Xinshun 1730

Chapter 533 The Dutch will also learn from history

There was a trace of such worry in his heart, and it was also because he saw the strong soldiers carefully selected by the imperial court, which brought him great oppression.

However, this worry seems to be meaningless.

He just knows that Dashun has the ability to threaten Southeast Asia and the company's rule, but whether he will do it or not is beyond his ability to know.

And based on his understanding of the company's system, the company will not send more soldiers here.

On the one hand, this is a game between the local government and the central government.

The 17-member committee is already quite dissatisfied with Batavia, which is prone to smuggling, smuggling, and bribery. At this time, if it asks for more troops and increased expenses, the 17-member committee will feel that the governor wants to take this opportunity to expand Badawi Asia's power.

Besides, the serious shortage of troops in Southeast Asia may induce Dashun to attack southward.

However, what if the increase in troop strength caused Dashun to think that it was too difficult to attack after seeing the increase in troop strength?

It's like a doctor who sees that a person can get sick from eating fish.As long as you don't eat fish, you won't get sick.The man was obedient and did not eat fish, so he was in good health.

So, is it because you don't eat fish that you don't get sick?
Or is it because the doctor is talking nonsense because there is no disease in itself?
It costs money to increase troops. The joint-stock company system determines that the idea of ​​increasing troops cannot be approved by the board of directors. Especially when Dashun has not revealed the idea of ​​going south, it will be considered unnecessary expenditure.

Valknir couldn't be more aware of this.

There is a short joke in Europe: the modesty of the French, the flexibility of the Germans, the alliance of the British, the generosity of the Dutch...

Regardless of the rest, the point of "generosity" alone can be described as penetrating.

Originally in history, the fourth Anglo-Dutch war broke out. The Netherlands knew that Britain would rob ships. In order to save money and prevent being robbed, they only hung the Prussian flag, but they refused to spend money to hire a few Prussian captains, because Prussian captains "Sit down and start the price", ask for dividends instead of just salary.

As a result, three Dutch ships carrying the Prussian flag full of tea and porcelain were captured by the British. The cargo on board was enough to employ one hundred and eighty Prussian captains.

And the same is true of many things that Valknir knows have happened.

120 years ago, the Hirayama Tsunechan incident, the merger of Spain and Portugal, and the missionaries sneaking into Japan via Manila and Macau were captured by the Netherlands. Such a good move wiped out Portugal’s trade opportunities with Japan. Matsuura Takanobu has almost clearly stated that the Dutch Nagasaki followed Hasegawa Fujisho received Spanish money.

But the Dutch were still reluctant to give a little bribe to Hasegawa Fujimasa, because their trading point at that time was in Hirado, not Nagasaki, and they felt that it was not worthwhile to give bribes, and there was no long-term return.In the end, Hasegawa Fujisawa received money from Spain and Portugal, and stepped forward to move the trial site from Hirado to Edo, so as to isolate the influence of Britain and the Netherlands.If it weren't for someone jumping back and reporting to testify at the critical moment, it would have almost failed.

Another example is the bribery in Fujian during the Tianqi period, and the officials who accepted the bribes were forced to write IOUs.This is also understandable, it is convenient for reimbursement, after all, it is public funds, but the problem is to ask officials to do things, but the work fails, and they actually take the IOUs to collect debts and ask for money!Since then, the unspoken rule of Fujian and Guangdong seaside officials is not to accept money from the Dutch, and don’t even think about doing things. You won’t be stuck. Importantly, this unspoken rule lasted until Dashun allowed the Netherlands to go ashore for trade.

The vision of businessmen is always shorter, or this is also the disadvantage of joint-stock companies. They must make profits, pay must be rewarded, and save money if they can save money, otherwise they cannot be accountable to shareholders.

The Netherlands, which took the first step by relying on trade, has had a golden century of sea coachmen, but it is limited to this. Honest people don't take bribes, or when they give bribes, don't always think about getting the money back if they can't get things done.

Now it is not a question of bribery, but whether the 17-member committee will send more troops and warships to Batavia for "curable diseases", just because Dashun may attack Southeast Asia, but it is only possible?

It's different, but the essence is to spend money and do things.The problem is that if you pay bribes to do things, you can still ask for debts if you fail to do it; but after the increase in troops, nothing happened, so where do you get the money back from?Would you like to ask Valknir for his opinion?

And this suggestion itself is also thankless.

The increase in troops caused Dashun not to send troops, and his role as governor would be over.Shareholders would chide him for "spending shareholders' money to strengthen local power in Batavia at a cost to the bottom line of the company".

This is no longer the East India Company that was aggressive and aggressive, although a bit stingy, but overcame obstacles without fear more than 100 years ago.It is a corrupt East India Company with countless shareholders staring at dividends, and any policy may affect shareholder dissatisfaction.

Moreover, this danger is only a possibility, and the possibility now seems very small.

But he still expressed his worries to the envoy and asked Dashun if there was any possible move.

The man who came back from the capital told the governor that there was nothing to worry about.

"Your Excellency, in fact, most officials in the Chinese court have no desire to expand. As a leader who supports expansion, China's former Navy Minister Liu Yu has fallen out of favor."

"Falling out of favor? Didn't you say that he was made a marquis?" Valkner was a little unconvinced. He cared a lot about that fanatical "patriot" in the previous communication, and he always felt uneasy.

Especially after hearing that he was promoted from an earl to a marquis, he was even more uneasy.

However, the emissary smiled and said, "You must have heard the story of the French man in the iron mask who rose up and fell in secret before he was caught."

There are many legends about the man in the iron mask in France. There are different opinions on who he is.But the version that the Dutch believe in is that of Nicolas Fouquet, the French chancellor of finance at the time.

Because, it was Colbert who replaced Fouquet. This person's extreme mercantilism policy and naval policy, oppression against the Netherlands, high tariffs against the Netherlands, standardized handicraft ideas, and a series of genius naval system constructions led to the Dutch Digging the levee on the battlefield saved Amsterdam, and completely withdrew from the French market in trade. It is also a well-known symbolic event of the end of the Dutch Golden Age.

So in the version believed by the Dutch, the poor man in the iron mask was Fouquet who was killed by the hateful Colbert.

Speaking of this story, the emissary laughed and said: "The first thing the Sun King did was to transfer Nicolas Fouquet from the position of Minister of Finance to the Attorney General of the French High Court. In name, the position of Attorney General It is higher than the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and only honorable nobles can hold it."

"Elevating him from chancellor to attorney-general is the first step towards liquidating him and ultimately making him a man in the iron mask."

"It's the same in China. Although Liu Yu was named Marquis, he was transferred to the Privy Council as the deputy marshal of the Privy Council, and completely lost his military power. Many people know that this is a sign of falling out of favor. You should be able to Imagine that this Privy Council, which is similar to the logistics department, is more like a nursing home."

Of course, Valknir knows the truth of rising up and down in the dark.

Just like the governor of Batavia, if he is promoted to the general coordinator of the Asian Trade Council, his status will be higher in theory.

But in fact, the position of Governor of Batavia is much stronger than that of the General Coordinator.

The struggle within the company is not much easier than the struggle in the court. He has survived for so many years to become the governor, if he only knows a little about this kind of intrigue, he may still be squatting in the fortress of Ceylon.

"Your Excellency, I think your worries are unnecessary. In fact, as far as I know, many people in the Chinese court are firmly opposed to foreign expansion. Because China has just implemented a new tax policy and canceled the poll tax. Most taxes are tied to land."

"And you also know that Chinese businessmen have no status, and those who become officials are landowners, and foreign expansion is of no benefit to them. On the contrary, the poll tax has been cancelled, and most of the taxes are tied to land. External expansion requires Spend the landlord's money, but the benefits obtained have nothing to do with the landlord."

"The merchants in their court are like the Jews in Europe hundreds of years ago: if the court is short of money, they will take it from the merchants. If they can't afford it, they will be expelled."

"Besides, the real big businessmen are all sitting at the customs waiting for us to send money. China is so rich that their businessmen don't need to brave the waves of the sea, lack of water, or eat bread full of weevils. Energy keeps getting silver and gold—is there any East India Company, including us in the Netherlands, who can get a trade surplus with China?"

Valknir nodded, thinking that this is true.It is also easy for him to understand the entanglement of interests of various parties within Dashun.

Now the seven provinces are doing their own thing, and the big businessmen are all fighting for one thing: to pass the high progressive tax rebate policy.Another example is Batavia's refusal of Dutch people who are not employees of the company to settle and trade. These are all conflicts of interest, and they can all be stated in the parliament.

After considering the experience of trade with China in the past few years, Valkner finally feels completely at ease.

So, from this point of view, in order to save their "religious friends", the emperors of the Celestial Dynasty took the initiative to pay the poll tax for them, which should be a gesture of favor.

"What does the emperor of Dashun think about our trade with Japan?"

"Your Excellency, I have to say that I don't have any optimism about this matter. They not only banned Catholicism, but they are almost certainly anti-Christ. Catholicism, Orthodox Church, and Protestantism are not allowed to spread. The behavior will be arrested by the government. They believe that in the cultural circle of Confucianism, crosses are not allowed, so trade with Japan is absolutely impossible. Moreover, they worry that Japan will get too close to us and take revenge. Therefore, this time, the special envoy of their emperor should also talk about prohibiting exchanges with Japan. As compensation for the severance of trade with Japan, their emperor is willing to take money from the internal funds, in fact, he hopes that we will make concessions... They are worried about smuggling to Japan."

In this way, the logic fits perfectly, and Valkner very much agrees.

"Well, you're right, it should be like this. For this huge Eastern Empire, they care more about things inside their Confucian circle, and they are not very interested in things outside."

"Yes, Your Excellency Governor. Moreover, China is planning an attack on Russia, and the Swedes have basically declared war on Russia. China will concentrate on taking the land in Central Asia. Their emperor hopes to restore the 'Tang "The old glory of the empire, the Russian credential has always claimed that he has inherited the title of King of Kings from the Persian Empire. And based on their historical experience, every destruction of the empire stems from the invasion of the northern barbarians .Today's Russia has replaced those northern barbarians, but it is also stronger and more aggressive."

After saying this, the emissary thought of another interesting thing and said: "In their capital, I saw the will of Peter I. Although it is obvious that it was fabricated by the French or the Poles, but in Their capital city is widely circulated, and people generally believe that Russia is too ambitious and is an enemy no less than the Tatars. I think they hope to maintain the stability of the south, so they will go to war with Russia in the north and compete for Central Asia.”

"Actually, as far as I know, they are not enthusiastic about the navy. Because according to the exact information received, the Chinese sold one of the only two battleships to Japan, and the emperor hopes to get the money , used to immigrate to the north, so as to prevent the Tatars from going south at the end of the Ming Empire from happening again.”

"Moreover, there is news that they are going to reorganize their cabinet, and that civilian officials will be in charge of the Admiralty, because the emperor is always worried that the military officers will rebel... You know, this is a sad nation that has no respect for noble blood, and their most popular There is such a thing in the story - the emperor takes turns to do it, come to my house next year - the ex-admiral of the navy has been suspected, because he is not only invincible, but also has many opinions that are at odds with the emperor and important cabinet ministers."

"You can imagine that this is a Chinese Wallenstein. He has great differences with the emperor and his cabinet colleagues. Although the current emperor is a monarch in his prime and has enough prestige to suppress his ministers, the lion No matter how powerful he is, he will grow old. He has to think about his son: whether his young son can suppress such a marquis who is capable of fighting and has prestige, but has huge differences with the emperor? This is doubtful. "

"Besides...if we increase our troops in Batavia, we may actually support the Marquis and China's expansionists in a disguised form."

(End of this chapter)