New Shun 1730

Just treated it as a joke, and laughed it off. Xu Heng also laughed at the idea of ​​emulating the Dutch system. He felt that it was okay to think about it, but he didn't have the courage to do it.

Thinking about his father's words, Xu Heng felt that he should really follow the policies of the Duke of Xingguo in the future. External expansion would definitely be good for the Xu family, if what his father said was indeed reasonable.

"Father, we will discuss the issue of spices tomorrow. Now we basically know that the Duke's intention is to lower the price of spices and prepare for a price war in Europe like the tea incident that year. By lowering prices, we can take back the spice market that was half occupied by Brazilian spices."

"Everyone has different opinions on this matter, but the Duke should still be reasonable. He likes to convince us with reason as much as possible, rather than forcing us to do it as a regulator."

"It's just... lowering the price will definitely reduce everyone's dividends in the short term. And no one knows how much money to invest in this kind of thing. It's hard to say. "

"Fighting a price war by lowering prices is just a waste of money. But my father also knows that the Duke has talked about the problems of the Dutch East India Company. They can rely on issuing low-interest bonds to maintain high expenditure turnover. This dynasty cannot issue bonds because the interest and profit are almost the same."

"According to my father, I should definitely support the Duke. But this is actually offending everyone, because there is no way to issue bonds, and we can only expand the share issuance, which is not good for everyone. The original profit of 10,000 was shared by 100 people, but now it has become 15,000, but it is shared by 200 people. The company has grown, but the people who have invested now will definitely I will definitely be dissatisfied."

"In the future, when we are going to elect board members, the Duke said that he will not supervise in the future...Shouldn't our family offend them?"

Xu Tao pondered for a moment and said, "What you said before is very clear. The Duke is an official, and you and I are civilians. For you and me, businessmen, profit is everything; but for the Duke, this Western Trade Company is actually a special thing similar to the Western Regions Protectorate."

"The purpose of the court is to expand the company, and your and my profits are not considered by the court at all. The Duke considers your and my profits mainly because the court hopes that we We invest money, merchants talk about profit, and the court can't afford so much money, so we have to consider our profits. "

"But there is one thing you have to remember, if the court did not come forward, there would be no Nanyang, let alone the British East India Company being closed for two years and the Danish company being taxed."

"Without the court, you are nothing. You can't even sell your goods to Europe, let alone Europe, even in Japan, which is so close, you know how your eldest brother died."

He neither said he supported it nor said he was worried about offending other shareholders and didn't support it, but just talked about the relationship between the company and the court.

I hope his son can understand that the company seems to be very strong, but in fact it is all supported by the court behind it. Without the court, the company is nothing, and it doesn't even have the qualifications to discuss the pricing of spices.

The only benefit of having a good relationship with that group of shareholders may be that when the board of directors is elected in the future, his family can be elected.

But Xu Tao thinks that even if Liu Yu says that he will not supervise in the future, will the court really not interfere with the selection of the board of directors?

I'm afraid it may not be the case?

Can the court really let such a behemoth go without supervision?

It seems that this regulatory committee is in charge of everything now. Even if it gives up some supervision in the future, it is impossible to not care about anything.

Let alone other things, the company itself has no army, fleet, and power to make laws. This is different from the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company.

The court controls the Nanyang garrison and the fleet, and whether this supervision will continue is probably a question that does not need to be considered at all.

Even if we do not consider military issues and only talk about policy issues, a policy of the court can determine the company's trade volume this year to surge by the stock of a Danish Asiatic Company.

Then, the court can make the company surge, and it can also make the company live a life worse than death at any time.

Liu Yu talked about the British parallel East India Company, but Xu Tao understood that this kind of thing could only happen in Britain. In Dashun, I am afraid that there is no need to set up a parallel company to curb it. Even if it is established, it is impossible for the old company to buy out the shares on the day of its establishment to achieve controlling stake.

In this case, supervision... no supervision, or considering relying on relationships to win the selection of future board members, I am afraid there is really no need.

Even if the Duke is upright, I am afraid he will support a faction and compete in the board of directors, and it is impossible for them to let this group of businessmen make their own decisions.

Xu Heng understood what his father meant, thinking that it was nothing more than saying that he should follow the Duke closely and not consider the opinions of others. In this way, he knew what to do tomorrow.

…………

Early the next morning, not long after Xu Heng arrived at the venue, a booklet titled "The Gains and Losses of the Dutch Spice Trade" was handed out on the table.

Some of those who came early were already sitting there and reading.

There was still some time before the meeting started, and Xu Heng did not go to gather with others to ask them about their views on the spice issue discussed today.

In fact, the others did not either.

Maybe they really did not discuss it privately, or maybe they had already discussed it quietly last night, but at least now everyone who could read was silently looking at the booklet.

Xu Heng, like the others, picked up the booklet and started reading it. It is all written in vernacular, easy to understand, and the booklet is not thick. Overall, it revolves around the gains and losses of the Netherlands' spice policy.

After reading only a few pages, Xu Heng could tell from the beginning of the preface that it seemed that the monopoly model of spices would be changed in the future.

However, I wonder how many people would oppose it today?

Looking at the self-ringing clock in the meeting hall, there was still an hour and a half before the official meeting. Xu Heng thought that he should finish reading this booklet.

A booklet of about thirty pages, one and a half hours is enough to finish.

But like Xu Heng, most people couldn't help but turn it over again after reading it once, reading it carefully word by word.

Many people nodded more and more as they read.

Xu Heng himself was the same. After reading it for the first time, he felt that the logic in it really made sense.

It didn't say what kind of policy the Western Trading Company would implement in the future.

Instead, it talked about what the Dutch spice trade policy was like, why it chose this, and what consequences it led to.

Every sentence mentioned the Netherlands, and there was no mention of Dashun.

But after reading it for the first time, you can see the contrast hidden in it everywhere. Even spontaneously thought of many policies implemented by the Netherlands, which were really unnecessary for Dashun.

Because it analyzed the reasons why the Netherlands did this, but looking back at Dashun from this "why", it felt that Dashun did not need to consider the issues that the Netherlands had to consider.

Coo, coo...

When the self-ringing clock rang to nine o'clock, someone shook the bell and asked people to be quiet. , There are more people coming today than yesterday, and the back is crowded. Many people are just small shareholders with small investments. Some are simply some newly graduated students, waiting to work in Nanyang, or waiting for the employee recruitment exam of the Western Trade Company this winter, and came to listen out of curiosity.

Xu Heng glanced at Liu Yu on the stage, put down the booklet that Yu Xiang was still full of, and thought that the Duke was indeed a person who liked to reason, and today's matter seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

I don't know about others, anyway, after reading this booklet, I feel that there is no way to refute the Duke from a rational point of view.

Naturally, this is just like what the Duke said yesterday about the British "tenant farmers". According to his data, the Duke can indeed deduce the truth he wants. However, it is hard to say whether this data is true or false, but it is necessary to believe it, because apart from him, no one else does this seemingly useless but actually very useful thing.

On the stage, after waiting for everyone to calm down, Liu Yu asked: "You may not have finished reading the booklet on the table. In this case, I will read it to you first. After reading it, I will give you another half an hour to discuss it with each other."

Xu Heng, who was in the audience, listened to Liu Yu start reading the booklet. After listening for a while, he found that Liu Yu was really reading from the book, so he did not continue to listen, but opened the booklet to look at the special situation of the Netherlands specially marked in the middle paragraphs.

There is no mention of Dashun here.

But after reading it, Xu Heng naturally thought of the allusion of "carving a boat to find a sword", and felt that Liu Yu was still saying that we should not learn the policies of the Dutch.

The policies of the Dutch are only suitable for the Netherlands, but not for Dashun at all.

The examples here are the price issues of cloves and pepper, and the fundamental reason surrounding this pricing - the sorrow of a small country.

Either, don't monopolize.

Or, if you want to monopolize, don't think about monopolizing and worrying about competition from others.

In the pamphlet, a sentence is used to describe the Dutch East India Company:

The heart is higher than the sky, but the life is thinner than paper.

The heart of a lady, the body of a maid.

For example, cloves, they slaughtered, cut down trees, and built fortresses, all for the sake of monopoly.

After really getting the monopoly, the Seventeen-member Committee was timid again.

Worried that the minimum profit of more than ten times would make Britain jealous, so after finally monopolizing, they were timid and took the initiative to reduce prices.

Why take the initiative to reduce prices?

Because the profit is too high, they are afraid that it will be too jealous and enviable, so as to lure the British to rob, resulting in increased military expenditures and reduced profits...

Then what should they do earlier? Before spending a lot of money on monopoly, slaughtering, and cutting down trees, didn't they think about this?

And pepper.

The pepper company won by fighting a price war.

It is said that after winning the price war and obtaining the monopoly, the shipment volume should be reduced to increase the price of pepper, right?

As a result, they were worried about the jealousy of the British. They were so scared that they had defeated the British and Portuguese merchants by excessive dumping. As a result, the 17-member group of gentlemen became cowardly - the theory is that as long as I commit suicide, others cannot kill me - and then continue to maintain the low price and excessive sales of pepper.

So what is the point of all this trouble?

They want high profits from monopoly, so they invest huge amounts to compete, slaughter, and cut trees.

After they really monopolize, they dare not bear the counterattack of being jealous after the monopoly, so they take the initiative to reduce prices.

Of course, monopoly and price reduction are both long processes.

The considerations here actually reflect the decline of the Dutch national strength, not only absolute decline, but also relative decline: the tortoise runs two steps first, and the rabbit chases behind. The tortoise feels that compared with its previous self, it is not actually running slow, but compared with those rabbits, it is getting worse and worse.

Of course, Dashun is not mentioned here, not a word.

But after reading it, Xu Heng couldn't help but wonder: If the Celestial Empire had obtained the monopoly, would it need to worry about other countries' armed invasion of Southeast Asia and choose to lower the price?

Or, should it consider whether to lower or raise the price?

At least, in Nanyang, there is no need to consider these issues.