New Shun 1730

In addition to the difference between catch and release, there is another huge difference between the Nanyang Trading Company in Dashun and the East India Company in Western Europe.

Before the British East India Company collected land rent in India as an important source of income, the Anglo-Dutch East India Company was basically a company that made money from imports.

The entire East India region is not Africa after all, and it is actually difficult to sell local European goods. At least at this time, regardless of quality or price, except for arms, Western European products really have no advantages.

From the very beginning, Dashun's Nanyang Trading Company was not a company that aimed at profit from imports.

Of course, the goal is not just simple export, but also market expansion.

After the British Industrial Revolution, the East India Company was basically disbanded.

In addition to the East India Company's own problems, it was mainly incompatible with the economic foundation of the British mainland.

When the Industrial Revolution broke out, what Britain needed was to expand its market and exports, so that it could be qualified to call for free trade. At this time, the East India Company, which had established a monopoly and controlled imported raw materials, would die sooner or later.

But from now on, the Nanyang or Western Trading Company to be established in Dashun will assume the responsibilities of the British government in 1820 and expand outward, expand markets, and expand sales.

Liu Yu can be sure that in a short period of time, except for raw materials, there is basically nothing that can make money from importing.

Although Dashun is not France and does not have clear "Corber Doctrine" guidance, under the guidance of profits, in recent years it has gradually begun to engage in import substitution of domestic products.

Including watches and clocks, which are very advantageous in Europe, although the quality is still not as good as before, local industries have emerged in Guangdong, Songjiang and other places - there is a big difference between domestic products that can be used and those that do not exist at all.

At least it makes Dashun, the "pixiu who only eats but doesn't poop," even more difficult to poop out.

As for the things that can really make money, they are all "high-tech" at this time, such as navigation clocks. Liu Yu hoped that Dashun would be able to outflow his silver and buy a bunch of nautical clocks. The problem was that they wouldn't sell them at all. Europe has very strict export controls, and even Spanish sheep that produce very good wool are on the control list.

This difference, or the difference between the economic foundations of Dashun and Britain at this time, caused the Nanyang or Western Trading Company to be established to be extremely aggressive and offensive from the beginning.

Even if they subjectively want to be compradors, objective conditions do not allow it. If the comprador buys a bunch of British woolen fabrics now, it will not destroy Dashun's textile industry, but it will also bankrupt itself.

These objective conditions force them to be extremely aggressive and expand externally.

Liu Yu was very confident in the offensive and aggressive nature of the merchant class in Dashun. Whether it was maritime trade when some people were there and pirates when no one was there; buying and selling by force, or smuggling in Japan despite bombardment... Although these are not good words, they all prove their "pioneering spirit."

What is missing is the integration of power and capital, and the huge support from the court behind it.

The support of the imperial court is the so-called "catch".

Now Liu Yu uses "release" to strengthen the investment confidence of these businessmen.

As for "catch" itself, for Dashun, this is something that does not need to be emphasized at all.

Therefore, at this time, the court wants to "catch" them, which can be regarded as a source of confidence for these businessmen. Just like those maritime merchants who followed Liu Yu to Japan and commemorated their sons who died due to smuggling in the Shimonoseki Strait. Ask them what they want most. At a certain moment, what they want most must be the death of the imperial court in person.

The balance between catch and release is difficult to grasp. Liu Yu did not say that he was the company supervisor from the imperial court, but these businessmen basically defaulted to Liu Yu, so the balance point of "catch and release" was also full of confidence.

In this way, Liu Yu saw that these businessmen had begun to discuss the imperial court's plan to establish an organizational structure with dual centers of supervision and board of directors, so he said: "The reason why I want to ask you first is how many years of interest will you be willing to invest money."

"Because of the supervision of the imperial court in the past few years, this is equivalent to a guarantee given by the imperial court to you. At that time, if you cannot get these dividends, not to mention the imperial court, I will have to supplement it myself. Otherwise, the credibility of the imperial court will be affected. If you lose it, it will be more difficult to do things in the future.”

"Let's discuss it again."

Liu Yu's credibility is still sufficient, mainly because everyone knows that Liu Yu does have some money in his hands, and he has not deceived the business class so far.

Now that he has said this, all the businessmen feel more confident.

At the table, several businessmen whispered: "Since Marquis Jing said this, can we still not believe his words? I understand what he means."

"Now the imperial court means to supervise temporary supervision and seize the power. We have just arrived in Nanyang. Garrisoning troops, patrolling, anti-smuggling, preparing warehouses, etc., all of which cost money. Doing business requires capital investment."

"In the past few years, this capital must have been a bit high. Since the imperial court has sent a supervisor, it means that it has taken responsibility and made a commitment. In this way, the dividends in the past few years should not be too high."

"However, no one can predict what will happen in the future. Even if we all know that we will make money in the future, but...right?"

After his "but", he didn't say anything and just asked "really".

The people at the table were all businessmen, so I didn’t understand what he wanted to say behind the “but”.

It's just that now that Jinghou is here, he must mean what he says.

But what about the future?

Furthermore, what if the imperial court regrets after seeing that it is very profitable in the future and is not prepared to transfer a large amount of profits to these merchants?

In the past, officials and merchants for the imperial court had to pay a deposit, and they were not willing to withdraw. Sometimes they are not profitable and want to withdraw? They also have to bribe. For example, some people who helped the imperial court buy copper from Japan in the past had to throw all their assets into it when they wanted to withdraw when they were not profitable.

So, the meaning of this "but" is to say: we all understand the principle, and we also understand that high investment in the early stage will lead to high profits in the future.

However, the annual interest rate cannot be too low.

What if, today, they agree to an annual interest rate of 5%, and think that it is normal to make less money by investing money in the early stage.

As a result, six or seven years later, when it is time to reap the harvest, the imperial court suddenly regrets and wants to continue the model of the previous years and pay money according to the promised annual interest rate, which is a loss.

These people pondered for a while, stretched out their gestures to interact with each other, and the others looked at the gestures, thought for a while, and nodded.

The meaning of the gesture is "12%".

According to the interest of 1% per month, the annual interest rate is 12%.

Firstly, since you are doing business and preparing to do big business, you have to invest capital in the early stage, which is a truth that everyone knows.

It is not lending money to the court, and you have to participate in the management in the future. If you really do it, you will definitely make money in the future.

If you ask for too much, it will be difficult for Jinghou to do it and he dare not guarantee it. The business will be directly ruined, which is not good.

Secondly, it cannot be set too low. If the court regrets in the future, it will be acceptable to follow the interest of 12%, so that it will not be too painful in the future.

Although the court has accumulated some credibility in recent years, the long-term policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business has made merchants still worried about the court.

After the people at this table decided, the tables next to them also basically decided. For twelve months a year, according to the interest of 1% per month, the bottom line of each table is almost the same.

After the final summary, the representative of the merchants said, "Marquis Jing, we have discussed it again."

"We are all businessmen, and we understand the principle of investing capital in the early stage. In this case, the interest rate is 12% per year."

"If the accounts are open, some money must be invested, and we can understand that we can get less in the first few years. We don't need Marquis Jing to subsidize us. We are not the kind of people who are completely unreasonable and only care about money."

Liu Yu nodded and asked the others, "Is this basically acceptable to you?"

"Yes, yes. If it is really as Marquis Jing said, we will accept it. I dare not say much. If you want to raise 10 million taels of shares, we can do it."

People here don't have to hide their wealth. Most of them have dealt with Liu Yu and have shares in Japanese trading companies. If they say they have no money, they are crying poor.

Liu Yu saw that the prices offered by everyone were basically acceptable to him, so he said: "However, there is no rush for this matter. Although I have guaranteed with the court, this matter has been basically settled for 70% to 80%. But it will take some time to actually do it. Nanyang still needs to be reorganized, and I have to wait for some news."

The news he was waiting for was still the news from Europe.

If the matter in the Netherlands fails, the good Western Trade Company will become the Nanyang Trade Company.

If that really happens, not to mention the court, even Liu Yu does not want these merchants to participate.

It would be better for the court to get rid of the middlemen and get all the money from the monopoly of the source of goods, and then manage the canal and immigrate to the northeast and northwest.

Although it is good, it is still not good enough compared to the external expansion of Western trade. It can only be regarded as a backup option once things fail.

After that, Liu Yu smiled and said, "This is the so-called 70% to 80% of the fixed interest. If the remaining 30% or 20% fails, the matter will be over. At that time, you will not get even a penny of profit, and you can only watch the court make all the money for itself."

This made the merchants nervous.

When the 12% annual interest was given just now, they were indeed a little dissatisfied.

But now Liu Yu said that this matter may not succeed, and the dissatisfaction just now suddenly became a worry about failure.

Everyone laughed awkwardly and said, "If the Whale Lord comes forward, there is no reason why this matter cannot be accomplished. The Whale Lord, please don't scare us. The previous dynasty knew about the huge profits in Nanyang. If the Dutch leave Nanyang, even if they don't trade with Westerners, they can still make a lot more money by trading with China and Japan."

"Who in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area doesn't know that even the tin foil burned for ancestors during the Zhongyuan Festival is made of tin from Nanyang? But if the establishment of a company for trade with Westerners fails, what will the court say about the trade between Nanyang and China?"

Liu Yu shook his head and said, "This policy cannot be explained in a few words. ? External is external, internal is internal. There is a difference between internal and external, and the difficulty lies in the matter of anti-smuggling. "

"The court wants to share profits with you, but you should also think about it yourself. If the court does not share profits with you, will you smuggle? It will be difficult to investigate at that time."

"However, if you big businessmen can be gathered together, smuggling will damage your profits and the court's profits, and it will be easier to investigate smuggling at that time."

"Not to say that we will cut off the smuggling, at least there will be fewer potential smugglers like you... You all have the potential to become national parasites and big smugglers."