My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 27 Scissor Difference

Yes, if you can just rob, why do you still want to do business?
In Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, plundering is a business that makes huge profits with no investment. The only risk is that people may die.

But going out to sea carries the risk of death, whether it is fishing or being a pirate, otherwise the fishermen on the coast would not worship Mazu.

I've been thinking about it, but I still can't figure it out. So I'll just forget it and read the letter!
"We spent a long time talking about trade and currency. Now, Lao Zhu, get ready to see how this magical thing called trade harvests wealth from all over the world like a hurricane!

Let’s continue giving examples.

In Britain's maritime trade, there is an extremely important commodity called white sugar.

White sugar, also known as granulated sugar or frosting sugar, is made from sugarcane.

Because of its flawless whiteness, crystal clearness, high sugar content, it can be used to make various desserts, and it is extremely precious. It is popular throughout the European aristocratic circles and has been enduring!
Moreover, white sugar can not only be used to make various snacks, more importantly, white sugar is an extremely important strategic material!

Due to the high calorie content of white sugar, it can be used as a supplement to food and provide soldiers with sufficient physical strength when food is scarce during wartime.

At the same time, when there is a lack of medicine, white sugar can also be used to treat wounds.

In addition, white sugar can prevent and treat diarrhea and dehydration.”

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally knew about white sugar. He vaguely remembered that according to historical records, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, envoy Wang Xuance brought back the sugar-making technique from India.

Later, the sugar-making technology was improved, and sugar was made using the drip method. This further removed impurities from the sugar, making it crystal clear and becoming the white sugar we know today. Because it is as white as frost, it is also called frost sugar.

Frosted sugar is definitely a rare commodity, and it is many times more valuable than malt sugar!

When he was a child, even the landlords could only eat frosted sugar a few times a year. As for Old Zhu, he had never even seen it.

Even now that he is the emperor, he can't bear to eat frosted sugar. At most, if Zhu Yunwen's grandsons are greedy and ask for sweet pancakes, he will follow suit and eat some.

But Zhu Yuanzhang could never imagine using sugar as a strategic material and a supplement to food.

The Ming Dynasty today cannot be said to be a prosperous era, but at least the country is peaceful and the people are safe. However, for ordinary people, rice and flour are not available every day.

Use white sugar as a supplement to food to replenish soldiers' physical strength on the battlefield. Eat white sugar instead of food?

Even healing?
It's like, if there is not enough iron, then use gold to make up for it.

Oh my God, how powerful is Britain?

Could it be that this is a country where gold is everywhere?
Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked beyond words, it was simply unimaginable!
Then, his expression became firm and his eyes sparkled with brilliance.

If Britain can do it, we in the Ming Dynasty can do it too!

Kou can go, so can I!

“Sugar plays an important role in trade, so Britain will certainly not let it go.

But the climate in the UK is not suitable for producing sugarcane, so there is no raw material for making white sugar. What should be done?
At this time, the role of colonies was reflected.

Britain's colonies were spread all over the world, and there were naturally places suitable for growing sugarcane. Therefore, Britain forced the local indigenous people to grow sugarcane to make white sugar.

After the sugar is produced, it is shipped to Europe and sold, making huge profits.

Since most of the sugarcane producing areas are controlled by Britain, the sugar trade is almost also controlled by Britain.

So that's how it is. Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it carefully. Sugar is a scarce commodity in Europe, and scarcity makes things valuable. The sugar trade can indeed bring huge benefits to Britain.

"However, this is only the initial stage of overseas trade, and more advanced ones are still to come." Are there any other masters?

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned, feeling that he was about to be broadened again.

"Not only Europe needs sugar, but the colonies also need sugar.

As a result, a large amount of white sugar poured into the colonies again. Since Britain's sugar-making technology was more advanced and the output was larger, the price was also cheaper. As a result, British white sugar defeated the local sugar industry and became the main or even the only supplier of white sugar.

In other words, the British bought local sugarcane, made white sugar from it, and then sold it to the locals, thus binding them tightly together with sugarcane and white sugar.

Over time, the natives of the colonies lost the ability to grow other crops and could only grow sugarcane. As a result, they became the raw material supplier of sugarcane for Britain, providing it with a steady supply of cheap sugarcane.

Those British people are simply not human beings!
If the natives of the colonies wanted food, they would have to rely on the British. In this way, the lifeline of the colonies was in the hands of the British.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but curse. He was born a peasant and understood what food meant to a country!
However, this also made him think of another level, is it possible to control the desert through trade?
“Similarly, the UK grows and purchases a wide range of raw materials around the world, such as cotton, and uses it to make cloth to meet domestic demand, and then sells it back to the cotton producing areas and even around the world!
There is an important concept here, called the scissors gap! "

Scissors gap? What is it?
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned by this new term.

“The scissors gap explains the source of Britain’s profits from overseas trade, and also reveals why the British can use trade to control the economic lifelines of most countries and regions!
For example, the cotton that Britain bought from India was worth one tael of silver for fifty catties. These fifty catties of cotton could be made into about thirty feet of cloth, and the price of these thirty feet of cloth that Britain sold to India was about five taels of silver.

Zhu Yuanzhang calculated in his mind that the prices of cotton and cloth in the Ming Dynasty were almost the same. This did not explain why the British could make huge profits from it.

“Please note that in Tianzhu, the cost for a workshop to produce a thirty-meter piece of cloth is about three to four taels, and it takes five or even seven days.

In England, thirty feet of cloth, plus the cost of cotton and labor, cost less than two ounces, and it takes less than an hour!"

God!

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned, opened his mouth, and his jaw almost dropped to the ground!

Thirty meters of cloth, only two taels of cost, and it only takes one hour?
Just kidding!

“This is because after the Industrial Revolution, Britain transformed weaving from traditional handicraft workshops to large-scale mechanized production in factories. The characteristic of large-scale mechanized production is that the greater the production volume, the lower the cost!

To give an inappropriate example, the most developed weaving region in the Ming Dynasty should be Jiangnan. The cloth output of the entire Jiangnan in a month may not be as much as the output of a factory in the UK in a day! "

The entire Jiangnan region’s month is not as good as one factory’s day?

Is this the power of the Industrial Revolution?
Mechanized large-scale production should be the result of the Industrial Revolution which produced machinery, and machinery is capable of large-scale production!

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel envious. What if all the weaving factories in Jiangnan were machine factories?

“Therefore, while the price of British cloth was similar to that of Indian cloth, the profits obtained were far greater than those of Indian cloth. Naturally, Indian weaving was suppressed by British industrial cloth and was wiped out.

India also became one of Britain's cotton suppliers and cloth dumping sites.

This is the power of the scissors gap!

So, the meaning of the scissors gap is the difference that occurs when industrial and agricultural products are exchanged, when the price of industrial products is higher than their value and the price of agricultural products is lower than their value.

This difference is one of the secrets of Britain's domination of the world!

The essence of Britain's overseas trade is sustainable exhaustion of resources!"

Good guy! Zhu Yuanzhang exclaimed, "Good guy!"

Is this the truth about overseas trade?
Trade is indeed more cruel than plundering!
PK during the new book period, please give me your votes, tempt me with investment, and chase me to death with reading!
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(End of this chapter)