Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1262 After the voyage to the Western Ocean ([-])

Because Earl Arlanda had a brain, the direction of the negotiations between him and Dashun was not focused on the issues of Luzon and Gibraltar.

People with brains know that the Luzon issue is not an issue that can be discussed.

The premise of the negotiation is that both parties have to pay a heavy enough price for this, so that there is no possibility of compromise and negotiation.

Does a lion need to negotiate with a puppy?Talk about who owns a piece of meat?
No need.

Only a dog and a wolf can negotiate.

But now, this premise does not exist.It's not that Spain is weak enough to fight casually, but even if Dashun sets up a colony [-] miles away, it won't be able to send too many troops.This is an accidental problem left over from history, and it shouldn't be like this at all. The cost of maintaining this accidental shouldn't be very high.

Therefore, the problem of Luzon is only whether Dashun wants to take it back.

It is impossible for Spain to inflict a heavy enough price on Dashun.

It is true that it cannot be done, no matter it is economic, trade, military, or religious, there is no threat.Manila's current defense, Dashun only needs three battleships and two battalions of soldiers to disintegrate.Even... If the imperial court is willing, this is simply a local issue of the Nanyang Governor.

So there is no need to talk about it.

The direction of his talk is mainly trade issues.

Count Arlanda can see the crisis that Spain is facing now, just like the idea of ​​the Spanish Federation that he will put forward in the future. In the economic field, he hopes to carry out an economic reform for Spain.

In his words, it is called "a free trade zone within the empire".

That is, to allow free trade among the various Spanish colonies in the Americas, thereby forming a self-sufficient internal trade system with a huge population and resources.

The significance of the existence of this internal trading system is to "strike against British smugglers and weaken the influence of foreign smugglers through free trade permits within the empire."

As well as cementing the link between the imperial core and the colonies.

This idea is definitely problematic.

The root of this problem is that Spain's domestic production capacity is insufficient to provide enough commodities for the colonies.

And what can the colony produce?
Wool, cattle, sugar, silver, mercury, ore, grain, cocoa... nothing else.

Spain's handicraft industry was destroyed by the huge amount of silver Spain obtained from the Americas. The price revolution made Spain's handicraft industry unable to compete with Britain and the Netherlands, after all, it was the country that issued the money.

Which worldwide banknote-issuing country has a trade surplus?Which of the world's money-issuing countries doesn't have lower labor costs than those countries that lack money?
To some extent, there is a saying that "British smugglers delayed the time for local forces in South America to rebel against their suzerain."

Because a large number of commodities obtained by British smugglers were sold and smuggled through local forces.And the local people, because they can get enough high-grade and daily necessities, make the awareness of rebellion less strong.

Earl Arlanda's free trade is limited.

It is free trade within the empire.

Or, let’s call it the “Spanish Free Trade Zone Plan.”

Now, in the whole world, apart from Dashun who wants to engage in worldwide free trade, the rest of the countries, whether it is Spain, France, or the UK that will soon be added, all hope to implement this "imperial free trade zone" model.

Let’s not mention Dashun’s side, or what people like Liu Yu who support the world market think.After all, they definitely oppose it. They, including the new school of Dashun, and the middle class in the Songsu area under the trend of the times, are all beneficiaries of globalization and the world market. They don't want to set up a vassal free trade zone. Go to shitty India and close Malacca.

As far as Spain is concerned, Earl Aranda believes that this cooperation with Dashun is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Many problems in the past can be completely solved now.

For example, the big problem of insufficient production capacity in Spain... Indeed, Spain's production capacity is insufficient, but there is enough!
The one in front of my eyes is enough, very, very enough.

Everything that the Latin American colonies want can be met in front of them-cotton cloth, silk, woodware, spoons, ironware, clothes, tools, needles and threads, pants and shirts, all can be satisfied.

Even, if necessary, even the Bible can be printed.Many porcelains in Europe are custom-made, and any pattern can be customized. Of course, if you want to print the Bible and get an alphabet printing machine, you can naturally print it, and it must be very cheap.

Since it is said that reform is needed, one thing must be determined first, that is, what is the cause of the problems in Latin America?
As far as this time is concerned, it is naturally because of the ownership of large landowners and large manors, the church, and the feudal system of the late medieval period in 1492.

Can this problem be solved?
Yes, let's have a French-style revolution that overthrows the old culture.

But obviously that's not possible.

Then, we must first determine one thing, what is the purpose of Earl Arlanda's reform when the root cause cannot be cured?
Reform cannot be reformed for the sake of reform.

To put it simply, the reform goals of Earl Arlanda's "Spanish Federal Free Trade Zone" are generally three things.

One: Disgusting Britain, retaliation for British South Sea Company smuggling after the Jenkins Ear War and the previous War of Succession.

The second is to de-Americanize the Americas, strengthen the influence and power of centralization and local bureaucrats in the Americas, and reduce the influence of the native whites in the Americas, that is, the Creoles, that is, the local local gentry.The middle-level officials must be appointed by the central government, and the central government, that is, the Kingdom of Spain, the main body of the empire, must control the economic lifeline and trade products.

The third: filling the treasury.

The first two items are well understood.

Revenge on the British, this need not be mentioned.The tax evasion of the South Sea Company and the humiliation of Spain in the Jenkins ear incident have made Spain dissatisfied for a long time.

De-Americanizing the Americas... Grasp two points, the appointment of middle-level officials must come from the core of the empire, and trade should be controlled by the core of the empire.

Without the right to control the trade of daily necessities, the power of the local faction will become bigger, and the core of the empire will not be suspended at all. This is the basic principle, and it is the same everywhere—including Dashun, the premise of the Songsu reform is the Dashun Navy Songsu's coal, iron, grain, and export channels can be cut off at any time; the prerequisite for Dashun to go to Nanyang, conquer India, and rebuild the Dadufu is that the Nanyang Dufu has no navy and its trade is completely bound to the core area of ​​Dashun.

Spain’s set of things does not mean that it must not be possible, but that with the population and productivity level, the number of trade products, and the level of handicrafts like Dashun, it will not only be possible, but very good.

As far as the Latin American market is concerned, if Dashun can be forced to the point of shortage of goods, why does Dashun build a navy to search for markets everywhere and destroy India's handicraft industry?
As for the third point...

Trade control, at this time, has no more than two purposes.

Or, to protect the domestic industry, such as the British and French cotton prohibition orders, and the French sugar cane liquor ban.

Or, increase treasury revenue, such as Britain's high tea tax, honey tax, and the monopoly East India Company.

Does Spain have any domestic industries that need to be protected?
This... is basically not there.

With the price revolution triggered by himself, Spain can only move towards the export of raw materials similar to the re-serfdom in Eastern Europe, such as raising sheep and selling wool.

Generally speaking, the resource export industry and agricultural export industry of the note-issuing country will be strong.

Then, the rest is an option to increase the treasury.

In fact, internal mobilization of church property, restrictions on the number of monks, collection of church property taxes, control of tithe taxes, etc., are actually increasing the revenue of the national treasury.

The court has no money and can't do anything.

In fact, Spain has no shortage of precious metals in theory. It really has mountains of gold and silver at home, and it is real gold and silver.

These days, gold mines and silver mines are big money printing machines. If you don't accept it, it's the real universal currency of the world.Buying Petersburg from Japan, and Gothenburg from Buenos Aires, there is no such thing as gold and silver being denied by other countries.

However, how to turn these precious metals into the national treasury requires brains.

Spain's previous approach was to control the trade of necessities, such as mercury.Raise the price of mercury. If you dig gold and silver, you must refine it with mercury. I specialize in mercury, so can I get the precious metal?

Another way is to monopolize daily trade goods.

Originally, it must not be possible, because Spain does not have this ability.

But now, of course it does.

Because, there is a country that is less affected by the price revolution, has extremely low labor costs, and has a high level of productivity, which can provide all the needs of Spain's monopoly on daily necessities trade.

That is: the Spanish government can carry out official trade with Dashun.

Spain organized the royal fleet and went directly to the Songsu area to purchase all the necessary commodities needed for the Latin American colonies.

Exchange it with silver, gold, or the much-needed carmine produced in Dashun in Latin America.

Even... In fact, Earl Arlanda at this time did not know that the Spanish colonies had something that Dashun urgently needed and whose consumption would increase sharply in the future, namely chemical fertilizers.

The military use of saltpetre is not in great demand in Dashun, Bangladesh is enough, it is not as good as another use as a fertilizer.

Rely on the low prices of Dashun industrial products to meet the daily needs of the colonies, so as to ensure that the people in the colonies will not rebel.

At the same time, through another form of monopoly on colonial trade—Dashun’s cotton cloth, since it can enter the UK despite the high tariffs in the UK, it means that at least textiles, Dashun’s textiles plus Spain's monopoly profits can still beat European smugglers.

And, because of Dashun's aggressiveness after going to Nanyang these years, once the First World War is over, Europe will completely lose its dominance in trade between the East and the West.

The Danish East India Company is already half-dead, and basically went bankrupt after Dashun raised tariffs.

The French East India Company lost even India.

The Swedish East India Company was reorganized long ago.

The Dutch East India Company cooperated with Dashun.

The foothold of Macau in Portugal is gone. Once the cooperation with Dashun is reached, the final East Timor will also have to be lost.

The Prussian ship Apollo, the trade volume is pure atmosphere group, negligible.

Spain, which also owns Luzon, is the only European country that can take the Pacific route to the American colonies.

Since the safety of Luzon rests entirely on Dashun's thoughts, Earl Arlanda hopes to promote trade cooperation between the two countries.

That is: use Manila as a transit point for Spain's trade with the American colonies.The trade between China and the West was held in Manila.

Every year, Dashun sends goods to Manila, and takes silver and gold from Manila.Spain, on the other hand, transported the goods from Manila to the American colonies.

At the same time, in Europe, Spain can also follow the Zhangzhou Yuegang model—in fact, Cadiz has always been this model, and only ships from Cadiz can go to the colonies—in Cadiz, complete trade with Dashun, and then The sailing fleet monopolized by the royal family went to Latin America for trade.

In this way, for Dashun, Manila will become an important source of precious metals, making Manila safer.

Spain estimated that Dashun should of course know that there is no mountain of gold and silver in Manila, and the place where silver is produced is actually elsewhere.They have all sailed the warships to Menorca, and it is impossible not to know this.

Since it is said that the Russian government can monopolize the trade of tea, rhubarb and silk; the British government can monopolize the trade of tea and sugar.Then, the Spanish government can completely monopolize trade products in Latin America.

Moreover, there is another situation that is very beneficial to Spain, that is, it seems that Dashun's trade model, such as the Western Trading Company, is also a monopoly company with a government-supervised nature.Dashun does not have free trade in the true sense, where private individuals go to sea at will.

Therefore, from the current point of view, Spain can reach an official agreement with Dashun.

As long as the officials of Dashun show respect and do not send fleets to smuggle, then this agreement is feasible, and it will greatly reduce the cost of anti-smuggling, strengthen the speed of de-Americanization, strengthen control over the Americas, and increase the revenue of the treasury.

Dashun's productivity complements Spain's shortcomings; Dashun's official monopoly monopolizes the exclusive trading company to reach a credible two-way treaty -- anyone with a discerning eye can understand that Dashun Western Trading Company, the Dutch East India Company, The distinction of the British East India Company.

The Dutch East India Company, considered the United Provinces of the Netherlands a piece of shit, at least as long as it wasn't bankrupt.

The British East India Company directly bought out the shares of the parallel East India Company run by the government.The South Sea Company regarded the Anglo-Spanish Treaty as fart, inciting public opinion and directly engaged in the Jenkins Ear War.

Dashun's Western Trading Company, no matter how awesome it is, has not been lifted to this level.Not to mention treating the central court as a fart, even the Songsu Jiedu envoy would not be so confused as to ask to see the company's major shareholder.

Even the miniature version of the absolute monarchy of France can achieve the level that Paris has been dispatching orders to directly let the governor of India go home, let alone Dashun.

Therefore, Earl Adalan certainly believed that an official treaty could be reached with Dashun.

Because it is impossible for Dashun to violate the treaty between the two countries, the South China Sea Company and the East India Company—including the East India Company, which not only went unpunished but forced the government to go to war—included the East India Company. The company made it clear that it would not sell opium to China. This was written in black and white, and it was also the basis for him to continue to trade raw tea and silk, but he still violated the contract.

This is of course not the first time, but it has always been like this, so Spain does not trust this kind of private company, especially when it is smuggled by the South Sea Company's "500 tons of trade quota" and refuses to pay the slave trade poll tax. This is even more so after the disgusting thing about "starting war".

Spain can trust the French government’s commitment to trade, Dashun’s commitment to trade, Prussia, Russia, and Austria, but it will never trust the Netherlands and the UK. This is why:
Because of the Anglo-Dutch model, it really can't control large private companies, and trade treaties are farting.

And these countries with absolute monarchy have a good example to prove that what they say is true-Austria really disbanded the Ostend company, and it really fulfilled and proved that it is capable of fulfilling the original interest exchange of the "Basic Law of Inheritance".

What if Dashun tore up the treaty in the future?That's not something to consider, because Dashun is really going to tear up the treaty, Luzon is gone, and South American smuggling is even more unstoppable, so what's the point of thinking about this "in case it is torn up in the future" now?
Therefore, Spain can participate in the war, and can open the isthmus of Gibraltar to allow Dashun to serve as an offensive launch base.But the premise is to reach an agreement on trade issues.

Neither Luzon nor Gibraltar, only trade.

In other words, Spain does not accept Dashun's Gibraltar or Cadiz Concession as a hostage plan, but only accepts the Cadiz and Manila trade cooperation plan.

(End of this chapter)