Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1432 Borrowing money from the Orientals
"Everyone, how should I explain the purpose of my invitation..." King Charlie was a little embarrassed to speak to a group of businessmen and military officers from the East.

A majestic king is facing bankruptcy and has to borrow money from foreign businessmen. This is really a loss of the authority of the king of a country.

"Your Majesty, please be blunt if you have anything to say. Our two countries have signed a trade treaty, and we are half allies. We have always been your most reliable friend, the King." A director of the Western Company said.

Since Li Jinde, the executive director of Western Company, left, a businessman from Guangdong, Huang Xiushan, replaced Li Jinde as the new person in charge.At present, Western companies have several factories in London, more than a dozen business houses, and some teahouses in other counties, and already own a lot of industries here.

At least during the reign of Charles I, in addition to being unable to directly control raw materials, Western companies could carry out other commercial activities according to their own ideas. As long as they had money, they could get land, and they could also buy desired coal from Newcastle and other cities. raw materials.

This time, Western companies, which had made a lot of money, seemed to be targeted by Charles I.

"Then I'll be blunt. The formation of the Royal Navy and preparations for the war have spent almost all of the royal family's savings, including the spoils obtained from the Mediterranean. Now the Scottish Covenant Army is demanding war compensation, and the royal family's finances are overwhelmed. If the remaining If I compensate the Scots with a little savings, the royal family will go bankrupt directly. I have tried to find big merchants in the city of London to borrow money, but they are not willing to lend money to the royal family. I really have no choice but to bother you.” Charles I was embarrassed, but really Having no money, he had to seek help from this group of foreign businessmen.

Huang Xiushan looked at Sun Chuanting, who was also in the room. Now there are four groups in the city of London who can spend a large sum of money in a short time, one is the parliament, the other is the business group of the city of London, one is the western company, and the other is the Fourth Fleet with lots of loot.

Parliament was the last person Charles I wanted to contact, and the merchant group in the city of London borrowed a lot of money from the royal family, and the king always tried to default on their loans, because the royal family was in danger of going bankrupt after defeating the war, and their credit was extremely low. Coupled with the fact that members of the opposition put pressure on the merchants of the City of London, the large merchant groups in the City of London did not want to continue lending money to Charlie.

Funding for Western companies, however, presents its own difficulties.

Huang Xiushan said: "Our western companies, in accordance with the requirements of the major shareholders of the government, purchase raw materials, organize production, purchase goods to return to the mainland, maintain merchant ships, and buy new factories. The key is still not knowing how much His Majesty the King wants to borrow?"

Charlie's eyes lit up when he heard Huang Xiushan, the executive director of Western Company, agreeing to borrow money in his tone.Although Western companies need a lot of funds to maintain their operations, it seems that they still have spare money?

Charlie rubbed his hands: "The Scots may speak loudly. I don't have enough money to pay their war indemnity. Even if I barely pay, the royal family will go bankrupt because of it. I need to borrow about 30 pounds... No, just need Just £25!"

"25 pounds... This is not a small sum." Huang Xiushan said.

"That's true. Even Levant's annual trade volume with the Ottoman Empire is less than this figure. Of course I know that it is not an easy task to take out gold and silver worth four Sea Kings at once. But Please understand my difficulties, maybe I can give you the price you want. For example, I can reduce your tariffs, and I can repay the loan year by year in the future." Charles I asked.

Huang Xiushan was silent for a while, 25 pounds, this is undoubtedly a wealth that even a country would consider expensive.

Using 25 pounds to build a ship can produce four luxuriously decorated battleships of the Monarch of the Sea.

The total assets of Western Company are of course 25 pounds, but the cash is far less than this amount.

"Your Majesty, please give us a few days to consider. We want to evaluate the risks and benefits of this loan." Huang Xiushan said.

"No problem, if the price you propose is within a reasonable range, I can meet your request." Charles I said.

Huang Xiushan walked out of Charles I's palace with several directors, and was still discussing whether to borrow money from Charles I.

"In fact, our free funds are less than 3 pounds. Unless we take out the operating funds, we can make up more loans, but then our daily funds may be insufficient, and the capital chain may break at any time."

"But the king took the initiative to borrow money from us. This is a good opportunity for our western company to expand. If we can use this opportunity to ask the king for more privileges, we can even mine important minerals such as coal, tin, and iron in Britain. Coal and Iron is a very important resource for us, and it is also true for them. According to the commercial treaty we signed with Charles I, we did not have the right to open mining farms, and almost all coal and iron ore had to be obtained from British merchants Buy there. If Charles I falls, Parliament may threaten us by restricting our supply of raw materials."

"But where did we get the £25 that Charles I needed?"

Huang Xiushan went to Sun Chuanting and said to him: "My lord, didn't the Fourth Fleet get a lot of spoils from the Mediterranean Sea? It's useless to keep the Fourth Fleet for the time being. Why not lend it to our Western Company at a low interest rate, and then our Western Company will re-loan it?" Give it to King Charles, ask King Charles for more trade privileges, and then these trade privileges can be repaid to the Fourth Fleet after they generate income."

"Your calculation is pretty good." Sun Chuanting couldn't help being surprised when he heard Huang Xiushan's thoughts.

The Fourth Fleet obtained more than 300 million taels of gold and silver treasures and goods from the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean, the Egyptian provinces, and the Levant area. It should not be difficult to come up with 25 pounds.

"If you want to mobilize this amount of funds to lend to Charles I, who should you ask for instructions? Does the Fourth Fleet have the right to use this amount of funds?" Huang Xiushan asked.

"The Fourth Fleet seems to have transported some of the spoils back to China, and some of the goods obtained have been handed over to your Western company for sale. The money obtained from the sale of these goods should not have been shipped back to the mainland. You can go to the fourth People in the fleet, they should have the right to decide the use of this money, and this money is in the account of your western company, so it should be easier to use it."

(End of this chapter)