New Shun 1730

What these numbers represent is clear to this group of oligarchic regents in various cities who have been silent over tax increases.

The essence of many problems is economic problems.

Before the advent of the Golden Age, Amsterdam's population increased from 50,000 to 200,000 in less than twenty years. Then, it was still. In this warm era when the population surged even under the repressive rule of the Qing Dynasty, the population of Amsterdam has remained unchanged for forty years, and even the urbanization level of the entire Netherlands has completely regressed. There must be a big problem with the Dutch economy.

When British and French people came to Amsterdam and saw such a prosperous city, they would be filled with admiration.

Now, even the Russians behind Peter the Great, like Grandma Liu who entered the Grand View Garden and came to Amsterdam to intern, have the capital to laugh at Amsterdam.

Industries are dying, fishing is being squeezed out, and citizens are complaining.

Business and finance are very profitable, but they don't provide enough jobs. In the golden age, you could stand tall and say that every vagrant and beggar in Amsterdam was because of laziness.

In that era when the profit from spices was 1,200%, the Netherlands was really qualified to say that if the gentlemen just leaked some super-profit soup, it would be enough for ordinary citizens.

But now, I have absolutely no confidence to say this. There are a lot of unemployed and poor people on the street, but it cannot be said that they are all because of laziness.

The real economy is sluggish, suppressed, and hollowed out, resulting in raising taxes on all citizens, which is likely to trigger a series of turmoil.

Anthony Heim looked around at this group of silent oligarch regents, his tone gradually changed from angry to pleading.

"Gentlemen, this is not only my republic, but also your republic. Please tell me what you think."

A faint voice came from the silent crowd.

"Your Majesty the Speaker, maybe we can fulfill certain commitments and provide some financial support to Austria. But privately, we have to make it clear to France that we are doing this only because we have to fulfill the treaty."

"The French should be able to understand our difficulties, and the British will not be too harsh on us."

Speaker Anthony wanted to laugh in his heart and simply dismissed this proposal. Is this bringing the relationship between countries into consideration in terms of commercial competition?

"Gentlemen, the result that neither side wants to offend is that both sides are often offended."

"The British will resent us for giving too little, and the French will resent us for giving too much."

"Besides, gentlemen, you must clearly realize that even the Chinese envoys here know about the Stuart restoration, and the Catholic landing in Scotland is inevitable. If we do not fulfill the treaty, we may temporarily obtain Although there are some benefits, in the long run it will inevitably be spurned by the whole of Europe and completely lose its international credibility.”

"Furthermore, you should also know the speech delivered by the Chinese envoy at the dock: diplomatic credibility, and integrity."

"You still don't understand what it means for the Chinese envoy to send money to the old tyrannical king."

"It doesn't just mean China's flexible diplomatic attitude - their religion of ancestor worship and idolatry determines that they are not fanatical believers. So they can ban Catholicism in the country while maintaining good relations with France, and at the same time Funding the Catholic Restoration of England.”

"It also means that this Chinese Marquis is announcing one thing to the whole of Europe: China on the far west coast of the Pacific can use their gold, silver, loans, and bonds to influence the situation in Europe."

"And diplomatic credibility will determine the attitude of this Eastern Empire in the future - his speech made it very clear that he can understand wars for interests, but he cannot tolerate countries without diplomatic credibility. The war will eventually end, and allies will Our enemies are constantly changing because of our interests, but our diplomatic credibility is eternal.”

"We must take into account that 100 years ago, the East India Company's invasion of Taiwan, Zhoushan, and Penghu made the Chinese official's attitude towards us not good."

"The attitude of the people and businessmen he mentioned seems to be very good to us, but there is one thing to consider: the Dashun Empire is not a Dutch-style republic dominated by oligarchic regents, and their merchants have no status in the court. "

"If we show betrayal of alliances, breach of contract, etc., which damages our diplomatic credibility, competitors such as Britain and France have already slandered us, and the Marquis has witnessed our violation of the treaty, what will happen? What about the impact?”

At this time, Dashun was no longer the empire that only left legends to Europe, but its true appearance was not seen.

Through the three major events of the war against Russia, the war against Junggar, and the war against Japan, as well as escorting Swedish prisoners and envoys to Europe, plus Liu Yu spending some money to support the Indians and the Stuart dynasty, Europe had to Face the reality: the tentacles of this distant empire can reach Europe, and these tentacles must not be ignored.

This is the point of what Anthony Haim said, to consider diplomatic credibility. To maintain diplomatic credibility, we must fulfill our treaties, expand our military, and raise taxes.

In short, we are still paving the way for tax increases.

However, the people present immediately seized the opportunity and pretended not to understand the key points and foreshadowing of Anthony Haim's words.

Instead, he used these words to shift the topic from tax increases and military expansion to negotiations with China.

"Your Excellency, Speaker, can you tell us what the purpose of the Dashun Empire's diplomatic mission is to visit our Netherlands as the first stop?"

"Ordinarily, he should have visited France first. But he bypassed France and came to Amsterdam first. Is it related to the East India Company?"

Many people here are shareholders of the East India Company.

The city of Amsterdam has 8 seats in the 17-member group of the East India Company, which is unshakable. The East India Company can be said to be the pillar of Amsterdam, especially in the context of industrial decline, this kind of import trade is particularly important.

Before, Dashun escorted Swedish captives back to China and reached a cooperation agreement with Sweden, which has seriously damaged the interests of many people.

After the news of Sino-Swedish joint venture and war against Japan came, Amsterdam's stock and investment market experienced some fluctuations.

This matter is not something that the East India Company can cover up by not reporting the accounts, but it was carried out in a big way, so that everyone knows that it can't be concealed even if they want to.

When the letter from the Batavia government was sent back, it was in duplicate, which was not the same.

The shareholders and board of directors of the East India Company are beyond the control of the provincial parliament, but the selection of the governor is something that the federal parliament can control slightly.

Anthony Heim hesitated for a moment, but still told the oligarch regents present the news and asked them to keep it secret.

Confidentiality is a tradition of Dutch politics.

The orthodox federal parliament cannot keep secrets. A group of people in a mess, who could argue for a whole year in 1727, did nothing.

And within the small circle that really holds power, confidentiality has become a rigid need. Otherwise, the Netherlands will really be finished.

"The requirements of the Dashun Empire are very simple."

"Either accept the status of a tributary state, implement the Kanhe trade, abolish the direct trade in Amsterdam, and send merchant ships to Batavia instead."

"Or, a tariff agreement, Dashun's merchant ships can also sell goods in the Netherlands, and compete with the VOC in the framework of the tariff agreement. "

The requirements sound really simple, and simplicity often means that you can immediately judge whether to support or oppose.

The oligarchs in various cities were all shocked, and after a moment they scolded Dashun for being "shameless."

A producer with a natural monopoly on the source of goods, demanding fair competition? How can the East India Company compete fairly with the merchants of Dashun in porcelain, silk and tea?

On the ocean route, since Dashun can sail its official fleet here, how much more can the freight losses on the road cost than VOC?

Moreover, even if both sides send observers to each other and really achieve completely fair competition, what will the essence of this matter evolve into?

Isn't it a variant version of the Ostend Tea Incident?

It's just a monopoly money-throwing game.

Dashun's Europa Company and the Dutch East India Company threw money at each other to see who could beat the other, completely squeeze the other out of the market and complete the monopoly.

Then they earned profits several times the amount of money they had invested in the beginning.

Otherwise, VOC would not have been able to compete with Ostend Company on its own and get tea, which was a noble drink, so that ordinary people could drink it by "lowering their status". Did the board of directors have money to spend?

Because they knew very well that if they killed Ostend Company's tea business, monopoly would be a huge profit.

In terms of spending money, the Dutch are not stupid. As long as the Dashun government takes action, how can the VOC beat the glutton who has eaten the world's gold and silver for 200 years without taking any out?

These people know some inside information about the current financial situation of the VOC, and they can't afford to attack it at all.

Dashun fought hard and sold tea at a loss. After selling for a year, the VOC had to give up the tea business, and Dashun could destroy the VOC's monopoly by spending money: the VOC's monopoly was not obtained through free competition, but through the administrative decrees of the Dutch government.

Opening up equal trade is equivalent to giving up administrative protection.

Without administrative protection, Dashun can not only use Dashun's money to attack, but also raise capital in the Netherlands and use the money of Dutch bankers to kill the Dutch East India Company - as long as the Dutch bankers are not stupid, they will know which one is more likely to win, Dashun Europa Company or the Dutch East India Company.

As for patriotism, if financial speculators can be patriotic, they would not have provided loans to Spain one by one during the Spanish-Dutch War.

If the VOC really wants to "fairly compete" with Dashun and lose its monopoly, it may only be able to get a loan at an interest rate of 15%, or even higher, because it is generally not optimistic and is afraid of bankruptcy and failure to repay the money, which will become a bad debt.

However, if Dashun comes to the Netherlands to borrow money to defeat the Dutch East India Company, it may get a low interest rate of 6%. People are full of confidence and wait for Dashun to monopolize the tea, silk and porcelain market without worrying about not being able to repay the money.

Even if the investment restrictions are relaxed, the Dutch who are waiting to buy shares in the Netherlands will be able to squeeze the door of the embassy.

The strong business atmosphere, coupled with the fact that business and finance are the foundation of the Seven Provinces Republic, they have played three big games of stock and bubble speculation and passing the parcel, how can they not understand this?

"Mr. Speaker, the condition of equal trade and fair competition must not be agreed to. We are all aware of the consequences of this. It will mean that the East India Company will lose its de facto monopoly and even go bankrupt. You should be very clear about what the bankruptcy of the East India Company means to us and the Republic!"

"China's specialty products are a very stable source of profit for the VOC, and the trade volume is expanding year by year. We can't allow him to demand equal trade!"

"From a legal point of view, the rights of the East India Company should also be protected. Unless the Federation Conference unanimously passes it and the provinces do not use their veto power, it is impossible to abolish the East India Company's monopoly."

Anthony Heim shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Gentlemen, this is just why Liu Yu came to Amsterdam. But you haven't figured out why he came to Europe, and came to Amsterdam first, instead of London, Paris, St. Petersburg..."

"Why he came to the Netherlands and why he came to the Netherlands first have completely different meanings."