lied to Kangxi

Chapter 221
Yuzhu looked carefully at the account book. The East India Company bought the most products from the Qing Dynasty. The first was tea, the second was porcelain, and the third was silk products.

Moreover, Yuzhu also knew that after more than half a century, the British Tea Commissioner would try every means to obtain the method of growing tea trees from unscrupulous businessmen.

The reason is actually very simple. After the British developed the habit of drinking afternoon tea, the tea trade between China and Britain was monopolized by the East India Company.

Monopoly is fiercer than a tiger!
When Macartney visited China, he took tea trees from Jiangxi from the Qing Dynasty and handed them over to a botanist named Joseph Banks.

Joseph Banks is very capable. He was really in Calcutta, India, and the transplant was successful.

However, the East India Company did not use Calcutta tea in consideration of monopolizing the huge profits of tea in the Qing Dynasty.

At the earliest time, the East India Company sold only about 5 pounds of Chinese tea.Now, having soared to as much as five million pounds a year, the British cannot do without tea from China.

The East India Company needs tea, and the tea is in the hands of Shisanxing, that is, in the hands of Yuzhu.

We are all businessmen, and we need each other, so we can cooperate very well!
Yu Zhu was holding a wine glass in his hand, and he and Churchill got together, and through Alice's so-called translation, they had a happy conversation.

Unlike ordinary merchants, the East India Company is a respectable company.

This kind of respect is not emotional respect, but an emphasis on strength.

It can be despised strategically, but tactics must pay attention to it.

Jianghu, strength theory also!
This time, Churchill came over from Macau. Apart from participating in Yuzhu's party, he also wanted to buy a piece of land and build a formal business hall in the Shisanyi Pavilion area.

According to the rules of the Qing Dynasty, if a foreigner builds a foreign business house, he must obtain the consent of Yuzhu.

After hearing Churchill's thoughts, Yuzhu immediately nodded in agreement without saying a word.

It was clear that Churchill was just a temptation.Yuzhu nodded immediately, which immediately made him realize that there is an essential difference between the young supervisor and the old bureaucrat Wen Ershan.

There was still some time before lunch, Yuzhu invited everyone to the lawn in the back garden, and gave two high fives.

At this time, the melodious tune of "Pafan Dance" suddenly sounded in the sky above the back garden.

Alice immediately widened her eyes and stared at Yuzhu's face without blinking. What kind of devil man is this?
What Alice and all the foreign merchants present never expected in their dreams was that in the back garden of the imperial envoys of the Qing Dynasty, Pavan dance music, which was extremely popular in various courts in Europe, appeared unexpectedly.

Pafan dance, also known as peacock dance, is a slow double court dance popular in Europe in the 16th century (Renaissance period). Many pairs of double dancers form a queue, 2/2 beat, and the dance steps are slow and solemn.

Typically, the pavan is performed in pairs with the garill.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the dance music has already started, let's dance to your heart's content!" Yu Zhu winked at Alice, asking her to translate his words to everyone.

Alice suppressed the shock in her heart and announced the good news of dancing freely in public.

As a result, foreign businessmen from all over the world cheered and applauded for the enlightenment of the imperial envoy and supervisor of the Qing Dynasty.

All of a sudden, the foreign merchants brought their partners and danced together.

Yuzhu actually doesn't know how to dance this heavy and slow court dance, but Alice insists on teaching him to dance.

"Sweetheart, I don't want to make a fool of myself in public. Why don't you teach me in another place?" Yuzhu's request was reasonable, and Alice agreed.

As a result, in Yuzhu's inner study, Yuzhu pulled Alice and danced a face-to-face dance.

Alice's face was flushed by the jade pillar, and she was unbearably shy.

After having had enough trouble, Yu Zhu followed Alice very cooperatively and learned the pafan dance and Gaylor dance.

When Yu Zhu and Alice appeared on the dance floor together, the foreign merchants were all erupting immediately, whistles and screams were flying all over the sky.

After the dance, when the lunch buffet was being served, Yu Zhu raised his glass high and made a toast.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I want to announce a piece of good news to all of you. From now on, the amount of banknotes for each ship will be reduced to 50 taels of silver." The news announced by Yu Zhu in public is indeed a great benefit. information.

After the foreign ships of this era arrived at the port of Guangzhou, in addition to the normal cargo tax, they also needed to collect "ship money" silver according to the size of the ship.

According to the size of the merchant ship, the ship banknotes are divided into three grades, namely 600 taels, 100 400 taels and [-] taels.

According to William, if there were no such ridiculously expensive shipping bills, at least [-]% more foreign merchants would come to Guangzhou to do business.

Of course Yuzhu can understand, what William said is quite reasonable!
The so-called ship banknotes are the same as the nature of the city gate tax that was charged in every city in the Qing Dynasty, which greatly hindered the circulation of commerce.

Today, Yu Zhu spent money to treat guests, the purpose is to spread this amazing good news widely through the mouths of various foreign businessmen.

To put it bluntly, the more foreign merchants came, the happier Yuzhu was.

After bargaining in private, the old emperor gave Yuzhu a half-year buffer period.After that, it must be handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay 100 million taels of tax silver every year.

Treat guests to a meal, dance a few court dances, and spread the good news of investment promotion among foreign businessmen. How powerful is this?
When the wine was hot, Yuzhu took advantage of the opportunity and introduced the Zhen family of the Universal Bank to foreign businessmen in public.

Only by controlling the finance can we earn the biggest and most lucrative profits!
In addition, Yuzhu ordered people to distribute the customs declaration form printed in advance to foreign merchants.

From then on, when the tax soldiers inspected, they checked them one by one according to the obviousness of the customs declaration.If there is concealment, or contraband is carried, a fine of [-] will be imposed upon investigation.

Alice, the more you look at Yuzhu, the more confused you feel. Is this still an incompetent Qing bureaucrat?
The day after the meeting ended, Yuzhu took people to Hong Kong Island.

Yuzhu's entourage included Lin Yan'er's brother Lin Zhangwu, Xingrui, Xingjiao and Alice.

As for Bai Xing, Niu Tai, and the fifty or so seeded officers, they all followed.

Hong Kong Island in this era is nothing more than a small fishing village.

The land on the island cannot be farmed at all.

In a small-scale peasant society, land that cannot grow food is worthless no matter how much it is.

Yuzhu stayed on Hong Kong Island for two days and ordered Lin Zhangwu to buy as much wasteland as possible, especially the wasteland by the sea.

After leaving Hong Kong Island, Yu Zhu diverted to Macau Island.

Macau Island in this era is very different from Hong Kong Island.

The Portuguese came to Macao Island very early and obtained permission from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to settle on the island.

After so many years of development, Macau Island has also become very prosperous.

The Guangdong Customs has seven main gates under the jurisdiction of Daguan, the main gate of Macau, the main gate of Wuba, the main gate of Anbu, the main gate of Meilu, the main gate of Hai'an, and the main gate of Haikou. There are several small gates under each general gate .

Among them, Daguan, the provincial capital, and the main entrance of Macau are the most important, and they are the center of life.

The provincial capital gate is located in the old office of the former salt courtyard in Wuxianmen, Guangzhou (between Qiyi Road and Subo Lane today), and the most strategically located Humenkou and Huangpukou are both subordinate to the provincial capital gate.

Yuzhu came to Macau to inspect, which was justified and justified.

According to William, the courtyard of a certain commercial firm in Macau is actually the general den of smuggling guns.

As soon as Yu Zhu heard about this, he immediately became excited.

Free flintlock guns and cannons, if God does not take them, it is absolutely reckless!
Go to Hong Kong Island first, because Yu Zhu didn't want to scare the snake.

After Yuzhu arrived in Macao Island, he entertained foreign merchants every day, or went to the banquets of foreign merchants.

Niu Tai with the eagle became the main force in scouting the firm.

Yuzhu is very cautious, if he doesn't make a move, it must be a sure hit.

In fact, the news about William was just heard. He was not an expert in gun smuggling.

According to Yuzhu's estimate, the chances of the flintlock guns and artillery being hidden in that yard are actually very small.

More likely, flintlock guns and artillery are hidden on merchant ships on the sea.

Because, after Kangxi laid off the Guangdong Navy, the strength of the Qing Dynasty's control over Macau and other open seas was beyond words.

Fortunately, Niu Tai raised a golden eagle.

Although the golden eagle can't speak, under Niu Tai's training, he can spot the leader of the smuggling from the air, and then find the smuggling boat.

To be honest, there are dozens of large and small ships berthing in the port of Macau.

If the smuggling boat cannot be precisely aimed at, the officers and soldiers will be discovered as long as they pass by the shore.

At that time, the firearms will definitely be thrown into the sea, and they can only catch a lonely one.

After leaving Niu Tai on Macau Island, Yu Zhu led his men to the Humen Naval Camp on Shanghengdao Island.

No way, the flintlock gun that was stolen from William's house required a special training ground.

In the supervisory yamen, it must be suitable for firing guns every day.

In Yuzhu's hands, only the Humen Navy Battalion is the armed force.Moreover, Shanghengdao Island is a military restricted area, and there are no idlers.

Neither the General of Guangzhou, the Governor of Guangdong, nor the Admiral of Guangdong could intervene.

Yu Zhu was not familiar with flintlock guns, but William, who had been an officer in the Royal Navy, naturally became an instructor.

Objectively speaking, Yu Zhu has always employed people on the basis of merit, and doesn't care about the so-called loyalty.

As the old saying goes, the wind knows the strength of the grass, and the toughness knows the loyal ministers.

In normal times, everyone will be very loyal.In fact, when it comes to critical moments, how many are truly loyal subordinates?

The so-called loyalty is too expensive, it is better to simply reward and punish according to meritocracy!
William's character is very poor, but this former officer of the Royal Navy is really not fooling around. He has some personal experience in increasing the firing speed of the flintlock.

Seeds of officers, when they first came to the island, the firing rate of the guns was only one shot per minute and a half.

After half a month, the shooting speed increased to two rounds per minute.

To put it bluntly, the seeded officers who have a foundation of organization and discipline can get twice the result with half the effort when they come to train their shooting speed.

(End of this chapter)