open sea

Chapter 830 Measuring Tool
The Spaniards don't know what it means in this new continent that they once gave in so much that they passed by.

But Alva thought that he had made a mistake. It was a silly idea to build seven fortresses among the mountains with winding official roads.

"5000 people, how can they have so many idlers? I even want to applaud the emperor's miraculous decree!"

In recent days, the Duke of Alba ordered people to frantically search for information in Mexico City. He wanted to find out how many Spaniards there were in the New World, but this work was doomed to fail. Bearing the brunt of the uprising, a large number of classics were burned and destroyed, leaving nothing useful at all.

Instead, the archbishop accompanying the army provided him with an answer from the side. Last year, there were more than 21 Spanish believers who were able to pay the tithe for the Holy See on time, including a large number of mixed races.

This number is also a rough estimate. Not every mixed-race person has the willingness to pay tithes to the church, and not everyone who is willing can pay tithes to the church, because some people have no property at all and no human rights. right.

This is also one of the starting points for the monks including Acosta to hope that Spain can give the Indians enough rights.

But in any case, it has been 70 years since Spain landed in the New World. In the 70 years, they have only more than 2 people on this land, scattered in New Spain, Peru and the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Portuguese In Brazil, which has a vast land, there are only about [-] people.

In less than a year with the Ming Dynasty, they lost nearly 23 New World Spaniards, accounting for [-]/[-] of the total.

"It didn't happen spontaneously. The emperor named Wanli personally ordered people from all over the world to come here by boat. They migrated from various places to the port named Tianjin. They were called more than a thousand merchant ships assembled by the Great Mingzi. Come to the New World."

Opposite the Duke of Alba is Acosta, a monk who returned from Changsheng County to Mexico City and was ordered to urge Chen Mu to urge the grain trade. , and arranged more than 6 common people clearly."

The old prince Alva propped his forehead with his arms, lowered his head, frowned and closed his eyes, thinking for a long time before he said, "They still have officials in charge of this matter?"

"Duke, their officials manage everything. They are called parents. In fact, they manage more than parents. The ever-victorious Magistrate Zou is a young man who governs everything for everyone in this land. Their clothes and food, their life and death."

This was a shock to Duke Alva.

Those who came here from Spain, except for the army and the great nobles, those conquerors were never controlled by the king.

The earliest adventurers were funded by wealthy nobles. Later, merchants and vagabonds followed their wealth spontaneously. When they achieved success, the king granted them a governorate to exercise self-government.

It took a long time for all of this to go on the right track. The earliest explorers got ten or twenty years of wealth and extortionate extortion. The king really regarded this place as his source of wealth and ordered people who really possessed the talents of the governor to come here to develop for the court. tax.

But everyone who comes here is voluntary, completely out of control.

Just like Cheng Dawei and Wang Chaozuo in the Ming Dynasty.

But Philip never issued a decree stipulating what kind of people should come to the New World.

Alva said: "This is a practice that our king can learn from, that Chen Mu, the agreement he wants to sign with us is very tricky, the king will like it very much when he sees it, but it will bring deeper suffering to Spain."

The old Duke Alva could easily hand over large tracts of land in Chile, or the land west of Mexico City to the Ming army, but he was reluctant to transfer the entire agreement to Madrid.

In fact he is not yet ready to put all the agreements on board.

Acosta thinks so deeply, even more clearly than the old Duke, he said: "He is dividing the relationship between the church, the court and the nobles, his contract is completely beneficial to His Majesty the King, more weapons, more wealth , and even the purpose is very clear, which is to support the king’s use of troops to other countries.”

"But no one will be satisfied with that except His Majesty the King."

The interests of adventurers, nobles, businessmen, and churches in the New World are like being chopped down by an axe. It is these people who really command the Indians to work hard in the mines and take care of the plantations in the New World, but Chen Mu did not leave them too much. Lots of living space.

It seems that only in this way can Chen Mu take a piece of the benefits and give it to Philip, resulting in a happy situation for both parties.

But no one will be happy because of this. It is foreseeable that when the nobles and adventurers who lost their land in the New World return to Spain, even Philip will not be able to laugh. This kind of huge power will not blame Chen Mu, they will only Blame it all on Philip who signed the treaty.

But Alva knew very well that no one could change this situation, especially when there was still a sharp sword hanging above his head, he asked: "What is the meaning of Chen Mu's letter, I didn't understand it, I have given it to They have more than sixty tons of grain in various villages on the frontier."

"Those picky Ming Dynasty people didn't even want corn, and they asked us to grind them into flour, saying that they didn't even have a stone mill.

To be honest, Duke Alva has never suffered from this kind of anger since he was born. He stretched his arms forward and made a downward cutting motion: "How much food does he want?"

Acosta did not speak, but took out a letter from Zou Yuanbiao, the magistrate of Changsheng County, and handed it in, saying: "They hope that we can send them flour made from corn and potatoes and rice through trade, and these grains can be exchanged for Silk and porcelain."

Hearing that silk and porcelain can be traded, Duke Alva’s expression softened a little. He sent [-] tons of corn flour to those villages, almost for nothing. His people did not collect any silver from any village. Where is the money?

But when he glanced at the letter, he frowned again and said, "I'll just say those Ming Dynasty people are picky!"

The letter stated that they need to trade at least [-] tons of flour and rice a year. As long as the price is right, this scale is not a problem for Mexico City. The problem lies in the additional requirements.

Cornmeal and potato flour should be finely ground and packed in fine white cotton bags tied tightly with cotton rope. Each bag weighs 77 Ming Jin. Each bag can be exchanged for [-] yuan at Wangjiabao, which is next to the official road on the western border of Ming Dynasty. Tong Bao.

In exchange for Tongbao, you can go to Zhangjiagou on the other side of the official road to buy porcelain and silk.

"There's a lot of attention! Who knows how much Mingjin is mentioned in the letter!"

Hearing Duke Alva's complaint, Brother Acosta looked embarrassed, and whispered: "When they asked me to come, they specially brought Ming Dynasty measuring tools..."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)