Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 280 Good Business

For a considerable period of history, traditional handicrafts have, to some extent, relied entirely on a small number of wealthy people for survival.

Because sometimes poor people can do everything by themselves. Even if the clothes they wear are extremely simple, the food they eat is extremely coarse, and the tools they use are extremely crude, they can use their own hands and spend more time to process the "industrial raw materials" they get to make the items they need.

With the establishment of modern factories in the true sense, a new production and sales model has been opened up, which is no longer to produce to satisfy the needs of a small number of rich people.

It has unprecedentedly brought the majority of poor people onto the historical stage and made them its main market sales target.

In fact, since the establishment of modern factories, their goal has been to produce cheap goods that meet the needs of the majority of people.

Due to price factors, silk and woolen cloth have always been commodities consumed by the rich, while the poor can only consume linen or cotton fabrics (in Europe, even cotton cloth is a luxury commodity).

Large-scale woolen cloth factories, especially after the introduction of a large number of machines, will reduce the cost of woolen cloth to an unimaginable level, making it affordable for the vast majority of ordinary people in society.

"How can this be?"

On July 1634, 7, in the wide Qiming Strait, three sailing ships, braving the strong northwest wind, zigzag in a difficult manner, heading towards the Pacific Ocean outside.

After nearly a month of negotiations, the Spanish representatives took away twelve captured officers and 180 ordinary soldiers, and then returned to Mexico together with two small Xinhua transport ships.

Well, the reason why the Spanish were not allowed to take away all the officers was that the Xinhua side was worried that the other side would only want these prisoners of status and directly abandon the numerous ordinary soldiers and Indian servants.

Given the nature of the Spanish, it is really possible for them to do such a thing.

Especially those insignificant Indian servants, who were pure consumables for the Spaniards.

Of course, some mestizos (Indo-European mixed race), Murats (Spanish and black mixed race), and even Creoles can be discarded at certain times.

Although the Spanish representatives were very dissatisfied with this, they believed that they had paid the ransom of all the officers (in the form of livestock and supplies) and should take them all back.

Instead of detaining half of them, they stuffed the Spanish soldiers and Indian servants onto the ship.

You have to know that behind every officer, there is more or less a certain identity background.

Some were sons of nobles in the Madrid court who had no right of inheritance, some were nephews of senior military generals, and some were illegitimate sons of a large landowner or businessman.

The loss of any one of them would cause heartbreak to their loved ones or bring about some unpredictable political consequences.

But Xinhua, with a petty mind, has made presumptuous speculations about our Spanish prisoner exchange, which is truly despicable.

Colonel Eric Garcia Matrete, former commander of the Spanish landing force, stood by the side of the ship, breathing the salty sea breeze and feeling the long-lost taste of freedom.

When he heard the Spanish plenipotentiary representative Garza say that the woolen coat he was wearing was produced by Xinhua and was surprisingly cheap, an expression of surprise appeared on his face and he looked at Speaker Garza in disbelief.

"Yes, the Xinhua people claim this woolen coat is priced at 20 pesos," Garza said with a complicated expression. "That means it's less than half the price of smuggled goods imported from Europe. It's even to percent lower than what local woolen factories in Mexico sell it for."

"How did they do that?" Colonel Mattrett subconsciously reached out and touched his coat, but then realized that this seemed a bit rude, and couldn't help but smile awkwardly.

"Honestly, I'm curious too." Garza shrugged and said with a wry smile, "Didn't you see how these woolen products were produced while you were detained by the New Chinese?"

"Mr. Garza, I am one of their...captives."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Garza smiled at him apologetically.

"Oh, it doesn't matter." Colonel Mattrett said listlessly: "Fortunately, all this will be over soon, and we can finally leave here."

Although, as a high-ranking officer, he didn't have to do the same hard labor as the common soldiers, his personal freedom was somewhat severely restricted. Furthermore, the Xinhua people frequently summoned him to inquire about Mexico, Spain, and even the European continent. They inquired about everything, from the Madrid court to the military structure and even the street vendors.

Sometimes they will ask a question repeatedly to verify whether you are making it up.

It is reported that not only these officers were carefully interrogated by the Xinhua people, but even the ordinary soldiers were subjected to extremely strict interrogation, and they truthfully revealed all the information they knew.

It can be seen that Xinhua attaches great importance to the Spaniards. It strives to make the intelligence information about Mexico and Spain complete and detailed, and also makes detailed records in different categories.

On the other hand, neither the Governor of New Spain nor the commander of the expeditionary fleet knew anything about the situation in Xinhua.

Based solely on the fragmentary and vague information provided by the exploratory fleet, the Governor-General rashly decided to launch an expedition to Xinhua, attempting to completely wipe out the Xinhua people through a powerful assault.

Everyone thought that this battle would be easy and quick, just like the sweep of the "pirate islands" in the Caribbean. Once the army arrived, the pirate forces would immediately collapse. They would flee like rabbits and then be eliminated one by one by the Spanish army.

However, the new Chinese gave the Spaniards a heavy blow.

The expeditionary fleet suffered a setback in the first battle, losing a warship. Then the landing army was defeated by the Xinhua people in one battle, and the entire army was wiped out.

Later, it was heard that the fleet was chased all the way back to Mexico by a large armed ship of the New China, and lost two warships on the way.

In this war, we Spaniards can be said to have been completely defeated by Xinhua, and it was also the most devastating military defeat for the American colonial authorities in a hundred years.

What a shame!

"Do you think our Viceroyalty of New Spain can defeat the New Chinese again?" Garza asked in a low voice.

"No," Colonel Matrete shook his head and said, "Unless we put all our efforts into it and join forces with the Viceroyalty of Peru, deploying fifteen to twenty warships and recruiting over ten thousand soldiers, we will be able to completely annihilate the New Chinese."

"Ten thousand soldiers?" Garza smiled bitterly upon hearing this. "Do you know how much money and supplies it would cost to recruit so many troops? Even if our entire American colonial administration put all its efforts into this, we might not be able to raise ten thousand soldiers."

"So, we can't wipe out the New Chinese." Colonel Matrett spread his hands and sighed. "The New Chinese are even more powerful than we imagined. Furthermore, it's foreseeable that after this defeat, they will seize the opportunity and firmly establish themselves in the north."

"Oh..." Garza nodded slightly.

Since these new Chinese were able to stand on their own feet and even possessed a strong counterattack capability against the colonial authorities' military attacks, it would not be a bad idea to cooperate with them to some extent.

When the Xinhua people contacted him privately, in addition to discussing the export of wool and the import of woolen cloth (smuggling), they also told him about their many material needs. Livestock such as horses, cattle and sheep, as well as mineral materials such as saltpeter, sulfur, graphite, mercury, copper, lead, and tin could all be traded. They would accept all offers and purchase them all at a suitable price.

Garza secretly calculated that if he secretly sold the wool produced each year to the new Chinese, his income could increase by more than 20,000 pesos.

If the woolen cloth produced by Xinhua is resold to Mexico, the profits will be even more astonishing.

Because the prices offered by Xinhua are extremely competitive. The woolen fabrics are half the price of woolen fabrics smuggled from Europe, and 30% to 40% cheaper than woolen fabrics produced in local workshops in Mexico.

From shearing the wool, to cleaning and sorting, to weaving the woolen fabric, and then to cutting it into clothes, it will go through a series of production and processing, involving many steps and the labor of many people. The time and cost are very high, and it has always been something that only the rich above the middle class can afford.

But if the sales price is given by Xinhua, those poor people will have a certain purchasing power and can buy a "luxury" woolen coat with a little effort.

The entire Viceroyalty of New Spain had a population of over one and a half million. Even if only one-fifth of them could afford to buy woolen products, it would still be a huge consumer market.

Cooperating with them might actually be a good business.

You said those lovely gold coins, who can tell which one is noble and which one is dirty?
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(End of this chapter)