On March 20, 1648, Xinhua Harbor, which was already at the end of the rainy season (hot season), was extremely hot. Although it didn't rain today, the air was still thick with moisture, which made newcomers feel uncomfortable.

The expedition ship "Exploration" has been moored at the pier for two days, and the ship encountered wind and waves while crossing the Cape of Good Hope, and the ship's board was damaged in several places, and it is still undergoing emergency repairs at the ship repair yard in Xinhua Port. I don't know if it's because of the poor skills of the workers in the repair shop or what's the reason, the ship hasn't been repaired for two days, which makes Zhang Jinhua depressed.

After looking for someone to inquire, sure enough, the factory's most skilled masters died of illness a few days ago because of a "plague" that occurred for unknown reasons and then disappeared for unknown reasons.

Zhang Jinhua, who learned the news, was also a little helpless, so he simply beckoned the crew to get off the boat and have fun on the dock. Sun Kee Restaurant on the pier has recently introduced a number of new varieties: eel rice, cold sea cucumber salad, and drunken shrimp, all of which are new dishes made with local ingredients, and are very popular with sailors who don't have much money in their pockets. They can't afford to eat expensive beef and mutton, so they can only eat some local seafood that is so abundant that it is bursting.

At this time, it was almost noon, Zhang Jinhua was sitting in the dining room with the wind blowing through the hall and plucking drunken shrimp. But just then, a cargo ship powered by steam engines and sails sailed in from outside the harbor, and two dozen men in faded old military uniforms jumped off the deck of the ship after it had been stopped, and then quietly entered the restaurant.

Zhang Jinhua looked at it. I saw these people walking with their heads held high. It's not like the feeling of ordinary people bowing their heads slightly. Several middle-aged people with vicissitudes of life walked in the front. The others took half a step backwards, and their steps were more neat, so that outsiders could know at a glance that this group of people were all from Qiu Ba.

The leader of the man, a man with a bright face, is not tall, about 1.65 meters, but looking at the fact that his military uniform is propped up, you can know that this gentleman is thick and powerful, and he will fight those skinny Indians with a bayonet. At this time, he saw Zhang Jinhua sitting there in the dining room, wearing a navy captain's uniform that he didn't know where to find it, so he hesitated for a moment. He still stepped forward and gave a military salute, and then sat down next to him with a group of people behind him.

After more than 20 people sat down, the somewhat empty restaurant was crowded at once, and Boss Sun immediately brought his grandchildren to come up to greet business, and at this time, these men also opened the chatterbox.

"Brother Zhai, I have been here for many days, and I have spent a lot of money, but I haven't even found a piece of land. Seeing that the return date is approaching, how can this be good? The brothers are still waiting for me to get things done, but now we have no money to spend. It didn't work out, and it's frustrating to think about! A man took two sips of wine. He opened his mouth.

His words quickly aroused the echo of some people: "That Chuangji Investment Company is also too deceitful, and even grabbed two pieces of land that Brother Zhai fancies, if I hadn't seen that there were many of them, I would have come to the door to theorize." ”

"Fart! Big fart! The man who was called Brother Zhai slapped twice on the table, and then silently recited "Su zhì, to talk about Su zhì, don't burst into foul language", swept around the brothers sitting around him, and said in a calmer tone as much as possible: "Don't give me trouble, otherwise don't blame me for not talking about brotherhood." What is the background of the investment company, and you dare to come to the door to make trouble without asking? It's ridiculous! Damn, I'll make it clear to you now, so that you don't know how to die when you die! That Chuangji Investment Company is now managed by Li Zhengang, who is Li Zhengang? That is the celestial Mo Dashuai in front of the celestial celebrity, is the guest of Dashun Li, Gao, Yuan, Guo Zhushuai, now to take care of this Lao Shizi Chuangji Investment Company, then the fuck is for Mo Dashuai to make money, but also for Dashun Xiao Li Emperor to make some way back, if you dare to make trouble, no one can care about you if you are in a hurry to reincarnate! ”

"He remembered that the background of the investment company is hard, and our Patriotic Industry Promotion Association is the ...... raised by the stepmother" A man muttered two sentences in a low voice, but he was soon glared at by Brother Zhai and swallowed the second half of the sentence back into his stomach.

"This time, in the big bidding of the new Huaxia plantation, our patriotic industry promotion association is weak and weak, and it is normal to be unable to compete with them. However, we can't get good land in Xinhua Port, so let's go to the west of the island, where the imperial court has opened up cotton plantations. Because it is a newly opened land, the rent is extremely low, and the cotton is quite affordable in the country, which is suitable for us to go to the enclosure. After a pause, Brother Zhai said his idea.

Not surprisingly, his idea caused a whisper among the people around him, and he did not pay much attention to it, but drank a small wine leisurely, as if waiting for the unanimous opinion of the group of brothers around him.

Zhang Jinhua listened interestingly while plucking the shrimp. Of course, he knew very well what these people were talking about, in fact, it was the government that encouraged those military men with a lot of money in their hands to invest in the overseas New China region in order to solve the excess financial pressure in the country. Of course, this investment mainly refers to investment in plantations, that is, sisal, coffee plantations, and of course, now pepper and cotton plantations. The pepper plantations are located on the island of Sainte-Marie and the port of Tacheng, and the cotton plantations are far away, on the north bank of the Fihranana River in the western part of the island (savannah climate), not very far from the Dutch colony of Toulaire.

This place is the traditional cotton growing area of Madagascar in later generations, with a dry climate, strong sunshine, and a large river flowing into the sea, which is very convenient for water irrigation, making it an ideal cotton growing area. After reporting to the Executive Committee for approval, the New China Pioneer Team divided a large area of land on the north bank of the Fihrana River into the territory of the Republic of China on the east bank of China with a single stroke, and then sent people to bury the sovereignty monument and held a flag-raising ceremony, which made the few Dutch people on the south bank of the river stunned.

It is said that in recent years, the Dutch trading station in Tulare has become more and more detrimental, not only the number of soldiers has dropped from more than 50 to more than 20 (most of them died of illness and have not been replenished), but the slave hunting business has become more and more difficult. Almost all of the Malay descendants in the vicinity had been captured by them, and there were no local specialties worth mentioning, and perhaps in a little while, the Tourare trading post would be closed by the East India Company as unprofitable as the trading post in Bandar Abbas.

The East India Company was a highly efficient company with strict management, and they were always intolerant of trading posts that failed to generate profits for the company, and many trading posts such as Bandar Abbas in Iran and the stronghold on the Komander coast in India were abandoned. Perhaps in another two years, the Turrean trading post will disappear like the strongholds that have disappeared from the East India Company's books.

After carefully deducing the international situation after the end of the Thirty Years' War, which was about to end, the members of the Executive Committee unanimously agreed that the future of trade on the East Coast would be very unoptimistic, especially the textile trade. According to incomplete statistics, there are now England, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Venice these countries have plans to develop the textile industry, except for Venice involved in the war and the plan is likely to run aground, the rest of the countries are in the real development of the textile industry. On the one hand, they grabbed cotton resources in the New World, and on the other hand, they used various relations to implement trade protection and tariff barriers in the Old World, in an attempt to block the high-quality and low-cost East Coast textile organizations from their sphere of influence.

In order to cope with this situation, East Coasters must prepare in advance, and having their own independent cotton source is an important part of this. After calculating the land at hand, the Executive Committee found that there was no suitable place for growing cotton (the quality and yield of local cotton were not satisfactory). Fortunately, they later found that the arid and semi-arid area in the western part of Xinhuaxia Island has a savannah climate, with long sunshine hours, high intensity, and little precipitation, and there are many large rivers with abundant water in the vicinity (cotton growth is very water-intensive), which is an ideal cotton planting area.

In addition, there were no strong indigenous or European colonial forces in the vicinity (the Dutch trading station, which had only a few dozen soldiers, was magnificently ignored), so the Executive Committee quickly approved the report submitted by Shi Qinjie, the leader of the New China Pioneer Team, on the development of cotton plantations on both sides of the Fihranana River, and guided the surplus domestic funds to enter the plantations to ensure the safety of the source of raw materials for the textile industry on the east bank.

At present, the cotton plantation on the west side of the island that Brother Zhai said is located in this area. And because it is a new place, the land rent is indeed extremely low, which is not much different from giving away for nothing, and these investors only need to solve the source of labor and basically start farming. Regardless of the quality of the cotton grown, it will basically be taken away by the merchants, because the price of cotton should be slowly rising for a long time in the future.

"We can't afford to provoke the Dongfang County Industrial Rejuvenation Alliance, the Ping'an County Township Military Investment Association, and the Luoqia County Invalids Farm Investment Fund, but we can't afford to hide if we can't afford it! Then let's avoid them and go west to plant cotton!" They grow their sisal, coffee, pepper, we grow our cotton, each his own way! Brother Zhai saw that after discussing for a while, everyone was a little inclined to their opinions, so he hit the railroad while it was hot: "Brothers, don't worry too much. Although it is a new place, the people in the vicinity are not very strong. Besides, we've all been in battle, and if we can't even do those birdmen who drink blood, then it's a fart! That's it, our Patriotic Industry Promotion Association will go to the west to lease land to grow cotton, and if a native comes, he will fuck it! ”

The crowd agreed, and then the atmosphere began to drink enthusiastically. In a place like Xinhuaxia Island, if you don't want to get malaria inexplicably, then it's better to drink more fortune wine.

Zhang Jinhua also smiled and took a sip of wine, then pushed the plate containing the shrimp aside, took a bowl of eel rice and ate it. Later, I will go to the repair shop to speed up the repair progress of the ship, and now hurry up and eat a full meal first. (To be continued......)