Anti-Qing: I'm actually an honest person

Chapter 82 I Have a Dream (Two in One)

Seeing Wei Xiaobao's serious expression, as if he was about to turn his back on him at any moment, Liu Dapao quickly patted his hand, signaling him to be calm.

"It seems that this imperial envoy seems to know your true identity Zhongtang very well? Or, is this imperial envoy really with you? I don't know what your majesty the emperor will think."

Liu Dapao said: "What the governor said is meaningless, as I said, everyone is talking about business, don't act like they are talking about state affairs."

"So I'm negotiating with the businessman Liu Xun, not with the envoy Liu Zhongtang who can represent the Qing Empire. Am I right?"

"That's right, so I'm not negotiating with the commander-in-chief of the Far East Fleet of the Dutch government, but Mr. Porter, a top European businessman. Business is business."

"I can at least represent the East India Company. I wonder why Mr. Liu is negotiating with me?"

"At least I am now in charge of the entire Qing Dynasty's foreign maritime trade, and I can easily raise a large amount of wealth from the Qing Dynasty's merchants. I can build a factory in Chaozhou with 10,000+ or ​​more people, and I can sell I will give you tea, silk, porcelain, and as far as I know, among the spices you sell now, the most important product is cinnamon, which originated in our Qing Dynasty, and there is a large area of ​​land in Chaozhou Prefecture suitable for planting cinnamon."

Porter lit the cigar that Liu Dapao had just given him, and said confidently: "You are right, if the Qing government completely lifts the sea ban, and we get your full cooperation, the profits of sea trade will indeed increase substantially. In fact, we are also very interested in the West Pacific company you proposed, but why must it be you? Why must we cooperate with you instead of others?
For example, Zheng Jing, although we have a feud, but in the face of huge interests, I believe he will definitely let go of his prejudices.Or do we strongly protest to your Emperor, asking him to change a negotiator?You know, we have always been in contact with Geng Fan. I heard that your relationship with the two princes beside you is not good. Why don't we replace you? "

When Wei Xiaobao heard it, he immediately slapped the table and said angrily: "Do you think I'm just a display? Change someone? Give it a try. Let me see if Xiao Xuanzi listens to me or you?"

Liu Dapao gave Wei Xiaobao a thumbs-up in the dark, but he signaled him to calm down, told him to sit down, and said: "The real buyer is the one who picks and chooses, and Mr. Potter is bargaining with me. "

"bargain?"

"That's right, I'm just bargaining. If Liu Zhongtang is negotiating business with me today, Mr. Liu, if what you mean can represent the meaning of His Majesty the Emperor of your country, if you want to build this Western Pacific Company, you don't need the permission of the chairman of the Great Council. I I dare to make a deal with you, don’t say that you have to account for [-]%, [-]% to [-]%, I think it’s okay to talk, but if it’s just Mr. Liu who comes to discuss business with us...how do I know when your position in the middle hall will be replaced? ? In my eyes, as a partner, you may not be as safe as Zheng Jing."

"so what?"

"So... I will give you [-]% at most, and once you are transferred from the position of Chaozhou Chief, the agreement will be void."

"Mr. Governor, I'm sure that I should be the only person in the entire Qing court, and even in Asia, who can understand stocks and companies. If you cooperate with anyone other than me, it is no different from cooperating with an idiot."

"I only see an ambitious person who wants to use us to realize his ambitions. If we cooperate deeply with you, if one day you have a war with the Qing court, we will also be involved. Of course we are not afraid of the Qing court. Yes, but at that time, the entire West Pacific Company will definitely suffer huge trade losses, so I will never allow you to have too much say in this new company, and I don’t want to be too deeply bound with you, please understand.”

Liu Dapao gave him a thumbs up with a smile, and said: "Mr. Potter, you are really an excellent businessman, then if... I can help you remove the Dutch government from the Dutch East India Company, which is completely reasonable and legal. Kick it out?"

"What did you say?!"

Potter froze for a moment, and shook his ears, as if he was hallucinating.

"What crazy things are you talking about?"

"I said, I can help you kick the Dutch government out of the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company, or at least turn it into a minority shareholder, and ensure that it is completely reasonable and legal, and there will be no future troubles."

"how can that be?"

"It's nothing more than misappropriating state-owned assets. How difficult can it be? Have you heard of Circular Holdings?"

"Circular holding? What do you mean?"

"Circular holdings are a very effective means of annexing state-owned assets."

"don't know."

"You have to associate, Lenovo is the key know-how of Cycle Holdings."

"Could you... be more specific?"

"Let me briefly talk about it first. Assuming that the total assets of the East India Company are now 5000 million Dutch guilders, and you take all the assets of the entire East India Company as collateral for a loan from the Bank of Amsterdam, can you lend [-] million?"

"can"

"You exchanged the 5000 million for the fleet, or other real investment, plus Rotoni, and my entire Chaozhou town and the factory group I will open next with at least 10 people to establish West Pacific Company , if this company is listed in Amsterdam, can you think of a way to make my Western Pacific company also valued at [-] million?"

"Of course, no problem at all"

"Then let's take the equity of Westpac as collateral, can we get another 5000 million loan from the Bank of Amsterdam?"

"It shouldn't be a big problem."

"These 5000 million will be taken out and re-entered into the shareholder India Company. Do you have to issue additional shares, and can you legally and reasonably dilute the shares of the Dutch government? Will the assets of the East India Company become 5000 million?"

"Yes... yes."

"Then your East India Company will take the 5000 million again, and in turn, buy the shares of the West Pacific Company, and the West Pacific Company will issue additional shares, will the total assets also increase? Will it also become 5000 million? ?”

"That's right, in this way, it is equivalent to buying 5000 million assets with [-] million. Mr. Liu, you are amazing!"

"It's not over yet, this is where it goes, and then the West Pacific Company will use the money to buy the shares of the East India Company."

"Ah~ah?"

"This kind of operation, we can do it as many times as we want, and we can nest each other, register a few more leather bag companies, dozens, hundreds of companies cross-shareholding each other, let alone understand it for laymen Logic, just looking at it, can make them unable to understand. In the end, the West Pacific Company surpassed the Dutch government to become the largest shareholder of the East India Company, is it difficult?"

"Then this West Pacific Company..."

"The largest shareholder of the West Pacific Company is the East India Company!"

"Ah~, then...then...then who is the major shareholder? The East India Company is the major shareholder of the West Pacific, but the West Pacific is also the major shareholder of the East India Company. No, isn't this a circle? "

"Yes, this is called Circular Holdings. As long as the actual operators of Circular Holdings are our own people, in fact, we have completed the holding of the East India Company and the West Pacific Company at the same time. The Dutch government, They were kicked out by us, and during this process, the assets of the two companies have been rising. This is not [-] million each, but [-] to [-] million each. It’s easy, right? The sum of the two is seven or eight [-] million."

"Ah~"

"But how much did we actually spend? It was only 5000 million, and we still borrowed it from the bank. During the process of buying and selling, the stocks of the two companies have already gone up, and the money has already been returned. .”

Potter was stunned, and Rotoni, who was listening, was also dumbfounded.

Money, can you still earn like this?

How can this be making money, stealing money is not so fast!

Potter was stunned for a long time, then nodded and said: "Really, I am shocked."

"Potter, the world has changed. Open your eyes and take a look at the world. How much money can you make by engaging in industry and trade? I know that the ideal profit margin for you to sail around the world is 4000%. It seems that It's quite tall, but is it hard work? Is it dangerous?"

"What is our identity, do we still need to earn this kind of hard money? This is called finance, and finance is the ultimate form of business expression. If you bring this business model back, the risk is low and the profit is high, maybe You can still be your business godfather in Europe."

"The era of industry and trade is over, and the era of finance is quietly approaching. We financial people must be like eagles flying in the sky, looking for prey all over the world. This prey can be A specific company, a specific factory, or any country in the world."

"As long as it is the prey we are targeting, I can use financial methods to sweep away all the wealth they have accumulated over hundreds of years within a few years, and there is no bloodshed or war in the whole process. It comes so gently , when you feel the pain, you are already dead. Let me tell you, the circulatory holding trick is just a child's play, and I have hundreds of more clever methods."

"You're right, I do have my own ambitions, and of course I'm not reconciled to just being a mere second-rank feudal official in the Qing court. This situation is really too small for me, but why do you want to What about the attitude of the Qing court? Is the attitude of the Qing court important?"

"I know that the Dutch guilder is almost a common currency in Europe, and Kangxi promised you that you can freely issue currency along the coast. At this point, why do you care what the Qing court thinks? You transfer this right to the Western Pacific Come to the company, believe it or not, as long as I issue currency in a country, I can trample on all the laws of this country.”

"Potter, as one of the best businessmen in the world, you are too small, and your structure is too small. I know you have already controlled the Dutch parliament and the Dutch government, but is this enough? Merchant, A successful businessman must jump out of the narrow national and national thinking, and you must have a global perspective."

"Whether you or De Witt, if you only define yourself as Dutch merchants, then I will be very disappointed. I think that in this new era, we merchants have factories, fleets, and armies. , why is this world not decided by us businessmen?"

"As far as I know, the East India Company of China and the government of China are not monolithic. Their conflict with the old feudal aristocracy is not more gentle than that of you and the Royalists of the Orange Party. It's just that the royal family of China is more gentle than yours in the Netherlands. After all, the royal family is more powerful, why, why are we controlled by others? Why do we have to fight each other?"

(The relationship between the East India Company and the Dutch East India Company is more complicated. After all, the public offering of shares will inevitably lead to you among me and me among you)
"Whether it is the Dutch East India Company or the Chinese East India Company, oh, I heard that France is also planning to establish its own East India Company, and the new Pacific Company that I am about to establish, we are not enemies."

"As long as we businessmen all over the world unite, we will be a new class, the bourgeoisie."

"I have a dream. I dream that one day our children can run in the bright sunshine, and they don't need to bow down and salute to any other noble-born children. Kowtow three times and nine times."

"I have a dream, a dream that one day the bourgeoisie of the world will unite, and we businessmen will be supremely loved in any country in the world. The Dutch, the Chinese, the Qing Dynasty, the French, the Portuguese, we can be high Happily sitting in the resplendent banquet hall, happily discussing how to make money, without such backward and feudal things as race and country, without war, without gunpowder.”

"I dream that one day we will unite to form the most powerful army in the world, and we will protect ourselves, and we will no longer have to obey the stupid orders of those kings and old feudal nobles."

"I dream that one day we will establish a country, or even countless countries founded purely by businessmen, and we will make laws and appoint and dismiss officials by ourselves."

"I dream that one day, the old society will finally collapse, and the new world order will be formulated by us. I dream that one day all the kings, emperors, and popes in the world will crawl under our feet like dogs. They still exist. The only reason is we want them to exist."

"I have a dream, Governor Potter, let us hold each other's hands and take our first step towards our dream!"

At this time, Potter had the urge to kneel down to Liu Dapao, and he said sincerely: "Zhongtang, you are the godfather, you are the real godfather, in the words of your Han people, Zhongtang is not born in the sky, and the way of business is like a long night forever. !"

"No, it's all due to my frequent associations. Lenovo is the godfather. Come on, let's raise our glasses and respect Lenovo."

"Yes, respect for Lenovo, respect for dreams, your dream is also my dream, and it is the common dream of thousands of business families all over the world!"

Liu Dapao smiled and clinked the wine glass with him, and drank it down in one gulp.

It's just a bourgeois revolution, isn't it?
In fact, the timing of the dream Liu Dapao mentioned was really ripe, or it was originally what the businessmen of this era thought, but he just pointed it out.

Isn't the so-called bourgeois revolution in China just the thing about the new commercial aristocracy overthrowing the old feudal aristocracy? All this has already been realized in the Netherlands, but it is useless for the Netherlands to realize it by itself.

In fact, Liu Dapao has always believed that the Netherlands is the beginning of modern world history, but William III was not yet alive when William II died, which made the revolution in the Netherlands too easy, and it seemed that it was not as heroic as the glorious revolution in the country.

This is also the reason why King William III of the Netherlands was invited to be the King of England after the Glorious Revolution in China.

It hasn't been a few years, William III will be twenty this year.

(End of this chapter)