Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 533 Li Yu's Theory: Imperialism and the Cost of Taxation
The Saxon army and navy suffered heavy losses in the American colonies and their finances became increasingly strained.

These difficulties were just minor problems for the kingdom and would pass in two years.

but,
The North cabinet will collapse as a result, and a large number of aristocrats will be kicked out of Downing Street.

For George III, without Lord North as his puppet, the House of Commons would have more say, the emerging bourgeoisie would counterattack, and the royal power would be restricted.

If the Sa-Wu maritime trade can be expanded rapidly, the financial tension can be eased.

The shaky North cabinet might be able to hold on, and George III could also keep his "victory."

to this end,

What does it matter if we give some kingdom benefits to the distant East?

……

Hu Xueyu was a shrewd man. As soon as he saw Kent's expression, he knew that His Majesty had guessed correctly. The North Cabinet just wanted to borrow the "power of Eastern foreigners."

So we temporarily increased the stakes.

Your Majesty's offer:
“南洋地区小岛一座，500吨通用商船100艘，以及3~6级风帆战舰20艘。”

He temporarily tampered with it and asked:

"A mature and fertile colony in the South Seas, 500 100-ton general-purpose merchant ships, 3 level 6 to 20 sailing battleships, and a full set of shipbuilding technology."

The Duke of Kent was a little confused.
Hu Xueyu emphasized:

"We don't want these things for free, we pay for them."

"Your army is suppressing the rebellion in Citibank, and the military expenditure is huge. Your Majesty wants to use a large order to show your initial support for the North Cabinet and His Majesty George III."

"As we say, it is better to teach a man how to fish than to teach him how to fish."

"Yes Yes."

……

The Earl of Adelaide, Governor General of the East India Company, suddenly asked:
"Which piece of land do you like?"

"Whatever. Not too far from Guangzhou, preferably a mature colony, self-sufficient in food, with one or two good seaports."

"price?"

"Every 10 square kilometres is equivalent to pounds."

Kent and Adelaide looked at each other and said nothing.

They understood what Hu Xueyu meant, which was to instigate the Royal Navy to send troops to conquer a colony of another country and then sell it to the State of Wu.

Although the price is fair, I always feel that this plan has bad intentions.

It feels like a stirrer meets another stirrer, in a trance~
……

Adelaide smiled:

"Is your country purchasing warships in preparation for overseas expansion?"

Hu Xueyu made no secret of it:
"Yes."

And added:

"Your Majesty said that the earth is big enough and has enough land to accommodate two empires."

The Duke of Kent nodded and said solemnly:
"I will give you a formal reply tomorrow."

……

After leaving the palace,

Hu Xueyu laughed up to the sky and said to Liu Wu:

"I am 10% sure that tomorrow we will have good news."

Liu Wu became more cautious and said,

"Great advice, old man."

really,

The next day, the Duke of Kent, as the kingdom's plenipotentiary, signed the business contract.

The argument that "the earth is big enough to accommodate two empires" convinced him. As long as Lord North and the king's trust could be kept, what would be wrong with allowing Wu to master the shipbuilding technology of level 3 sailing battleships?

The Royal Navy also has level 1 battleships and level 2 battleships.

Moreover,
Ship ≠ combat power.

Kent comforted himself and didn't think it was treason.

……

Adelaide, Governor of the East India Company, said to those who held different opinions in the delegation:

"Gentlemen, if the Wu Kingdom had no interest in the ocean, would they open the sea? Would they trade freely with us?"

"We want to change the huge trade deficit, but we don't want Wu Guo to be involved in the South China Sea. This idea is very good, but do you think it is possible?"

"Last year, Wu State consumed 130 million dan of cotton alone, bringing the company nearly 500 million taels of revenue! I can also tell you that this year, this figure is likely to climb to 200 million dan, or even more."

"This is the Far East, tens of thousands of miles away from Europe. It is not Europe, not America, and not a colony. The kingdom is far away and can only hope to profit from the East-West trade."

"Oh my God, what are you hesitating about?"

then,

All core members of the delegation voted by raising their hands.

Except for the sullen Royal Navy, everyone else passed.

……

Pirates are rampant along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian, posing a potential threat to Guangzhou.

Li Yu couldn't wait to free up his hands to thoroughly eliminate the maritime threats in the southeast and remove hidden dangers for maritime trade.

The empire is going to expand.

The reason for enduring this is that there are not enough naval warships, not enough naval officers and soldiers, and no mature naval shipbuilding factories and high-quality wood.

Among the Wu navy, only the Jiangnan class was capable of undertaking near-shore patrol operations.

The sea conditions in the Tainan Strait are extremely bad, and naval battles are different from land battles. A defeat means the annihilation of the entire army.

It took a long, long time to recover.

Li Yu did not dare to take the naval officers and soldiers he had accumulated with great difficulty to surf the coast of Fujian. If they were defeated, the subsequent series of chain reactions would be unbearable.

Wu Jun must never lose the right to control water along the Yangtze River.

Transportation lines are lifelines.

……

Anyway,

It would be better to spend some money and ride across the river on the head of George III.

Because the arrogant and shrewd Saxons were in a big crisis at this time.

On the surface,
They were fighting the militia from the Thirteen States.

In fact, they were at war with most of Western Europe, which was a famous scene of "those who lose their way will have few supporters."

Therefore,
The Saxons had enough hatred to take action against the Netherlands, Iberia, Franks and other countries that supported their own rebellious sons in rebellion.

Since the Royal Navy fought in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, it can also fight in the South Pacific.

If you can fight, fight more.

If you want to fight, fight early.

Wu Ting also needed to maintain the image of a civilized, peace-loving empire.

At present, it would be best if we could enter Nanyang and gain a foothold without getting bloodstained.

We have to hide as long as we can, and wait until we have an outpost and a firm foothold before we speak loudly to our "friendly countries".

Imperialism was not built in a day.

……

The Duke of Kent could be the boss of the North Cabinet, and the North Cabinet could fully represent George III.

The two sides discussed many details.

For example, from the Royal Navy's warship sequence in the Bengal region, two level 5 ships will be freed up and one level 6 ship will be delivered.

The age of the vessels is between 2 and 4 years.

Afterwards, the Calcutta Dockyard was responsible for building eight of the ships, and the other eight were built by the Portsmouth Dockyard locally.

So, the last ship will most likely be delivered in three years.

Adelaide suggested that Wu Ting send a team of no less than 3 naval officers and shipbuilding craftsmen to temporarily stay in Kolkata.

The previously leased Hell is also included in the military sales plan of 20 warships.

As a result,
It is equivalent to the two countries forming a quasi-military alliance.

……

Seeing that the time was basically ripe, Li Yu quickly put forward a complete customs plan.

The Customs Department was established.

It was temporarily under the command of the Minister of Finance. Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou and Songjiang were opened as the first batch of ports, and customs were set up to levy taxes on all imported and exported goods.

It is worth noting that

Wu Ting abandoned export controls on tea, silk and porcelain.

prior to,

These three items are within the scope of unified marketing, and merchants have no right to decide on their own.

From now on,
Merchants can contact foreign merchants on their own, provided that they do not violate the minimum price line for the year set by the industry chamber of commerce.

(The tea quotas agreed upon in the five-year memorandum signed with the Saxon East India Company are still implemented as usual according to the previously agreed prices. Northern Jiangxi will bear 5%, Southern Anhui will bear 4%, and Jiangsu and Songjiang will bear 4%.)
When the news came out, countless businessmen were excited.

In particular, the big tea merchants in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi, who exclaimed that "the mountains are high and the birds can fly freely, the seas are wide and the fish can jump freely", have greatly increased the planting area.

……

With Li Yu's careful care, tea will maintain its absolute dominance as the world's beverage for 300 years, and the tariffs brought about by global exports of tea will be astronomical.

Tea drinking is popular in Europe for many reasons:
For example, the royal tea drinking fashion (Queen Anne), for example, it can solve digestive problems to a certain extent (replacing rhubarb), and cover up the bad smell of drinking water (hard water)~
Anyway,

Habits are passed down through generations.

Tea merchants are busy developing new lines of black tea.

Compared with green tea, Europeans prefer the strong and sweet black tea. The customer is God, so there is nothing wrong with spending a little more time on it.

……

The dimension before Li Yu traveled through,
In the 19th century,
The Saxons stole tea seeds and adopted industrial large-scale cultivation in Assam, which soon ended the Qing Dynasty's dominance in tea.

After hundreds of years, we have successfully built a tea brand and quality system.

We were completely defeated.

It is a pity that the output value of just one Lipton brand is equal to that of 7 tea factories in the country.

……

Today, Li Yu will do his best to guard the fence to maintain China's status as the sole producer of tea and gradually establish a tea standard system.

The purpose of relaxing restrictions is to mobilize the enthusiasm of merchants and increase the export volume of tea as quickly as possible to cooperate with their own "cultural export" strategy.

Export culture abroad and import profits domestically.

Tariffs will become one of the three pillars of finance.

At the same time, an independent coastal anti-smuggling team was established to crack down on all smuggling activities.

Once discovered, they were shot dead on the spot.

The anti-smuggling team gets 3% of the value of the goods, the prefecture or county where the goods are located gets 3%, and 4% is turned over to the national treasury.

Merchants involved in smuggling will be hit hardest by Emperor Wu. This is related to the financial foundation of the empire, and no one will be allowed to poach them.

……

Li Yu did not make the anti-smuggling team affiliated with the customs. Firstly, he was worried about collusion with others, and secondly, he wanted to strengthen the imperial power.

The Ministry of the Interior will heavily intervene in the anti-smuggling team, further extending its tentacles to coastal states and counties, and quietly cultivate effective and down-to-earth intelligence agency tentacles to deal with the impending counterattack by the old feudal forces.

When everyone in the world thinks that Wu must be replaced by Qing~
When the Shandong Confucius Mansion presented the surrender letter~
The tide of counterattack will be overwhelming and come from all directions, trying every means to tamper with Wu Ting's quality.

how to respond?

The Three Musketeers - an army determined to defend the imperial power, an intelligence agency with sharp ears and eyes, and a group of emerging big businessmen.

……

Li Yu took time out to attend a high-level financial meeting.

All ministers in Suzhou and officials above the level of director of finance department were present at the meeting.

"Finance and taxation are the foundation of the empire. The work of coinage and taxation must be steadily advanced. Today, I only want to emphasize one point - the cost of taxation!"

Everyone was stunned.

Hu Xueyu was also stunned. He turned his head to look at Du Ren, thinking, isn’t cost a high-frequency word on your side?
The industrial sector keeps clamoring about “cost theory”, so why is it that I, the finance sector, have also started talking about cost?
Li Yu looked around at everyone, taking in all the changes in their expressions.

"I'll use the example of land tax. Do you think it's easier to collect 1 dan of grain in Songjiang Prefecture or 1 dan of grain in Yunyang Prefecture?"

Everyone laughed, the answer was obvious.

"Well, why?"

Someone answered:

"Your Majesty, Yunyang is poor, Songjiang is rich."

"Any more?"

"Yunyang has many mountainous areas, few people, scattered villages, and difficult mountain roads."

……

Li Yu smiled and said:

"One ship can carry 1 dan, so 500 ships can carry 20 dan."

"In the inland mountainous areas, there are no rivers, so people can only carry grain on their shoulders or on their backs, or pull it with mules and horses. How much human and animal power is needed to transport 1 dan of grain? How much organizational power is needed? How precise calculations are needed?"

"The reason why every dynasty had to rely on the gentry was because the court could not afford such a huge taxation cost."

"My country Wu does not value gentry, so I boldly predict that the problem of collecting land taxes in the newly occupied areas will gradually emerge."

"Officials' salaries, carriage and horse wear and tear, as well as waste of money, time and energy, I call these the costs of taxation."

Everyone's eyes lit up instantly.

Hu Xueyu said excitedly:

"I understand. The cost of collecting customs duties is much lower than the land tax. I'm afraid it's only one percent, no, one thousandth. Because the land tax needs to be collected door to door, while the customs duties only need to be set up at a few port cities~"

"Yes, at present, I have not found a tax that is less expensive than tariffs. My dear ministers, please understand my painstaking efforts."

The crowd shouted:

"Your Majesty is holy."

……

"My dear Hu."

"The minister is here."

"You take the lead in convening a meeting of tea, silk and porcelain merchants. Tell them that they can go out and negotiate business with European merchants. How much they can earn is their own ability, and I am not jealous. However, they must pay no less in tariffs. Otherwise, I will exterminate their clan and confiscate their property."

With the last sentence, Li Yu's expression suddenly became ferocious.

His expression told everyone present that this was no joke.

"According to the order."

"Lord Du."

"The minister is here."

"Tell the people below that I encourage the private sector to engage in large-scale industry and mining, encourage partnerships, and encourage the big fish to eat the small fish. Apart from paying taxes in full, there will be no other restrictions. Do you understand my intention?"

Du Ren bowed:

"I understand. It is easier to collect taxes from 10 super-large factories than from 1000 or 10000 small workshops."

……

Li Yu nodded.

He needs to quickly support a group of giants with strong financial resources, advanced technology and loyalty to the imperial power to ensure that these people can hedge when the old forces counterattack.

Emperors can call themselves lonely, but they can never really be lonely.
Li Yu has never forgotten those thought-provoking words: productivity determines production relations.

Ultimately, it comes down to development.

Time is tight and tasks are heavy.

What he had to do in his lifetime was to rapidly increase productivity and destroy the foundations of the feudal economy as much as possible.

……

A thoughtful minister proposed:
"Your Majesty, if this continues, I'm afraid that even a blade of grass will not grow under the big tree."

Li Yu thought about it and decided to do it in one go.

"Announce to the world, from now on, two categories of people will be exempted from commercial taxes."

"First, a small workshop that uses the yard of one's own house as a location and does not employ anyone other than immediate family members. Second, a mobile peddler (the criterion is whether one can carry the goods and walk)."

Everyone nodded, benevolent government!
Grasp the big and let go of the small~
Li Yu knew that it would not be long before workshops in the Jiangnan region would spring up like mushrooms after a rain, and would become suppliers and processors under the large factory chain.

Significant.

……

As the meeting was coming to an end, a topic that had been avoided for a long time was brought up again - determining the new official system.

Those who were interested in the Wu court had long discovered that other institutions had been gradually improving, but there was no "Ministry of Personnel" or similar institutions.

The selection of officials (civil servants) has long been in an awkward situation where no one is in charge.

The military attaché is quite clear, as there is the Army Department.

even,
Some current civil servants in counties and prefectures who have performed outstandingly were unable to be promoted, and their lists have been piling up before the emperor.

(End of this chapter)