Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1044 New Crisis
The emperor should not be too involved in such a big issue of Confucian academic crisis, mainly because he is not at that level.

The news that Liu Yu and others had arrived in Tianjin followed the fast horse to the capital.

At the same time, there is also a regular report from the Governor of Tianjin.

Since the abolition of the canal and water transportation, the status of Tianjin Wei has also risen, and it has been upgraded to Tianjin Prefecture even faster.

There are also yamen stationed in various yamen, those in charge of rice, warehouses, transportation, Changluyan, and forts in charge of the garrison.

In the memorial to the emperor, the governor of Tianjin mentioned a new industry that had emerged around Tianjin in recent years.

It is said that after the autumn harvest every year, the straw that used to be piled up in the field and could only be burned has gradually become an industry along with overseas trade.

People from the Western Trading Company place orders here, while country women collect straw and weave it into braids for straw hats.

Near the port of Tianjin, several workshops have been established, specializing in weaving straw hat braids purchased into women's straw hats.

These workshops do not braid straw hats, but the whole process of changing straw hat braids to women's straw hats is done in the workshops.Including weaving, styling, bleaching, dyeing and more.

The formed straw hats are packed into boxes and shipped to Europe for sale.

Straw hat braids are made of straw.

If it is used as a rainproof straw hat for labor, it is definitely worthless.

But the kind of big-brimmed straw hats commonly used by European women can be exchanged for silver.

Do Europeans grow wheat?Obviously planted.

Can Europeans braid straw hats and make straw hats?
Obviously it will, otherwise this straw hat would not be popular in Europe instead of Dashun.This kind of straw hat itself is also a trend brought by European women. Women's money is always better than men's money.

In general, relying on the extremely low labor cost, extremely low rural handicraft women weave straw hat braids, and then the merchants buy and transport them to Tianjin, where they are manufactured into women's straw hats based on European orders.

Packing and shipping to Europe is actually cheaper than hats woven from straw in Europe.

Coupled with the addition of "mysterious oriental charm" and "Chinese fever", as well as the current advantages of Dashun in the handicraft industry, especially in the weaving and textile industry, Dashun really can eat meat and drink soup. The straw hat weaving industry in Central Europe has completely occupied the top of European women's heads, actively driving a wave of straw hats.

The feudal dross here in Dashun is different from that in Europe.

The hair of European women is similar to that of other places at this time, and it is best not to show it.

Therefore, sales are very good.

At the peak of history, they only made low-level straw hat braids and did not weave them into finished products. They all got a trade volume of more than 100 million taels of silver a year.

These are still some "smart" businessmen who found that it takes one or two years for European merchant ships to go back and forth, so they bribed the inspectors to change the size and tampered with 0.95 yards to 1 yard, which almost caused the entire industry to collapse. Japan snatched the case.

Now relying on these hats woven from straw, which were originally worthless at all, a brand-new industry has formed around Tianjin, and it is definitely an export-oriented industry.

The ancients said that if you taste a piece of meat, you will know the taste of a wok; if you hang feathers and charcoal, you will know the air of dryness and dampness.When you see a leaf, you know that autumn is coming.

That is to say, there is no convenient transportation from Tianjin to Zhangjiakou these days, whether it is a railway or a canal, so that only some of the best camel wool and cashmere can be transported here.

If the transportation and logistics system is developed, think that even industries such as wheat straw can make Europe unemployed, and I am afraid that even European woolen fabrics will be swept away by then.

The memorial to the emperor from the governor of Tianjin must not simply tell about this phenomenon, but raise some doubts of his own.

The governor of Tianjin has studied the European books brought in by the translation movement in recent years, and of course he has also read many pamphlets on economics published by people from Liu Yu's faction.

The governor of Tianjin also asked someone to ask, and he was sure that Europe also has straw hats, and the technique of weaving straw hats was taught by artisans dug from Europe. Otherwise, the aesthetics of the two sides are fundamentally different. How do you know that European women like to wear What style of straw hat?

Therefore, the governor of Tianjin obviously felt a crisis.

In the memorial to the emperor, the governor of Tianjin, who was an eye-opener to the world, analyzed it to the emperor, saying that "good quality and low price are not the reason why others will definitely buy it. Xingguogong's idea of ​​free trade between countries, It is precisely because it cannot be done that it is good to mention it to Westerners from time to time.”

Nowadays, Tianjin, as the gateway to the capital city, is definitely not allowed to directly communicate with the West.But even if direct communication with the West is not allowed, many industries in Tianjin rely entirely on the overseas trade of Songjiang Prefecture.

Take the straw hat industry as an example. What if Westerners cannot sell straw hats once taxes are raised like cotton cloth and tea?
Different people have different solutions to the same problem.

If you are a closed conservative, facing this kind of thing, it is probably the easiest thing to do once and for all.Directly ordered to seize the straw hat industry and destroy it before it develops and grows. If people don't buy straw hats in the future, won't it cause unemployment and refugees soon?

The governor of Tianjin is not a closed conservative. Faced with the same thing, his memorial suggested that the court should build more warships. If they don't buy them in the future, they will knock on the door for free trade.

Of course, the governor of Tianjin could not write it so straightforwardly, but used the allusion of "Switching the Japanese Story", which can already be counted as an allusion in Dashun.

The main reason is that although the entire reform of water transportation has only been completed recently.But before that, Tianjin has already begun to receive Caomi from Jiangsu by sea, and only after the trial is successful can there be a basis for comprehensive sea transportation.

With the development of shipping, Tianjin Port has gradually acquired a commercial flavor.

For example, several nearby counties have begun to grow peanuts in large quantities, which is more profitable than growing grain.And Liaodong wheat, Yezo rice, etc., ensure that the fluctuation of food prices here is very small.

Peanuts are transported to Tianjin and then to the south.

Steam-powered mills and oil presses targeting the capital market, crude match workshops, cigarette factories, etc.; black date processing for European exports, etc., have also gradually developed, and even peanuts have begun to appear futures.

This gradually changing economic basis made the governor of Tianjin realize the great value of trade.In addition, Tianjin itself is not a good agricultural government at all. It was born purely because of the sea transportation of rice, and it is essentially a commercial city similar to Huai'an.

If the governor of Tianjin wants to be good, he has to understand these things.

And if you know more, it is impossible to come up with the idea of ​​directly and completely banning the straw hat weaving industry.

Do not want to ban.

The power to buy or not, and the power to increase tariffs, are still in the hands of others.

What's up with this?
The answer is about to come out.

Remind the imperial court that it should continue to expand its navy and maintain its superiority at sea, otherwise there may be big troubles in the future.

This is the crisis awareness of the governor of Tianjin.

The emperor was quite satisfied with this memorial, and approved it as promising and insightful.

But I still have an unspeakable perspective on this matter in my heart.

I wondered why the people of this dynasty were so poor?It is enough to say that silk, tea, and porcelain are exported in large quantities.

But Europe is a place where wheat is grown rather than rice. After crossing the ocean, things woven from wheat straw can be cheaper than those woven locally in Europe, and have good profits?
He had heard from Liu Yu about the American gold and silver revolution and the price revolution.

But straw is so common, common, and even humble, that the emperor was a little surprised that this stuff could be sold across the ocean and sold for money.

After reading this memorial from the governor of Tianjin, the emperor picked up another memorial about the sense of crisis.

This is a memorial from Nanyang.

The matter is also simple.

The Nanyang Navy caught a British smuggling ship during its inspection.It is called "Neptune", and if it is translated, it is called Poseidon or Poseidon according to Greek mythology.

The smuggling ship was loaded with opium, and the captain was holding a license signed by the Vice-Governor of Bengkulu, but it was not a British East India Company ship.

After interrogation, it was confirmed that the ship was not headed for China, and there was a company document on board that specifically warned against selling opium to China, so as to avoid further accidents.

The ship was bound for Banjamin, Borneo, where there used to be a trading post of the British East India Company.

On the Nanyang side, the person sent by the emperor to be in charge of the spice trade told the emperor what to do with the Poseidon that was captured in England?

The East India Company did not admit it was their ship, only that they had signed a license allowing them to trade to Bengkulu.

After the interrogation, there was indeed no evidence, saying that the opium on this ship was still sold to Dashun.

The Governor of Bengkulu, the British East India Principality, hoped that Dashun would protect the legal property of British citizens.

Because Britain recognized that Dashun replaced the Dutch occupation of Nanyang.

But "as long as there is no Chinese flag flying, it can be regarded as a free route and a neutral port."

Although Dashun's side is in Nanyang, it is definitely not the idea of ​​the king of the world, because people don't recognize it.

Since it is a business, it is necessary to negotiate an international law acceptable to both parties.You say that the whole world is the king's land, and people also say that it is legal to hijack Chinese merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean.Threatening each other can only compromise with each other.

With the help of its control over the tributary states, Dashun strictly forbids them from dealing with others in private.But...it's not so easy to control.

Bengkulu is stuck in Nanyang, and gets some smuggling boats from time to time.

It is true that these smuggling ships did not belong to the British East India Company, but sometimes belonged to small Southeast Asian countries, chiefs, or private merchants.

Hard to guard against.

In the memorial, after talking about these situations, he said that he hoped that the imperial court could make a decision early and directly take back all the territories of the other Western countries in Nanyang.

Start the war early.

Otherwise, this kind of smuggling is really impossible to prevent.

And it can't be too stiff.

Dashun now monopolizes the specialty trade in Nanyang, and a monopoly will inevitably lead to smuggling.

You can't catch it, you can't stop it.

So much so that the memorial clearly stated: "Any smuggling ship that buys goods in Nanyang and sells them to the West without the permission of the dynasty is like stealing something into the purse of the dynasty. Every smuggling ship is The loss of North Korea's overseas trade."

"In view of this, the imperial court should make preparations early, at least to drive away the British in Bengkulu. It should also drive away all the Western colonies in Southeast Asia, otherwise, this kind of smuggling trade that is transited by Western strongholds is very difficult. Forbidden."

"I think that we should continue to expand the navy to completely solve the Nanyang issue. Otherwise, the special products stolen by them every year are worth at least one million taels of silver."

"If the symptoms are taken care of, 20 more cruise ships will be needed."

"If the root cause is to be cured, the war should be started as soon as possible."

In Nanyang's memorial, in addition to the issue of smuggling and the suggestion of continuing to expand the army and go to war, there is another issue, that is, it is hoped that the imperial court will send a mission to Turkey.

"The merchants of this dynasty have found new business opportunities. There are Indian merchants in Nanyang, which provide new business opportunities for merchants of this dynasty. The Turks like pure white cotton for summer clothes, but the British are playing tricks there. The merchant ships sent by Nanyang , went to Muha and Jeddah and was treated unfairly."

"There is only a 3% tariff for the British, but 12% for us. In the Jeddah Port, the Jiedushi of Mecca, a high tax of 18% is imposed. It makes it difficult for the merchants of this dynasty to sell their goods. Suspected that the British bribed the governor of Mecca, but the British have been entrenched there for a long time, and the merchants of this dynasty want to bribe but have no way..."

"Yes, I implore the imperial court to send a mission to Turkey to discuss matters related to tariffs."

"There are more and more conflicts between the merchants of this dynasty and the British East India Company. The court should make plans early. On the one hand, start negotiations and negotiations, and on the other hand, prepare for war..."

There are quite a few more memorials similar to those of the governor of Tianjin and the Nanyang issue. They are basically opening their eyes to see the crisis awareness of the continuous increase in the overseas trade volume of Party Dashun in the world.

This sense of crisis is not the kind of crisis of saving the nation, but a pure feeling that either Dashun should not expand overseas trade in the first place; or Dashun must go all the way to the end and make plans for war early.

In the current situation, once Europe cuts off its trade with Dashun, at least half of Dashun's foreign trade industries will die.

(End of this chapter)