New Shun 1730

Fazaklei didn't hear that Liu Yu was going to cut off trade, and he was really afraid that Liu Yu was holding back some evil and would wait until the opportunity came to strike.

Over the years in Dashun, he has been paying attention to Liu Yu. It was discovered that Liu Yu was a terrible "foreign minister behind the scenes" who was very good at choosing his timing.

The threat of territorial negotiations against Russia was based on the opportunity of the Polish Succession War and the Swedish-Russian War; the trip to Southeast Asia was based on the Netherlands' involvement in the Austrian Succession War.

He was really afraid that Liu Yu was waiting for the opportunity to come and clean up the company directly.

My mother, who had been scolded by Liu Yu for half an hour just now, tried her best to pretend to be calm, and asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, as we all know, you are a person who supports trade. I think that the London Company and your country are still There are considerable prospects for cooperation. We are aware of our mistake and ask for your forgiveness.”

Liu Yu sneered, stared at Fazaklei for a while, and then said: "You ask me if I support trade, of course I support it. But trade must also comply with the law. The emperor has made it clear that the opium trade is prohibited. Don't say that Dashun's laws cannot govern India, and then criticize me and say that I have long-arm jurisdiction."

"Elizabeth Petrovna of the Rakshasa Kingdom, as the Tsar, is much higher than your small company. As for the accounts of the Torgut tribe on the Volga River, you have to ask the Celestial Empire Opinions?”

Fazaklei said hurriedly: "I don't dare, I don't dare. The company is indeed responsible for the opium issue, and the supervision is indeed lax. We will definitely strengthen supervision in the future to prevent this situation from happening again."

As I said that, I thought to myself, I have already said that supervision will be strengthened in the future. If you really want to cut off trade, you have to say that there is no future.

Let me give you a happy word on whether to cut off trade or not. Otherwise, I would be so worried and uncomfortable.

After waiting for a long time, Liu Yu didn't answer. He quietly looked up and saw Liu Yu drinking tea slowly with a relaxed look on his face.

After a long while, Liu Yu put down his tea bowl and said slowly: "To be honest, I don't really want to deal with you British people. I want you to talk like farts."

"Last time, you told me that you were lobbying the parliament to liberalize tea tariffs. In the future, tea purchases will increase several times."

"Silly wife, you are waiting for a man. I have been waiting eagerly for all these years. What have I been waiting for? You have lobbied for a long time, what is the result?"

Fazaklai felt a little guilty and could only say: "Sir, you need to know that a lot of the tea sold by the Danes and the Dutch is consumed by us British. Therefore, you should include their tea volume in the British market. ”

He avoided the sensitive China-Swedish United Trading Company. It was difficult to say that you were also smuggling, so he had to talk about these two companies.

Liu Yu chuckled and said, "You are still in business. Is this how you calculate the accounts? Tea is not a necessity, it is a hobby. Do you understand?"

"It's so expensive. At worst, you don't drink it. At worst, you drink coffee and cocoa, but you have to drink tea? Your tariffs are so high. If it weren't for smuggled tea, our tea exports would have dropped significantly. How can this be counted in your market? Woolen cloth?"

"This thing is not steamed buns and rice. If you don't eat it, you will die. You have to buy it. Don't you have economics in the UK?"

"I'm too lazy to enlighten you today. I just say that your original promise has not been fulfilled. I have the accounts in hand. If you had not smuggled it, the purchase of tea in the past few years has not increased, but has declined!"

Fazaklei lowered his head and said nothing, thinking to himself, aren't you using strong words to make sense?

Nonsense, Europe is at war, can it not decline? Our ships are always robbed, so it is normal to reduce the trade volume appropriately.

"My lord, you know our difficulties. Britain has its own national conditions here, which are very different from those of heaven. Even the king cannot decide tariffs alone. This tariff issue involves a lot. Please give us some time, sir."

Liu Yu shook his head and said: "You guys can't make it happen. Let me ask you, when the war in Europe was about to begin, did Parliament ask you to buy national debt? Why didn't you spend some money and directly promote tea tariffs? You have no foresight. What else can I say about today?”

"It's just that you didn't fulfill your promise to me, and you still smuggled opium. Don't talk nonsense to me. You know what's going on. There is no need to find some excuse to alleviate your guilt."

After saying that, Liu Yu smiled slightly and recited one of the few English words he knew.

"To be, or not to be."

"The survival or destruction of BEIC depends on me, not you."

"We have an old saying that throws a mouse into a trap. Mr. Fazaklei, your company has failed so well that you are not even qualified to let us ban it. I can responsibly say that cutting off trade with Britain will have no impact on China. . You are worse than the Danes."

"Why don't you reflect on yourself? Reflect on yourself. Why is your company's trade volume not even comparable to that of Denmark?"

"I once had high hopes for the UK. I have told others that the UK has great potential. Even if France has a larger population, the UK's potential is the greatest because of policy and industrial issues."

"But you failed to live up to my expectations."

"Think about it carefully, you are a Protestant country, France is a Catholic country, one to zero; you have no silk industry, France has a silk industry, two to zero; you drink tea, the French drink coffee, three to zero; you With maritime superiority in controlling the trade lines, the French navy was at a disadvantage, four to zero.”

"With such a huge advantage, you have forced me to become a person who is disgusted with Britain. Please reflect on it. Where did you go wrong? Why did this happen?"

"If you sow melons, you will reap melons; if you sow beans, you will reap beans. Alas..."

Liu Yu finished speaking in a tone that said he hated iron but could not become steel, and sighed. Fazaklei also sighed in reflection.

If the Sino-French exchanges at the beginning were motivated by Russia, the common enemy, it would make sense.

What happens after that?

Fazaklai also felt that the UK had made a mistake and missed the opportunity of one of its best allies.

The United Kingdom is an abstract whole. To make this abstract whole concrete, my family works in a textile factory and my family is engaged in the import trade of oriental cotton. Are their attitudes on the issue of textile tariffs consistent?

Many people in the UK hold their backs straight and never think that the fact that Dashun and France are too close to the point that they may impose sanctions on the UK is the UK's own problem.

They also did not reflect on the fact that if Britain had taken the initiative to get closer to Dashun, it might not be threatened by trade sanctions today.

They believe that the development of the British textile industry, ceramics industry, coffee and beer industry will inevitably conflict with Dashun. Unless you demolish all your own industries, sooner or later you will have many conflicts with Dashun.

But there are many people whose waists are not straight, such as Fazaklai and many directors of the East India Company.

When faced with such a problem, they first need to reflect on themselves. Did the UK do something wrong that caused Dashun or Liu Yu to be so dissatisfied with the attitude of the UK?

And to his ears, what Liu Yu said did make sense.

It was agreed at the beginning that the company could lobby Congress to liberalize import tariffs. But in the end, he made a mistake. Not only was his lobbying unsuccessful, but the tariff on cotton cloth was increased a lot. Will Dashun be happy?

Isn’t this just what you sow and you will reap what you sow?

In Fazaklai’s view, Britain clearly had the opportunity to make money easily and live a better life than it is now, but it chose the wrong path.

If the tariffs had been lifted at the beginning, not only would they have been able to monopolize the tea, silk, porcelain, and cotton throughout Europe, but they would also have been able to seize the European monopoly on all spices after Dashun sailed to Nanyang.

What is the total population of the UK? Can't you also make a fortune by doing this kind of trade?

Thinking of this, he felt a little unreasonable in his heart and became less angry.

"Sir, please know that the company's attitude towards tariffs is definitely not the attitude of some people in the British Parliament towards tariffs. And you must also know that the UK is a vast market, and the UK also has the ability to expand the sales of Dashun trade products. "

"I think both of us should reach an agreement and make a lot of efforts on this issue."

Liu Yu smiled and said: "Where is sincerity? It's empty talk, I need some sincerity. Instead of painting a big cake for me like the last tea tariff."

Fazakle was actually ready to accept the punishment. If Dashun said that he would be fined for the opium problem, he would admit it. As long as the amount is not too large, shareholders will agree.

He does not think it is a matter of kneeling or not, but that if trade with China is cut off, the losses will be greater. Just for the trade volume in the late Ming Dynasty, in order to open the trade license, six to seventy thousand taels of silver were spent in Japan to ask Li Dan and others to smoothen the relationship.

The current trade volume has increased tenfold and hundreds of times, and half of the company's profits come from trade with China. It would be beneficial if they could pay a fine and get rid of the problem.

Since Liu Yu asked about sincerity, Fazaklai thought about it and asked: "What does your Lord think of sincerity? In other words, what should we do to show our sincerity?"

Liu Yu, who had always had a slumped face and was mocking even when he smiled, suddenly changed his mood, his eyes were bright and he spoke a word with expectation.

"Chronometer"

"I want this kind of clock that can withstand the bumps of the sea, withstand the alternation of hot and cold in humid environments, and still keep accurate time!"

"Go back and use the company's influence to get a clock like this, whether it's a big clock or a pocket watch."

"If you can get it, I can ask His Majesty to issue you a license to continue operating for at least twenty years as long as you no longer sell opium and other contraband."

"Money is not an issue. I will pay for the reward of 20,000 pounds."

Fazaklai repeated the word in astonishment.

"Chronometer?"

Then shook his head.

"Sir, this is a controlled product, a first-level controlled product. If we get this, public opinion will be in an uproar and they will think that we are betraying national interests. This will seriously affect our domestic operations."

This thing is not about money at all. This is the cornerstone of this era across the seven seas. Who has the qualifications to stipulate which longitude is the zero degree of longitude, and in the future the world will need to use this as a national important weapon.

From the perspective of future generations, whoever can produce accurate watches at this time will be equivalent to the GPS system of later generations. Dashun's work on the moon phase chart is actually creating something to compete with the GPS at this time.

Even though Fazaklai hopes to preserve trade with China, he cannot make a principled mistake on this matter. Once exposed, the East India Company would become a target.