New Shun 1730

Since it is impossible to take into account some of Liu Yu's personal emotional factors in Dashun's participation in the war, it is easier to see what Dashun probably wants rationally.

The national debt problem now facing the British government seems to be repaid only by Dashun's tariffs on tea, silk, porcelain, cotton cloth, etc.

Because, at this time, even the most talented financiers cannot solve such a large debt problem.

The last financial genius who solved a similar problem was John Law.

The solution is simple.

The Mississippi Company was marketed extensively: it claimed to have gold mine endorsement, an annual interest rate of 18%, and a 60-fold increase in stock prices in six months.

The whole of France was crazy about it, and a lot of cash, silver and gold were used to purchase stocks.

Then, the Mississippi Company used the gold and silver that 300,000 shareholders used to buy stocks, and in the name of the company, used a low interest rate of 3% to buy the French national debt that was going to be blown up, filling the big hole of French national debt.

In this way, France's national debt was solved, shareholders had a bunch of worthless stocks in their hands, and the financial pit left by Louis XIV's lifelong troubles was completely filled.

It can be said that this is definitely a financial genius, and his methods are much better than the gold yuan coupons: the gold yuan coupons are compulsory to exchange, but the stocks of the Mississippi Company are begged to buy by everyone, and ordinary people can't buy them, and they have to rely on connections to buy them.

It doesn't mean that this method can't be used in the future. After all, people don't remember long when it comes to financial speculation.

However, the two bombings of the South China Sea and Mississippi 20 years ago still have psychological shadows in Europe, and some people who lost all their money at the time have not died.

If it was forty years later or forty years earlier, this method would really work. But now, it really can't be used, and no one believes it.

Lord Bute also analyzed it calmly to the young George III.

In this situation, diplomatic envoys and spies from China and France will soon arrive from Dunkirk.

After the Tories were tricked last time, they must show their attitude as soon as possible this time, otherwise, the French spies will definitely collude with the Tories as soon as possible.

And if you want to win over the Tories, land tax cannot be increased.

Walpole had said it very bluntly at the beginning.

Land owners are pigs. If you want to pluck hair from a wild boar, it will not only make a weird cry, but it may also bite you with sharp teeth.

And consumption tax is wool. Big sheep are much safer than pigs. Generally speaking, big fat sheep will not scream when you pluck wool.

In the Walpole era, people were thinking about reducing land tax, and they kept trying until Walpole stepped down. In 1953, the land tax reform was completed, and the land tax was finally reduced from May 1st tax to November tax.

And if you dare to touch the land tax, the Tories will scream immediately.

At that time, they will definitely collude with the French under the banner of welcoming the true king, looking forward to the restoration of the Stuart family. Because, one thing is certain, if the Stuart family is restored, given the disadvantage of 150 to 300 between the Tories and the Whigs in Parliament, the restored Stuart family will definitely give greater preferential treatment to the landlords on the issue of land tax. After all, the gentry landlords are the basic base, and without the basic base, it is impossible to defend.

Therefore, in terms of government fiscal revenue, land tax is out of the question.

If you dare to increase land tax, the Tories will bring in the French army tomorrow.

Lord Bute can say this about the Tories because he actually does not think of himself as a Tory.

There are two types of Tories.

It is a bit like the Donglin Party of the Ming Dynasty.

The real Donglin Party is not the same thing as the Donglin Party that some people in later generations classified into a big basket.

The Tories are the same.

After becoming a big basket, especially after the continuous suppression and stigmatization of the Tories in recent years, saying that they are in the same group as the Jacobite rebels, the Tories are more like a hat at this time.

This hat is already dirty, and political enemies will try their best to put it on their heads.

For example, Lord Bute has always said that his political inclination is actually closer to the Conservative Whig Party, and he has always reiterated that he has nothing to do with the widowed princess.

However, the saying that the Tories, the Scots, and George III's mother have an affair has never stopped.

Simply put, before George III, because of the various restrictions on the Tories and the rules that they cannot enter the cabinet, the Whigs fought internally in the way of "I am more patriotic" and "I am a patriot and you are not".

And after George III lifted the restrictions on the Tories, the ready-made "Tory" hat can be directly put on the heads of the ministers around George III.

Lord Bute's Tory hat is put on his head, but he is not an orthodox Tory. So he can consider the Tory problem from the perspective of Viscount Bolingbroke, who he studied under, and from the perspective of a close minister of the king.

Here, the "Cider Tax" that caused a big mess for George Grenville in history is essentially the same as the land tax issue.

Because of the previous consumption tax issue of Walpole, Pitt insisted on the castle theory, and everyone's house is his own castle. Even if there is a search warrant, the smuggler's warehouse cannot be used to inspect smuggling, because the smuggler's warehouse is the smuggler's castle. Moreover, the goods are not sold when they are piled up in the warehouse. From the lawyer's point of view, the goods piled up in the warehouse are not smuggled goods. Only after they are sold can they be considered smuggled goods.

Therefore, on the issue of "cider tax", since we can't check private wine warehouses, we can only "tax apples". In the end, this tax was paid to the landlords, and the most popular people caused a big mess - in From a lawyer's perspective, these apples are not turned into wine, so how can the cider tax be imposed on the apples?

Of course, it also includes the very interesting "Corn Law" issues in later generations, which are essentially issues of land tax, land rent, and land income.

At this time, the British landowners were very powerful, and land tax was a red line.

If we want to win over the disaffected Tories, the land tax must be fixed and cannot be touched.

The landlords were not just shouting slogans and daring to touch the land tax, they were the ones who really dared to lure the French troops into the country.

The young George III was actually not that ecstatic about becoming king, especially when he heard Lord Bute talk about how troublesome tax collection was.

He is still young now and will be a 20-year-old boy. The relationship between grandfather and father can really be described by saying that when his father died, his grandfather celebrated his death. Therefore, there is no one who knows what the position of the king does and what kind of troubles he has to face. A clear understanding.

For Lord Bute, after his father died when he was about ten years old, he regarded Lord Bute as his father.

Probably, everyone with a similar position will always have scandals about their relationship with someone of similar status to the "Queen Mother", and Lord Bute is no exception.

His mother and Lord Bute were close friends. George III was very dependent on Lord Bute and could be considered obedient.

In the past, when I was first in love with someone, I would write to Lord Bute and ask what Lord Bute meant: "Will you allow me to marry her one day?"

Lord Bute rejected it directly, telling him that being a king was different from other things. He should follow the tradition and marry the royal families of Europe honestly.

George III also knew at that time, "I live for the happiness and suffering of a country, and I have to do things against my feelings. This is the king."

Now, grandpa is dead with great difficulty - to be honest, his grandpa has a bad relationship with his father, and the relationship with his mother is even less likely to be good. The thoughts that George III has been instilled in him since he was a child make him definitely have some problems. The happy mood of "Grandpa is finally dead".

He is about to become a king, but the first thing he needs to do before becoming a king is to deal with such a complicated problem.

Especially for a single tax issue, so many relationships, influences, oppositions, parties, etc. had to be taken into consideration. He couldn't help but have a headache.

In fact, George III was not surprised by China's participation in the war.

At least there is no such accident as "the people in the background painting run out of the painting into the real world".

Because some Chinese buildings surrounded him where he grew up.

For example, his mother funded the construction of Kew Gardens, which contains some bamboo plants and some Chinese-style aesthetic garden buildings that are very different from European aesthetics.

And the one based on the Great Baoen Temple Tower in Nanjing; designed and built by William Chambers, a member of the Swedish East India Company who had been to China before and was responsible for some of the design styles of the Dashun New School University Hall building [Great Pagoda】big pagoda. There is also the Confucius House complex in Kew Gardens before the construction of the Great Pagoda in Chambers.

Of course, it also includes the porcelain and silk quilts he uses in daily life.

As well as some strange brass instruments produced by Dashun that he purchased due to his interest in natural science. As well as the air-pump compression guns that Dashun exported to Europe for the aristocratic pastime that were "safe and can be enjoyed with ladies to enjoy the pleasure of hunting", George III also had several.

In addition, as the crown prince after all, the feudal emperor in Dashun had to give some gifts in accordance with diplomatic etiquette under certain circumstances.

Therefore, under this environment, I was not surprised or surprised at all after learning about Dashun's participation in the war. At most, I think that since it is not a country that exists in the background, what is weird about participating in the war?

However, when the war progressed to this stage and Lord Bute tore apart those things that looked like background paintings, it was inevitable that the exotic beauty before had suddenly faded.

It has faded into boring taxes, land taxes, customs duties, silver, sugar, tea, trade, cotton cloth, laws... These have nothing to do with the beauty of pagodas, porcelain, gardens, etc., are extremely boring, and are extremely vulgar. things.

George III basically understood some of Lord Bute's suggestions, but he still sighed: "So, will the Chinese's participation in the war also affect the land tax policy?"

Lord Bute replied respectfully: "My Majesty, the Chinese have traveled thousands of miles to participate in the war in Europe. Don't forget that the Chinese have banned Catholicism and are opposed to some Christians. Their only purpose in coming here to participate in the war is It’s silver. If we enter the war from an anti-Christian standpoint, in fact, the Chinese are offended by the issues of ritual and ancestor worship, and they are more interested in tearing down the Papal States than coming to fight us.”

"The British use silver, the people in North America use silver, the French use silver, and the Indians, Chinese, and Japanese also use silver."

“Silver is not grown or printed.”

"They want silver, and the land tax is also silver. How can it not matter?"

"Although he did not collect land tax directly from us, the country's finances rely on taxation, tax farming and monopoly. The premise of monopoly is profitability, because these profitable monopolies bring in fiscal revenue, which has gradually reduced our land tax to 2 shillings per pound."

"Obviously, the Chinese hate our monopoly and tariff policies, which means that the government will not be able to get the previous income."

"If the income from trade and monopoly cannot be obtained, raising land tax as a supplement is certainly an option. Therefore, the Chinese participation in the war is related to the possible increase in land tax, and it is very related."