Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 267 Invincible Iron Pot
Regarding Guo Kang's obsession, Theodora was a little helpless.

"Hey, why do you think about selling these things every day?" She sighed.

"We are going to negotiate business with the Ming Dynasty, don't you understand?" Guo Kang also shook his head: "The current situation is that we need to import iron pots, silk, and cotton cloth in the future. And sugar, Porcelain, blah blah blah..."

"All in all, we need to import a large amount of oriental materials for food, clothing, and use. All bulk commodities are what we need from the Ming Dynasty, not what they need from us."

"If this kind of trade can be carried out, it will make our life very comfortable at the beginning, but it will definitely cause problems after a long time. The materials we export are far less than the imports. For this difference, we have to use gold, silver, rare products and the like. Fill in high-value materials. In the future, the trade volume will rise, and it will not be enough to fill in the 'Alemanni silver'. No matter how big the savings are, it can't stop the empty mountain."

"Then you can't count on these things." Theodora pointed to the model: "How much deficit can be saved by this?"

"I really can't think of any commodity that can be equivalent." Guo Kang spread his hands.

"What else can you do?" Theodora was a little surprised.

"Nothing will work." Guo Kang said firmly: "As long as there is a little bit of agriculture, there is no hope."

According to the experience of the last world, not to mention these serious products, even if they are not serious, they are useless in the end.

At that time, the British really couldn't find a normal way to reverse the deficit.Even if the tariffs of the Qing Dynasty were far lower than his own, even if he had the cost advantage of industry and colonies, he could not compete with others.When all the conventional means were useless, they finally started to put all their eggs in one basket and vigorously develop the tobacco trade.

However, in history, after the first war, the tobacco and soil trade was actually only partially opened.The British didn't take it seriously at the time, thinking that this was enough.But more than ten years later, they found that the trade deficit at this time still has not been reversed, and they can only continue to push forward.

In the end, after the end of the second war between the two sides in the late 19s, the scale of the tobacco and soil trade was further expanded, and the Qing Dynasty's efforts to ban smoking were considered a complete failure.By 60, the Qing government gave up completely and announced the legalization of tobacco, and the British efforts were finally completely successful.

But the problem is that after the Qing Dynasty abandoned treatment, the tobacco industry also appeared in the local area.Over the past ten years, local tobacco has developed slowly, and after it was fully legalized, it expanded rapidly, which led to fierce confrontation with foreign tobacco.Just five years later, in 1881, the British consul reported that Persian opium was no longer profitable and Indian opium had been expelled from many provinces.If this continues, it will soon be impossible to make money again.

Sure enough, in 1882, the Qing Dynasty’s exports of smoke and soil exceeded its imports, and it officially became an exporting country.And the main object of his export is Britain itself.

Of course, Britain could not accept this situation. In 1885, it forced the Qing Dynasty to set up a likin limit for foreign cigarettes to reduce sales costs.But even with many advantages, foreign cigarettes still cannot compete with local tobacco.By 1891, the import volume of foreign cigarettes had dropped by about 15%, and the market value had dropped by 35% to 40%, and it began to collapse across the board.

In the Qing Dynasty, Yantu already adhered to the principle of free trade, traveled across the ocean, and sold well in the UK.Both London and Liverpool became the center of the Qing Dynasty’s dumping of tobacco to the UK, and a number of Qing Dynasty-style tobacco houses appeared, teaching various new ways of playing and exporting culture to the UK.

By 1906, the quantity of native tobacco exported by the Qing Dynasty had reached 11 times that of imported foreign tobacco.With the efforts of both parties, the people of the British Empire finally lived a happy life with plenty of food.

The flood of smoke and soil led to the collapse of social order, and even had a negative impact on the British governance model, which finally became unacceptable to the British government.The United Kingdom could only change its attitude and began to vigorously advocate the ban on smoking, and asked the Qing government to also implement anti-smoking measures.At this time, the Qing Dynasty had basically lost its ability to control, but it still opened its mouth to ask for benefits.

Finally, in 1907, Britain was forced to sign the "Sino-British Anti-smoking Treaty" with the Qing Dynasty, which was humiliating and humiliating.According to the treaty, the import of Indian tobacco into the Qing Dynasty was prohibited year by year, and the import tariff of foreign cigarettes was increased at the same time.The Qing Dynasty also extended its hand into the British sphere of influence, stipulated that the concession area should also ban smoking, and allowed Qing Dynasty officials to be stationed in India to supervise the auction and packaging business in the port of Calcutta.

The achievements of decades of war were abandoned after a short period of persistence.Not only did the previous efforts become ridiculous, but it also made the "freedom" and "morality" advocated by the United Kingdom a joke. It was like continuously slapping Queen Victoria in the face.Of course, because of the situation, if you slap it, you slap it. At that time, everyone obviously couldn't care about so much.

So the conclusion is also very simple: when it comes to agricultural products, don't try to compete with Seris on any product.This guy was a giant of terrifying size, even if he lay down and committed suicide, he would be able to smash a piece of him to death.

The situation in the late Qing Dynasty was not good, let alone the previous era.For this, Guo Kang is convinced.

Although Theodora was a little reconciled, she still accepted his point of view.

"Then what do you mean, we can only earn a little back through these... not very mainstream products?" She thought about the problem but reacted quickly: "Is this the same way you study steam gods every day? "

"It's just a direction to work on. It can last for a while." Guo Kang thought for a while, and said: "If we really hope to integrate the entire Mediterranean world, then there is hope for a little competition. These technologies are to fight for this goal. Time."

"So pessimistic..." Theodora muttered in surprise.

Guo Kang spread his hands, not knowing how to tell her.

These are actually the lessons of blood and tears of his world, "later generations" Europeans.Because almost all bulk products will face the same problem.

For example, iron pots, since the appearance of ocean trade in the Tang and Song Dynasties, until the time he lived, were the mainstream export products most of the time—even in the industrial age.It may have stopped for about 100 years in the middle, and then the Seres began to sell iron products all over the world.This thing is simply an invincible commodity. Competing with others in this aspect is purely looking for trouble.

Throughout history, perhaps this is the norm, and it is an accident that "Ceres cannot dominate in all aspects of commodities".When the unexpected period of time passes, the world will return to the "historical normalcy" again...

"Think about it, even the wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty failed to completely interrupt the export of goods from the East. Now, in order to fight for the sea and support wars with wars, both Yuan and Ming are running around like crazy." He shook his head. , Talking about the example in front of us: "Even if we don't care, they will come to our door, and even our enemies, to make the situation worse. That's why I feel that this is something that must be done, but after doing it, it will be the same. It will be very painful."

(End of this chapter)