New Shun 1730

If we don’t consider the interests of the country, but only the interests of the merchants, the Dutch have to admit that the Dashun’s move to Southeast Asia has indeed brought great benefits to the Dashun merchant class.

Compare the heads of the Dutch government in recent years, the difference is huge.

The Dutch have not accomplished anything in recent years, and the handicraft industry has shrunk. It can be said that the Netherlands is a country based on commerce; what about commerce?

The right to trade in the Baltic Sea was driven away by the British; North American trade was sanctioned by France and Britain; South American trade was blocked by Spain and Britain; Southeast Asian and Indian trade, this time there is no such thing.

Slave trade Because the Treaty of Utrecht thirty years ago stipulated that Britain had the "obligation" to transport slaves to the Spanish colonies, the Netherlands had no chance to benefit from the black slave trade. It was not because the Dutch noble and free virtue opposed slavery, but because the Netherlands had no chance to engage in this trade, so they shouted all day that French etiquette would bring slavery to the Netherlands, which was the same as the Dutch shouting all day about freedom of navigation on the high seas.

After the Dashun went to Southeast Asia, Liu Yu's reputation and prestige in the Netherlands reached its peak.

Liu Yu had been to the Netherlands and had influenced some things in the Netherlands. He had published many interesting or incisive editorials. After he left, he caused such a big storm. The Dutch were really familiar with it.

After going to Southeast Asia, especially after a group of captured Dutch officers were released in advance and returned, they exaggerated the matter of going to Southeast Asia.

They also talked about the Ceylon Trojan Horse and the Batavia Volunteer Forced Relocation Plan, etc.

Some of these were their speculations, and the other part was Liu Yu's own boasting about them in order to create an oriental myth.

These news spread very quickly, and these officers visited the cities in the prosperous Jiangnan region, and they also boasted about many things they didn't know much about.

Such as the Chinese tallow tree planted near the canal that can be used to make candles; such as the endless mulberry fields... These common scenes in Jiangnan, they all believed that this was "a symbol of extremely developed industry and commerce."

As colonial officers, their perspective also focused on Dashun's control over Japanese trade and the rapidly expanding market after opening the door to Japan.

In their eyes, naturally, Liu Yu, who led all this, was "the beacon of the merchant class of the ancient Eastern Empire".

Although the two sides were enemies, the mentality of the Dutch merchant class was more of "hating that he was not named Orange".

Therefore, Kang Budai said that if the Dutch merchant class knew that Liu Yu was the head of this regulatory committee, it would not discourage their investment enthusiasm, but would boost market confidence.

The Dutch certainly hope that someone can lead them to expand their business.

Before, they could still count on themselves, but now they can definitely not count on themselves, so they can only count on others.

Anthony and others did not refute this point.

Their focus is not here, and it is indeed as Kang Budai said that the annual interest is high enough, and Dutch merchants will not care too much whether it is government supervision or the Seventeen Gentlemen Group.

When the Seventeen Gentlemen Group led the East India Company, they reported accounts every ten years, excluding the rest of the board members from having a say. As long as the annual interest is enough, of course there will not be too many people objecting.

Even if the rest of the board of directors said something that made sense: We are also members of the board of directors of a joint-stock company, why don’t we have a say?

But reason is something... not everyone has the passion to fight for the eternal justice in their hearts.

In the face of a 20% annual interest dividend, the "very reasonable" words of those people in the board of directors are no different from farting, and they can't make much splash.

Since Kang Budai directly promised an annual interest rate of 8%, Anthony and others knew that there was obviously room for improvement.

At an annual interest rate of 4%, Dutch investors would question government supervision.

At an annual interest rate of 8%, Dutch investors would question the level of the person in charge of supervision.

At an annual interest rate of 12%, Dutch investors would only ask how many shares were going to be issued.

In addition to these business prestige, if Liu Yu were to be the person in charge of supervision, there would actually be other benefits.

Dashun has a good relationship with the people in the Swedish Parliament.

In addition to the Sino-Swedish trade cooperation, Liu Yu did indeed "help" the Swedes several times: before the war with Russia, Dashun took the lead in putting diplomatic pressure on Russia and conducted fierce negotiations with the Russians on the issue of northwestern boundary survey; during the Russo-Swedish War, Liu Yu did help launch a coup in Russia. Although the Swedes did not expect that the "bad woman" who looked harmless and promised the Swedish ambassador to return the territory before taking office would be even more cruel than her predecessor, the "accident" after the event should not be confused with the previous help.

On the Russian side, Liu Yu did help a lot in the Queen's coup, and was also regarded as a model of coup by the European court: control officials and try to make the coup successful without bloodshed.

Moreover, among some close figures around the Queen, Europe knows that there is a black man who seems to have a good relationship with Liu Yu, and he is also prosperous in his career.

These two points alone mean that the Netherlands can get great help in expanding the Baltic trade.

Especially in a country like Russia, the Queen's personal preferences and personal relationships can sometimes decide many things.

All this prestige has been accumulated bit by bit over the years.

It belongs to both Liu Yu and Dashun, and is a continuation of the stunning debut in Europe.

However, Anthony and others were not only considering commercial issues, but also the positioning of the Sino-Dutch trade company between Dashun and the Netherlands.

This was a major event related to the Netherlands's gambling on national destiny.

If things went this way, in a few years at most, the contradictions between Britain and the Netherlands would become so acute that they could not be reversed.

The neutrality of the Netherlands was the biggest betrayal of Britain.

Just like the "Armed Neutrality Alliance" that Liu Yu planned to establish. Armed neutrality was a confrontation with Britain, which had great maritime advantages.

France certainly welcomed Dashun's establishment of an armed neutrality alliance, because France had just been seized by the British in the West Indies. A large number of merchant ships and merchants were arrested, and three or four ships of white sugar from the colonies were towed away.

Spain certainly welcomed Dashun's establishment of an armed neutrality alliance, because the garrisons in some parts of Spain had just lived like beggars because of the British naval blockade.

But what about Britain? Britain had merchant ships and a navy, and a group of armed neutrals. Its fleet still had an advantage in decisive battles, but what about the blockade?

A group of merchant ships under the banner of neutrality, transporting goods from French colonies, should they be robbed or not?

If they robbed, they would have added a lot of enemies; if they didn't rob, the blockade would be useless, and the strategic significance of the navy would be directly wasted by half.

What use is there for a navy that can't blockade and control the shipping routes, except for strategic decisive battles? But in a strategic decisive battle, what can we do if the enemy stays in the port and doesn't fight?

The neutrality of the Netherlands is similar to this. Although the problems are different, the principle of neutrality is to take sides.

Moreover, Sino-Dutch trade cooperation means that the direction of the expansion of Dutch trade is basically out of the French and Spanish colonies.

Dashun will not offend the whole of Europe, and it will definitely fight one faction against another. The direction of the expansion of Dutch trade can only be the sphere of influence of the British.

If they go to eat the sphere of influence of France and Spain, it will be purely to make wedding clothes for Britain. If the French and Spanish naval forces are crippled, Dashun's navy will still not be able to go to the Atlantic, and it will be purely to help Britain.

The pie is so big, if you eat more, others will eat less.

This is a very, very simple truth. As far as the present is concerned, judging from the 20-year economic crisis and speculative bubble, there is no chance to expand the pie at least in the short term.

Having eaten the pie of the British, must Britain fight desperately?

Who would believe that the Anglo-Spanish War was really because of the humiliation of Jenkins' ears? It was clearly a trade dispute.

And this involves an issue that Anthony and others have to consider.

What was the predecessor of the newly established Sino-Dutch Trade Company?

The Dutch East India Company.

Why didn't the Dutch East India Company want India?

Because it was a bad place in the early stage, and the British were driven there after failing to compete in Southeast Asia; now it is a good place, but the Dutch East India Company is no longer able to compete, and even Travancore can be beaten by the princely army.

The Sino-Dutch Trade Company after taking over is the continuation of the Dutch East India Company.

So, what is the development focus of this Sino-Dutch Trade Company?

Is the development focus in India good?

For shareholders and investors, of course it is good.

India is much more valuable than the spices now.

But Anthony just kept saying "We should consider the interests of shareholders. Companies that consider the interests of the nation and the country are not qualified", but what he was thinking about was not the interests of Dutch shareholders, but the interests of the Netherlands.

If the development focus of the Sino-Dutch Trade Company is in India, the Netherlands will cry!

All the benefits are taken by the company.

All the anger of Britain is piled on the head of the Netherlands.

There are a large number of Dutch shareholders in the company, so does the company count as the interests of the Netherlands? Does the company's profit count as the Netherlands' profit? This is a debate question, and obviously, in Anthony's view, it is not.

As for Dashun's performance in Southeast Asia, Anthony and others have a very clear understanding: Where is Bengal, Ceylon or London, which is farther away?

Britain mobilized troops from the mainland, bypassed Africa, went through the Cape, and crossed the Indian Ocean; Dashun mobilized troops from Ceylon, to put it bluntly, they could get a birch bark boat like the Vikings robbed to go to India.

Ceylon, others don't know, how can the Dutch not know? At least tens of thousands of Chinese, and they are all accustomed to the tropical climate and have eaten jackfruit in Ceylon for several years without dying.

Where is the closest place to India in the UK with tens of thousands of British people?

The premise of Anthony's bet on national destiny is that Dashun will cooperate with the Netherlands to open up the European market, open up the Baltic Sea trade, open up the North American smuggling channel, eliminate the British naval advantage, and the Netherlands will become the coachman of the sea again.

The worst that can happen to the Netherlands is that they will not produce goods and only act as a porter of goods.

It doesn't mean that the commercial capital of the Netherlands will cooperate with the manpower of Dashun to take India. If they learn from the previous VOC's practice of welding the door before getting on the car, the dividend will probably be 30%?

The shareholders cheered.

Then the British thought that if I can't go to India, can't I go to Amsterdam?

This is completely contrary to what he said just now, "The interests of shareholders must be considered first by the company."

So the negotiation itself, the doubts about supervision and dividends, are all nonsense.

What we really need to talk about is "the strategic direction of the Sino-Dutch Trade Company."

To be honest, Anthony hopes that Liu Yu will supervise the company, provided that Liu Yu's strategic concept in his mind is the same as his strategic concept.

Using Liu Yu's prestige to suppress the short-sightedness of the company's shareholders is exactly the embodiment of his mentor's political vision of "a kingdom without hereditary kings" in the company.

Otherwise, if we consider the interests of shareholders, India is fat and easy to eat, and shareholders will definitely eat India and abandon Europe for the sake of interests.

The Netherlands has suffered a great loss from the so-called "short-sighted national character" in Kang Budai's mouth. Anthony knows that those businessmen are all the same. How can it be a national character problem of the Netherlands? If there is no pressure on the shareholders of Dashun, can they give up the near and seek the far?

This is back to Anthony's initial worry: Dashun uses the Netherlands as a gun, then the Netherlands might as well be used as a gun by Britain. If they offend Britain in India, the shareholders and financiers of Dashun and the Netherlands will be full and pat their butts and leave. How can the Netherlands withstand the anger of Britain?

At that time, they will be helpless and surrender to France, and they will really become a puppet country. France's cultural invasion and army advantage, who can withstand this?

Now the entire German-speaking area is filled with a trend of "anti-French cultural invasion". The Netherlands is the first to awaken. The elites of the Netherlands are very clear about the difference between being neighbors, friends, and younger brothers with France.

As for the Sino-Dutch Trading Company, which was betting on the fate of the Netherlands, the best candidate to suppress the merchants from both China and the Netherlands in terms of decisiveness, prestige, and means was of course Liu Yu.

The key is, what exactly was Liu Yu planning? If this is not clear, the treaty cannot be signed.