Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 866 The King and the Parliament (Part [-])
"Lon—Dun—" Li Jinde, a businessman from Fujian, said this unfamiliar term silently, and he would be able to brag about his adventure to the businessmen in his hometown in the future.

This time he set off from Xiamen Bay and arrived in London, but he traveled tens of thousands of miles by sea and sailed for several months.The knowledge in the middle is enough to become the content of Mr. Pingshu's storytelling.

"Everyone is ready to disembark!" The sailors and handymen on the sailboat had been wandering in the sea for a long time, and they finally landed again. Coupled with the unprecedented scene in front of them, they couldn't help feeling a little excited.

Chinese sailors got off the sailboat one by one, causing quite a commotion at the pier.

"Uncle, where are you from?" A little girl with blond hair in simple clothes asked Li Jinde timidly.

Li Jinde rubbed his temples with a headache, he couldn't understand what the little girl said.

"She asked where you came from." The British sailor hired by Li Jinde explained to him.

"We came from Huaxia in the East." Li Jinde squatted down and said.

However, the little girl's mother pulled the little girl back, for fear of dealing with Li Jinde.

Li Jinde stood up helplessly and shrugged, obviously the other party's mother didn't trust them.

"We used to be like this when we went to Nanyang and China." Said the British sailor.

"After all, this is our initiative to send merchant ships here. We will get to know each other when we come here often. Long live free trade." Li Jinde didn't care much.

If it was the first time for him to meet someone with completely different hair, skin and clothing, he would also be wary of the other person.

In the wharf area, the British customs officials were surprised to see the merchant ships from the east, and immediately dispatched officials to negotiate with Li Jinde.

Arriving merchant ships have to pay taxes!

The two sides communicated through British sailors.These British sailors have been active in Southeast Asia and the southeast coast all year round, and they were hired by Li Jinde at a high price.Being proficient in two languages ​​is already a rare talent in this era.

The reason why Zheng Zhilong can get along well in the southeast coast is not unrelated to his proficiency in Dutch, Japanese, Chinese and other languages.

"Your tariffs are too heavy." After negotiating the tariff issue, Li Jinde complained to the British sailors.

"You don't know that our king is short of money, so he transfers the charter right of the customs tax to the merchants. Every year, the merchants have to pay a huge fee to the Royal Treasury, which is said to be more than 16 pounds. These merchants To make up for the loss, in addition to the tariffs, some other fees must be added, which naturally appears to be relatively heavy." Said the British sailor.

"I hope our silk and porcelain can sell well!" Li Jinde's merchant ship brought high-quality silk and porcelain, which are luxury items that nobles want to buy in Britain.

"It's definitely worth a lot of money. You can sell it to the king and those dukes and earls. They like oriental silk and porcelain the most. Moreover, the orientals come to buy them in person. They will be sold out soon!" The British sailor knew this. Good silk and porcelain on a ship are in short supply, and they are still under the brand name of Chinese merchants, which is definitely better than British merchants bringing back silk from the East.

Advocating the goods sold by overseas merchants, even if they are common in different civilizations.

A large carriage passed by a London pier, and inside was a middle-aged couple.

"Honey, why are there so many people at the pier?" the woman asked the man.

"Let's go and have a look," the man said.

The middle-aged couple came to the pier and couldn't help being surprised to see a group of Chinese sailors from the East.It is rare to see such a sight!

The galleon that Li Jinde came on was parked on the Thames River. The hull was huge, no less than the best merchant ship in Britain.Moreover, Li Jinde's galleon was produced by the Liaonan Shipyard. It borrowed from the British shipbuilding skills in the 18th century. In fact, it is 100 years more advanced than the current British sailing technology...

"The Orientals are here... I heard from businessmen who went to the East to trade, that China has risen in recent years, and even the strongholds of Franji, Netherlands, Spain and other countries in the Spice Islands have been taken away by them. Especially the most The powerful Netherlands originally occupied the most benefits of the Spice Islands. As a result, Governor Cohen fled back with Batavia's fleet on the South American route. The parliament of the Federal Republic of Tehran has been demoted to civilians," the man said.

"The rise of China interrupted the Netherlands and Spain's monopoly on oriental spices, silk, and porcelain, and the fees that our British merchants have to pay to trade in the east have been reduced. Isn't this a good thing?" the woman asked puzzled road.

"Elizabeth, you only saw the short-term benefits that Britain gained from it, but did not see the long-term impact. It is said that Huaxia's volume is more than ten times larger than that of our Britain. They attacked Nanyang to expand their trade scope. Once Nanyang's When the market is saturated, they will expand to our Western Ocean. Compared with Nanyang, our Western Ocean market is many times larger.”

"Although they only have one merchant ship coming now, in less than ten years, more and more merchant ships will arrive in the city of London, and Chinese goods will be dumped into our market. At that time, a large number of farmers will go bankrupt and handicraft workers will lose their jobs. Small businessmen are struggling to survive even more," said the man.

"Their arrival will mean so many things..." said the woman named Elizabeth.

"The East has awakened, but our King Charles is still going against the grain, constantly increasing taxes, and the royal family's expenditure is too complicated, and the royal power must be contained." The man said.

"But King Charles dissolved the parliament a few years ago, and you, who used to be a member of parliament, returned to your hometown... Now the parliament has no way to contain the king," Elizabeth said.

"That's right, the king's power is getting stronger and stronger, and even the parliament can be dissolved at will... But now King Charles is very short of money, while the big businessmen behind us are not very short of money, King Charles still owes us a lot of debts, we The parliament may be able to use this opportunity to control the king in turn. I haven’t seen many old friends in the parliament for a long time, and this time I came to London to discuss this matter with them.” The man said.

"Will King Charles really compromise with merchants because of lack of money?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, the power of money is invincible. I, Cromwell, firmly believe in this. Let's go, let's meet the old friends in the parliament. Since the dissolution of the parliament, we haven't seen each other for several years." The man said .

(End of this chapter)