The development of Luoqia Port in recent years is obvious to all.

First of all, in order to solve the surplus grain production capacity in the country, but also to raise more funds for immigration, the Executive Committee decided to set up a bulk cargo trading center in the port of Luocha. At that time, the main export goods of this trading center were grain, and the merchants who traded were mainly Hanseatic merchants from the Baltic Sea. At that time, the trading center, which was known for its low tax rate, had a turnover of 450,000 yuan in the first year, and although the turnover in the second and third years decreased slightly (200,000 yuan and 280,000 yuan respectively), this year, the turnover rose again to a height of 370,000 yuan. It is believed that with the steady expansion of the agricultural area in Huxi, the east coast, where the grain output is getting higher and higher, will inevitably export more grain, which will push the transaction value of the Luoqia Bulk Trade Center to a new peak.

In the middle of last year, the Ministry of Trade of the East Coast announced that the port of delivery of cotton and wool would be set at the port of Luocha in the middle of last year. In this way, both the fleets of large merchants and the merchant ships chartered by small merchants will have to be sold at the port of Luocha, and the rest of the ports on the east coast will no longer be responsible for the import of cotton. After all cotton and wool and other textile raw materials are delivered at Luoqia Port, the people on the east coast will be transported to Dongfang Port and Ping'an Port to unload their goods by railway or offshore transport ships, and the textile mills will take them back to organize production.

George. Hampton stood indifferently on the docks of Rocha Harbour, and behind him, the three-masted galleon "Asuka" slowly docked at a berth under the command of a pilot ship.

"It's nice weather, it's always foggy and uncomfortable in England. I didn't even want to go back to England after being in Massachusetts for so long. There was only war in that place now. Endless war! Nasty war! "John. Hill boarded the dock at the servant's service. Chao George. Hampton said.

The English Civil War has now entered a critical moment, and the situation is now very favorable to them after most of the victories in many battles last year. Among them, the king's model army played a huge role, and this elite army, which has now expanded to more than 3,000 people, is a formidable force in the king's hands, and the situation of the parliamentary army is extremely unoptimistic. In order to counter the king's elite troops, the famous military general Cromwell began to form a new model army. The weapons and equipment were all imported from the Netherlands and carefully trained to be able to stand up to the king's royal model army.

The tragic civil war greatly damaged the economy of England, many textile factories that had belonged to the Parliamentarians were confiscated, woolen woolen exports plummeted, and wool and other raw materials for production were piled up. John. Although the textile factory was under the control of the Congressional Army, the normal production of the factory was still greatly affected by the large number of workers who went to the front to participate in the fighting. Therefore, although the price of woolen wool in the international market has risen to a certain extent. But Hill still has no intention of aggressively operating in an uncertain time. So he turned his money to his own land in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, growing some cash crops. However, the large pastures he owned in England still produced large quantities of wool every year. Except for a small amount of this wool that was produced in textile factories in the region, most of it was intended to be sold overseas.

In recent years, the textile industry on the European continent has been in a slow decline, in addition to the war factor, and the onslaught of cheap East Coast textiles from the New World. Under the impact of textiles (mainly cotton cloth) on the east coast, the Dutch cotton spinning industry, which was still relatively prosperous, was baptized by a cold snap, and can only survive by trade protection; The Italian textile industry, which was already in decline, was hit hard, and the Italian cotton spinning industry represented by the Venetians went bankrupt in large numbers, and the technicians emigrated to the east coast one after another, and even the economy of Italy was depressed a lot.

However, in the second half of last year, Europeans finally began to wake up. First of all, the French imported a large number of the latest water-powered textile machines from the Netherlands, and decided to revive the French textile industry; Then the Dutch began to vigorously develop the wool and cotton spinning industry by using the huge sales channels in their hands, and they learned from the centralized factory system of the East Coasters, invested by large merchants, and built several large textile factories. Only the Venetians were more sluggish, and the open and secret rivalry with the Turks cost them a lot of money, and they only symbolically renovated the machinery and equipment of the factory, but the investment was very limited, and the signs of decline were quite obvious.

However, most of these new textile industries use cotton as a raw material, which is of little use to wool merchants such as Hill. Except for some imported by the Dutch, the wool they had accumulated in large quantities was in a state of unsalable. Although we all know that the market demand for woolen wool has not decreased, so the demand for wool will not decrease, and the traditional wool exporters Spain and the Ottoman Empire have not increased production significantly, so their wool should not be unsold. But the actual situation is far from so simple, not to mention that some markets can not be entered by the British, just to say that the Netherlands and other countries also need a certain amount of time to expand the wool production capacity, it is destined that their goods will be in an obvious unsalable state during this time.

Hill was tired of the fires that had been lit everywhere in the Old World, so after careful consideration, he decided to sell all the remaining about 8,000 bags of wool to the east coast of the New World. And his long-time friend, George Brown, who is also a shareholder of the businessman Adventure Company, is also a shareholder. Hampton was of the same mind, and he decided to sell all the more than 5,000 bags of wool he had in his possession to the East Coasters, and to invest more than 10,000 pounds of money in his estate in Virginia.

He had recently decided to be bullish on cotton prices on the international market, so he decided to make a fortune by opening a cotton plantation on his own land in Virginia. Hill was also very supportive of his idea, so the two agreed to come to Rocha Harbor to sell their wool in exchange for enough money to buy land in North America.

"Look, the latest price of wool!" George. Hampton ignored Hill's thoughts, but pointed to a large blackboard hanging in front of the Exchange by the East Coasters, and said in a loud voice.

Hill looked over and saw a few lines of large letters written in plaster pen on the black-painted board, including the latest purchase price of wool.

"8.5 yuan / East Coast bag, this price has also risen slightly compared to before, I remember at the end of last year it was still 7.4 yuan." Hill muttered. In fact, with the intensification of the civil war in England, the price of wool in the international market has been rising slowly in the past two years, and the price of each bag of wool has risen from 6 yuan a few years ago to 8.5 yuan today, an increase of more than 40%, making a lot of money for wool producers.

"It's a good price!" John. "When I see this," said Hill in a tone of greater joy, "I will reap eighteen thousand pounds when my wool is sold, and I will be able to put it into the shipbuilding and fishing of Massachusetts." Come with me, dear George, for really, it's more lucrative than the cotton plantations you have in the South. ”

"No, quite the opposite, my dear friend." George. Hampton shook his head, then said, "In fact, the value of cotton plantations in Virginia, Florida and the Caribbean has been rising since the beginning of the year, and the few plantation transfer deals show that the price per acre of cotton has climbed by about 10 percent." This is reasonable, as it can be predicted that the demand for cotton should remain in a relatively strong and scarce state for the next few years. Invest in cotton plantations at this time, and you will not lose money. Trust me, Hill, it's good business. ”

"Let me take a look at the latest purchase price of cotton from the East Coast." John. Hill said as he looked at the blackboard, "God, this year's new cotton is 145 yuan/ton!" This price has climbed by about 20% compared to the price at the end of last year! This is crazy, maybe you are right, the rise in cotton prices has just begun, and there may be a longer period of upward movement! Well, according to the East Coasters, cotton will usher in a bull market for a long time! The Dutch are doing cotton spinning, the French are doing cotton spinning, the Venetians are doing it, and even Sweden has this idea, God, know that the landlords of the New World, the main producer of cotton, are not too keen on growing cotton. They prefer to grow crops such as tobacco, sugar cane, cocoa, coffee, etc., because this is obviously very profitable. Cotton or wheat is planted only on farmland that is not suitable for these cash crops, and it now seems that the area under cotton cultivation will not grow rapidly in a short period of time......"

"But demand is growing fast!" George. Hampton added the second half of Hill's words, "It's clear that demand is going to see an explosion of growth this year. However, due to inertia, lack of qualified knowledge of cotton planting, insufficient number of slaves, and insufficient tools, the plantation owners were unable to expand the planting area rapidly for a while. Therefore, a long-term rise in cotton prices will become inevitable, and we should prepare for it as early as possible. Ciel, listen to me, invest in cotton farming, it's much more reliable than you would fish in Massachusetts! There are only a few people over there, can they consume so much fish? ”

"I'll think about it, George." John. Ciel nodded and said. (To be continued......)