Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 376 The Bay Area (Part Four)

On July 26, at 7 p.m., under the blazing sun, a few fishing boats were sparsely moored at the docks of Gu'an Port (now Port Townsend, Washington). Fishermen were carrying buckets of salmon out of their holds, their faces beaming with immense satisfaction.

These aren't salmon at all; they're clearly adorable coins.

"Ah Shui, you've had quite a haul today!" Zhao Aping, the owner of Zhao's Fish Shop, squatted in front of a wooden tub, looking at the lively fish inside, and greeted him with a smile.

"Manager Zhao, are you making sarcastic remarks?" Cai Ashui gave a bitter smile. "Today has been incredibly unlucky. I hadn't even cast the net a few times when I discovered it was torn. I only managed to collect half a boatload of fish, so I rushed back to fix it."

"Hehe..." Zhao Aping chuckled, then turned to look at another wooden bucket, which contained a bunch of crabs, waving their claws menacingly.

"Still the same price?" Cai Ashui carried another bucket of salmon off the boat.

“Uh, well…” Zhao Aping paused for a moment, stood up, clapped his hands, and said softly, “Today’s fish price is lower than before… by one cent.”

"Why?" Cai Ashui immediately became anxious, calling him by his name, "Aping, you can't do this! In the past two years, the price of fish has been dropping again and again, which has greatly reduced our income. We also need to eat, support our families, and frequently repair our fishing boats and nets, which is quite expensive!"

“Ah Shui, I didn’t want it to be this way either.” Zhao Aping sighed and said, “Before, we were running a small business, a small fish farm. With the government’s subsidies and policy support, we were able to slowly grow it up. Moreover, because it was a newly developed area, all taxes and fees were reduced or exempted.”

“But things are different now. This fish farm has become a formal processing plant, and the fish farming area has been established. Small businesses like ours are now subject to standardized management, and the government subsidies and support are gone. Tell me, doesn't that mean my operating costs have gone up?”

"Besides, you fishermen need to eat and support your families, and so do the workers in my fish processing plant. Don't I have to pay them a processing fee every year? In addition, the government collects taxes from me, and that's no small amount."

“Ah Ping, don’t try to fool me,” Cai Ashui said. “I know that the government’s taxes are not high at all, and they are negligible to you. To put it bluntly, you just want to squeeze money out of us! If that’s the case, I will sell my catch to other fishmongers.”

“Ah Shui, we’re practically fellow Guangdong natives, how could I possibly exploit or bully you?” Zhao Aping’s face darkened upon hearing this. “And don’t even mention refusing to sell me your catch. Let me tell you, the purchase price for fish at Gu’an Port is uniform; it’s not like I’m the only one raising the price by a single penny!”

“You…” Cai Ashui’s eyes widened as she glared at him angrily: “Then I’ll go to the fish market and sell them. I’ll sell them to the villagers in town, to the farmers who grow the land!”

"Ah Shui, don't be foolish!" Zhao Aping said in a deep voice, "How many people are there in the entire Gu'an Town? Can you sell them all? Even if you sell them all today, will you be able to sell them all tomorrow?"

“If I can’t sell them, I’ll just marinate them myself and sell them slowly,” Cai Ashui muttered. “If all else fails, I’ll carry them on a shoulder pole and go to Guantun, which is more than ten miles away, to sell them.”

"Hehe... the fish needed by Guantun are supplied by our fishmongers." Zhao Aping smiled and shook his head.

"..." Cai Ashui froze on the spot, unable to utter a word for a long time.

Although they only catch a few hundred kilograms of fish each time they go out to sea, they can't sell it all at the fish market in a short time.

Although Gu'an Port is the most important transit port between Xinhua Bay and Qiming Island headquarters, it is not a key development area of ​​the colonization zone. To date, the entire port town has a population of only over two hundred people.

Besides reclaiming and cultivating land to grow vegetables and fruits for passing ships, a significant number of these residents, like Cai Ashui, also engage in near-shore fishing.

The waters surrounding Gu'an Port are rich in fish resources such as salmon, oysters and crabs. Under the guidance of the local government, several fish processing plants have been built in recent years.

Fishermen sell their daily catch to processing plants, which then turn it into barrels of smoked dried fish or canned salmon. After satisfying the needs of the residents and natives in the colony, large quantities are exported to the Spanish Americas, such as Mexico and Peru.

It has to be said that the Xinhua Bay area has no shortage of fish, so it's not easy to sell them for a good price.

Several years ago, the Xinhua Bay colonization area, including Gu'an Port, was still in its initial stage of development and faced numerous hardships. The food and fish products needed by the early immigrants were all supplied by the headquarters on Qiming Island.

After a period of arduous development, the local people's livelihood has finally improved somewhat. The population has increased, crops have been grown in the fields, fishing boats have been built, and processing plants have been established accordingly. As a result, everyone's lives have become a little better.

These fishermen have also moved from the streams and rivers on land to the near-shore fishing grounds. With the help of advanced landing nets they have purchased, their catches are increasing day by day. After deducting basic expenses and fishery administration fees, they can save three to five yuan a month, and their lives are full of hope.

However, the increase in fish catch did not correspondingly increase their income, because the purchase price continued to decrease as production increased, resulting in an awkward situation of increased volume but not increased income.

"A big ship is coming!"

Cai Ashui and the other fishermen were hesitating whether to accept the fishmonger's price reduction and sell their catch for the day when they suddenly heard someone shout that a large ship was approaching from the sea. They were all startled and looked out at the sea.

In the distance, two tall-masted transport ships slowly entered the harbor, with several red flags and five-star flags hanging from their sails, fluttering in the wind.

"Hey, it's an immigrant ship from the headquarters of Qiming Island!"

"They've arrived just in time! The catch on this boat is perfect for them..."

"Oh dear, the restaurants and taverns in town are going to be packed to the brim again!"

As Cai Ashui saw the approaching immigrant ship, the wrinkles on his face immediately stretched into a wide grin. Looking at Zhao Aping, who was trying to appear calm, he let out a snort and gathered the buckets of salmon beside him. "I'm going to get a good price for today's catch!"
-
With a dull thud as the anchor plunged into the water, the gangplank slammed heavily onto the dock.

A group of immigrants swarmed off the coast. Among them were women who were seasick and vomiting, men who were clutching their tattered bundles, and children crying. Different languages ​​and dialects burst into the air at once.

"Everyone line up!"

"No one is allowed to move around freely. Everyone must gather at the temporary shelter at the dock!"

"No pushing!"

Officials from the Colonization Office rushed over and shouted at the top of their lungs, while a squad of militiamen on duty brandished sticks to intimidate the immigrants into obeying the rules. Several local clerks waved their arms to guide the immigrants toward the temporary shelter on the west side of the dock.

A man with a Shandong accent suddenly grabbed the sleeve of the Colonization Bureau official: "Sir, my wife has a fever on the ship, could you..."

"Go to the clinic and find the one in the white coat!" The official hurriedly pointed to the west, where a female healer was treating several unwell immigrants, with several native women assisting her.

A group of vegetable vendors and fishermen swarmed around, finding the captain or first mate and enthusiastically promoting their goods.

"Damn it, we don't need so much stuff. ... It's only a day's voyage to Xuanhan Port, why would we need so many vegetables and fresh fish?" The first mate impatiently broke free from the vegetable vendors and fishermen's encirclement and led a few sailors toward the shipyard.

There are several cracks on the starboard side of the ship, which need to be repaired.

The maintenance costs of this small port are much cheaper than those of Shixing Port, so repairs here can save on operating costs.

Having arranged these matters, I need to hurry to the town market. The goods carried on the boat should fetch a good price in this small place, earning me some extra income.

Well, then in the evening, you should treat your stomach well.

I've heard that the "Sihai Restaurant" in town has good food; I'll have to try it.

"Did you know that two merchant ships belonging to the Southern Trading Company have been delayed for more than a month? I don't know if they encountered storms or some other situation."

"No way, maybe the ship is damaged and the cat is in some port doing repairs."

"Even if they're damaged, surely both ships wouldn't break down at the same time? Besides, even if they need repairs, will it take more than a month? Could it really be..."

"Could it be an attack by the Spanish?"

"That's a possibility. However, our relationship with the Spanish has been relatively amicable in recent years, so they probably won't attack our merchant ships, right?"

"That's hard to say. What if those Spaniards get greedy and see our merchant ships laden with gold and silver? They might just start eyeing them..."

"Sigh, what a mess this is..." A sailor sighed, expressing deep sympathy for the two merchant ships that had missed their due date.

"Do you think it could have been done by pirate ships from other European countries? I remember that the Spanish ships on this side of the Pacific coast, like our Xinhua merchant ships, weren't equipped with much defensive weaponry like cannons."

"Pirate ships from other European countries? Aren't they usually active in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which are on the other side of the continent?"

"What if they hear they can make a fortune here?"

The sailors looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this.

Yes, a decade or so ago, apart from the Spanish treasure ships being a target of pirates, there was basically nothing to gain along the Pacific coast, which resulted in few pirate ships visiting this area.

But things are very different now. The annual smuggling trade between Xinhua and the Spanish exceeds one million silver dollars, a fortune that countless people covet.

Although the payment method between the two parties is mostly completed through the delivery of large quantities of goods, the amount of gold and silver involved is still quite large.

Xinhua, in order to engage in gold and silver arbitrage trading, would transport tens of thousands of taels of gold to Spanish America every year to exchange for silver held by the Spanish.

If European pirates learned of this, it might attract their attention, prompting them to take the risk of crossing the turbulent Strait of Magellan to the Pacific Ocean.

"It can't be that bad..." a sailor muttered.

"Sigh, who knows! I hope God will bless them and that they will all return safely in the end."

(End of this chapter)