In the middle of summer, Colonia still shows no signs of heat, and the "high temperature" of 278 degrees is just right for the people here, and the fresh air blowing from the Río de la Plata makes the merchants of all countries who come to this trading city feel very comfortable.

Thanks to its geographical location and the fact that it was the only charter granted by the King of Spain and issued by the Viceroy of Peru to legally trade with La Plata, this trading city on the east coast and with Spain has developed rapidly in a decade. By the beginning of February 1646, the city had a permanent population of more than 600 people, and the floating population was too large to be counted, but it was unanimously recognized by everyone that its total population exceeded 2,000 in the summer and autumn, when trade was at its most popular.

Every year, a huge amount of goods flow from here to La Plata (including Paraguay), Chalcas, Chile, Peru and New Spain. The Spaniards' rule that no more than two trading ships could come from the East Coast each year was a well-known joke, and the East Coasters sailed here more than 20 times a year, not to mention many large and small merchant ships from various European countries, and they also brought a huge amount of goods.

According to the joint statistics of the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Finance, the annual profit of the East Coast Republic of China in the Colonia free trade market exceeds 300,000 yuan, and it continues to increase, which has become a major interest that the country cannot give up. Not to mention the huge demand for high-quality coins from the East Coast brought about by the huge amount of trade, which is equivalent to the East Coasters collecting seigniorage in disguise from all the merchants involved in the trade, and the gains are also quite large.

Colonia became a haven for merchants, and the Spaniards' tightly controlled trade system in the New World was opened by the East Coasters through the Colonia Free Market. It was then rapidly expanded. And in the development of this decade, it quickly occupied a large number of markets in the New World. Considerable economic benefits have been obtained. The Spanish monopolies, who had lost this economic contest, naturally gritted their teeth against the people of the East Coast, and over the years they had been trying to completely shut down the so-called free trade market, making the vast and rich New World a cash cow for them again.

It is a pity that most of the officials of La Plata have become slaves of money, and they are dragged into the water by the merchants, who turn a blind eye to the trade beyond the quota, and greatly condone the smuggling trade here, leaving these Spanish merchants with a large backlog of inferior and high-priced goods. I'm so depressed. Later, some big businessmen simply joined the smuggling trade here, and made a lot of money. The agents of the other Spanish aristocracy could not save face, or that the petty smuggling trade could not compensate for the loss of their monopoly market, so they were still agitating the native West Indies and even the Peruvian governor of the New World to make a painful determination to ban this "evil", "unruly" and "unconventional" trade in order to protect the interests of the "people of the peninsula".

Their noise seems to have had an effect last year. The efforts of the Jesuit clergy combined with them, and the change in the attitude of the king, the professional bureaucrats of the West Indies immediately changed their procrastination and began to issue a series of directives to the Peruvian governor, with the aim of curbing the unbridled development of the people on the east coast.

The Viceroy of Peru was naturally aware of the directives from the Kingdom. As a devout Catholic, he had long been dissatisfied with the outrageous religious policies carried out by the people on the East Coast. I have long wanted to clean up the more and more presumptuous East Coast heretics. However, he was not a fool who knew nothing about the position of governor, and he was certainly well aware of the reality between La Plata and the east coast - that is, if the people on the east coast wanted to, they could occupy Buenos Aires in a week, Asunción in a month, and threaten the silver mines of Potosí, a price he did not want to and could not bear.

Faced with such a difficult situation, the Governor decided to give the East Coasters the last chance to tear down the settlements that had been built across the border, stop persecuting Catholics, and stop smuggling trade, so that they would still be good friends and could do business happily, which was one of the reasons why Baron Bravo went to the East Coast.

In the face of the "unreasonable demands" of the Spaniards, the people on the east coast naturally refused, which made the governor feel a little humiliated. Coupled with the arrival of a special envoy of the king from the mainland, the Inspector-General, the Governor finally resorted to real forceful measures. He first removed his suspicious predecessor Governor of La Plata and replaced Garcia, a hawkish admiral from a civilian background, as the new Governor, and then helped Jesuits and other missionary groups recruit many mercenaries in the Old Continent to go to the Diocese of Paraná. And today, the last trick of the Governor has finally been revealed.

"The Colonia trade market may be closing." This rumor, which has been spreading among the merchants since the beginning of February, seems to be finally coming true today. On 5 February, the prestigious Chamber of Commerce of La Plata Rodriguez abruptly closed its trade hall in Ciudad Colonia, without giving any convincing reason or when it would reopen.

With the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce taking the lead, many Spanish businessmen from La Plata also began to sell their backlog of goods, and then announced the temporary closure of the trade hall, as for the next opening time is to be determined. In short, the La Plata merchants, who had previously been in the spotlight in the market, seemed to be under such pressure that they had to give up their money-making business and pack up and go home to see what was going on.

Outside the city of Colonia, some Shandong merchants from the east coast looked at the market and were a little helpless. The biggest patrons of La Plata are gone, and they're still in a business. A large number of cotton, woolen wool, hardware products, and leather goods bought from the Dayuhe Machine Textile Factory, the Comprehensive Workshop of the First Machinery Factory, and the Luoqia Leather Goods Factory are facing the dilemma of not being able to sell. Some businessmen thought pessimistically.

Zhu Heng, dressed in a cotton shirt, stood bored in the Qingzhou Guild Hall, only a few Brazilian businessmen came to buy some cotton cloth and farm tools in the morning, and no one else patronized it, and the business was extremely bleak. Qingzhou Guild Hall is a merchant house opened by several immigrants from Qingzhou, Shandong Province, which is considered to be the largest private merchant hall on the east coast of Colonia City. Among them, this Boss Zhu Heng Zhu is the shareholder with the largest right to speak, because he has the largest number of investments.

As Colonia's trade flourished, the country gradually lifted restrictions on private travellers to Colonia for trade. Any person or organization who pays a deposit of 500 yuan to the Ministry of Trade can go to Colonia to buy land and open a commercial house. To tell the truth, the threshold of 500 yuan deposit is actually not low, but this Boss Zhu is really powerful, he sold some jewelry that is said to be a family heirloom, jewelry to a few female crossers, and then easily raised more than 2,000 yuan, which caused a sensation in the small circle for a while.

According to some sources, the value of the jewelry sold by Boss Zhu is not at all worth 2,000 yuan, and in this priceless place on the east coast, this kind of exquisite gold and silver jewelry, jade and jade is not a problem even if it is sold for 8,000 yuan - provided that you meet someone who really loves this kind of thing. Boss Zhu's attitude obviously has a stammering implication in it.

After learning of the situation, Section Chief Wei of the Mei organ immediately sent someone to "invite" Boss Zhu into the Mei organ. After a simple interrogation and interrogation, Boss Zhu immediately confessed. It turned out that his family was originally a wealthy merchant in Qingzhou, because he hated some local gentry leaders, and at the same time he was unwilling to surrender to the Tartars - in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, when the Tartars entered Shandong, many people in his family were killed, and in desperation, he took his family to Yantai. If you stay in Shandong and stay in Qingzhou, sooner or later you will either be played to death by those gentry or killed by the Tartars. Therefore, they eventually embarked on the journey to Yantai. After a few months of recuperation, he was stuffed into a boat, and then wandered for more than half a year, and finally came to the east coast.

Boss Zhu, together with a few of his retinue who had fled, opened this Qingzhou guild hall in the city of Colonia, specializing in the export of goods from the east coast, and sometimes buying some wool from some small merchants in La Plata and selling it to the government to earn a small difference. In short, the business is not good or bad, and you can make a fool of 1,000 yuan a year, and everyone will get a share and make do with it.

Today's last La Plata Chamber of Commerce cleared its stock, then closed its trade hall and returned to Asunción. This greatly reduced the popularity of the entire Colonia market, and the business of Boss Zhu's Qingzhou Commercial Hall was greatly affected, so everyone was a little sad. What made them even more depressed was that several small merchants in La Plata, who had already paid a deposit for the purchase of wool, had also disappeared for a long time, and it seemed that they would not reappear again in the short term, which made them lose a lot.

"Forget it, let's go back too. Business can't go on, it's called ...... What's it called...... Yes, it's called systemic risk, force majeure, and we are not to blame. Seeing that the relationship between our Great East Coast and the country of Spartia is becoming more and more tense, it is difficult to say when the war will start. Withdraw, settle the wages of the servants in the merchant house, and sell the rest of the goods to the Brazilians, the Dutch, and the English, and cheapen them. Boss Zhu looked at several partners with sad faces, and said categorically: "Colonia Mall is so yellow, the imperial court will definitely not give up, and we will return here sooner or later." The brothers cheered up, and after they went back, they spent money to publish an article in the supplement of the "Kommersant" newspaper, and severely scolded these people who did not pay attention to credibility in business. (To be continued......)