Ziyou Port was not originally called Ziyou Oil Port, Chen Jian discovered this island from someone else's chart, and Chen Jian did not pay attention to the original name. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Before the fog around the republic opened, the island was not of much strategic importance, but now it is very different.

It is about nine degrees south of Mincheng, and the longitude should be between 10 and 15 degrees west longitude, which can only be estimated.

Before the fog lifted, it was not on the main shipping lanes, too far from the mainland colonies of Spain, and not part of the Indies, so it was uninhabited.

Maybe a fleet of ships has been here, maybe pirates have anchored here, but it doesn't make sense.

When the flag is planted and the location of the fort is chosen, the previous history is in vain, and the previous name is no longer meaningful, and it will only be called the oil port in the future.

Nowadays, it is an important strategic support point, not far from the island colonies of Spain, and not too far from the mainland colonies of Spain, which can be used as an important transit point.

The island is fertile and suitable for tropical plantations, with clean water and a natural harbor with a depth of more than 20 paces.

The mixed fleet landed in the harbor, and skilled hired men left to begin cutting down trees and building houses where they could live.

The people in the fleet temporarily rested on the island, and the cartographers began to draw maps around the island, and Wang Zhe, a draftsman who did not like to make noise, also followed Chen Jian to sea as a cartographer because of his relationship with Chen Jian.

Large quantities of cement were unloaded and stacked in several wooden warehouses that had been erected, and two architects were busy surveying the terrain and drawing figures of the forts and forts.

Fifteen hundred full-time builders were there to build these things, and in addition to forts and houses, they also had to build storage warehouses.

After all, there is a distance of nearly seventeen or eighteen latitudes from Mincheng to the Spanish colony, and it is difficult to grasp the price fluctuations, so it is better to build a warehouse here.

After the 300 soldiers stationed on the island went ashore, Chen Jian discussed with the commander of the garrison and set a lot of regulations.

Even if you have the habit of disinfecting powder and boiling water, diseases such as dysentery and fever will cause a huge attrition, and everything must be done carefully.

It was the first tropical colony in the formal sense of the word, and as a model and a benchmark for future attractiveness, it had to be foolproof.

The officers and some captains gathered beside Chen Jianjian, looked at the chart in Chen Jian's hand, and asked, "Mr. Chen, how should this island be managed?" ”

"There are some plantations on the island to ensure that there is food here, and in addition to growing sugar cane, it is also a big income. There is no problem with that. We've just taken the first step now, so let's not be too fast, let's build a fort and a harbor on this island first. ”

The captain asked, "Trade here?" ”

Jian Chen sighed and said, "No way. The Spanish crown had a monopoly on trade and was said to have forbade any foreign ships to trade directly with their colonies. In the short term, it is still up to smugglers. The location of this island is important. ”

Everyone looked at the chart and was a little puzzled.

"If you start from Mincheng to trade with those countries in Europe, this can become the only way to go. Therefore, whether it is our merchants or merchants from other countries, we have to pass through here to trade with us. The hijacking of pirates will affect the surrounding trade, and when the caravan matures, it is necessary to ensure that the surrounding waters are clean. When they saw one and killed another, they were all hung up in front of the port and dried into dried meat to set an example. ”

"Pirates and smugglers are different after all. Smugglers need the most basic trust, and what they want is peace. Pirates are determined by force and success or failure, and the most basic trust is never needed to rob them. We will have to rely on smugglers for some time to come, and this must be made clear. ”

"To the south and to the west, it was a Spanish colony. This circumnavigation of the world, if we are lucky, can sign a legal trade that allows even one ship a year, it will be equivalent to opening the door to smuggling for us. Bad luck...... If we don't agree, we can only make this a trading place for smugglers, and before we master the language and connections, I am afraid that most of the profits will be made by the smugglers of the Spanish colonies. ”

Several people looked at the sea outside the fleet and said with a smile: "There is not a single ship other than us here." ”

Jian Chen also smiled: "Not now, there will be in the future." The port allowed all ships to anchor as long as they were within thirty miles of the sea and complied with the laws of the Republic. ”

"Including pirates?"

"It depends on the situation, see how the negotiations with the Spaniards went. If the talks are good and they allow trade, we will naturally fight piracy. If the negotiations are not good, the port can also become a weight for future negotiations. ”

"Weights?"

"Yes, rob Spanish pirates or privateers, and if you are attacked, you can run here. If the Spaniards entered the harbor to pursue them, they did not take the republic into account, and naturally regarded it as a declaration of war. They could only stare dryly at the crowd running over. ”

Chen Jian pointed to the ships moored on the beach and said, "In the final analysis, it depends on your own strength. Our handicraft industry is well developed, and it can fully meet the needs of the colonies, so it is natural to talk about free trade. On the other hand, if our handicraft industry is not developed, we will naturally not be able to talk about free trade. In the same way, if the fleet is strong, the hydrology is familiar, and the relationship between the bribe and the Spanish governor is not necessary, and there is no need to rely on the smugglers. In turn, without this condition now, we can only rely on smugglers. ”

"But where are the smugglers?"

"At sea. With us stationing troops here, declaring ownership here, and planning this place as a ***, smugglers will soon gather here. When sharks smell blood, they come around; Businessmen smell profits, and the same will happen. From here to the Spanish colonies, it is much closer than from Europe, and our goods are on par with European goods, some of them better. Merchants, no country. ”

"Then Mr. Chen, how long will it take for this part of the profits to be earned by them?"

"If everything doesn't go well, it's as little as three years, or as much as ten years. If all goes well, maybe a year or two. It depends. ”

"You mean negotiations with Spain?"

"More than that. Even if we talk, it is unlikely that we will be allowed to trade directly, and it may be another kind of monopoly trade. With *** as a transit, the royal family charters trade, and we carry it with us, which can be smuggled or something. It won't be that easy. ”

"Why should we say yes?"

"No way, it's us who want to trade. Without us, their monopoly trade would have been very profitable. The posture of asking for someone is always lower than that of being asked. ”

A group of people laughed, and Jian Chen shook his head and said, "Don't laugh, this matter is troublesome." ”

In fact, it's far more troublesome and complicated than these people think.

The Spanish government is about to go bankrupt again, and they will do everything they can to get money, and they will never give up on monopolizing trade.

Moreover, such a behemoth suddenly appeared in the north of the colony, and the Spaniards would be very panicked when they thought about it.

The world line he knew was about to change, and some things were already difficult to predict.

Chen Jian also did not want to be a shield for the Dutch and those Protestant countries, but if he seeks peace through struggle, he will live in peace, and if necessary, he will release the news that he will sign an arms trade agreement with the Dutch, which can also be used as a weight.

But will it alert the Spaniards and thus focus a large part of their attention on this side? After all, this is Spain's silver-producing land, and if there is a problem here, there will be a big problem in Spain, which is very said.

The same goes wrong on the east side.

If the handicrafts here could meet the needs of the Spanish colonies and Europe, including raw silk, cotton cloth, tea, etc., some things would not have been able to move along the original world line.

From here, the trade was much closer, whether to the colonies or to Europe itself. The former only needs to travel a dozen latitudes and does not need to cross the Pacific Ocean; The latter does not need to be detoured to Cape Town, and can be transferred from the Great Wilderness City.

In this way, the handicraft industry in the south of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably be hit hard.

The inflow of silver has suddenly decreased, and the general change of grain to mulberry to cotton in Jiangnan has already occurred. A large amount of silver has flowed in before, and the whole market has become accustomed to this kind of silver inflow, and a sudden cliff-like decline may cause more turmoil than in history.

The problems faced by the Jiangnan region may not only be the historical tax resistance, but also the evolution of the contradictions will be more serious than in history.

There will be a lot of changes in the East and the West, and Chen Jian estimates that the world will become unrecognizable in more than ten years.

The only things that are useful may be those things that remain the same, such as science, but history will be dead in a decade.

The Reformation War and the Battle of Sarhu, which decided the fate of the East and the West, basically happened at the same time more than ten years later, and Chen Jian would inevitably find a way to participate in these two wars.

It is not necessary to do it yourself, and methods such as organizing mercenaries, selling arms, taking out loans, and monopolizing the supply of food and iron tools are all effective.

On the side of the Republic, after more than ten years, the industry and commerce of the southern counties on this side gradually developed; The young people of a new generation of bourgeois democratic ideologies grow up; political economy and the key to various rights are maturing; the establishment of hydroelectric plants; and the bomb planted by the Nanyang Trading Company, which involved more than 100,000 people......

Again, this deformity is a monster that only gets in and can't leave, and there is hardly much to import. With a large inflow of silver and a price revolution, life at the bottom is estimated to be no better.

Coupled with the upcoming so-called Xiaoice climate, all the contradictions that could be suppressed in the past will leak out little by little, and with organized promotion and ideological propaganda, the trouble here is not small.

Some things are inevitably going to become unrecognizable, and there are only ten years left of the historical prescience that Jian Chen can use.

The biggest prophetic advantage was about to dissipate, and Chen Jian was a little panicked in his heart.