Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1307 Death and Vengeance ([-])
Although the Earl of Halifax wanted the little king to understand the huge contrast between policy and execution, ideal and reality as much as possible.

But the little king still didn't immediately understand the Earl of Halifax's jump, why the contradiction between the decree and the reality should solve the problem of whether the East-West trade center is in the Netherlands or in London.

This involves the contradiction between the central and local governments.

In fact, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Britain became the first country in old Europe to own millions of square kilometers including North America. Britain has not yet learned the essence of the game between the central and local governments.

Take the sugar tax law of 33 as an example. The sugar tax law of 33 did not cause a huge rebound in North America.

But George Grenville's sugar tax law of 63 or 65 caused a huge backlash in North America.

In fact, the Sugar Tax Act of 33 imposed a tax of 6p per gallon of French sugar; the Sugar Tax Act of 63 imposed a tax of 3p per gallon.

Why did the tax of 6 pence not cause a huge backlash, while the tax of 3 pence caused a huge backlash instead?
This involves the British jury system.As members of the jury, the local gentry had a great say in the verdict, which was a means for the feudal nobles and squires to fight against the royal power in the feudal era.

George Grenville discovered this problem when he was working on the new sugar tax law.

As a result, smuggling cases are no longer tried by local judges and juries.Instead, the central government directly sent out customs inspections and supervision, and the central government directly tried the smuggling cases.

It is precisely because of this change in detail that smugglers and brewers in New England started an anti-British wave.

In fact, this kind of thing is like a bird all over the world.

Local underground banks, local heavily polluting enterprises, local smuggling activities, local forged invoices, etc., let the local governments investigate by themselves. If they can find out, it will be hell.

Of course, it also includes local deficits in the feudal dynasty era, local disaster relief fraud, false reports of disasters, and so on.

The higher-ups sent people there, and either the upper-level people died, or the lower-level people were investigated.The death of imperial envoys is generally regarded as a symbolic event that local forces believe that the central government is no longer strong enough to control the overall situation.

Therefore, on the bright side, this change is incomprehensible.Why is the tax of 6 pence not so great in North America? On the contrary, when it was reduced to 3 pence, the reaction became larger?

Because, the essence is not that 6 pence becomes 3 pence.

The essence is that the central government directly sends customs inspectors to supervise the handling of smuggling cases, rather than the local gentry jury handling the cases.

And this, in turn, involves a taxation cost and the ability to do so.

On the premise of not considering many situations such as philosophy, law, morality, etc., only practical administrative issues are considered.

Before Walpole's "Excise Tax", and later "Cider Tax" in history, put aside those legal disputes, only talk about administrative issues, in fact, "I also know that the tax should be checked at the customs and at the point of sale, but the fuck The administrative capacity does not allow it, and it cannot be done, so we can only go to the production end and storage end to check."

This is similar to Dashun where the imperial power does not come down to the counties, the rural gentry are self-governing, and the gentry pays taxes.Any idiot who is an emperor knows that it is good to go to the county, but his ability does not allow him to do it.

This kind of game between the local and the central government, as well as the inspection and management capabilities limited by administrative capabilities, are the reasons why the Earl of Halifax believes that it is best to place the trade center in London.

In London, customs duties can be collected when bulk goods enter the customs.

But if it is placed in the Netherlands and transported by the merchants themselves, even if the UK has set a tariff quota, it will be good if the UK government can collect one-third of the tariffs in various customs in Ireland, Scotland, England, and North America.

Smuggling is cheap, who buys and pays customs duties?Moreover, there are ports everywhere, and it is impossible to check them, especially in Scotland, Ireland, North America and other places, where smuggling is generally believed to be a crime without victims and supports smuggling.

But now the Earl of Halifax, Lord Bute, and the little king are facing a problem, not the future tense of "British industry being destroyed by Eastern industry"; The present tense of "head".

That is to say, even without considering the future of the destruction of the sprouts of industry, Dashun's trade agreement has been accepted by default.

Then, how to collect taxes, where to collect taxes, how to handle customs, where to trade, etc. are also serious problems that require at least second-rate politicians to come up with a solution.

In other words, the focus of the current discussion is not at all whether to liberalize trade with the East.Because there is no need to discuss this, if you don’t accept it, you will be beaten, and after another year of beating, it will all collapse.

Rather, on the condition of accepting this reality, how can we formulate a policy clause that is beneficial to the government and can collect money.

The Earl of Halifax hoped that the little king would understand that this is not something that can be solved by just introducing a policy.Reality is thousands of times more complicated than imagined in the mind.

The reality is that the East India Company is finished and dead.

Before the East India Company died, quite a few people were dissatisfied with the East India Company.The East India Company itself was able to obtain an extended monopoly license this time because the government was short of money.In fact, it is the same thing as the reform of the Ming Dynasty’s salt administration, which extended the monopoly of Yanyin in exchange for money, it just changed its appearance.

Under the circumstances that the East India Company must be dead, and there are many people who are dissatisfied with the East India Company, it is impossible for the British side to have a special "one-stop trade monopoly".

That is, it is authorized to some special companies and special merchants, who specialize in oriental trade products.The difference from the East India Company is that the East India Company used to go to India and China to buy goods by itself; and this new authorized method is to sit at the door of the house and receive the goods, but it is still a franchise.

Obviously, Britain is going to blow up this kind of thing at this time, and everyone is definitely not happy.The East India Company changed its name to Jiamen Company. What's the difference?

Instead of doing this, if Dashun is really determined to put the center of East-West trade in the Netherlands, what should Britain do?

Dashun is definitely going to break the British navigation regulations.

And there is an article in the Navigation Regulations, which is actually the essence of open trade. Many trade products must be shipped to London before they can be re-shipped for export.Take tea, for example. It doesn’t mean that the East India Company can sell the tea everywhere after it’s shipped back, but that it must be sent to London to go through the tea exchange run by London’s trade office before it can be re-shipped elsewhere.

This is convenient for tax collection. The administrative ability is here, and the technology is here. The UK does not do this. He can receive a hammer for the tea tax.

Then, assuming that Dashun puts its trading center in the Netherlands and forces the UK to sign an open trade treaty, the import tax on oriental trade products is reduced to 10%, and there is no need to pay sub-tariffs, and the 10% tariffs will be collected by the sub-customs themselves ...

How much money can the UK receive?

The reality lies here, the 33-year sugar tax law, the great development of the sugar industry in the French colonies, and the great development of the rum industry in Massachusetts, but the tariffs have not been seen.

At that time, the navigation regulations will also be shattered, tariffs will be imposed, and the industry will be affected by default. In the end, the tariffs will disappear... The British government is afraid that it will cry without tears.

Still counting on tariffs to pay off the national debt.

Who is the biggest responsibility here?Britain itself, of course.

At the very beginning, Liu Yu was always worried that there were strategists in the UK, and he was afraid that the UK would really practice Adam Smith's vision and let the UK monopolize the shipping industry in the trade between the East and the West.Therefore, I am particularly worried that after seeing Dashun’s military reform, Britain will immediately abandon India, forcing China and France to fight for India. Britain will use its navy and sea control to carve up the East-West trade with Dashun, and act as a second-hand dealer in East-West trade.

In the end, it turned out that there were no heroes who made Shuzi famous. Britain’s conservatism was really beyond imagination. It continued Cromwell’s established trade policy along the way, without any flexibility.

Having come to this point, the Earl of Halifax finally woke up, thinking about letting London replace Amsterdam.

Since you can't resist, why not enjoy the benefits of East-West trade and let London replace Amsterdam as the financial and East-West trade center.

However... it was too late.

He didn't consider one thing, if Dashun really wanted to do this, why didn't he extend an olive branch early?
Why did Dashun focus on Holland instead of England?
Because Dashun understands that the Netherlands is not capable of enforcing navigational regulations, nor is it capable of "using force to defend its right not to buy."

But the UK does.

Because the United Kingdom has a population of nearly 1000 million in North America and the mainland, and a unique geographical environment that does not require huge military expenditures, it is much more annoying than France.

Dashun is not worried about France's backlash in trade and navigation, because if France is given 100 guts, it will not dare to abolish the army and cancel the standing army and invest in the navy and colonies.

If that's the case, Prussia, Austria, and even Poland can beat out the shit of France, which has abolished its army and has a full-fledged navy.

When the time comes, the United Kingdom will recover, tear up the treaty, and send the fleet to the Atlantic Ocean. Dashun will have no place to cry when the time comes.

The market itself also has bargaining power.

At that time, Dashun can only accept the British conditions and cooperate with the two sides, and the initiative will be held in the hands of the British—kneading wool, weaving, and even porcelain. The technical content is not so high that it cannot be copied for decades. .

What Liu Yu was worried about at the beginning was the group of people in Dashun. Seeing the favorable conditions in the UK, they could just sit back and collect money if they didn't want to spend a lot of money to build a navy.

But now, a new school of thought in Dashun has risen, the power of commercial capital has developed rapidly in recent years, and the officer corps in the navy also has its own interests. The conditions of the second-hand traffickers are over.

Because the solution given by Adam Smith is pure nonsense that goes against the spirit of free trade: China should give up shipping and commerce, invest capital in industry and agriculture, and let the UK take over China's shipping industry—this year's shipping Why not invest in the shipping industry and take 50% of the profits in the shipping industry, first occupy the accumulated capital in the high-profit industry, and then use the original accumulation of profits to invest in industry and agriculture?

Here lies the contradiction. If free trade is really possible, it really doesn’t matter if it’s in the Netherlands or London.The question is, does true free trade exist?How can Britain ensure that he will not subsidize the wool and cotton industries?How can the UK ensure that it will not prevent the sale of Chinese goods through administrative means?
Britain said it could guarantee it, but the question is whether Dashun believes it or not?Can you believe it?

Under such contradictions, although the Earl of Halifax has a little understanding of trade, he is actually half-baked in international politics and diplomacy.

His thinking is purely wishful thinking.

The Sino-French alliance fought for a long time, and in the end, Dashun put the East-West trade center in London?Can the French accept it?Co-authored and fought for a long time, is this helping Britain build a financial center?
In the Netherlands, France is of course acceptable.

There is no sea barrier between the Netherlands and France, and going to the Netherlands from France is as easy as going to your own home.

As long as Dashun offers the conditions of "disarmament of Belgium and complete neutralization of the Netherlands", France is of course willing to accept the financial and trade center in the Netherlands.

And this condition is not difficult to achieve. As long as the Polish king dies, Dashun can use this kind of muddy method to put pressure on Austria. Together with France and Russia, it is equivalent to exchanging part of Poland and Silesia for Belgium.

The Netherlands does not necessarily need all the tariffs and profits from the East-West trade. In fact, just being a logistics center and a financial center is enough to bring enough business prosperity and employment.

The Dutch coup d'etat instigated by Dashun and the series of consequences brought about by the voyage to Nanyang also interrupted the formation process of the Dutch nation. The last national power in the Netherlands, that is, guilds, small producers, and farmers After that, there was no counterattack, leaving only businessmen, business oligarchs, financial capital who did not need the motherland, and a large influx of Iberian Jews and Gaul Huguenots.

(End of this chapter)