In terms of the defense of the port, the port of California was well defended, and the pirates could not break through the port's defenses.

Fifteen other ports were established, and the California colonies, which had enough troops, began to expand in all directions, both north and south.

To the north in the north of North America along the west coast of the coast of the establishment of ports, trade with the Indians, fur and precious metals are the main calling items of the Indians, more or less can generate some profits, while the trade also develops some resources around the port, also has some profits.

And in the northernmost Alaskan colonial stronghold, the soldiers found two large gold mines and five small gold mines, and gold troops had already arrived to organize mining.

To expand southward was to extend its hand to Chile and Argentina, and by the end of the year, the California colony had established one stronghold in Chile and two strongholds in Argentina. Each stronghold was guarded by 2,000 soldiers, who went around capturing the indigenous groups and working in them.

At this time, the naval power of the American Fleet had increased greatly, and the original warships had been eliminated by six old and unfit ones, leaving only 21 warships, while the number of frigates had increased to 35.

Of the 35 frigates, 20 were built by the California shipyard, while the other 15 were transferred from Shandong, and although the ships were not large, the strength of the American fleet was already very strong.

At present, the Shandong Navy has superior artillery, coupled with the superior speed of frigates, and is no longer afraid of any European country, even a maritime coalition.

After the setback of the naval offensive, the British, French and Dutch tried to organize a combined fleet again, but the Dutch did not do it, and the Dutch had already suffered a great defeat in the Far East.

This made them realize that they had provoked a terrifying new power at sea.

The Dutch were the first to withdraw from the coalition, which made the British and French also lose the courage to attack again, and Louis XIII of France was very distressed by the naval losses and did not want to fight any more.

The British were most worried about these Far Easterners, but the French and the Dutch were reluctant to entangle themselves any longer, so they had to find other things.

After more than half a year, they signed a settlement agreement with the California colony.

The Dutch also sent envoys to California, asking the California colonies to introduce them to the Ming Dynasty for negotiations, and the Dutch wanted to ransom their captives.

The Dutch had been completely routed from the Far East, and now the Shandong Navy stopped the Dutch ships when they saw them, completely depriving the Dutch of commercial trade in the Far East.

The profits of Far Eastern commodities were staggering, and although the fact of the loss of colonies was irreversible, the hostile relations with the Ming could be changed.

As long as the hostile relations are changed, goods from the Far East can be bought.

Governor Liu Yuan of California wrote a letter of recommendation for this, asking the Dutch envoy to bring the Dutch envoy with a clipper ship that was about to return to Qingdao.

After more than two years of development, more than 30 million acres of land have been reclaimed in the California colony, most of which is dry land and some paddy fields. The land was planted with cotton, wheat and rice.

The colony already had more than 300,000 Indian slaves, and the cultivation was very extensive, even to the extreme, mainly due to the lack of labor.

The yield per mu was very low, and after harvesting a few cotton crops in the autumn, only 5 million quintals of cotton were obtained, but the amount was still terrifying, and the textile mills in the California colonies simply could not digest so much cotton.

Fortunately, a large fleet of ships arrived in California, and after transporting the goods to California, these merchant ships returned to Shandong with cotton and other goods.

The fleet also carried more than 30,000 immigrants, which was undoubtedly good news for the manpower-starved California colony, which was a problem of poor population.

This population refers to the Ming people, and there are not enough Ming people, so that California's industry has not been able to form a scale, and those Indians are just coolies in agriculture and construction.

In order to solve the problem of labor shortage, Liu Yuan sent his soldiers out to sweep the Indian tribes, and in view of the fact that the Indians were not easy to enslave, the colony only captured Indian women.

This method was widespread in European colonies, and Europeans had always killed Indian men and left only Indian women.

Indian men are not good slaves, they rebel, and they rebel frequently, only Indian women are docile.

After the failure of the national integration plan and its rejection by Zhao Yan, the California colonies also turned to the Spanish way of treating the Indians.

The women were all captured, but unlike the Spanish colonies, the California colonies forbade soldiers and civilians to have sex with these Indian women.

This servile relationship will last only one or two generations, and there will be no intractable Indian descendants. Two generations later, there were only Han Chinese in the colony.

This world is so cruel, in such an era, when one nation encounters another, if there is a huge difference in strength between the two sides, then what they possess will be robbed.

99% of the Indians of later generations are the descendants of the maternal line, and their paternal lines are all Europeans, and the real Indians have been slaughtered by the Europeans.

Sooner or later, they will be exterminated by the Europeans, and now they are just a different person. In fact, Zhao Yan's appetite is not so big, North and South America are so big, it is still possible to leave a few large areas for the Indians, provided that he leaves or disappears in the land he fancies.

The California colony has made good profits this year, and the cotton cloth has earned more than 20 million taels of silver, which is the cotton planted and harvested last year, and this year so much cotton cannot be processed, so it must be shipped back to Shandong.

In terms of furs, the income was relatively large, and the colonies organized people everywhere to hunt wild animals, and obtained more than 300,000 pieces of various furs, of which cowhides accounted for 1/2, and these cowhides were purchased from Europeans, mainly from the Indians on the east coast.

Bison are also abundant in the central United States, and many Indian tribes hunt bison for a living.

The number of commodities in the entire California colony has grown to hundreds, most of which are animal and plant products, many of which are not available in Shandong.

The value of these products reached about 15 million taels (after being shipped back), plus trade with the Spanish and Portuguese, some goods from the east coast of the Americas and Europe were bought, and these goods were shipped back to California, and as soon as the merchant ships from Shandong arrived, they were directly loaded and shipped away.

The goods of Shandong were transported to Panama by California merchant ships to trade with Spain and Portugal, and some merchant ships from other countries gradually appeared in the port of Dios in Panama, where the British and French appeared, while the Dutch did not appear there, and they were still in a state of hostility with the Spaniards.

When it comes to trading, both parties have money to make.

But the trade deficit was very large, and the California colonies exchanged a large amount of gold and silver for cotton cloth produced by themselves and cotton cloth shipped from Shandong, as well as ceramics, raw silk, tea, cane sugar, etc., while they did not buy too many goods from Europeans, and chose to buy goods that were insured in the Ming market.

There was money to be made for the merchants on both sides, and the California colonies made silver through trade, while European merchants threw out gold and silver, but they could get more gold and silver when they shipped the goods back to Europe.

Locally, both parties were profitable, so the deal was made. But in the big picture, precious metals in European countries are constantly being lost.

The rate of loss is terrifying, and the value of a merchant ship's cargo is often in the millions of taels of silver, and this year the number of merchant ships from Shandong to California has reached fifty-eight.

For example, if a merchant ship loads 200,000 taels of goods, it will turn back to 1 million taels after arriving in the Americas, and then transport a shipload of goods from the Americas back to Shandong, and after these goods are sold, the capital will be turned into 3 or 4 million taels.

At present, the trade from Shandong to the Americas is to transport goods to California, and then the California colonies sell the goods, and the goods are also collected by the California colonies.

This makes it very professional.

First of all, the California colonies were familiar with the European colonists in the Americas and knew what the market price of the goods was, and at the same time, the Ministry of Commerce would type out a list of goods that sold well in the country every month, whether it was in terms of purchase or shipment, the personnel of the Ministry of Commerce in the colonies knew best, and they were making trade plans every month.

The center of trade in the Americas was the Isthmus of Panama, which had become the most prosperous trading point, and the Spaniards set up cards here to collect taxes.

When there was not enough sea power, the California colonies had to endure it for convenience, and the Spaniards made a lot of money on 20% taxes.

However, with the growth of the maritime power of the American Fleet and the negotiation of peace with the three European countries, it was no longer possible to bear the taxes set by the Spaniards.

At the same time in South America, the additional strongholds of the California colony had several skirmishes with the Spaniards, which led to discontent among the Spaniards.

The Spaniards were afraid of the strength of the American Fleet, and for the time being, they did not give up, but they frequently protested to the California colonies, expressing strong dissatisfaction.

The California colony also expressed dissatisfaction with the Spanish taxes, demanding that the Spaniards open the Isthmus of Panama free of charge, and reverting to the Spaniards, who did not recognize the sovereignty of the Spaniards in southern South America.

Contradictions between the two sides began to appear.

The Spaniards were afraid of the strength of the American fleet, so they still maintained a high level of restraint before the current conflict escalated.

However, this did not mean that the California colonies were willing to stop there.

At the beginning of October, Xue Qing led the American Infantry Brigade to California, and after a month and a half of sailing, the American Infantry Brigade repaired in Jinshan Port for nearly half a month.

At the same time, he brought Zhao Yan's order to seize the Isthmus of Panama and build the Panama Canal.

At this time, the Panama Canal had not yet existed, and the West Coast to the East Coast had to be bypassed from the sea south of South America, which was difficult for the California colonies to touch the riches of the East Coast.

In terms of the distribution of resources throughout the Americas, the land on the east coast is obviously more suitable for agriculture than the west coast, so the raw materials on the east coast are much more productive than those on the west coast.

If you want to get to the east coast, you have to dig the Panama Canal.

The expansion of South America was not too busy to defeat the Spanish-controlled Central America, and the main areas attacked were the Isthmus of Panama and the silver-producing region of Mexico.

The California colony, which has been in the Americas for two years, has done a lot of research on the plague and rainy season in Central America, and after investigation, it has been found that the plague in Central America is actually not too terrible.

Cholera and yellow fever are the two main plagues that can be avoided by drinking water and preventing mosquito bites, and the peak of the plague is the rainy season in Central America.

When the rainy season arrives, it is the peak of the plague, and this time is not suitable for fighting in Central America.

The reason why Westerners are susceptible to infectious diseases is directly related to the fact that they drink raw water.

Xue Qing came to the Americas this time, and the fleet brought a kind of mosquito-proof clothing that covered people's whole body, and this mosquito-proof clothing had many small holes outside to ventilate, and also brought a lot of panacea and herbs to cure the plague.

The preparation is very comprehensive and well considered.

Even during the rainy season, equipped with various plague defenses and with many physicians, it is possible to fight in Central America.

Moreover, all the soldiers and civilians who came to the Americas had been planted with cowpox in Shandong and had absolute resistance to smallpox.

Xue Qing's Infantry Brigade of the Americas was also equipped with a secret weapon, heavy machine guns.

At the same time, when Xue Qing arrived, he also conveyed an order from the military department to transfer the 30,000 Xiangyong back to Shandong, but the governor of California was obviously unwilling to let these young men go.

These young people have not been in the Americas for a long time, only half a year. On the contrary, those Marines who had previously arrived in the Americas had been in the past two years.

Liu Yuan wrote a report that recalled the more than 7,000 former Marines to California and then sent them home by boat, while most of the 30,000 villagers remained in California, and only more than 10,000 returned home by boat.

The reason is very simple, these 30,000 villagers are enough to deal with the European colonists, and there is no need to transfer them back to Shandong for training, but there are indeed too many fighters, and with the current expansion of the California colony, there is no need for so many people.

Because the American fleet was already strong enough to control the seas, it was unlikely that people would land in the colonies, so the colonies did not need to keep so many men.

In terms of expansion, there is still a shortage of merchant ships at present, and even if the place is laid, there are not enough merchant ships to operate, so it is appropriate to expand appropriately, and it is useless to have too many people.

Liu Yuan planned to leave these villagers in California for two years before sending them back to Shandong, so he disobeyed the orders of the military department, and as the governor of the overseas colonies, he had the right to revise the orders of the military headquarters according to the situation of the colonies, and then report to the military department. However, if it is vetoed by the military department, it must be carried out in the original order.

It's not a big deal to keep these young people, and it makes sense, these young people have only been in California for more than half a year, and they are sent back like this, and the personnel transfer is too frequent.

However, the original Marines, whose families did not come to the Americas together, were all homesick, and took this opportunity to let them go home and lie down.

In terms of mineral mining, the gold forces of the California colony mined 300,000 taels of gold and more than 1 million taels of silver this year.

Alaska's gold forces have mined more than 500,000 taels of gold, and production is still expanding, and it is expected to reach more than a million taels next year.

Overall, the profits generated by the California colony, including trade, have reached a net profit of 90 million taels of silver.

Although this may seem like a frightening amount, the Spaniards have been mining gold and silver in Central America for a century, and the amount of precious metals they have seized is terrifying.

And these precious metals are not all in the hands of the Spaniards, who have a weak industrial base, and most of the precious metals have flowed out.

At present, the world's silver mining capacity has definitely exceeded 100,000 tons (there are a large number of open-pit gold and silver mines in Central America), and 10,000 tons of silver is about equal to 320 million taels.

Not all of California's profits were silver, many of them were goods, and the actual silver shipped back to Shandong was only more than 50 million taels, which was more than the total amount of precious metals mined by the Spaniards in Central America.

And most of the profits are circulated within the Ming Dynasty.

These profits were handed over to the country one after another, and at the end of the year, after the gold and silver mined by the gold army and the last batch of gold and silver were handed over, the profits rose to 90 million taels of silver.

It's time to check the accounts at the end of the year, and Zhao Yan can be said to be counting the money in Zhaojiabao.

This year, under the comprehensive expansion, the profits of various industries can be said to have increased significantly.

The fastest growth was also in the mining of precious metals and maritime trade.

Zhao Yan dispatched professional gold troops everywhere to mine precious metals, mining 200,000 taels of gold and 3 million taels of silver in Asia, and nearly 900,000 taels of gold and more than 1 million taels of silver in the Americas. A total profit of tens of millions of taels.

In terms of maritime trade, nearly 30 million taels were earned in Asia, of which 20 million taels were earned in the capital, but the economy of the city has been turned on by the rapid backlash, and a large number of commodities have poured into the capital, resulting in a high unemployment rate, frequent uprisings in various places, and a serious loss of precious metals, so that the cow will not be able to milk much milk by next year. The other more than 10 million taels were obtained from trade with the Portuguese and the Spaniards.

The colonial operations in the Americas and the maritime trade have made a profit of more than 80 million taels, and nearly 10 million taels of goods have not been sold.

Together, these revenues reach 130 million taels.

The internal income of Daming is not high except for copying the family, and the income of the glass industry is more than 600 taels.

The textile industry made Zhao Yan make a big profit of 8 million taels, the profit of the textile mill and the sea trade is separated, the cotton cloth of the sea trade is bought at the market price first, and then exported duty-free, it is the main force of the sea trade goods, but it is not as profitable as the textile factory, this profit is the domestic profit, although the price of overseas cotton cloth is high, but the quantity is not as large as the domestic one.

Construction industries such as steel and cement make tens of millions of taels, but the money has to be used to expand production capacity and research more advanced production technologies, so it cannot be transferred.

The bank made a profit of more than 3 million taels, and most of the investments have not yet seen a return, and these profits cannot be withdrawn.

In terms of taxation, the customs and Shandong land import tax set a record of 5 million taels, there is no tax on the import of raw materials, and the maritime trade fleet of the Ministry of Commerce is also not taxed on import and export. The customs in the south has just been established, and it is very high to have 5 million taels, and its main force is still the import tax on trade and Shandong.

In terms of agricultural taxes, there are not much, and the entire Shandong is only more than 3 million taels, and the agricultural taxes are mainly reserved for the use of local political axes.

The commercial tax and salt tax are still being counted, and the commercial tax may not be too much, but the salt tax is certainly a good amount.

With so much money earned this year, Zhao Yan found that his development model was very problematic, that is, he relied too much on overseas interests.

(To be continued)