Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 213 Economic and Trade Cooperation
ps: Tomorrow the novel content will jump to 1878, what do you think?
"Your Highness Lopez, Rio Grande do Sul is willing to deploy 20,000 troops in the border area of ​​Santa Catarina State to help other countries share the military pressure of the Brazilian Empire."

The main enemies of the Brazilian Empire are Rio Grande do Sul and Paraguay. Peru and Bolivia are unwilling to send more troops to cooperate with Lopez Jr.'s coordinated defense strategy. If Li Mingyuan does not speak out in support of Lopez Jr., Brazil's military pressure may eventually fall entirely on Rio Grande do Sul and Paraguay.

Little Lopez's face looked better. He nodded to Li Mingyuan to express his gratitude, and then asked Adolfo and Pedro, "How many troops can Peru and Bolivia maintain on the border?"

"Fourteen thousand."

"Seventeen thousand."

Adolfo and Pedro looked at each other and said one after another.

"Okay, a total of 51,000 troops will be stationed on the borders of the three countries, and Paraguay alone will maintain 40,000 troops in the border area. If you have no objection, this agreement will be written into the treaty."

The four countries deployed a force with a total strength of more than 80,000 troops near the Brazilian border. Although it did not reach the scale initially required by Lopez Jr., the regular army of more than 80,000 people was enough to meet the scale of defending against the Brazilian army.

"I agree." Li Mingyuan nodded and said with a smile, "I think the strengthening of cooperation among the four countries should not be limited to the military. In the economic field, the four countries should also establish closer relations."

"What suggestions do you have?"

After reaching an agreement on the most important military coordination and cooperation part of the Four-Nation Alliance, Lopez Jr. felt much more relaxed and cooperated with Li Mingyuan's questions.

"His Highness Lopez's suggestion to deploy troops in border areas is very consistent with the current situation. The fundamental reason why countries, including Rio Grande do not want to deploy sufficient troops to defend against Brazilians is financial difficulties. If the financial situation of the four countries is good, not to mention deploying troops on the border to defend against Brazil, it is very likely that the four countries will jointly launch a preventive offensive operation against the Brazilian army. Therefore, I believe that while developing military strength, the four countries should also start to develop their domestic economies. Only when the domestic economic situation improves can they have greater confidence when facing the threat from Brazil."

"Your Majesty the Archduke has a good idea, but Bolivia has congested transportation and a lack of resources. Unlike your country, Paraguay, and Peru, which have rich mineral resources and advantageous geographical locations, it is difficult to develop the economy."

The Bolivian President frowned.

"The domestic situation in each country is different, and developing the domestic economy cannot be accomplished overnight."

Li Mingyuan nodded first, agreeing with Adolfo's statement, and then changed the topic, "However, Peru, Bolivia, and Rio Grande do Sul all have large seaports, and Paraguay can also connect to the seaport through the Paraná River. The four countries can use the seaports to export precious timber and mineral resources to the Far East, Europe and other places. At the same time, they can import high-quality silk, tea and other goods from Japan, Central Plains, Korea and other places in the Far East, and then sell them to other countries in the Americas to gain profits."

The Rio Grande do Sul shipping company made considerable profits from trade in the Far East, but in order to guard against the Qing government, the fleet generally hid behind the scenes and traded with mainland merchants controlled by the Qing government in the guise of a foreign company.

Although this form of trade reduced the vigilance of the Qing government and alleviated the risk of exposure of the National Defense Forces, it also increased the trade costs of the fleet and the difficulty of acquiring Chinese immigrants. Therefore, Li Mingyuan came up with the idea of ​​uniting Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia to jointly carry out commercial trade, thereby enhancing the economic strength of each country while covering up the actions of the National Defense Forces' immigration and expanding the scale of immigration.

"You should know that the Chinese in Rio Grande do Sul used to work in South America as contract laborers, and the ships that transported the Chinese workers could earn more than twice the profit for each trip between the Far East and America. Moreover, if the transport ships carried cargo on their voyage to the Far East, they could earn even more profit on each voyage.

Ocean shipping is the most profitable industry now. Western countries, big and small, such as the United States, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, have vigorously developed shipping trade. Although our four countries are geographically far away from the Far East and cannot compare with European countries, as long as the four countries unite to form an ocean shipping company, they can also obtain considerable benefits under the current trade situation, and the domestic economic environment of each country can also be improved. "

“Is ocean shipping really that profitable?”

After hearing Li Mingyuan's words, Adolfo, the President of Bolivia, whose country has the weakest economic strength, brightened up.

"It is absolutely true. If ocean shipping is not profitable, why would merchants from the United States, the Netherlands and other countries be willing to travel thousands of miles to transport Chinese workers from the Far East to South America?"

Li Mingyuan asked back.

"Although there were many Chinese workers in Peru, the ships that transported them were all merchant ships from Britain, the United States and other countries. Now it seems that they must have made a lot of profit from transporting Chinese workers."

The President of Peru nodded subconsciously, but after he finished speaking, he felt something was wrong and explained, "After your ministry left Peru, the government has rarely recruited Chinese workers from the Far East. I hope you don't misunderstand me." "Peru is rich in mineral resources, so it is natural to employ Chinese workers. But when your country recruits Chinese workers again, please don't treat them too harshly, otherwise there will be another uprising among the Chinese workers."

When Li Mingyuan arrived in Peru, he took away almost all the Chinese workers in Peru. Without more than 100,000 Chinese workers, the labor gap in the mines and plantations throughout Peru was huge.

Without labor, mines and plantations could not mine resources and harvest crops, and the big businessmen who controlled mines and plantations could not get the much-needed economic benefits. Therefore, the businessmen who had just been looted by the Chinese troops united to put pressure on Peruvian President Pedro, forcing Pedro to allow businessmen to continue to employ Chinese workers. Therefore, in the past two years, the number of Chinese workers in Peru has reached tens of thousands. However, realizing the strong combat effectiveness of the Chinese troops led by Li Mingyuan, Pedro revised the labor agreement of the Chinese workers, improved the treatment of the Chinese workers, and guaranteed the personal safety of the Chinese workers to a certain extent.

Li Mingyuan's words, which were half warnings and half suggestions, naturally made Pedro uncomfortable, but things were different now. After leaving Peru, the Chinese troops not only did not get wiped out as he had expected, but instead defeated the Brazilian army and expanded their own strength.

Before the Chinese troops grew stronger, the Peruvian army was no match for them. Now, after the war, the well-equipped Chinese troops were not something Pedro was willing to provoke. Therefore, although he was unhappy, Pedro did not show it. He said calmly, "The Peruvian government will sign a labor agreement with the Chinese workers in accordance with the principle of fairness. After the two-year labor agreement period, the Peruvian government will contact the Qing government and repatriate the workers back to Qing."

"If the Qing government is unwilling to accept the repatriated Chinese workers after the labor agreement is completed, how will your government solve the problem of stranded Chinese workers?"

"This...I guess the Qing government won't abandon its own citizens, right?" Pedro already had the answer in his mind, and he said it involuntarily.

"Haha, the Qing court did not treat the Chinese workers as their own family!"

Li Mingyuan laughed at himself. Thinking that he could not stop Peru from bringing in Chinese workers, he suggested from another angle, "The Chinese workers stranded in your country may cause dissatisfaction among some people in your country. I think it would be better if the four-nation joint shipping company was established and the shipping company was responsible for bringing in Chinese workers. After the Chinese workers completed the two-year labor agreement in your country, Rio Grande do Sul would be responsible for transporting the stranded Chinese workers away. What do you think of my suggestion, Mr. President?"

"The Peruvian government is willing to cooperate with Rio Grande do Sul to complete the repatriation of stranded Chinese workers, but how to solve the cost of repatriating Chinese workers?"

"The Embassy of Rio Grande do Sul in Peru will be fully responsible for the repatriation of Chinese workers. All expenses during the repatriation process will be borne by Rio Grande do Sul, and your country will not have to pay a single silver coin."

Li Mingyuan generously assumed the cost of repatriating the Chinese workers, and also put forward a series of requirements, such as Peru and Rio Grande do Sul jointly responsible for recruiting Chinese workers from the mainland, the Rio Grande do Sul Embassy in Peru responsible for managing the Chinese workers' affairs while in Peru, and Rio Grande do Sul and Peru jointly responsible for covering the medical care and living expenses of the Chinese workers during their work period.

The request put forward by Li Mingyuan was generally beneficial to the Peruvian government. After considering it for a while, Pedro agreed on behalf of the Peruvian government.

Li Mingyuan attempted to jointly introduce Chinese workers with Peru and then have Rio Grande do Sul be responsible for their repatriation. After the two sides reached a consensus, Li Mingyuan planned to wait for a period of time before expanding the scope of cooperation to the United States, Canada, Australia and other places.

The anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States did not weaken with the large number of Chinese people moving to Rio Grande do Sul. Since Rio Grande do Sul had an outlet for Chinese workers, the US government increased its efforts to recruit Chinese workers from the mainland. The positions of the Chinese workers originally taken away by Rio Grande do Sul were replaced by new Chinese workers. In mineral-rich areas in the eastern United States such as San Francisco, it was easy to see Chinese workers with braids. The anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States continued to evolve towards the original historical situation.

Because Australia is isolated in Oceania and has a limited number of white people, it is even more afraid that the introduction of Asians such as the Chinese would dilute the proportion of white people. Therefore, compared with the United States which officially passed the "Chinese Exclusion Act" in 1882, the Australian state of Victoria enacted a bill to restrict Chinese workers in 1855. Chinese workers had a low social status in the local society and their situation was even more difficult than in the United States.

Although Canada did not formulate a formal anti-Chinese policy in the second half of the 1923th century, the government imposed a head tax on the Chinese and revoked their political rights. After the United States and Australia announced the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Canadian government followed suit and promulgated the Canadian version of the Chinese Exclusion Act in , officially closing the channel for Chinese to immigrate to Canada.

The Chinese were the first ethnic group in the world to be legally prohibited from immigrating. In the 1972s, the United States and Canada abolished the Chinese Exclusion Act under international pressure. Australia did not abolish the White Australia Policy against the Chinese until .

In the 21st century, South Korea on the peninsula still implements discriminatory policies against Chinese people. In South Korea, Chinese people and Korean Chinese are restricted from working in real estate, appearance and other industries, and are prohibited from owning land in South Korea, and are not allowed to work in the government, the military and large enterprises. In contrast, South Koreans are not restricted in mainland China, and South Korean culture is sought after by many young people in mainland China. This situation is puzzling in the eyes of other countries.

The discriminatory policies of the United States, Australia and other countries against the Chinese have certainly led to a poor living environment for overseas Chinese, but it has also made it easier for Li Mingyuan to implement his immigration plan and speed up the immigration of Chinese. After reaching a consensus with Pedro on the repatriation of Chinese workers, Li Mingyuan successfully sold Rio Grande do Sul's specialty products to Lopez Jr., Adolfo and Pedro, including two new products: rubber-soled cloth shoes and water pressure wells made of rubber.

With the help of rubber water pipes, pressurized wells can draw water more conveniently, which is of great benefit to the agricultural development in the Three Kingdoms. The rubber-soled cloth shoes are wear-resistant and comfortable, which can meet the requirements of long-distance combat in the field and protect the prince's feet from wear and tear.

The two products that Li Mingyuan brought out were immediately liked by the heads of state of the three countries. Taking into account that the finances of the three governments were not very abundant, Li Mingyuan allowed the countries to barter and exchange domestic minerals, crops, livestock, etc. with Rio Grande do Sul for the required products at an equal value.

After seeing the benefits of Li Mingyuan's products, the representatives of the three countries quickly reached an agreement to jointly establish a shipping company. Based on the proposal of Lopez Jr., they made rubber-soled cloth shoes and water pressure wells the featured products of the shipping company, which were transported to the Far East, Southeast Asia and other places for sale via ocean-going ships.

(End of this chapter)