Xinshun 1730

Chapter 891 Britain Falls into the Trap ([-])
Fazaclay said that Defoe was a writer of novels.

May or may not really understand trade and economics.

But what Defoe saw with his eyes was that under the Eastern trade, traditional woolen and textile industrial areas such as London and Norwich declined rapidly, a large number of textile workshops went bankrupt, and a large number of workers lost their jobs.

After the oriental cotton cloth prohibition came into effect, the textile industry in these areas has indeed regained its vitality, and a large number of workers have found jobs again.

Fazaklei is a senior employee of the East India Company and a mid-level and senior shareholder of more than 500 pounds. Of course, he looks at British domestic policies from the perspective of the company.

Defoe was scolded because of cotton cloth from India and Dashun.

Swift was scolded by him because of Dashun's tea—the company hoped to lower the tea tariff and thus obtain higher profits, but the parliament rejected it and rejected the East India Company's proposal.In her editorial, Swift satirized the East India Company bitterly, causing "bad" effects.

And this proposal was a promise made by the British East India Company to Liu Yu when the Swedish Orient Company was reorganized, in order to obtain a price for Liu Yu to give up cooperation with Sweden.

But this promise was not fulfilled.

Now, the consequences have emerged.

Fazaklei was not stupid, nor was the British envoy. With the closure of the business hall, the seizure of merchant ships, and the establishment of the Western Trading Company by Dashun with great fanfare, they certainly knew that Dashun was engaging in unfair competition.

The question is, why does Dashun cooperate with the Netherlands?

Instead of working with the British East India Company?
After being slapped, the East India Company first reflected on why it was beaten.

Since the opium issue is obviously a cover—don’t care about it sooner or later, when the country’s Western Trading Company is established?

Then the conclusion is that domestic policies are not conducive to trade, so that the British East India Company did not create the greatest value for China's exports, so China chose to cooperate with the Netherlands instead of the United Kingdom.

Why did the British East India Company not create the greatest value for China's exports?

Because of the wonderful tariff protection in the UK and the even more exotic high tariff system for tea.

Why does Britain have tariff protection for cotton cloth?

Because the British industrial capitalists are "shameless" and insist on engaging in industry for their own interests, and prevent the British people from wearing cheaper and better-looking Indian and Chinese cotton cloth.

So, the logic is this:

If the United Kingdom released tariffs, the East India Company would be able to import [-] times the amount of cotton cloth and [-] times or even [-] times the amount of tea from China with the strength of the British fleet, control of Atlantic trade, and North American colonies.

With such a large trade volume, relying on the British sea power, it destroyed the Dutch, Swedish, and Danish East India Companies and completely monopolized Eastern trade products.

Dashun dares to cut off the trade with England easily?

Will Dashun be forced to take the initiative to open up trade in Europe?

This is not the fault of those domestic industrial capitals, whose fault is it?

Of course, there are theoretically two solutions to this kind of thing.

First, change the domestic policy of the UK, sign the "Sino-British Friendship and Trade Treaty", open up customs duties, buy Dashun's goods wantonly, and increase the Sino-British friendship.The friendship between China and France will not last long, because France has its own industries, and many of them are in conflict with Dashun, including porcelain and silk.

Second, the fleet blocked Dagukou, captured the Forbidden City, held the head of the Chinese emperor, and forced Dashun to cut off trade with Sweden, France, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Prussia, and Austria, and could only trade with Britain.If you don't agree, just give it a slap until you agree.

However, theory and reality are always far apart.

So, there are two theoretical solutions, but in practice there is only one solution.

Because... more than half of the profits of the East India Company now come from tea, porcelain, silk and rhubarb.

When Dashun engages in "unfair" competition on the basis of the opium issue, don't try to convince Dashun by reason, and don't expect to escape by protesting that the opium smuggling ship has no legal relationship with the East India Company—this is One point, Fazaklei is very sober - so, the only remedy is to give Dashun enough promises, let Dashun recognize the potential of British trade, so that they will not be expelled.

The current East India Company is neither the East India Company that collected land tax after acquiring India, nor the East India Company when the industrial revolution broke out in Britain and the local textile industry in India collapsed after the Bengal Famine.

It is a standard comprador company whose profits are closely related to China.

And this also means that the trade of the British East India Company is now at great risk.

Take for example a merchant ship of the East India Company that came to China last year.

This merchant ship came to China with 3533 pieces of flannelette from the UK. The cost price, that is, the purchase price in the UK, was 62000 pounds.But after selling in China, the silver obtained was 167000 taels of silver.

Counting the exchange currency of British Pound and Kuping Silver, the profit margin is a loss of 11%.

There are also 26600 short long earls at a cost of £61000.After the sale, the silver received was 18 taels, not counting the shipping fee. If it was evened out, the loss was only 3%.

The only place in Dashun that needs a large amount of woolen cloth without losing money is the navy, but the navy's woolen cloth is all bought from France.

Originally, the few people who made money were lead and pepper from Bengkulu and India, but the problem was that they went to Nanyang with Dashun and controlled the lead, tin, and pepper by themselves, and now these things are no longer profitable.

It is not a day or two for woolen wool to lose money.

This involves the relationship between the East India Company and the British textile merchants, the discussions in the parliament, the sales obligations that the East India Company has to fulfill, and the fact that the cash cannot be obtained so quickly and has to be paid in triangular accounts, etc. , this is not mentioned.

Let’s just talk about a company that doesn’t make money selling domestic products or even loses money, but only makes money buying foreign products. What will happen if it is cut off from buying channels?
The opium trade was secretly conducted in order to obtain cash.France also has American ginseng that can be exchanged for goods. What else can Britain offer besides opium?
Dashun is a gold-eating beast, only eating gold, silver, copper and some exotic goods.

This is an important factor why Liu Yu used ginseng to instigate Britain and France to go to war in North America so smoothly, and it is also the reason why the British East India Company secretly engaged in opium smuggling.

The profit from the East India Company's turnover urgently needs the return of Chinese goods to make a profit.

Now the competition is already very fierce. Fazakley got the news not long ago that even Prussia, a weakling at sea, was authorized by Frederick II to form the "Emden Prussian Royal Jiangsu China Asia Company".

Under such circumstances, there are still various constraints in the country, and the tariffs on cotton cloth and tea have not yet been lifted. The company's capital turnover is already quite difficult.

What will happen once the trade is hit by Dashun?
And the root of all this, isn't it because the British East India Company could not bring enough exports to Dashun?
If the East India Company had no grievances against the British government, it would have seen a ghost instead.

Of course, the East India Company did not know the real reason why Liu Yu disliked Britain, but it roughly guessed an important reason why Liu Yu did not choose to cooperate with Britain, but chose to cooperate with the Netherlands.

The British textile industry capitalists, as well as the local aristocratic agricultural landowners who raise sheep in enclosures, are powerful enough to issue cotton cloth laws, and they can also force the East India Company to buy some British woolen fabrics—compared to being bought by themselves. The Netherlands, whose commercial and financial capital devastated its industrial base, cannot be compared.

Law is the ruling tool of the ruling class.

The commercial capital of the East India Company is no match for the industrial capital and land capital in Britain.And the commercial capital and financial capital of the Netherlands can overwhelm the industrial capital of the Netherlands.

This is the difference in fate between the two, and it is also one of the reasons why one of the two can cooperate with Dashun, and the other is suppressed by Dashun...

In Fazaklei's view, if the UK releases tariffs, the British East India Company will be able to destroy the British wool textile industry and completely destroy the fledgling cotton textile industry within three years at most.

Once it is destroyed, the company can double its assets several times just by buying Dashun and Indian cotton cloth.

Moreover, it will also greatly increase the value of Dashun, making Dashun not dare to attack the British East India Company easily, for fear of affecting its own exports.

If this is the case, this is completely a bargaining chip that can be negotiated-use the strength of the British fleet to control the main Atlantic routes and attack the trade with China of various countries, so that the British East India Company will become the one with the largest trade volume with China.

After ensuring the control of the eastern trade, the British East India Company had a bargaining chip with Dashun: monopolizing the market and intimidating by closing the market was also a bargaining chip.It is even possible to make Dashun acquiesce in the smuggling of opium by the East India Company.

If you won't buy my opium, I won't buy your silk and cotton.Although it is impossible to do, at least it can be negotiated.

Now, what are we talking about?
There is no bargaining chip, what is there to talk about?

You, the British East India Company, don’t buy tea silk and porcelain wool, but you buy it from Hollande, Danpu and Pu. Is your family missing?The tea you are buying now is not even as good as Denmark. What qualifications do you have to raise conditions?

Of course, Fazaklei was going to Macau immediately to see Liu Yu.The British envoy may also go to Yangzhou to ask to see the emperor, but it is hard to say whether the emperor agrees, it is still easier to see Liu Yu.

He was also not going to talk about those procedural and theoretical excuses that the British East India Company was not guilty. He knew that this would only anger Dashun.

He is going to beg for mercy and admit his mistakes, he can admit that he was fined a sum of money, he can ensure that the opium trade will be strictly controlled in the future, and he can write a letter of guarantee.

But the question is, are these alone enough to make Dashun change his mind?

Do we need to make some promises: Please don't suppress the British East India Company, and wait and see, the company has a way to lobby members to relax the tea tax, cotton tax, and porcelain tax?

This is exactly why Fazaklei blamed a dead man and an Irish Tory party.

He hopes that the British envoy can face up to this matter and take it seriously, and grasp the root cause of this matter and solve it domestically.

Instead of trying to just make sense.

A world where justice prevails over power does not exist now.

Moreover, the United Kingdom does not have the power to formulate axioms and say that opium is legal. It is still difficult to fight the Americas of Spain. How can "axioms" cover East Asia?

Therefore, he solemnly said to the Minister: "Mr. Minister, please believe me. If this matter is to be truly resolved, it will not be in Macau or the Forbidden City. It can only be in the Palace of Westminster. In any case, please send China The situation, and send it back to London in detail and in detail, so that they can wake up and stop having childish and terrible thoughts such as Jenkins' ears."

(End of this chapter)