After chatting with Álvaro and his son, Lieutenant Leo and others for a while, Xiao Baitu turned over and rode on his war horse and walked slowly towards Colonia.

Colonia, a city born out of trade, is not very large. A thin wooden fence enclosed a piece of land by the sea, and then it became the place of trade agreed by the two parties in the "Racha Treaty". Governor Gutiérrez and Baron Bravo, who had agreed to sign the treaty, must not have imagined that the crack in the trade gate of La Plata, which had been forcibly opened by the East Coasters with guns, would become wider and wider, and could eventually lead to the fall of trade in the entire La Plata region, and possibly even the neighboring Chile and Chalcas Inquisition Courts.

The profit-driven group of native-born whites was in step with the East Coasters, and they also dragged down a large number of middle and lower officials in the colony of La Plata, so that the thriving smuggling trade was fixed in Colonia in a semi-open manner. According to the agreement signed between the Republic of China and the Spaniards, only 500 tons of goods were allowed to be traded per year. But in practice, such a small amount may be easily broken in two or three months. The Spanish delegates in Colonia, fed with silver bullets, turned a blind eye to this, because the higher the volume of trade, the higher their additional income. In these days, who will have trouble with their own money bags?

In addition to the East Coasters, many well-informed Portuguese, British, French, and even Dutch rushed over like sharks smelling blood. They brought everything from the Old World that could be sold for a lot of money in the New World, and then ran to Colonia to sell it. The native-born whites of La Plata welcomed this, while the representatives of the Republic of the East Bank were often unhappy, imposing heavy taxes on these goods through their own powers, while secretly increasing production capacity, trying to blow up the European merchants by market means, so that they would know that it would be better not to sell goods that were in competition with the East Coasters next time.

As soon as Xiao Baitu arrived at the gate of Colonia, he saw a ship flying the red sword goshawk flag on the dock docking, and it looked like the frigate "Red Trout" of the Republic of China on the east coast of China.

"Who's here?" As soon as this question arose in Xiao Baitu's mind, he saw three people take the lead and boarded the port along the pedal.

"Hey, Xiao Baitu, Ha Luha, I haven't seen you for a few days, I see that you look good. What, this is a place to raise people? Xu Xinyang, the leading vice minister of trade, greeted him with his hand.

"Hehe, it's a place to raise people. I'm so idle here that my body is about to rust! Xiao Baitu pursed his lips disdainfully and said. He knew both of them behind Xu Xin, Tao Chenxi of the textile factory and Minghui of the brick kiln, and the two sides had a little friendship in the early days when they were in the logging team.

"Isn't that good?" Minghui stepped forward and punched Xiao Baitu, and said, "It's both idle here, and there is a lot of extra money, why don't we change it." Look at us, we're busy all day, we're tired and half dead, and no one has said a few words yet. ”

"Okay, okay, I'll invite you to drink in a while." Xiao Baitu said with a big grin, "Colonia can't do anything else, there are still one or two taverns." Let's not talk about that, what are you doing this time? Buying gunpowder and wool? No, the time hasn't come yet, so are you here to sell something? ”

"You're right!" Xu Xin snapped his fingers and said, "Take a look, the back is preparing to unload." 1,000 cotton cloth, 300 woolen wool, 100,000 bricks and 500 sabers, pay attention, this cotton cloth is the fist product we focus on promoting. ”

"Cotton?" Xiao Baitu also had a rough idea of the plan of the Executive Committee for the development of the textile industry, so he quickly reacted and asked, "Where is it?" Let me see. What about the quality? You don't know how popular the Indian cotton cloth re-exported by the British is here, and those black-hearted businessmen are embarrassed to sell a piece of cloth for 4 pesos, and it is still in short supply, which is really profitable. Of course, their woolen wool is also very good, at least of good quality. We have to compete, and we have to think of a way. ”

"The quality is certainly much more stable than the handmade products of the British. Although it may not be as good as some of their top-of-the-line products with good workmanship, the advantage is that the quality is stable, and the average quality outperforms them without pressure. Moreover, our yarn is already much better than theirs. Tao Chenxi said confidently, "Well, the unloading has begun, if you are interested, go and have a look." ”

Xiao Baitu walked to the dock and opened a pine box, which was neatly stacked with cotton cloth. He stretched out his hand and gently stroked the white cotton cloth, and found that the feel was relatively smooth and soft, and the breathability of the cotton cloth was also very good, which should be regarded as a high-quality muslin cloth.

"Not bad! It's no worse than those Indian goods, well, even better in terms of feel! Xiao Baitu said excitedly, "Why is it not dyed?" Don't have a flower cloth? Alas, there aren't enough varieties! It's a pity! ”

"Uh... This one... Take your time. Tao Chenxi said with a little embarrassment, "We haven't touched on the printing and dyeing yet. What's more, we don't have any dyes at all. The road has to be walked step by step, the meal has to be eaten in one bite, and it is necessary to take it slowly. The market for these ordinary white cloths is the broadest, and people will color and reprocess them themselves when they buy them. ”

After a few more conversations, the sailors on board had already unloaded 1,000 horses of cotton cloth and 300 horses of woolen wool, and were already unloading bricks. Xiao Baitu recruited several Italian security guards and asked them to escort his goods to the merchant house located in the city. The merchant inn set up here in the East Coast Republic of China is just a few simple brick and wood mixed houses, in which some messy goods are piled up, which are not worth much, and four police officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are playing cards boringly for entertainment.

Xiao Baitu asked them to hurry over and help, and carefully stacked the cotton cloth and woollen wool. The Italian porters hired on the docks began to bring in boxes containing sharp sabers, which were also carefully placed. As for the 100,000 bricks on the ship, Minghui decided to start selling them on the dock. Don't underestimate these bricks, which are still in high demand in the La Plata region and Brazil. The Ministry of Trade has set a price of 1 yuan per 500 bricks, and it may not be long before someone buys them all.

After all the goods were brought in, Minghui and Xu Xin also followed in with a smile. Sure enough, Minghui's 100,000 bricks had all been bought, and he was carrying a jingling money bag and looking at everyone with a smile.

"You're waiting here. I'm going to go to Álvaro, this guy is the man of the word here, and if you want to open our East Coast textile market in La Plata or even elsewhere, you have to rely on him. After Xiao Baitu finished speaking, he ran away without a trace.

"I have just investigated, and now some British merchants on the dock resell Indian cotton cloth for more than 4 pesos (about 3.2 yuan), most of which is white cotton, and only a small part of the flower cloth. Our 'East Coast Cloth' is not well-known now, and if you want to open up this sales channel, it seems that you still have to take the low-price route. Tao Chenxi touched her bare chin and said thoughtfully.

"How much does it cost you to weave an average piece of cloth now?" Xu Xin asked.

"The cost of cotton cloth is about 0.9~1 yuan per horse, and the cost can continue to be reduced if it is produced on a large scale. As for the woollen wool, the cost is much higher, almost 12-13 yuan per horse. The price of British woolen wool in the market is generally about 35 yuan, according to my estimation that the price of their goods from China should be about 24-25 yuan, and the cost is almost twice as expensive as ours. Tao Chenxi said it almost without thinking, and it was obvious that these data had been in his mind countless times.

"I remember that the British imported cotton cloth from Gujarat, Bengal and Olisa for about 7 shillings (about 1.4 yuan), and they had to sail across the ocean, hey, let's set a price of two pesos (about 1.6 yuan) per horse for our east coast. In the case of wool, we will price it at 25 yuan a horse, in short, it is to press their cost line, so that those Brits can't sell a piece of cloth. Xu Xin slapped his thigh excitedly and said loudly.

"Ha Luha, you guys set a good price." Xiao Baitu strode in from outside the door and said with a smile. He was followed by a young man in his twenties - Álvaro's son, Alvarez. "Those British people can't afford to fight a price war with you here, they are here to make money, not to be a living Lei Feng. There's no money to be made here, and they can pack up and sell somewhere else. Of course, in that case, the cost is estimated to be much higher, after all, the territory in those places has already been divided, but it is better than not making money or losing money here. Let me introduce you to Alvarez Rodríguez, the eldest son of Mr. Álvaro, the president of the Chamber of Commerce here. Alvarez, these are Mr. Xu Xin, Deputy Minister of Trade, Mr. Tao Chenxi, Deputy Director of the Textile Mill, and Mr. Ming Hui, Manager of the Building Materials Company. ”

Alvarez shook hands with a few people shyly, and then eagerly checked the cotton and woollen fabrics. He checks very carefully, and almost every horse has to be carefully observed or tested for feel. Xiao Baitu and the others waited there quietly, and they didn't urge.

After a long time, Alvarez sighed softly, turned to everyone and smiled shyly: "All of them are high-quality goods, although the variety is very simple, but they are indeed the quality of high-quality goods." You can make a price, and our chamber of commerce will eat it all. ”

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