Outside the port of Rocha, the breeze was light, and a few seagulls chirped on the sea, adding a touch of life to the port, which was somewhat deserted on a quiet morning.

Blanco. Sosa. Morality. Almeida jumped lightly onto the dock at the service of the servants. He is almost 40 years old this year, but he is still very agile, which is the result of his persistence in horseback riding, hunting and other sports, which he is very proud of. Today is the middle of February, a not too hot summer is about to pass, and he has arrived at Rocha Port with two truckloads full of cotton in this beautiful season.

Both boatloads of cotton were purchased by him through his own connections in the Georgia Mission of the Kingdom of Spain. There were a large number of Old World immigrants from Spain and England, who opened up many cotton plantations, using black slaves purchased from Africa for cultivation. Until then, most of the cotton they produced had been sold to the people of the East Coast, and merchant ships would sail there at a fixed time every year to buy it. Every year in April (the southern hemisphere cotton harvest) and October (the northern hemisphere cotton harvest), the East Coasters give an up-to-date cotton purchase price, based on the metric tons they use.

In such a situation, the cotton sellers (such as those in the northern hemisphere) sail south to the east coast ports in mid-to-late October each year after the purchases are completed. In the past, both Dongfang Port and Luoqia Port were places that could be delivered, but now it has changed, and the East Coast has designated Luoqia Port as the only delivery port, and Dongfang Port no longer accepts this kind of business. The newly established Luocha Bulk Trade Center, which has only been established for more than a year, publishes the latest purchase price for the harvest season on the dock yard, and these traders will use this price and their own prediction of the price trend of cotton after selling their cotton on hand. to decide the price you would offer to the plantation owners for the cotton. After years of steady development, everyone has become accustomed to this way of trading, and the East Coasters, as the main buyers of cotton, have a firm grip on the pricing power of cotton.

As many countries in the Old and New Continents began to vigorously develop their own cotton textile industries, cotton prices in Georgia, Florida, Haiti, Brazil and other places, which are the main cotton producing areas, began to rise gradually. The competition for cotton resources in various countries began to heat up, especially after the people on the east coast raised the purchase price of cotton to 160 yuan/ton again, the cotton resources in these areas were suddenly robbed, and all kinds of businessmen and captains poured into these cotton producing areas with cash boxes or goods, or directly bought them in cash, or bartered goods, in short, these goods were snatched up. Then they almost all drove the boat south. Arrived at the port of Rocha to deliver the goods to the people on the east coast.

It's nothing else. It's just that the East Coast people give the highest purchase price. In addition, everyone has become accustomed to the purchase price of the East Coasters, and as the main buyers of cotton, the East Coast people's prices are "the king's orders" - unquestionable and debatable. And when the French merchants arrived at the main export ports of cotton, such as St. Augustine, they found that the price of cotton had exceeded their expectations. And the vast majority of cotton already has owners. Plantation owners are also reluctant to deal with strangers. Unless you can offer a price that will appeal to them.

This situation is very distressing to them. They were taken aback by the high price of cotton in the port of St. Augustine, and it would be difficult to make a profit if they were to eat it at this price and then ship it back to France for sale. Unless the owners of the new textile factories are willing to annul the original purchase agreement and give a "more sincere" purchase price, no one will want to do this stupid thing of incurring their own losses. Only a handful of merchants, whose families own their own factories, bought some of the best cotton that others had picked up at high prices, and then hurriedly sailed out of the docks, ready to try their luck in Haiti.

Blanco's family has a sizable cotton plantation in Brazil, and while some have been sold to investors from the East Coast, the rest is still large and produces a huge amount of cotton each year. In two months, the cotton on his family's plantation will be on the market, and according to the current trend, it is clear that he will be able to sell it at a good price. Well, it seems that the next step is to increase investment in cotton plantations, but unfortunately the best cotton plantations are in the north, in the Dutch-controlled area, which is a pity. However, the good news is that the Dutch have suffered several defeats in a row on the battlefield in Brazil, and the shape of the Portuguese has changed greatly, and if the mainland increases some aid to Brazil, it will not be difficult to drive the Dutch out of Brazil. At that point, his family must seize the opportunity to fight for a share of the Dutch's legacy – such as the fine cotton plantations.

A servant who had disembarked before Blanco quickly rushed back from the dock trading center, only to see him say to Blanco in a slightly excited voice: "The price has risen again, sir, 175 yuan/ton!" Everyone is excited! The cotton bull market has really arrived! ”

A Spanish merchant passing by seemed to know Portuguese, and he nodded at Blanco with a smile and said, "This price is quite good, and it is in vain that I have shipped cotton all the way from St. Augustine to Port Rocha, and now I can go and have a drink with confidence." ”

"As you say, a qiē looks good." Blanco smiled and responded, "The only thing that is troubling is that the cotton purchase next season (May-June trading) will be a war." Everyone has cash and goods ready for the cotton harvest season in Brazil in late April. ”

"Who's to say it wasn't, it would have been a terrible war for the merchants who didn't have enough cotton plantations. Everyone involved needs enough money and good fortune to buy enough cotton, but it's worth it, after all, it's a cotton bull market, and demand in the Old World is rising. The Spanish merchant shrugged his shoulders helplessly and said.

After saying a polite farewell to the Spanish merchant, Blanco had his personal servant contact the dock officials to unload the goods, and then go to the trading center to deliver the cotton to the East Coasters. He himself was going to go to the tavern by the docks, like the Spanish merchant, to have a drink and inquire about some latest news or rumors.

The liquor available at the Wharf Tavern is still quite limited, with only the newly launched West Lake Beer, Xiangshan Ganhong and Hezhong Daqu. The taste of these wines is not good but not bad, and Blanco occasionally drinks some. However, the river koji has become a favorite of some offbeat sailors, who feel that the spirits made in the Old World served on the ship are not "strong" enough, and only the river koji can satisfy their appetite. Truth be told, Blanco was very receptive to this spicy spirit, and he felt that drinking it was a complete torture, and he preferred to give himself a glass of fragrant red in comparison.

The tavern was filled with merchants, captains, and sailors. The waiters were all stupid South African Xhosa, and their service attitude was very poor and the steaks they cooked were not authentic, which caused some rude sailors to curse. However, they didn't dare to be too presumptuous, and the patrolmen who passed by the door from time to time made them dispel the idea of making trouble, they didn't want to be hung on those high flagpoles, that would be too stupid.

Several captains talk about a new leather goods factory built by the East Coasters in the harbor. One of the captains even took off a pair of stinking leather boots from his feet and placed them on the dining table, and everyone was stunned for a moment.

But the captain didn't notice it, he pointed to the shoes dyed purple with a faint natural pattern, and said to a middle-aged man opposite him in standard Spanish: "This is a pair of rain boots I just bought in the dock shop, purple, how about it, beautiful, right?" It's also very comfortable to wear! The whale skin is made of zuò, and it can be seen that the leather is quite well tanned, with no common odors and no common patches, in short, it is perfect. You see, this is also patterned, and the dyed purple is also very luxurious. The salesperson assured me that the shoes would not deform or break in extremely low temperatures, and the heat retention effect was quite strong. I believed him, and prepared to wear these shoes to whaling in the waters of the southern Falklands. The East Coast is spending a lot of money to buy whales, not just whale fat, but the whole whale! What are you waiting for with such generous conditions? Garcia, listen to me! Don't go whaling in the damn Svalbard archipelago, where the competition is so fierce that whales don't sell for a good price. Come with me to the south to whaling, and we'll make a fortune, much more than selling cotton." ”

Listening to them talk about whaling, Blanco was thoughtful. It seems that the ambition of the East Coasters to develop the leather processing industry is unstoppable, and they seem to be focusing on cowhide and sheepskin, supplemented by high-end products such as otters, seals, foxes and whale skins, coupled with their perverted dyeing technology, it seems that they want to gradually eat this market. However, tanning leather requires a lot of soda, and it seems that there is no such mineral on the east coast, and if you import it from Europe alone, it will be a long way, expensive shipping, and you may not be able to buy enough goods, and the quality cannot be fully guaranteed. In this case, they insisted on going to a leather factory, could it be that they had found a new technology for making soda cheaply on a large scale? Thinking of this, Blanco's heart was faintly restless, maybe it was time to convey some new instructions to those people, so that they could get a good touch of the East Coast people. (To be continued......)