New Shun 1730

"How exactly is China going to deal with the Netherlands?"

"What kind of plan does China have to make the treatment of the Netherlands in line with the interests of both China and France?"

The Duke of Qi frowned and said, "This matter is confidential. If Your Highness does not mind, I hope that only you and I know it, and it should not be passed on to the sixth ear."

Louis XV smiled and said, "The Marquis Pompadour is the person I trust the most. She is completely trustworthy. Your Excellency the Duke does not have to worry about leaks."

"Your country's previous plan to attack Southeast Asia, I have proved that I have enough credibility to keep the secret agreement between the two countries."

The Marquis Pompadour was not upset by the Duke of Qi because of this sentence, but was secretly happy that she could know some real secrets.

Standing up and saluting the Duke of Qi, the Duke of Qi hummed and thought that since you did not refuse to listen, then there is a great chance for this matter.

Before telling the real plan, the Duke of Qi also took care of the embarrassment of the King of France and talked about an embarrassing reality in France.

That is France's navy, trade, and anti-smuggling capabilities.

It is impossible to completely control the smuggling trade on the coast of France and the colonies.

There were not enough merchant ships to support the entire trade channel between the East and the West.

After Dashun seized Southeast Asia, according to the "heartfelt words" of Duke Qi to Louis XV, it was really prepared to monopolize the trade between the East and the West with France, but considering the national conditions of France, it had to give up this plan. In fact, Liu Yu never thought of cooperating with France. France's national industrialism and weird policies were contrary to Dashun's current pursuit of "free trade" and "formulating the Zhou Li in the new era to be the emperor".

In fact, Liu Yu did not want France to be too strong.

If France was too strong and really became the hegemon of Europe and controlled various countries, Dashun's goods would not be able to be sold.

According to the high-sounding excuses given by Duke Qi, we have to talk about the embarrassing situation of Dashun after seizing Southeast Asia.

Goods need to be sold for silver.

Who to sell to?

China and France are so close, Dashun has given France trade concessions as much as possible, but has the Sino-French trade made any achievements?

If Liu Yu had not engaged in the ginseng and sable fur trade and cut off the ginseng trade between North Korea and Japan, the trade volume between France and China would not even be comparable to that of Denmark and Sweden.

From a purely trade perspective, France is not even among the top five trading partners of Dashun.

In this case, the King of France had to admit the reality.

So Duke Qi asked back: "Then, European countries are trying their best to increase tariffs. Chinese goods and spices from Southeast Asia cannot be sold directly by Chinese merchant ships. A transit merchant is needed."

"From the perspective of realistic trade, there are only three options for this transit merchant."

"Britain."

"The Netherlands."

"Portugal."

"At least, France cannot afford such a large trade volume in the short term. In the long run, Europe must have another war to solve many problems. Dashun must consider the popular "pirate legal robbery" problem in Europe for its own interests. The French navy cannot guarantee the smooth flow of trade."

"So, Your Majesty, which of these three companies should Dashun cooperate with purely for the benefit of France?"

"The ranking I just mentioned is based on the benefits of interests."

This is a very realistic problem.

The French navy... performed very poorly, which really made Dashun unable to trust it.

If it were a little stronger, the Ginseng War in Canada and the Carnatic War in India would not have been fought like this.

Sometimes, you have to speak with strength.

You said you can guarantee the safety of Sino-European trade and the navy can ensure that Sino-French merchant ships will not be hijacked in the war. You have to produce evidence to make Dashun believe it.

Or, you can guarantee that France will not participate in European wars in the future and will focus on trade with Dashun.

If any of these two can be produced, according to Duke Qi, Dashun can immediately sign a comprehensive trade agreement with France, allowing France to obtain the exclusive monopoly rights of porcelain, tea, silk, spices, rhubarb, etc. in all of Europe.

At this time, lying is meaningless.

The other party is not a fool, and he can easily tell whether it is a lie.

Louis XV did not lie to Duke Qi, because not only would he not believe it, but it would also cause suspicion between China and France.

As for the three trading partners proposed by Duke Qi, it is indeed difficult to choose.

This is back to the issue of the Austrian Netherlands.

Among the three countries of Britain, Portugal and the Netherlands, only the Netherlands can theoretically become friends with France.

And the premise of becoming friends is that France cannot be a neighbor of the Netherlands, which is the issue of the Austrian Netherlands.

The rest, Britain...

This is not a consideration. After two hundred years of war, France absolutely does not want Britain to get the exclusive trade rights of Chinese goods.

As for Portugal, whoever fights Spain is my friend; whoever allies with Spain is my enemy.

Moreover, with the signing of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty, Portugal's economy has basically been incorporated into the British system.

The tariff agreement between the two countries destroyed Portugal's handicraft industry, developed Portugal's agriculture and wine industry, and achieved economic dependence between Britain and Portugal.

France and Spain are allies, which is not mentioned. Geographical location also determines that if France wants to fight Britain, it should maintain relations with Spain, which is not mentioned.

Just talking about the economic problems caused by the Methuen Treaty between Britain and Portugal, Portugal's textile industry was completely destroyed under low tariffs, and the wine industry was abnormally prosperous under low tariffs in Britain - France is both an agricultural country and a wine country. Even if Portugal wants to surrender to France now, can France afford Portugal? Will it give Portugal low tariffs on grain and wine for Portugal and damage the interests of France's own wine-making landlords and nobles?

From the perspective of France, looking at this matter, I think the best result should be: Dashun smashed all the silk and porcelain, burned all the spices, and should not give them to any of Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

However, France is not the sun, and the earth will not revolve around France.

Under the premise that the best result is a dream, we have to seriously consider the pros and cons at the realistic level.

It can only be said that we should choose the lesser of two evils and find the taller one among the short ones.

It seems that none of them are friendly to France, so if we want to find a relatively better one, it seems that only the Netherlands can be found.

Whether the Netherlands will join the anti-French alliance in the future and whether it will still be an enemy of France depends on the attitude of France.

France can be a friend, but not a neighbor.

France can only choose one between neighbor and friend.

Whether it is a neighbor or a possible friend depends on the ownership of the Austrian Netherlands, where France has an advantage at this time.

This is the case for France.

Liu Yu's strategy is related to the future Sino-French-Russian-Austrian alliance.

This matter is also related to the final pattern of the "First World War" in the near future.

Louis XV's brain will not think so far, and there is no such strategic awareness.

But focusing on the present, Louis XV knows that Dashun must find an intermediary country to cooperate, and France has been excluded by Dashun for various reasons.

Then, Louis XV wants to know, what is Dashun's treatment of the Netherlands?

It can both safeguard the interests of Dashun.

And ensure the interests of France?

Guided Louis XV to ask this question, the negotiations between China and France can be regarded as getting better.

The Duke of Qi finally talked about the "Armed Neutrality Alliance" plan.

The Armed Neutrality Alliance is an organization that takes sides.

Moreover, this side-by-side approach is towards the weaker party.

The core of the armed neutral alliance is actually just one sentence:

You fight yours, and we do our business. You don’t come to hijack our ships. Whoever hijacks my ships, I will fight him.

However, as a neutral country, of course, we cannot transport arms to the warring parties.

It seems fair.

But in fact, it is not "fair".

Given the strength of the British Navy, does it need neutral countries to help transport food, steel, etc.?

Blockade whoever you say, blockade. Inspect whose ship you say, inspect whose ship, inspect whose ship.

France is different.

If the navy is weak, it is inevitable that the ship will be hijacked when a real fight breaks out.

With the armed neutral alliance, French sugar in the Caribbean and Canadian fur and ginseng, French ships don’t transport them, but find ships from the armed neutral alliance to operate them?

On the other hand, does Britain’s own shipping capacity and navy need to borrow ships from the armed neutral alliance to maintain its own trade?

Furthermore, the British colonies faced serious smuggling problems, while France never worried about smuggling problems in its colonies. This is the same logic as the fact that the Ming Dynasty never had to worry about ethnic issues in the Western Regions, while the Dashun Dynasty had to consider ethnic issues in the Western Regions.

A group of armed neutral sea merchants during the war, in theory, only do legal business. But as long as they are not caught, it is all legal business. Just like the smugglers who tried to smuggle to Japan in the past, before they were caught, they were all legal Nagasaki Tang merchants with trade letters.

Is this beneficial to France?

Of course it is very beneficial. If... Dashun can pull the Netherlands into the armed neutral alliance.

As long as the Netherlands is neutral, it will be very beneficial to France.

In recent years, although the Netherlands has continued to decline, the inertia of "ancestors were also rich" has made the Netherlands still the protagonist in several European wars.

From the War of Spanish Succession to the War of Austrian Succession, except for the War of Polish Succession, which was severely damaged by the South China Sea Bubble incident and the Netherlands was unable to intervene, they participated in almost every war and were an important force on one side.

Now that the Shun Empire has gone to Southeast Asia and France has seized the Austrian Netherlands, it is actually interrupting the Dutch habit of "their ancestors were also rich".

Liu Yu secretly brought the Orange family to power just to let the Dutch people understand one thing: the Netherlands is not good enough.

If there had not been the disastrous defeat of the Orange family, the Dutch people would always have a fantasy: Damn, how did the country become like this? How can a group of insects govern the country? If the Orange family came to power, everything would be fine in the Netherlands. Except for the big financial capitalists at home and the Franco-Prussian alliance abroad, my orange Netherlands has become a world power again.

This is not the characteristic of the Dutch, but the characteristic of the people in most countries in the world. When they are in decline and unhappy, they always fantasize: if XX came to power, it would be good, if XX continued.

It is useless to reason. Most people simply cannot listen to reason.

The best way is "since history has no assumptions, give it a chance to practice."

Therefore, Liu Yu instigated conflicts and created public opinion, and brought the House of Orange to power before France invaded the Austrian Netherlands.

Then, reality destroyed the fantasy.

After the Orange family came to power, it cannot be said that nothing has changed, but it is worse than before.

William of the Orange family is actually quite "unfair": food prices have risen, this is inevitable. After such a long war, how can food prices not rise? Dashun's seizure of Southeast Asia is inevitable. They have already built a bunch of battleships. Are they just for fun? France has attacked the Austrian Netherlands, what can I do? Can France not win if the Regent Party is in power? The big financiers in China, my ancestors who owned the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and wore two crowns on their heads did not dare to hide and shrink their heads and dare not be presumptuous, what virtue and ability do I have to control?

But there is an old saying in China:

You start with this, and you must end with this.

When the Regent Party was in power, the Dutch people pushed you, the Orange family, to power. Was it out of rational thinking? Or was it an emotional fanatic fantasy?

Since you were pushed up at the beginning, it was out of emotional fanatic fantasy.

So when you step down, what basis do you have to ask the Dutch people to think with absolute rationality?

You started with this.

You must end with this.