Xinshun 1730

Chapter 904 The Strange Status Witnessed by the British ([-])
[January 1.Shanghai.light snow. 】

Glad Mr. Minister convinced most of the idiots in the company's China shop.At least we don't have to worry about offending the emperor and being expelled.

People who don't know much about this Eastern Empire don't understand what it means for a group of "barbarians" to bypass the officials and the monitoring army and directly stop the emperor's driving.This is not a China as big as a knight’s manor in the story—sadly, most of Europe’s imaginings of China are based on the size of a knight’s manor, and the emperor traveled all over his territory to understand the people’s sentiments.

The Minister agrees with my views on the tea tax issue, but I have not discussed the Indian issue with the Minister.

He asked me my opinion on the reconciliation between the Netherlands and China, and my answer was very straightforward: put down the hatred and resentment immediately, and choose to cooperate with China, which is the most correct thing the Netherlands has done since the death of our common Royal Highness William. Decide.

Mr. Minister is worried that China will do the same to disband the VOC, and he is worried that the same method will be used against our East India Company in the future.

I had to tell him two Chinese stories, one is called Ke Zhou Qiu Jian, and the other is called Sitting on a Tree and Waiting for a Rabbit.

Perhaps, someone in China will make such a mistake, but at least the Duke will not make such a mistake.

I told him that the choice of Holland was absolutely right for Holland precisely because there would be no difficulties faced by our East India Company—there would be no Cotton Prohibition Act in Holland.

The scattered guild power is not enough to shake the existence of those financiers, speculators, and traders in Amsterdam.

We are different.

I didn't explain our difference directly, because the Minister is also a nobleman with a title and has his own land.

I cannot say too clearly, but the trade of wool and woolens supported the rent of land in England.And whoever dares to touch England's land rent will be opposed by the nobles.The predicament faced by our East India Company is actually that the workshop owners of industrial capital and the land aristocrats came together to suppress us, and it is difficult for us to win.

This may touch the sensitive dignity of the Minister - he always believes that he works and is in politics for the motherland, for honor, for the glory of the nobility, for loyalty, and for feelings, and firmly refuses to admit that they are fighting for land rent.

In fact, the tabloids and editorials quietly circulating on the streets of London have made it very clear: the fundamental reason why the indirect tax reform led by the Walpole government has encountered unprecedented opposition is because most of the land in the UK is operated in the Rely on agricultural hired labor to complete.

The prime minister tried to curry favor with the landed aristocracy, lowering agricultural taxes and raising indirect taxes.But in fact, he made a fatal mistake, that is, he did not have a deep understanding of the British land management model.

He made the same mistakes we made in China's diplomacy and trade, self-righteous.

The increase in indirect taxes, alcohol and other consumption taxes means that the cost of agricultural labor has increased.

When a large amount of land adopts the agricultural employment system, increasing the indirect tax and consumption tax is equivalent to increasing the cost of employment.This is the morning three and four evenings, and one day and four evenings three in Chinese stories.

Many people who opposed Walpole simply because the reforms of Walpole increased their labor costs and made land yields lower.But they refuse to admit it, and use all sorts of reasons—without mentioning their interests—against the policy.

This is no different from Chinese scholar-bureaucrats. Their opposition to reforms never admits that the reforms have touched their interests, but uses all kinds of excuses from sages and kings.Perhaps, the only one who was honest was a scholar-official minister in the Song Dynasty, but no one has admitted it since then.

Mr. Minister is undoubtedly such a person, and it is better for me not to reveal all this.

But I tried to explain the difference between the UK and the Netherlands as clearly as possible, and why it is impossible for the Dashun Empire to deal with us in the same way as VOC.

The Bloody Duke has brought down the VOC, and the Dutch have no choice but to accept the olive branch offered by China.

And if the Bloody Duke brings down our BEIC, the choice of our parliament will be to completely cut off the trade with China and India, and a firework show will be staged in London to celebrate this event.

Our lovely aristocrats, whose rents are determined by the price of woolen cloth; those lazy, unenterprising textile factory owners who only know how to rely on tariff protection to protect their interests, are full of both houses.

After our people lose the support of the company, they will immediately introduce stricter import control laws and cut off all trade with the East.

For those land rent aristocrats and textile practitioners, the Eastern trade brought them only a drop in land rent and difficulties in the sale of woolen fabrics.

Every one of them knows that we can't sell anything to China now except silver.Not just China, in fact we can hardly sell anything even in Japan.

The Bloody Duke can peddle his ridiculous free trade theory all over Europe, but no one will take him except Holland.Even France, his closest European ally... maybe, not even, but especially!Especially his closest European ally, France.

The Bloody Duke did not question us about the opium problem, but intimidated us, partly, and perhaps also because he was unwilling to give up the British and North American markets.I don't know why, but he has a special hatred for opium, which can be seen from the fact that he arbitrarily executed more than 300 people.

Mr. Minister can't easily understand all this because he hasn't read too many pamphlets on trade and business issues that have been popular in China in recent years.I have seen a lot in Songjiang Fu, and I have to admit that he taught me to see the world from another perspective.

These pamphlets are very easy to convince others, at least Mr. Minister was easily persuaded by me and approved of my ideas.That is, the company will not repeat the mistakes of VOC, and the Chinese will not use the same method against VOC against us.

In addition, our annual military expenditure of 700 million pounds and 2100 million taels of silver during the previous war also prevented the Chinese from having any idea of ​​trying to solve it by force.

At this point, I can proudly say that although our country has only 5.00% of China's population, it has higher military expenditure than China.

And we only have an army of 60000 people. Their huge army and the needs of inland frontier defense make them unable to maintain a large navy that is so large that it can overcome our oceans.

We can receive 17% land tax, and they are still worrying about whether the 3% to 5% land tax can be collected.

I firmly believe in my judgment that the Dashun Empire wants to integrate their internal affairs and carry out reforms, but is unable to continue to expand.For an empire of this size, to receive a land tax of 17%, as we do in England, would be more lucrative than any trade.

Whether it is the Huaihe River management project and immigration plan they are discussing now, or this time to deter Japan with great fanfare and restore the Ryukyu throne, etc., they are all trying to digest everything they have obtained and trying to reorganize their Celestial Dynasty system.

Relatively speaking, Annan, North Korea, Myanmar, Siam...these countries should be more worried.I can foresee that after conferring Japan this time, their fleet will go to these countries so that they can have a closer look at how thick the "crown" of His Majesty the Great Emperor is.

In fact, this trend is already evident.

Perhaps it was the desire for military merit, or the envy of seeing the bloody duke who was awarded a title for his military exploits. Many people have used the Ryukyu issue to cruelly reveal some facts that they had pretended not to know before—whether it was Vietnam or Vietnam. Siam, or Burma, their credentials were either embellished by people who knew the truth, or they tried to set up a tribute system and recorded every Nagasaki trade ship as a tribute from the Tang Dynasty, just like Japan before.

Once these things are revealed, it is impossible to pretend not to know.The reason why it was uncovered was because the emerging military aristocrats were eager for military merits and became princes and prime ministers.

The Bloody Dukes opened Pandora's box of East and Southeast Asia.

Since Duke Xingguo can be duke because of his military exploits, why can't we?
The country perishes with weakness, while the Han perishes with strength alone. When they look back on all this many years later, they will be like the bloody duke himself said: the only lesson of history is that people will not learn any lessons from history.

[February 1nd.Shanghai.Negative. 】

I have basically finished writing the suggestions and analysis for the company's board of directors.But I am considering whether some words are suitable for publicity?

The election of the board of directors at the general meeting of shareholders is something that the tabloids, the anonymous editorials, the satirical pamphlets fly to like flies.

Some words can be made public.Some words cannot be made public.

But these words must be known to the chairman.

But how can I be sure, who will be elected as the chairman?

The policies of the chairman and the board of directors directly determine the success or failure of the company's transformation.And how hard companies are willing to go to do it.

And, how much money can be raised.

The South Sea Company was able to raise huge sums of money because our King George, was chairman.

Dashun's Western Trading Company can raise huge sums of money because the emperor's favorite minister serves as the director of the supervisory committee.

The failure of the Tory South Sea Company dragged us down.

If I don't name a lot of plans, ambitions, we don't have enough money.

Due to the impact of the South China Sea bubble, the country is cautious about this kind of investment-this is also the reason why the company is now sluggish. Although the company's shareholders, although profit-seeking, tend to prefer a more secure plan.

A more secure solution means that we dare not easily break away from our dependence on trade profits with China.

This comfortable normality makes us lose our aggressiveness.

On the contrary, the French are stronger in India... because they have nothing to lose at all.

And to disclose a large number of plans and ambitions will arouse the vigilance of our enemies.

In addition to ambition and planning, we also face a problem.

Tories, Whigs, His Royal Highnesses, His Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales, Little Patriots, Country Builders, which side shall we be on?
The lobbying of the company, the parliamentary seats the company cultivates, should fight for a better future for the company.Instead of being like a headless chicken like now, only caring about issues related to the company.

We need political allies, not just money lobbying.

Because if the company's transformation is successful, it means that the company's policy in India will face huge differences: is the company's profit-based?Or is it based on what they call the overall interests of the country?
This is a variation on the issue of whether cotton is prohibited or allowed, only it is not cotton anymore.When companies no longer rely on cotton cloth trade to make money, but rely on land tax to make money, new problems will inevitably come. Like the cotton cloth problem, they will force us not to maximize profits as a policy under the banner of the overall interests of the country. .

For companies, any form of regulation is to be avoided.Every violation of human liberty is predicated on "necessity," the slave's program.We are only responsible for the profits of shareholders, and we have no obligation to consider the necessity of the so-called national interests.

In addition to the state granting us monopoly power and guaranteeing our monopoly power.The state should not interfere in any form with the company's policies.

(End of this chapter)