Xinshun 1730

Chapter 292 Tool Man Sweden

Pretending that diplomacy is useful is an important part of pretending that China is China.

If you want to pretend that diplomacy is useful, you have to have a certain amount of authority.

Things like demarcation are not authority, but work.

"My lord, the diplomacy between the two countries is difficult to say, and easy to say. It is difficult to say that the country and the country are no more than Europa. They need to be united and united. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has nowhere to display their skills; The countries of Europe are tens of thousands of miles apart, but the sea and white sails connect them together."

"If you want to engage in diplomacy, you must obtain tariffs. Only in this way can you conduct diplomacy with those non-tributary countries. Only tariffs can allow European countries to deal with our DPRK at this time."

"So... the Duke of the State may as well go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, please have the right to collect customs duties?"

Qi Guogong really didn't expect to seize power from this direction.

At first glance, it seems irrelevant.

But when I think about it again, I suddenly feel enlightened. Isn't the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs right now in terms of tariffs?

Moreover, some of the Western tariffs do not go to the national treasury, but are also included in the emperor's internal funds.The key is that the money is not very much at this time, only tens of thousands of taels of silver. Although the various customs departments have a lot of oil and water, there is not much resistance to take over from above.

Qi Guogong has been to Europe once, and he knows that tariffs mean war and peace in Europe, and they are an extremely important negotiating tool.

For example, the United Kingdom and Spain, such as France and the Netherlands, and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The two sides have fought over issues such as tariffs and smuggling. I don’t know how many times they have fought.

Dashunkong has such an ability, which is unique, but he has almost never used it.

Either, it is a one-size-fits-all approach, and the customs must be closed to prevent Westerners from harassing; or, as it is now, the tax collectors are like fools, and the door is wide open. From Songjiang to Guangdong, Western commercial houses can rent here.

Hearing Liu Yu say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seized the power of tariffs, Qi Guogong's eyes lit up, and he thought that this is a good way.

Coincidentally, the emperor asked him to cooperate with Liu Yu to settle the Swedish affairs.

He also knew that his family invested a sum of money in a trading company, but most of it was invested by Tian Ping. He was away at the time, and the head of the family did not have such courage. He missed a good opportunity, but he also invested some.

If we say that the reception of the Russian mission last time was the starting point of Dashun’s diplomacy; then this time to solve the Swedish trade issue was the first thing Dashun’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accomplished.

To get the tariff authority, if you want the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have weight in the court, you have to hand over a weighty answer sheet to the court.

This weight is gold and silver.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of tariffs? Well...it's not impossible. I can report this matter to His Majesty. Your negotiation with the Swedes just needs the cooperation of tariffs. How sure are you about this matter?"

For boundary demarcation, you can follow the steps. The court has a bottom line, and basically knows where the boundary can be drawn.

The matter of Sweden is the first shot of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This cannon should be fired loudly.

"My lord, in fact, there are only two ways to attack Sweden. One is Rakshasa. The war between Rakshasa and Sweden is inevitable. The French also said that in order to contain Rakshasa, they will also instigate the Swedes and Russia. Confrontation. The two sides have fought for decades, and the hatred is there."

"On this point, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can use the prestige of calming down the Western Regions. It may not intimidate Rakshasa, but it can guarantee that if Ruiluo goes to war, it will mediate. The Swedes are very confident, but after all, a small country with a population of several 10, even if one enemy is ten , that would not be able to defeat Rakshasa. At that time, if we can come forward to mediate, it will be regarded as a guarantee."

"But this alone will not convince the Swedes to give up their profits."

This time sending a merchant ship to Sweden, Liu Yu is waiting for the opportunity of a European war.At this time, there was no international law, and privateers were running around, from India to the Americas and then to Europe, and the merchant shipping trade in Europe was bound to be affected.

Once affected, there is a vacuum of supply.And this supply vacuum is the opportunity for Liu Yu to allow Dashun's sea to set foot in the West.

As long as the amount of smuggling is large enough, either the UK will reduce the tea tax, the export will increase sharply, and the Dashun tariff will increase; or the European countries can only watch the smugglers run around and snatch all the profits of the East India Company.

More than ten years ago, countries such as Britain, the Netherlands and France had just dismembered the Ostend company. If they wanted to gain a foothold in Europe, they had to take advantage of the contradictions between Britain and France to ensure that they got a foot in when the contradictions were the deepest, and they would not leave.

The awkward thing is that Dashun can't turn against the British and expel the British business house. Anyway, the British have no worries. They can rob Dashun's merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean; in order to prevent the British from robbing Dashun's merchant ships, It is necessary to give Britain a smiling face and let him continue to trade here, so as to negotiate with Britain to ensure the safety of Dashun merchant ships.

If you dare to rob the ship, I will demolish the business hall and have mutual mortgages, so that the negotiation can continue.

With the Netherlands, this is not easy.What Liu Yu wants is not just the Dutch trade, but to uproot the Dutch business in Nanyang.

This calls for a neutral white glove.

Choose to choose, and Sweden is the most suitable.

Russia's most common potential enemy, this is a direction that can be negotiated.

Of course, the Swedes are definitely not willing to allow Chinese businessmen to get involved in the smuggling business in Gothenburg. This requires Dashun’s diplomatic department to make a fuss about the tariff issue: if Dashun cannot be allowed to participate in the Swedish East India Company’s business with China, then it will be a threat to Sweden. East India Company increases tariffs.

There are no private individuals who can go to Guangdong for trade.

Because all countries in Europe have the monopoly of the East India Company, private trade is not only illegal, but also will be captured and divided by the East India Company. So many monopoly rights are bought with real money every year, not for nothing.

Even if you have a background, your background is better than the directors of the East India Company?
Liu Yu carefully analyzed with Qi Guogong the reasons why Sweden could use tariffs as a fuss to force Sweden to agree.

"The Swedes are not Dutch, and they don't have Batavia. They don't have any footholds in Southeast Asia. Therefore, once the trade is cut off, it is impossible for them to rely on the opportunity of smuggling to the sea merchants to get goods."

"To put it bluntly, Weihai's navy can't deal with the Dutch at this time, can't it also deal with the Swedes?"

"Smuggling is not possible, and competition in Europe is fierce. This means that they either give up their business with China, or cut their flesh and blood and give us a part."

"Suicide, or cutting off fingers, normal people will make the 'right' choice. That is, before bullying and bullying, I kept turning on and off trade, thinking that there really was such a paradise for free trade."

"Furthermore, Sweden is weak and has no money for shipbuilding, so they are reluctant to build too large merchant ships. They are all small merchant ships, and their share capital is far from that of England and the Netherlands."

"The UK can still sell some Indian goods, and the Netherlands can still sell spices, but they can only buy them with silver. The lack of share capital also restricts their trade quota. Our shareholding is really a win-win situation."

"I guess the Swedes will definitely agree. This time I have asked Mi Ziming to bring a message, hoping that Sweden will send the founder of the East India Company. He has been to Guangdong a few years ago, so he is quite familiar with it."

"If you can open up trade to the West, you will have money. If you have money, you will stand firm and talk loudly in the court."

Qi Guogong thought about what Liu Yu said, and he was overjoyed, and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Simple, the Swedish East India Company divested its China business. For the China business, we will contribute part of the equity, and the Swedish royal family and those major shareholders will contribute part. Since we are all a family with equity, we can give priority to guaranteeing our own goods. , and can also cut off trade with Britain and the Netherlands when necessary."

Qi Guogong asked again: "If they don't agree, is it true that the trade will be cut off?"

"Yes, we are not intimidating them, after all we still have alternatives."

"Alternate? Who?"

"Portuguese. If you don't agree with us using their shells to trade in Europe and gain a foothold, then take back Macau and let them go. Of course, this is just to scare the Swedes. When we manage Southeast Asia in the future, Macau will definitely be I want to take it back. It is useless to keep it, but it will breed missionaries. Personally, I don’t want to have too much relationship with the Portuguese, so as not to be a trap in the future.”

This alternative was beyond Qi Guogong's expectations.

After thinking about it in silence for a while, I felt that this possibility was still extremely high. As long as we controlled the direction, we could definitely make a deal.

The key point is that the Swedes are not Dutch and have no foothold in Nanyang.

So, either get out and completely give up the business with China; or get a piece of the pie, and China and Switzerland work together to develop the smuggling business to the extreme, so that Britain, the Netherlands and the Americas can use smuggled goods.

There is no option to rely on Chinese sea merchants to smuggle to Nanyang, which makes the Swedes only accept it.

Anyway, its share capital is not strong, and it is indeed feasible for Dashun to ship and ship without damaging the profits of the original major shareholders.

The Duke of Qi thought for a while, and said with a smile: "That's right. The Dutch and the British are both powerful countries, and they have influence in Southeast Asia and India. To cooperate with them is to seek skins from tigers, which is unwise."

"Only the small country of Sweden, which has no influence in India in the South Seas and is neutral in Europe, is the only enemy of Rakshasa. Rakshasa can't rob a Swedish ship."

Liu Yu said: "Exactly. The biggest difficulty of my dynasty's trade in Europe is that the East India Companies in various European countries have monopoly rights. If the ship is sailed there, it will not be able to sell the goods; and if it is really sailed, halfway Hijacked by an East India Company ship."

"The Swedes are the biggest smugglers in Europe at this time, and the future of Dashun Maritime Trade can only rely on smugglers. This is exactly what happened."

Seeing what Liu Yu said, it is obvious that he has thought it over carefully, and I am afraid that he has already told the emperor.

Qi Guogong thought about it for a while, and understood the checks and balances.

Originally, Liu Yu could handle this matter by himself, but the emperor didn't want Liu Yu to take the lead in negotiating with Western countries, even if such a lead had to be reported to the emperor.

As for negotiating with Russia and demarcating borders, it doesn't make much difference whether there is a foreign ministry or not.Before the border survey, there was no Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the eastern section of the border survey was also completed.

From this point of view, the emperor wanted to set up the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because he wanted to take away the power of foreign negotiations from Liu Yu.It can be regarded as taking precautions, worrying that Liu Yu will negotiate too deeply with Westerners, or worrying that the Chinese government will rely on Liu Yu for future foreign negotiations.

After figuring out this section, Qi Guogong also understood what to do.

This shelf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to be set up so that the emperor can see that he is really doing things.

What the emperor wants to see, what he wants, is this kind of administrative bureaucracy that takes off his pants and farts, so that Liu Yu can't do things by himself, and has to rely on the cooperation of more departments.

Even if everything Liu Yu has done so far has been approved by the emperor, this power must be divided.

Duke Qi thought: Your Majesty knows the strategy for Sweden and entrusted me to do it. That's what it means.And this kind of thing, His Majesty is so concerned, I am afraid that there are many shares in the trade with internal funds.It's just that he refuses to say it clearly, so as not to be criticized and compete for profit with the people.

Thinking about His Majesty's thoughts, he should order Liu Yu, and said, "Should be normal, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is completed, the foreign affairs in the future will be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you can get the right to tariffs, you will be able to do so in the future." Don't meddle. If there is anything wrong, ask those merchants to respond, follow the normal procedure, and hand it over to me from the customs side."

"In the court, you are Ying Suobo, the supervisor of the navy, and the governor of the sea of ​​​​whales. You should take care of it, you take care of it; you don't have to take care of it... If your majesty is in trouble, he will summon you, or he will announce it during the court meeting. You participate."

After admonishing Liu Yu, Qi Guogong himself knew it well.

Xindao is in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by himself, at most until Nanyang is pacified.

When it is necessary to work together to make progress, His Majesty will naturally cooperate with the upper and lower sides; if it is not necessary to make progress, he must first think about how to balance the constraints.

He thought, Nanyang must, and my Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to be handed over.Knowing this, I still have to do well, otherwise it will appear that I have resentment.If you can't do it well, you can't put up an airs, and you can't do one or two things that can be set as examples for future generations, your Majesty may use this to make trouble.

(End of this chapter)