. In short, Captain Couette has been instructed to allow foreign companies that have undergone review and approval to join industry guilds, such as the recent The Medici-Farnese company, introduced by the Ministry of Trade, is a colonial trade enterprise rooted in central Italy.

At present, the representative of the company has arrived at Qingdao Port and is living in a hotel with fairly good facilities in the dock area—the hotel conditions in the first ring road of Qingdao County are very good—and Captain Couette had been with him before. The meeting has been held once, and today he plans to have a second meeting with the other party to finalize some details of the investment.

The representative of the Medici-Farnese company is the 26-year-old Pietro Farnese, whose father is Odoardo Farnese, the last Duke of the Duchy of Parma in Central Italy (Petero Farnese). Luo is the fifth son of Duke Odoaldo), his mother is the fourth child of Cosimo II, the previous Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his eldest uncle is Ferdinand II, the current Duke of Tuscany. Two uncles are cardinals, Prince Cosimo of Tuscany (23 years old) is his cousin, and I am the younger brother of the current Grand Duke Ranuzio II of the Principality of Parma - obviously, this young man People are the descendants of the two major families in central Italy, the Medici family and the Farnese family.

However, according to the tradition inherited from the Old Continent, as the youngest child of the Grand Duke, Pietro has basically no property. Apart from two villas in the city of Palma and a medium-sized manor in the suburbs, he has almost no other material wealth.Although life is much better than that of ordinary people, but you must know that he is a direct descendant of the Duke, and he has the same standard of living as ordinary merchants. He is also related to his life. He is said to not like his brothers and sisters very much, and he is also relatively stingy. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that Pietro has to rely on his cousin for a living.

The Medici-Farnese company holds the vast majority of shares (60%) in the hands of the Medici family, more precisely, in the hands of Prince Cosimo; and as the company's second largest investment The owner's Farnese family only accounted for a mere 30% of the shares, of which only about 10% belonged to Pietro himself. The shares come from small and medium-sized investment businessmen in Parma, Tuscany, Milan and Lucca. They bought the company's shares in the open market, but they usually don't participate in the company's management and only pay dividends.

Medici-Farnese, a company with a registered capital of more than 600 million lire, joined the Pepper Plantation Industry Association, which naturally attracted the attention of 12 other investors including Couette. Everyone felt that not only we think this industry has a future, but even the dignitaries in Parma and Tuscany in Italy value it. It seems that this industry can do well.Moreover, with the wealthy Medici-Farnese company to open up wasteland and open up plantations, there must be many places where you can hitch a ride in the future, which can save you a lot of money.

Couette, as the founder and first president of the Pepper Plantation Association, is also a relatively well-known businessman in the East Coast. Naturally, he wants to meet with Peter, the actual head of the Medici-Farnese Company who applied to join the association. Luo Huiyi met, and the place where they met was the office in the dock warehouse of the Couette family.

Pietro was short, thin, and not handsome, but he seemed to be in good spirits.As the joint agent of the two families, he, the duke's son without any inheritance rights, can only fight for his own future, otherwise rely on the manor and two villas that his old father allocated to him—oh, and the principality government A dispensable official position at home——if he continues on like this, although life may not be bad, but in short, he has no future and is too ordinary, which does not fit his plan for his future life, so this time he has the opportunity to go to the legendary In fact, he is quite satisfied with "exploration" and "treasure hunting" in overseas colonies, which meet his needs of pursuing wealth and status.

It is said that in recent years, with the in-depth development of sugarcane plantations in the deltas of the Sambirano River and the Mahawawi River in the northwest of Xinhua Island, and the continuous improvement of the production technology and scale of the sugar factory in Bei Island, people on the east coast have gradually It has also joined the big market of sugar, and with its annual production capacity of more than 3000 tons, it has become a player that cannot be ignored in the international market—their sugar is sold to Persia, Oman, Ottoman (Asia and Africa), East Africa The Swahili coast, the mainland east coast, and the European Mediterranean area have made a lot of profits.

Among them, Genoa Africa Company and Delta Company, as companies from the Italian region, can pull more than one thousand tons of sucrose from here at least every year (this number still has a lot of room to rise) and sell them to Italy. And neighboring areas, the annual profit reaches 50 bank lire, envious of many people, and also let the Italian businessmen whose industries are declining, don’t worry if you have surplus funds on hand, now you can invest in public bonds or emigrate Apart from Amsterdam, there is a third option, which is to obtain the approval of the East Coasters to invest in various projects in their homeland and overseas colonies in order to obtain commercial returns.

These projects can be infrastructure. For example, the Southwest Railway, where many businessmen in Genoa* have been tricked, has an overall annual rate of return of just over three points, which is not outstanding; but there are also some very good projects, such as Rocha Textile Factory (the largest annual dividend exceeds 80 bank lire), cheese workshops, butter workshops, ham workshops, wineries, etc., the annual income is quite good, this is probably because there is a relatively large population of European descent in the east coast Groups, and their consumption power is quite strong (there are too many poor farmers, citizens or serfs in Europe at this time, and the demand for these relatively high-end food markets is limited), and now with the increasing population on the east coast, the scale of these enterprises With rising profits, it is equivalent to growing with the East Coast Republic of China. This kind of investment project is not attractive, so what else is attractive?

However, if these projects are compared with the lucrative sugar and spice trades today, then they are not worth mentioning. The profitability is not on the same level at all, and this is obviously the reason why the Doria family, the Medici family, the French The reason why powerful families in north-central Italy, such as the Ernese family, came to invest one after another——could the company (Delta Company) that attracted Prince Cosimo of the Medici family to invest in it be an ordinary company with no future?These big families are the most sensitive. They have long coveted sugar and spices. However, they have no ability to colonize the sea, and the sporadic New Spain plantations are small in scale, and they are still facing the threat of being robbed by others. Risk, so it has not been able to find a suitable opportunity.

However, as the Genoese took the lead in blazing a trail, Italian businessmen from all walks of life who had a complicated relationship with them came in a short period of time. They signed an agreement with the people on the east coast to recruit pioneers from Europe. Necessities such as tools, seeds, livestock, the first batch of food, etc., and then order ships in England or the United Provinces (sometimes also ordered on the east coast), flooding to the east coast like a tide, and then active in various investment projects, in order to While gaining more or less profits, he also played a considerable role in the development and construction of the East Coast Republic of China.

"Mr. Pietro Farnese, regarding your application to join the Pepper Plantation Industry Association, after discussion among the members of our association, it was unanimously decided to accept it. Congratulations, Medici-Farnese Company, starting today, It is the 13th registered member of the Pepper Plantation Industry Association of the East Coast Republic of China. I hope that everyone will work together in the future to make this business bigger and stronger, and at the same time play its due role in the economic construction of our country." In the warehouse In the office, Captain Couette said in a business-like tone: "At the end of this month, we will organize the first group of people to go to Xinhua Island for investigation. I really hope that Mr. Farnese will go with us at that time. to be able to finalize some things.”

"I will, Mr. Couette, thank you very much for your help, the Farnese family and the Medici family will remember your friendship." Pietro said slightly reserved.

"You'd better take advantage of this time to purchase more medicines and stock up." Captain Couette reminded kindly again: "Believe me, these medicines are very important to people who live in Xinhua Island for a long time, they are necessities, and the production is limited , very tight, you'd better be prepared in advance."

(End of this chapter)