Xinshun 1730

Chapter 780 Catch and Release

"15%?"

When the given two quarters of an hour expired, these merchants gave Liu Yu an answer.

Liu Yu was expressionless, neither surprised nor happy, and still drank tea methodically.

In these years of hanging out in the officialdom, the ability to show emotion and anger is incomparable to those professional bureaucrats in Dashun, but more or less he has a little bit of ability.

After a question that seemed to be both a rhetorical question and a self-questioning question, the surroundings fell silent, waiting for Liu Yu's next reply.

In fact, Liu Yu was very happy in his heart.

15% annual interest, although still dare not promise, unacceptable.

However, it is still negotiable to raise the price on the spot and pay back the money on the spot.

It was much lower than the 20% he estimated in his heart before, which is really gratifying.

After a while, these people didn't speak when they saw Liu Yu, they just pushed Lin Yunwen out again.

"Marquis Jing, we all thought that the matter of going to Nanyang involves too much. The military and government are beyond the reach of merchants like me."

"It is all subject to the imperial court."

"With an annual interest rate of 15%, it is my return to the imperial court."

"Whether it's a private loan or a national decree, a three-point interest is also acceptable. The two-point interest is extremely good for lending. We take one-fifth of the interest, which shows our sincerity."

Liu Yu still nodded at these words.Indeed, the 15% annual interest rate in Dashun is really an absolute low interest rate.

The highest interest rate stipulated by the imperial court is 30%, and Dashun follows the Ming law, but the laws of Dashun or Ming Dynasty, especially those related to economic issues such as loans, are actually a fart at the grassroots level.

Even if the two families are powerful, there are loopholes to take advantage of.

Just like in the Arab region, according to Sharia law, lending is not allowed.

However, I do not lend money. I will lend you ten dollars, but I will only give you seven dollars.When you repay the money, you pay me ten yuan, and the IOU is also ten yuan. I didn't charge you a penny of interest. How can this be considered a loan?

Similar methods are used all over the world.

It’s nothing more than Dashun’s side, because there are laws; the Middle East, there are scriptures; and Western Europe’s side, there are scholastics who can interpret interest as risk return money...

Not much difference.

Why is there a saying in China that "nine outs and thirteen returns"?

Because starting from the Ming Dynasty, the highest interest rate stipulated by the law is three.

Nine out of thirteen returns is not illegal; in fact, ten out of fourteen returns with the same interest rate is theoretically illegal.

This is a standard where there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom, which cannot be cured at all.

You can't take "Da Ming Law" or "Da Shun Law" and regard the contents in it as the whole reality.

Now that he was doing things in reality, Liu Yu admitted that the 15% annual interest they offered was indeed a low interest rate.

After nodding, Liu Yu asked again: "What do you mean by referring to the imperial court?"

"Uh……"

Lin Yunwen didn't have to answer for a while, and thought that it didn't seem necessary to say that.Is it possible that us businessmen can really decide where the imperial court will use its troops?Is it possible to decide to attack those small countries in Southeast Asia?
How could the imperial court give us a chance to control the army?

How could trade in Southeast Asia and the West be possible without an army?
What is the court as the standard?Of course, it is purely based on the court.

After silence, Liu Yu said: "The imperial court shall prevail, so it is right or wrong."

"That's right, the court's laws, rules, and systems must of course be followed."

"Speaking of which, the imperial court does not specialize in the Nanyang trade. As long as it abides by the law, does things according to the rules, and does things according to the system, the imperial court does not want to reach out too much."

"You really can't touch things like the army, government, taxation, and land policy."

"However, warehouses, prices, transportation, stockpiling...these things, the imperial court doesn't want to take care of them."

"In business, there is no such thing as profit but not loss."

"Things such as the army, political power, taxation, and land cannot simply consider economic interests."

"But in business, if you buy shares, you are shareholders. You have to bear risks and responsibilities. To make decisions and make trade decisions, how can you say that everything depends on the court?"

"I'm just saying, if the court loses money in the future, don't you feel resentful? You just think that the court's decision is wrong, and the court will be blamed by you."

"However, if you make your own trade decisions and end up losing money in a mess...it's like you are doing business yourself. It's not because of the imperial court's checkpoint tax that you lost money, but because you didn't do it well. Why can't you blame the imperial court? "

"There are some responsibilities that the imperial court does not want to take on, nor does it want to take care of them at all."

There is some meaning in saying this.

The merchants present pondered for a while, and felt a little bit of taste in their hearts. If they said so, it seemed to be more similar to the model of the Japan Trading Company?
If that's the case, it's another story.

"According to the meaning of Jinghou, does it mean that the imperial court is in charge of military and political power, trade matters or we are in charge?"

Liu Yu said with a smile: "Nonsense, do you think that the court is short of money and asked you to borrow money, and you only charge interest?"

"To put it bluntly, you think that 15% interest is enough to give the court a decent face. But in fact, the court really wants to borrow money. In Europa, not to mention 5%, at least [-]% interest is still You can borrow money."

"The name of the heavenly kingdom, the vastness of the land and the wealth of resources, coupled with the years of advocacy by the Europa people, the credibility is sufficient. No one will doubt that the court will not pay this money, right?"

"The times have changed. At least, the times at the top have changed."

"Small farmers in the provinces can't feel it. It's impossible for them to go to Europe to borrow money."

"But the imperial court has visited Europe several times, do you think you can only ask about the era when you borrowed money and donated money?"

"Let's not talk about the imperial court's reputation in Europa before, but just talk about the big profits in Nanyang. If you borrow money in Europa, it will be a golden signboard. Back then, the British South Sea Company and the French Mississippi Company could easily raise hundreds of dollars. Wanliang, this is just empty shelf."

"It's true that the imperial court went to Nanyang. Everyone knows that the Dutch have made profits in Nanyang for a hundred years. If the imperial court really wants to run it completely officially, why would they ask you to borrow money?"

Most of the people present still believed this slightly threatening words.

They had done a lot of trade with Westerners before, even if Westerners had shops here, they still needed local merchants from Dashun to make goods.

They have also asked a lot about some things in Western countries, especially things such as loans, stock offerings, and dividends over the years.

It is true that the interest there, especially the large amount of interest on borrowing money from the state, is indeed not high, much lower than the 15% they feel is enough to give the court face.

Times have really changed.

Small peasants really do not feel the change, the world is still within thirty miles of their surroundings.

But many official affairs of Dashun are no longer limited to the Celestial Dynasty.

Including, borrowing money.

The real lethality of these words lies in the phrase "the imperial court really wants to run it by the government, so why would it ask you to borrow money".

This means that the imperial court is not asking you to borrow money this time, you don't need to give the imperial court face, and the imperial court doesn't bother to ask for this face.

That is to say, if the imperial court is really planning to run it officially, there is really no shortage of money, so don't think that it can't be done without you.

After threatening, Liu Yu said again: "The meaning of the imperial court is that in the Nanyang trade in the future, merchants will return to merchants, and officials will return to officials."

"What is a merchant? What is an official? I don't need to be too clear about this. You should know it in your own mind. Which ones are businessmen and which ones should not be touched by businessmen, you actually have a certain idea in your mind."

"That is to say, this Western Trading Company has a dual structure."

"There is the supervision of the imperial court, and there is also the board of directors of your shareholders. If military and political conquests are involved, the board of directors must pass the supervision of the imperial court."

"After the examination and approval by the imperial supervisory office, it will be reported to the imperial court."

"When the imperial court sends troops, it will be deducted from the company's account according to the marked price."

"Set the rules. For example, the soldier's military pay, rewards, pensions, etc. The scale of the battle, the number of people, the time of the battle, the gunpowder and shells consumed, etc., are all recorded in the accounts."

"As much as it should be, as much as it should be."

"As for the pricing of the acquisition, the construction of warehouses, and how many merchant ships to build, these are matters for your board of directors."

"However, in the early stage, the imperial court's supervision should be more lenient. Let's limit it to six years."

"Firstly, you don't know much about the situation in the West, and secondly, you don't know much about Nanyang. The imperial court first sent a supervisor, who is not only the official supervisor, but also the director of the capital provided by the imperial court. In the early stage Set down the rules first, and after a few years, when it is done, separate the supervision and the board of directors."

"We still have to follow the rules in the future."

"But the rules themselves still need to be discussed with you shareholders. The annual accounts will also be published on time."

"The reason why I want you to set a bottom line is because everything is difficult at the beginning due to the supervision of the imperial court in the early stage. At that time, if you fail to meet your psychological expectations, I am afraid that there will be trouble."

"When the transition period is over in the future, the trade will be your own problem. If something goes wrong and you lose money, the board of directors is responsible, the shareholders will bear it, and the court will be clean and not responsible. If you make money, the court will not be jealous, you guys Just pay your taxes properly."

Dashun made this set of things, which is a bit new, a bit like the British East India Company after the 1774 and 1776 Acts.

Separate politics, military and business.

The government appoints a governor, who can make decisions bypassing committees and boards when "necessary".And the governor also serves as the commander-in-chief of the garrison.

Although similar, but because of the difference in national conditions, the inside is completely different.

The British East India Company was a process that was not subject to government supervision at all, until an internal crisis gradually broke out and had to ask the government for help, and the government finally mixed sand into it and finally controlled it.

On Dashun's side, it was completely the opposite.It is normal for Dashun to be completely supervised by the government or even run by the government, but what Liu Yu wants to do is to weaken the imperial court's overall control over the merchant class.

From the beginning of its establishment, the British East India Company, in order to reassure the business class, had the slogan that "the company will never hire any politicians, never allow government personnel to enter the company, and never allow the government to impose any restrictions on the company." Jurisdiction".

Including the soldiers who fought in India, they are all the company's own mercenaries, not the British government's army.

But to give capital unlimited power, the result is to eat people without spitting out bones, completely collapse, and eventually have to be supervised by the government.

On Dashun's side, no one dared to shout a slogan similar to that of the East India Company at the beginning of its establishment, unless it was because of impatient living.

For the British government, it took 150 years to turn an East India Company that was completely unregulated by the government into a company with dual decision-making by the government and the board of directors, and then completely abolish the East India Company.

For Liu Yu, what needs to be done is to "spend enough time to 'degenerate' the completely government-run monopoly of Dashun into a company with dual decisions made by the government and the board of directors."

This is determined by the different national conditions of the two sides.

Taking the national conditions of the UK as an example, the government requires government supervision from the very beginning, which will scare away businessmen.

The UK had too little control before, and the result of too little control was the short-sighted and suffocating operation of capital.

In terms of Dashun's national conditions, the imperial court was only government supervision from the beginning, which would attract businessmen.

Dashun managed too much before, and the result of too much management was that the vitality of private capital could not arouse its strength at all.

Due to the different national conditions, what the UK needs to do is to "catch" while what Dashun needs to do is to "let go".

This gesture of "letting go" by the court is very important to businessmen.

The businessmen in Dashun never expected to have a Nanyang issue related to the military and politics. They could "company without any supervision from the government".

So it took the UK 130 years to finally complete the regulatory policy that made the board of directors quite dissatisfied and shareholders very angry.

On Dashun's side, the potential shareholders were very excited. They were grateful to Dade, and really felt the sincerity of the imperial court.

(End of this chapter)