Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1573 Intense debate and setting the tone

"...Then the crux of the problem is whether we can bear the price of losing China." While the Dutch were discussing countermeasures in the embassy, ​​the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the administrative building of the East Bank Executive Committee not far away, In his office, a group of young and middle-aged diplomats were also discussing.In other words, according to the intensity of their discussions, this can already be regarded as a kind of debate.

Currently speaking is Bai Yutang, Senior Assistant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This gentleman is the son of Bai Siwen, an early executive member who has now retired. He is 36 and seven years old this year.Affected by the decline of his father's official career, Bai Yutang's start in the officialdom was not very smooth at the beginning, and he was quite discriminated against.But this son is also amazing, not only is he handsome, he is good at poetry and songs, he is also good at dealing with people, so after so many years, he has gradually made a name for himself, and he is the second generation of wearers with some of the same His friends and foxes have formed an offensive and defensive alliance, and this position has stabilized.

And after 20 years of working in ministries of foreign affairs, trade, etc.—during which, he briefly parachuted into any place, but they were not very successful, and finally returned to the ministries—knowing that if he wants to go further, he must Bai Yutang, who was transferred to an important position in the local area, was in full swing to make contacts and make connections, and wanted to be transferred to an overseas colony to serve as a gold plating.

As for the destination of the gilding, Bai Yutang had already thought about it, and that was the Far East region where Liu Jianguo had already gone to take up his post.To be more precise, the place he wants to go to is the Southern Pioneering Team in Ningbo. It would be better if Liu Jianguo acted as a vice-ministerial cadre to preside over the Blackwater Pioneering Team. Bai Yutang could also be promoted to a higher level. If you jump from a bureau-level cadre to a deputy-ministerial level, you will be qualified to preside over an overseas colony—at least you can act as an agent in the early stage, and after you have some reasonable achievements, you can be promoted and corrected. This is all a routine.

And if you want to overwhelm others in various positions in the highly competitive overseas colonies, it is simply unimaginable without the support of the central boss.Considering that there is only one elder in charge of the judicial system who he can speak to, and it is unknown whether he is willing to help, so to be on the safe side, Bai Yutang has to obtain the support of another big boss with enough weight, such as That's it for Mo San of this system.

However, in the diplomatic and trade system, Bai Yutang is also facing a lot of competitive pressure. After all, everyone is young and has worked hard in the ministries and commissions for a long time. Pen.So you can see that even in the same office, there is a faint tit-for-tat between everyone's speeches, and the meaning of competition is quite strong.

"It is currently impossible to bear the price of losing China." Because he is going to work in the Far East, he will be in the office. Bai Yutang is clearly opposed to abandoning the Far East colonies. He said: " The three major pioneering teams in the Far East are the main source of immigrants in our country. There are now more than 200 million people in the country, and more than 45% of them are Ming people. Even among the increasing number of second-generation nationals, Ming people still have an advantage Proportion. To a certain extent, the Far East mainland really cannot be given up. We still have to compete with the Ming and Qing countries for Huaxia Zhengshuo, open up their markets, and make strategic arrangements. How can we give up so easily? Deputy Director Lin, your idea is extremely wrong. Our country has invested so much and expended a lot of energy in Heishui, Denglai, and Ningbo. Did you give up?"

The "Deputy Director Lin" that Bai Yutang mentioned was the son of Lin Youde, who was two or three years younger than Bai Yutang. The two had similar official positions and had been the most direct competitors for many years, so the mutual rivalry was extremely strong. concentrated.For example, when he heard the other party pointing out that it is not worthwhile for the country to spend a lot of money on immigration every year, Bai Yutang would habitually jump out and refute it, and everyone seemed to be used to these bad things between them. They all sat beside each other with a smile on their faces, drinking tea and watching a play, enjoying themselves leisurely.

In fact, Deputy Director Lin's views are not isolated on the east coast.In the eyes of many second-generation wearers who were born and raised on the east coast, what does the Ming and Qing kingdoms in the Far East have to do with them?Can it bring benefits to the country and yourself?In other words, in the eyes of these people, interests are the root of everything, and since the Far East San Francisco cannot give enough benefits to the local people in the foreseeable future, then such a colony is not worth mentioning. In that way, materials and cash of up to 300 million yuan can be saved every year (immigration costs are shared by the immigration department and the overseas colonies), and the contribution to finances is not insignificant.

Most of these people are concentrated in the local civil affairs, judiciary, science, education, culture, health and financial systems, including officials and businessmen.These people think that the country has more than 220 million people, and it is not a small country in Europe (after all, the United Province has only 300 million people, and Venice has about the same number, but both are powerful countries) However, if they spend [-] million yuan in property immigration every year, even more money and materials will be spent on resettlement after they immigrate to the mainland. Whether this money is worth spending is very problematic in their opinion.

These people feel that instead of migrating as many as 6 Ming and Qing people to the east coast every year, it is better to invest the money in sanitation popularization, disease control promotion, education and training, scientific research, and even cadre training. Improve the living standards of the people, so that the East Bank will continue to be at the forefront.

To be honest, Bai Yutang had somewhat agreed with them before.However, in recent years, with the intensification of family investment in overseas trade, his thinking has gradually changed.Especially now that the society has decided to transfer activities to the Far Eastern colonies. As the saying goes, the head determines the head. Bai Yutang is now a "Far Eastern faction", and his arguments have begun to advocate for the continued maintenance and development of the Far Eastern colonies.

Therefore, at this meeting, he took the pain of his old enemy and continued to say mercilessly: "We have established a solid tea and raw silk trade in Ningbo, and we have obtained a considerable share of exports from Guangdong and other places every year at the Haizhu Island Trading Station. The Blackwater region has developed a high-grade fur industry, sea animal hunting industry, and whale fishing industry on a scale that cannot be ignored. We have also monopolized the export industry of medicinal materials in the Kingdom of Korea. We even bought back a large amount from Japan at a very low price to serve as ballast Stone and copper, aren’t these benefits? I vaguely remember that the total amount of the above-mentioned materials sold to the mainland has exceeded 70 yuan a year. We either digest these materials ourselves, or export them to Europe after reprocessing, creating an overall The profit is also as high as several 10 yuan, how is this not a benefit?"

"Our annual expenditure on maintaining the Far East Army is also huge. Among them, the Seventh Mixed Battalion alone has an annual maintenance cost of more than 30 yuan, not to mention a large number of muskets, cannons, carriages, ammunition bags, armor, sabers, long A series of supplies such as spears, canned food, medicine, etc. Some people may say that these all require money, but the problem is that for many years, the three major development teams in the Far East have been purchasing the above-mentioned supplies at a price lower than the production cost of our arsenal. , so it can be considered that the local government is subsidizing the Far East San Francisco in a disguised form. Although we have never had an exact figure for this amount, I believe it will not be less than 30 yuan, which is a lot of money. If you include other various expenses, the local subsidy to the Far East San Francisco is as high as 100 million yuan a year. Can this money be earned back through trade?" Deputy Director Lin Chao Baiyutang said triumphantly: "The fact Going to the Far East San Francisco doesn’t make much money for us, if we follow the virtues of the Dutch, the loss-making colonies would have given up a long time ago, and we don’t even bother to take a second look.”

"You are really a huge fallacy." Bai Yutang said: "Actually, according to your calculation, excluding the indirect or direct profits earned from trade, the local subsidy for the Far East San Francisco every year is no more than 100 million yuan. It’s too much, it’s only about 30 to 30 yuan. This includes the salaries of all troops, cadres, and technical personnel, as well as the salaries and maintenance costs of the Navy’s Third Fleet. It only costs 200 yuan to maintain A huge colony with a population of [-] million, I think this is really a good business. What's more, the Far East San Francisco collects and exports a large number of books, cultural relics, prescriptions and even professional technical personnel (such as doctors, weavers, Senior craftsmen, etc.), how do you calculate the benefits of these things? Isn’t it worth a lot of money?”

"Besides, I heard that the Far East San Francisco is also undergoing drastic reforms. In the future, the income of the colonial government will also usher in a period of substantial growth. At that time, their finances will be sufficient, so the mainland will naturally be able to Raise the prices of all kinds of military resources and industrial products, so there is no need to give them subsidies in disguise. In that case, why do we have to give up this colony? You know, it can also provide many things we urgently need, many Time can't just be considered from the perspective of money." Bai Yutang took advantage of the victory and chased after him: "You can get so many benefits with only such a small amount of money, in my opinion, this is simply a good business."

"You were in a normal time, and there was no war. What if there was a war? For example, Wu Sangui's attack on Nanming, will our country intervene? How much will it cost?" Deputy Director Lin continued to ask unconvincingly.

……

Debates among young people are always difficult to tell the winner. Mo San and the secretary stood quietly outside the door and listened for a long while. After they had finished for a while, they pushed open the wooden door of the office and walked in. Not surprisingly, I saw a horrified face.

"I think it's a very healthy way to discuss things with different views." After receiving a cup of tea from the secretary, Mo San sat down at an empty desk and said: " In fact, as you mentioned just now, although the Far East trade looks a little ordinary now, its potential is still very huge. Now the local porcelain trade is not in our hands, so the benefits are lost every year In addition, we only control a small part of the trade of tea and raw silk, and considerable profits have been made by the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, and sporadic Portuguese and French merchants. Our Haizhu The island business station is far from being perfect, and there is a lot of room for improvement in the future. Of course, the above-mentioned things have little to do with the local finance, because the trade income is not only attributable to the local part (dividends are distributed according to the shareholding ratio of the Bank of Taiwan). , and most of the rest are staying in San Francisco in the Far East, but as far as some commodities are exported to the mainland, they still create a lot of direct or indirect profits for us, which cannot be ignored.”

"Of course, the status of San Francisco in the Far East is not only reflected in trade, but also in providing a large amount of labor required for local construction. In fact, I think you have always had a misunderstanding, that is, you only focus on those Famous trade commodities, such as raw silk, tea, etc. But what is the greatest wealth in the Far East? Obviously, it is neither specialty trade products, nor gold, silver and jewelry, but the population of more than 6000 million in mainland China." Mo Sanhe He took a sip of tea, looked at the crowd and said, "Similar to this, what is the greatest wealth in India? It is not pepper, gemstones, perfume, or the nitrate that everyone is flocking to, but the population of 5000 million. That is a frighteningly large amount of wealth. If anyone rules India, even if there is nothing on the land of India, as long as there are more than 1 million colonial residents, then there is no doubt that we can create wealth that makes us speechless every day. So, do you still think that the Far East colonies are dispensable?"

Mo San is actually a little worried now, and there are quite a few people who have the same idea as him, that is, they are worried that after their older generation passes away, whether the second or even third generation of leaders in power will be as they are now Put a lot of energy into the far east.This kind of worry is not unfounded, because there are many signs that there are quite a few second-generation locals who think that the Far East is dispensable, and they are quite critical of the Ming people who immigrate to the Far East every year.

Out of this concern, they decided to strengthen the bond of interests between the Far East San Francisco and the mainland, taking advantage of the opportunity they are still on stage. Introduce new strategic investors, such as making local governments inseparable from the land revenue brought by immigrants, such as tacitly allowing the Army to invest more power in the Far East, and so on.

In addition, they also resorted to all means to exchange interests with the Dutch on a global scale, sacrificing part of their interests in Europe, ensuring their own dominance in China, and crowding out the Netherlands, England, Portugal and other forces one by one. Go out of China so that I can better move around there.

Of course, in addition to the above, they are also preparing to start setting the tone and unify their understanding in the country.In addition, the selection of reserve cadres must be carefully carried out - in Mo San's heart at this time, young people like Deputy Director Lin will never have the opportunity to take up leadership positions in the central government in the future; Although he has some opinions on his father, looking at his words and deeds and past achievements, it is not impossible to cultivate him.

After turning these thoughts in his mind, Mo San smiled and put down the teacup, then motioned to the secretary to distribute some documents, and said: "Now is not the time to discuss the Far East issue. The most urgent issue before us is still the issue from Europe." trouble."

(End of this chapter)