Xinshun 1730

Chapter 892 Britain Falls into the Trap ([-])
The British minister could only partially agree with Fazaklei's statement.

And the reason for agreeing is that most of the second half of the sentence is about "don't have another Jenkins ear incident" and declare war on China.

It is true that Dashun cannot hit the Thames, but now Britain and France are still fighting evenly in India.

At this time, Dashun sent its fleet to India, and Britain was truly blessed—the world's largest and second largest army power, the world's second, fourth or fifth largest ocean-going naval power, and the world's largest and fourth treasury revenue. Two great powers serve a British in India, who can bear the blessing?
However, the British Minister felt that the matter of the Palace of Westminster was still unlikely.

Perhaps, the tea tax problem can be solved a little bit, but the cotton cloth tax is absolutely impossible.

The United Kingdom is not the Netherlands. The land enclosure and skyrocketing land rent in the United Kingdom all point to the wool textile industry. The aristocrats alone cannot pass the test, let alone the factory owners who have risen.

The minister felt that the tea tax should be resolved.

Tariffs of 80% or even 140% at every turn, isn't it clear that they are sending money to smugglers?
"Mr. Fazaklei, of course I agree with your understanding of the peculiarities of China. However, the cotton problem, it is impossible to solve. If you think that you need to make a commitment to that duke, I suggest that you do not Guaranteed on cotton."

"If the promise is not fulfilled, it will only anger that lord even more."

"You know, he has an inexplicable dislike for our country. Maybe it was instigated by the French, but the reason is not important. You and I agree that he hates us."

The envoy thought for a while, and then said: "I think, based on the duke's understanding of trade, you don't need to say too much. Of course he will understand that the sales of tea after the reduction of tariffs are not the combination of smuggled tea and legal tea." sum, but necessarily more than that."

"I personally think that on the issue of tea, those people at the Palace of Westminster should achieve the results you want."

Fazaklei thought to himself, even if the tariff on tea is resolved, it will be fine. If the tariff is really lowered, the number of people who buy tea will definitely increase dramatically. Even if the tariff is lowered, the revenue from the tariff will increase instead.

However, would the animals sitting in the Palace of Westminster really understand such a simple truth?

Moreover, the East India Company didn't want to provoke China, but they couldn't hold back some people in the country. They tried to attract political capital, increase their influence, and encouraged war with the most resolute tone-it is impossible to start a war, but it can improve this person's political power. Capital and influence will eventually give words such as cowardice to the king.

After all, some politicians believe that if they want to gain influence in the Senate, they must either lick the king, or go to the people to oppose the government to obtain capital.

Choose one or the other, there is no other way.

This is a perfect opportunity. No matter how much you shout, you will not go to war. There is no risk or responsibility, but you can get the approval of many people.

Let the people feel that this is the perfect next prime minister.Hardcore, uplifting, uncompromising, and brave enough to go to war.

I am afraid that it will become uncontrollable at that time. From advocating war against China to burning Chinese silk and cotton cloth, smashing Chinese porcelain, and replacing tea with coffee and beer, the East India Company will suffer huge losses and will greatly affect it. future profits of the company.

And this is very possible.

Weavers and landed aristocrats, out of opposition to cotton cloth and protection of the price of woolen fabrics, encouraged the burning of silk cotton cloth.

Those who sell Delft pottery and Meissen porcelain can't wait for the whole of Europe to smash Chinese porcelain.

Those coffee growers in the West Indies and their own brewers will also put aside their differences over the cafe incident, unite against tea, and use the very high-sounding name of protecting their own industry.

Politicians are advocating war for influence, and these businessmen or capitalists use money to instigate. I am afraid that the East India Company will really be greatly affected.

Fazaklei is also in a dilemma.

Let’s say it’s all China’s responsibility, let’s say that Dashun unreasonably seized them.It may cause anti-cis sentiment in the country.

In turn, it triggered a movement against oriental products and support for domestic products.

It is not China's responsibility to say that it is the company's own fault.

Many people in the country are jealous of the East India Company's monopoly of trade, so they should not take this opportunity to criticize it. At least they should let go of the management power of the board of directors and let the government supervise it, so as to avoid making such a big mistake of smuggling opium again.

The attitude of the government has actually always wanted to control the East India Company.As a matter of fact, as early as 30 years ago, the Council tried to avoid a big mess in the future.

Therefore, a "British East India Trading Company" with a similar name was established, hoping that the two would confront each other and break the dominance of the old East India Company.

But... In the UK, there is nothing that money can't solve. The old East India Company paid directly to buy stocks. The total share capital was only 200 million pounds and 600 million taels of silver, and it was easy to buy a controlling stake.

So this time admitting that the company deserved its own fault, the people in the parliament will definitely seize the opportunity to strengthen their control over the company.

This doesn't work, and that doesn't work, and the situation of the East India Company is very difficult.

When the country's industry fails, companies that use transshipment trade as their only means of profit will inevitably have conflicts with domestic industrial and agricultural capital.

Can this contradiction be transformed into close cooperation?

can.

The premise is that the industrial capacity will improve rapidly, defeating the cotton and silk of Bangladesh, the cotton and silk of Jiangsu Province, and the porcelain of Jiangxi Province, and then the East India Company will turn from a comprador to a tool for imperialism to expand the world market.

Destroy all the Great Wall with cheap goods.

Become a vassal of industrial capital and a pawn of expansion.

If this step cannot be achieved, the East India Company is a comprador who "attempts to kill the domestic textile industry with oriental cotton cloth".

There is a natural contradiction between compradors and domestic industrial capital.

Britain is not the Netherlands, nor is it a country where financial capital destroys industrial capital. On the contrary, the output value of Britain's industry and agriculture is quite high.

So high that from the very beginning, Liu Yu never expected the UK to be compradorized, but believed that only the hollow Netherlands had the chance to be compradorized.

Fazakley didn't know what else he could do for the company and his own shares, so he could only do his best and obey the destiny.

Perhaps, it's time for the company to change its thinking, otherwise, even if it escapes today, what will happen in the future?
…………

A long time later, Fazakley came to Macau with deep anxiety.

After finally getting permission to visit, Liu Yu was greeted with scolding.

Fazakle resigned himself to it.

He didn't make too many excuses, and took the initiative to admit the company's mistakes.But not making too many excuses does not mean not making excuses.

The mistake he admitted was that the company did not have perfect supervision, which caused the opium to flow into China; it was not that the company simply wanted to exchange opium for silver.

Liu Yu didn't say anything about punishing the heart, but didn't care how the responsibility should be divided, and just cursed directly.

However, the scolding is empty words.

There is no mention of canceling the right of the East India Company to trade in China at all.

Not a word was mentioned.

Such empty words, on the contrary, made Fazaklei even more uneasy, and his imagination ran wild.

After all, before Dashun went to Nanyang, he was also smiling with the Netherlands, and didn't even cut off the trade with the Netherlands.

The more you smile, the more terrifying you are.

Liu Yu looked at Fazaklei who was nervous and silent, and secretly wanted to laugh.

He naturally hated the opium trade, but now it seems that the problem is not big.

With a sales volume of more than a thousand boxes, it is very easy to ban it.The autonomy of the customs and the right to patrol the fleet are in Dashun's own hands. As long as it is strictly enforced, it will be on a smaller scale at most, and there will be no major problems.

Originally, he had a relaxed mentality when facing the British, but now Fazaklei has such an attitude of actively admitting his mistakes. Liu Yu is full of confidence in the trap he has set up.

The so-called trap is actually part of the established strategy after Dashun.

That is, India's "Shangdang Returns to Zhao" plan.

There are three key points to this plan.

First of all, it is to increase the value of North America, so that France has the motivation to invest more resources in North America, making American Catholicism, Protestantism, English, French, Spanish, and possibly even Chinese in the future into a mess.

This key point was solved through the ginseng trade and the historical factors that Dashun did not block the Northeast, which led to the basic extinction of native ginseng.

It is not his credit that ginseng is so expensive now, but a historical necessity caused by Dashun's PTSD in the late Ming Dynasty.Frantically immigrating to the Northeast, how can there be enough ginseng to dig?The digging is gone, but the price of American ginseng will go up.

He just made a small contribution and asked someone to write a paper, explaining that American ginseng does not come from the hot Nanyang region, but also from the bitter cold region of Liaodong, so it can be whatever it is before it is warm and cool, and the effect is the same.

This makes France have to choose strategic contraction and give up some strategic directions when it is determined that it cannot exert its strength in Asia, the Caribbean, North America, and Africa at the same time.

Then, there is the question of the balance of power between Britain and France in India.

Duplex is capable.

His military plan is very good, and he also has a clear understanding of the reality of India's vassal towns after the collapse of centralized power.

Even the French army in India is really better than the British.Of course, it is limited to land battles, and the navy is hard to say.

Although France won first and then lost due to sea dominance in the early stage, it did not have an advantage in India.But on the other hand, the British did not have the ability to attack the city, especially the French fortress that could not get naval support without relying on the sea.

Europe is about to end the war, so how can the French feel that the balance of power between Britain and France in India has undergone a major change, and it is no longer worth wasting more energy in India?

That would require Britain to increase its power in India.

Finally, the problem has been discovered and analyzed, how to solve this problem?
How can Britain increase its power in India?

The answer is to make the British East India Company feel the crisis, so that they have to consider, assuming that Dashun really cut off trade in the future, based on the company's current operating conditions and profit direction, how can it be ensured that the company will not be like the Dutch East India Company? Does the company collapse as well?

The collapse of the Dutch East India Company originated from Dashun's voyage to Southeast Asia.

If only the trade between the Netherlands and Dashun was cut off, the Dutch East India Company would not be able to collapse.

Firstly, the spice trade was the foundation of the Dutch East India Company.

Secondly...the businessmen of Dashun, of course, all the businessmen in the world are like this, they only care about profit.

Dashun closed its trade with the Netherlands, and the Netherlands still engaged in transit trade in Batavia, and there were still people delivering goods there. You're back, and you can send tea raw silk to Batavia again!

But the British East India Company was different.

It is quite different from the impression that the East India Company was the vanguard of the British industrial bourgeoisie's external expansion imagined by later generations.

What Liu Yu saw, the real East India Company, in terms of textiles, did not expect to make money from selling British woolen fabrics, but shipped Indian and Chinese cotton cloth back to Britain to make a fortune.

However, with the Cotton Cloth Act of 1700 and the enhanced Cotton Cloth Act of 1720, the East India Company's income from trade in India dropped sharply.A large amount of the company's profits come from silk tea and porcelain trade in China.

If Dashun now takes advantage of the success of its voyages to Southeast Asia to ban trade with Britain by taking advantage of the opium incident, it can be said that the British East India Company will immediately have economic problems.

The British East India Company, the loser in the competition in Southeast Asia, was driven to India by the Netherlands.Their company doesn't even have the basic business of spices.

As long as the British East India Company felt that there was a sword of Damocles hanging above their heads that might fall at any time, they would have to step into the trap that Liu Yu had designed in advance.

(End of this chapter)