The South Atlantic was exceptionally cold at the beginning of September.

A small boat rowed to the shore in the dark, and the white breath exhaled from the mouths of the sailors stood out in the cold moonlight. When approaching the shore, several sailors jumped into the icy waters and pushed the ship forward.

The boat was pulled by the sailors and finally landed on the beach. There were a few people with torches waiting on the shore, and they seemed to have been waiting for a long time. The leader was a middle-aged man with a flintlock pistol in his hand and a 32-year-old command knife hanging from his waist.

"Alvaro, you're half an hour late today." The middle-aged man said, "The new 'Peninsula people' are still watching our every move in the city of Buenos Aires, and you are making us all take big risks." ”

"Aha, Your Excellency the Inspector General is still in the city?" Álvaro jumped out of the boat and laughed exaggeratedly: "Poor councillors, their money bags are going to deflate a lot again. Of course, I didn't mean to laugh at your father. ”

The middle-aged man's face twitched, ignoring Álvaro's ridicule, but turned to his back and said, "Miguel, Anthony, go check the goods." ”

Two capable young men stepped forward as he was told, opened the small boat, and inspected the cargo packages one by one: metal spurs, horseshoes, skinners, boning knives, scissors, shovels, pickaxes, and ......

After a long time, they nodded at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man paced over, looked at it with a torch, and then asked, "Why don't you have a Tatartan saber?" You know, this thing is very popular in the La Plata area nowadays, and many high-hill people who herd horses like to buy one. ”

Álvaro shrugged his shoulders and said, "The Tatar saber is a hot commodity. The Russians were the largest customers of the Tatar saber, and they had a great appetite and even wanted to buy all the sabers produced by the Tatars. Not only that, but now the Poles and Swedes are also showing great interest in the Tatartan saber, and three merchant houses have been built outside the city of Tatarshaven this week. We only have 50 of our quota for this month, and we have already sold them all to you. Be content, my friend! Now hurry up and pay the money, I don't want to stay in this damn place for even a minute longer, my lads are freezing to death. ”

The middle-aged man paid the money very happily, apparently it was not the first time they had traded. Álvaro looked at the strange shape of the Spanish cross silver coin minted by Potosí in the money bag, and found a delicate "one dollar" silver coin minted by the Tatars, and sneered at the middle-aged man: "Even the silver coins are better in appearance and ...... color than those minted by you."

Speaking of silver coins, we have to mention the various versions of coins minted by the Crossing Crowd, which have become a sought-after commodity among the major smugglers of La Plata, due to their good color and appearance. The various silver coins minted by the Spaniards in the Americas were not only ugly and irregularly shaped, but also not very uniform in weight. For example, the 8-riyal silver cross coin weighs about 24 grams for the light and 27.5 grams for the heavier.

And the color is also very suspicious. Previously, a Venetian merchant examined some Potosi Cross silver coins and claimed that these silver coins were adulterated with a large amount of base metals.

Since the introduction of self-minted coins by the Traders, due to the uniform shape and sufficient fineness, they have been very popular in the market, and many merchants who have come to trade their Spanish silver coins have been traded to the Traversal, and then the silver dollars obtained from the trade have been collected. At present, the official exchange rate between the Tatartan port "yuan" and the Spanish "rial" is 1:9.6, but in the few private transactions between smugglers, this exchange rate has been speculated to more than 1:12 or even higher.

Finance Commissioner Tang Yuan is also very pleased with this situation. The silver coin contains 27 grams of silver, 3 grams of copper, and 10 riyals generally weighs about 31-32 grams, even if it is doped with some base metals, the remaining silver content is quite considerable, definitely more than 27 grams.

"I've long said that minting coins is a very profitable thing!" Tang Yuan thought secretly.

After the deal was complete, Álvaro and his sailors took a few sips of spirits, pushed the boat into the icy waters again, and rowed to the large ship moored in the sea.

……

"In other words, because of the policy of the West Indies and the Trade Department, Asunción and Buenos Aires were forbidden to trade with places other than Lima, resulting in rampant local smuggling trade and the interests of the king were harmed." Alfonso Bianca de Santis Romero said as he stood in his room at the Governor's Palace, holding a glass of red wine.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Inspector-General." It was a young army captain who stood respectfully beside Alfonso Romero.

"Don't be nervous, Torres." Alfonso looked at the young man and smiled and said, "Your father mentioned you to me that you have been serving in La Plata for more than three years and are well aware of everything here. ”

"Yes, sir." Torres calmed down a little and said, "Because the large quantities of leather, tallow, cheese, horn, wool and other materials produced locally are not urgently needed in the kingdom, the Trade Department is extremely indifferent to the interests of the La Plata region. Asunción and Buenos Aires were limited to high-priced goods from Lima due to trade restrictions, and the supply of goods was not very sufficient; On the other hand, local goods were also exploited by Lima merchants, which caused great dissatisfaction among local livestock farmers. As a result, the smuggling trade flourished in such a situation, and every month a large amount of cheap contraband from Brazil flowed into the market. Even...... Many members of the municipal councils were also involved, and they traded with the Portuguese in various secret ports at the mouth of the Río de la Plata or on the east bank, trading an astonishing amount of goods and draining the kingdom's profits. It is estimated that the total value of the illicit smuggling trade has reached five times the total value of the legal trade. ”

Inspector General Alfonso listened attentively, waited until the young man had finished speaking, drank the wine in his glass, stood up and paced, suddenly looked at Torres and asked: "I see that many gentlemen in the city of Buenos Aires are keen to carry a saber that is said to come from Tatan, and this is also a commodity smuggled by the Portuguese?" As far as I know, the kingdom did not sell sabers of this standard to Lima. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Torres untied the saber from his waist, handed it to Alfonso, and said, "This knife is the Tatan saber, and each one is worth 3 pesos." ”

Alfonso drew his saber, its straight blade slightly curved, and the blade was shiny, reflecting a cold light in the candlelight.

"A very sharp, practical saber, no wonder it is popular. What does the inscription on this knife mean? Alfonso smiled and asked, pointing to the Chinese character inscription on the mechanism on the sword, "Three-two Year Style Non-commissioned Officer Knife".

"Unfortunately, no one in Buenos Aires knows what it means." Torres explained, "But some people say it's the script used by the Ming people of the East. ”

"Oh? Could it be that the Portuguese brought sabers from the East to the New World to sell them? His Excellency the Inspector General asked, with some astonishment, "And only sell for three pesos?" ”

"No, Your Excellency!" Torres replied solemnly: "This is not trafficked by the Portuguese from the East. The fact that they bought sabers from the port of Tartan in the eastern coast and smuggled them into the La Plata area to sell with their goods is no secret in Buenos Aires and Asunción. ”

"Tartan Harbor?" Alfonso pondered, "I think I've heard a new geographical term. Isn't there only the East Coast where there are only Indians and Jesuit missionaries? ”

"It used to be, but not anymore." "It seems that two years ago, a group of Tatars, perhaps from the East, landed on the east coast and established the colonial settlement of Port Tatan. Now their city was already very large, and according to sailors who had been there, the port of Tatartan faced the sea, was surrounded on three sides by walls, and the city was inhabited by at least two thousand people. ”

"And they also have a certain industrial base, and the handicraft market is also very prosperous." "They are also very ambitious, and perhaps they will continue to expand inland and threaten the kingdom's sovereignty over the eastern coast." ”

Torres didn't speak, but his clenched fists revealed his heart.

"Torres, you go back first." Alfonso suddenly waved his hand and said.

"Your Excellen......cy," Torres cried out, "the Portuguese and Tatars are encroaching not only on the commercial interests of the kingdom, but also on the sovereignty of the kingdom......"

"I've learned it all!" Inspector General Alfonso raised his voice: "However, the area that His Majesty has given me to inspect is not only La Plata, but I will also go to Santiago, Lima, Chircas and Acapulco to maintain the authority of the royal family. Don't worry, I'll take care of this. ”

"I see." Torres said.

?“ "Peninsula people" and "new arrivals" are all contemptuous terms for the envoys of the suzerainty by the native whites of the La Plata region.