New Shun 1730

After Arai Shiraishi, Japan also intensified its isolation. Although the trade volume decreased, Japan and Dashun were different after all: Dashun was a pixiu who only ate gold and silver but did not take them, while Japan was rich in gold and silver and only took them but did not eat them. Even if the rated trade credits were halved, Batavia could still get a lot of small gold and silver, which were hard currencies.

A large part of Batavia's funds had to be supported by Japanese gold and silver.

Dashun's porcelain, tea, etc. had to be shipped back to Europe to be exchanged for silver. In addition, there was a China Trade Commission that controlled it directly to Amsterdam. Batavia could only tacitly allow a certain amount of smuggled tea to be smuggled back. The price of smuggled tea on the company's ship was definitely lower than that of the company, but the income did not belong to the company but to the private sector, so the benefits of these smuggled tea were also private rather than Batavia's finances.

The board of directors has no choice now. Investing money in Ceylon will definitely bring profits in the future. If the Dutch small shareholders are told openly, the citizens are not stupid and can actually support it.

But the problem is that you said good things, but will you tell us about the company's bad debts? If the company's financial statements are made public, will the benefits from Ceylon be greater? Or are the bad debts and corruption accumulated before greater?

Some things cannot be done.

If the trend of inciting small shareholders to approve the meeting is started today, tomorrow they may be required to disclose all financial statements and investment directions, and even reorganize the board of directors.

Some people even proposed that if Dashun also supports the Ceylon immigration plan, can the Batavia government borrow some money from Dashun? At an annual interest rate of 15%, borrow it first, and wait for Ceylon to make a profit and pay it back.

However, if it were in the past, it might work.

But now Liu Yu is arrogant and aggressive, and is forcing the company to divest its business with China. Asking Liu Yu to borrow money at this time shows that the company is short of money now. Isn't this equivalent to handing a knife to Liu Yu?

Now Liu Yu's mouth is like honey, mocking their "generosity". Valknir has no choice but to turn a deaf ear and continue to smile.

In the immigration plan, the treatment and living conditions of Chinese immigrants are extremely low, and there is also the worry that Liu Yu will find fault again in a while. At this time, you can only be as calm as spring breeze and have the cultivation of swallowing spit.

A penny can make a hero fall. The Netherlands has not built new ships for many years. It relies on its past foundation and decency. Facing the aggressive Dashun, the negotiation momentum is completely suppressed by the simple word "money".

After being ridiculed by Liu Yu, Valknir also knew that the treatment of Chinese people in it was indeed too low, but he had no choice.

There are still Chinese rebels in the volcanic area south of Batavia. If we don't move the Chinese in the north away as soon as possible, we can't suppress the uprising.

Even if tens of thousands of immigrants are not as far from the slave coast to the North American colonies, and even if this route is quite familiar, it is still a big project.

As the imperial envoy of Dashun, Liu Yu certainly hopes for "good".

And on the Batavia side, of course, there is only "more, faster, and cheaper".

"My Lord Marquis, this is the best we can do. Even if the company allocates funds, it will take two years to arrive. I am just the governor of Batavia. It is impossible for me to withhold the company's payment for goods, right?"

Valkniel made a little excuse, and Liu Yu said: "Okay, let's not talk about this for now. Then when we get there, won't the head tax be abolished? If your cinnamon factory collects head tax, isn't it equivalent to collecting your own money?"

Valkniel thought to himself, nonsense, the cinnamon money is the company's direct financial income, and the head tax is a local tax in the colony. The company doesn't allocate money, so it's difficult for us.

"Mr. Marquis, we have our difficulties. You should understand that immigration costs money. And some public construction also needs money."

"The head tax is also used for public construction expenses. And this is also a convenient way to collect taxes..."

Liu Yu smiled and said, "It's not convenient, it's that your administrative ability is too poor. You can only do the tax system."

He mocked, but in his heart, it doesn't matter whether it's a head tax or a land tax, it's just an excuse anyway.

The key is how can the Chinese in Ceylon have reclaimed enough land and have a skilled worker who can take over the cinnamon rubbing business when they go to Southeast Asia?

"Mr. Governor, your plan clearly states that the vast majority of Chinese will be farmers in the future, cultivating the land of the Sinhalese who were driven away by the Portuguese. As a tax-farming country and a commercial country, the Netherlands may not understand the significance of land tax."

"I personally think that land tax can be levied in Ceylon. Some Chinese go to Ceylon as skilled workers, some to rub cinnamon and process betel nuts. But more people will go to farm. If the plan is good, the income from land tax can be higher than the head tax. Of course, the premise is that the land is fully developed."

"And developing land requires a certain amount of investment. As long as you add some investment and the land is fully developed, the income obtained will be higher than the head tax."

"The Sinhalese have a tradition of water management. I think your company should also increase investment in some public water conservancy facilities, so that more land tax can be levied. In the long run, this investment makes sense."

"On the one hand, it can improve the living standards of the Tang people, which is the most concerned issue of our dynasty. After all, the emperor, as the son of heaven and their father, is the people of our dynasty and should consider the interests of his subjects. Even if they are under your rule in the future, His Majesty the Emperor does not want them to live too poorly."

"On the other hand, the returns from long-term investment are far higher than the benefits of the head tax. As a country where the main tax is land tax, I think I am qualified to tell you the significance of land tax and the long-term returns from continuous investment in farmland water conservancy."

This sounds like a good thing, but it is actually very dark.

To build water conservancy, labor service is definitely required.

Liu Yu's goal is that the hard days were spent in the Dutch era, and the good days were all when Dashun came.

It must be hoped that in the Dutch era, immigrants would reclaim more land and build some water conservancy facilities under the organization of the Netherlands.

This stuff, immigrants will definitely suffer. But when Dashun comes in the future, all these achievements will belong to Dashun, and immigrants will naturally follow their motherland.

This is not about money. If immigrants can be used as "free" labor to basically arrange water conservancy facilities, the Netherlands only needs to pay some bad reputation and not much more money.

If we only talk about the principle, what Liu Yu said is actually very simple. Any agricultural country understands this principle.

But even this simple principle must be made clear to the Netherlands.

Because the level of the Dutch East India Company is really far behind the later British "Lifanyuan".

The British "Lifanyuan" was able to send people to Java to investigate the economic foundation of the village community and produced an investigation report that "the key to Java is the rural land issue".

The Dutch never did it at all.

Ceylon has a bit of shape, but it is all the legacy of the Portuguese.

The Portuguese did all the dirty work, and after the Dutch occupied it, they picked up a ready-made one - the religion was forced to convert to Christianity, the old nobles fled, the caste system basically collapsed in the south, and a large number of old nobles fled The land left behind.

In contrast, the Dutch's ruling methods are extremely rough and have no technical content.

Too much nutmeg? Kill people, kill two-thirds of the people, and the nutmeg production will go down.

Too many cloves? Cut down the trees, cut them down and burn them, and the production will go down.

If the production goes down and the demand remains the same, the price will go up.

Are the Javanese nobles strong? Cooperate, ignore the village land system, force planting, and share the profits with the nobles.

Are the Chinese strong in business? Cooperate, give the taxes to the Chinese, and govern themselves. As long as they pay the money, everything will be fine.

In Ceylon, they have a bunch of Tamil slaves to work. Slavery is okay in plantations, but relying on slaves to plant land and grow rice is nonsense. How can the production level of small farmers be high?

The Dutch don't have the concept of "collecting normal land taxes" in their minds.

Ceylon is not Java, so it is not suitable for planting the crops of Java. The forced planting system that was finally figured out in the Netherlands is not suitable for Ceylon.

Moreover, Java is a feudal village land system, so just cooperate with the feudal lords.

The upper class nobles of Ceylon all fled to the north. There were no feudal nobles at all. A large number of Chinese immigrants went there. Rub cinnamon and pick betel nuts, and there were not so many people needed. A large number of unowned wastelands must be cultivated by small farmers.

But after looking at the plan, these people had no experience in managing small farmers. For this reason alone, Dashun can really be proud to say that its experience in managing small farmers is the best in the world. Large-scale immigration and reclamation are also traditional skills.

Liu Yu hoped that when the Netherlands declared war on France, Ceylon would have ended its difficult development period. Now it seems that the Dutch plan is pure bullshit. How can it work? Taking the Javanese approach and applying it to Ceylon, the land conditions, economic foundation, and land ownership are all different. Liu Yu does not look at the long term, but in the short term of three to five years, it will seriously restrict the development of productivity.

"Let's put it this way. Considering the difficulty of reclaiming land and the difficulties faced by the Tang people, the Celestial Empire will provide a sum of money."

"Part of it will be used to purchase various agricultural tools and iron tools. I see that there is no plan in your company's business plan. Do you want to let the immigrants dig the ground with their hands?"

"The other part will be used to purchase a batch of oxen from India."

"After the immigrants go there, they will be registered as citizens. You will still adopt the system of Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan. The Celestial Empire will loan the purchased agricultural tools and oxen to the Tang immigrants. Each group under the control of Lei Zhenlan is a basic unit."

"In the Song Dynasty of the Celestial Empire, there was a loan program for small farmers, but the repayment risk of small farmers was too poor. Therefore, a Lei Zhenlan group was used as a loan legal person, and the oxen and iron tools provided were all paid back at low interest rates in ten years. "

"You should also organize a group of people to carry out water conservancy construction. Try to ensure that these people can exist as small farmers in the future."

"At that time, the head tax will be exempted and replaced by land tax. It can not only abolish the bad habits of Lei Zhenlan and Kapitan's tax farming and extortion, but also make it easier for Ceylon's products to become richer."

"Of course, from the perspective of the Celestial Empire, we hope that these poor Tang immigrants can get better and better. It is not easy to make a living at sea."

"You really don't know that the Celestial Empire has the words "benevolence and righteousness". Maybe you really don't understand. This may be a cultural difference between you and me."

"I have no selfish motives for this matter. It is purely out of "benevolence and righteousness" and compassion. Of course, we will not interfere with your governance and jurisdiction over Ceylon. We just let the officials who go to supervise it act as a loan institution by the way."

Liu Yu thought, the money still needs to be spent, otherwise it will be more troublesome when taking over. But the money must not be lent to the Dutch and then let the Dutch spend it. Not only will there be no way to collect the debt in the future war, but why let the Dutch use their own money to do good things?

Who provided the iron tools and oxen at a low interest rate? The Celestial Empire.

Who forced labor to reclaim wasteland and repair water conservancy? The Netherlands.