New Shun 1730

"I think what this dear friend said is 80% true. Didn't the imperial court issue a policy a while ago?"

"Tea trees are not allowed to be planted in Nanyang plantations. Tea seeds are not allowed to go to Nanyang. Customs in various places and the Malacca fleet must also strictly investigate the issue of tea seeds leaving the country."

"Some people said at that time that tea was not allowed to be grown in Nanyang plantations. In fact, it was still a worry for 'millions of water workers'. If tea was planted in Nanyang, Ceylon and other places, how would the tea farmers in Fujian and Lianghu live?"

"And this is not just a matter for tea farmers. There are also those who issue contracts, transport goods, and transport. The court also has to find a way for these people to survive, right?"

"So, I think there may be someone in Fujian really looking for the Duke, hoping to spare the British a way out so that the people will not have no food and clothing."

Everyone thought of the new customs policy on tea introduced by the imperial court a few days ago, and felt more and more that it made sense.

If you set up plantations in Nanyang, it will definitely be easier to make money than it is now. After all, the British drink cheap tea. They set up tea gardens on a large scale and export targeted products, which saves a lot of land transportation costs. It is indeed more profitable.

But after all, the court still has to consider who should earn this money.

The big businessman who gave way to the plantation?

Or let the people in Fujian pick tea?

Obviously, the court chose the latter.

Following this line of thinking, businessmen discussed many possible changes in Britain's subsequent trade.

Since they are businessmen who pay attention to this kind of thing, they naturally want to pay attention to British policy. Who are the tea leaves from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden sold to? They also need to know this.

They also need to know that if there is a war in Europe, the price of lead and zinc will rise; they also know that if Britain and France go to war in North America, ginseng will become scarce and increase in price.

Some Guangdong businessmen will remember a very special impact, because French ships used ice as ballast, which almost squeezed out some ice-keeping industries in Guangzhou. As a result, because Britain and France went to war in North America and hijacked each other's ships, the city of Guangzhou actually lacked ice in summer.

These things, they know happen, and then someone tells them why it happened.

Under this circumstance, even for speculation and commercial needs, more and more Western literature and history books are translated.

Naturally, these businessmen gradually understood who the Western Trading Company and the Swedish Company sold so much tea to every year.

Naturally, we saw the essence of the problem.

What was at stake for their profits was not whether the British East India Company would be allowed to continue trading, but whether the British tea tax would be outlawed.

The same Dashun merchants, maritime merchants, financial speculators, merchants, and manufacturers had completely different attitudes towards the British tea tax issue.

These maritime merchants and speculators supported Britain's high tea tax.

For them, the high tax on tea in Britain created tea profits for Western trading companies.

On the contrary, the British relaxed the tax on tea and the British had navigation regulations. The tea brought by the Western Trading Company could not compete with the British East India Company - just like what happened to the Danish Asia Company in this matter, no matter they How could they all compete with Dashun's merchant group on the issue of getting goods? The strong dragons are not overpowering the local snakes. Moreover, in terms of the degree of capital abundance, there is a difference between a local snake and a local dragon.

But for the merchants, tea dealers and processors in Dashun, they are looking forward to the UK relaxing the tea tax.

The British liberalization of tea taxes was detrimental to the maritime merchants who had just tried to seize the initiative in trade, but it was greatly beneficial to merchants and tea traders.

As a tea producer, is there any difference between selling tea to the East India Company and selling tea to the Western Trading Company of Dashun's own people?

There is no difference.

In fact, because of the gradual monopoly of Haishang Group, the purchase price of tea has actually been lowered. Especially in the past few years, with sanctions on Britain and Portugal and investigations into Denmark, the rising Maritime Group in Dashun almost arrogantly told those tea merchants: At this price, sell it if you like, or keep it for next year. Old tea bar.

For tea merchants, the happiest days were precisely those years when the market was "fully competitive" and the Ostend Company suddenly intervened and took the initiative to provoke a monopoly trade war over tea purchases. The British, Dutch and Portuguese , Austria, four countries are competing to increase prices, make trouble, give gifts, and stock up on goods.

It’s just that this kind of full competition quickly determined the winner. It took less than ten years to go from full competition to monopoly.

For the same policy, just like the law banning tea plantations promulgated by the imperial court not long ago, some people are applauding it, some are mourning for an heir, some are resentful of the imperial court, and some are grateful to the imperial court.

Amid the joy of Dashun's investigation of the Danish business office and the 25% increase in export tariffs to Denmark, the British business office was allowed to trade, and concerns about whether Britain would relax the tea tax became a cloud hanging over the heads of these maritime merchants. A dark cloud.

…………

At the same time.

While the maritime merchants were discussing the policies of various European countries, the Danes were anxious, and the British were gloating about their misfortune, Qi Guozheng was talking to Liu Yu about the process of his European trip.

The incident in Denmark has been mentioned in a few words. It is nothing more than that the old king of Denmark died and the new king ascended the throne. The Duke of Qi randomly found some troubles, caused some diplomatic disputes, said harsh words, and left with a low face.

Duke Guo of Qi was one of the few people who knew that Dashun wanted to "collect land tax in India to subsidize domestic consumption." When he talked to Liu Yu about his trip to Europe, he also knew that Liu Yu was most concerned about the issue, which was the United Kingdom. question.

"Shou Chang, this time around the opium issue, we didn't kill Britain. But will Britain really relax the tea tax? Although I don't understand the meaning of this very well, I understand the simple truth. If the tea tax is relaxed, it will be difficult for our companies to sell tea. "

"Now, the Western Trading Company and the Sino-Swiss Rakshasa Joint Trading Company have made huge profits from tea. Many of them are also sold to the UK."

"Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot. I have invested a lot of money in it and am waiting for the profits. Your Majesty probably also invested a lot of money."

"While I was in Europe, I specifically inquired about the tea tax in the UK. I heard that the UK is currently in a state of chaos regarding the tea tax issue."

"The East India Company hired many people to write editorials all day long, discussing the benefits of abolishing the tea tax; there were also people who retorted one by one, only talking about the disadvantages of abolishing the tea tax."

"In my opinion, this is a sign of partisanship."

"Everyone is looking for a gunman, and they all speak of justice. I see that the chaos of the British and British factions is very close at hand."

Liu Yu said with a smile: "My father-in-law is right, this is the struggle between the parties. In the end, everyone was stunned. Do you want to beat the big head, or the small head? It's just like the fight between the old and new parties in the Song Dynasty. Whoever wins must completely deny it. Even if some of the policies of the old party and the new party are not completely bad governance, they must still reject it.”

"The British still have the Prince Party, the King's Party, and the King's Party today. Struggles are normal. As for the tea tax, there's nothing to worry about."

Liu Yu was very confident about this.

Historically, Britain's support for the bourgeoisie has been paid for by the whole people.

If the tea tax is abolished, the total tax amount will remain unchanged. This means that gains and losses will be lost in the east, and gains will be lost in the mulberry trees.

If the term "efficient centralization" can be used, Britain is undoubtedly the most suitable.

The British government collected money based on the window tax. Not long after the Ming Dynasty, it could collect 4 million taels of silver based on the window tax. It is equivalent to two years of Liao's salary, which is unimaginable in Dashun or Daming, and it is impossible to collect this money.

This should also be one of the reasons why the glass styles of 18th-century buildings in England and France are different. The United Kingdom levies taxes based on the size of the windows, while France levies taxes based on the width of the glass.

So the French glass style was more slender, while the British windows of that era were larger.

Historically, in order to support the East India Company's bourgeoisie, the British imposed a window tax.

Use the window tax to make up for the canceled tea tax.

In other words, the British middle class relied on the entire British middle class to support the East India Company from collapse.

This kind of support should be said to be something that the businessmen here in Dashun dare not even think about. What is the ruling tool of the ruling class?

But, that time, this time.

The East India Company that occupied India in 1766 and the East India Company that did not occupy Bengal today are both called the East India Company, but they are not the same thing.

In 1766, after the Seven Years War and the collapse of the French colonial system, the British government had a high prestige; and now it was accused of being a "HRE prince", attacked by the Patriot Party, and was pierced by France. Belgium lost the Netherlands. The British government of its traditional allies is called the British government, but it is not the same thing.

Therefore, Liu Yu can conclude that the British Parliament will never pass a bill to abandon the tea tax.

We have just finished the war and are short of money. If we give up the tea tax at this time, where can we make up for it?

Subsidy from the middle class, and the whole people pay for the East India Company?

With the current reputation of the British King, the conflict between father and son, and the question of whether it is German or British, it is definitely not dared.

Moreover, the current East India Company has not yet been taken seriously by the British government to save the country by cutting the wool of the middle class.

How much money you make determines the value of your company. Even Bangladesh was not won, and the power of the corporate lobby was not enough.

And there is another problem here, that is, the North American Participation War initiated by Liu Yu sharply increased the degree of centrifugation between the wealthy colonial merchants and the British government.

Smugglers and North American wealthy businessmen are a highly overlapping class. They dare to raise tea taxes at this time, unless there is no talent among the millions of people in the UK, and the parliament is full of baboons with unsound minds.

After thinking for a while, Liu Yu smiled and said: "I estimate that this matter will eventually be resolved in a haphazard manner. The British side may first let out the wind and want to cancel the tea tax. But if the thunder is loud and the rain is small, they will definitely give up in the end, which is equivalent to It’s a bargaining chip to win over the hearts of North Americans.”

"Since I forced him to go to India, I wanted to scare them. If I don't scare them, they won't be able to make up their mind. At least in the past few years, there is no need to worry about the smuggling trade."

"In recent years, it's best to make a fortune silently."

Duke Guo of Qi certainly supports Mensheng's making a fortune, and he has invested in a lot of stocks himself.

After thinking about Liu Yu's inference on British policy, Qi Guogong added: "So, can the amount of tea produced by the Western Trading Company be increased this year? At least the one million taels of tea left by the Danish Company should be added?"

Liu Yudu believed: "If you add more, you can definitely add more. If you don't eat it alone, there is no problem if you eat large pieces. Anyway, it goes through Sweden or the Netherlands. For us, it's just a difference between the left hand and the right hand."

"Anyway, Britain can't reduce the tax on tea now, so the East India Company can only think about India. We can just sit back and watch the fight. There is no need to rush. This year, not only will Denmark's original volume of goods be added, but also some additional goods will be added. I If the tax is increased to 25%, the Danes will lose money when they ship it back. Look, after a while they will have to beg me to let me eat the goods they ordered, otherwise they will compensate the suppliers for breach of contract. gold."

"Since we are cooperating with the Netherlands, we should learn from the Dutch's tactics of seizing the ships of Chinese merchants in Batavia and forcing them to reduce prices and sell at a loss."

Anyway, Liu Yu has been dealing with the Dutch for many years, and he has not seen any of the golden age Barents spirit that is being promoted, but he has seen all kinds of dirty tricks.