In fact, the use of foreign crew has always been conceived, but due to many problems, it has not been put into practice. The first thing is the issue www.biquge.info of secrecy, from warships to civilian ships in the Tang Republic, all ships are advanced to the level of at least a century in this era, and the things that need to be kept secret are not only how to operate the steam boiler, in fact, the Europeans have been constantly promoting the use of the steam engine, and by the end of this century, the Watt steam engine will be completed, and this kind of steam engine is not much different from the multi-expansion reciprocating steam engine used by the Tang people. From radio communications, to the flags used by the Tang people, a series of navigation regulations, and even navigation charts that were far more accurate than the times, the Tang people had many secrets.

Steam boilers are not so important in comparison, and most of the uneducated crew members know how to burn boilers, but they definitely don't understand how they work. In the real nautical and communications departments, it is absolutely impossible to use foreign crews. Moreover, some areas where Datang has long regarded as its future do not plan to use foreign crews for the routes there.

At the end of March, the special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chu Bai, returned to Los Angeles from Spain, bringing major diplomatic and trade benefits. The front page headline of the Datang Daily starkly reported: "The doors of New Spain have been opened to the Republic." ”

The next day, Datang Daily published a new policy promulgated by the Cabinet: allowing private entrepreneurs to participate in international trade and accelerating the development of private industries in the country.

At present, Datang's domestic state-owned economy is disproportionate to the private economy, and although there are some relatively powerful private enterprises, the absolute majority is still state-owned enterprises. Moreover, the private sector is more concentrated in the service sector. With the gradual development of society. Some are no longer satisfied with the rigid arrangement of work by the State. Instead, he relied on his skills to find a way to make money. For example, low-cost catering, hairdressing, retail, and some more specialized medical care, education, and law, these private sectors are growing rapidly and generating considerable income.

However, secondary industry manufacturing companies such as General Motors Group, which must have developed to a certain scale, are still relatively limited. Datang has started the second round of entrepreneurial support, aiming to build a number of competitive private manufacturing companies.

However, the newly implemented policy did not allow private owners to conduct import and export trade on their own, and in fact it was similar to the Celestial Empire in another plane. All import and export trade of Datang must be represented by a special trading company, although this is also a kind of monopoly, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, after all, private behavior is driven by interests, many times difficult to manage and prone to problems, and Datang International Trade Company is directly controlled by the Ministry of Commerce, so there will be no mistakes.

After Chu Bai returned, the Datang Ministry of Commerce began to plan ambitious business expansion and at the same time plan new routes. Although there are relatively few open ports in Spain, it is enough for the Chinese to toss. Alpulco, Mexico, has been fully opened. ITC can then abandon the port of Vallarta, which has a small volume of shipments, and use large-tonnage merchant ships. Delivery of goods to Alpulco for sale. Of course, some Mexican smugglers will still go from Vallarta to Los Angeles, but the international trade company will not take the initiative to go to this smuggling port, although the Spaniards will collect tariffs, but there are stronger and harder merchants in Alpulco, who can eat a large amount of Tang goods and sell them to the entire New Spanish colony or the Iberian Peninsula.

The International Trade Company also planned to recruit a group of Mexican sailors from Vallarta, who were more familiar with the routes of New Spain, and unlike the Manchus, Spain did not prohibit its own sailors from being used by other countries, in fact, there were a large number of foreign sailors on the merchant ships of each country, which was a common practice.

Datang has a strong execution, not long after Chu Bai returned to Los Angeles, a merchant ship that has prepared goods has been prepared, their destinations are Mexico and Peru, Chile is not in the trade map of the International Trade Company for the time being, although the local production of copper ore, but Jiazhou also has enough copper ore production, the cost is lower, and the cost of sailing to Chile is relatively high.

Mexico is still the second largest market in the Tang Dynasty, well, the first largest market is already the Qing Kingdom, after all, the purchasing power and wealth of this ancient country are far greater than that of a colony in Mexico.

"The scale of our merchant ship going to Peru this time is not small." Chu Bai completed a diplomatic negotiation, and his contribution was huge, and his career was quite optimistic.

Bai Nan also had a good relationship with Chu Bai, he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help handle a series of affairs, after all, as the general counselor of the Counsellor's Office of the State Council, he is basically the secretary general of each ministry.

"Peru produces a lot of gold, silver and copper, and it's the main mine in Spain, but because it's a bit remote and Spain doesn't have anything to export to, there's a demand for almost anything you can think of. It's just that the local production relations are extremely backward, and since the Spanish destroyed the Inca Empire, the local Mita system has been practiced, and all Indian adult men are drawn by lot according to the proportion of one-seventh of the lots, forcing them to work excessively in the Spanish mines, and their meager wages are basically deducted. The local Indians had very low incomes, little purchasing power, and the Spanish were not large enough as rulers, so the market had limited potential. "Bai Nan sees these things very clearly.

Chu Bai said: "The insight of the people of this era is also like this, in our opinion, if we get the colony, it is necessary to develop a lot of it, see if there is any complementary place in the economy, and then support advantageous industries, in the distribution we will also let the local people get considerable remuneration, because with money they will have purchasing power, consume our local goods, the whole economic cycle is benign." It's just something that we take for granted, but people in this era don't think so. They simply plundered gold, silver and precious metals, and then held them in their arms, their own homeland was not well developed, and the colonies were in chaos. ”

Bai Nan smiled and said, "Therefore, Britain, which has a more advanced production relationship, quickly defeated other European powers and became the hegemon. ”

Chu Bai said: "When I used to study "Capital" in school, I felt very empty, but now when I come back and take a look, it actually makes sense." The advanced relations of production and the social system propelled Britain forward. Haha, but our productive forces and production relations are more advanced than the current Britain, and Britain's hegemony is hard to say. ”

"Actually, we attach so much importance to Peru this time because of one thing."

Chu Bai was very keen, and said, "Rubber? ”

Bai Nan nodded and said: "That's right, our domestic chemical industry can produce synthetic rubber, but the cost is still higher." There are so many places where rubber can be used, so we have to get rubber. This time I went to Peru, collecting a part of the rubber is one of them, and the more important thing is to get the seeds of the rubber tree, we have a plantation in Hawaii, you can grow rubber by yourself, harvest the rubber, and not be controlled by others. ”

Chu Bai asked another question: "I heard that you recently put forward another snake plan, preparing to attack Florida first, and then engage in your cuckoo plan, don't you think it's too risky?" ”

Bai Nan smiled: "How do you know this now, that's right, the cabinet has reached a preliminary opinion, first push forward the snake plan, the cuckoo plan was originally scheduled to start at the end of this year at the earliest, or the middle of next year at the latest, but now it has been postponed, it seems that at least after 1780, the cuckoo plan will not be officially launched." ”

Chu Bai said: "It is you who shout that the population shortage needs labor, and now it is you who are busy enclosing the earth, and you are the general counselor Bai who really called us all to death." ”

Bai Nan smiled a little embarrassedly, and said: "The plan is not as fast as the change, now is the time to cut into the North American War of Independence, if we gain a foothold on the east coast, it will be beneficial for us to dominate the entire North American continent as a whole." Moreover, Borneo and Vietnam have provided us with new sources of population, and we can absorb immigrants there for a while. Moreover, if our population reaches 500,000, the national strength will inevitably be further increased, and the ability to promote the Cuckoo program will also increase significantly. When the time comes, it will be easier for us to get immigrants from China and avoid the large number of immigrants coming to North America. ”

"What are the arrangements of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the next period of time?"

Bai Nandao: "I'm afraid that we will have to send a special envoy to the United States in the future, after all, simple military aid and sending troops to the East Coast are two different things, and the second continental conference will be held in a few months, and the name of the United States of America will be officially played, and we need to recognize the United States and negotiate cooperation." In addition, the North American War of Independence is actually a wrestling with the European powers, and we also need to use this opportunity to bring the Datang Republic into the sight of the European powers, so that they can know that Datang is also a major player in the current international order, and it is a player that is not easy to mess with. ”

Chu Bai put his hand on his head and sighed: "I just came back, isn't it going to be an envoy again?" ”

Bai Nan held back a smile and said, "It's not an envoy. ”

Chu Bai was stunned and asked, "What is that?" ”

"It is estimated that you will be directly arranged as a minister to the United States, and you will need to coordinate a series of affairs of our Datang in the United States, including trade with the United States, including war, including the war alliance against the British, and we will recruit American sailors to serve our voyages. Also, after we succeed in Florida, you have to coordinate with the Expeditionary Force Command, which is not an easy job. ”

Chu Bai didn't know what to say anymore, but he thought about it, this errand was also his step into the body. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now managed by Zheng, it is impossible for Zheng He to remain in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and if he performs well, then the next Minister of Foreign Affairs may be him. (To be continued.) )