Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 35 The Prosperous Smuggling Trade

The South Atlantic is exceptionally cold in early September.

A small boat was struggling towards the coast in the dark, and the white breath of the sailors was particularly eye-catching in the cold moonlight.As it approached the shore, several sailors jumped into the icy water and pushed the boat forward.

Pushed and pulled down by the sailors, the boat finally landed on the beach.Several people holding torches were waiting on the shore, and they seemed to have been waiting for a long time.The leader was a middle-aged man with a flintlock pistol in his hand and a 32-year-style command knife hanging from his waist.

"Alvaro, you are more than half an hour late today." The middle-aged man said, "The new 'peninsula'? Still watching our every move in Buenos Aires, you let us all taking big risks.”

"Aha, Your Excellency the Inspector General is still in the city?" Alvaro jumped off the boat and laughed exaggeratedly: "Poor city councilors, their pockets are about to shrink a lot. Of course, I didn't mean to laugh at your father."

The middle-aged man's face twitched. He ignored Alvaro's ridicule, but turned around and said, "Miguel, Anthony, go check the goods."

Two capable young men stepped forward as promised, opened the small boat and checked each of the cargo packages: metal spurs, horseshoes, skinning knives, boning knives, scissors, shovels, pickaxes, axes...

After a long time, they nodded to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man walked over, looked at it with a torch, and then asked, "Why is there no Tatan saber? You know this thing is very popular in the La Plata area, and many gauchos who herd horses like to buy one." .”

Alvaro shrugged and said: "The Tatans' sabers are a hot commodity. The Russians are the biggest customers of the Tatans' sabers. They have a big appetite and even want to buy all the sabers produced by the Tatans. Not only that, but now The Poles and Swedes have also expressed great interest in the Tatan Saber. Three shops have been built outside the city of Tatan Port this week. Our quota for this month is only 50, and we have already sold them all to you. Satisfied Come on, my friend! Pay the money now, I don't want to stay a minute longer in this damned place, my lads are freezing."

The middle-aged man paid the money readily, obviously this was not the first time they had traded.Alvaro looked at the grotesquely shaped Spanish cross silver coin minted in Potosi in the purse, and took out another delicate "one dollar" silver coin minted by the Tartans. It looks better than the ones you cast, and the color is good..."

When it comes to silver coins, I have to mention the various versions of coins minted by Chuanzhong. Due to their high quality and good appearance, they have become popular among the major smugglers in La Plata.The various silver coins minted by the Spaniards in America are not only ugly and irregular in shape, but also not very uniform in weight.Taking the cross silver coin with a face value of 8 riyals as an example, the light one weighs about 24 grams, and the heavy one reaches 27.5 grams.

And the color is also very suspicious.Some Venetian merchants had analyzed some Potosi cross silver coins before and declared that these silver coins were doped with a large amount of base metal.

Since the launch of the self-casting coins by the Travelers, they have been very popular in the market due to their uniform shape and sufficient color. Many merchants who come to trade trade their Spanish silver coins to the Travelers, and then collect the silver coins obtained from the transaction.At present, the official exchange rate between the "Yuan" in Datan Port and the Spanish "Rial" is 1:9.6, but in the few private transactions between smugglers, this exchange rate has been fired to more than 1:12 or even higher.

Tangyuan, the finance committee member, was also very pleased with this situation.One yuan silver coin contains 27 grams of silver and 3 grams of copper. Generally speaking, 10 riyals weigh about 31-32 grams. Even if some base metals are mixed in it, the remaining silver content is quite considerable, definitely exceeding 27 grams is a lot.

"I said long ago that minting coins is a very profitable thing!" Tangyuan thought secretly.

After the transaction between the two parties was completed, Alvaro and his sailors drank a few sips of spirits, pushed the boat into the icy water again, and then rowed towards the big ship anchored on the sea.

……

"That is to say, because of the policies of the West Indian Institute and the Trade Agency, Asuncion and Buenos Aires are prohibited from trading with places other than Lima, which has led to rampant local smuggling and damaged the king's interests." Alfonso Bianca de Santis Romero held a glass of red wine and said while standing in the guest room of the local governor's mansion.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Inspector General." The speaker was a young army captain who stood respectfully beside Alfonso Romero.

"Don't be nervous, Torres." Alfonso looked at the young man and said with a smile, "Your father mentioned you to me, saying that you have served in La Plata for more than three years and know everything here."

"Yes, sir." Torres calmed down a little, and said, "Because the leather, tallow, cheese, horns, wool and other materials produced in large quantities in the local area are not urgently needed in the kingdom, the trade agency is extremely indifferent to the La Plata region. Due to trade restrictions, Asunción and Buenos Aires can only buy high-priced goods from Lima, and the supply of goods is not very sufficient; Exploitation, which caused great dissatisfaction among the local livestock farmers. Therefore, the smuggling trade flourished under such circumstances, and a large amount of cheap smuggled products from Brazil flowed into the market every month. Even... a lot Members of the city council also got involved, and they traded with the Portuguese at various secret ports at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata or on the east coast. It has reached as much as five times the total legal trade."

Chief Inspector Alfonso listened carefully, and when the young man finished speaking, he drank the red wine in his glass, stood up and paced, suddenly looked at Torres and asked, "I saw Buenos Aires Many gentlemen in the city are keen to carry a saber that is said to come from Tartan, is this also a commodity smuggled by the Portuguese? As far as I know, the Kingdom does not have this standard saber sold to Lima.”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Torres untied the saber from his waist, handed it to Alfonso, and said, "This saber is a Tatan saber, each worth 3 pesos."

Alfonso drew out his saber, the straight blade was slightly curved, and the blade was bright, reflecting bursts of cold light under the candlelight.

"It's a very sharp and practical saber, no wonder it becomes popular. What does the inscription on this knife mean?" Alfonso smiled and asked, pointing to the Chinese inscription "Thirty-two-year-style non-commissioned officer's knife" on the mechanism of the knife.

"Unfortunately, no one in Buenos Aires knows what it means." Torres explained, "But some people say that it is a language used by people from the Eastern Ming Dynasty."

"Oh? Could it be that the Portuguese carried sabers from the east thousands of miles away to sell in the New World?" His Excellency the Inspector General asked in surprise, "And it only sold for 3 pesos?"

"No, Your Excellency!" Torres replied seriously: "This is not trafficked by the Portuguese from the east. In fact, they bought sabers from the port of Tatan on the east coast, and then smuggled them to the La Plata area and their It is no secret in Buenos Aires and Asunción that the goods are sold together."

"Port of Tartan?" Alfonso mused, "I think I heard a new geographical term. East coast area, isn't there only Indians and Jesuit missionaries there?"

"Maybe it used to be, but not now." Torres said, "It seems that two years ago, a group of Tatans, perhaps orientals, landed on the east coast and established a colonial settlement at Tatan Port. Now the size of their city It is already very big, according to the sailors who have been there, Tatan Port faces the sea and is surrounded by walls on three sides, and there are at least 2000 people living in the city.”

"And they still have a certain industrial foundation, and the handicraft market is also very prosperous." Alfonso said, "They are also very ambitious, and maybe they will continue to expand to the inland areas, threatening the kingdom's sovereignty over the east coast. "

Torres didn't speak, but his clenched fist revealed what was inside him.

"Torres, you go back first." Alfonso waved his hand suddenly and said.

"Your Excellency..." Torres yelled: "The Portuguese and the Tartans are not only eroding the kingdom's commercial interests, but they are also violating the kingdom's sovereignty..."

"I already know all of this!" General Inspector Alfonso raised his voice: "But the area that His Majesty the King entrusted to me to inspect is not just La Plata. Next, I will go to Santiago, Lima , Chilkas and Acapulco and other places to inspect and maintain the authority of the royal family. Don't worry, I will handle this matter."

"I see," Torres said.

?"Peninsula" and "Newcomer" are all scornful names for the special envoy of the suzerain country by the native white people in the La Plata region.

(End of this chapter)