New Shun 1730

Li Xi was still digesting these indoctrinations, but Liu Yu did not give him enough time to think and understand them. Instead, he told him to prepare and go to Tianjin with him.

There were not too many theories learned in the Jinghai Palace official school. Normally, they would start to practice on board in half a year, which was also the common practice of naval officers in various countries at that time.

It was just that there were more talents and fewer warships before, which excessively extended the learning time of theoretical courses in the Jinghai Palace official school.

It was not a normal officer course at all, but a course arranged according to the extra-syllabus content such as drawing, measurement, mathematical calculation, and ballistics.

This was Li Xi's first time on a warship, and he was a little nervous. He was worried that he would vomit on the ship on his first time on a warship, which would make others laugh and it would be difficult to calm the navy in the future.

But he also knew that if he didn't even dare to take a warship, even if Liu Yu left in the future, how could the rebellious naval officers be convinced? He had to bite the bullet and act like "a navy man should go on board".

"Seventh Prince, this trip to Tianjin is not far. The purpose is that the envoys of Western countries have gathered in Tianjin, and the fleet needs to be dispatched to deter them."

"First, it is convenient for future trade, and second, it is also to deter the Dutch. Before my neighbor went to Ryukyu, Duke Qi had already notified the Dutch and asked them to send people to Tianjin. Now that they are all here, we are going to put some pressure on them."

Li Li had just been instilled with the principle of "I am not someone else" and had also heard about some of the Dutch's trade in Nagasaki. He asked, "Is it to put pressure on the Dutch to prevent them from supporting the Japanese?"

"That's not the case."

Liu Yu grinned He smiled, thinking that the Dutch didn't even have a governor of the Federation at this time, and the seven provinces were governed by themselves. The East India Company was first a company, and then the Dutch. He smiled and said, "If it was just the Japanese, the tariff would be enough to break the formation. The main thing is the overseas survivors of the Celestial Empire in Batavia, Southeast Asia. This requires warships to reason with them."

Li Li didn't know about Batavia at this time. Liu Yu knew that Li Li would take over the navy in the future, so he told the story of Batavia with a national historical perspective, but didn't tell Li Li about the relationship between the local Chinese Kapitan, Lei Zhenlan, and the black slaves.

After a few words, Li Li was anxious, thinking why not send ships to bring back these Celestial Empire children?

Although he didn't understand, he didn't ask, just thinking that the court had its own means.

He also thought that this time when he went to Tianjin, he would bring the battleship that was too slow to be assembled into the cruiser, which would definitely deter the Dutch.

This French 64-gun battleship, which cost a lot of money to train, was useless in the East Asian waters at that time. There was no opponent in the bombardment and the ship was too slow. At this time, it was more of a ceremonial guard.

Going to scare people was also considered to be making the best use of it.

It was scheduled to set sail if the weather was fine in three days, and Li Li was asked to go back and prepare.

Before sailing, Liu Yu privately called Mantou and asked about the details of this trip to Sweden.

The two things that were to be done on the surface were done. The craftsmen of wood tar technology were hired at a high salary; the director of the Swedish East India Company and the Swedish knight, Scotsman Colin Campier, also came to China for the second time as the plenipotentiary ambassador of Sweden to China. Last time he only went to Guangdong, but this time he could go to the capital.

In addition to the surface, there were some hidden things.

This time, the negotiations with the Swedes were nominally handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by the Duke of Qi, but in fact he was the man behind the scenes. Even if he didn't care about the specifics of the talks, he had to sort out all the situations.

Negotiating with the Swedes was a major event during the historical opportunity period of the War of the Austrian Succession.

This also involved whether the Dutch would rob the Swedish East India Company's ships once the war in the South China Sea broke out after they knew that Dashun had participated in the investment.

"What did you ask indirectly along the way? How much bond loans did the Dutch East India Company provide to the Swedish company?"

The one who owes money is the boss, so don't over-touch the Dutch's purely commercial interests for the time being.

Considering that the Swedish company owed money to the Dutch East India Company, as long as Dashun only participated in the investment in a private name and still flew the Swedish flag, and as long as Sweden borrowed enough Dutch debts, the Dutch would not rob.

Robbing a Swedish ship is equivalent to declaring war on Sweden and not paying back the money, so there must be some considerations when weighing the pros and cons.

There was no one in private, and Mantou only called Liu Yu "Mr.", shaking his head and saying, "Mr., the Swedes are very secretive about this and don't want us to know. Just think about it, they don't want to reveal their bottom line before the negotiation. But they owe the Netherlands money, that's for sure. How much they owe is really hard to know."

"I heard that the Dutch East India Company now mainly relies on lending and finance, which makes money faster. Their shipping and Southeast Asian trade don't seem to make much money in recent years, far less than finance and lending."

"Sweden is quite poor, and the turnover period of transoceanic trade is long, and we only accept spot gold and silver. In addition, Britain and the Netherlands also prohibit non-company shareholders from engaging in oriental trade, so it is difficult for them to raise shares, so they can only borrow from the Netherlands. They should all be long-term, and they only need to pay interest every year."

Not knowing the true details of the Swedish East India Company, it would be a bit difficult to negotiate.

It is confirmed that they owe money, so we can only say that there is a direction for discussion in the negotiation.

For long-term bonds, you only need to pay interest every year.

The Swedes should not dare to repay the principal, one is to fear cash flow problems, after all, Dashun only wants cash.

Another possibility is that they may have anticipated chaos in Europe, so they were thinking of taking the opportunity to expand trade with China. Building ships costs money, so they probably borrowed money to make a profit.

"The Swedes are building ships, right?" Liu Yu knew that the famous Gothenburg was probably launched in the past few years.

"Yes. They are also building a new ship over there. It is quite big, about the same size as the Free Trade. But it is estimated that it will not be completed until next year, and the cost is too expensive. Sweden does not have so much good wood, and it is not feasible for Songshan to build ocean-going ships. "

"Apart from our trade, the Swedes don't have much trade elsewhere, right?"

"Yes. Although they are called the East India Company, they are actually a Chinese company. The goods are basically from Guangdong and Fujian. I really haven't seen anything else."

“How do Swedes feel about Rakshasa?”

"There is a strong call to regain the lost territory, and there is quite an intention to start a war. In my opinion, the Prime Minister of the Lord Peace Party must step down."

Either he didn't want to be a monster who predicts the future, or he lured Mantou to do as he said. He roughly sorted out the situation in Sweden and had a rough judgment and suggestions on the negotiation.

These things should be compiled into a report and delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He will not directly participate in the negotiations, but the pen for writing the report is in his own hand. With a little guidance, he can control the situation, and it seems that he will not interfere too much.

After talking about the situation in Sweden, Mantou took out several large boxes.

"Didn't Sir ask me to collect some newspapers from Western countries? I have collected a lot of them. For a fee, smugglers in Gothenburg can get them."

"This box is from the Netherlands, these boxes are from the UK..."

Pulling out a stack of British newspapers, he said: "The British now ask the people not to talk about national affairs. In order to prevent talking about national affairs, they impose heavy taxes on newspapers. Most of the British newspapers that my husband asked me to collect are official newspapers."

"Newspapers are heavily taxed, but official newspapers are subsidized. The British are very sophisticated. If you want to make money, you can say whatever the British court tells you. Otherwise, there will be no subsidies and you will have to go bankrupt."

When Liu Yu heard this, he was filled with admiration.

"Wonderful! It's not like we're not allowed to talk about state affairs, but we're imposing heavy taxes. Then whoever wants to get subsidies should keep their mouths shut?"

Mantou also laughed and said: "I heard from a British smuggler in Gothenburg that there is a novelist named Defoe. He seems to have written a story about a sailor drifting to a desert island. He is quite famous. He is actually It has been said: The people's mouth is better than the river. We impose heavy taxes on newspapers in order to prevent the people from talking about state affairs. However, we cannot stop talking about state affairs, and we can only change it from light to dark. "

"However, the British and the Chinese government did not obey, thinking that this policy could kill two birds with one stone, receiving money and controlling public opinion."

"Nowadays, the British are engaged in literary inquisition. I heard that a few years ago, there was a man named Franklin. Because he was dissatisfied with the Anglo-Spanish peace treaty, he said a few complaints and was imprisoned for 'defamation'. He was fined 6,800 taels of silver and imprisoned for one year. Now. Now Anyone who makes false remarks about state affairs or insinuates that the royal family is a Hanoverian is a serious crime. According to legal precedent, any sarcastic comments about celebrities are considered libel, regardless of whether they are true or false."

After telling these jokes, Mantou's expression turned to worry again, and he sighed: "The British have done this, which shows that the British are really the enemy. If in this dynasty, how can the court control what the Confucian Association says? The British can not only control He lives there and manages it in an orderly manner, which shows that his control is beyond the reach of this dynasty. "

"Britain is a small country, but the population it can control is actually about the same as this dynasty. Sir, I have always been hostile to Britain, but now I know that its strength is extraordinary."

This sentiment is sincere. From the words of those smugglers, it is clear that Britain's grassroots control capabilities and governance methods are indeed far better than the general situation at this time.

Seeing the whole thing at a glance, this kind of control means that smuggling to the UK is not easy.

Liu Yu casually flipped through a few pages of the newspaper, and Mantou handed a stack of magazines to Liu Yu. He glanced at them and found that the titles of the magazines were easy to recognize.

"Gentleman's Magazine"

"The smuggler said that this "Gentleman's Magazine" records the meetings of the British Parliament. He has connections and connections."

"But I didn't dare to mention the names of the people in the content, so I used a story in a novel to 'insinuate'. The novel is called "Gref's Travels", and the content of the British Parliament is said to be "the villain in Gref's travels" "The story of what happened in the British Parliament."

Liu Yu grabbed two copies and said with a smile: "It looks a bit like the introduction to the Pediatric Medicine of the Bhikkhu Kingdom in "Journey to the West" to allude to the flavor of Jiajing's alchemy."

Lilliput is used to allude to the British Parliament. Although the characters are fictional, the content discussed in the parliament is realistic. This should also exploit a loophole in the British "defamation crime": the premise of the crime of defamation is that the person who defamed exists.

But even so, the boss of the "Gentleman's Magazine" who can reach out to parliament to record the content definitely has a strong backend.

The more these magazines and newspapers are, the better. You have to find someone to translate them, especially since they contain issues such as trade policy that Liu Yu is extremely concerned about, so as to determine how to open the door to trade with Britain.

These are all intelligence. If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs really wants to send people to stay in the West in the future, these newspapers must be collected, so as not to sit at home and know nothing about what is going on outside.

This "Gentleman's Magazine" seems to have the highest priority. After the negotiation with Sweden, ships going to Europe should bring back such newspapers every year.

Since translation is required, it is more useful to translate these.