Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1092 Your East India Company Was Sold
Surat, the most prosperous port city on the Indian peninsula, was the first trade transfer station established by Britain here.The British East India Company originally opened a factory in Banten, which was regarded as a trade transit point, but they gradually realized that the Indian peninsula also had some raw materials they wanted.Charles I's father, James I, also sent a jazz to visit the Mughal Emperor at that time, and obtained the permission of the Mughal Emperor, giving the company the exclusive right to live and build factories in Surat and other places.

This privilege was obtained by the East India Company from the Mughal Emperor Jahangir without extra effort, because the East India Company had the goods that Jahangir wanted.Moreover, Emperor Jahangir, who ruled 70% of India's land, did not think that the sparsely populated visitors would pose much threat to his regime. In his eyes, perhaps the Mughals were the most powerful empire in the world.

The battleship HMS Crown Prince, which once visited China, sailed into Surat. After more than 20 years of operation, the East India Company has its own handicraft workshop here, employing local workers to produce the products they need and then shipping them back to Europe.Although the scale was still small, and it didn't even have a big impact on the local market, no one expected that the East India Company would later expand into a behemoth, using the contradictions between the local states to turn the entire Indian peninsula into a colony.

Francis Day, the local head of the East India Company, learned that the envoys had arrived in Surat, and immediately brought several soldiers to greet them.At this time, there were only a dozen or so East Indian soldiers stationed in Surat.

"Francis Day has met His Excellency the Earl. We will buy fresh fruits and vegetables and prepare fresh water for you and the accompanying crew at the market." Francis Day, a 30-year-old Surat Colonial Administrator, joined the East Coast three years ago. Indian Company Services, one of the pioneers of the East India Company's numerous colonies in the Indian Peninsula, managed the local British factory - the Cotton Mill.

"Thank you." The earl who led the second batch of missions disembarked with a few nobles, whose status was much more noble than the administrators of the colony.

"My lord earl, are you going to go to the more eastern China this time? The factory set up by our East India Company in Banten was also taken over by the Chinese during the war between the Chinese and the Dutch. Now we have to report to China. People's customs paid a high 'spice tax' to import peppers and other spices. They compressed the profits of our East India Company's spice trade, why did His Majesty the King send envoys to China to discuss trade matters?" Fran Sith day complained.

Two or three years ago, the Kyushu Army launched an all-out war in Nanyang, which not only destroyed the local feudal dynasties and island tribes, but also occupied the strongholds of the Dutch, Spaniards, and Francines in the Spice Islands.At that time, the British factory in Bhutan, which was still very small in the Spice Islands, was also affected and was also forcibly taken over by the Kyushu Army.

At present, all merchant ships from Western countries who want to go to the Spice Islands to buy spices have to pay a high "spice tax" to the customs set up by the Kyushu Army in Batavia, Malacca and other places.If the spice tax is not paid, it will be regarded as smuggling, and the Nanyang Fleet has the right to use naval guns to sink smuggling ships.

"There are no eternal friends in the world, only eternal interests. Although the Chinese forcibly occupied the Spice Islands, they opened the sea ban, allowing us to freely buy their porcelain, silk and tea." said the earl.

"As a country, they already have competitive commodities, and they have occupied the entire Spice Islands. The huge income from the spice tax alone is an astronomical figure. You don't know how much our entire Europe needs for spices." Francis was jealous and envious.

When he began to serve the East India Company, it was officially when the Kyushu Army fully occupied the Spice Islands.In his mind, the Spice Islands at this time are much more important than the Indian Peninsula.

"After all, they are an ancient oriental civilization. The population of a country is as large as that of our European countries combined, and they have powerful battleships. They are different from backward kingdoms like the Mughals. If our Royal Navy can revive and The attitude of the Spanish Armada, the Mughal navy is not our opponent at all. However, now that the Royal Navy is declining, it is a shame that the warships of the Netherlands and the Spaniards come and go freely in the English Channel." said the earl.

"In the Age of Discovery, our population in Britain was too small. There were so many new continents waiting for us to conquer, but we only had a few million people. The Spaniards must be suffering too." Francis Day was still a little unwilling.

At this time, the embarrassing thing about Europe's outward colonization process is that there are only a few million people in the country, and the number of people exported is limited.Before the Industrial Revolution began, they could only establish colonies in the form of forts or strongholds.

"There is one thing I must tell you. It is a pity that from now on, all the properties of the East India Company have been sold to the Chinese. They are willing to pay a huge amount to acquire [-]% of the shares of the East India Company." The earl said suddenly.

Francis Day and the soldiers stationed at the Surat factory were shocked when they heard this.

They were unknowingly sold? !
Francis asked with a gloomy expression on his face: "Master Earl, are you joking? Ninety percent of our shares in the East India Company were sold to the Chinese!?"

"It's absolutely true. This is the equity transfer document in which the board of directors of your East India Company agrees to transfer the assets and personnel of the East India Company. I lead the mission this time to report to the Chinese people that His Majesty the King is sincere in cooperating with them. I hope they It can give us trade privileges, such as reducing the spice tax of our British merchants. There is also the issue of tea. They consider that the Mughals produce tea, and they firmly believe that the quality of their tea is far superior to that of the Mughals, so I am also willing to give our British merchants special preferential treatment in terms of tea tax to replace the bitter Mughal tea. Of course there are other preferential terms." The earl said.

"The board of directors actually transferred [-]% of the shares to the Huaxia people. In the future, we will pledge our allegiance to the kingdom in the Far East?" Francis took the share transfer letter shown to him by the earl on the day, and there was a letter from the East India Company on it. The board of directors signed and stamped it, and the earl personally brought it over on the battleship Crown Prince, basically correct.

The administrators of these colonies are still managing their own factories as usual. As a result, the headquarters of the East India Company in the city of London has agreed to sell the East India Company under coercion and lure.

Because of a news jam, Francis Day and other factory managers in peninsular India learned of the matter months after the board made its final decision.He actually had the feeling of being sold. The East India Company lost [-]% of its shares, and the assets and personnel were all handed over to the Huaxia people. The other shareholders who participated in the shares became people who lived solely on dividends.

"How much did the Chinese pay to afford [-]% of the shares in the East India Company?" Francis asked in surprise.

"I don't know about this. The price paid by the Chinese people must be extremely rich. His Majesty the King personally sent someone to lobby the board of directors. It can be seen." What I promised was a huge sum of money, so that Charles I, who was short of money, would send someone to lobby the East India Company's board of directors to transfer the shares.

"They will send people to take over our more than 20 factories in East India? When will their people come? In the past, our East India Company set up factories in Hirado, Dongying, but it was not profitable. At that time, whether it was the Chinese court or Dongying The shogunate imposed restrictions on our trade, and Hirado’s factory was closed after only a few years. I really don’t like the countries in the Far East.” Francis Day has learned about Britain for more than 20 years The East India Company's expansion in the east, whether it is China or the shogunate, enforces relatively strict maritime bans, so the Western colonists who are not strong enough now have not benefited from the two most powerful East Asian regimes.

"That's really strange. According to my understanding, their rulers seem to be very keen on overseas trade, unlike the restrictions reported by your East India Company. I can't tell you when they will send people to take over the factories you manage. Yes. I have to go to their capital to meet their rulers. They need to prepare personnel to come to receive them, at least half a year later. You just need to run the factory well as usual, don't let They think we don't have the sincerity to trade," said the Earl.

"What are the directors of the City of London and His Majesty the King thinking?" Francis Day always felt unbelievable, but he, a middle-level manager of the East India Company, had no right to decide its ownership. The board of directors and Charles I who granted exclusive management rights all nodded in agreement. , It's useless for him, a middle and lower level manager, to point fingers.

"I only stay in the East India for one day to replenish supplies. I have to go to the capital of China as soon as possible. His Majesty the King has recently been short of funds, and the problem in Scotland has not been resolved. His Majesty wants to establish a standing army and revive the Royal Navy. A lot of money is needed. The rich Chinese have the most silver in the world, probably richer than the Spaniards, we need their support to make us Britain from a second-rate country in Europe to a first-rate country, and even replace Habschburg Dynasty, France, Sweden," said the count.

"I'm afraid the Orientals have their own ambitions..." Francis said worriedly.

"This is an equal exchange of benefits. Everyone gets what they need. They have a large population and are closer to the Mughals. They can dispatch a large number of people to build factories in batches here."

(End of this chapter)