From Chief to Ball

"These things need a mechanical and chemical basis to support them."

"No problem. I'm in charge of translating the sciences of mechanics, chemistry, and natural biology. You use this as a basis for variant philosophy and jurisprudence."

Lan Qi frowned and said, "You mean, in philosophy, after the God they believed in created the world, it became all things in the world, and the subsequent rules are supported by mechanical theories like mechanics? It's like that grid Lausius said, if God does not exist, two times two still equals four? God is nature, nature is all things, and all things have their own rules?"

Chen Jian hummed and added: "Not only do all things have rules, people also have reason and rules, and they also have natural rights. How are these things derived from freedom and equality? For us, it is very simple to launch these things. But for them, our deduction may not apply. Therefore, first of all, the radical spread of mechanics and chemistry and biology, and then based on their God's non-interference in the operation of the world after creation, a conclusion is drawn that the world The operation of human rights, the existence of the country, and the meaning of the law are based on rational inferences. This is called the opposition between the church and the king, which is well-founded."

Lan Qi chuckled and said, "The reason for the rebellion is different from what the people in the mine said."

"That's for sure. The rich and the citizens have to be justified in rebelling. Each has its own reasons. Now we mainly help the people here to find reasons. Then you say that you are not free and oppressed, so you rebelled against the king and the church. Is it reasonable? According to the old point of view, it is definitely unreasonable, so we have to look for it. How can we rebel if there is no reason?"

"Then this political, economic and military school accepts Europeans?"

"Take it, teach students according to their aptitude. The teaching method may be different. It mainly teaches useful things in cities such as barricade warfare, propaganda, secret organization, assassination, and bombing. In this regard, our former radical comrades can show their talents."

Lan Qi shrugged and said: "You have to remember that these matters need to be discussed and voted on within the party. Otherwise, you are breaking the rules."

"Of course, of course. But we have quite a few comrades here this time. Since we are in the process of sailing around the world, some decisions can be made at the group meeting."

"Yes, that's what I mean. Don't deviate from the procedure, otherwise what we pursue will be meaningless. Although you are the initiator of the money, unless you break away from the party and form your own arbitrary organization, otherwise everyone in the party are equal, democratic principles must be upheld."

"I see."

"As long as you know."

He gave Chen Jian a blank look, and said after a while: "But I personally support your opinion."

……

On the way to The Hague, Chen Jian stayed in a small town for two days under the pretext of unacceptable diarrhea.

Soon, some businessmen and employees of the Nanyang Trading Company came and roughly summarized the trading news of various goods in Amsterdam and told Chen Jian.

"Mr. Chen, there are several kinds of trade that we do completely. The Netherlands lacks copper, and their copper is imported from a country called Sweden further north. There are also high-quality pig iron, armor, and swords. I calculated that if we To be able to stabilize this route, according to the one-seventh probability of shipwreck, after deducting the cost of hiring crew, the profit of copper is more than [-]%."

"Cotton, raw silk, silk and glass, all profitable. But the seasonings they use ... if we can find them, are a very lucrative business."

The merchants held pens and paper, counted the prices of the bulk items they had inquired about, and were quite coveted for the profits of spices.

Chen Jian said with a smile: "For business, there are comings and goings, and there are going and returning. If we also cut off the spice business, then they will probably join forces to deal with us. Look again, once I reach an agreement with this side Agreement, you will take a boat back to Fujian County and organize a batch of goods. Note that the probability of shipwreck must be taken into account, and if the profit is less than 30.00%, there is no need to organize."

The businessman calculated the profits of various goods, and nodded with a smile on his face: "That's natural. The same profit, the same ship, naturally load the most profitable goods. But spices..."

"Not to get involved. If you want to get involved, go back and set up a company alone. The Nanyang Company does not get involved in the trade of spices to Europe."

"why?"

"Because in Nanyang Company's 21-member board of directors, except for the four designated by the state to have the final decision-making power in war, diplomacy, and taxation, the rest are not all businessmen. There are also workshop owners like me."

"What does it matter?"

"The relationship is that if the interests of merchants and workshop owners want to reach an agreement, the sales of the goods of the workshop owner must be the main focus. The development of workshops, factories, and mining should be driven by trade funds and markets. I am not optimistic about the long-term development of the spice trade. "

"But it's a good sell, over here."

"There are some things you don't know. I heard that these things are all connected from trees. If you want to control, you must monopolize to make profits, and cut down trees when necessary. This requires too much manpower and material resources. We can't afford it. At least, In the short term, we don’t have the strength yet, and we have made too many enemies. In the long run, we can’t achieve a monopoly with low profits. If we monopolize, we will fight wars. We may not be able to fight in the far sea now. Don’t stare at the coveted profits. , but staring at what can be secured in front of you is enough.”

The businessman, too, thinks that there is enough today to ensure excess profits.The Nanyang Trading Company does have a group of mine owners, workshop owners, and factory owners who have the priority to order, which is more profitable for factory owners than pure transshipment trade.

Chen Jian thought for a while, and then asked: "What clues can we see about the tariff issue?"

"Except for spices, I don't see any problems. For us, protective tariffs are meaningless. If we return directly, there is nothing worth loading except for cattle, horses, seeds, and mechanical books. But the problem is cattle, horses, etc. And seeds, we can grow something like cabbage and leeks in up to ten years, and if we can only go back and forth, we will have to go back empty."

The businessman was a little helpless, and after thinking for a long time, he finally said: "By the way, there may be diamonds, gems, ivory, wine and other things that can make some money. Apart from these things, I only want silver."

Chen Jian said with a smile: "This is just a small country, nothing can be seen. Besides, the world is so big, maybe there will be goods worth trading in the south. It is not impossible to turn south from here."

"South? What can there be in the south?"

"I don't know. If I knew, would I still use it to sail around the world? Maybe there are things like gold and ivory. Anyway, you are mainly focusing on the prices here, so you must not make any loopholes in the tariff issue."

"Mr. Chen, don't worry, this time, besides us businessmen, there are also people sent by your workshop owner. We don't care, but you will definitely pay attention to it. But there is one thing, I think we will definitely support it."

"what?"

"Increase taxes and train the navy. Otherwise, the profits of our businessmen will be taken away by others."

Chen Jian laughed, nodded and said, "Okay, don't you also know how to think of ways for your own interests?"

"No way. The fleet here is too scary."

"Just this once, tell everyone not to express such emotion."

"clear."

The company members handed over the collected information to Chen Jian and left.

Chen Jian also recovered from unaccustomed diarrhea and headed for The Hague.

Chapter 33 Times have changed

Arriving in The Hague meant endless negotiations.

Morris was also returning from the front.I just got the news that the rising star Spinola on the opposite side has returned to Spain, mainly to buy national debt. The Spanish royal family is already on the verge of bankruptcy. They are going to sell a batch of national debt and declare bankruptcy so that they don't have to pay it back.

Some of the directors of the Dutch India Company also gathered in The Hague, and they had to figure out whether this emerging trading partner or potential enemy.

The grounds for negotiations were also present after observing the maneuvers of the Army of the Republic, which consisted of hundreds of years of disciplined freeholders.

These soldiers demonstrated three-row salvo with flintlock guns, fast flint gun reloading, walking in unison, turning, quickly forming a team after disbanding, turning left and right, digging pits with Dutch shovels, digging parapets, and digging pits performed by comrades in the party's mining area After the explosives were buried and detonated, Morris' younger brother Henry, who had served in his brother's army for a long time, was convinced that this is a new army system that is no less than or even surpasses the Dutch system, if not counting cavalry.

Moreover, some comrades in the mining area disguised as "engineers" who have systematically learned the key points of mine explosion in Lanxiang for several years are more professional in digging and burying explosives than the Dutch engineering team.

After the kerosene-fueled hot air balloon launch, telescope detection and other extremely useful technologies for besieging and breaking the city were displayed, Henry was already a little panicked.

Once those high-powered explosives and hot air balloons fall into the hands of Spain, it will be a decisive blow to the West-Dutch War, which is mainly based on the attack and defense of castles, especially under the shadow of the defeat of the siege of Ostend.

Although there were no cavalry to follow, Chen Jian and an officer from the army head family of the Republic still showed off their riding skills.Chen Jian was born in Ye Luzi who started with a bareback horse, and that officer was also proficient with a small pommel horse. The level of collective charge was not shown, but he had a bit of nomad light riding style.

Whether the artillery technique is good or not, you can know by looking at the cannon and then looking at the level of mathematics.Trigonometric functions are very smooth, and the artillery level will not be bad.

So, whether they believe in God or not, they all started negotiating on an equal footing.

Long negotiations are not meaningless. If you want to dominate or participate in a certain system, you must abide by the rules within the system, or make rules as a sponsor.

Rules and such are nonsense in the face of absolute power, but under the circumstances that the Republic will not be involved in European affairs within ten years, boring negotiations to expand its influence are imperative.

The Republic has absolute strength in the archipelago and Spanish America. In the face of absolute strength, negotiations in this area can be put to the end.