Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 95 Mercosur ([-])

The last day of November 1633 was black to the English cotton or woolen merchants who had traveled as far as Colonia.

In the bright spring of Colonia, in the storehouses where British merchants gather, there are chalk written on a large black wooden board: Indian white cotton cloth, priced at 4 pesos/piece; worsted broadcloth 45 pesos/piece, rough cloth 33 pesos/piece, suede 40 pesos/piece (at this time 1 peso ≈ 0.8 yuan ≈ 0.2 pounds).More than a dozen employees of British merchants are laboriously unloading bundles of cotton or woolen cloth from the ship, and then according to the rules of the Merchant Adventurers Company, each merchant presents his goods in front of the customer at the same time, and the price is determined by uniformly formulated by the company.

In the morning, there was an endless stream of businessmen who came to see the goods.These are native white people from La Plata who have joined the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce. They have sufficient funds and smooth sales channels, and they are the favorite customers of British businessmen.Most of these merchants were small and medium-sized merchants, and they bought hundreds of cotton cloths and woolen fabrics here and there.And this is just a drop in the bucket for the huge inventory of the British. The British are not in a hurry. They know that those big customers have not yet appeared, and what is being sold now is just an appetizer.

In the last hour of the morning, the number of La Plata merchants who came to see the goods suddenly decreased, and in the end there was not even a single one.The British didn't realize anything at the moment, and it was almost noon, so the British simply closed their doors for a rest.

A few cloth merchants from the London Merchant Adventurers Company and cotton cloth merchants from the East India Company had lunch together, and they were even interested in sitting down for a drink and a chat. From past experience, it was just a lighthearted business. Just travel.

"I have to say that the beef at La Plata is really good. Tender, smooth, juicy, and East Anglian beef is as chewy as leather, God behold." said George Hampton, a cloth merchant from Norwich, with an exaggerated gesture.

Some merchants smiled good-naturedly, and then someone quipped: "So, George, is that why you slaughter all the beef cattle on your ranch and replace them with sheep?"

"Yes, John." George Hampton took a sip of his wine, and then said, "You know, I recently bought a farm in an abbey. Drive all the stupid farmers away, and I only need the smartest ones to graze my sheep."

"George, although those farmers are stupid, they are still capable of spinning and weaving." John said, "Mr. Shrop of Malmesbury recently rented a handicraft workshop, and then gathered those farmers together. Work as shearers, spinners, weavers and rinsers in the factory. You only need to pay a small salary to get a stable wool output. When I finish this business, I will return to Bristol. Will follow Mr Shroppe's example, for it's a good deal. Isn't it, Mr Sheldon? Your family owns a large factory in Suffolk, and you should appreciate the advantages of that."

A middle-aged man sitting at the corner of the wine table chuckled, and then said in a deep voice: "George, John is right. The times are different, and we have to abandon the old traditions of rural weaving. A farmer spun After finishing the knitting, it takes half a day to reach my workshop. After giving the wool to me for wool, it takes half a day to walk home and continue spinning. We waste too much time on this, which leads to our inefficiency. It's been low. Time for a change, gentlemen! We need to get those farmers out of the goddamn crops and put alfalfa on them and lovely sheep. And those farmers, all in the mills This is the most efficient way, and it will bring us the most lovely gold coins."

What the middle-aged man said made everyone nod repeatedly, and then someone suggested a toast to Mr. Sheldon's workshop, and the atmosphere was extremely enthusiastic for a while.

Suddenly, the door of the store was pushed open, and an employee walked in quickly and said in a deep voice, "Gentlemen, we may be in trouble. I heard a rumor in the market just now that the East Bank People brought in large quantities of cotton cloth and woolen cloth, and they sold the textiles at an unbelievably low price to the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce, which monopolizes most of the trade in the city. According to sources, this price is only half of our price Or so, perhaps that was the reason no one came to buy our goods at the last hour of the morning, for the Spaniards had been informed."

The room was suffocated suddenly, but was soon overwhelmed by a burst of laughter.

"Half the price! God, how is this possible? Are they still making money?"

"Nobody can beat the Englishman's price on textiles!"

"Did they rob a cargo ship transporting textiles? This is the price of dealing with stolen goods, shameless pirates!"

"It's not a very funny joke, but you're finally starting to get a little humorous, Nick, come on, have a toast!"

Nick didn't smile at this time, but he still said with a sullen face: "Gentlemen, I'm not joking. In fact, all the Spanish businessmen are crowded at the door of the east bank's warehouses. You can go and see, I I think this will impress you."

A group of people were stunned by what Nick said, and there was a moment of silence in the room.

"Okay, gentlemen. Perhaps, as Nick said, the East Coasters are dealing with unbelievably low prices, so let's take a look and see what they're up to." From East India William Clifford of the company rose.He was a cotton cloth merchant, and he couldn't talk to the cloth merchants of the Merchant-Adventurer Company. He had been sitting quietly drinking in a corner before, but now he stood up and walked out the door first.

Clifford is a relatively large cotton cloth merchant. It is said that his total assets are more than 5000 pounds, and he stands out from the group of small and medium merchants.After he left, the others couldn't help but look at each other, and finally they all got up and walked outside.

The warehouse of Dong'an Company is located in Xiao Baitu's office. Four police officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a group of sailors were maintaining order at the gate, and Xiao Baitu, the only one among them who could speak Spanish, was screaming at the La Plata businessmen crowded at the gate with a tin horn explain.

"I'm sorry, everyone. All of our goods have been bought by Mr. Rodriguez's chamber of commerce, and this cloth transaction is over. Don't worry, we will go back and organize production as soon as possible, and we will start again in a month at most. Come to Colonia to sell goods, please wait patiently."

"Yes, white cotton cloth is 1.6 yuan per piece, and worsted wide-loom woolen cloth is 25 yuan per piece. The next time the price will remain the same! There will be sufficient supply of goods in one month, please rest assured. The quality of our east coast cloth is high and the price is high. It's cheap, please be patient."

After Xiao Baitu finished speaking, he simply asked his subordinates to close the door of the warehouse, isolating a group of disappointed merchants outside.In the warehouse, Alvaro who heard the news was drinking yerba mate tea leisurely.His son Alvarez decided to buy the textiles from the people on the east coast at a total price of 9100 yuan, which was unbelievably low.The only thing Alvaro wanted to figure out at this time was whether the East Coaster’s business was a one-off deal or was he going to do it for a long time.

"Of course I plan to do it for a long time." Xu Xin explained to Alvaro with a smile, "We will establish a Southern Common Market in the future, including the East Coast, La Plata, Brazil, Chile, Upper Peru③ and other regions. Everyone The goods are freely traded in this market without any transit tariffs. This will inevitably greatly promote the commercial prosperity of various regions, thereby improving the wealth of the people, which is much better than the current designated trade model with a pool of stagnant water Times. Mr. Alvaro, you are our friend, and we people from the East Coast will never let our friends suffer, and we will definitely provide you and your family with products at the most favorable price."

"Of course I will consider the matter of the Southern Common Market. But now I want to know how much cloth you people from the east coast can provide to my chamber of commerce every month. This is the most important thing at this stage. You know, Lapra The market in Tata is huge, and at least 1500-2000 bolts of woolen cloth and cotton cloth far exceed the amount of woolen cloth can be consumed every year. Everyone knows what this means. So, please give me an accurate information, how much is your production capacity? "

"If the raw materials are sufficient, it will not be a problem to produce 1000-2000 bolts of woolen cloth and several times the amount of cotton cloth per month." Xu Xin did not answer, but at this time Tao Chenxi stepped forward. He looked into Álvaro's eyes and said firmly : "As long as we solve the problem of raw materials, we will be able to continue to expand our production capacity, even if we can eat up the entire southern market. Dear Mr. Alvaro, please take care of the source of raw materials, especially wool. This is a big deal. Business is the same for you and me, please work hard together.”

"How do you deal with the British? They are unprofitable at this price. Both the Merchant Adventurer Company and the East India Company are powerful companies. Although the market in La Plata is not as broad as that of the Old Continent, it can be bought casually. Losing it is not something they can bear, and they may take some measures against you. You must be careful!" Alvaro seriously reminded that he did not want to lose such a high-quality partner in front of him.

"Thank you for your reminder, Mr. Alvaro, we will take care of the British matter properly."

① Merchant Adventurer Company: a company authorized by the King of England to monopolize the export of woolen fabrics. It was initially formed with the capital of the London Silk Merchants Association, the Woolen Merchants Association, the Clothing Merchants Association, the Grocery Merchants Association, and the Wool Merchants Association.In the 15th and 16th centuries, they defeated the Hanseatic Business Alliance and regained the right to export British woolen fabrics.The initial overseas presence was in Antwerp, but it has now moved to Hamburg.

②East Anglia: The most important farming and pastoral area in eastern England, one of the three major wool spinning centers.The main area includes all of Norfolk and Suffolk and parts of other counties connected to them.Norwich, the capital, was the second largest city in the UK at the time.After a large number of Netherlandish Protestants poured in and absorbed the technology of the Netherlanders, it was famous for weaving new woolen wool.

③Upper Peru, that is, the Chalcas trial court area, which is roughly equivalent to the present-day Bolivia area.

(End of this chapter)