March 31, 1653, Luoqia County.

Li Qun and Zhu Heng were sitting in the courtyard playing Go comfortably, and a pot of tea was brewed on the coffee table next to them - this is Master Zhu's favorite - next to the tea was a cup of coffee, which was the drink of Li Qun, a bandit-born guy. It's a pity that he has never drunk any good tea in his life, but after he got rich on the east coast, he was crazy obsessed with coffee and other new things, which made Master Zhu quite despised.

"I said, what's so good about your green tea?" Li Qun's chess skills are not good, and seeing that a big dragon is not guaranteed, he began to complain about Master Zhu in a distraught manner: "I am not used to drinking these bitter teas, even if I drink them, I have to put down a lot of sugar to remove the bitterness, otherwise I won't be able to drink it if I am killed." ”

Zhu Heng Zhu is a good person, naturally he will not be disturbed by Liqun's off-board moves, I saw him take a sip of tea calmly, and said leisurely: "Drinking tea and putting sugar is a bad habit of the Semu Yi people, you are a dignified man from the Han family, and you have learned so much, which really shames the ancestors." However, I heard that the price of cane sugar has risen sharply recently, and Brazil has cut off mutual trade, so it will not be easy to eat some sugar in the future, right? ”

Liqun was stunned to hear this, and now that more than 70% of the sugar in the East Coast Republic is imported from Brazil, and the rest is imported from Dutch Brazil and Peru, the origin of this sugar is indeed a problem if the Brazilians really cut off the mutual trade. You must know that most of the sugar of the Dutch is shipped back to Europe to make money, and it is not easy to give some to the east coast, and the sugar plantations in Peru have limited production and most of it is used for local consumption, and the east coast people will be in a state of long-term sugar shortage in the future.

In fact, not only is sugar gone, but also cotton, tobacco, high-quality ship materials, cocoa, dried fruits, candied fruits and other commodities from Brazil. In particular, cotton and ship timber are the two most important. The textile industry on the East Coast needs only one-third of the cotton needed locally. The rest needs to be imported from Brazil, the Caribbean, Florida and other places. At the moment when cotton planting in New Huaxia Island has just begun. The people on the east coast had to adjust their import channels as much as possible, and if they could, try importing from Peru (where there is small-scale cotton cultivation) to fill the gap left by the cut off trade with Brazil.

As for the ship's materials, it is even more difficult, you must know that the superstition of the East Coast Navy is absolutely outrageous, they only like to use old and dry Brazilian sumac wood to build capital ships, and these obviously have to be imported from Brazil, and now they are naturally gone. The Admiralty may still have some stock in hand, but once it is used, it will be empty. This must also be addressed.

Therefore, if you don't look at it, you don't know, you are shocked when you see it, the East Coast and Brazil have been in economic and trade exchanges for so many years, and their dependence on each other is quite shallow. Cutting off trade hastily, both sides are indeed a little uncomfortable in a short period of time.

"I can't eat sugar, it's boring, I can't stop it." Li Qun pushed the chessboard playfully, stood up and relaxed, then picked up a cup of coffee and said, "Isn't my little cocoa shop going to close soon?" Damn. Without sugar, who would buy cocoa powder to eat? ”

"Shut things off as soon as possible." Master Zhu slowly and methodically put away the chess pieces one by one. Then he said, "I said a long time ago that you have to concentrate on everything!" Wouldn't it be nice to run a plantation in New China? Not to mention that your sisal plantation is more than every year, the profit of three or five hundred yuan is still there, and it is still increasing, where can I find this kind of good thing? If you had listened to my advice and bought the plantation of the family that died of illness, you would have been able to make money comfortably. It's a pity that you actually invested your money in opening a store to sell cocoa powder, how can you say hello? ”

"Alas, don't I think that broken island in New Huaxia is too hot, and it's not cool to live?" Li Qun said depressedly: "Besides, I'm not like you, Master Zhu, my sons are several adults, once the stall in Xinhuaxia is bigger, I have to move my house over and stare at it all the year round, then it's boring, Lao Li, I don't like the humid and stuffy weather there all year round." It's good to be like this now, to open a plantation with others, and to have my brothers to help take care of it, and I can rest for a year and a half when I go there and come back, which is good. Our Luoqia County is a good place, this mountain, this water, this soil supports people, I just don't bother to move the nest. ”

Master Zhu's family mentioned by Liqun is indeed prosperous now, and he has given birth to 6 children over the years, of which 4 have survived, which is more than the national average. Three of these four children are now adults, and the eldest son is regarded as the successor he has cultivated, and is currently training in his own plantation on New Huaxia Island; The second son took a sum of money from Master Zhu a while ago, and it was regarded as a separate family, and he signed up to go to a new settlement in the Wujiang area to reclaim the famine--he once learned the stonemason trade from his Italian father-in-law, and when he arrived in Wujiang, he could still divide 30 acres of land, and his small life would definitely not be too bad.

Master Zhu's third son has just reached adulthood, and Zhu Heng, who does not want this son to leave his hometown, has already heard that Luoqia Town has recently set aside a batch of public land in the countryside (unallocated land, which is a state-owned asset, in fact, most of the land on the east bank is public land) for the town's new population (mainly the new generation of adult youth) to distribute, so he also signed up for his son, hoping to get 30 acres of land in the newly built village.

It has to be said that the Chinese's desire for land is really extremely persistent, and the so-called "urban hukou" like Old Master Zhu is originally landless, and the only way for them to obtain land is to sign up for new settlements to reclaim wasteland. When the income of industry and agriculture on the east coast was upside down (the income of farmers exceeded the income of urban residents), many urban residents took the initiative to sign up to go to the border to pioneer land, in order to get a share of their own land. Of course, in recent years, the incomes of urban residents have grown rapidly, while the incomes of peasants have stagnated for a long time, so that this kind of behavior of competing with peasants has been somewhat inhibited -- of course, this has more to do with the policy of the Government Council, after all, the number of old residents who have signed up to go to the frontier to reclaim land (which is conducive to bringing the old with the new and assimilating the newcomers) is not unlimited.

Although Master Zhu signed up for his son, he didn't dare to guarantee that his third son would definitely stay in Luoqia Town. Without him, there are many people who sign up, and the government only gives a small amount of land for distribution, and who can get it depends on the luck of the lottery. Those who don't have access to land should not be discouraged, because they can also sign up to settle in the newly built settlements, and at the same time get their own land, they can also help assimilate the new foreign immigrants.

"But, Master Zhu, do you think the imperial court will really go to war with the Franciscans?" After all, Li Qun still remembered his small business, and only heard him say: "I heard that this Francois country is still fighting with the country of Zhisbamia in Taixi, and it is having a lot of fun with Dutch red hair in the New World, do you think they still dare to go to war with the imperial court?" Do they have the audacity? It's really bold, and it is so bold to say that if you cut off trade, you will cut off trade, so bold......"

In the end, Liqun was a little angry again: this Francoa machine is so ignorant, and the people who used to do cocoa powder wholesale business with him are also untrustworthy profiteers! You have just received several orders for cocoa powder, and you dare to cut off the trade! Do you know that I have to pay a lot of liquidated damages? Not to mention the loss of credit! Alas, it's really a bad year!

"Your little business is a piece of!" Master Zhu Heng and Zhu put away the chessboard, and then saw him stand up, arch his hand facing the northeast, and said: "I see that Chairman Liu of the imperial court is more anxious than you, those textile factories in the country are waiting for rice to be cooked, Brazilians don't sell cotton anymore, where can we buy it in a short time?" Florida (Florida), how can you buy it in a hurry! Moreover, the freight from Brazil and Florida to Luocha Port is also very different, and the length and danger of the route are not the same. Hmph, look at it, the show is still to come, and the court will definitely make some moves. ”

"That's far from water can't quench the thirst of the near, I Laoli will lose hundreds of yuan in liquidated damages this time, and I have to put on an old face, how can I mess up in the future." Alas, indeed, it would have been nice if I had listened to your advice at the beginning, and I would have set up a sisal plantation in Xinhuaxia. It's a pity that one thought is wrong! Li Qun sighed for a long time, "There are also the gang of people in Ping'an County, many of them have set up cotton plantations on both sides of the Cotton River, won't they want to make a big deal this time?" The last time I heard that the Natives of Sakarava attacked the port of Cotton River, I laughed at them for throwing money in vain, but in a blink of an eye, the Natives were defeated, and the cotton from their plantation was also put on sale. Why is my old man so miserable? ”

"What a fart?" Master Zhu took a sip of tea, pointed at Liqun and said, "I heard that there are people who grow cocoa in Peru, and maybe some of them will be imported from the Southern Railway?" I think you might as well take a boat south to see if you can get some cocoa back through the channel of the Guò Southern Railway, if you can, wouldn't everyone be happy, it's much better than you crying here and grabbing the land. ”

"In addition, Master Ben recently read "Three Kingdoms" and has some experience." Zhu Heng stroked his beard and said a little smugly: "In this southern New World, our East Coast Country is like that Cao Wei, and its strength and heart are firmly in the first place; On that day, Spamia and Franji were like Shu Han and Sun Wu, both of them had a gap with our east coast, and they also had a disagreement with each other. When the two join forces to fight against our east coast, they may be able to fight for a long time, but now it seems that it is unlikely. As long as we are patient and slowly try to do it, we can defeat each of them and unify this new southern continent. ”

"Hmm, what should this Dutch red-haired man do?" Liqun asked.

Master Zhu was speechless for a while when he heard this, and after a long time, he said a little angrily: "Let's count the Shanyue in the Sun Wu Kingdom!" (To be continued......)