Xinshun 1730

Chapter 821

"What is China going to do with the Netherlands?"

"What kind of assumption does China have so that the handling of the Netherlands is in line with both China's interests and France's interests?"

Duke Qi frowned and said: "This matter is confidential. If Your Highness doesn't mind, I hope only you and I know, and it should not be passed on to the sixth ear."

Louis XV smiled and said, "The Marquise de Pompadour is the person I trust the most. She is completely trustworthy. Your Excellency, the Duke, does not have to worry about leaking."

"Your country's previous plan to attack Southeast Asia, I have proved that I have enough credibility to keep the secret agreement between the two countries."

The Marquise de Pompadour didn't annoy Qi Guogong because of this sentence, but she secretly rejoiced that she could know some real secrets.

Standing up and saluting to the Duke of Qi, the Duke of Qi hummed, thinking that since you don't refuse to listen, then there is a great chance for this matter.

Before telling the real plan, Qi Guogong also cared about the embarrassment of the unfaithful king, and talked about an embarrassing reality in France.

That is the French navy, trade, and anti-smuggling capabilities.

Neither can completely control the smuggling trade on the French coast and colonies.

There are not enough merchant ships to support the entire East-West trade channel.

After Dashun seized Southeast Asia—according to Duke Qi’s “heartfelt words” to Louis XV, he was sincerely planning to monopolize the trade between the East and the West with France, but considering France’s national conditions, he had to give up this plan ——Actually, it was Liu Yu who never thought of cooperating with France at all. France's national industrialism and exotic policies are contrary to the "free trade" that Dashun is pursuing now. of.

Even Liu Yu didn't want France to be too strong.

France is too powerful, and has really become the overlord of Europe, controlling all countries, so Dashun's products cannot be sold.

According to the high-sounding excuses mentioned by Duke Qi, extending down, we have to talk about Dashun's embarrassing situation after seizing Southeast Asia.

Goods need to be sold for silver.

Who do you sell to?
As China and France are so close, Dashun has given France as much preferential trade as possible, but has Sino-French trade come up with any tricks?

If it weren't for Liu Yu's trade in ginseng and mink, cutting off North Korea's ginseng trade with Japan, the trade volume between France and China would not even be comparable to Denmark and Sweden.

Purely from the perspective of trade, France does not even rank among the top five trading partners of Dashun.

In this situation, His Holiness had to admit the reality.

So Qi Guogong asked: "Then, European countries are trying their best to increase tariffs. There is no way for Chinese goods, spices from Southeast Asia, and Chinese merchant ships to directly enter the port for sale. A transit dealer is required."

"There are only three options for this transit agent from a practical trade point of view."

"U.K."

"Netherlands."

"Portugal."

"At least, in the short term, France cannot afford such a large amount of trade. In the long run, there will inevitably be a war in Europe to solve many problems. Out of consideration for its own interests, Dashun must consider the 'popular' situation in Europe." Pirates legally rob' problems. The French navy cannot guarantee the smooth flow of trade."

"So, His Royal Highness thinks that, purely for the benefit of France, which of these three companies should Dashun cooperate with?"

"The ranking I just mentioned is based on the ranking of benefits."

This is a very real problem.

The French navy...had performed very poorly, and Dashun really couldn't trust it.

As long as it is a little bit stronger, neither the ginseng war in Canada nor the Carnatic war in India can be fought like this.

Sometimes, you have to speak with strength.

You said that you can guarantee the safety of Sino-European trade, and that the navy can guarantee that Sino-French merchant ships will not be hijacked during the war. You have to produce evidence to convince Dashun.

In other words, you promise that France will not participate in the war in Europe in the future, and will only focus on trading with Dashun.

According to Qi Guogong, Dashun can immediately sign a comprehensive trade agreement with France, giving France the exclusive monopoly of porcelain, tea, silk, spices, rhubarb, etc. in Europe.

At times like this, lying is pointless.

The person on the other side is not a fool, if he is lying or not, he can easily hear it.

Louis XV did not lie to the Duke of Qi, because not only would he not believe it, but it would also cause suspicion between China and France.

As for the three trading partners proposed by Qi Guogong, it is indeed difficult to choose.

This brings us back to the question of the Austrian Netherlands.

Among the three countries, Britain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, only the Netherlands can theoretically become friends with France.

The prerequisite for becoming friends is that France cannot be the neighbor of the Netherlands, that is, the issue of the Austrian Netherlands.

The rest, UK...

There is no need to consider this. Since the two Hundred Years Wars, France absolutely does not want Britain to obtain the exclusive right to trade Chinese goods.

For Portugal, whoever fights Spain is my friend; whoever ally with Spain is my enemy.

Moreover, with the signing of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty, Portugal's economy has basically been incorporated into the British system.

The tariff agreement between the two countries destroyed Portugal's handicraft industry, developed Portugal's agriculture and wine industry, and achieved economic dependence between Britain and Portugal.

France and Spain are allies, not to mention this.The geographical location also determines that if France wants to fight with the United Kingdom, it should maintain its relationship with Spain, and this is not mentioned.

Let’s just talk about the economic problems caused by the Treaty of Methuen between Britain and Portugal. Portugal’s textile industry was completely ruined under low tariffs, and the wine industry prospered abnormally under the low tariffs of Britain—France is both a big agricultural country and a big wine-making country. Even if Portugal wants to vote for France now, can France afford Portugal?Will it harm the interests of France's own wine-making landlords and aristocrats by giving Portugal low tariffs on grain and wine?

From the perspective of France, looking at this matter, I think the best, best, and best result should be: Dashun smashed all the silk and porcelain, burned all the spices, and should not give it to any country such as Britain, the Netherlands, or Portugal. .

However, France is not the sun, and the earth does not revolve around France.

On the premise that the best result is a dream, you have to seriously consider the pros and cons of it on a realistic level.

It can only be said that the lesser of two evils, find the taller among the dwarfs.

It seems that they are not friendly to France, so it seems that it is better to find a relatively possible one, and it seems that the only one is the Netherlands.

Whether the Netherlands will join the anti-French alliance in the future and whether it will be an enemy of France depends on France's attitude.

France can be a friend, but not a neighbor.

Neighbors and friends, France can only choose one.

Neighbors, or possible friends, depend on the ownership of the Austrian Netherlands, which France has an advantage at this time.

This is true for France.

The strategy for Liu Yu is related to the future Sino-French-Russian-Austrian alliance.

This matter is also related to the final pattern of the "First World War" in the near future.

Louis XV's brain would not think so far, nor did he have such a strategic understanding.

But focusing on the present, Louis XV knew that Dashun had to find an intermediary country to cooperate, and France was excluded by Dashun due to various reasons.

Then, Louis XV wanted to know how Dashun planned to deal with the Netherlands?
It can protect the interests of Dashun.

Can it ensure the interests of France?
Guiding Louis XV to ask this question, the negotiations between China and France can be regarded as getting better.

Qi Guogong finally talked about the "armed neutral alliance" plan.

The Armed Neutrality Alliance is a biased organization.

And this biased frame is towards the weaker side.

The core of the Armed Neutral Alliance is actually just one sentence:

You fight your way, we do our business.Don't come and rob our boat, I will beat whoever robs my boat.

However, neutrality, of course, cannot send arms to the warring parties.

Looks like it's fair.

But in fact, this is very unfair.

As far as the strength of the British navy is concerned, do neutral countries need to help transport food, steel and the like?
Whoever is said to be blocked is blocked.Whoever's ship is said to be inspected is inspected.

France is different.

The navy pulls its hips, and if it really fights, it is inevitable that the ship will be hijacked.

And with the Armed Neutral Alliance, French ships would not be able to transport sugar from the Caribbean and Canadian fur and ginseng, so why not use the ships of the Armed Neutral Alliance?
Conversely, does Britain need to borrow the ships of the neutral alliance to maintain its own trade with its own shipping capacity and navy?

Furthermore, the British colonies faced serious smuggling problems, and France never worried about the smuggling problems in the colonies—this was the same logic as Ming Dynasty never had to worry about ethnic issues in the Western Regions, while Dashun had to consider ethnic issues in the Western Regions.

A group of wartime armed neutral maritime merchants, theoretically only doing legal business.But as long as you don't get caught, it's a legal business.Just like the smugglers in Dashun who tried to smuggle to Japan back then, before they were caught, they were all legal Nagasaki Tang merchants with trading cards.

Is this good for France?

Of course it is very beneficial.If... Dashun can pull the Netherlands into the armed neutral alliance.

As long as the Netherlands is neutral, it will be of great benefit to France.

In recent years, although the Netherlands has continued to decline, the inertia of "the ancestors are also wider" has made the Netherlands still play the leading role in European wars several times.

From the War of the Spanish Succession to the War of the Austrian Succession, except for the Polish Succession War, which was decimated by the South China Sea Bubble incident, the Netherlands was unable to intervene, and almost every battle must be participated in, and it is an important force of one side.

Now Dashun is going to Nanyang, and France is taking over the Austrian Netherlands. In fact, it is breaking the inertia of the Netherlands.

Liu Yu secretly prodded the Orange family to come to power, just to let the Dutch people understand one thing: Holland, no.

Without the fiasco of Orange coming to power, the Dutch people will always have a fantasy: Damn, how did the country become like this?How can a group of insects manage a country well?If the House of Orange were in power, all would be well in Holland.Apart from the big financial capitalists inside and the Franco-Prussian alliance outside, my orange Netherlands has finally become a world power again.

This is not a characteristic of the Dutch, but of most people in most countries of the world.During times of decline and unsatisfactory times, I always fantasize: It would be great if XX came to power, and it would be great if XX continued.

To be reasonable, it is useless.Most people can't listen to the truth at all.

The best way is "Since there are no assumptions in history, let's give a chance to practice."

Therefore, Liu Yu instigated conflicts, created public opinion, and brought the Orange family to power before France invaded the Austrian Netherlands.

Thus, reality destroys fantasy.

After the Orange family came to power, it cannot be said that Mao has not changed, but it is worse than before.

William of the Orange family is actually quite "injustice": the price of food is inevitable. After such a long war, can the price of food not be raised?It is inevitable for Dashun to seize Southeast Asia. They have built a bunch of battleships a long time ago. Could it be that they are just for fun?What can I do if France fights against the Austrian Netherlands? Could it be that France cannot win if the Regency is in power?The big financiers in China, the ancestors of my family, sitting in the UK and the Netherlands, wearing two crowns, dare not hide their heads and dare not be presumptuous. How can I manage it?

But there is an old saying in China:
You start with this and end with this.

When the Regents were in power, the Dutch people pushed your Orange family to power out of rational thinking?Or sensual fantasies?

Since I pushed you up in the first place, it was out of perceptual fantasies.

So when you step down, why do you ask the people of the Netherlands to think with absolute rationality?

You start with this.

It must end like this.

(End of this chapter)