Xinshun 1730

Chapter 568 The UK is a Law

If the British East India Company had the ambition to monopolize Southeast Asia, Liu Yu would say, "The Netherlands is not good, but the UK is good. The Netherlands will secretly sell opium, but the UK will not. And Spain and Portugal are Catholic, so they can acquiesce in allowing the UK to dominate Southeast Asia."

But now that the United Kingdom has no strength, it is natural to say that it hopes that the Netherlands will have a clear situation in Southeast Asia, and it will become a mess with all kinds of cards.

It's also good for the UK to do things with peace of mind.

Fazaklei was really overjoyed, and said repeatedly: "Your Excellency is still thoughtful. Indeed, this matter involves the foreign trade of the Celestial Dynasty, and it also involves the great policy of stable precious metal issuance and prevention of deflation that your Excellency said. It is indeed best for each family to The state of competition. However, it is not a good thing that the Nanyang Dutch family dominates now.”

Liu Yu nodded, seeming to have some trust in Fazaklei, and even pointed to the chair for him to sit down, and asked if he wanted tea or coffee.

Not long after, the attendants served tea. Fazaklei had never enjoyed such treatment before.Don't say that this is a Marquis, it is only in front of the Guangdong Jiedu Envoy, that is, when the senior made the glass for the Guangdong Jiedu Envoy to send to the court, he only mixed a cup of tea.

Now that he has mixed another cup of tea, at least it seems that Liu Yu's anger towards George Anson has dissipated.

After drinking two sips of high-quality tea soup, Liu Yu sat down and said, "This is only between you and me, and don't spread it to outsiders. The real reason why China allowed the British fleet to berth at the port is because of Spain. Useless."

"I'm a very realistic person."

"In the past, there were gold and silver mines in Spain, so that the son of tomorrow mistakenly thought that Luzon had gold and silver mines, so he intended to seize them. The reason is that the country really lacks gold and silver mines, and silver is the standard. Currency, really must be guarded against."

"But now that Spain has declined, gold and silver have never been seen much, and silkworms are still raised and reeled in Mexico, and they can't buy much tea, and they can't buy much porcelain. In addition, there is a history of massacring Chinese in Luzon, and they are not very interested in preaching. You are a madman, so the imperial court didn't know that Yun Er was pulling sideways when he stopped by?"

"If a hundred years ago, half of China's gold and silver imports came from Luzon, Spain, no matter what, you are not allowed to disturb it."

"If it's useless, then discard it. Originally, China and the UK should cooperate seamlessly in this matter. Needless to say, who would have thought that George Anson's arrogance would cause many troubles. I owe it to me. If it were someone else, you might as well think about it. What will be the consequences?"

Fazaklei said yes again and again, and felt at ease.

Liu Yu's words were all about interests, which actually made Fazakle more at ease, convinced that Dashun would not have any thoughts about Southeast Asia, and would acquiesce in their funding of the anti-Dutch rebels, at least not accuse them of it.

Because Liu Yu represented the faction in the Dashun court that focused on interests and practical interests.And those factions that don't pay attention to interests and practical interests have no interest in Southeast Asia.

Since even the faction that talks about interests has the same idea, there is no need to worry.

The key point is that Liu Yu's words are reasonable, so Fazaklei really has no way to doubt.

Indeed, if Spain and Dashun maintain the amount of gold and silver imported in the Ming Dynasty, Dashun will never allow Luzon to be chaotic; let alone allow a country that could not sell woolen fabrics in the Ming Dynasty to be squeezed out by the Dutch handicraft industry. The UK of the Japanese market occupies Luzon.

The reason why Dashun does not want to mess with Southeast Asia is also because it needs a large amount of precious metals brought by the trade volume of European countries to prevent domestic deflation.

Combining these two points together, Dashun's actions became immediately clear, and Fazaklei really felt a sense of enlightenment and seeing the sun behind the clouds.

Liu Yu pretended to pick up the teacup again, and sighed: "Actually, my impression of Britain is quite good. In fact, I am a very realistic person, so realistic that I think Spain is now in decline and lacks gold and silver, so I don't buy books." If you don’t want the goods from the DPRK, you can’t wait for another person to occupy Luzon.”

"It's the same for Britain. Britain has vast colonies and thirteen states in North America. These are huge markets."

"But what? Britain's imports of tea and cotton cloth are actually not as good as Denmark's. I asked for a long time, but I didn't find out the population of Denmark or the size of its colony."

"There are only interests between countries. If Britain can expand the import of tea, silk, cotton cloth and porcelain to a scale of tens of millions, the friendship between China and Britain will be unbreakable. It's a pity..."

As he spoke, he couldn't help shaking his head.

These words are almost a reprint of the small print on the origin of the two crows in the junior high school history textbook of the People's Education Edition that impressed Liu Yu.

[From the signing of the Treaty of Nanking to 1855, for more than ten years, the trade of British industrial products with China has always hovered around 200 million pounds.British businessmen were surprised to find that China, with 3.6 million people, consumed only 1853 pence of British cotton textiles per capita in 0.75; while Honduras, with only 14600 people, consumed 934.5 pence of British cotton textiles per capita, exactly 1246 times that of China.]

I didn't understand the essence of this sentence when I was in school, but now I am in this position, I really understand it too well.

Even with the gap between the steam engine and the handicraft industry, the trade other than opium in Britain is still slow after a crow.

Now I wish that the United Kingdom would abolish the [Banning of Pure Cotton Cloth Act], the high tea import tariff, and the "Navigation Regulations".

The huge Britain, coupled with its vast colonies, bought more tea and porcelain than the Danish East India Company, which was not remembered by China in later generations.

These words immediately resonated with Fazakle, and he sighed as if he had seen a confidant.

It's not that the company doesn't want to buy more, but that the company has to pay taxes.

Does the company want to let smugglers take all the tea profits?But there is no way, isn't it?
The regular tea that has been taxed and the smuggled tea that has been tax-avoided are both the same tea.

For a moment, Fazaklei even deeply understood why Liu Yu wanted to broker a cooperation with Sweden.

If you think about it, you can understand that if Britain releases the high tariffs on tea, reduces the tariffs on tea, silk, and porcelain, and gives up the protection of its own textile industry, not only will the East India Company make a fortune, but Dashun will not have to work hard. Run so far to sell tea.

If the United Kingdom has such unique conditions, if it can make trade products have unparalleled competitiveness, the designation will be like Dashun at this time, shouting for free trade and lowering tariffs, and don't bother to do some sailing, just sit at home and count money That's it.

Sure enough, Liu Yu added: "Actually, the cooperation with Sweden was forced out by you. If you release customs duties and lower them to the level of the Chinese customs tariffs, I will sit at home growing tea, kneading silk, kneading Porcelain is fine, why go so far?"

"So, your British government has to bear a large part of the responsibility for China's initiative to go to Europe for trade."

Fazakley had no choice but to nod and said: "Master Marquis, we also have difficulties. We are not as rich as the Celestial Dynasty, so we can only protect our country's fragile handicraft industry."

"The East India Company is just a company. Although it has influence in the country, there are still local handicraft workshop owners and manor owners to contend with."

"If the East India Company has the final say, it naturally hopes to abolish the British handicraft industry, and all goods are imported, which is extremely profitable. But it is not after all."

Of course Liu Yu can understand the mentality of compradors, but there is still one thing he doesn't understand, and he needs to ask clearly in case of future smuggling.

"About your company, there is something I don't know, please explain."

"Sir, please speak."

"Your company's monopoly is from the east of the Cape of Good Hope, right?"

"Yes."

"So, we cooperate with Sweden, if we ship tea to Europe for sale. British merchants buy our tea and pay taxes when they arrive in North America. Is this considered smuggling?"

When Fazakle heard this, he hurriedly said: "Forget it, forget it! My lord. The smugglers in North America, the reason why they are smugglers is not because they have not paid customs duties, but because they have violated the "Navigation Regulations."

"There are two kinds of smugglers in the UK. One is what you think, avoiding customs duties and not paying taxes. This is customary thinking, or recognized smugglers."

"There is another kind of smugglers with British characteristics. It is regulated by artificial law. The "Navigation Regulations" stipulates that any industrial products imported into the colony for processing in other countries must be re-exported through London, otherwise it will be regarded as smuggling."

"We in the UK are law-abiding."

"Although tea is a leaf, it is not like cotton, which only needs to be collected. Instead, it needs to be manually fried and fermented. In 1689, the parliament determined that tea is not a raw material crop, but belongs to the category of industrial products of other countries."

"So, according to the law, tea must be auctioned in the 'London Tea Auction', London's tea exchange, before it can be shipped to the colonies. At the same time, as an industrial product of other countries rather than an agricultural product, high tariffs need to be paid."

"Therefore, even if they pay customs duties at the colonial customs, they are still counted as smugglers. This smuggler is an artificially defined smuggler who is against customary cognition."

"It's not because they didn't pay their taxes, but because they violated the Navigation Act. Please don't think about it. There is no loophole in the law."

"However, I have a piece of good news that I want to tell the Marquis. I also hope that the Marquis will think clearly and not make unnecessary investments."

Worried that Liu Yu would really cooperate with Sweden to carry out smuggling business, Fazaklei hurriedly made it clear that our country has its own national conditions. The smugglers you understand are not the same as the smugglers we recognize.

Hearing the good news from Fazakley, Liu Yu was also very curious and asked, "What good news?"

"That's right. Because of the war between England and the West, and the uncontrollable factors of the European political situation, especially the succession of the Austrian throne, the parliament is short of money. Therefore, the parliament has agreed to extend the company's monopoly until 40 years later, that is, in 1780 years. Of course, not gratuitously.”

He stretched out his hand and made a gesture of flicking silver coins: "The company will lend 2.5 million pounds to the government at an annual interest rate of 100%. The government only needs to repay the interest, not the principal. The company has decided to provide the government with The loan of 130 million pounds still has an interest rate of 2.5%. But the price is that the parliament passed a bill to transfer tea from the catalog of "industrial products of other countries" to "agricultural products."

"You know, we in England are legal."

"As long as tea is changed from an 'industrial product of other countries' to an 'agricultural product', it will no longer be subject to the high tariff policy of industrial products in the industrial and commercial protection regulations."

After finishing speaking, he said with a smile: "This is of course good for your motherland and the prosperous China. If the tariff on tea is lowered, the sales of tea will increase sharply, and for your country, it will be because of the demand for tea. The sharp increase will lead to a shortage of supply, thus raising the price of tea. This is good for tea farmers in your country.”

"Similarly, a large amount of exports also brings increased tariffs to your country's treasury, which is also good for your government."

"And you, you might have invested in the tea business of the Swedish East India Company. But I am sure that once the parliament passes the company's request, the sales of tea in Sweden will drop sharply... because you can also guess that Sweden with a population of 100 million, unless Baking bread with tea, otherwise it would be impossible to consume so much tea, and it is obvious that most of the tea has ended up in the hands of smugglers."

"And if I tell you this news, you can avoid this investment that is bound to lose money."

"It's good for your farmers, businessmen, government tariffs, and yourself. That's why I say, I have good news for you."

(End of this chapter)