Rio de Janeiro has gradually become hot in late September.

Accompanied by Bai Yutang, the director of the Ministry of Trade, Conelis Bicker, came to the Port of Hue, which was under intense repair and expansion. They were carrying a naval guard gunboat. After dropping off their large and small officials, the warship with more than 20 long and short artillery set sail again, taking advantage of the rare southeast wind to sail towards the northeastern coast. It wanted to go there to see if there were any brave people who dared to stroke their beards when the navy on the east coast was blocked so tightly.

Well, in fact, some people dare to come. The East Coast people have recently intercepted a lot of merchant ships from Britain, France and other countries, most of which were intercepted outside the Bay of San Salvador. Sometimes Bai Yutang thinks these people are too stupid. Recife, San Salvador and other major ports must be closely monitored. If you want to smuggle, you have to go to some small ports. You are so swaying here, or during the day, are you blind in the East Coast Navy?

For these intercepted merchant ships, the original policy of the East Coast was to force the purchase of items on the ship and then let them get out quickly. This was the case with those British merchant ships at that time. However, now, the Navy's policy on these merchant ships was to expel these ships, which made these captains or merchants gritted their teeth and could only find a plane to ship to small ports, or simply ship them to other places (such as New Courland or the East Coast) for sale. The Navy even sank two British and French merchant ships on the unseen sea. It was very arrogant. You know, back then, when the British naval battle, ships on the East Coast carried a large amount of goods into the United Provinces, but British warships were released without intercepting them. The East Coast people are actually quite excessive to do this now, but who cares? If you have the ability, you can go to South America to bite me!

After getting off the dock and Conelis, Bai Yutang immediately went to the city. After hearing that Lieutenant Zhou Yafu had gone to the inland forest to supervise the battle and suppress the bandits himself, Bai Yutang was helpless and could only stay in a former Portuguese official office with Conelis, and then sent someone to find Zhou Yafu.

"Mr. Biker, what is the situation of the West India Company now? Since your country was forced to give up Recife, Olinda and other places, your company's ships are rarely seen in this sea area..." Bai Yutang, who was hurriedly called out from the Ministry of Trade, and was hurriedly asked to accompany the West India Company's special envoy, Conelis Biker, to inspect the Port of Hue, couldn't help but ask, he was really curious, because many people in the Ministry said that the Dutch West India Company's situation in recent years was not good, and the payment for goods sold to them would have to be delayed for a long time before they could come back. In addition, they had loaned them several loans (a cash loan for materials, total principal and interest of more than 200,000 yuan) in Recife was about to expire, but the Dutch proposed an extension, which made people fall into the eye. When will the Dutch West India Company, whose reputation has resounded and the Dutch West India Company, which has become famous in the New World and West Africa, have been mixed up with this stage, it shouldn't be!

Conelis glanced at Bai Yutang. He knew who this handsome young man was, the eldest son of Dean Bai Siwen Bai. His mother was a member of the Almeida family. He was a graduate of the specialized school of poetry, literature, hunting, and Oriental Law (secondary school) since he was a child. However, he accidentally entered the trade department, but he did a good job and had a good position. His future was optimistic that many people would be sent to accompany him to inspect the port of Shuhua this time, which already shows his strength.

"The company's main energy is now concentrated in Africa, which is an important source of profit. Of course, the sugar industry in Guyana and the trade in the Caribbean are also continuing, and we are full of confidence in these industries, otherwise I would not have come to Rio de Janeiro." Conelis Bicker said a few briefly.

Bai Yutang nodded slightly when he heard this. Although this Dutchman said something simple, Bai Yutang, who had been with the Trade Department for a long time, understood a lot of things, understood it. After losing Pernambuco, the important sugar-producing area, he has now transferred his main energy to West Africa. He is probably operating the black slave business. After all, this is also a business with a very broad market and a high total profit. In addition, similar to the British Royal Explorer Africa Trading Company, this company is afraid that it is not also purchasing gold from the locals. It is also very profitable. After losing Pernambuco, the West Indian company's merchant ships in this sea area have suddenly decreased, and they have gone to Africa to operate the black slave and gold business.

However, they should not have completely given up on the sucrose business. I heard that the sucrose production in Dutch Guiana has approached 2,500 tons per year, and more than 30 refineries in Amsterdam have started construction on all sides. Although the output was not as high as the peak in northeastern Brazil, it was already quite good. After all, there was no war here, and it was purely earned. In Brazil, there was frequent wars with the Portuguese and the expenses were huge. The money earned from 10,000 to 20,000 tons of sucrose may not be enough to fill the bottomless pit of Brazil, otherwise the West Indian company would not have suffered losses for many years.

Of course, as a partner who has been working for many years, although the Dutch West India Company has shifted its business focus, they obviously do not want to give up potential trade with the East Coast Republic of China, such as cooperation with Caribbean shipping companies in the New Spain market (recently they have also begun to import salt from Cape Verde). This time, Conelis represented the headquarters of the West India Company to Hue Port, which should be for this purpose.

"I heard that your company plans to invest in sugarcane plantations in Hue Port. Please forgive me for not understanding. Your country's colony in Guyana has already had some foundation. Why do you still have to go to the east coast if you want to stay close to you?" Bai Yutang asked. In fact, he had already thought about this question all the way, but he still had no idea. Since he was idle now, he might as well ask Conelis.

Unexpectedly, the director of the West India Company, Conelis Bicker, was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He didn't know what to say, so he could only hesitate and make excuses Bai Yutang. Thinking about it, how could he say this? The people of the East Coast thought that Guyana was the territory of the West India Company, but the embarrassing thing was that the local immigrants serving the West India Company did not account for the majority. On the contrary, there were a large number of British immigrants. If they were willing, they could even overturn the fragile rule of the West India Company in the local area at any time, provided that the West India Company did not mobilize troops overseas to suppress the enemy by force. The reason why they did not do this now is simply because the acquisition price given by the Dutch West India Company was relatively reasonable and did not infringe on their interests.

And because of this, the West India Company was uneasy about this. They did not dare to forcibly expel local English planters or farmers, fearing that they would fall into war, and the company might go bankrupt immediately, rather than being able to survive like they are now. But they were also unable to abandon the huge profits of the sugar sugar trade. Therefore, after being inspired by the Genoa-Asians' investment in the New China sugarcane plantation (they obviously could not go to the Indian Ocean, because it was the territory of the wealthy East India Company), they planned to return to Brazil again and find a place to build sugarcane plantations in Rio de Janeiro occupied by the East Coast people.

Of course, this practice is not without criticism within the West India Company. It is because no matter how many people the West India Company immigrates to Rio de Janeiro, the East Coast Republic of China will definitely not allow it to be eaten by the Dutch. The sovereignty of this land is undoubtedly still the number one power in the New World, and there is no doubt that this is the number one power in the New World. Therefore, considering this, many people on the board of directors of the West India Company still have questions about investing in Rio de Janeiro. They think it is better to increase their investment in Guyana and compete with the British in a comprehensive manner. The land developed in this way is considered their own, and the production and sales of sugar are also decided by themselves, so it is naturally much better than living under someone else's roof on the east coast.

But it is still the same, but the Dutch lacks confidence in whether they can successfully compete with the British in Guyana. In addition, Conneris Bickel, who has worked with the East Coast for many years, finally appointed him to the East Coast to take a look, discuss the conditions, and see if it can be accepted by the Board of Directors. In addition, by the way, confirm the extension of the loans with the East Coast people. The company will invest a lot in West Africa and have a little nervous. Let's talk about the principal and interest of more than 200,000 yuan.

Lieutenant Zhou Yafu returned from the inland area two days later. At that time, he was riding a Raschek horse with several heads hanging under the saddle, which scared Bai Yutang. Later, he heard that he was the head of some "stubborn" Indian tribe chiefs, who were brought back by Zhou to boast about his martial arts.

Conelis turned a blind eye to this. When he saw Lieutenant Zhou Yafu back, he immediately asked Bai Yutang if he could arrange his investigation of the investment environment as soon as possible. Bai Yutang had no choice but to ask Zhou Yafu. Zhou Yafu shrugged indifferently, and then arranged for his officers to take a pair of people to the inland area with them. As for himself, he went back to the city to rest.

It took almost a month for a group of subordinates to run away the Port of Hue and its surrounding areas. The environment here is naturally without any problem, and the Dutch are indeed very satisfied. So the following are the conditions to be negotiated. Although they only use this place as an alternative, that is, once Guyana is seized by the British, there is no alternative to the place where the sugar can be produced, the conditions to be discussed still have to be negotiated, and the benefits to be fought for, such as whether the East Coast people can allow Dutch merchant ships to transport sugar directly back to Amsterdam for refining, such as whether the East Coast people can be asked to reduce the tariff rate of sugar exported to United Provinces, etc.

Bai Yutang listened carefully to the conditions proposed by Conelis and asked his secretary to record it from time to time. However, after hearing that Conelis intends to introduce a large number of black people from West Africa to work in the plantation, he finally frowned. This seems to be no precedent in China! Nowadays, non-nationals on the east coast are not allowed to accumulate slaves at all, except for government-run farms, logging farms, construction teams, brick kiln factories, and mines (even

Even if you conceal the so-called labor employment contract, you can't even sign the so-called labor employment contract). Now the Dutch actually proposed to introduce a large number of black slaves to plantations in Hue area. This seems to be a risk of touching the policy red line. Bai Yutang dared not be proficient, so he could only write it down in his heart and plan to ask his superiors for instructions as soon as he went back to see how to deal with this matter. After all, the Dutch seems to be really likely to come and invest, although it is likely to be just a small-scale test.

In addition to the black slaves, the other conditions of the Dutch also made Bai Yutang frown. For example, they did not want to hand over the sugar sugar produced in their sugarcane plantations to the people of the East Coast for refining, but wanted to directly bring them back to Amsterdam to refine them. This is undoubtedly a suspicion of challenging the economic order of Hue Port. If the Italian merchants knew about it, what would happen? Therefore, this article was absolutely unanswered, and Bai Yutang even refused immediately. In addition, Bai Yutang did not have a clear answer to the issue of reducing the tariff rate of sugar exported to United Provinces, but the expression and expression of the eyes were probably not possible.

Conelis also frowned at this time. He didn't expect to come to the East Coast to invest in plantations. They set so many rules and regulations, and did not give the West Indian company the discount they deserved. He simply used to exploit them like serfs. Of course, he also chose to forget that the Dutch West Indian company used to treat sugarcane planters in Guyana, Caribbean islands and Pernambuco. He was very unhappy and his face immediately became a little unfair. He even wanted to invest in plantations to seek credit support from East Coast people. He didn't mention it now because he was afraid that he would be rejected by East Coast people again. He couldn't afford to lose that face.

On October 5, Conelis, Bai Yutang and his group boarded a guard gunboat returning from Bahia and prepared to go to the capital East Port. At this time, Lieutenant Zhou Yafu, who was seeing him off, suddenly mentioned something about the priority right to refusal in the New Netherlands. In response, Conelis, in a bad mood, could only point out helplessly: Although the Dutch West India Company reached a priority right to refusal agreement on the New Netherlands with the East Coast government (the price is three million rupiah), the West India Company has not yet, and may not have any idea of ​​selling this colony in the future.

After saying that, he boarded the frigate of the East Coast without looking back, planning to go to Oriental Port for a walk, and then went back after a little visit. The trip felt so bad that he even regretted that he had proposed to invest in Rio de Janeiro.
Chapter completed!