Xinshun 1730

Chapter 871 "Unfair" Competition ([-])
Seeing that the imperial court made such a big battle, the Guangdong Jiedu envoy also understood the intention of the imperial court to make this matter a serious matter, and the tension in his heart dissipated at first.

Dashun's affairs are sometimes like this.

I am not afraid that it will be difficult to handle, but I am afraid that I will not be able to figure out what the higher-ups are going to do.

As the governor of Guangdong, he didn't have a good impression of Macau, or he didn't have a good impression of the local businessmen who did business with Macau.

Because, when he took office, it was because of this that he stumbled.

With the construction of Dashun's navy back then, Dashun finally had the courage to move the trade center north to Songjiang Prefecture.And this has also caused Guangdong's special trade status that has lasted for 150 years because of Macau to begin to shake.

A large number of businessmen bribed and lobbied, hoping that the Guangdong Jiedu envoy at that time would go to Shangshu and insist on the many benefits of trade in Guangdong.At that time, the Guangdong Jiedu envoy also went to such a spade, and ended up kicking a horse's hoof.

In fact, in the original history, around the status of trade centers, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Guangdong provinces, there have been many "brain" stories.

For example, Shi Lang, after the incident in Taiwan, contacted the Netherlands in private, hoping to make Taiwan and Fujian the only trade centers and close the rest of the customs, so as to maintain trade profits.

For example, the supervision of the Guangdong Customs in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, the "Corporal Li Xian", personally went to Macau to measure the size of British ships, negotiated privately with the people of the East India Company, and offered tax reduction policies, hoping to lead the trade volume from Macau to the customs.

For example, the Chinese businessmen who trade with Macau are lobbying to find someone, hoping that the governor of Guangdong will say that "the barbarian boats will berth at Huangpu and approach the provincial capital, and there will be no scruples about testing guns sooner or later, which is appalling." Not in Guangzhou.

And Ningbo Customs reduced taxes to attract ships from British and French countries to trade in Zhejiang, which caused British businessmen to sail directly to Tianjin to go to Beijing to "sue imperial court".

To use a very popular term in later generations, this can be regarded as a kind of "involution".

But this kind of introversion also depends on the high and low official ranks.

For example, customs supervision, county magistrates, etc., of course, hope that trade with them will bring great benefits and plenty of oil and water.

However, at the level of Jiedushi, one thing more is worse than one thing less, no fault is merit.

Moreover, the customs are not under the control of Jiedu envoys. They definitely don't want these messy things to happen under their own control.

One day he was a retainer of the imperial court, and the next moment he became a stinky piece of shit spreading foreign religions. The imperial court has done a lot of this kind of thing. When dealing with Xiyi, the Jiedushi is afraid that the court's attitude will change again one day. .

Those who stumbled and went up to serve as Jiedushi were kicked on the horse's hoof because of greed for money, and ended up miserable.

Although the Guangdong Jiedu Envoy is also greedy for money, most businessmen from various countries have gone to Songjiang Mansion for trade. Even if he wants to be greedy, the merchant compradors here will not give him a price enough to tempt him.

There is also a lesson from the past. From the previous heyday, the bribery and lobbying amounted to hundreds of thousands, to the current tens of thousands of taels of silver. Compared with the future of a Jiedushi Fengjiang official, which one should you choose?
Besides, except for the fact that Macau has recovered a little bit in the past few years since the war in Europe, the rest of the time, trade is dying. How can there be enough money to bribe?
Bribery is a kind of investment, it is to earn more money, there is no business opportunity, so what is the use of bribery?

For various reasons, the Jiedu envoy of Guangdong had no worries about dealing with Macau.

Moreover, after confirming the attitude of the imperial court to accomplish a lot of things, he even thought about how to end up: local officials, gentry, businessmen, smugglers, arrest a batch, torture and torture, to prove that they are colluding and deceiving , you can take him out by himself.

There must be someone who is responsible, and the local county magistrate is the best one.

But, does the imperial court really want to handle human trafficking and opium cases?Or do you want to take the opportunity to take back Macau?This matter needs to be clarified.

Having figured out the joint here, the Guangdong Jiedu envoy said: "Since the imperial court wants to strictly deal with human trafficking and opium, I will go all out."

"Originally, the imperial court still needed Macau to maintain the trade of various countries. Now that the business houses of various countries have moved to Jiangsu, it is no different to keep Macau, and it is better to take it back."

"Even though Macao had the merit of donating medicine in the past, I think it is enough for the gentleman's fortune to be cut off for five generations. I don't know what the court means? Do you have any news?"

When he asked this question, these people actually agreed in their hearts.

But the order given to them by the imperial court did not mean this.

Those two naval officers were generals, not commanders, after all.

What they have to think about does not need to be as vast as the whole of Nanyang or even the Seven Seas. They agree with the words of the Guangdong Jiedushi very much, and are also puzzled by the fact that the imperial court did not intend to take back Macau this time.

They were born in the navy, and they heard about it from Liu Yu when they were in Weihai.Just talking about the statistics from Japan, from the 27th year of Wanli in the previous dynasty to the 12th year of Chongzhen, in just 40 years, the Japanese side was transported away by the merchants from Macau, which was equivalent to 6000 million taels of Kuping silver. Part of it was spent in China.This does not count the trade between Macau and Manila, and the trade between Macau and Manila also imports silver and exports goods, because Manila has nothing to sell except cochineal dye.

They also know that the current Macau is meaningless to trade.If you can still earn 40 million taels of silver in 6000 years, you can keep it.

But now let’s not say 6000 million, even if it is difficult to get 60, what’s the use of keeping this special status?
Just recalling that they received an order, but there was no option to "take Macau", not even a hint.

So they shook their heads.

This kind of thing is not to grab credit, if you don't do it, you might cause a show.

"My lord, the imperial court has no intention of taking back Macau. Our order is only to cooperate with your lord to block the sea route, and the gunboat opens the waterproof board to aim at Macau. To prevent treacherous people from escaping from the sea."

The Jiedu envoy of Guangdong asked Jiaolaobutu and the officer of the Boyer Army again, but they did not say that the imperial court had the intention of taking back Macau.

After a brief analysis, although the Guangdong Jiedu envoy didn't know why, he knew that it would be easier to do this.

It seems that only four words are needed.

Handle it fairly.

Human trafficking and opium smuggling are serious crimes.The lightest is also three thousand miles, and the three thousand miles here is a virtual finger, referring to the frontier.

A little more serious is twisting.

A part of the guards in the Haier army is the emperor's secret service, and all officials know this well.Since the Boyer Army had already sent people here, I think they have already figured out a lot.

Guangdong Jiedu envoy then said: "Since this is the case, then we will deal with it impartially. Anti-smuggling and arrest are not in my hands. With the order of the imperial court, I can open the military equipment warehouse and arrange everything along the way."

"I bring my own people to hold the line, interrogate, and control the place."

"The defense envoy, please show me the troop dispatch documents from the Temple of Heaven's Blessing and the Privy Council. Please ask the defense envoy to make arrangements for encirclement."

Jiaolaobutu also followed the rules and took out the official document. After checking and confirming that it was correct, he signed the document.

"If you want to do this, you have to do it quickly. The imperial court obviously attaches great importance to this. In my opinion, first lead the troops to surround Macau, and the brothers in the navy also block the sea."

"Since they want to smuggle and sell, they must collude with Chinese people outside Macau. There are garrison companies in the vicinity, and the local gentry are on standby. If they are found out, they will be ordered immediately to arrest one."

"In addition, all intersections must be guarded. Martial law should be imposed in the past few days, and no unauthorized passage is allowed."

"In the city of Guangzhou, there must be hookers, and the city must be prepared."

Jiaolaobutu has stayed in the north for so long, and he is in charge of some matters related to the Rakshasa trade at the border. Although it is different from Macau, it is almost the same reason.

He used to focus on private transactions and passing rhubarb seeds over there, and he was also clear about smuggling contraband and so on.

After making arrangements, he discussed with several people from the navy and the child army, and roughly finalized the plan.

…………

A few days later, outside the port of Macau, the Jesuit's exclusive merchant ship, the St. Paul, was preparing to go to Annan's East Gate.

Although in fact Hanoi in later generations was still called Tokyo at this time, but the words "Nanguo Mountain and Henan Emperor's Residence are definitely assigned in the Book of Heaven" are nothing more than shouting in the country.

If you are not an emperor, why come to Beijing?
Therefore, as long as you are in Dashun and don't want to cause trouble, it's better to call it Dongguan, not Tokyo.Dashun has its own special political correctness.

The St. Paul is the most famous merchant ship in Macau, because it is full of Jesuit goods, and everyone knows it.

Although at the beginning of the establishment of the Jesuits, the origin was the "Jesus Company", a standard military organization, so they were not allowed to do business, and they had to make three vows of wealth, beauty, and will.

However, the times are developing, and the era of the Reformation has passed.But the reality is that without money, it is difficult to move an inch.

Therefore, the Jesuit Society has its own exclusive merchant ship, the St. Paul, which specializes in running businesses around the world to make money.

On the ship, the hired captain, or Rodriguez, the manager of the Jesuits, was complaining to the people around him.

Complaining about the business over the years has become increasingly difficult.

The person who listened to the complaint persuaded: "It is very rare to be able to go to Dongguan this time. You also know that a large number of brothers and sisters who were persecuted by the pagan emperor have poured into the city. Now money is urgently needed to let them Deepen the belief in God, which suppressed the rest of the shipowners, and only let the St. Paul take this trip."

"And, now it seems that the trade volume is gradually recovering. Perhaps, Macau will recover."

Over the past few years, Macao's trade has revived somewhat, but this revival is not entirely due to the Portuguese. There are also many British people who wanted to avoid the robbery of ships by the West and France.

Although trade with Europe, because of the European War and the Dashun's invasion of the Netherlands, Portugal has enjoyed a wave of dividends.However, not everyone can do business with Europe, and the Jesuits can't do business with Europe, and a lot of business is still in Nanyang.

As the captain, Rodriguez is very clear that the root cause of Macau's brief recovery is the war in Europe.I don't quite agree with my companion's overly optimistic "revival" expectation.

"Actually, Macau's trade is over. Everyone knows this. Even, I think the only possibility of Macau's revival is to open a route to Brazil. Other than that, all attempts are in vain .”

(End of this chapter)