Xinshun 1730

Chapter 898 Britain Falls into the Trap ([-])
This round egg is almost torn, and the rest is to carefully pick and peck to break the details.

What Liu Yu grasped was the difference between "official" and "business" ways of thinking; and the difference in national conditions between Dashun and the United Kingdom.

Facing Fazaklei, who was still wary of Liu Yu in his heart, but in fact he believed most of it, Liu Yu finally proposed a plan that revealed the "shamelessness" of the imperial court.

The East India Company is shameless.If you are not shameless, he will think you are lying to him.

"You merchants, what you have to consider is to spend every silver coin on the goods with the highest profit margin."

"As for a celestial dynasty that has changed countless dynasties from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the present, what must be considered is to spend every silver coin on the stability of the country for generations to come."

"The current situation is like this. China has a huge trade surplus. But you don't sell things that China really wants to buy, such as nautical clocks; things that China doesn't want to buy at all, but you really want to sell, such as opium and woolen cloth .”

"I am the most reasonable person, and I also like fairness the most. Reasonable, according to the principle of fairness, your navigation regulations will not be invalidated, and your East India Company's monopoly on Asian trade will not be cancelled..."

"According to the principle of fairness, then we can also set up equivalent navigation regulations, and any non-Chinese ship is prohibited from selling goods in China; we can also grant a monopoly on Western trade and prohibit other countries from participating."

"It cannot be said that while you are working on the navigation regulations, you are granting a monopoly on Eastern trade. But you think it is unreasonable for us to expel you. Let me ask, can we open a business in London? Can we directly ship To sell at the Thames Estuary?"

Fazaklei is British, and of course they have the double-standard values ​​that come standard with their nation.

But now that Liu Yu is using power to overwhelm others, he can't explain it according to the kind of reason he thinks is reasonable.

Seeing this, Liu Yu snorted, "If you don't want fairness, you have to make rules and maintain the rules of this world system."

"Your trade system, which allows you to monopolize but does not allow others to sell goods in your house, is of course unfair. It does not mean that such unfair things cannot be implemented, but the premise is that Britain has the ability to do so. The celestial dynasty of the earth has formulated such a rule, and is willing to fulfill its obligations for this rule, and maintain this world rule."

"The question is, ask yourself, does Britain have this ability now? Not to mention in Asia, even in the Atlantic Ocean, can it do what it says? It can't even beat Spain, and you are still far away from the Celestial Empire."

These remarks are not to encourage the United Kingdom, but to characterize the current world trade pattern as justice and injustice.

Since you, the United Kingdom, are engaged in navigation regulations and administrative authorization monopoly, don't accuse Dashun of engaging in administrative authorization monopoly, and don't say that Dashun is "unfair" competition.

None of you have defined what is "righteous" yourselves.

If it is said that the United Kingdom has now abandoned the navigation regulations, does not engage in any form of tariff protection, and does not maintain monopoly with administrative orders, but Dashun has closed trade with the United Kingdom and authorized monopoly by administration, then to some extent Dashun is regarded as "improper" "compete.

Just talking about the present, since "legitimate" means the law of the jungle, mercantilism, tariff protection, and administrative interference monopoly.

Then, Dashun's trade policy is not only very legitimate, but also very benevolent and did not impose any tariff protection policies similar to the British tea tax and cotton cloth tax on any British goods.

Fazaklei was so reprimanded by Liu Yu and even humiliated Britain. Although he was worried that Dashun would cut off his trade because he was "neither humble nor arrogant", he still couldn't help but refute a few words softly.

"My lord, your understanding of fairness may be wrong."

"For example, Song Wan, King Kong in the story of your country, went to the theater together with the three-inch Dinggu bark Wuda. However, the performers, very 'fairly', stood up in front of them. Eight-foot-high hangings."

"For Yunli King Kong Song Wan, the obstacle in front of him is eight feet; for the three-inch Dinggu Bark Wuda, the obstacle in front of him is also eight feet."

"So, do you think this is fair?"

"Your country's cotton cloth, silk, porcelain, etc., are superior to those of the UK in terms of price and quality. At this time, you said that there is a need for fair competition. Is it fair?"

"Of course, I don't support Britain's tariff policy. But I stand from a rational and neutral point of view. What I think is fair is different from what you think is fair."

Liu Yu laughed and said, "You misunderstood one thing. You have to understand that in the UK, due to factors such as climate and soil, no matter how you grow coffee, it is definitely not as good as coffee from Java."

"It is this difference that facilitates trade."

"Actually, the division of labor, geography, trade, and being good at what one is good at, each country has its own division of labor, is the most beneficial to the people of each country."

"Since Britain can't do textiles, porcelain, or grow tea, why does it have to do it? Why can't it develop characteristic industries, can't give up textiles, and can't give up industry? This is one of them."

"Secondly, can the trade surplus between China and the UK be resolved? Can it be resolved? Or do you not want to resolve it?"

"As I said, the Celestial Dynasty received a large amount of silver, but the silver could not be spent in foreign trade, which caused huge inflation for more than a hundred years. The problem is that the Celestial Dynasty can't buy things and can't spend the money."

"Please note that it's because you can't buy anything, not that the Celestial Dynasty is those Dorags in your stories who have a hobby of collecting shiny gold and silver, but purely have a weird hobby of collecting gold and silver."

"We want to buy something, we want to spend silver. But you don't give it a chance."

"We want to buy a nautical clock, a complete set of patents for a nautical clock, a complete set of details of flat glass technology, a complete set of plans for a British soda factory, Spanish long-haired sheep that were stolen and improved by the British, and British Some horses bred that are not allowed to be exported. Not only do we want to spend money, but we also want to spend the trade deficit."

"But you don't sell it at all."

"According to what you said, why does Wu Dalang want to compete with Song Wan in who is taller? Why not compare who's steamed buns and cakes are better?"

These words sounded a bit out of character.

Fazaklei understood himself a bit, and felt that Liu Yu's words obviously meant something.

It seems that it is nothing more than hinting at him: If your East India Company can lobby Congress to release technology controls, then your trade matters will be easy to talk about.

But if you can't do this, then I'm sorry, you have committed a serious crime in the opium issue and violated the emperor's decree. We have to close the British business house and drive out the British businessmen.

This is what is called this moment and that moment.

Fazaklei felt that Dashun did not want to cooperate with the British East India Company before.I even hope that the East India Company can lobby the Parliament to release tariffs on tea and cotton cloth.

But now, Dashun took a route that no one thought of, cooperating with the Netherlands that had just finished the fierce battle—that is, partnering in smuggling.

In this case, on the contrary, there is not much interest in liberalizing tea tariffs.Even if it continues to develop, the Western Trading Company may still hope that Britain will continue to impose tea tariffs.

If smuggled tea is as cheap as legal tea, who will buy smuggled tea?

If tea tariffs had been lifted ten years earlier, the Sino-French alliance might have collapsed, and the Sino-British alliance might have been established.

Ten years later, Dashun did not mention the issue of tariffs at all, but turned to the issue of technological protection.

However, because Liu Yu mentioned a lot of differences in the consciousness of "official" and "businessman", Fazaklei felt that to some extent, Liu Yu might not be able to continue to cooperate with the British East India Company.

After all, according to the difference between Liu Yu's understanding of "national wealth" and his understanding of national wealth, increasing exports means an increase in industrial scale, which means an increase in the wealth created—wealth here is not gold as understood by Fazaklei. It is not silver wealth, but what Liu Yu said is "the sum of the daily necessities and conveniences produced".

The difference between these two views of wealth makes Fazaklei think that the opportunity is not completely lost.

As long as you find out what Dashun really wants and how they understand wealth, you will have the opportunity to do something that makes Dashun feel acceptable and happy.

As for the liberalization of technology protection in the UK, Fazaklei certainly supports it in his heart.

Originally, it set sail in Europe in January, arrived in Songjiang Prefecture in July, returned in December, and returned to Europe in July.After nearly two years, it turned out that the ship was basically empty and could only carry one commodity, which was silver.Only returning cargo ships are profitable.The profits from the return voyage should be divided evenly within two years.

If some special goods that Dashun urgently needs and extremely high profits can be loaded in Europe, the company's profits will of course double.

Of course, these goods had to be legal in Dashun.Opium is profitable, but it is illegal in Dashun.

But here lies the difficulty:
If the East India Company wants to convince the parliament, it needs to be large enough, to pay enough dividends to shareholders, to have enough people participating in the shares, to bring enough profits to the royal family, and to be able to spend money to lobby There are enough people bound to the company's community of interests.

If the company does not change its thinking, it means that if the company wants to be big enough, make enough money, and pay enough dividends, it needs to persuade the parliament to let go of the control of technology products needed by Dashun, and let go of the tariff on tea and cotton cloth.

It's like if you want to achieve B, you must achieve A; and if you want to achieve A, the first step is to achieve B.

This is a closed loop.

Fazaklei gradually had an idea in his heart.

If the company wants to develop, it must jump out of this closed loop.

Is there another way of thinking, temporarily jumping out of dependence on trade with China, so that the company can continue to expand in size, make enough money, and pay enough dividends, so that it has great influence in the parliament?
If so, where is this growth point?
(End of this chapter)