New Shun 1730

During the time when everyone was arriving, Liu Yu asked Tian Ping to accompany him to visit the residence of Western merchants.

Westerners who could beat their brains out in Europe are very honest here.

A large row of European-style houses are located outside the city, inlaid with glass and various European-style decorations.

Tian Ping explained: "These were all built by local merchants, hired Western masons, and then rented to Westerners. Hundreds of taels of silver a year."

"The court does not allow Westerners to buy land and build houses at will to prevent the Macau incident from happening again. So they can only rent houses here. The management is relatively strict on weekdays, mainly because the sailors on the ship always like to make trouble."

"These houses were built by people here. Although it is expensive to rent them to Westerners, they have spent a lot of money. Just talking about these glass windows, they are very expensive."

In the capital, Liu Yu has seen flat glass.

There are some in his own home, in the mansion of Duke Qi, and even in the Forbidden City.

However, for a family like theirs, installing two pieces of glass is not expensive at all, and someone will send them as gifts.

The information bought from the French shows that the price of glass in the UK is not expensive at all.

Flat transparent glass, the kind that can be spliced ​​into glass windows, is only a dozen pence per pound, and is sold by kilogram.

One pound is 240 pence, and a piece of glass is three or five kilograms. One pound is about three taels of silver, and the price of a piece of glass is about five cents of silver.

This is of course a luxury, and it is definitely unaffordable for the poor. At this time, the average daily wage in the north of Dashun was 4 grams of silver, and it was more expensive in the south. People with this income could not spend one or two months' salary to buy a piece of glass.

I just don't know what the price is when it is shipped here?

After asking Tian Ping, Tian Ping smiled and said, "You really asked the right person. When I was in the capital, several windows in my house were made of glass, but they were all given to me by others. How could I know the price? When I came here, I asked and found out that a piece of glass would cost nine taels of silver. If it is shipped to the capital, it will sell for fifteen taels there."

"This thing is good, but it is too expensive. My house is not as spacious as yours, but the house is not small. If I replace all of them with this thing, it will cost several thousand taels of silver. I definitely can't change it."

Liu Yu thought to himself that this is a huge profit. Considering that Britain basically monopolizes the production of flat glass, and the transportation of this thing has a high breakage rate, a piece of glass worth half a tael of silver is sold here for nine taels, which is a bit too expensive.

"Does anyone buy this stuff in Songjiang?"

"Yes, there are many rich people in Songjiang..."

Pointing to several teahouses in the distance, he said: "Who doesn't have a net worth of 100,000 yuan when doing business with foreigners there? But they usually don't buy glass windows, they buy glass screens and the like. Paint some flowers and birds on them, it looks beautiful and noble."

Tian Ping's mind turned, and he suddenly thought of something.

"Brother Shouchang, you don't want to sell glass, do you?"

Liu Yu stretched out his finger, made a silent gesture on his mouth, and smiled: "Almost."

"Hey... this is good. Westerners don't have much to sell. With Brother Shouchang doing this, Westerners can only ship silver here in boats."

After working in the customs for a while, Tian Ping has roughly figured out what Westerners sell.

The Swedes are the worst. Except for Spanish silver dollars, the ships that come are almost empty.

The Dutch were the most prosperous. They could exchange some silver for mahogany, spices, and fine woolen cloth from Southeast Asia.

The French were not so miserable. Their woolen goods were not as good as those of the Netherlands and Britain, but they could still sell some small items such as clocks, tapestries, and ivory.

Britain had not yet established a foothold in India, and Dashun, especially Songjiang, needed cotton. However, before the complete destruction of Bengal's handicraft industry, cotton could not be shipped here to make money, and Indian cotton cloth could not be sold in Dashun at all. Although the average daily wage in India at that time was 2 grams of silver, and the labor cost was lower than that of Dashun, the quality and production efficiency still offset this advantage.

Dashun was not a black uncle. The story of exchanging a few glass balls for gold and silver here only existed in fantasy and myth.

Tian Ping looked at these Western-style houses and sighed: "Brother Shouchang, it would be great if our trading company could sell goods directly to the West."

"That's what I think. You see, most of these Western ships come empty, carrying silver. Then they transport our goods away, thousands of miles away on the sea, and there is no goods to sell to us, which is equivalent to a one-way trip. But even if it is only a one-way trip, even if it is 80,000 miles away, these Westerners still enjoy it."

"You don't use your brain, just think with your buttocks, you know how high the profit here is. When we go to Japan, we don't make much money on a one-way trip, and we still want to bring back some copper."

Liu Yu laughed and couldn't help shaking his head.

"Brother Tian, ​​the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland all have monopolies. Their chambers of commerce have spent money to monopolize the trade from the Cape of Good Hope to this side... Even if you sail your ship over there, you won't be able to gain a foothold. Not only are you unfamiliar with the place, but they also bought the monopoly with real money. It's like killing your parents. How can it be that easy?"

"When can our warships sail to Europe, then merchant ships can follow. Otherwise, you can't even get to the shore. But Brother Tian's idea is absolutely right. If we can really ship it there, we will make a lot of money. But it's not about whether it can be shipped there, but whether it can be sold after it is shipped. You may not know that Britain has a law prohibiting Chinese people from wearing cotton cloth; Sweden prohibits the Swedish East India Company from selling Chinese goods in Sweden; France imposes heavy taxes on silk and porcelain; Britain also imposes heavy taxes on tea, and smuggling is rampant in the North American colonies."

"Westerners are closed to the outside world. If they want to make a lot of money, they still have to use gunboat diplomacy to force them to trade freely and abolish monopoly rights and monopoly companies. That's why I, brother, must build a navy."

If it were three or five years ago, Tian Ping would find it difficult to understand these things.

Now, he has invested tens of thousands of taels of silver in overseas trade. How could he not know the key?

Watching Western ships empty and loaded with silver dollars running one-way every day, even a fool would know that if the goods were shipped to the West and the West opened up trade, it would be several times the profit.

Interests are involved, and the butts turn around.

"Brother Shouchang is right. I support building a navy. If we can make the Japanese open a country, I think our dividends can double. If there is such a profit, I am too lazy to buy land. The land in Jiangnan is good, but it is not available; the land in the capital is also OK, but the control of mergers is very strict."

"In fact, since Brother Shouchang gave some shares to our own people, the nobles in the court more or less know that this maritime trade makes more money. It's just... Brother Shouchang talks about free trade, but he can't be like those Confucian scholars, who believe in some truths. Naturally, they hope that Westerners can trade freely, and our dynasty will give us the monopoly... Hahahaha."

Both laughed. This double standard is pure and has not been played for a day or two.

Liu Yu thought that this was all nonsense. How could he have the ability to cross tens of thousands of miles to force Westerners to open their doors? Thousands of "rebels" in North America almost bankrupted Britain. Even if technology advances by leaps and bounds in a few decades, it cannot have the ability to deploy 100,000 people tens of thousands of miles away.

If you have such fantasies, you might as well think about how to replace the large amount of Dutch export trade after the war with the Netherlands.

This requires preparing an intermediary in advance. This intermediary must have connections with smugglers in the European market and must remain neutral in the upcoming War of the Austrian Succession.

"By the way, Brother Tian, ​​have you dealt with these Swedes?"

"Yes. Why, what do you want with them?"

Liu Yu did not tell the truth, but only said: "Didn't we capture a few Swedish prisoners when we were pacifying the Junggar and settling the Western Regions? He confessed about the copper mine and the cannon foundry at Lake Issyk-Kul. In exchange, I promised to let him return to China. After all, when I agreed to it that day, I was also the main general, and it was not easy to break my promise."

Tian Ping knew a little about this. When he tricked Liu Yu into dealing with the etiquette of Russian translation, the Duke of Qi said that there were Swedes and Poles in the Junggar tribe. Thinking of the last time we talked about this, it was seven or eight years ago. Thinking about the changes in the past few years, I couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, yes. I remember there was a Swedish leader called Lenat, right? Since Brother Shouchang has promised him, this matter must be done, otherwise it will show that our Celestial Empire is not trustworthy. This matter is easy to say. The headquarters of the Swedish trading house is in Fujian, and they mainly collect tea there. There are also branches here for collecting cloth and silk. Let the people here pass on the message."

This place is near those Western buildings. Tian Ping is in charge of the customs. Although he is a deputy, he is stationed from the capital, which makes his identity very different.

On weekdays, he must strictly check whether the ship carries some prohibited goods, and he must maintain a good relationship with the customs. He has to pay tribute to them during festivals. Tian Ping is very familiar with these people.

He led Liu Yu to the outside of a building, where the Swedish yellow cross flag was flying.

Before they could enter, the people outside the trading house came over. They were local people who worked for the Swedes. They knelt on the ground and saluted.

"Master Tian, ​​why are you here?"

Tian Ping nodded, asked the man to stand up, and said in an official manner: "Is the director of the Swedish trading house here? Just say I want to see him."

The man hurriedly responded and retreated. Tian Ping whispered to Liu Yu: "On their ship, these Western barbarians also kneeled. Everyone has their own rules. We can't follow their rules on our territory. I know that Brother Shouchang is not particular about trivial matters, but this is not a trivial matter. It is the dignity of the country."

Liu Yu looked at his non-official uniform and smiled: "This is not decent either. I am an earl. They should not only sweep the floor and sprinkle water when they welcome me, but also play music."

As he spoke, several Swedes came out to greet them, and they all knelt on the ground according to the rules here. After getting up, he hurriedly greeted the two people inside, asked someone to serve tea, and invited Tian Ping to sit in the upper seat.

But Tian Ping declined the offer and asked Liu Yu to take the upper seat. The Swedes and the translator were shocked. Thinking of the news they had heard in the past few days, they immediately thought of who it was.

The Swedish director muttered a lot, and after his face was full of joy, the translator said: "I didn't know that Ying Suo Bo was coming. I was sorry for not welcoming him. The director praised Ying Suo Bo for his outstanding martial arts in the battle against the Russians. The Russians are really barbarians..."

Liu Yu thought, don't talk nonsense, is there a word for barbarians in Swedish? It is true that Sweden and Russia are mortal enemies.

He tried to communicate with the director of the Swedish branch in Latin, and the other party really understood, so he asked the translator to go down first.