Chapter 399 Three major problems

In addition to trade, there is another important reason for the financial crisis of the officials......

Originally, they had another important source of money in the Grand Staff—looting.

In the beginning, Fairburg's predecessors seized the place and established an East Asian trading base was only one of the reasons, but their main purpose was to block the Spanish route from Manila to the Americas.

Due to the Spanish government's stipulation that their colonies were only allowed to trade with their overlords, and no other country was allowed to get involved, the subsequent rise of the "sea coachmen" was never able to open the situation in the Far East, forcing them to resort to armed robbery.

This route of the Spaniards, which stretched from Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico in the east to Manila in the Philippines in the west, was known as the Manila galleon trade.

The Manilagalleon sails north from Manila in June by the southwest monsoon, then travels eastward along the "Kuroshio" in the North Pacific Ocean to Acapulco, a journey of more than 10,000 nautical miles, which takes about six months, and the return journey, because it is a direct voyage with the ocean current, only three months.

When the Manila galleons arrived at the port of Acapulco in Mexico, they held a grand bazaar, where merchants transported the Asian specialties on wheeled carts, some of which were even transported to Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

In the Ming Dynasty, cheap and high-quality raw silk, silk and other goods were very popular in the local area and sold very well.

For example, in 1637, a silk weaving factory in Mexico using Chinese raw silk as raw material had 14,000 workers, which shows how huge the amount of Chinese raw silk arrived in Mexico.

Since the Americas were a newly developed new continent, the Spanish trade was actually using gold and silver mined in the Americas in exchange for products from Asia, especially China.

The galleons carried Asian goods to Mexico, and on the way back, they brought back Mexican gold coins, silver dollars, silver ingots, and local products such as cocoa seeds and wool.

In addition, crops such as corn, tobacco, peanuts, and tomatoes from the Americas were gradually introduced to China and Asia, and Oriental culture, especially Chinese arts and crafts, also had a certain influence on American culture.

……

Over the years, the Dutch have been based on large numbers and have repeatedly succeeded in intercepting the return convoys of the Spaniards, and have always been able to grab a large number of gold and silver coins, and they have gained a lot.

Although it was not easy to find a fleet in the middle of the ocean, as long as a large number of reconnaissance ships were sent during the return season of the Spaniards, once discovered, the large and slow cargo fleet was the fat in their mouths.

Just a few months ago, when a large gunboat, the Unicorn, returned home, he entrusted it with carrying back 300,000 gold coins and millions of silver coins—almost all of them from Spanish caravans.

However, Feuerburg knew that now that such good days were coming to an end, a major source of income for the big people was about to face the dilemma of losing their income.

Because, the Spaniards had already ordered to limit the trade volume of Manila galleons, and at the same time increased their defensive forces, switching to large gunboats to transport goods, which led to a greatly reduced success rate of their interception.

The Spanish gunboats were not only equally ferocious in firepower, but they were also so fast that once they missed the best chance to intercept, they could no longer catch up.

Just two months earlier, they had experienced a failed operation, not only being slipped by the Spaniards, but also nearly sinking a reconnaissance ship......

Finally, the headache for Fairburg was the attack of the local natives.

In order to increase the output of rice, sugar, and other crops, they recruited a large number of residents from the coastal areas of Fujian and Penghu to move to Taiwan to cultivate wasteland, so that in just over a dozen years, the total number of Han residents in Dayuan rapidly expanded from more than 20,000 to more than 100,000.

As a result, there is bound to be an intractable contradiction - as the reclamation area moves further and further inland, it has provoked fierce resistance from the local indigenous people.

In fact, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were already more than 20,000 Han people on the island, and the government also set up a management agency here, which was subordinate to the Penghu Inspection Department.

However, due to the ban on the sea, the Ming court, which was reluctant to make progress, eventually abolished the official institutions and moved a large number of residents back to the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou areas, leaving a small number of Han Chinese in the remote areas to fend for themselves.

Therefore, for a long time, except for the Penghu Islands, there were very few Han Chinese on the main island of Dayuan, mainly living with the local natives in the high mountains in the eastern part of the island, and with the contraction policy of the Ming Dynasty, some people took the opportunity to migrate to the western plains and formed some larger local communities.

Nowadays, the relationship between several indigenous communities in the surrounding area and the Dutch people is very tense, and even the Han people who serve them are constantly attacked by the Madou Society, the Mujia Slip Society and other indigenous communities, including both senseless headhunting and conflicts of interest.

Just a few days ago, more than 50 of his soldiers were on their way out to collect taxes when they were suddenly attacked by the local Madou Society, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army.

In recent years, similar incidents have emerged, especially the local natives, who are equally hostile to Dutch and Chinese immigrants, and Chinese are often attacked by local natives when hunting and reclamation......

Guarding against the attack of the Ming army on the mainland, striking at the Franco-man, and suppressing the natives -- these are the three major problems facing the 10th chief executive of the United Dutch East India Company in "Formosa."

Among them, the most fatal is naturally the threat of the Ming army......

Just over a month ago, they were immediately retaliated against for that stupid deed - they smashed all the warehouses they had set up in Haojing through their agents, and not a single one of them, from minions to buddies to dark lines.

It was this incident that sent chills down the back of Felburg's head - they must have killed an important person in that group of Ming people, otherwise, they should not be so angry.

The more Feuerburg thought about it, the more he regretted that he didn't grab the thing, but he caused a murder out of thin air, which was extremely stupid!

Of course, Fairburg still had a trace of luck, perhaps, the revenge of the Ming army was not aimed at them - the entire Portuguese authorities in Haojing were wiped out, and Haojing returned to the hands of the Ming army.

But why are many of the Spaniards' shops okay and allowed to go about their business as usual, while their warehouses are uprooted?

"This does not bode well......"

As he thought about it, Feuerburg became more and more convinced of his judgment and became more and more pessimistic......

The deadline is coming!

Be sure to plan ahead!

As the chief executive, the aspiring Fairburg certainly doesn't want this treasure of feng shui to be lost in his own hands.

He has always dreamed of opening up direct trade channels with China.

Although, so far he has not succeeded.

In fact, Fairburg was born in Delft in 1620 and is only thirty-one years old, a man in his prime to flourish.

In 1637 he came to Batavia as a low-ranking merchant and rose through the ranks of his own ranks, and in 1646 he was appointed governor of Formosa by the council of the United East India Company, and less than three years later he was finally appointed governor of Formosa.

(Question: "Which castle was called the Red Castle that the Dutch built on an island by the sea, and the city of Prominza, which went further inland?") ”）