Xinshun 1730

Chapter 374 The Pattern of Gift Giving
Whether the reason can convince others sometimes depends not on whether there is reason, but on how much money to bribe.

On this point, Phillips can see from Qi Guogong's attitude that he has dealt with local officials a lot when he was trading in Guangdong.

Now that he had finished his report, he said, "Your Excellency, for the specific matters, I will go back and write a written report and send it to your yamen."

The meaning is also very clear, what happened today was a bit sudden, I have to go back and prepare the presents, and I will deliver them to you when the time comes.

Duke Qi lazily hummed, and said, "Since that's the case, then you should go back and 'prepare' well. Send it to me within two days."

After all, he didn't express any more, but picked up the tea and didn't move.

Phillips got up to say goodbye, and when he returned to his temporary residence in Tianjin, he was immediately in trouble.

It's clear now that bribes are to be paid.

However, how to bribe and what to use to bribe, he has encountered difficulties.

When I was in Guangdong before, I usually dealt with people from the customs, and those people didn't have high official positions in the Shun Empire.

Now he is the Duke in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Shun Empire, how much gift should he give?
If you only consider how big a gift to give, it's better to talk about it, but you can't just give gold and silver.

The company has regulations and a financial system.

After all, this is a joint-stock company, so the 17-member committee needs to find an accountant to review the gifts included in the entertainment expenses.

It can’t be said that the person who gave the gift gave as much as he said. If he gave a gift of 1000 taels, but only gave 300 taels, and reported a bill of 1000 taels, wouldn’t the 700 taels be stolen?

Therefore, the Dutch East India Company is very particular about gift giving, and there are rules for customs bribery according to the usual practice.

But the new one is to "borrow" money to the recipient and ask the recipient to write an IOU.

This is a kind of bribery in disguise, and you don't have to pay back when you borrow it.

But... this is a Duke of the Empire, and Phillips still has some understanding of Chinese officials.

Not to mention the duke, even if it is an official at the Jiedushi level, it is an insult to the official to write an IOU when offering a bribe!
Write an IOU receipt for a gift?Well, I don't want this gift anymore, you can take it back.It's hard to get things done, but it's easy to make things impossible for you.

Thinking of this, Prips couldn't help cursing the people of Rotterdam in his heart. If it weren't for the people of Rotterdam who insisted on entangled accounts, there wouldn't be such a weird rule. It's really difficult now.

The trading company of the Republic of Seven Provinces was naturally established by merchants from several provinces.

In the 17-member committee, eight people belong to the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, and the remaining provinces get the other eight, but the No.17 seat must be elected from people other than the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce.

That is to say, it is impossible to allow Amsterdam to have nine votes, thereby giving it unilateral control.

Rotterdam now has No. 17 people. The first thing after getting it is to pull Zeeland, Delft, Hearn, and Enkhojzeng, and with a nine-to-eight advantage, question the "direct approach to China." There is a problem with the "accounts of trade" and it is required that the accounts of trade with China must be made public.

Including bribes and gifts, it is also necessary to formulate a standardized process to prevent people from the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce from filling their pockets and over-reimbursing.

Prips belonged to the Chamber of Commerce in Amsterdam, and he didn't want to get in trouble on this cusp.

The rest of the chambers of commerce, including Zeeland, have recently had a lot of opinions on the Amsterdam chamber of commerce. Although Prips thinks he has no selfishness, it is all because of this emergency to keep trade with China as much as possible.

However, external problems are easy to solve, but internal problems are difficult to solve. If they are not handled properly, many conflicts that have accumulated in the company may be detonated for a long time.

When the Ostend Company competed with the Netherlands for tea trade, it was the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce that "turned the tide" and sent direct ships to Guangdong and Fujian to stabilize the tea trade.

Therefore, the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce "relying on its own merits" believes that it should be: the company pays, the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce sends people, and it does its own thing. It only needs to transport back the tea as required by the company. As for how much it brings, that is the business of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce , has nothing to do with the company headquarters.

Obviously, this will bring a "little coffer" to Amsterdam.

Originally, this matter was easy to solve. Among the 17 people, apart from the eight in Amsterdam, the second most were the four in Zeeland.

As long as Zelan is brought over, the wealthy families will make money together, and the 12 people will be kept. In order to restrict the No.17 people in Amsterdam, there is no point.

However, Zeelan also has his own small nine-nine. If he follows Amsterdam, it must be the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce who will take the big, and they will take the small.

If Zeeland took advantage of the opposition of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce to stand on Rotterdam's side, it would be possible to force Amsterdam to agree: one ship for A, one for Ze, one for the rest of the provinces, and one for Batavia to compromise.This is much better than cooperating with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce to make A big and Ze make small.

This is no longer the young guy who worked together, put efficiency first, worked together, and pioneered the times a hundred years ago.

It is an octogenarian who is almost 200 years old. A political body has lived for [-] years. Whether in the East or the West, it is bound to fall into an era where infighting comes first.

This is also true in history, if it were not for the neutrality of the Netherlands in the Seven Years War, the [Emden Royal Guangzhou China Asia Company] in Prussia was forced to close during the Seven Years War, and the British, French and Spanish robbed ships at sea during the Seven Years War. As a result, the Netherlands has enjoyed a wave of neutrality dividends. As far as its debt problem is concerned, in fact, the Dutch East India Company will go bankrupt and collapse two or three years later after the Seven Years War.

Nowadays, due to the increase in the trade volume of various countries caused by the Dashun switch, the competition faced by the Dutch East India Company is much greater than in history, and the internal conflicts have long been unstoppable.

The requirement of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce is: since the capital is paid by the company, the goods, ledgers, capital flow, etc. on the ship must be disclosed within the company. You can’t use the company’s money to enrich you like before. small group.

Among them, the stipulation that bribery must "write an IOU" is also one of the company's financial systems.Prips is a member of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, and he thinks clearly about this issue.

Dashun would not take care of Batavia's affairs if he violated the financial system by paying bribes and saved the company.

But after the rescue, will Rotterdam and Zelan hold him tight?Anyway, the matter has passed and the trade with China has been preserved, so he is a scapegoat who can be thrown out.

But if he does not violate the company's financial system and does not pay bribes, it will really cause problems in trade with China, and his future will be gone, and he may be asked "why didn't he make a decision to bribe at that time?"
Sending people back to the headquarters to ask for instructions, one back and one back, two years faster, three years slower, is simply unrealistic.

To open up the era, you can "will not accept the orders of the emperor abroad", how to achieve efficiency.At that time, the company employees would not think about these intrigues.

But now, the times have changed, and it is no longer the era when there is no need to consider internal intrigue.

I shared my concerns with the first business agent on board the ship, and the first business agent on board said with a smile: "Mr. Commissioner, this is an easy matter to solve."

"Six years ago, the merchant ship Fuldin went to Guangdong for trade. As you know, all sailors and captains would buy private goods and sell them back. At that time, the price of tea in Amsterdam was very high, and the captain had insufficient cash, so The mirror in the captain's cabin of the Fuldin was exchanged with merchants in Guangdong for 32 boxes of Gongfu tea by means of barter."

"On his return to Amsterdam, he exchanged only one chest of tea for the mirror on the Verdein, and the rest was his own income."

"The Chinese don't know how to make glass, let alone make mirrors. You can remove the glass and mirrors on the ship, add the decorations of the captain's cabin, and give it to the Chinese Duke as a gift."

"This is a tacitly approved business practice and the captain's welfare. And it does not violate the company's new property regulations. I think the Chinese Duke will jump for joy when he sees such a big mirror."

At a loss, Prips's eyes lit up, thinking that this was really a genius idea.It can not only bypass the company's property system, avoid future internal conflicts, but also make contributions to the company, and get promoted and raise salary after returning.

Moreover, the cost calculated by the company is calculated at the price of Amsterdam. I cleverly used a mirror to prevent possible diplomatic incidents. It was like exchanging gold and fur with Native Americans with glass beads. My ingenuity must be It will be recited and become a legend.

…………

At the same time, the British are holding an internal reception.

As a person who has lived in Guangzhou for nearly ten years, Fazakley, the head of the British East India Company resident in Guangzhou, went to Tianjin with the royal envoy this time.

Today's reception is not for anything else, but a toast to the Dutchman's questioning of Batavia by Dashun.

Although, the Anglo-Dutch alliance.

However, as early as six years ago, Fazaklei received an order from the company's headquarters: closely monitor the Dutch's direct flight trade in Guangzhou, use local connections as much as possible, and use bribery and spreading rumors to destroy the Dutch China trade.

The reason is also very "justifiable".

The Ostend Company was forced by Britain, the Netherlands, and Prussia to close down the Habsburgs. Before the United Kingdom and the Netherlands put pressure on it, there was an agreement.

That is, "maintain the status quo of all parties' trade with China."

What is the status quo?
The status quo is that the Netherlands continues to maintain the transit trade in Batavia, and the direct trade in Amsterdam is only an expedient measure. Once the Ostend company is closed, the original trade mode will be maintained.

The results of it?Once the Ostend company closed down, you Dutch not only did not recover, but intensified, with more and more ships. This is [shameless and disgusting commercial fraud].

The Zelan Chamber of Commerce is also a major customer of tea smuggling from Britain.Originally, the Dutch had broken the secret agreement by not talking about their credibility, and the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce added fuel to the fire. The British were already very upset.

In the words of those British tabloids that talk about state affairs in private, this matter is called "Our great King George used the influence of Britain to selflessly help the Dutch clear away their biggest competitor in trade with China; The identity of the elector recognized the change of the succession law of the Holy Roman Empire's "State Decree", and vowed to use the blood of the British to defend Princess Teresa. So what did we get in the UK? Answer: His son, another one who is not King of England who speaks English."

This time the Netherlands was questioned by Dashun about the "living conditions of the Chinese in Batavia". Fazaklei was not just gloating, but made a bold suggestion.

"Mr. Special Envoy, I think this is an excellent opportunity for the Dutch to withdraw from trade with China. Back then, the Dutch drove us out of Southeast Asia and Japan by slandering, slandering, and even killing us. Even when we tried to resume When opening trade with Japan, it was the Dutch who slandered Japan again, causing the Japanese to reject our trade request on the grounds that our king married the Catholic Princess Catherine."

"This is a rare opportunity to cause suspicion and mistrust between China and the Netherlands. If China can unilaterally ban trade with the Netherlands, it will greatly improve the interests of the entire company. We only need to deal with the smugglers in Gothenburg That's all, and forget about the more annoying Zeran smugglers."

"Now that a Duke of the Chinese Empire is in charge of diplomacy, we may be able to deal with the Dutch with the means that the Dutch used to obstruct us in Japan."

"Oculum pro oculo, et dentem pro dente!"

The special envoy very much agrees with the phrase "an eye for an eye, an eye for an eye".

"Mr. Fazaclay, Earl Povor specifically told me that you have lived in Guangzhou for many years, and your understanding of China is far from that of those in London. A gentleman should be good at listening to other people's opinions. This time In addition to the £[-] for purchasing gifts, there is also a special fund of £[-] for unexpected expenses. If you need to bribe this tool, you can draw it from the special fund of £[-] at any time."

After finishing speaking, he raised his wine glass and said with a smile: "To the respectable East India Company."

Fazaklei raised his glass, touched it lightly, and said with a smile: "This time, the emperor of the empire allowed us to enter their capital. You may not know that there is a saying in China, which probably means that Satan is easy to see, but Satan's subordinates The brats are hard to deal with."

"And this is why it was difficult for us to conduct trade with China 100 years ago. If we could see the emperor, everything would be easy to solve. But in fact, it was difficult for us to even meet their county magistrates at that time. "

"Now that we can see the duke directly, and even the emperor in the near future, then these 'special funds' should be used on the right people."

"The emperor does not need bribes. The emperor only needs state gifts. He has the entire empire. The duke, and the duke in charge of diplomacy, deserves this special funding. If we can get his favor, then all our actions in China will be very smooth. Smooth—in their officialdom, the orders of the superiors must be obeyed by the subordinates, and the subordinates will cleverly find out the key points of the orders of the superiors, and make them the way the superiors want them to be."

"I think that half of the special funds can be used on the Duke. And the return he brings to us must be ten times that."

(End of this chapter)