Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 867 Charles I Short of Money (Second Update)

"Your Majesty, this is a document sent by the Parliament of the Federal Republic of the Netherlands, asking us to explain why the construction style of Chinese battleships is similar to that of our British battleships." A British nobleman submitted a letter sent from the Netherlands to King Charles I. letters.

"In the past year, they have sent 5 consecutive letters of accusation, and I have taken the trouble to explain to them every time! But this time I am impatient! God knows why the Chinese battleships have our British style!" Charles I He couldn't help but go crazy, how could he have thought that the seven locally produced sailing battleships built by Chu Yun were based on the British sailing battleship construction technology in the future.

The Netherlands, Spain, and France seem to rely on Britain, thinking that Britain revealed the manufacturing technology of sailing battleships to China, because China's shipbuilding style has always been flat-bottomed boats, which are suitable for driving in inland rivers and coastal areas. It is more difficult.

"They suspect that we have hidden more advanced sailing battleship technology and are secretly manufacturing these sailing battleships... Even the Kingdom of Spain suspects that their Armada's several expeditions to us decades ago were made by us with more advanced battleship technology Destroyed." said the nobleman who came.

"Earl Stratford, you know, we are short of money, so short of money that I don't know how to find 4 pounds to build a new sailing battleship for the navy! The kings and the council are out of their minds Is it? If we have money to maintain the navy and have more advanced technology, Barbary pirates can still go to the coast to plunder?!" Charles I roared angrily.

"Your Majesty, roughly, these countries have suffered a huge blow in the east, and they can't beat the Easterners, so they entangled us again and again. The Spaniards lost Luzon Island, and the Dutch lost Yizhou and Java. Island, the Franji people lost Malacca. These are their most important strongholds in the East, because of this loss, they lost their trade monopoly on the Spice Islands, and had to pay customs duties to the Chinese.” Earl Stratford Said.

Charlie I was even more angry: "Their failure in the East is because they don't have the ability to go to challenge the mighty East by themselves!"

"Then how should we reply to the Dutch?" Earl Stratford asked cautiously.

He knew that Charles I had been a little irritable recently because of the royal family's debts. The royal family owed hundreds of thousands of pounds to London merchants and nobles.Moreover, Charles I had the cheek to borrow 4 pounds from capitalists to build a sailing battleship with 90 guns to strengthen the naval power, which made the royal family's already heavily indebted finances even worse.

The British Royal Fleet, which defeated the Spanish Armada in the Queen Elizabeth era, declined because of the reduction of the naval budget by the previous King James I, and the successor Charles I wanted to revive the Royal Fleet.

"Copy my reply letter from last time and send it to them again!" Charles I said, fed up with the pestering of the Netherlanders.

"Yes." Earl Stratford was about to step back.

"Wait, do you know that our royal family's finances are tight, and I plan to send troops to attack Scotland again, but those merchants won't lend me any more money, and I can't raise enough military expenses. Do you have any way to relieve the urgent need?" Charles I asked the minister.

"Businessmen listen to the people in the parliament, and the councilors are their elected representatives. If they can get the support of the councilors, they can also get the support of the businessman community." Earl Stratford said.

"I can't let those people from the parliament come back. They always obstruct my plan and encourage the abolition of ton tax and pound tax many times!" Charles I was very disgusted with the disobedient parliament.

The Earl of Stratford was in a bit of a dilemma. The richest people in Britain were businessmen and nobles. Many MPs were a combination of nobles and businessmen. Without their support, they could only increase taxation.And increasing taxes will arouse the resistance of the common people.

Suddenly, Earl Stratford had a flash of inspiration: "Yes, I heard that a merchant ship from China came to our city of London. China is the most powerful country in the world. They have porcelain, Silk, tea, spices. If the royal family can take advantage of this opportunity to contact them, trade with them may bring huge benefits to the royal family.”

"Especially the Netherlands, Spain and other countries that originally monopolized the East were expelled by the Chinese, and the Eastern market is in a state of free competition. If we show our favor to the other party in advance, we can obtain trade privileges from the Orientals beyond the Netherlands and Spain. , the royal family may be able to obtain hundreds of thousands of pounds of income from each other every year."

When Charles I heard Earl Stratford's analysis, his eyes gradually became sharper.Earl Stratford is right. The trade between the East and the West has lasted for thousands of years. Now that the Netherlands, Spain and other countries have been expelled by China, there will be a gap in the Eastern market. If Britain can take the initiative to show favor to China, say It may not be possible to become a middleman.

We must know that the Ottoman Empire became stronger and stronger because it monopolized the overland Silk Road of East-West trade.If Britain can become an intermediary on the Maritime Silk Road, it is not impossible to make hundreds of thousands of pounds in profits every year!
"Especially when the Netherlands, Spain, and France are at war with China, there will inevitably be gaps and estrangements between them, but we, Britain, are different. We have no grievances or enmities with them. It is similar to the Chinese warships, maybe the Chinese people will get closer to us." Earl Stratford continued to analyze for Charles I.

"Do you mean that we should form a mission to China to reach a trade agreement with them?" Charles I asked.

"Yes, and the royal family will be sent as ambassadors to sign an official trade treaty with Huaxia. When the businessmen behind the parliament want to trade with the Huaxia people, they must also look at the face of the royal family. Wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone?" said the Earl of Stratford.

"I understand... who the royal family wants to send as an ambassador needs to think carefully, and also need to consider the content of the trade treaty." Charles I started the idea of ​​making friends with Huaxia, "Huaxia seems to be controlled by a force called the Kyushu Army , before sending out the envoys, I want to meet the merchants from China first, from them I may be able to ascertain the preferences of the Kyushu Army. And I also want to see what good things they brought, our royal family wants to buy a batch New china."

(End of this chapter)