Xinshun 1730

Chapter 939 Consciousness ([-])

It was just a joke, and Xu Heng wanted to imitate the idea of ​​the Dutch system, and Xu Heng himself also smiled, thinking that it is okay to think about it, but he would not have the guts to really do it.

Thinking about his father's words, Xu Heng felt that he still had to follow Duke Xingguo's policy closely in the future. External expansion would definitely be beneficial to the Xu family, if what his father said was indeed reasonable.

"Father, we will discuss the issue of spices tomorrow. We basically know by now that the Duke's intention is to reduce the price of spices. He is preparing for a price war in Europe just like the tea incident that year. By lowering prices, we can regain the Brazilian spices. It occupies half of the spice market in the country."

"Everyone has different opinions on this matter, but the Duke should still be reasonable. He likes to use reason to persuade us as much as possible, rather than using the status of a regulator to force us."

"It's just... lowering the price will definitely reduce everyone's dividends in the short term. And no one can say for sure how much money will be invested in this kind of thing."

"Fighting a price war by lowering prices is like spending money. But my father also knows that the Duke of the State mentioned the problem of the Dutch East India Company. They can rely on issuing low-interest bonds to maintain high expenditure turnover. This dynasty has no way to pay for it. Bonds, because the interest is about the same as the profit."

"According to my father, I must support the Duke. But this is actually offending everyone, because there is no way to issue bonds, but to expand the stock offering, which is not good for everyone. Originally, the profit of [-] was shared by [-] people. Now It becomes [-], but [-] people share it, the company has grown, but these people who are now shareholders must be dissatisfied."

"In the future, the members of the board of directors will be elected, and the Duke said that there will be no supervision in the future... Shouldn't our family offend them?"

Xu Tao pondered for a moment and said: "What you said before is very clear. The Duke of the State is an official, and you and I are the people. For you and me as businessmen, profit is everything; It’s a special thing, similar to the Protectorate of the Western Regions.”

"The purpose of the imperial court is to expand the company after all. Your and my profits are not considered by the imperial court at all. The main reason why the Duke considers your and my profits is that the imperial court wants us to invest money. Businessmen talk about profit, but the imperial court can't afford that much money. , so we have to consider our profit."

"But you have to keep in mind that if the imperial court does not come forward, there will be no Nanyang, let alone the two-year seizure of the British East India Company and the tax increase of the Danish Company."

"If you leave the court, you are nothing. You can't even sell goods to Europa, not to mention Europa, even Japan is close at hand, and you know how your elder brother died."

He neither said that he supported it, nor that he did not support it for fear of offending the rest of the shareholders, but only talked about the relationship between the company and the court.

I hope my son can understand that the company seems to be very strong, but in fact it is all supported by the imperial court.Without the imperial court, the company is nothing, and it is not even qualified to discuss the pricing of spices.

The only advantage of building a good relationship with those shareholders may be that your own family can be elected when the board of directors is elected in the future.

But Xu Tao felt that even if Liu Yu said that he would not supervise in the future, would the imperial court really not interfere with the candidates for the board of directors?
I'm afraid not necessarily?

Can the imperial court really let such a behemoth go unsupervised?
From the looks of it now, the supervisory committee controls everything. Even if some supervision is abandoned in the future, it is impossible to ignore everything.

Not to mention anything else, only that the company itself has no army, fleet, or power to make laws.This is different from the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company.

The imperial court has the Nanyang garrison and the fleet in its hands. Whether this supervision will continue is probably a question that need not be considered at all.

And even if you don't consider military issues, just talk about policy issues, a policy from the imperial court can determine that the company's trade volume this year will increase sharply by the stock of a Danish Asian company.

Then, the imperial court can make the company grow rapidly, and it can also make the company's life worse than death at any time.

Liu Yu talked about the British parallel East India Company, but Xu Tao understood that this kind of thing could happen in the UK.In Dashun, there is no need to go to the point of setting up a parallel company to curb it, and even if it is established, it is impossible for the old company to buy out the equity on the day of establishment to realize control.

That being the case, there is really no need to supervise...not to supervise, or to consider candidates for the future board of directors based on relationships.

Even if the Duke of the state is high-spirited and upright, I am afraid that he will support a faction and fight in the boardroom, and it is impossible for them, a group of businessmen, to make their own decisions.

Xu Heng understood his father's meaning, and thought that it was nothing more than to follow the Duke closely and not to consider other people's opinions.In this way, I will know what to do tomorrow.

…………

In the early morning of the second day, shortly after Xu Heng arrived at the venue, a booklet titled "The Gains and Losses of the Dutch Spice Trade" was distributed on the table.

Those who came early, were already sitting there and started watching.

There was still some time before the meeting, and Xu Heng didn't go to get together with others to ask their opinions on the topic of spices discussed today.

In fact, neither did the rest.

Either it was really not discussed in private, or it was discussed quietly last night, but at least everyone who can read is silently reading the booklet.

Like the others, Xu Heng picked up the booklet and read it.It is written in vernacular, easy to understand, and the pamphlet is not too thick. On the whole, it revolves around the gains and losses of the Dutch spice policy.

After only reading a few pages, Xu Heng could tell from the very beginning of the prologue that it seems that the matter of changing the monopoly mode of spices in the future is a foregone conclusion.

It's just that I don't know how many people will oppose it today?
Glancing at the chiming clock at the venue, there was still an hour and a half before the official meeting, Xu Heng thought to himself that he should read this booklet.

About 30 pages of booklets, one and a half hours, enough to read.

But like Xu Heng, most people couldn't help but read it again after reading it once, reading it carefully word by word.

Many people nodded more and more as they read.

The same is true for Xu Heng himself. After reading it for the first time, after reading a general idea, he felt that the truth in it really made sense.

It did not say what kind of policy the Western Trading Company will implement in the future.

Instead, it talked about what the Dutch spice trade policy was like, why it was chosen this way, and what consequences it led to.

Every sentence mentions Holland, but no one mentions Dashun.

But after the first reading, the hidden contrasts can be seen everywhere.Even spontaneously thought of many policies implemented by the Netherlands, for Dashun, it is really unnecessary.

Because it analyzes the reasons why the Netherlands did this, but looking at Dashun along the "why", I feel that Dashun does not need to consider the issues that the Netherlands should consider at all.

Cuckoo, cuckoo...

When the clock struck nine o'clock, someone rang the bell to call for silence. , There are more people coming today than yesterday, and the back is full of people. Many people are just retail investors with small investments, and some are simply fresh graduates, waiting to go to work in Nanyang, or waiting for this winter. Out of curiosity, I came to observe the employee recruitment exam of the Western Trading Company.

Xu Heng glanced at Liu Yu on the stage, and put down the pamphlet that Yu Xiang was full of lingering desires. Duke Xindao is indeed a person who likes to reason, and today's matter seems to be a foregone conclusion.

I don't know how others are, but after reading this pamphlet, I feel that there is no way to refute the Duke based on reason.

Naturally, this is like what the Duke of England said yesterday about the British "shareholders". According to his data, the truth that the Duke of China wants can indeed be deduced.It's just that it's hard to say whether the data is true or not, but it doesn't matter if you don't believe it, because apart from him, no one else does this seemingly useless thing, but it is actually very useful.

On the stage, after waiting for everyone to calm down, Liu Yu asked: "You may not have read all the booklets on the table. In that case, I will read it to you first. After reading it, I will give you another half an hour." , you discuss with each other."

Xu Heng in the audience heard Liu Yu start to read the booklet. After listening for a while, he realized that Liu Yu was really following the scriptures, so he didn't continue to listen. Instead, he opened the booklet to read the special conditions in the Netherlands that were specially marked in the middle.

There is no mention of Dashun here.

But after reading it, Xu Heng naturally thought of the allusion of "carving a boat and seeking a sword", and felt that Liu Yu was still saying after all, don't learn from the Dutch policy.

The policy of the Dutch is only suitable for the Netherlands, but it is not suitable for Dashun at all.

What is mentioned here is the price of cloves and pepper, and the root cause surrounding this pricing - the sadness of a small country.

Or, don't engage in monopoly.

Or, if you want to monopolize, don't think about monopolizing and worrying about competition from others.

In the pamphlet, a sentence was used to describe the Dutch East India Company:

Heart is higher than the sky, life is thinner than paper.

The heart of a lady, the body of a maid.

For example, Lilac is massacring, cutting down trees, and building fortresses in order to monopolize.

After really getting the monopoly power, the 17-member committee gave up again.

Worried that the minimum profit of more than ten times would make the UK look jealous, so the monopoly was finally over, and the price was voluntarily lowered.

Why take the initiative to lower prices?
Because the profit is too high, I am afraid that it will attract people's envy and jealousy, so that the British will be tempted to rob it, resulting in increased military expenditure and reduced profits...

What are you doing early?Did you not think about this before spending a lot of money to monopolize, slaughter, and cut down trees?

And pepper.

The pepper company won by fighting a price war.

It is said that after winning the price war and obtaining the monopoly, it is time to reduce shipments and increase the price of pepper, right?
In the end, I was worried that the British side would be jealous, and they were so scared that they had already won the British and Portuguese businessmen by excessive dumping. As a result, the 17-member gentleman group persuaded themselves-the theory is that as long as I commit suicide, others cannot kill me-then Continue to maintain low pepper prices and excess sales.

So toss a circle, what is the meaning?

They want to monopolize high profits, so they invest heavily in competition, massacres, and tree felling.

After a true monopoly, he dared not bear the counterattack of being looked at with envy after the monopoly, and took the initiative to cut prices.

Of course, monopoly and price reduction are both a long process.

The considerations here actually reflect the decline of the national strength of the Netherlands, not only the absolute decline, but also the relative decline: the tortoise ran two steps first, and the rabbit chased after him. The tortoise felt that compared with its previous self, it was actually not too slow , but compared to those rabbits, it got worse and farther away.

Of course, there was no mention of Dashun, not a single word.

But after reading it, Xu Heng couldn't help but think: If the Chinese government had obtained the monopoly, would it need to worry about the armed invasion of Nanyang from other countries and choose to lower the price?
Or, is it a price cut or a price increase, do you need to consider this issue?
At least, in Nanyang, there is no need to consider these issues at all.

(End of this chapter)