Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 177 "Will you join us?"

Miguel Cabrera watched with a gloomy expression as the three armed merchant ships raised their sails one after another and slowly sailed away from the port of Acapulco. He made a cross on his chest with his right hand and silently prayed for them in his heart.

Oh, may God bless them!

This time, it would be best to find those damn pirates and kill them all.

"Mr. Cabrera, shall we find a place to have a drink?" trader Jesus Navas González invited him.

"Uh..." Cabrera hesitated for a moment, then nodded and accepted the other party's invitation, "Okay, Mr. Gonzalez."

Having said that, he got on the other party's carriage and sat in the luxurious carriage.

"Oh, Mr. González, your carriage is truly beautiful and extremely comfortable," Cabrera exclaimed, admiring the luxurious silk upholstery and the traditional Madrid-style tassels adorning the carriage. "This carriage is in no way inferior to those used by royalty and nobles."

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Cabrera." Gonzalez was delighted, his smile hard to conceal. "To be honest, this carriage took dozens of skilled craftsmen in Mexico City several months to build. The materials and decorations are exactly modeled after those in the Madrid court."

"Oh, you are really generous!" Cabrera felt a little jealous.

Damn it, in just less than three years, Gonzalez, who was obviously less financially resourceful than himself before, has become more and more prosperous and has become a very influential businessman in Mexico City.

On the other hand, my life is getting worse and worse, and my wealth has shrunk by more than half.

Five years ago, the merchant ship "St. Louis" engaged in trans-Pacific trade disappeared, but the "Morelia" in which he invested returned safely, which made him benefit a lot and made a fortune.

However, his good luck came to an abrupt end three years ago.

The "Santo Domingo" in which he invested 20,000 pesos was attacked by pirates. All the gold and silver on the ship were looted. Dozens of merchants, including him, lost all their money, which was the heaviest blow he had ever suffered.

Two years ago, it was believed that the sinking of the "Santo Domingo" would inevitably cause a collective rise in the prices of Eastern commodities in the Americas and even in Europe.

So he raised funds from various sources and invested more than 25,000 pesos to purchase a large amount of oriental goods from a trading ship that returned safely to the port of Acapulco, preparing to make a huge profit from the price difference to recover the losses he had suffered before.

But what no one expected was that the entire American market did not see a price surge due to the decrease in the number of Eastern goods arriving at the port, but instead maintained the previous average selling price.

Even in the Pacific coastal areas of Panama, Venezuela, Peru and Chile, Eastern goods were sold at lower prices.

This made Cabrera, who had stockpiled a large amount of goods, very unwilling, and he did something that he regretted extremely.

He chose to stockpile and store the large quantities of Eastern goods he had purchased and sell them the following year.

Perhaps, when the market has absorbed all the Eastern goods that have arrived at the port next year and the "Chinese ships" have not been dispatched, the entire market will see price increases due to a shortage of goods.

Then, the oriental goods that he had stockpiled would surely be able to be sold at a good price, thus making up for his losses.

However, the cruel reality slapped him even harder.

In the Americas, including Mexico, the prices of Eastern commodities did not rise sharply as he expected, but continued to maintain a "stable price" trend. Even the prices in some coastal port towns were lower than in previous years.

Whether it is the silk factories in the cities or the large and small trade retailers, there is still a strong demand for raw silk and silk cloth from the East, but they are not willing to offer too high a price.

Because there is no shortage of goods in the market!

Poor Cabrera was suddenly caught in a dilemma. He was hesitant whether to continue hoarding the oriental goods in his hands or sell them all according to the current market price.

He vaguely felt that there might be a force that could obtain a steady supply of Eastern goods from a certain channel, and then continuously put them into the market, forcing the price of Eastern goods that were originally expected to come from the biennial trans-Pacific trade to a low price range, causing adventurous merchants like him who tried to hoard goods to suffer a severe blow from the market.

In desperation, he could only sell all the oriental products he had stockpiled for more than a year.

Although this move did not cause him to lose any of his capital and he even made a small profit, his goal of making a fortune was completely unsuccessful.

In addition, when raising funds, he also promised to pay extremely high interest to several creditors, as well as more than a year's worth of storage costs. It can be said that he messed up this business again.

This year, Mexico is once again planning to send a "Chinese ship" to Manila, but few investors and traders are responding, especially local Creole merchants. As a result, just over a month ago, only one merchant ship, displacing only about 500 tons, departed from Acapulco.

After much hesitation, Cabrera very cautiously invested only 4,000 silver pesos.

In this way, even if any accident happens again, the loss will not cause you serious damage or even heartbreak.

Who would have thought that the trans-Pacific trade that was once so popular would become so "unloved"!

So, who changed all this?

"As for who changed all this, we don't need to worry too much." Gonzalez looked at the depressed Cabrera and said softly, "The most important thing is that we need to find a stable and sustainable way to make money. Don't you agree, Mr. Cabrera?"

"Yes!" Cabrera looked at him intently, his face radiating with eagerness. "Mr. Gonzalez, you're absolutely right. So, have you already found such a path to wealth?"

"Mr. Cabrera, what do you think of the latest decree issued by the new governor, Count Ávila, after arriving in Mexico City." Gonzalez did not respond to his question, but instead turned the topic to the new governor.

"Are these two decrees about combating smuggling and improving coastal defense?"

"Yes," Gonzalez said. "It is said that the Count of Ávila is planning to reorganize the Caribbean Fleet. In addition to intensifying the crackdown on rampant piracy, he is also aiming to eradicate the persistent smuggling trade."

"Reorganize the Caribbean Fleet?" Cabrera sneered upon hearing this. "If the Governor really wants to do this, does he have sufficient financial support?"

"The Viceroyalty may not have extra funds, but the Count of Ávila can use the decrees of His Majesty the King and the Indian Council to increase taxes on the entire territory of New Spain! If each person pays an extra peso, that would be hundreds of thousands of pesos. If the larger number of Indians were included, it is estimated that more than one million pesos could be collected. Oh, that's a huge amount of money!"

"Hmph, the Peninsular people are trying to take advantage of us again!" Cabrera's expression darkened. "Every year they ship back millions in gold and silver from Peru and Mexico, yet they never consider our interests. If this continues, we'll be completely drained dry by them, like dead fish in a dried-up pond."

"Yes," Gonzalez nodded and said, "In the eyes of those Peninsular people, the purpose of our existence in America is to provide endless support for them and continuously infuse fresh blood, so that the Peninsular people can maintain a decent life. I believe that when necessary, we should have the courage to defend our own interests and make our own voices heard."

Cabrera looked at Gonzalez, who looked very excited, and shook his head. "We can't change this. The people of the Peninsula may not listen to our voices."

"Well, you're right." Gonzalez gave a wry laugh and sighed, "As native Americans, we don't really have much say. Therefore, we can only unite to hold onto the wealth that belongs to us."

"Mr. Gonzalez, are you hinting at something..." Seeing that the other party had laid so much groundwork, Cabrera couldn't help but ask his own question.

"I heard you have extensive commercial channels in Puebla and Veracruz, and that you can quickly sell large quantities of goods through them," Gonzalez said with a smile. "I believe we can establish close business ties and reap enormous benefits."

"You guys?" Cabrera looked at him suspiciously. "You have a channel for foreign goods to enter the Americas?"

"Aren't you asking me if there's a path to wealth?" Gonzalez leaned forward and said mysteriously, "Yes, we do have one. ...Would you like to join us?"

"What products do you have?" Cabrera vaguely guessed something.

"From the East came raw silk, silk cloth, cotton, linen, porcelain, mercury, musk, as well as gemstones, sapphire, ivory, and other goods," Gonzalez said. "In addition, we also had a large number of iron products, including iron pots, hardware, agricultural tools, pottery, and wine."

"What about the price?"

"More than you can imagine."

"Mr. Gonzalez..." Cabrera took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement. "I'm really looking forward to working with you. Honestly, I can't wait."

In the Mexican market, the price of silk fabrics from the East is generally one-sixth to one-eighth of similar products in Europe, while in Peru it is as low as one-tenth to one-twelfth.

Linen fabrics shipped from Europe were eight times more expensive than similar products from the East.

Copper and iron products (not raw materials) and other oriental products purchased from the Philippines were only a quarter of the Spanish products, which led to the Peruvian Governor Cañete sending a special ship to the Philippines in 1590 to purchase copper and iron products from the Ming Dynasty.

There was also a Spanish nobleman named Villa who suggested buying cheap Ming Dynasty copper cannons in the Philippines and then shipping them to Mexico and Peru to be used to suppress Indians who refused to submit to the "king's rule."

So, if these goods can be obtained at an "unimaginable" price, the profit will be extremely astonishing.

As for where these goods come from, is it important to these merchants?
(End of this chapter)