New Shun 1730

Liu Yu thought to himself, free trade? This is not entirely true, but for a member of the royal family, it is rare to think of this step.

If the emperor wants to make money, the easiest way is to trade with all Western countries and control the monopoly privileges himself. This will not only facilitate taxation but also share a part of the profits of the goods.

Basically, this does not harm the domestic handicraft industry.

Whether or not there is open trade does not affect how many goods the Westerners buy. What currently restricts the Westerners' trade volume is their own country's mercantilist precious metal accumulation policy, and the scale of the handicraft industry depends on how big the market is.

The world currency at this time is not the dollar paper after the disintegration of the Bretton Woods system, but real gold and silver. If you import less goods, your country's precious metals will flow out less. The stronger you are, the weaker others will be. All Western countries are pursuing this idea and increasing tariffs.

Liu Yu did not want to engage in trade, but wanted to go out and take the initiative in trade, even if it depended on the face of the Swedes, who were already weak at this time.

Does relying on smugglers in Gothenburg count as free trade?

It's hard to say.

Free trade is sometimes wishful thinking, just like Dashun at this moment.

At this time, I really wanted free trade, but my wishful thinking about free trade could not allow Britain to relax the tea tax, amend the Manchester Textile Regulations, abolish the Navigation Regulations, dissolve the East India Company, and abolish monopoly rights.

There is no use thinking.

Liu Yu was just casual in the pamphlets that Li Huo had read, and did not choose to debate what constituted free trade: there was no need to explain anyway, Dashun did not need tariff barriers at this time, so he probably said there were no tariffs. The barrier is free trade, if it exists, it is not. Of course, it's not defined this way, but it's enough.

He wanted to remind Li Han again.

Li Han was also looking at Liu Yu eagerly at this time, hoping to get a comment from Liu Yu such as "The seventh prince is really smart."

What he said was not only to cater to Liu Yu, but also to speak from the bottom of his heart.

However, Liu Yu did not open his mouth to praise, but talked about another thing.

"Does the Seventh Prince know that the Netherlands is in Batavia in Southeast Asia?"

Li Huan immediately recited the contents of the book and said: "Batavia is south of the equator, about 6 degrees south latitude. There is no Big Dipper here. If the capital is the center of the world, this place is about 10 degrees west longitude. The East-West Theory is the same as Tianbao Prefecture. The land is hot, with summer-like weather all year round, and is prone to malaria due to high rainfall and high tides. It produces sugar, spices, etc. Since the former dynasty, people from the Celestial Dynasty have settled south to avoid the hardships of Fujian's eight mountains and one river. ”

This is all the content in the booklet. Li Hao has a good memory. This booklet was written with Dashun as a reference as much as possible, so it is easy to memorize.

Liu Yu did not dare to write randomly about longitude and latitude when writing a pamphlet. If you want to determine longitude and latitude not with the capital as the center of the world, but with Weihai as the center of the world, then you are just looking for trouble.

By the time Li Huan finished reciting it, Liu Yu had already sighed.

"The previous dynasty was closed to trade with the Netherlands. Therefore, after the Apocalypse, if the Dutch wanted to get goods, they had to ask Chinese merchants to go to Batavia, and even helped Li Dan, Zheng Zhilong and others to hijack cargo ships bound for Manila. At that time, only I'll take a boat to Bacheng, and not only will the trade be fair, but I'll also give you more cloth and spices, so I can go there again next time."

"After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Dutch built commercial centers in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other places. Since then, if Chinese businessmen went to Bacheng, they were often deducted and their goods were frequently withheld. Now there are even rumors that the Dutch believe that there are too many immigrants from China. , want to kill him."

"What do the Seventh Prince think?"

Li Han didn't even think about it and subconsciously replied: "Chen Tang of Ziru Han said: Anyone who openly offends a strong Han will be punished no matter how far away he is."

"I understand what Ying Suobo means. If the Han and Tang Dynasties opened the Western Region, the soldiers would walk, ride horses, or drive camels. However, Bacheng is far away and cannot be reached without warships. It is impossible to get there on foot. Therefore, the switch of this dynasty seems to be It is more like free trade than the previous dynasty, but without a navy, complete free trade will only make the Western barbarians more confident."

"The Dutch may think, you want my silver anyway; or, if you don't sell it to me, I can transport it to Bacheng by sea, or take advantage of other countries' business houses. Therefore, they will kill them." , you can’t fight it, so you have nothing to fear, so what’s there to be afraid of?”

"Even if this dynasty cuts off trade with the Netherlands, as long as it continues to open and close and allow Southeast Asian trade, someone will always send goods to Bacheng, which is difficult to stop. Therefore, if we want to open and close the dynasty and prevent the people of the Chinese dynasty from being bullied outside, we must have navy."

This is to the point. Of course Liu Yu took it out of context. The reason why the Dutch want to exclude China in Batavia is not that simple.

It's more like there is something wrong with the company's policy. The sugar industry needs to "lay off employees". At this time, layoffs mean starving the Chinese on the plantations to death. They are afraid that they will resist before they starve to death, so they massacre them in advance so that they will naturally not resist.

But Li Han doesn't need to know these things at this time.

At the age of 17 or 18, when your mind is full of fanaticism, it is much easier to instill a few words "Even if you are far away, you will be killed" than to explain the essence of it clearly.

Liu Yu nodded approvingly at this answer and asked: "Today's silk, silk, porcelain and cotton are all of low price and high quality. There is no problem with free trade in this dynasty."

"If one day, Western porcelain, cotton cloth, etc. are cheaper than ours... If trade continues to be free, tens of millions of people who make a living by spinning and burning will definitely be unemployed. What will happen then?"

Li Xi really hadn't thought about this question, or rather, this question had never been considered by Chinese rulers since ancient times.

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up the Western Regions, has there been a time when foreign goods tended to the Central Plains?

Although there is Japanese satin among the famous satins of Dashun, although it is called Japanese satin, it may also originate from Japan, but the first place in the production of Japanese satin is Fujian, the second is Sichuan, and the third is Japan.

Not to mention that Li Xi is still young, even if those experienced old foxes in the court say dumping, they will definitely not understand it, because it has never appeared in history, so there is no way to consider it.

Li Xi felt that this question was really a bit weird. He was about to say that this was impossible, but he changed his mind and thought: Ying Suobo asked me what to do if such a thing happened, but he didn't argue with me whether it was possible. If I am obsessed with "whether it is possible", I am going in the wrong direction.

"If there really is such a day as Ying Suo Bo's assumption, we should close the country and impose high taxes to protect our industry and commerce. Although the Celestial Empire does not value industry and commerce, our Emperor Taizong once said that the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are one. Moreover, even if we don't talk about this, I know that low grain prices hurt farmers. Low grain prices hurt farmers, and low silk prices hurt workers."

Liu Yu asked again: "What if Westerners come by ship to force our dynasty to open its doors for trade?"

Speaking of this, Li Li suddenly realized something and figured it out.

"I understand! The navy is neither for free trade nor for mercantilism."

"It's the court's policy. The navy must be able to maintain the court's policy. Military orders come from the emperor; political orders come from the Tianyou Palace. If the political order is for free trade, the navy has the ability to make other countries open and close; if the political order is for mercantilism, the navy has the ability to prevent a foreign ship from approaching the shore."

"If the emperor's six divisions attacked Chu and said: don't pay tribute to the barren grass; it's also like the three armies of Chu attacked Sui and said: we are barbarians. Free trade and mercantilism are not paying tribute to the barren grass and we are barbarians. The army has a legitimate reason; the navy is the emperor's six divisions and the three armies of Chu. They have a legitimate reason and win and take it."

"It's the time and the situation. I said before that the navy is for free trade, but it's just at this moment. If it doesn't change at that time, it's like looking for a sword on a boat."

This answer made Liu Yu very satisfied, thinking that you finally distinguish between the benevolent and righteous heavenly dynasty and imperialism.

So he laughed and said, "Don't worry, Seventh Prince. I have something that can be called that time and that moment, just like this moment. Please follow me and let the Seventh Prince see what real power is."

Hearing Liu Yu's laughter and feeling the recognition in Liu Yu's laughter, Li Li was very excited. But the battleship with 64 guns just seen in front of him was not considered real power in Liu Yu's eyes. How shocking would the real power be?

With this expectation, he followed Liu Yu ashore and walked into a heavily guarded courtyard in the valley of the small mountain area south of Weihai.

Li Li thought he would see something more shocking than a battleship, but when Liu Yu, under the guidance of a group of craftsmen, lifted a piece of red cloth covering the object, Li Li was stunned.

This thing in front of him looked neither magnificent nor magnificent, as if it was just a hydraulically driven tool.

Thinking of the shock of the battleship's salvo, Li Li thought that this thing could destroy dozens of miles with one shot? It didn't look like a cannon.

Looking at Liu Yu's excited and proud expression, Li Xi asked tentatively: "Ying Suo Bo, this is... this is what you call real power? What is this?"

Liu Yu slowly uttered two words in a very calm but difficult to conceal excitement tone.

"Boring machine."

"Uh..."

Li Xi didn't know what a boring machine was. After asking for a long time, he found out that it was indeed a tool used by blacksmiths, which could cut iron and copper.

Not only can it not corrode for dozens of miles, but it may not be as easy to kill as a dagger.

So, this is real power? And the battleship that can fire volleys, in Liu Yu's view, is just a waste of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to train craftsmen?

Li Xi was a little confused. What is a boring machine for? Why is this thing more powerful than a battleship?

After touching this mostly wooden thing, he couldn't help laughing and said, "I thought this thing could turn stone into gold? Forgive my stupidity, Ying Suo Bo, I really don't know where its power lies?"

Liu Yu said "at that time and at that moment, just like this moment", Li Xi understood that his meaning was that this thing could make it difficult for Western goods to be cheaper than the Celestial Empire. But before, he was talking about cloth, silk and porcelain, and it was difficult for Li Xi to connect this iron drilling thing with cloth and silk.

And it was really unrelated to shock, even though he felt that Liu Yu attached great importance to it, he couldn't help but make a joke.

This joke made Liu Yu laugh for a moment, and he didn't explain where the power of this thing was, but instead said the most inferior use of this thing.

For example, boring cannon barrels.