Xinshun 1730

Chapter 926 Pre-war Public Opinion Preparation

"I think this is a good thing. Since the imperial court sent you to supervise, the merchants need to see their profits rise to support the supervision. As long as the British do not abolish the tea tax, it will also be of great benefit to the imperial court to strengthen the control over these merchants."

Qi Guogong thought for a while and then smiled: "You can't expect a group of people who know that this American ginseng is not from the hot South Seas to fight against those old oils who have been in the trade for 200 years. If you expect them to fight, you must take the old It’s impossible to pay for everything.”

"I went to Europa this time. From what I saw and heard, I only felt that in terms of the control of the industrial economy, Europa has the style of the Song Dynasty, which is absolutely inferior to this dynasty. Only when the legal person controls the economy can there be reforms like Duke Jing. We It's impossible to do it."

"The policy of banning the sea, I think there is not much difference between the East and the West. Denmark, Britain, France and other countries also prohibit their own sales in Asia, and gain monopoly benefits. It is different from the previous dynasty's Sambo voyages to the West and prohibits folk films from sailing overseas to obtain spices. benefit, what's the difference?"

Liu Yu didn't completely agree with this, but considering the education Qi Guogong had received since he was a child, it was rare to see this step.

But Qi Guogong's words hit the point.In fact, all countries are engaged in a certain degree of sea ban and monopoly, and all of them are directly intervened by administrative forces.

Europeans, especially Protestant countries, have double standards and shamelessness, which Liu Yu has learned in recent years.After all, the Netherlands, which was the first to clean up, was a Protestant country.

I can ban seas and private trade, I can regulate navigation, and I can ban your cargo ships from selling goods in our country.

But you can't allow us to receive the goods, and you can't allow us to cede your Zhoushan and grab Macau, otherwise you will be guilty.

This way of thinking is not only difficult for Dashun people to understand at this time.

Even in later generations, the Chinese still find it difficult to understand.

So much so that when some people read the subsequent humiliation, many people thought, "As long as trade is opened, the British will be happy and won't beat us."

First reflect on whether you have done something wrong.

But the reality is that the United Kingdom has issued two consecutive bans on oriental cotton cloth; the highest 220% tea tariff has been imposed; the British East India Company directly sank any non-corporate oriental cargo ships.

So the essence of this matter is that he was really lied to.

I believe they have a set of non-dual standards, unified and universal evaluation criteria.

Lao Ma said in the 1840s that the essence of Britain's so-called "free trade" is a kind of monopoly.Once "free trade" threatens the essence of his monopoly, he will inevitably be the first to stand up against "free trade".

The root cause of the Opium War was not because of free trade, but because "the Qing government banned the cultivation of opium poppy", which allowed external opium to create a substantial monopoly because the country did not allow it to be planted.

Taking away the sinful nature of opium, if it is simply regarded as a commodity, once it is allowed to be planted casually, no one will want British goods that can be sold in Sichuan Province. This has been proved afterwards.It didn't even need to go out from Sichuan. At that time, one Yunnan was enough.

It's like the director of the British East India Company complained in Congress in 1820 [in the previous 23 years, the company was forced to sell textiles and hardware to China, which brought a loss of 1688103 pounds to the company].

The directors of the company are speaking in Congress. It is impossible for all the people in Congress to die in 20 years and 39 years, right?

So do the British know that even with zero tariffs, their textiles and hardware cannot be sold?
Or knowing it clearly, but pretending not to know it, and looking for a reason for free trade to sell opium that is actually a monopoly?
However, no one listened to or believed what Lao Ma said in the 1840s for more than a hundred years.Instead, I first reflected on what I did wrong, so that I was beaten.

Fortunately, a certain Georgian who had read Lao Ma’s book concluded that “if we lag behind, we will be beaten. But we don’t want to be beaten, absolutely not.”

Finally, I didn't reflect on the fact that because of the unfree trade, I deserve the beating, and it's a good fight.

Do the British know that opium is banned in China?

The reason why Macartney was able to become the representative of the mission was that Charles Cathcart, who preceded him, died of illness on the way to China.

In the prime minister's order before the Cathcart mission came to China, it clearly stated [If the business contract stipulates that opium cannot be transported, you must agree.Do not fight for this 'freedom' at the risk of losing other vital interests. 】

[Our opium in Bangladesh should find a way out on the "scattered and tortuous trade opportunities" in the eastern sea]——What is "scattered and tortuous trade opportunities on the sea"?It can only be said that it is worthy of Shakespeare's writing, which can describe smuggling in such a euphemistic way, with a unique "obscure beauty".

[If we cede the land for us to build a commercial warehouse, we should choose between 27 degrees north latitude and 30 degrees north latitude, because I heard that high-quality tea is produced in this latitude range]

Therefore, the British knew very well that the opium trade was prohibited, not only clearly, but also clearly, so they chose "trade opportunities scattered and tortuous on the eastern sea".

Do the British know that textiles in China cannot be sold?
of course I know.

But why can it still be sold?
Because of one word.

roll.

In 1767, the East India Company approached Pan, a supplier, and said that if you could sell the cloth, I could collect tea from you instead of others.And I will increase the price for you, and I will add one tael of silver for each load of tea.

Pan did the math, even if he sold the cloth at a loss, as long as the British took the tea from him and paid an extra tael of silver for each load of tea, he would still make money.

So in history, Pan relied on this kind of volume to be named the richest man in the world in the early 18th century by "COTE PARIS", and his family's silver could buy the British and French fleets in the Trafalgar naval battle.

As for why can't we unite and raise prices together?

This... is probably also the characteristic of the bourgeoisie on the Chinese side.Therefore, in Nagasaki, Arai Shiraishi, with a simple strategy of two peaches and three men, can provoke the Ningbo, Zhangzhou, and Fuzhou gangs to give up the pricing power of copper and let Japan set the price.The Chinese bourgeoisie are just a group of idiots who have to be supported by a strongman, and without an iron-handed strongman whipping them with a whip, they are the world's fairest bourgeois.

Why did the East India Company insist on bringing wool?

Because they want to please the domestic industrial bourgeoisie, lest they attack the company as a comprador again, so they would rather lose money and bring woolen cloth, at worst they can make money from tea.

It's like you are a member of parliament and you run a woolen fabric workshop.If you tell the East India Company that you don’t take my woolen cloth to China, I will make a proposal in Parliament, saying that you are compradors.What else can I do?Bring it.

As a result, textile workers got jobs, industrial capital sold woolen fabrics to China, and the East India Company was abolished in the parliament. The East India Company made money while saying that it lost money. became the richest man in the world in the 18th century.

Everyone seems to be making money, so who pays for the money?
Looks like it's from an Englishman drinking tea.

But it's not.

Even if the East India Company did not undertake the obligation to sell woolen fabrics at a loss, would he have a conscience to find that the price was reduced?The price of some things depends not on the cost, but on how much the buyer can pay.The housing subsidy of the British Poor Law is an excellent example. How much the housing subsidy increases, the rent increases.

The only ones who suffered losses were the Chinese textile craftsmen.

Originally, no one would buy British textiles at normal prices, but some people could not afford to sell them at a loss.

Who the hell would have thought that the price of British textiles sold in China in 1767 was lower than the ex-factory price of the factory in London?

Why did the British government give priority to tea trade in the Charles Cathcart mission order, knowing that the tea trade would lead to the outflow of silver?

Because at that time, [tea tax can provide the government with a tax revenue of 325 million pounds per year], which was already quite a lot, equivalent to 1000 million taels of silver, enough to pay Liao's salary for three years.

This is the same reason why Dashun is now forcing Japan to switch. The shogunate knows that "gold and silver are like bones and cannot be regenerated", but they still support it.Because it can provide the shogunate with huge tariff benefits.In order to establish an absolute advantage over the rest of the princes.

After tearing away the fog hidden outside and seeing the essence, it is very easy to solve many things.

Isn't it volume?

Then one step is in place, directly "full competition" to the point of monopoly, how can they get involved with each other after monopoly?You can run the monopoly East India Company, but I can't?
Isn't it a double standard?
Then go to the Netherlands and ask why the Netherlands can build a business hall in China, but Dashun can’t build a business hall in Amsterdam?Because the legal mandate of Parliament is sacred?That's simple, the emperor's authorization is also sacred, to take back Nanyang, occupy Ceylon, invade India, and push the Dutch power from Nagasaki to Persia.

Don't you have to buy tea bundles?
Then monopolize and crush all small businessmen to death. If you want to buy tea for cash, you don’t want a piece of woolen cloth. Even if the navy uses it, you only buy French.If you can get tea from other places, the local magistrates will have to wear small shoes tomorrow.

Isn't opium looking for trading opportunities scattered and tortuous on the sea?

Let’s start with the opium case, tell the British clearly, don’t look for scattered and tortuous trade opportunities, otherwise Dashun will close the country, shouting that silver is not wealth and national wealth is the total product.

His method of using magic to break magic, of course, needs the support of the court.

At the very least, we must absolutely support the policy of "unity with France and anti-British".

In fact, from a domestic point of view at this time, Britain is a far better partner than France from a purely trade perspective.

The British tea tax will even cause the emperor to have some kind of hesitation in his inner balance - if the British abolishes the tea tax and expands the sales of tea, why doesn't the emperor learn from the Song Dynasty system or the Russian rhubarb monopoly system and pinch the export of tea at the top of the list? How about selling it to the UK in your own hands?The British tea tax can collect 1000 million taels per year. Emperor Dashun squeezed the tea monopoly right, so he can't make less money, right?
If the trade volume of Britain surged and the emperor got high profits from the tea trade, why did he go to war with Britain?The French are engaged in domestic substitution, and they are poor and don’t buy anything. Why don’t they help the UK to fight France?

To seek maritime supremacy, you need to invest huge sums of money in building a fleet, and the fleet is unable to suppress peasant uprisings that may occur in the country in the future.If Britain's trade volume surges, why does it have to build its own fleet to go to Europe to open up markets, or even fight a war?

In the past, Liu Yu himself monopolized the external information, especially after Liu Yu slapped the missionary in the face, he did control Dashun's foreign policy for a long time.

But now, with the increase in exchanges, especially this time when Qi Guogong returned from his visit to Europe, Liu Yu was completely unable to monopolize external information.

At this time, he needs to take advantage of the opportunity of Qi Guogong's return from Europe to turn the matter of "union with France against Britain" from a purely economic issue to a "political issue" of political correctness in Dashun.

Taking advantage of Qi Guogong talking about the maritime trade policies of European countries, Liu Yu has collected a lot of black materials about the British over the years. At this time, he smiled and said: "When I talk about the so-called retreat and banning the sea, I think of an interesting thing."

"Ten years before Ming Chongzhen, the British Weddell came to China with a fleet. At that time, he said [China closed its doors and guarded itself, and opened a door to the Portuguese under conditions, but this door was locked and closed to the British. I am going to Take advantage of the Portuguese door, and humbly knock on it.”]

“[Of course, if knocking on the door is rejected, I will break in!]”

Liu Yu laughed after speaking.

Qi Guogong was stunned for a moment, probably because he felt that the words were too shocking for a moment, so he didn't react.

Then, he raised his head and laughed heartily.

"Chongzhen ten years, broke into the house? Hahahahaha... This Englishman Wedel dares to think."

(End of this chapter)