New Shun 1730

By stripping off trade with China, Liu Yu could really unite his army, which was also a situation that Liu Yu expected to be extremely unlikely.

If you take a step back, the world will be brighter. At least when it comes to instigating a coup, if the Netherlands takes the initiative to take a step back, it will be difficult for him.

Just, like the end of all empires.

I know that there is a problem in the country, and I also know what the next step should be.

But...it's hard to move even an inch.

Anthony's idea is beneficial to the Netherlands, and even if we don't consider Dashun's voyage to Nanyang, it is almost the best choice for the Netherlands in the future.

The reason why Dashun is not considered to go to Nanyang is because it is like a strong man beating a kindergarten child, smiling and going around to hit the back of the head, and eating peas in the rice. This is unreasonable in itself.

According to common sense, or in terms of pure commercial profits, if Dashun really wanted to go to Nanyang, there would be no need to go to so much trouble and he could just fight. When a strong man beats a child, does he still need to go around and hit him on the head, or eat chin peas in the rice?

The difference here is that if Dashun does not want to dominate the seven seas and interfere in Europe, then closing Malacca is the best choice; but if Dashun wants to dominate the seven seas, wants to support maritime merchants, and wants to maintain ocean-going reserve sailors, he wants Rather than closing the country off but actively interfering in the affairs of other countries, more must be done to ensure that Malacca does not close down.

From a purely commercial profit perspective, the difference is not very big.

The Netherlands has its own logic for doing things. Judging from the fact that after the Guadeloupe League War ended 20 years ago, the Netherlands, as the victorious country, did not participate in the post-war meeting, it can be seen that the Netherlands actually wanted to stay out of the window. It's just that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop.

Using Dutch logic to speculate on Dashun's actions will inevitably lead to errors in prediction. Dashun sent people to the Netherlands. According to Dutch diplomatic logic, it itself means that Dashun does not want to go to Nanyang.

Anthony's approach of real-time strategic contraction, stopping losses in advance, and tying up Dashun Capital is undoubtedly correct.

However, this approach, which was definitely the right choice in the long run, immediately aroused opposition from various oligarchs in the Netherlands.

"Your Majesty the Speaker, do you understand what you are saying?"

"Severing trade with China means that stocks need to be revalued, which means that the East India Company needs to disclose its financial statements."

"You should know that disclosing it once every ten years is already the limit. But without disclosing financial statements, how can we divest the business? How will the compensation for all shareholders be calculated?"

"Suppose I have 3,000 dong worth of stock. How much money should be refunded to me after the China business is divested? How much is my stock still worth? This requires the disclosure of financial statements and then calculation, right?"

"Even if it is made public and calculated, as a shareholder, why would you agree to divest the business in China? Especially when the business in China is already a stable source of profits, all shareholders will not agree."

"Once the 17-member committee agrees to this decision, it will immediately arouse opposition from shareholders, which will require the reorganization of the board of directors and the disclosure of financial statements. And this... is absolutely impossible."

Disclosing financial statements once every ten years is already the result of begging grandpa and grandma to sue and the pressure from the consuls when they were in power.

Anthony, now serving as the Chancellor, actually wanted to control the East India Company in a whimsical way. Apart from being whimsical, no one present could think of any other word to describe it more appropriately.

After "rationally" objecting, some people even ridiculed him directly.

"Your Excellency, Grand Speaker, do you want to abolish the East India Company's exclusive monopoly? Relatively speaking, I'm afraid it would be easier to unify the seven provinces and create a true federal provincial republic."

Although he had long known that doing things was difficult and had already had psychological expectations, after being ridiculed like this, Anthony still fell into deep self-doubt.

What was discussed in today's meeting?

The tax increase was not negotiated.

Asking the East India Company to divest itself of its trading business with China was directly met with ridicule.

So in the end, knowing that sitting on the fence will result in offending both sides, you can only continue to follow this routine?

Knowing that there is a dead end ahead, you can only go towards it?

"Gentlemen, what is the point of a conference of provinces if we do nothing?"

Anthony asked angrily

"Your Excellency, the Grand Speaker. The purpose of the existence of the Federation of Provinces is to let the people of the Netherlands confirm through quarrels that this is not a separate monarchy, and to pretend that the seven provinces are a unified whole. If you want to do anything, you can do it. , so what is the difference between our unique republic and those monarchies? "

The urban oligarch replied calmly.

This answer was very correct, so correct that Anthony was speechless.

"So we can't change anything internally and can only try to maintain a permanent peace through diplomacy abroad?"

The others remained silent and acquiesced to this sentence. In my mind, yes, it is impossible to make any changes internally. The only thing that can be done is to continue to maintain internal stability through diplomacy.

The only additional expenses that can be allocated are the expenses of diplomats and the training of diplomats.

After William III accidentally fell to death in 1702, diplomats completely replaced admirals and army generals; diplomats' carriages also replaced naval battleships and army artillery.

For forty years, the most capable and prestigious former Speaker Vanceline Grant has not made a single ripple in this stagnant water. Why should you, Anthony Haim, change?

The policy of the Netherlands is to ensure that the internal situation remains unchanged, so it can only be diplomatic.

…………

"No change? No, it will be over if it remains unchanged. The Netherlands certainly needs some changes."

A Dutch shipbuilder took the cigarette handed over by the strange-looking Oriental man, and stopped the carpentry work after being invited to have a drink nearby after get off work.

Following the topic of the questioner, he said some of his thoughts.

The people in front of him from distant countries did not make him feel nervous or uneasy.

Amsterdam is a big city after all. It is not uncommon for black slaves, Javanese, Chinese sailors, and people from European countries to appear here. After seeing more, there is no surprise and tension.

Just like the residents near the Catholic Church in Dashun, they would not be too concerned about those Westerners with sunken eyes and strange hair colors.

The person who asked the shipbuilder was not Liu Yu, but Kang Budai, who came with Liu Yu and had no official status.

There were several young people behind him, followed by several translators who knew Dutch.

The Dashun ship had been in Amsterdam for six days.

To date, the official staff of Amsterdam City has only made a simple welcome and arranged accommodation.

However, given the bizarre efficiency of the Provincial Council, no invitation has been issued for formal negotiations at the state-to-state level.

The people of the Federal Provincial Council are still discussing how and what to talk with Dashun, and it has not been completely decided yet.

Liu Yu has an official identity and is not convenient to go out on the street, so Kang Budai took some young people to run around the streets.

The upper class has its own Dashun official personnel to contact, and Kang Budai took these young people to meet the general public of the Netherlands.

The general public of the Netherlands has a clear definition.

At this time, the Netherlands is divided into five levels.

The first level is the regents of various cities, aristocratic families that have lasted for hundreds of years, hereditary city controllers, shareholders of the East India Company, etc.

The second level is large landowners, wealthy businessmen, ship owners, scholars, and high-level government bureaucrats.

The third level is the owners of handicraft factories, guild leaders, small farmers, and teachers.

Going down all the way to urban vagrants, beggars, etc., to the fifth level.

From the second level down, they are all considered the "general public" of the Netherlands.

The shipbuilder who took the cigarette from Kang Budai at this time belonged to the upper level of the fourth level. He was a master craftsman and had several apprentices under him.

There was still some time before the end of the get off work, and the shipbuilder felt that the work in his hands did not require much technical content, so he handed it over to the apprentice.

He walked out of the place where the wood was piled, sat on a stone slab, took two puffs of tobacco from the East, and expressed his views on "change".

"The simplest one is the postal service. I am not from Amsterdam, but sometimes I need to send some things to my family. Nowadays, the postal service is also outsourced to private individuals. I estimate that the postal fee for Amsterdam is several hundred thousand guilders a year."

"In fact, this business can be completely returned to the municipal government instead of outsourcing it to individuals. The money from the postal service can also be used for municipal expenses."

"For example, the bridge from where I live to here has been broken for several years, and no one has repaired it yet. The city has no money. In the past, repairing bridges and roads relied on donations from the rich, but how could they donate to repair the bridges we need?"

"If the postal service is taken over by the government, I think at least the money for repairing bridges every year can still be taken out, right?"

As the shipbuilder spoke, he peeled off the cigarette that was almost burned out and a little hot, and skillfully threw the remaining tobacco into his mouth and chewed it.

After a long time, he spit out the residue after chewing, as if he wanted to spit out all the dissatisfaction in his heart.

"The contract fee for the entire postal industry in Amsterdam is only 2,000 guilders a year. Of course, it all fell into the hands of the relatives of the regents. What kind of fool would think that the postal business in Amsterdam is only worth 2,000 guilders?"

"Of course, there are many such things."

"In addition to the regents monopolizing these businesses, there is also the tax farming system."

"The tax farmers should die. They are not kind people. They do everything they can to make you pay more taxes, so that the taxes they farm are profitable."

"Anyway, I think the tax farming system can be abandoned. It doesn't seem difficult."

After the translator translated these dissatisfactions, Kang Budai shook his head secretly in his heart. These things are not what he wants to hear.

Although he doesn't know much about the Netherlands, from Liu Yu's introduction and some of the information he collected about the Netherlands, he has his own judgment.

Whether it is tax farming or the postal and other public businesses are contracted to individuals, even a fool knows that the general public opposes it.

But William of the Orange family, or his staff, has been dormant until now.

According to Dashun's common sense, if it were Dashun, there would be a lot of dissatisfaction among the lower classes, and this family would be like the Liu family before the Yanhan myth was destroyed. Wouldn't they immediately shout slogans and take advantage of the situation?

However, there was no movement at all.

So the things here and the things in Dashun look really different.

After communicating with Liu Yu before, Kang Budai felt that they seemed really different, but after peeling off the surface differences, the essence was the same.

Liu Yu asked Kang Budai a question and assumed a scenario.

If one day, the emperor died, the people in the capital shouted clear slogans: reform the imperial examination, equalize the land, divide the land of the landlords, and confiscate the homes of the nobles. They want to elect a certain prince to the throne, saying that once this prince takes the throne, he will definitely do this.

Will this prince rush up happily?

Or will he put on makeup overnight and run away with his valuables?

Kang Budai knew that this must be a disguised run, and only a fool would rush forward.

Liu Yu also clapped his hands at the time and asked back: "Then what is the essential difference between reforming the imperial examination, equalizing the land, and confiscating the homes of the nobles and replacing them with the Dutch-style abolition of the tax farming system and the collection of commercial tax and inheritance tax?"

If slogans such as "abolishing the tax farming system" and "official postal service" were promoted, would William of the House of Orange march to Amsterdam to become the consul and tribune that the people expected?

Or would he run away directly to his father-in-law's house and never let the people push him into the fire pit?

So, Kang Budai has basically figured out the direction according to this idea these days.

If you want to incite a riot in the Netherlands, you must not mention specific things, but only vague things.

Specific policies, how to improve, whether they are feasible, who to attack, who to oppose, what to cancel, what to add, these cannot be mentioned at all.

Instead, you have to find those vague things that cannot be specific.

For example, how good it was before, how bad it is now; it was glorious before, and now it is missed.

Something like this.

Counting it up, it has been almost 40 years since there was no ruling. The backbone population and young people in the Netherlands have never experienced the days of being in power. Even if they lived worse when they were in power, they have not experienced it after all, so there must be many fantasies.

As long as you find the right direction, don't talk about specifics, but summarize these vague impressions of "it was good before, it is not good now", exaggerate them, and spread them everywhere, you can succeed.

Because the "success" of success has clear standards.

Success means letting the Orange Party come to power.

It is not about triggering a revolution in the Netherlands and changing all the unreasonable systems in the Netherlands.

This group of people did not come to seek welfare for the Dutch people, but to mess up the Netherlands. The success or failure should be based on this.

Therefore, the difficulty and focus of the whole problem lies in the direction of propaganda.

William of the Orange family can only be invited back by the people to govern, and it is impossible for him to take the initiative to do something to govern - if he really has that intention, such a good foundation would have been done long ago.

Moreover, the people must also vaguely feel that everything will be fine if someone is replaced.

It is not possible to put forward clear slogans, clear programs, and clear directions for change.

Obviously, the dissatisfaction expressed by the shipbuilder at this time is too specific.

This is certainly not what Kang Budai and others want to hear.

Because the Orange faction cannot be a real reformist, but just a fantasy of the people, and it may be a better choice to replace the turtle with an old turtle.

It is best to find something vague that makes people feel that it is not as good as before, so as to arouse the people's unprogrammed demand for a change of rulers.

As for the reason why the situation is getting worse now, is it caused by capital, industry, international environment, population size, the development of mercantilism in various countries, etc.?

Or is it simply caused by the difference between being in power and not being in power?

At this time, the majority of the people are irrational, emotional, and intuitive.

There is no need for logical relevance, only time relevance.

Things like the tax-farming system and private postal contracting have always been like this. There is no time relevance to being in power, which is not the right direction for deception.