New Shun 1730

So, what does Dashun want?

This is a very difficult question in itself, whether it is for most officials of Dashun or for senior French officials, it is the same problem.

In fact, it is difficult to calculate how much money Dashun will spend on this war.

Or, it is difficult to calculate if the statistical caliber is different.

For example, if Dashun’s goal is just to close the door to Malacca, open trade, and digest all of Nanyang, then Dashun’s naval policy is a policy formulated by a person with a problem in the brain.

If Dashun’s goal is India, and it wants to digest all of India, then in fact, Dashun’s naval strength at this time is also seriously overstaffed.

Even if it wants to dominate the whole of India, Dashun actually only needs a maximum of five battleships and twenty cruisers, and this scale of naval strength was achieved when Dashun went to Nanyang more than ten years ago.

At this time, Dashun’s somewhat distorted naval strength was prepared for this war in Europe.

Because, if it is just for trade, then Dashun’s cost-effectiveness in building a navy is actually very low. Opening trade in Malacca actually has a higher rate of return, and much higher.

In this case, then, does the money spent on building these battleships count as money spent on this war?

Does the training of excess sailors and naval officers over the past 20 years count as money spent on this war?

Does the military pay, uniforms, guns, rewards, food, cloth, and supplies spent on maintaining a seriously overstaffed navy count as money spent on this war?

If these are not counted, then the money spent by Dashun on this war is not too much.

If they are counted, then the money spent is too much, and 1 billion livres may not be enough.

Dashun needs to seek enough benefits in Europe to make a profit.

And this enough benefit is... all countries, including France, dissolve their East India Company, or must form a joint venture with Dashun and be dominated by Dashun.

All countries must open up trade with Dashun, open customs, and give Dashun a customs tariff rate that is not too favorable, but must ensure that Dashun's goods can be sold unimpeded after paying customs taxes.

Even Dashun can directly subsidize taxes and take over the monopoly fees of East India companies in various countries.

And Dashun will strengthen patrols in the Cape and seize merchant ships that cross the line.

The two biggest problems here are Britain and France.

And these two countries naturally have different response strategies.

For Britain, Dashun's strategy is to ally with France, destroy its navy, force it to cancel the navigation regulations, and cooperate with the West India Chamber of Commerce.

For France, an in-depth, detailed, and clear treaty is needed.

Because Dashun, or Liu Yu's strategy, is to destroy India's traditional handicraft industry.

And India's traditional handicraft industry will be a serious threat to Dashun's trade with Europe.

How to stop this threat?

If it is not possible to temporarily prohibit sales, it will take at least a dozen years.

Then, we must find a way to prohibit buying and prohibit buying.

This is a systemic problem.

As long as the East India Company of each country is disintegrated first, then Dashun's rule in India will be smooth, because each country has no power and no organized capital to mess with Dashun in India.

And the princes and nobles of India will not be able to complete any strategy of "using barbarians to control barbarians".

For example, Indian princes, Dashun will not buy wool, cotton cloth, hemp rope, silk, or pottery; while merchants from European countries such as Britain and France will buy cotton cloth and silk... As long as there is an option not to be a comprador, it is inevitable that a few people will stand up and try to obtain fiscal revenue by export tariffs and export control.

The original East-West trade, the East, refers to India, Persia, Southeast Asia, the Moluccas, China, and Japan.

In the future East-West trade, the East is and can only be Dashun itself.

Since Dashun, as a manufacturer, wants to eat alone and monopolize the concept of "Eastern trade goods". Then, it is necessary to strictly prevent the other "manufacturers" from colluding with European commercial capital.

With Britain, normal negotiations are useless. Negotiations cannot kill the British naval fleet, so we have to fight.

If they want to cooperate with France, they need to truly cooperate with France, let France set an example, dissolve the East India Company first, and appropriately relax France's import tariffs.

It's not that France can't collect tariffs.

Dashun welcomes France to collect tariffs, and welcomes the French government to directly control tariffs.

But the premise is that France must abolish those messy administrative orders, such as cotton cloth and porcelain issues.

Normal tariffs can allow France to collect 10% or 15%, which is no problem. It can also be regarded as Dashun's contribution and help to France, its ally, in the post-war financial repayment crisis.

Liu Yu doesn't like foreign policy to pursue zero import tariffs, especially in Europe, which is out of reach.

With zero tariffs, Dashun has only one interest group to support it, that is, the comprador merchants of various countries.

With a 5% tariff, Dashun's trade policy has mixed reviews in the courts of European countries.

If the tariff is 10%, Dashun will find strong and powerful allies in the French court, such as the French king who is overwhelmed by financial problems.

The composition of the French East India Company was quite complicated and involved too many French interests.

Voltaire owned shares in the French East India Company, and in France, it was considered "the best investment besides land."

This is certainly not France's interest in India alone, but involves John Law's previous reforms.

During the Mississippi Bubble, John Law formed the New India Company, which actually combined the French Mississippi Company, the French Senegal Company, the French India Company, and the French China Company.

Although the company was split up later due to the bubble burst, the company's business overlapped. This also involves France's mercantilist policy, that is, the colonies only allow French merchants to sell goods, relying on monopoly to obtain high profits, thereby maintaining the company's profits.

For example, merchants going to Senegal, buying and selling slaves is one direction. The merchants going to Senegal are definitely company merchants, but whether the goods they sell are French goods, Chinese goods, or Indian goods, it is unknown.

In addition, it involves conflicts of interest between the East and West Indies.

Here I have to mention that the Duke of Choiseul himself was influenced by the Enlightenment, and his strategic awareness believed that the Eastern trade was not as valuable to France as the Caribbean West Indies.

And the Enlightenmentists of the Enlightenment were definitely opposed to monopoly trade.

After the French Revolution, the Enlightenment thinkers were very clear about trade issues: the right to trade east of the Cape of Good Hope belongs to all French people and should not be monopolized by a certain company.

Of course, if we exclude these ideological things and only talk about practical interests, the Duke of Choiseul, the French Minister of State, also strategically supports giving up India and the East trade, and is more supportive of Caribbean and North American affairs.

The reason is actually quite vulgar.

His father-in-law's father was the richest banker in France, and he made a lot of money by working with John Law. His family's main industries are in the Caribbean and North America.

Of course, he married his wife for the support of his wife's family, because his wife is the only child of his father-in-law's family, and his father-in-law is the eldest son of his father-in-law's father, who inherited the title and main property.

As for the relationship between husband and wife...it may not be a secret in the French aristocratic circle.

He likes his own sister. At the beginning, he tried his best to prevent his sister from marrying far away, and later let his sister have money and respect in the court circle, which even made Madame Pompadour very unhappy for a time because she was too popular. Many of his sister's businesses are also in the Caribbean and North America.

And her sister should be very rich. During the French Revolution, the East India Company was supposed to have been abolished, but her sister still had a lot of money. So much money that she could keep sending money to the French nobles in exile in Prussia, and was eventually sentenced to death by hanging for treason.

Therefore, whether it is his father-in-law's side or the people he really cares about, the industry has little to do with the East India side, but is mainly in the Caribbean and North America.

Historically, as soon as the Seven Years' War ended, Choiseul directly abolished the East India Company's monopoly and opened up the Eastern trade to a large number of individual merchants.

Of course, there are elements of his influence by the Enlightenment, and his personal reasons are also very important.

Of course, the people of the Dashun envoys did not know these things, but they knew very well that Choiseul supported France's strategy of actually abandoning India. And Choiseul also supported a certain degree of open mercantilism.

After all, he was the French Minister of State at that time, and France's strategy in the Caribbean and North America, as well as the subsequent large-scale investment in the Caribbean region such as Saint Domingo during his tenure, must be consistent with his strategic thinking.

And Dashun, on the other hand, had no interests in the Caribbean region.