New Shun 1730

"The system and etiquette of the Celestial Empire are superior to those of the West. The only thing that the West is good at is the ingenuity of its instruments. When we go to France this time, we should send more craftsmen. Don't send scholars. It will be a shame to send anyone. Besides, they only see strange skills and won't learn anything."

"Of course, I will spend some money from my treasury to encourage them to concentrate on studying in France and serve the country in the future. The key is that these people must not believe in religion. If they believe in Catholicism in France, they should not come back."

So far, the emperor and court officials are still quite confident in the system and etiquette of the Celestial Empire.

The reforms that Liu Yu has been carrying out are all out of nothing. They basically do not touch the interests of the vested interests, and they are also under the guise of the ingenuity of instruments. The huge power contained in it and the risk of social division in the future have not yet been revealed.

Since craftsmen are to be sent, there is no need to go through the government. Liu Yu can select people to go by himself.

Liu Yu thought that this was another opportunity for him to take advantage of the situation. Duke Qi went to Paris, and he probably heard a lot of "words that are unworthy of the emperor and father".

While Duke Qi's envoys have not returned yet, Chen Zhen, who Liu Yu has always been worried about, is like a time bomb. He doesn't know what he will see in France and what ideas he will have.

It's better to take this opportunity to send this group of people out.

It's very embarrassing to study abroad in this era. The hard power of the West has just been demonstrated. It's still a hundred years away from the era of qualitative leaps and black chimneys all over the ground. Even if he goes abroad, it won't bring too much shock.

He didn't want the emperor to send people there. Those sent by the emperor were basically conservative landlords. What they saw would not be the same as what Liu Yu let people see.

"Your Majesty, I have already selected the personnel, all of whom are craftsmen, and some are children. The craftsmen will go to learn shipbuilding, and the children will go there to learn more and see more, which will facilitate translation in the future. The craftsmen can return in five years, and the children can return in ten years."

"If the French delegation wants to go back, they have to wait until the winter monsoon this year. I request that if the French delegation asks to visit Jiangnan or go down the canal, it must not be allowed."

"First, I am worried that they will steal the skills of our silk and porcelain; second, there are many poor people along the river. If they go down the river, it will damage the dignity of the Celestial Empire and make them look down on our dynasty."

The emperor still has some idea of ​​what the situation is in the world.

The brightly-looking capital, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Guangdong are naturally not comparable to the poor areas inside. Especially the existence of the canal transport, which requires a large number of conscripts to transport grain; although money is given for repairing the Yellow River, the actual money given is lower than the level of local employees, and in the small peasant economy, people only work during the slack season, so even if they are paid, it is actually just forced labor.

Of course, the emperor didn't want to show these dark and dirty places to foreigners, so he just knew about it.

"You are right. It's August now, and they won't stay here for too long. When the time comes, they will follow you back to Weihai, and go back where they came from. I will deny their request to go down Songjiang along the canal."

"It's just that there is no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand days. If the Westerners are really interested, unless they completely close themselves off, it will be difficult to stop some people who forget their principles for the sake of profit from spreading the silk and porcelain techniques. According to what you said, Westerners can actually make porcelain now?"

Liu Yu thought about it and decided to remind the emperor.

"Yes, but the firing is still a little poor. In a hundred years at most, or fifty years at least, it may catch up with our dynasty. As for silk, Persia, Rumi and other countries also produce a lot of silk, and France also has silk weaving workshops. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Spaniards raised silkworms in America. I dare say that this kind of lying and making money will not last too long."

"As for tea... In fact, there are many places overseas where tea can be grown. But now England and Guyana impose heavy taxes on tea, and the East India Company is not profitable, so it does not want to invest too much in tea. Once England and Guyana choose to relax the tea tariff, I am afraid that Westerners will also grow tea and pick tea."

"Since our dynasty has chosen to open trade, we must bear the consequences. Everything has its pros and cons."

For a long time, the high-end porcelain and silk market was still dominated by Dashun, but it was hard to say about the mid- and low-end market.

The emperor sighed and thought that his children and grandchildren would have their own blessings. When his children and grandchildren come, if the Western craftsmen surpass our dynasty in exquisiteness, they can only rely on themselves to solve it.

Although it is necessary to prepare for a rainy day, the emperor has no way to deal with this unprecedented situation.

Before this, where has the situation of foreign products being better than that of the country?

But it is thousands of miles away and cannot be stopped. Think about what Liu Yu said, gunpowder was brought by the Mongols during the westward expedition, and it took the Westerners only two or three hundred years to surpass them. It seems very likely that porcelain and silk will surpass them in the future.

But, what exactly did the Westerners rely on to surpass them so quickly?

The emperor had a little doubt in his heart, but he did not ask Liu Yu, because he guessed that if he asked Liu Yu, he would definitely say the same old rhetoric: promote practical learning, set up schools... and even reform the imperial examination.

It is better not to give him the opportunity to say such crazy words.

Li Gan's judgment of the outside world and his various actions to support reforms were nothing more than treating Liu Yu as a eunuch who could enrich the treasury of the previous dynasty, and let Liu Yu reform the military system to maintain his rule, and let Liu Yu preside over trade to make money... Zheng He can do this job too.

Through this reception of the French delegation, the emperor caught up on the situations of some European countries and became more interested in the temptation of "monopolizing Southeast Asian spices" offered by Liu Yu.

The military reform was very smooth. He did not think about the legacy and loose cracks left by Li Guo. He left enough talents outside the imperial examination to make the military reform so smooth.

So he just thinks that as long as he has money, nothing is impossible.

And Li Guo's legacy seems to have become something that should be taken for granted now. He has never thought about how difficult this military reform would be without the foundation laid by Li Guo.

He only thinks about money, and of course he is also concerned about Westerners stealing technology, but he has no solution.

"Since there is no answer to what Aiqing said about the Western porcelain silk, there is no need to think about it. Just be careful."

"I have no choice. If I control it, it will die. If I let it go, it will cause chaos."

"All I have to say is strict investigation. The local Jiedushi must write a letter to cut off trade and be lazy in government to avoid making mistakes. Or destroy the porcelain workshops around the customs, or conduct daily inspections so that subordinate officials can take the opportunity to make money."

"As the saying goes: If you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of being remembered. As long as Westerners have their minds set on it, and the dynasty opens and closes trade, sooner or later they will steal. Let them go."

"Fortunately, expelling the missionaries can always delay the situation."

Liu Yu thought to himself that it was impossible to control even this grassroots level of control.

The British kept the steam engine so secret, didn’t they even keep it for thirty years?

The emperor had other things to discuss with Liu Yu, so he asked the British Duke to retreat first and prepare a golden plan against the Russians to force Russia to make concessions on the issue of northwest boundary demarcation.

After the British Duke left, the emperor asked Liu Yu a very strange question.

"I have learned more about the Western countries these days, and I also asked about the East India Company. But what do I think, is the East India Company competing for profits with the people?"

"For example, the British-Barbarian East India Company has a monopoly on trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. If there is private British-Barbarian trade, the East India Company can sink it. If it can be captured, half of the cargo on the ship will go to the treasury and half to the East India company."

"In other words, even if everyone knows that China is rich in products and can make a lot of money, it would be a serious crime to dare to go private."

"I have thought about it for a long time, but I really don't know how the Yingyi people can guarantee that they will not make public accusations and compete with the people for profit? According to you, this Yingyi King is not the kind of person whose words are the law."

Liu Yu thought about the definition of competing with the people for profit, and said: "Your Majesty, it is clear that the East India Company is competing with the people for profit. However, on the one hand, it is convenient for taxation and the money can go into the hands of the royal family; secondly, it is not necessary Eat alone. In fact, the British-Barbarian East India Company also had problems many times. It just issued new shares and let those who clamored for profit from the people buy shares, and no one stopped shouting. "

"As for the current trading companies in the country, the reason why no one calls for competing for profits with the people is because they are inherently unprofitable. The Japanese country is closed, and whoever has the ability to get the Japanese trade card can trade."

"If Japan switches the country on and off in the future, it will be a different story."

"But as far as I can see, it is in the interests of the people not to form a trading company. But it is beneficial to the government, internal funds, and the treasury to form a trading company. Each has its own pros and cons. Please ask His Majesty's Holy Judgment on this."

The emperor thought to himself, what else can be done? Naturally, trading companies are allowed to be established and monopoly rights are allowed.

As for what kind of free trade is beneficial to the people, smuggling was rampant in the Ming Dynasty and it was indeed beneficial to the people. But what could the court do if it had no money?

If the world was just a corner of the southeast, it would be easy to say anything, but now the situation in the world is to collect taxes in the southeast to subsidize other places, and there is no way.

Relying only on navy and customs inspections, the coastline is long. Once the Japanese country opens up trade in the future, it will be impossible to prevent it.

It's better to throw them all out and pay the taxes. If there are smugglers, the trading company's ship will catch them.

As for those who were dissatisfied, after listening to Liu Yu's explanation of "not eating alone", the emperor thought that it would not be difficult

. Nowadays, there are many shareholders of the nobles. Those who eat this food include the nobles, the royal family, and coastal maritime merchants. The rest of the people just shout a few times to compete with the people for profit, but it will not make any difference.

But what he wanted to ask was not about Japan.

"You said a few days ago that you would send ships to Europe in the name of escorting Swedish people captured by the quasi-military forces back to their countries. I was thinking, since the British, Dutch, French, Swedish and other countries can all form the East Indies Company, that is to say, apart from its companies, there are no private traders from Western countries who can trade with China? "

Liu Yu didn't know what the emperor wanted to ask, and felt a little strange in his heart. After thinking about it a little alertly, he could only nod.

"Yes."

"Then, if I want to form the Europa Company and grant monopoly rights, I need a navy that can defeat Britain, the Netherlands, France and Spain, force them to switch to trade and take back the monopoly rights of their East India Company; I also need to close the port customs and prohibit the cargo of Western merchant ships. When entering the port, only Europa’s ships can transport Western goods, right?”

Liu Yu could already tell that something was not right, but what he said was true and could only be called true.

"That's definitely not possible. So, what if I take all Western trade into official business? We will fund it from internal funds and grant monopoly rights in the same way as a trading company. Only Westerners are allowed to have monopoly rights over chambers of commerce. Trade. In this way, I will gain a hundred times the tariff, and I will be able to use an extra one or two million taels of internal funds to build a navy. Is that so?"

"The money is in the hands of businessmen, and they don't have the money to build ships. I want to invest money, but I don't have the money. If this can be done, I think it will be of great benefit to the country."

"With the trade volume of millions of taels of silver per year in Western countries, I can earn at least 3 million taels of silver per year. In this way, I can spend 1 million taels per year to settle immigrants in the Western Regions and the Whale Sea; 1 million taels to convert the natives into Han Chinese; 1 million taels to invest in the navy."

Liu Yu reacted for a moment, and after a little thought, he was scared out of his wits.

I thought, this is just a trade port?

His face changed drastically, and he kept saying, "I think... it's absolutely not allowed. I beg Your Majesty not to do this. It will not benefit the country, but will only cause great harm."