New Shun 1730

In this era of relying on a small circle of "friends of the king" to govern the country, the private interests of noble ministers are of course an important consideration in negotiations, and the weight of consideration may even be quite heavy.

The French Minister of State is first himself, then his family, and then the Minister of State.

He certainly cannot stand from a detached perspective to truly selflessly and rationally measure the so-called overall interests of France.

Besides, who is France? This is still a question in itself.

Just like the simplest oriental trade, is the monopoly east of the Cape of Good Hope representing the interests of France? Or does the opening of private trade east of the Cape of Good Hope represent the interests of France?

Who is the ruling class, small and medium-sized capital or big capital, big bankers, and big nobles? This is still in a state of internal quarreling, so where does the interest of France come from?

Therefore, Choiseul's self-interest and the interest groups behind him made this negotiation extremely beneficial to Dashun.

In other words, because of India's developed industry and commerce and France's mercantilism tradition, the interest groups in East India are not strong enough.

When there were disagreements within the ruling class, the West Indies defeated the East Indies, Saint Domingo defeated Pondicherry, and sugar defeated tea.

So people like Choiseul who valued the West Indies became the mainstream of the court.

This was not entirely a personal accident.

Although the interests of the landlords and gentry of Dashun were conservative and opposed to external expansion, the deliberate division and balance at the beginning of the founding of Dashun shaped the division of the ruling class of Dashun, which gave Dashun the basis for "dividing internal and external management" and laid the foundation for Dashun's external expansion at this time - as long as the "Liao salary" was not levied and the money of the "external" department was used, then the internal opposition itself was just a verbal moral opposition with no real power, which was useless.

In this regard, Dashun was actually stronger than France, at least there was no contradiction between whether external expansion was east or west.

After roughly calculating the investment account that could influence the war situation, the Dashun envoys naturally transitioned to the issue of India.

However, this transition method was more pragmatic.

According to the calculations of Dashun, in order to influence the situation of the war, Dashun needs to send at least a fleet of 30 battleships and at least 3,000 elite combat engineers to cooperate with France to capture Gibraltar.

Gibraltar is of course a very critical link in the war. The British can use Gibraltar to trade with Spain, which may induce Spain to fight against France, so it is very important to France. However, the French navy is not good enough and cannot take it down consciously; and Dashun forces the British main fleet to squat at the doorstep to prevent landing, and must also ensure that Gibraltar is under the control of China and France.

Although siege warfare was the specialty of the French in the era of the Sun King, it is obvious that the siege tactics can only be carried forward under the hands of Dashun at this time, because Dashun has specialized in siege capabilities in order to solve the problems of Nanyang and India, and does not care too much about the field combat capabilities of the large army.

The main reason is that there is no opportunity to use it in the surrounding areas. The ability of the large army to fight is really a dragon-slaying technique in Dashun.

If calculated in this way, in fact, the Indian issue is only worth the assistance value of 5 battleships and their affiliated cruisers and support ships in the eyes of Dashun.

Therefore, this fleet of 30 battleships and at least 3,000 elite combat engineers need to be priced separately and the terms are gradually upgraded.

If France can give more, of course it can also give more reinforcements, and 20 more battleships, Dashun can also get it together. But we have to consider the cost, whether it is worth so much money.

The Duke of Choiseul's view on the Eastern trade was deeply influenced by the Enlightenment on the one hand, and on the other hand, because he did not participate in it, he did not pay much attention to it.

Historically, in the financial crisis of 1763, just after the Seven Years' War, the Duke of Choiseul advocated the dissolution of the French East India Company.

The ideological reason is that "this kind of monopoly is the reason for France's failure in the Eastern trade. If it is opened to small capital, the monopoly is abolished, and French merchants are allowed to go freely to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, then France's Eastern trade will develop rapidly, and provide more taxes, which will promote the development of industry and commerce. The sin of monopoly is to compete with the people for profits."

Economics can sometimes be regarded as a "scripture" of the new era in a one-sided way.

As for whether this idea is right or wrong, it really depends on the situation.

For example, Dashun, Liu Yu shouted about free trade, but in fact, all of Dashun's foreign trade companies were monopolies plus excessive military obligations and mandatory heavy merchant ship standards. Including Liu Yu himself, it is actually embarrassing to say that this is called free trade. I have never seen any free trade that requires the construction of more expensive heavy merchant ships and must help the court train sailors and seamen.

The French are the kings of chanting in this era. When Britain banned the East India Company, the Opium War was over. France was a hundred years earlier than Britain, and it really banned the East India Company once in history.

The question is, if the East India Company's monopoly was abolished early, would France not have failed in India? The large capital groups with monopoly have failed in competition in India, and relying on small and scattered merchants, it can be considered that they can win the Battle of Bengal and the Carnatic South India War in India?

The theory of free trade is beautiful. Very beautiful, Dashun's Songsu Capital Group is really like it.

But in reality, when the East India Company existed and had an all-powerful figure like Dupleix, it could suppress the British in South India; and after the financial crisis of the Seven Years' War in history, after the East India Company was banned, , and soon the British East India Company controlled all of India...

The final conclusion is that France is not open enough and trade free enough, which is why it failed in India; India's failure proves that France's trade openness is not deep enough and capital is not free enough. This kind of spiral rhetoric had already become a prominent teaching in France in 1763.

Therefore, Liu Yu firmly supports free trade, but as long as there are large capital monopoly groups such as the East India Company in other countries besides Dashun, he will only shout out words and will never ban them.

The prerequisite for Dashun to abolish the monopoly of the Western Trading Company is that Britain defeats the war, cancels the navigation regulations, and the East India Company in London disintegrates and goes bankrupt; France takes the lead and all countries ban the East India Company.

Dashun is not afraid of free trade. If everyone were to trade freely, Dashun, which is at the end of the transmission of the price revolution, would be able to wipe out the entire European shipbuilding and merchant shipping industries, even if the costs of navigation, shipbuilding, and price revolution were reduced.

Therefore, the argument promoted by Dashun's participation in the European war this time will be supported by enlightenmentists throughout Europe - Dashun's participation in the European war is not for the benefit of Dashun, but for the benefit of all mankind and the dismantling of evil. The East-West trade model is an unfair, monopolistic and exclusive monopoly that benefits a few people.

Many Enlightenmentists will believe that this will be the end of the evil mercantilism of the old era, a great crusade related to the welfare of all mankind, and the most progressive cause of this era.

Morally, there will be many people who believe that the country's imposition of tariffs is evil, mercantilism is evil, Colbertism is evil, and the country's industrial protection is also evil.

These are the Tower of Babel in the new era, and they are cancers that prevent all mankind from rationally judging each country's comparative advantages and developing the industries that are most suitable for the country. The future of mankind is bright. Plant the land that is suitable for your country, and weave if it is suitable for textiles. Only in this way can you have a future for all mankind. This idea originated from the disputes between European countries. Too small and highly complementary. When they were pondering this issue, Dashun had not yet sailed to Europe to tell Europeans of this era: No, it is possible for a country with a population of over 300 million at this time. Comprehensive development of the entire industry.

This theory has been put into practice in Dashun itself, and relying on a unified domestic market that is not perfect, it has allowed soybeans to be grown in Liaohe, tussahs in Shandong, rice in Nanyang, tea in Fujian, and cotton cloth in Songsu.

But the premise of this theory is that Fujian, Shandong, Liaodong, and Songsu all belong to Dashun. Although it involves the interests of some internal local forces and the unemployment problem of the people, on the whole, the provinces do not have a navy or an army.

The problem in Europe is that I also want to rub wool, and you also want to rub wool.

You say that you are more suitable for rubbing wool, and I am more suitable for raising sheep, but I also think that I am more suitable for rubbing wool, and you are more suitable for raising sheep. Why can you make big money by rubbing wool, while I can make small money by raising sheep?

This kind of empty argument is useless. In the end, you have to fight with warships, private soldiers, and artillery. Whoever has more warships is suitable for wool rubbing; whoever has fewer warships is suitable for raising sheep.

During Liu Yu's previous trip to Europe, he peddled the concept of free trade everywhere. Coupled with his status as a "rational scholar" among the Enlightenmentists, the effect was very huge.

At the very least, France's prominent doctrine, Physiocrats at this time, must have given Dashun great support in public opinion. Physiocracy has nothing to do with farming. Its core idea is to collect only agricultural taxes and exempt from any form of industrial and commercial taxes.

There is also the ebb and flow of capital power. This time France was defeated in India, and the shareholders of the French East India Company suffered heavy losses.

The capital, which had never had the opportunity to get on the train before, has been jealous for a long time. At this time, of course, it is looking forward to Dashun delivering the goods directly to France. After paying the tariff, they will control the sales of Eastern trade goods in France and its colonies.

This is not the same as the situation in Sweden. Sweden does not have a vast internal market. The cooperation between Dashun and Sweden is, at best, a trade, and at worst, it is the largest smuggling group in Europe.

This is also the source of the phrase "Nordic industrial products will be dumped in the colonies" in the debate in the British Parliament on the "West India Honey Act" - Nordic countries have their own industrial products that are expensive, but they have two oversized ones similar to those in India. The East India Company had nothing to do with it.

Sweden's one million people cannot support a comprador group and can only support professional smugglers; France's internal market is extremely broad and can easily support a professional comprador group.

Moreover, if France imposes normal tariffs on Dashun trade goods, as long as it buys enough, it can indeed achieve the effect of "no tax for the people but enough for the country".

In this way, France can abolish the "comprehensive one-twentieth tax" levied on the nobility and privileged classes. This tax can be completely replaced by tariffs.

This is a proposal that will please the Enlightenmentists, the privileged classes, the Paris Parlement, and finance capital.

As long as those producers, woolen workers, weavers, potters, etc. are not regarded as the people, then this proposal is a proposal that is beneficial to "all the French people."

Of course, at this time, Dashun took advantage of the Sino-fever and the Enlightenment in Europe, and was still wearing the cloak of a "rationalist's ideal country", "superstitious atheist country", "moral and legal country". Even in such a pragmatic negotiation, the people of the Dashun envoys had to recite these great principles.

Because, given the situation in France, sooner or later these negotiations would be exposed, so if they wanted to talk, they had to talk in a high-profile manner.

To talk in a high-profile manner, they had to avoid talking about Dashun's own interests, but give France enough steps to let the French see the negotiation text and feel that Dashun really had "ideals".

The Dashun envoys gave the long-prepared text on the Indian issue to the Duke of Choiseul, which comprehensively introduced the solution to the Indian and Eastern trade issues.

First, France had to formally abolish the French East India and China Company.

Secondly, the East India Company's industry in India was purchased by the royal family, and after the royal family purchased it, the Dashun court purchased it from the French royal family. The ownership of warehouses, houses, and real estate will be transferred to Dashun, and France will no longer be qualified to discuss the ownership of Pondicherry in negotiations with Britain.

Again, Dashun will spare no effort to protect the interests of France in the Caribbean and North America. Dashun will not unilaterally withdraw from the war for any treaty that harms France's interests in the Caribbean and North America. But as a price, France needs to hand over the ownership of Mauritius and the French Island, as well as the ports, forts, plantations, etc. on the island to Dashun.

Then, Dashun guarantees that it will not engage in any form of officially supported smuggling against France. France will establish a customs for oriental trade goods in Nantes, and all Dashun's goods will be taxed at one time at the Nantes customs. France abolishes all administrative bans on oriental goods such as the cotton cloth ban, and everything is left to the free and omnipotent market to regulate.

Then, Dashun guarantees that it will not engage in any form of smuggling against French colonies, including Senegal in West Africa. Dashun supports France's trade policy towards Senegal. Any goods, including the taxed oriental trade goods in Nantes, will be transported by French ships, French shipowners and French merchants. Dashun will not allow goods that have not paid tariffs in Nantes to enter West Africa using Dashun's merchant ships in any form of official support.

Finally, Dashun welcomes free trade between China and France. However, due to Dashun's national conditions, as well as traditional and religious factors, Dashun refuses any merchants who believe in Catholicism or its heresy to trade in Dashun's sphere of influence east of the Cape of Good Hope. Therefore, the French government should prohibit private merchants from crossing the Cape of Good Hope for trade unless the French government comes forward to guarantee that there is no Christian with faith and who may try to preach on the ship.

Dashun will never build religious churches such as Guandi Temple, Chenghuang Temple, Mazu Temple, Taoist Temple, and Monk Temple in France.

This is not that Dashun does not engage in free trade, but it is caused by the ban on religion by the Dashun court, but it just happens that all French merchants are Christians.

Isn't this a coincidence? It just happens that all French merchants are Christians. So this is a religious issue, not a trade issue. And it may also involve the doctrinal conflict of Dashun's self-establishment of the Eastern Church and self-appointment of the Eastern Patriarch in order to manage Christians.

Unless the Roman Curia is dissolved, this matter will be a revised clause and discussed later. But before the Roman Curia is dissolved or France leaves the Roman Curia, this clause will not be changed in any form.

According to Dashun's indignant statement, Dashun is resentful of the fact that ancestor worship, Spring Festival couplets, and the New Year were not allowed in the past, and the name of God was stolen. Dashun will definitely not let go of this matter with the Roman Curia.