Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1461 The Threat of Parliament

A middle-aged man wearing British squire's attire entered the meeting room of the guild hall. Almost all the people and businessmen in the meeting room looked at this member of parliament they had never heard of before.

"My friends from the East, my name is Cromwell, I am here to negotiate with you on behalf of the parliament. I hope we can have an open and honest talk." Cromwell put his hat on the square table and looked around at everyone.

"Our Western company from China has nothing to do with your parliament. We maintain a neutral attitude in this war. I hope you don't embarrass us." Huang Xiushan sat on the main seat and calmly greeted the coming parliament representatives Said.

"Of course. The parliament has confiscated the king's land in London and some nearby counties, and the land where your factories are located is also royal land, but we have not confiscated your factories. It can be seen that our parliament has no intention of embarrassing you. ’ said Cromwell.

"Then why did you come here this time?" Huang Xiushan asked.

"I heard that before the king fled, he commissioned you to produce seven oriental cannons for the Royal Guards. Is there such a thing?" Cromwell asked.

The Chinese merchants looked at each other when they heard Cromwell mentioning the production of cannons for the king.

The other party estimated that those who came were not kind, and those who were kind did not come.

"We do produce cannons for the king, but the factory is already full of spies sent by the parliament. I believe that as long as we dare to ship the produced cannons out of here, you will be forced to stay. So we have stopped now. Production." Huang Xiushan said.

"I'll be blunt. Our parliamentary army wants to buy this batch of artillery. We will pay you as much as the king is willing to pay you," Cromwell said.

Huang Xiushan glanced at some of the directors, and directly refused: "We businessmen are just doing business, and have no intention of participating in the civil war between you. When we agreed to produce artillery for the king, we did not expect that the king would use these artillery For your internal wars. Now we are suspending production and will not provide artillery to the king. Similarly, we will not provide you with artillery to deal with the king. The attitude of our merchants is completely neutral."

"We are willing to pay double the price, as long as you are willing to sell artillery to us, everything is easy to talk about. The king is unpopular. In the future, our parliament will have financial power, and we will be able to provide you with more artillery orders, and even become our British government. It is not impossible to be the only artillery provider." Cromwell threw out a proposal that made Huang Xiushan and others tempted.

The profit margin of selling artillery is very high. If you can become the only arms dealer, you can get a lot of wealth from the parliament every year.

"Mr. Cromwell, you should understand that Britain cannot live without a king, otherwise the aristocratic system will collapse. That is to say, you are about to defeat the king 99 times, and he is still king, and you only need to lose in the civil war Once, then you will become prisoners. We are not worth taking this risk to help you and be resented by the king." Huang Xiushan's words shattered the illusions of some directors.

Some Huaxia directors thought of what Huang Xiushan said, and had to admit that his words were very reasonable.

In the British civil war, as long as Charles I did not smash the good cards in his hand, even if Charles I was defeated, according to the British tradition, he would still be the king and still have a lot of power.But if the parliament is defeated, then the main betrayers of the parliament will be executed by Charles I.

"Couldn't the Parliament be able to execute the king? If the power of the king is really granted by God, then the king has done something wrong, and we nobles and commoners have no right to judge him?" Cromwell slapped the table with some excitement, " Please think about it, King Charles has committed public outrage, and he has proved to the British people that an arrogant and self-willed person is not qualified to continue to lead the British people."

After hearing what Cromwell said, Huang Xiushan had to admit that what he said had his reasons.However, what Huang Xiushan cared about was not the interests of the British people, but the interests of the Chinese group he led.It was Charles I who signed the treaty with them. Even though the king system began to appear a little out of step with the development of the trend of the times after the emergence of the Republic of the Netherlands and the Republic of Venice, it was to safeguard the interests of its own group.They will still favor the king.

"I still say the same thing. Our merchant group will maintain a neutral attitude. We will not help the king deal with the parliament, nor will we help the parliament deal with the king. I hope your parliament will not provoke us. We just want to do business well." Huang Xiushan made a gesture to see off the guests.

Cromwell stumbled here, knowing that it would be boring to continue to stay, so he said: "You have signed some treaties with the king that have not been approved by Parliament. I think we may need to re-discuss the rationality of these treaties." , because some of these treaties may harm our interests, especially as regards tariffs and mining rights. On behalf of Parliament, I inform you that if you will help us to provide us with artillery and other supplies that we need, after the war we will Will consider keeping the treaty signed between you and the king valid, otherwise it is very likely that the applicability of your treaty will be suspended."

"Let's talk about it after you defeat the king, seeing off the guests." Huang Xiushan ordered the guards to send Cromwell out.

After Cromwell left, many businessmen could feel the threat of Parliament to them.

This is also what they are most afraid of. If the parliament abolishes all the treaties signed by King Charles after taking office, then the investment they made before may be in vain.

"The parliament is a threat to us. We must have the king win, otherwise we need to negotiate with them after they win. They don't know what conditions they will put forward!"

"If we support Parliament, will Parliament really be willing to continue to apply the terms we signed with the King?"

"This may be a tactic they proposed to slow down the war. If we help them win and they propose harsh conditions, how can we justify it? Although Charles I cheated money, he basically believed in selling privileges. .Is it easier to control a person than a group of people?"

Directors and merchants argued noisily.

Huang Xiushan was playing with a silver dollar with a dragon pattern. This silver dollar was a new currency shipped from the mainland. He wanted to consider protecting the company's property from the threat of the Parliament during the British Civil War.

(End of this chapter)