Daming 1805

Chapter 446 "The Grand Alliance of the Old Ruling Classes of the World..."

On September [-], the ninth year of Ankang in the Ming Dynasty, Xianbei City, the capital of the Xianbei Principality.

Representatives from Honglu Temple and Zhu Jingyuan from the Ming Dynasty met with representatives from Lucia.

Before the two parties met, there was no clear official definition of the meaning of this meeting.

So the first meeting was not official, but in the form of a private banquet organized by Duke Xianbei.

The form of the banquet is of course Ming-style, and now the Xianbei Principality is completely Ming-style from top to bottom.

Luo Yashan, Duke of Xianbei, took his daughter Luo Feiya and niece Ekaterina to sit at the main seat.

Lin Zexu and other personnel from Ming Dynasty sat on the left side, and Wedemeyer and others from Lucia sat on the right side.

People from all parties exchanged greetings, sat down and started a banquet. After drinking for three rounds, the singing and dancing were suspended, and the two sides began to ask each other about their attitudes.

Lucia's representative Wedemeyer first confessed himself:
"His Royal Highness Xianbei, the two princesses, friends of Daming.

"Since the end of the World War, the whole country of Lucia has regarded Ming as a respected leader and friend.

"Lucia's development in the Volga region has absolutely no intention of targeting Ming Dynasty and Xianbei Principality.

"It's just because, within the entire territory of Lucia, only clear oil deposits that can be exploited have been found here.

"We, Lucia, can give the royal family and the official court the most serious promise and guarantee that this oil field development will be carried out in a purely civilian manner, and no official military personnel will be assigned to the local area.

"After the oil is extracted, it will be directly transported to the inland for refining, and no industrial production facilities will be built locally.

"We will not build large-scale residential areas in the local area that exceed the needs of oil field extraction and transportation.

"There will be no local factories that can be used to produce vehicles and weapons and ammunition.

"Both the Daming side and the Xianbei Principality can arrange personnel to go to the scene for inspection and supervision."

Wedemeyer felt that what he said was very sincere, and he was frank and open from the beginning.

Then Lin Zexu and the representative of Honghe Temple looked at each other, and the representative of Honghe Temple smiled and nodded at Lin Zexu.

So Lin Zexu thought about it and said:

"Our Royal Highness Prince Dashi is also planning to invest in private funds to explore and develop resources and land along the Caspian Sea coast and the Ural region.

"We plan to build high-standard railways and roads locally, connecting important cities and fortresses in Xianbei, Kazakhstan, Khiva, Persia, and the Western Regions.

"We are planning to build a large-scale residential area locally, and we will adopt the standard of a military fortress to protect the lives and property of our immigrants.

"We are going to build local factories that produce textiles, fuel, steel, machinery, vehicles, aircraft, and make sure that these factories can produce supplies when necessary.

"And we will not allow Lucians to go to the local area to inspect and monitor...

"Of course, the Ming government will not violate the agreement it signed, so before the war is about to break out, Ming will not arrange official military personnel to the local area.

"The safety and order of the local residents will be maintained by private bodyguard companies in cooperation with the official Jinyiwei."

After Lin Zexu's words came out, all representatives of Lucia, including Wedemeyer, and the personnel of the Xianbei Kingdom headed by Luo Yashan, all opened their mouths wide and were speechless.

High-grade railways and roads, fortress-level defensive residential areas to protect immigrants, plus factories that can be converted into military factories or produce military supplies, and the last one that will not arrange "official" military personnel until the outbreak of the war...

Could you be more explicit about your threat?

Lucia is trying to negotiate and resolve conflicts, but Daming is just filling up the war preparation plan.

But soon, everyone realized that this threat was just a threat for the time being.

Saying it so directly now means that there is a lot of room for maneuver, otherwise we would not come here to discuss it.

This is the threat of extortionate prices, and it depends on how Lucia repays the money on the spot.

After Wedemeyer understood it, he immediately said exaggeratedly:

"Why is this, why is this! Our Lucia has absolutely no intention of becoming an enemy of Da Ming, and Da Ming does not need to be so nervous about Lucia.

"We understand that the key point of this issue is that this oil and gas field is just at the junction of the two sides, and both sides are demilitarized zones stipulated in the treaty.

"But both of us can negotiate amicably to resolve and avoid unnecessary conflicts.

"Da Ming has any suggestions, ideas, or requests about the current state, and he can directly put them forward to us, and we, Lucia, will cooperate as much as possible."

Lin Zexu saw that the other party had reached this point, so he didn't hold back, and listed out the prepared requirements:

"According to Daming's oil development experience, the scope of oil and gas fields can be very large, and the scope of oil and gas resource areas with a large number of oil and gas fields is usually even wider.

"For example, the entire periphery of the Persian Gulf is considered to be a place where there are likely to be exploitable oil and gas resources.

"Now it has been jointly explored and comprehensively developed by Daming Royal Petroleum Corporation and Dashiguo Petroleum Corporation.

"Since the place where Lucia discovered oil and gas resources is located in the border area, it is very likely that the area on the Ming side will also have rich oil resources.

"So what His Royal Highness Prince Dashi means is that the resources here can be jointly developed by both of us.

"At the same time, in order to deepen the cooperation between Daming and Lucia, we can use the border demilitarized zone to build a large-scale border free trade zone.

"Allow both official and non-governmental businessmen to invest in the development of agricultural and industrial resources on the banks of the Ural River.

"And locally produced goods can enter either Lucia or Daming as domestic goods.

"In order to achieve and strengthen this kind of cooperation, and at the same time further strengthen the connection between Ming Dynasty and the Thai and Western countries, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi proposed to connect the railway and road networks of the two sides in the Ural region.

"While further extending the railway line to Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and Paris.

"The participating royal families jointly funded the establishment of a cross-border trading company, allowing the company's vehicles to freely carry out road, rail, and air transportation and trade throughout the Shenou continent.

"When crossing the border, there is no need to go through complicated border inspection procedures, just like transporting and operating within the country.

"As this type of collaboration continues to grow, our parties are becoming more and more connected economically.

"Then, our political and military and social and other conflicts will continue to decrease accordingly.

"The key is that it can be more conveniently resolved through economic means.

"Because Daming has no intention of engaging in another meaningless war with Lucia and other Western countries."

Luo Yashan has already understood these thoughts of Daming, and now he listens relatively calmly.

Wedemeyer was a little dazed after hearing this. Although he had expected before coming that Daming might come up with a request for "cooperation" again, but now this gesture is really too big.

Connecting the road network is not a big problem, the big problem is the elimination of border checkpoints, and the big problem is cross-border free trade.

For a while, Wedemeyer couldn't fully understand the benefits and risks.

The point is that this kind of issue must be decided by Emperor Lucia, and no one else can make up his mind.

Lin Zexu also knew this, so after he finished speaking, seeing Wedemeyer standing there in a daze, he directly added and reminded:
"Of course, these issues cannot be decided immediately. The ambassador can think about it after returning home, and wait for the next meeting to discuss formally. It is better to concentrate on the banquet now."

Wedemeyer nodded without hesitation:
"We really need to think about it, thank you for your understanding..."

The next banquet is really a banquet, but many people have too many thoughts and can't really concentrate on having fun.

So the banquet didn't last too long, and it ended after ten o'clock in the evening.

After Wedemeyer returned to his residence, he sent Daming's request to Emperor Lucia Nicholas in Moscow without stopping.

But time is urgent, without any additional explanation, this is just a situation report.

Just to explain, there will be an analysis report ahead tomorrow.

After Nicholas saw the news, he was also dazed and silent for a long time.

In Nicholas' view, these cooperation plans proposed by Daming are really too tangled.

None of them were directly rejected by Nicholas as a matter of course.

Because the country of Lucia, as well as the royal family of Lucia, can benefit from this kind of cooperation.

Establishing a joint venture with the Daming royal family to establish a cross-border trading company is equivalent to using Daming's technology to operate and distribute dividends.

Moreover, Lucia's products are allowed to directly enter Daming, Prussia, France...

With the Ming imperial family taking the lead, the Thai and Western monarchs who participated in the management, although they will definitely not be able to become big bosses, they will definitely obtain relatively stable profits.

But it's equally hard to accept directly.

Since it is cross-border free trade, the influx of foreign goods must also be allowed while exporting.

Lucia's market is also fully open to Ming, Prussia, and France.

Daming's strategy of getting everyone to hug each other really made Taixi Monarch very troubled.

In fact, it is also because the world is still dominated by a monarchy.

While considering national interests, the monarch will also consider family interests and personal interests.

It's not that the leaders of the republic will not consider these things, but they will not be so straightforward and open, and can only be done in private, and it is even more impossible to directly implement them into official treaties.

In most cases, the cooperation and trade between the monarchs of various countries is a bad thing for the capital of the country, but for the monarchs themselves, the advantages often outweigh the disadvantages.

The old ruling classes all over the world unite to make profits, which will inevitably increase their ruling ability simultaneously.

Of course, it will be more difficult for civil forces to gain power and status.

Under Zhu Jingyuan's various worldviews in his previous life, this can basically be regarded as a situation where reactionary forces are overwhelmed.

But what the ruling class has united to do is free trade.

It's just not the free trade of private capital, but the free trade of the monarchs and royal families of various countries.

But looking at it from another angle, it is actually free trade of the ruling class.

Real civilians can only participate in the form of producers.

Nicholas watched these requirements for most of the night, and Wedemeyer also studied them for most of the night.

In the end the two came to very similar ideas for granted.

Cooperation is possible, but limited in scope.

Commodity categories for joint free trade must be limited, and free trade cannot be completely and thoroughly opened.

For the sake of fairness, participating countries should come up with their own advantageous products, as well as products that are in short supply, and include them in the scope of free trade commodities in a complementary manner as much as possible.

Specifically, the unilateral cooperation between Daming and Lucia, that is, the comprehensive development of the Ural region, is also the same standard.

Free trade zones can be established, but free trade commodities must also have category restrictions.

Finally, regarding the development of local oil and gas resources, it is best not to cooperate.

Daming has abundant oil in other places, but the only oil field worth developing that Lucia has found so far is here.

So even Nicholas, who is a traditional monarch, hopes to completely control this oil field.

Instead of taking it out and sharing it with Daming people, you Daming don't lack this...

In the end, Wedemeyer, as a politician of the commissioner, also thought of some new supplementary schemes.

The next afternoon, Wedemeyer and Nicholas contacted again to exchange and confirm opinions.

Three days later, the second meeting between Daming and Lucia in the Principality of Xianbei began.

With the requirements and consideration process at the first banquet, this meeting is semi-formal.

So it was held in a conference room in the Palace of the Xianbei Principality.

It was Wedemeyer who spoke first, explaining Lucia's basic attitude.

Willing to cooperate, but cooperation is conditional and limited.

Wedemeyer offered his own ideas, in addition to those considered by Emperor Nicola of Lucia:
"Our idea is that free trade in the Urals should be limited to the local Urals.

"In the free trade zone, businessmen from both sides can trade freely without paying customs duties.

"However, when leaving the scope of the free trade zone, the unified free trade tax should be paid to both countries.

"The amount of this tax is decided by both of us, without interfering with each other..."

Lin Zexu frowned immediately after hearing this.

Zhu Jingyuan's initial request was a fundamental free trade zone.

Once things from the two countries pass through this place, they belong to both countries at the same time, and can be sold to any country without restriction.

The amendment proposed by Wedemeyer is similar to the free trade area of ​​later generations.

Free trade only in the trade zone, and taxes are still required when leaving the trade zone.

Of course there is a huge difference between the two...

However, a complete fundamental free trade is only an ideal state.

Unless Lucia became a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult to achieve that level of free trade.

Zhu Jingyuan was also prepared for this, and made an explanation for Lin Zexu.

Although Lin Zexu didn't know about the free trade zones of later generations, he already understood the twists and turns.

Lin Zexu had room to make concessions in the negotiations, and Wedemeyer's conditions, similar to the free trade zone of later generations, were actually within the range that Zhu Jingyuan could accept.

But Lin Zexu couldn't just accept it like this, so he deliberately expressed some anger and said:
"When you leave the region, you have to pay taxes, what kind of free trade is this?

"You just shifted the payment time of customs duties from the node of crossing the border customs to the node of leaving the free trade zone.

"Instead of doing this, what kind of free trade zone are you still tossing about? Just don't have any cooperation at all, let's go our own way."

Wedemeyer immediately explained:

"It's different, it's different, there is no tax in the free trade zone, and there is no tax when you enter the only trade zone, and you only charge when you leave.

"So businessmen can build factories and firms in the trade zone, and import raw materials duty-free from the two countries.

"In this way, the value-added tax between raw materials and goods is eliminated, and import fees and procedures for imported materials are also eliminated.

"The actual production cost can be greatly reduced, so businessmen are definitely willing to build factories and firms locally.

"If you add free trade rail, you can even import raw materials from the whole continent and make products here.

"If individual buyers are tax-free and visa-free, it can also attract tourists and residents from the two countries and even the entire continent..."

After hearing this, Lin Zexu nodded inwardly. Zhu Jingyuan had explained these assumptions, but he still couldn't just agree.

But Lin Zexu also took a small step back:

"Even so, the tax rate for leaving the free trade zone should be controlled within a certain range.

"And it cannot be set unilaterally by each party, it should be determined and adjusted by both parties through consultation."

Lin Zexu, as a negotiator, only said the requirements to be negotiated, and would not directly say how much the limit should be. That is a matter for specialized tax and accounting personnel.

This request is further restricted on the basis of accepting Wedemeyer's conditions. After Wedemeyer achieved the basic goal, he did not hesitate too much, and directly expressed his acceptance:

"It can be negotiated... However, while we are negotiating the tax rate, we should also determine the specific scope of the free trade zone."

Lin Zexu nodded after hearing this.

In this way, the intention and general direction of cooperation between the two parties in free trade are basically determined.

The latter is the details, and the details are not the task of the two.

Next, the two will discuss the development and cooperation of the oil-based Ural region, as well as the road network connection between Ming and Western countries and the cooperation of the royal family's joint venture trading company.

(End of this chapter)