"The Yicheng area is bold and enterprising!" On the busiest commercial street in Cape County, Bai Yutang, the commissioner of the District Administration Office, accompanied by his entourage and security personnel, chatted casually while observing the people's situation on the street.

Their topic focused on the Yicheng area next door, talking about the news from the ship that had just docked for repairs, that is, Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang, who had been suppressing bandits in the Hezhong area, discovered a super-large gold mine as soon as he went to Yiyang Bay, and applied for additional funds, personnel and materials from the local government to quickly occupy this gold mining area in order to obtain profits.

This news can be seen at a glance by a discerning person that someone deliberately spread it, and the characteristics of its momentum are too obvious, which makes people think that Yang Tuantou is not trying to use a fictitious gold mine to defraud national policies and investment. You know, this is not impossible, because this kind of trick has been common since ancient times, even in the 21st century in the future, didn't there still happen to a certain Fort oil field to lie about military information? Bai Yutang has always been afraid to guess others with the greatest malice, especially the person who released the news is still one of the army leaders he dislikes.

In addition, the Yicheng area has been developing step by step in recent years, which has also made the original "big brother" Hezhong area feel a little nervous and anxious. In particular, the merchants who often go to the Yicheng area to sell grain and seafood often bring the rapid changes in the area on the Indian Ocean side back to Cape Town and back to the river - among them, Ximen Xiao of Ximen Fishery Company often brings back some local news for local businessmen and friends as a reference - so that the local businessmen are envious, this is the atmosphere that a thriving area should have!

On the contrary, although the Hanzhong region relied on local financial subsidies and some of its own pitiful accumulation, the first railway on the African continent was started, the Transnazhong Railway, which radiates several counties in the southern part of the Hezhong region, all of which are densely populated areas, but on the east bank of the industrial country, the lack of a high-grade heavy industrial system is always a flaw and is often talked about.

But this is also a helpless thing. The overall drought and lack of water in the Hezhong area and the lack of resources are not endowed, which means that it accounts for the word "early", which is many years earlier than the development of the Yicheng area. But now it seems that this first-mover advantage is not big enough, compared to the Yicheng area, which has coal mines, iron mines, gold mines, forests, and at the same time there is no shortage of water, the future of the river does not see a slight advantage, they are at best more populous, but can these populations be converted into productivity? The wealth created per capita is probably not as good as that of the Yicheng area.

Bai Yutang once heard the saying that the Hezhong area seems to have a larger population and economic strength than the current Yicheng area, but it will soon run out of stamina, because Hezhong has not really experienced an industrial revolution. In this vast Atlantic Ocean, where information transmission is inconvenient and social atmosphere is very different, people are still adapting to the rhythm of life in an agrarian society, and the few industrial facilities that are available – such as ship repair yards, building materials factories, seafood processing plants, flour mills and primary mills – including their investors, technicians and machinery and equipment, have been transplanted from the mainland on the other side of the ocean. It bypasses the process of primitive accumulation of capital and the great technological change, and the whole society lacks a baptism, and people's thoughts, behavior patterns, and production rhythms are somewhat unable to catch up.

Of course, Bai Yutang didn't quite agree with this statement. Because in his opinion, although the industrial base of the Hezhong region is weak, is the Yicheng region very strong? Isn't it also from a full set of homegrown transplant funds, technology and equipment? Everyone is actually at the same level, don't talk about the eldest brother.

However, he also admitted that the Yicheng area is dominated by heavy industry development, and it seems that its upstream and downstream industrial chains will be relatively strong, and there will be more affiliated enterprises in the radiation, which will undoubtedly directly or indirectly train a large number of skilled industrial workers and technical engineers, who will play a crucial role in the development of the Yicheng area in the future. Compared with them, the so-called industries in the Hezhong area are a bit of a homework, and they can't train too many talents, which makes people quite frustrating - don't believe it, just look at those brick kilns, most of the workers in them are called to "work", not "work", because they are engaged in unskilled manual labor, and the personnel are not very fixed, and many people are short of money and come to work part-time temporarily.

This is exactly what Bai Yutang is worried about. Although his tenure was limited, his sense of responsibility for his position forced him to take responsibility for the future of the riverine region. He once joked with his subordinates that if the sermon developed for more than ten years, maybe the rails and other parts needed for the future maintenance of the Hezhong Railway would have to be imported from the Yicheng area, which would be a really embarrassing thing for the big brother Hezhong area.

"There are some things that you can't help if you don't admit them. The conditions of Yicheng are really good, compared with them, our river is really not loved by heaven, drought and little rain, full of loess. Fundamentally, we are naturally in competition with them industrially, and that goes without saying. Bai Yutang looked at the various shops lining the street, and finally shook his head slowly, and said, "Actually, there's nothing embarrassing about admitting this, it's not a crime of war." In order to develop the Hanzhong area in the future, I personally think that we still have to find another way and find a way to do it commercially. ”

Bai Yutang's words made the entourage thoughtful. They are also often in contact with all kinds of documents and data on weekdays, and they know all the indicators in the river well, which will hear Bai Yutang say this, and their hearts can't help but move, and gradually follow his train of thought.

"In fact, this is also a cliché, many people have mentioned it before, and they have already begun to practice." Bai Yutang continued: "That is commercialization, thorough commercialization, the pursuit of the ultimate commercialization. ”

As he spoke, Bai Yutang walked into an East Indian specialty shop next to the street. It is a shop run by a foreign merchant owned by a Dutch-Malay Protestant who specializes in spices, pearls, Ceylon gemstones, tortoiseshell, ambergris, sandalwood and other specialties from the East Indies. Because the port of Cape Town is a free port, the shopkeeper does not have to pay any import and export duties, which account for the majority of the cost, except for some miscellaneous taxes that are not very high, which is undoubtedly a great advantage in the field of business operations. The "ultimate commercialization" that Bai Yutang just referred to is actually not unrelated to this, after all, doing business in Cape Town is still quite advantageous for businessmen at home and abroad.

Cape Town, as the only free port in the East Coast Republic of China, has a special status left over from history, that is, when the East Coasters annexed the Dutch South African colony, they had already announced that Cape Town would exist as a free port from now on, exempt from all import and export duties, and allow merchants or ships from all countries to come to the port for berthing, trade and investment, provided that they abide by the local laws and regulations of the East Coast Republic and the Port of Cape Town - this article was originally only valid for the United Provinces. Later, the East Coast government simply declared Cape Town a free port to the world, that is, ships from all nations were allowed to trade, but warships could only enter the port after they had been notified in advance and had the consent of the East Coast side, otherwise the dozens of heavy sea defense guns on Table Hill in Cape Town had the right to sink them.

Therefore, it can be said that Cape Town is unique on the east coast, and it is also an excellent transit point for merchants engaged in entrepot trade, which can be seen from the many foreign trade halls, warehouses and ships in the harbor scattered on the docks, and Cape Town is very attractive to shipowners and traders from all over the world. Even some merchants from the East Coast have come to Cape Town to set up companies and conduct all kinds of entrepot trade.

So, to some extent, the riverine region is not without "resources", and isn't the "policy resources" of the Cape Town Freeport resources? If you think about it in this way, the key to the future development of the central river region is about to come out, that is, relying on the Cape Town Free Port as the core, but also giving full play to the geographical advantages - speaking of which, it has to be emphasized that Cape Town is not only a free port in terms of policy, but also an excellent port of call in terms of geography - focusing on the export-oriented economy, and striving to drive the economic development of the entire region.

Of course, this so-called driving economic development will certainly not be a heavy industry enterprise, but a model dominated by light industry enterprises and commercial enterprises, and there may be more banks, insurance and other financial enterprises, but there will never be others. You don't see, in recent years, the investors who have poured into Cape Town's registered enterprises, the most of them are trading enterprises, followed by shipping companies (the scale is not large, many companies have only one ship under their names, or even leased other people's ships), and then seafood processing, leather processing, food production and other small enterprises, which are also the use of South Africa's rich fishery resources, leather resources (mainly cattle and sheep, seals and whales) and food resources, mechanical processing enterprises are also none, which can be seen.

Bai Yutang's idea, in fact, is very simple, that is, to take advantage of the advantages of the Cape Town Free Port and the crossroads of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to develop entrepot trade. It is important to know that ships sailing from mainland China to Africa or the Indian Ocean generally have to call at Cape Town; Merchant ships sailing from the East to Europe and the mainland were generally also anchored and replenished here; Merchant ships sailing from Europe to the Far East should stay here, and the location advantage of the so-called crossroads is really not covered, so there are the basic conditions for entrepot trade, and if it develops well in the future, it should be the main means of increasing government revenue.

"From now on, you must redouble your efforts to maintain the business climate that Cape Town has so far been so good, and not to do anything sabotage or kill chickens and eggs. You must understand that Cape Town is your golden job bowl, and in the future, it will develop into a trade center and financial center in Southwest Africa. Bai Yutang casually looked at the goods displayed on the shelves in the store, and after buying a tortoiseshell shell in the eager eyes of the shopkeeper, he told the people who followed: "Since we can't compete with the Yicheng area for industrial strength, and others say that we have a weak industrial base here, then it's okay to simply develop commerce." If done well in the future, Cape Town may not be able to develop into a trade, financial and shipping center for the whole of Southern Africa. How did Amsterdam develop in the first place, don't you know in your mind? ”

Bai Yutang's meaning is actually to warn these officials, who will inevitably stay in the riverine area for a long time to come, that they must cherish the hard-won situation, not to undermine the status of the Cape Town Free Port, and not to arbitrarily confiscate the goods and even ships of foreign merchants as many monarchs on the Eurasian continent do, and to take advantage of the undesirable things, which will damage the image of the free port. And once this image is destroyed, then if you want to re-establish it, it will inevitably take more effort and time than before, and the gains outweigh the losses.

And if Cape Town develops into a center of trade, finance, and shipping for the whole of southern Africa, as he just said, then the local government will naturally have great benefits, and many financial difficulties will be solved. If the government has money, it will naturally feed back to many counties and townships in the hinterland of the free port through transfer payments, build schools, hospitals, roads and railways in the local area, develop many livelihood undertakings, and improve the living standards of residents.

Even the task of future generations, which was entrusted to them by the natives—to study a countermeasure to the southward movement of blacks with the Latvians of New Courland—was slowly perfected by the funds, after all, conquest and advancement have always needed to be backed by economic power. Without money, it was all for nothing, especially when they had a Portuguese Angolan colony sandwiched between them and New Courland.

Of course, before that, what they need to do first is to do a good job in their own internal affairs, including railways, highways, docks, farmland and water conservancy facilities. In particular, the Hezhong Railway, which is still being built intermittently, has long been haggard in the whole region due to the lack of funds, and it is better to clean up the whole region sooner or later.

What's more, if it is really according to Bai Yutang's vision, if Cape Town is to develop in the future, its hinterland cannot be limited to the current riverine area, but must have a broader hinterland, and this needs to be connected by rail, that is, through the railway to connect the entire southern Africa into a network, in order to better mobilize resources and manpower. These undoubtedly require a lot of money, and in addition to the part of the central government's investment, the local government must also take out a considerable part of the money for railway construction, which is a test of financial resources!