From Chief to Ball

The contradiction between the two sides can be exploited. At this time, the Indian companies in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are only focusing on spices, which account for more than [-]% of the import trade and profit.

It's not that Chen Jian is not interested, but this thing is like dog food.If you want two dogs to fight rather than bite themselves together, it is best not to move that bone.

In Chen Jian's opinion, it is a pity to discard this bone because it is tasteless to eat. He does not want a large amount of domestic capital to pour into spice plantations, and the cost of ruling is too high, which is meaningless in the long run.

Can't monopolize, this thing is the price of cabbage.If you want to monopolize, you have to burn, kill, and loot. The key is to pay for expensive fort maintenance and garrison costs.

In at most 20 years, things like tea, coffee, sugar, and cotton cloth will become truly profitable things, and early preparation is the right way.

In the long negotiations before, all the discussions were about seemingly insignificant issues, or in other words, they were not about actual interests at all.

Regardless of whether the Dutch believe in the strength of the Republic or not, they must talk patiently with Chen Jian.

For the Orangemen, they needed ammunition, explosives and new weapons, and a new faction that was at least neutral but not close to Spain.

For Indian companies, they need all kinds of goods brought by Chen Jian.

As far as the simplest cotton cloth is concerned, high-quality cotton cloth that is strong without adding linen, comparable to Indian cloth, is a hard currency in the Spice Islands.

Using cotton cloth as a medium for exchanging spices with the islanders is sometimes more popular than silver, which stems from the bloody monopoly policy of the Dutch.

In addition, it is inconvenient to transfer precious metals from Europe to Asia. From the perspective of profit maximization, silver or some European commodities and weapons are exchanged for cotton cloth in India, and then the cotton cloth is sent to the Spice Islands for spices.If you are lucky enough, take the spices to India to exchange cotton cloth, and use cotton cloth as an intermediary similar to currency.

For some islands ruled by the bloody Dutch, the spice trade could be monopolized by sticking to two points: cotton cloth and rice.

Controlling these two kinds of imports, if conditions permit, sending patrol boats to inspect smugglers, theoretically monopolize the spice trade at a low price.

But after Chen Jian showed these people the goods he brought, he also brought a piece of false news: Another fleet of the Republic sailed around the world, starting from the Pacific Ocean, it is estimated that it had already arrived in Asia at this time.

Such news made the Dutch extremely disturbed.They simply cannot invest too many troops in Asia, especially at this time, two to 3000 soldiers are already the limit, and if there are more, the company's financial resources will not be able to support it.

They didn't suspect that Chen Jian was lying, because some of what Chen Jian said sounded like the truth, and he knew no less about Japan, the Ming Dynasty, and Thailand than some people who held company secrets—at least the big ones. There are no gaps in the conversation.

It was a long voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese still occupied Malacca, and the Spaniards got stuck in the American Islands.

This long voyage has greatly threatened the Dutch spice dream.Portuguese and British Indian companies are all vying for trade in the Cape of Good Hope.

Besides these, however, there are Muslims.Taking the overland route from the Red Sea to Venice is also a trade route no less than the amount of spices mastered by the Dutch at this time.

Now there is such a variable.

In the eyes of the Dutch, the greatest interests that can be won are nothing more than two points.

The Republic does not participate in the spice trade.Some goods that are in short supply in the Spice Islands, such as cotton cloth and machetes of the Republic, can be traded in the Netherlands.

If these two points can be achieved, it will be as perfect as a dream.

What are spices?It is no longer a secret now, and it is impossible to hide it even if you want to, and the negotiating partner obviously knows where the spices are produced.

It is difficult to sell the handicraft products in Europe at this time in Asia.The Indian companies in the Netherlands urgently needed many handicraft samples brought by Chen Jian as loan goods for their spice trade. It would be best if they could barter in Amsterdam.

Yet they could not fathom what the Republic lacked.

In fact, everything is lacking, and it is far from the level of material abundance.But for businessmen, there must be profit to mean lack, and no profit means no shortage.

What makes them even more nervous is that there seems to be no spice market in the Republic at this time, but reports from some people say that these "Chinese people are very concerned about the spice trade in the trading market in Amsterdam, and they are trying to distinguish the types of spices." Quality, their businessmen with professional vision and accountants who are as skilled as Venice, quickly saw the key to the problem..."

It's not that no one has thought about killing these people and cutting off their possibility of sailing around the world.But the problem is that Spain is aggressive. The republic behind these people doesn't even need to send troops. It only needs to do two things: lend Spain and sell weapons.

It was no secret that there were Spaniards in this fleet. The Dutch also knew that before coming to Amsterdam, Chen Jian went to the Spanish port of St. Friday and had a cordial meeting with the governor there.

In all these situations, Chen Jian didn't need to do anything.

He just needs to be in the right place at the right time to get what he wants.But the premise of getting it is that you must know the general situation of the world, and using barbarians to control barbarians also needs to figure out the situation.

Chen Jian was not in a hurry. In the days before the negotiation, he kept using grammatical errors to talk about the meaningless and mysterious concepts of international law itself.

Today we will talk about the difference between discovery and control, and tomorrow we will talk about freedom of navigation and territorial waters on the high seas. Following the methods commonly used by the provincial councils in the Netherlands, they delay the progress of practical issues with lengthy back and forth.

Chen Jian can procrastinate, but the Dutch cannot.

The Hague belongs to the Netherlands, but there are not only Dutch people in The Hague.Persecuted Jews, French Puritans, British Puritans, as well as ambassadors and diplomats, nobles from various countries here...

The news of the arrival of the Republic's fleet, as well as those novelty or high-quality and cheap goods, has already spread to the place where it can be spread.It is only one strait away from England, only a few southern provinces away from France, and even closer to Spain.

There is no need for Chen Jian to be someone who has prepared enough and brought a lot of goods.Even if an official from the Ministry of Rites of Ming Dynasty is sitting here empty-handed, as long as he proves his identity, people from all over the world will try their best to approach him, just asking for a franchise trade right.

Chen Jian chose the first stop in Europe, and the location is very good.Next to it is Britain, France, and the Spanish Netherlands. To the north is Denmark, the only country in the north that is capable of forming an Indian company. It is up for grabs, and the news spreads quickly.

It has been delayed here for so long. It is estimated that Britain, France and the West have already known it by this time, and the sense of urgency of the Dutch is getting heavier every day.

This group of people doesn't believe in religion at all, and it's meaningless to talk about the same religion and the same emotion with them.

This group of people lacked nothing, the only spice they could find novelty. These people seemed to want to reach out to Europe for trade rather than transporting it back to China.

The global mission of this group of people brought a thousand soldiers, not counting the sailors, gunners, and other envoys and craftsmen. Such handwriting is enough to form an Indian company.

Chen Jian remained unmoved, and in his spare time every day, he either wandered around or spent his own money on banquets. With the help of Grotius, he talked about humanitarianism and prohibiting the slaughter of women and children. .

He could take it easy, and the directors of the Dutch India Company couldn't sit still.

There is already one more competitor in Asia, and they don't want another considerate and scary enemy.And the rest of the Dutch businessmen couldn't sit still anymore. They didn't want to share such a good opportunity of re-export trade with anyone.

The Netherlands is the Netherlands of oligarchs and wealthy businessmen, the Netherlands of commerce, not the Netherlands supported by handicrafts.

Some internal bargaining or fierce quarrels were also going on without Chen Jian's knowledge.

A young accountant from an Indian company who came back from Ambon last year had an idea for the company's board of directors.

If you control the high-quality and cheap cotton cloth, it is equivalent to having a hand that controls the spice trade.The British have no money, their trading companies have imperfect internal regulations, member smuggling is prevalent, and their capital turnover is difficult, and the British policy does not want a large amount of precious metals to be set aside.

Therefore, in this case, if a large amount of cheap cotton cloth can be obtained from the Republic, these cotton cloth can be used as an intermediate to control the spice trade in the spice producing area.The quality of cotton cloth produced by Jijirat merchants is similar to or even inferior to these cotton cloths, and those merchants have to pay taxes when trading in Aceh.

Similarly, since the British lack precious metals, the best way for them to get involved in the spice trade is to use spices to India for cotton cloth, then trade cotton cloth for spices, and then transport the spices back to Europe for trading.

And once the company masters the cotton cloth and the handicraft products needed by the rest of the Spice Islands, the price is low and the quality is not bad, then the British can be squeezed out.If the quality of cotton cloth keeps falling in price, the British will not be able to sustain it.

If necessary, it is even possible to open up a route similar to Manila to America, directly loading handicrafts and cotton cloth from the east coast of the Republic to the trading post of the Spice Islands.

If you set up a bank or trading company, you can trade in Amsterdam by money order, which can save the cost of transporting precious metals.

And if trust can be reached, a trust transaction can even be carried out. The fleet of the Republic transports the goods to the Spice Islands, and the silver coins can be traded in Amsterdam, or the repayment can be made after the spices are sold.

This will not only ensure that the British are squeezed out at a low price, but also increase the turnover cycle.

As the turnover cycle increases, the currency can do more things, especially in transactions with the Ming Dynasty, they have no interest except silver.

Conversely, as long as the spice trade can be monopolized, the high profits of the spices can be ensured, the sales of the same spices will not be a problem, and the silver coins for credit transactions will not be a problem.