"Hey, by the way, why did the Executive Committee suddenly decide to speed up the construction of the New China Colony?" Shi Qinjie, who had been excited for a long time, suddenly remembered this question and asked: "It's still so sudden, it seems like it's very urgent."

"This matter is a bit complicated, and I heard from others," said Liu Ang, "That's right, you know, didn't we ask the Portuguese to increase the efforts to transport Ming people to the east coast before? This year, the Portuguese suddenly set up a large fleet and transported 2,500 Ming people and 500 North Koreans in one go. The Japanese came here, good guy, the total price was finally calculated at 1.1 million yuan!"

"1.1 million..." Shi Qinjie was also a little dizzy when he heard this number. He was not very clear about the fiscal revenue of the East Coast Republic last year, but he knew that there was absolutely no 1.1 million, and it should be a bit short of the boss.

Seeing Shi Qinjie's a little stunned, Liu Ang smiled understandingly, then found a copy of the internal reference of "Perretaliation" from his pocket, and flipped into an article, and said: "This is the contract by "Perrerequisite" to Xu Xin, our plenipotentiary representative in Bordeaux in the second half of this year. In this article, Xu Xin believes that thanks to years of business expansion and increasingly widespread connections, textiles in the East Coast Republic of China are now showing a good growth trend in France, especially in some southern provinces. It is expected that 1

In 640, the total sales volume of the two major sales sites in France (with Bordeaux as the sales center) and Tuscany (with Florence as the sales center) will exceed 400,000. Among them, white cotton cloth accounts for 90%, and dyed cloth and printed cloth account for 10% for the first time. We make one yuan per piece of white cotton cloth, and each of dyed cloth earns three yuan per piece of operating profit reaches 500,000 yuan. Even if some freight costs, machine depreciation, handling French customs and patrol naval officials are removed, the net profit remains above 450,000 yuan."

"Look at this article again, the news from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce." Liu Ang turned the internal reference to the other side and continued: "The Ministry of Industry and Commerce optimistically predicted that the military industry emerged in 1640 and had become another pole of national economic growth. A total of ten warships and a large number of army equipment were sold throughout the year, with a net profit of more than 350,000 yuan. By the way, some cotton, wool and leather goods sold to the Ottoman Empire had a total profit of about 200,000 yuan. In addition, the profits of exports to textiles, building materials, hardware products, honeycomb coal, fine coal and other commodities in La Plata, Peru, Charcas, New Spain, and Portuguese Angola, the total profit of industrial products exported throughout the year was large.

It will probably reach 1.3 million yuan. However, this figure is just a theoretical value. In fact, many accounts have not been returned. For example, the Ottomans only paid half of the shipbuilding expenses. And the remaining shipbuilding expenses will not be paid cash, and they will replace them with a large amount of minerals, wool, livestock and slaves. I heard from a colleague of the Ministry of Finance that in order to pay the huge immigration expenses of the Portuguese, the Ministry of Finance urgently borrowed 50,000 yuan from the Brazilians with an annual interest rate of two cents, which barely overcome the difficulties. At present, domestic economic construction, military maintenance fees and government administrative officials' salaries are maintained by domestic tax revenue and trade income in Colonia."

"This..." Shi Qinjie was a little surprised, "Doesn't this mean we were busy for a year and were still working for the Portuguese in the end?"

"So," Liu Ang nodded heavily, and then said: "You don't know that the profits they earned on this trip to East Asian immigrants transported to us this year will account for more than 10% of their government's annual fiscal revenue. This has become an extremely important income for them every year. After so many years, the business of transporting Orientals to the East Coast has become a big business involving many merchants and nobles, and countless people have become rich. The extent of this industrial chain is unimaginable. From the aristocrats in Portugal, the great merchants, to the governor of Brazil, the governor of Goa, to some famous captains, the Jesuits in Macau and many agents in the Ming Dynasty, everyone is lying on this golden rice bowl and eating with a mouth full of oil."

"It's really inappropriate!" Even the honest man Shi Qinjie was a little angry when he heard the East Coast people working hard to develop industry, but exported goods were supporting such a group of things. He quickly remembered the connection between this incident and the current New China Colony: "So, the Executive Committee decided to invest heavily in the New China Colony, and even did not hesitate to develop the shipbuilding industry here, just so that we can fly directly to the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible and transport people by ourselves?"

"There is such an idea in it." Liu Ang said after thinking about it, "You also know that one of the major costs of shipbuilding is ship timber. At present, the wood we build warships is all the sumu-wood imported from Brazil. Even for second-class merchant ships, the ship timber uses high-quality hardwood imported from Paraguay, which has led to the cost being high. Now, since the high-quality wood resources on Madagascar are so rich and it is still a homeless place, the Executive Committee will naturally set up a plan here. Therefore, it is easy to understand to set up a wood processing plant, a wood drying kiln and a shipyard here."

"On the other hand, the Executive Committee also objected to the high freight of 400 yuan per Ming people who had lasted for many years, and had officially negotiated with the Portuguese." Liu Ang continued, "The Executive Committee believed that the high price of 400 yuan per Ming people was a special product of the special period of that year. It is no longer applicable now, and strongly asked the Portuguese to lower immigration costs. The Portuguese were not very willing to do this, after all, this price change will affect the interests of a considerable number of people. However, the Executive Committee later gave them a suggestion, that is, to let them use ships for the Ming people. However, the Executive Committee later gave them a suggestion, that is, to let them use ships for the Ming people.

Transporting to the New China Colony would be equivalent to shortening the Portuguese's voyage by half. And if they move fast enough, they will set off when the Northeast monsoon just rises in October every year, and it will only take a month or two to reach the New China Bay. Then follow the current to return to Malacca. If everything goes well, the Northeast monsoon is probably not over yet. They can still transport people to the New China Bay smoothly. It means that they have done two business a year and their efficiency has doubled compared to the past. After comprehensively considering it, the Portuguese finally decided to accept our new trading method."

"So, what is the new transaction price?" Shi Qinjie asked.

"Everyone is 300 yuan." Liu Ang sighed, "This is the best price the Executive Committee can strive for. After all, transporting a slave from West Africa to St. Augustine can often sell for more than 100 yuan. Buying a Mingren for 300 yuan is no longer expensive. Moreover, the Portuguese are not afraid that we will ask the Dutch or Spanish for help. Therefore, the final price is actually the price that the two sides finally compromise with each other."

"I understand." Shi Qinjie breathed out and said, "If we want to get rid of this extremely heavy financial burden and not be exploited by the Portuguese, we can only find a way to fly directly to the Ming Dynasty. The basis of all this is to quickly develop the New China Colony as a stable rear for the future direct flights to the Ming Dynasty."

"No," Liu Ang agreed, "Captain Shi, your new China Colony can be said to be a great fortune this time, and it has caught up with a good time. The superiors attach importance to it, and they need money and people. As soon as you make efforts in the future, the Hezhongbao colony will be compared by you."

...

Liu Ang didn't stay in Xinhua Fort for too long. The next afternoon, he and the returnee "Choyong" and "Abbot" left Xinhuaxia Bay and headed towards Hezhong Port.

At this time, Shi Qinjie, who had received the exact news, also burst out with endless enthusiasm. With a strong sense of responsibility and mission in his body, he quickly convened the main person in charge of the New China Colony to hold a meeting to focus on the construction direction and construction priorities in the future.

First of all, the first priority construction goal is naturally the city wall of Xinhua Castle and the cement kiln outside the city. If the city wall is not completed for a day, the residents of the colony will feel insecure all day. The construction of cement kilns is also of great significance, because all the large number of construction projects that follow in the future will not use a large amount of cement.

The second is the cultivation of arable land near the Coconut Shuxi Reservoir and the construction of irrigation networks. If these days are not done well, the New China Colony will not be able to obtain a stable source of food in one day. After all, transporting grain from South Africa to this side is actually a very uneconomical thing, especially in the current domestic maritime transportation capacity is still very tight. Moreover, this is also very unsafe, which means that the colonies do not have the ability to be self-sufficient. Once the maritime transportation line is cut off by someone, there is a possibility of chaos.

The third thing is naturally that it is necessary to increase investment in logging camps and strive to significantly increase timber production to meet the growing demand for high-quality ships and high-end furniture in China. Of course, the construction of wood drying kilns and wood processing plants is urgent. After all, so many trees are cut down, the processing and processing capacity must also be kept up. In addition to these two companies, the construction of shipyards with the highest "technical content" in the entire colony is even more important. In Shi Qinjie's plan, this shipbuilding industry will become one of the pillar industries in the New China region in the future.

In addition to the above, the importance of other projects and projects has suddenly decreased a lot. For example, the picking and deep processing of coconuts, the construction of cement Yonggu wharf, the construction of port roads, the construction of houses in the city, etc., these are no longer the primary focus of Shi Qinjie's attention. Perhaps when the manpower is sufficient in the future, he will assign some people to follow up on these projects, but it is not possible now.
Chapter completed!