Xinshun 1730

Chapter 569 Money Manipulates Public Opinion
Whether tea is an agricultural product or an industrial product is not an academic issue of scientific classification at this time, but a legal issue.

Law is the embodiment of the will of the ruling class. Is the East India Company the ruling class of Britain?This is obvious.

It's not that the UK didn't realize the disadvantages of "the tail is too big to lose", but there is no way, because it lacks money.

Some British people who were jealous of the East India Company's monopoly and could not get a share of the pie also tried to oppose it, but it was of no use.

More than 40 years ago, the ruling class of the British anti-East India Company monopoly faction also established a parallel East India Company.

But you can do whatever you want with money. On the day the parallel East India Company was established, the old East India Company directly threw money at it, causing the company’s subordinate shareholders to throw down 100 million taels of silver shares. In the end, they had to reorganize and merge.

Of course Liu Yu understands what it means to say "Britain speaks the law". He had talked with those smugglers when Mantou went to Sweden.

The law prohibits the wearing of pure cotton products, but after the development of the textile industry in Lancashire, blended cotton products are allowed.

So the smugglers said that as long as Dashun produced "non-cotton blended fabrics", they would have a channel to sell them to the UK.

Now that Fazaklei talked about legal issues again, Liu Yu thought about it, and was really worried about selling tea in the future.

The situation in the UK is really difficult to describe in one word. Under the control of public opinion and the parliamentary system, money can really push the wheel.

Because of the rise of coffee, the British brewing industry was hit hard.

Because men preferred to drink alcohol before, not necessarily strong alcohol, but light malt wine or the like.The introduction of coffee affected the interests of the old aristocrats who controlled the brewing industry.

So they instigated public opinion, provided funds, and encouraged women in London. In 1673, they sent a letter to Parliament on the "Proposal for Prohibition of Coffee Regulations":
It turns out that my husband likes to drink, and he is weak.Now that I start drinking coffee, everyone has become a sissy like a French man.Coffee turned my husband into a slender coffee tree, like a little skylark fluttering its wings frequently and rustling, but unable to sustain it for a long time. After a few collisions, it lay weakly in front of us.Except for the snot, no part of the body is warm; no part is hard except the joints; no part stands upright except the ears.

If you still look at it, it means that in a few decades, Great Britain will have few men who can be passed on to the throne and men who can fight for a long time, and the country will surely perish.

Even [make men as poor as a desert where coffee trees grow, and human beings may become extinct]!
There are old aristocrats and landlords in the brewing industry who give money and instigate behind their backs, coupled with the British "knowledge tax" and newspaper control and other factors, resulting in cafes becoming places where newspapers cannot be bought, exchanges are illegal, tabloids, politics, big news The king hated it when talking about state affairs.

Coupled with the fact that the King of England was wrongly crowned, many people regarded him as a "Hanoverian barbarian", unorthodox, and could not even speak English. This kind of coffee shop that talked about state affairs naturally became the target of severe blows.

Even the dramas that Britain is proud of have been seized. It is time to write novels, and the cafes that talk about state affairs have naturally attracted the attention of literary inquisition.

The British East India Company took the opportunity to rush forward and replaced coffee with black tea.

First, tea was introduced to England when Charles II married the Portuguese princess. The queen also drank it. Do you dare to say that drinking tea can make people sissy and soft?
Second, the French do not like tea, but coffee.That's why French people are sissy.Drinking tea can cure sissies, and it can also have that effect, ensuring that your husband can apply the decree of a certain Basque country in the past-the husband should not bless his wife more than 9 times a night, so as not to exhaust the wife!

Third, it is matched with Chinese porcelain and tea sets, which makes the tea very suitable for the aesthetics of London women. After all, the Queen likes it must be high-end.Compared with the smoky cafe atmosphere where people talk about politics, history, geography, stocks, philosophy, and wars, tea with oriental mystery and elegant style is more acceptable to women—mainly because it is expensive.

Anyway, it’s all about drinking luxury goods, whether to drink coffee that women think is dark, will affect any ability, and is as sissy as the French; tea?
Fourth, do the landowners who make wine dare to compete with our company for having more money?You are worthy of spending money to engage in public opinion?

In fact, it was originally matched, but the "Methuen Treaty" was signed between Britain and Portugal, and the British textile industry and the East India Company cooperated to defeat the British brewing industry.

According to the treaty, Portugal reduced the tariffs on British textiles, and the United Kingdom reduced tariffs on Portuguese wines. If you want Portugal to import woolen fabrics, you have to give up some reciprocal tariff reductions.In any case, Portugal is not the Qing Dynasty that all the great powers miss, and it is decent on the surface.

The shareholders of the East India Company and the British wool textile industry tycoon are really the ruling class of the British ruling class. How can the two major forces be invincible against a brewing guild?
There is a lesson from this.

In addition to the previous Jenkins ear incident: the businessman group funded the Patriot Party and incited public opinion to go to war against Spain, all of which involved the manipulation of public opinion by money and the influence of parliamentary policies.

Voltaire's sentence "There is no freedom on earth, and in England the powerful speculators and swindlers rule" is not nonsense.

If it is really possible to mobilize the power of money, mobilize public opinion, and reduce the tea import tax at the cost of borrowing money from the government, it is really possible!Then Sino-Swiss cooperation may lose a sum of income.

However, considering that although the East India Company is strong at this time, it has not yet won India. It is possible to abolish an important tariff for three to five million pounds. Although it is possible, the resistance should not be small.

Besides, seeing that the world war is about to start, will Britain provoke those North American smugglers at this time?
Considering that this can be regarded as Fazakley showing his favor to himself, although this matter is related to the results of Sino-Swiss cooperation in smuggling, it is not easy to mention it at this time, so Liu Yu can only pretend to thank him.

"This is really big news. If this news reaches Amsterdam, the stock price of the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce, which sells tea, will definitely plummet. This news is worth at least hundreds of thousands of pounds. I will consider it carefully. Thank you for the news."

Fazaklei hurriedly said: "This news to the adults is also a proof of the sincerity of our company. Our determination to trade with China will not change. Anyone who hinders trade with China, including the military, will be eliminated. And please don't take what happened a few days ago to your heart, it was just an accident."

"Um……"

Liu Yu slowly hummed a word from his nostrils, and nodded slightly, in fact, he believed in the words of the East India Company in his heart.

The East India Company is a "quite aware of current affairs" company.It belongs to the kind of beast that is absolutely obedient when weak, and bared its fangs when strong.

Historically, in the seventh and tenth years of Emperor Yongzheng of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, two consecutive smoking bans were issued, prohibiting opium dens and opium trade.

The British East India Company, knowing what level it was at the time, obediently issued internal regulations, strictly prohibiting the ships of the East India Company from carrying opium.

Until Clive took over Bangladesh and the East India Company completely monopolized opium production in Bangladesh, it still abided by Yongzheng's ten-year smoking ban. To transport - after being arrested in this way, there is no direct relationship with the East India Company: Oh, I didn't know that these second-hand traffickers were transported to China!Anyway, the company's ships are clean, and the company can't control those second-hand traffickers.

However, as Britain gained a firm foothold in India, won Southeast Asia, and defeated Napoleon, the power of the Celestial Empire was established, the industrial revolution was completed, and the rule of the Qing Dynasty had come to an end. The corruption was already a paper tiger, and the East India Company immediately bared its fangs. Tear up the original regulations, and personally end up engaging in opium smuggling.

Therefore, Liu Yu is still very optimistic about the East India Company: whether the words of a company that understands current affairs is credible depends on how many ships, how many cannons and troops Dashun has, and how many interests are involved.

Now Dashun has several battleships that can cruise in the territorial waters, so the East India Company is very honest.

It is also credible that Fazaklei said that the East India Company would remove any obstacles to trade with China, including the military.

However, this kind of credibility is not of great significance.As long as Dashun does not want to close the door and continue the dynasty in Malacca, the conflicts between the two sides will be irreconcilable.

At this time, what the British said was nothing more than that Fazakley was a half-handed Chinaman, and he understood that under the Dashun system, a word from a highly valued nobleman in front of the emperor would affect millions of taels of money. As for the trade volume, I was really worried that George Anson's arrogance would annoy Liu Yu.

At this time, the internal news of "the East India Company's loan to the Parliament" is a good sell, and I hope Liu Yu can see their sincerity.

Seeing Liu Yu nodding his head, Fazaklei finally felt completely at ease.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Liu Yu seemed to be in a good mood and seemed to have some trust, Fazaklei knew that the key to today's test was still in the direction of Nanyang.

Although Sino-Swiss cooperation will harm the interests of the East India Company, this matter has become unavoidable.

I can only persuade Liu Yu as much as possible, and persuade Liu Yu with rational economic interests: the water here is very deep, you can't grasp it, and there is no future for smuggling and selling tea with Sweden.

As for whether it can be said to move, it is up to fate.

At this time, the United Kingdom can only attack the tea smugglers, and it really does not dare to rob the merchant ships of Sino-Swiss cooperation.

Besides, this matter ultimately depends on whether the parliament can pass the decree to change tea into agricultural products. If the parliament fails to pass, smuggling cannot be banned.

As the person in charge of the East India Company's trade with China, he did his best and obeyed the destiny.

Now that I have exhausted my strength, Liu Yu also expressed his gratitude and seemed to have a little trust. Fazaklei took the opportunity to ask: "Master Marquis is going to Nanyang this time to comfort the people outside China. I wonder if he will go to Luzon?" ?”

Liu Yu didn't know that Fa Zaklai was testing his attitude towards the situation in Nanyang, but he pretended not to know, and said with a smile: "You want to pretend to be powerful? Then don't think about it."

"Although the imperial court bans religion, and Spain is not in the past when gold and silver were imported from all over the world, but after all... this is your European business, and the imperial court will not care about it. If you have the ability, you will take Luzon; if you don't With ability, the imperial court will not quarrel with Spain because of you. After all, there is a French face in it."

"As for Batavia, that's another matter. This matter, after all, was the first note submitted by the Netherlands, hoping that all the Chinese in Batavia would be repatriated to Fujian."

"This matter has made the court very passive."

"If you agree, what will happen if there is no place to resettle?"

"If you don't agree, it will appear that the court is ruthless and not benevolent. As for the Chinese in Luzon... Hey, from the perspective of the court, most of them hope that you, the British, will take Luzon. At least, you British East India Company does not Sell ​​opium, don't spread faith, don't kill, don't set fire, right?"

(End of this chapter)