Xinshun 1730

Chapter 267 The Emperor's Conservation

Smuggling is a technical job.

The so-called Raptors do not cross the river, in terms of cash, capital and porcelain tea spot, Dashun's maritime merchants are absolutely fine.

But there is no foothold there, and the Swedes still have to lead the door.

At the Bye Wharf in Gothenburg, meet all kinds of gods, especially the predecessors of the great smugglers who have the potential to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Gifts should be given, gifts should be given, kickbacks should be given, and there is still a way out.

The emperor asked Liu Yu how long it would take to engage in smuggling in this way before the emperor's income could catch up with the direct monopoly of foreign trade.This was also the first time Liu Yu didn't dare to give a guaranteed answer.

This time, Mantou is going to explore the way. Bye bye to the pier in Western Europe. Whether it can open up a way in the future depends on whether the French in the War of the Austrian Succession are good or not.

If the Dutch ships and British ships robbed by French privateers suffer heavy losses, the situation will definitely be opened.

But if the French are not strong enough, something unexpected happens, the command of the sea is lost in an instant, and the two East India Company ships cannot be stopped by private plundering, it may be more difficult to open the situation.

Liu Yu now also knows that the emperor is short-tempered, and he "provoked" the emperor all day long, bragging about the tonnage of warships in various European countries, and the emperor also felt that the speed of building ships of 100 million taels a year was a bit slow.

This time when the French mission came, they learned more about the situation at sea in Europe, and if they were not impatient, something was wrong.

Talked to the emperor about the European market imbalance that may be caused by the war of Austrian succession, and the French interception of the East India Company's merchant ships. There are four words "supply exceeds demand". Even if the emperor has not learned any economics knowledge, he can understand It's not difficult either.

Looks promising.

Considering the emperor's impatience, Liu Yu drew another bigger pie.

"Your Majesty, the reason why I am so concerned about going abroad and going to the ocean is that there is actually a way to kill two birds with one stone."

"A voyage to the ocean will benefit a lot. This is open source, and this is a bird."

"British Guizhou, on the other hand, has closed its doors and strictly prohibits any ships and goods east of the Cape of Good Hope from entering the country, except those belonging to the East India Company. There is a heavy tax on tea, and cotton cloth is not allowed to be worn by the public. However, drinking tea has become a custom in the country."

"In this way, smuggling is inevitable. Smuggling can avoid taxes, and the price will be lower. After such a long time, the UK has only one choice."

"Reduce the tea tax, so that the East India Company's formal channel tea can be sold, and the goods will not be suppressed by smuggling."

"Your Majesty also knows that it takes one and a half years for European countries to go back and forth by sea. Although the interest rate in Europe is low, the interest for this year and a half is a huge amount. In addition, British and Yi merchants can only use silver coins to buy tea, not like As in the Netherlands, spices can be exchanged. Therefore, if there is too much smuggling, the British East India Company will inevitably backlog the tea. smuggling."

"In this way, if the tax on tea is lowered, more tea will be exported to China, and more tariffs will be collected, because more people can drink tea, and sales will increase."

"Furthermore, if it lowers the tea tax, it will be difficult for those smugglers raised by our government to make profits, so they will definitely take risks."

"I believe that the Japanese pirates in the previous dynasty may not be impossible. It is also very possible that smugglers robbed British merchant ships and burned British official tea ships."

"Thousands of miles away, the strategy of exhausting the enemy. This is Guan Zhong's 'severity technique'."

The principles of economics here are a little bit deeper. It has been 2000 years since the theory of various schools of thought has passed, and the emperor can't quite understand it.

After following Liu Yu's train of thought for a long time, he finally understood.

The British already drink a lot of tea every year, but due to heavy taxes and the monopoly of the East India Company, the price is too high, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in sales.

Liu Yu wants to smuggle tea into the hands of smugglers in Europe, and let them force Britain to lower the tea tax.

The key point is that Dashun is the origin of tea, and the British tea tax reduction and price reduction will not affect the interests of Dashun tea merchants.On the contrary, the tax reduction will lead to the popularization of tea, more sales and more tariffs.

Conversely, those who smuggle at sea are all a group of desperadoes.

With ships, money, and people, if Britain dared to lower the tea tax and ruin the livelihood of smugglers, these smugglers would naturally "rise up."

Looting official ships, selling tea privately, robbing tea boats...all of these can be done.

After Li Gan came to his senses, he couldn't help laughing and said: "In ancient times, there was a sword dance in Xiang Zhuang aimed at Pei Gong. Now the meaning of loving Qing is talking about Ying Yi, but it is actually persuading me."

"If I want to monopolize at the customs, there will be a lot of smuggling and it will be difficult to investigate. At that time, there may be a problem of Japanese pirates? If I monopolize trade in Songjiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places will be smuggled to Pakistan. Davia, maybe there will be pirate rebellion by then?"

Liu Yu bowed his head and said nothing, thinking that as long as you know what you have in mind.

"Businessmen can't be trusted to talk about profit. It seems that the East and the West are the same for profit and harm to the country. If Yingyi is like this, isn't Aiqing worried that the maritime merchants of his country will be thieves in the future?"

Liu Yu shook his head, very firm.

"I'm not afraid. Because tea is produced in the dynasty, and the British and barbarians are taxed heavily, that's why smugglers become pirates. Just ask, my dynasty tea, silk, rhubarb, porcelain, glass, firearms, cotton cloth, etc. are all high-quality and cheap , Your Majesty, as long as you continue to switch, how can there be smugglers?"

"On the other hand, if there is a day when cotton cloth from the West is better and cheaper than those from the Imperial Dynasty. Your Majesty is worried about the outflow of silver, and retreats, so there may be smugglers."

"As long as the products of the Celestial Dynasty are the most plentiful and cheapest, and the trade is open, there will be no danger of smuggling into pirates. The only thing is that some profit-seeking bypasses the customs and does not pay taxes."

Liu Yu knew very well that what the emperor was worried about was that a powerful pirate force would appear in the sea in the future, just like the Zheng family in the last years of the previous dynasty.

As for those smugglers who evade taxes and do not go through the customs, in the eyes of the emperor, they are scabies, nothing more than a little money.

Liu Yu had to explain clearly what the emperor was worried about, so that the emperor or ministers wouldn't be able to make up their minds and worry about such unfounded worries.

"Your Majesty, even in Europa, pirates don't have warships larger than frigates. A battleship costs two to three hundred thousand taels of silver, and the crew, supplies, consumption, and training on it are even more enormous."

"Since bayonets and flintlock guns are used in the army, and large ships are used in the navy, there will be no more banditry in the future. You can rest assured, Your Majesty, it will be a bad luck."

This is to remove some worries for the imperial power. There are too many such arguments.Some people have argued that there is no uprising with flintlock guns, and some people have argued that there is no revolution in the age of breech-loading guns, and it has been step by step until the era of drones has no revolution. However...

Liu Yu himself certainly does not believe it, but in Dashun, this argument is quite convincing, because "there is no history to learn from".

The emperor thought about Liu Yu's words for a while, and thought that this was indeed very reasonable.In the past, we had to worry about the power of the generals, but now the training and the command of the army are separated; the military academy is controlled by the imperial power; the military equipment is all around the capital; the navy is even more likely to be unable to support two battleships if there is no land to rely on...

Could it be... Could it be that this Dashun really wanted to last forever, breaking the curse that the first emperor had made the country strong for 400 years?
Thinking of this, Li Gan felt a little agitated in his heart, although his emotions and anger were not visible, his expression was also strange at this time.

As long as the authority of the central government is still there, and as long as the imperial court can guarantee an annual income of about 3000 million, after the military reform, it seems that the country will be stable as Liu Yu said, and the possibility of internal subversion will be completely cut off.

What they are worried about is nothing more than those Western powers with an annual income of tens of millions of taels. The internal forces can only succeed with the help of those Western powers.

It seems that it is so.

Li Gan stood up a little excitedly, and paced around the room with his hands behind his back. The sunlight from the transparent glass swept out streaks of dusty light and shadow, and the emperor's figure hovered in the light and shadow.

The fingers are sometimes held together, sometimes loosened, and from time to time I look at Liu Yu, thinking that this person is really a loyal minister sent by heaven to protect me in Dashun!The country has been established for nearly a hundred years, even Wei Yang, Wang Jinggong, and Zhang Taiyue can only tinker with it, but this son's method is quite different.

Now the Beijing Camp has completed the military reform, and the Northwest Frontier Army is also in the process of military reform, and it will see results within five years.

At that time, the Japanese kingdom will surrender and Nanyang will be conquered, and my prestige will be incomparable, comparable to Qin Huang Han Wu and Tang Zong Mingzu.With a gun in hand and prestige added, at that time, the preferential treatment of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River will be cancelled, the land will be checked, and the water transportation will be abandoned and replaced by sea transportation. Not to mention the generations, but dare to pursue the 800-year fortune of Fengming Qishan!
At that time, all the Westerners will be expelled, and only open business in Malacca, so that the people of the country will not be able to contact the Westerners, let alone the possibility of using the Westerners to achieve success.Why is the country not stable?

If I can control it, I will control it.

If in old age, the children and heirs are weak, the caravans going to the Western trade will be abolished, leaving only a corner of Malacca as a window, and the ocean as a beggar, this is the real world.

Even if Li Gan is determined to forge ahead, he cannot understand the role of Indian cotton and dumping grounds in the industrial revolution that has not yet emerged.

The idea is considered grand at this time, but its essence is already conservative.

Expansion of territory is not necessarily unconservative, and the chair under his buttocks makes his ideas necessarily conservative.

This idea, which would have been regarded as militaristic in the past, seems to have been supported by the various changes brought about by Liu Yu's appearance, and it seems that it has become a dream that is not out of reach, just like the Han Dynasty's emptying of the Western Regions.

After turning around the room a few more times, after calming down the excitement, he encouraged Liu Yu and said, "What Aiqing said makes a lot of sense. Aiqing should work diligently, and when Nanyang is settled down, maybe the Earl's Mansion will be ruined." Make it bigger and change a few words!"

"You sent a ship to Sweden, not only to do something important, but also to do it for my world, and I will do something. Since you want to smuggle, but also want to obtain wood tar techniques, I will write a book and bring it with you. Sweden, as a show of support. Those Swedes who were captured by the Zhuang Ministry also gave some gifts, so that they could live comfortably after returning, and tell the kindness of the heaven.”

(End of this chapter)