New Shun 1730

Whether tea is an agricultural product or an industrial product is not an academic question of scientific classification, but a legal issue.

The law is the embodiment of the will of the ruling class. Is the East India Company the ruling class of Britain? This is obvious.

Britain is not unaware of the disadvantages of "being too big to lose", but there is no way, lack of money.

Some British people who coveted the East India Company's monopoly and could not get a share of it also tried to oppose it, but it was useless.

More than 40 years ago, the ruling class of Britain who opposed the East India Company's monopoly also set up a parallel East India Company.

But money can do whatever you want. On the day the parallel East India Company was established, the old East India Company directly spent money and let the shareholders of the company spend 1 million taels of silver on shares, and in the end it had to reorganize and merge.

Liu Yu certainly understood what "Britain is a law-abiding country" meant. Mantou talked to those smugglers when he went to Sweden before.

The law prohibits wearing pure cotton products, but after the textile industry in Lancashire developed, blended cotton products were allowed.

So the smugglers said that as long as Dashun could produce "non-cotton blended fabrics", they would have a channel to sell them to Britain.

Now that Fazaklai mentioned the legal issue again, Liu Yu thought about it and was indeed a little worried about selling tea in the future.

The situation in Britain is really hard to describe. Under the control of public opinion and the parliamentary system, money can really do anything.

The rise of coffee had previously dealt a severe blow to the British brewing industry.

Because men used to prefer drinking, not necessarily strong liquor, but light malt liquor. The introduction of coffee affected the interests of the old nobles who controlled the brewing industry.

So they instigated public opinion, provided funds, and encouraged the women in London to submit a letter to Parliament in 1673 titled "A Regulations on the Strict Prohibition of Coffee":

Originally, my husbands liked to drink and were strong and powerful. Now that they have started drinking coffee, they have all become sissies like French men. Coffee turned my husband into a slender coffee tree, just like a skylark flapping its wings frequently, rustling, but unable to sustain for a long time. After a few collisions, it fell limply in front of us. Except for the snot, there is no warmth in the body; except for the joints, there is no hardness; except for the ears, there is no uprightness.

If we still ignore it, in a few decades, Britain will have almost no men who can pass on the family line and can fight for a long time, and the country will be destroyed.

Even [making men as poor as the desert where coffee trees grow, the human race may become extinct]!

There are old nobles and landlords in the brewing industry who give money and instigate behind the scenes, coupled with the British "knowledge tax" and newspaper control, which make coffee shops a place where people can't afford newspapers, exchange illegal tabloids, discuss politics, and talk about state affairs. The king hates it deeply.

In addition, the British king's position is not legitimate, and many people regard him as a "Hanover barbarian", not British orthodox, and he can't even speak English. Naturally, this kind of coffee shop that talks about state affairs has become a serious target.

Even the drama that Britain is proud of was closed down. The coffee houses that talk about state affairs naturally attracted much attention from the literary inquisition.

The British East India Company took the opportunity to rush in and replaced coffee with black tea.

First, tea was introduced to Britain when Charles II married a Portuguese princess. It was popularized by the queen. The king also drank it. Do you dare to say that drinking tea can make people effeminate and soft?

Second, the French do not like to drink tea, but coffee. So the French are effeminate. Drinking tea can cure effeminateness, and it can also have that kind of effect. It is guaranteed that your husband can apply the decree of a certain Basque Principality at that time-the husband shall not bless his wife more than 9 times every night, so as not to tire his wife!

Third, with Chinese porcelain and tea sets, tea is very in line with the aesthetics of London women. After all, the queen must like high-end. Compared to the smoke-filled coffee shop atmosphere where politics, history, geography, stocks, philosophy, and war are discussed, tea with a mysterious oriental charm and elegant style is more easily accepted by women - mainly because it is expensive.

Anyway, it is a hobby. Should we drink the black coffee that women think will affect our abilities and be as effeminate as the French? Or should we drink tea that is advertised as being able to be drunk more than 9 times a night and may tire out our wives?

Fourthly, do the local landlords who make wine dare to compete with our company to see who has more money? Do you have the money to spend on public opinion?

Actually, they were originally worthy, but the Methuen Treaty was signed between Britain and Portugal, and the British textile industry and the East India Company cooperated to defeat the British brewing industry.

According to the treaty, Portugal reduced the tariffs on British textiles and Britain reduced the tariffs on Portuguese wines. If you want Portugal to import woolen cloth, you have to give up some equivalent tariff reductions. After all, Portugal is not the Qing Dynasty that all the powers miss, so you have to be able to get by on the surface.

The shareholders of the East India Company and the wool textile industry bosses in Britain are the ruling class among the ruling class in Britain. How can the two major forces not win against a brewing guild?

There is a precedent.

In addition, the Jenkins Ear incident: the merchant group funded the Patriot Party and incited public opinion to go to war with Spain. There is money controlling public opinion and influencing parliamentary policies.

Voltaire's words "There is no freedom on earth. The powerful speculators and swindlers in Britain are dominant" are not nonsense.

If the power of money is really mobilized to stir up public opinion, it is possible to reduce the tea import tax at the cost of lending to the government! Then the Sino-Swedish cooperation will lose a sum of income.

However, considering that although the East India Company was strong at this time, it had not yet conquered India, and it wanted to abolish an important tariff for three and a half million pounds. Although it was possible, there should be considerable resistance.

Besides, with the world war about to begin, will Britain provoke those North American smugglers at this time?

Considering that this was Fazaklei's gesture of goodwill to him, although this matter was related to the results of Sino-Swiss cooperation in smuggling, it was not easy to mention it at this time, so Liu Yu had to pretend to thank him.

"This is really big news. If this news reaches Amsterdam, the share price of the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce that sells tea will definitely plummet. This news is worth at least hundreds of thousands of pounds. I will consider it carefully. Thank you for the news."

Fazaklai hurriedly said: "This news to you, sir, proves our company's sincerity. Our determination to trade with China will not change. We will eliminate anyone who hinders trade with China, including the military." . Please don’t take what happened the past few days to heart, it was just an accident.”

"Um……"

Liu Yu slowly hummed a word from his nostrils and nodded slightly. In his heart, he still believed in the words of the East India Company.

The East India Company was a company that was "quite aware of current affairs". He is the kind of beast that is absolutely obedient when he is weak and shows his fangs when he is strong.

Historically, in the seventh and tenth year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he issued two consecutive bans on opium dens and the opium trade.

The British East India Company, knowing what level it was at that time, was very obedient and issued internal regulations that strictly prohibited East India Company ships from carrying opium.

Until Clive took over Bengal and the East India Company completely monopolized the production of opium in Bengal, it still abided by Yongzheng's ten-year smoking ban. All opium had to be sold to second-hand dealers at the auction market in Calcutta, not the company's ships. To transport it - after being caught like this, it has no direct relationship with the East India Company: Oh, I didn't know that these second-rate traffickers were transporting it to China! Anyway, the company's ships are clean, and the company can't control those second-rate dealers.

But as the British established a foothold in India, conquered Southeast Asia, and defeated Napoleon, the power of the Chinese Empire was established and the industrial revolution was completed. However, the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty had reached its end, and decay had become a paper tiger. The East India Company immediately showed its fangs. He tore up the original regulations and personally engaged in opium smuggling.

Therefore, Liu Yu is quite optimistic about the East India Company: Whether the words of the company who know current affairs can be trusted depends on how many ships, cannons and troops Dashun has, and how many interests are involved.

Dashun now has several battleships that can cruise in territorial waters, so the East India Company is very honest.

Fazaklai's statement that the East India Company would remove any obstacles to trade with China, including those in the military, was also believable.

However, this kind of credibility does not mean much. As long as Dashun does not want to close the door in Malacca and continue to be the dynasty, the contradiction between the two sides will be irreconcilable.

What the British said at this time was nothing more than that Fazaklai was half a China expert and understood that under Dashun's system, a single word from an important nobleman in front of the emperor would affect millions of taels. Trade volume, I am really worried that George Anson's arrogance will offend Liu Yu.

At this time, the internal information about "the East India Company's loan to the Parliament" can be regarded as a good sell. I hope Liu Yu can see their sincerity.

Seeing Liu Yu nodded, Fazaklei's heart finally calmed down.

Taking advantage of the opportunity that Liu Yu seemed to be in a good mood and seemed to have some trust, Fazaklei knew that the key to today's test was still in the direction of Nanyang.

Although Sino-Swiss cooperation will harm the interests of the East India Company, this matter is inevitable.

We can only try our best to persuade Liu Yu and use rational economic interests to persuade Liu Yu: The water here is very deep and if you cannot grasp it, there is no future for smuggling and selling tea with Sweden.

As for whether it can be done, that's up to God.

At this time, the UK could only crack down on the tea smugglers, and it really did not dare to rob the Sino-Swiss merchant ships.

Besides, this matter ultimately depends on whether the Parliament can pass a law changing tea to agricultural products. If the Parliament cannot pass it, smuggling will be impossible to ban.

As the person in charge of the East India Company's trade with China, he just did his best and followed fate.

Now that he has exhausted all his strength, Liu Yu also expressed his gratitude and seemed to have some trust. Fazaklei took the opportunity to ask: "This time, the Marquis is going to Nanyang to comfort the people of the Chinese Empire. I wonder if he will go to Luzon." ?”

How could Liu Yu not know that Fazaklei was testing his attitude towards the situation in Nanyang, but he pretended not to know and said with a smile: "You want a fox to pretend to be a tiger? Then don't think about it."

"Although the imperial court has banned Christianity, Spain is no longer in the past when gold and silver were imported into China, but after all...this is your European business, and the imperial court will not care about it. If you have the ability, you will take Luzon; if not, you will take Luzon. After all, the imperial court will not start a fight with Spain because of you."

"As for Batavia, that's another story. After all, it was the Netherlands that first proposed the note, hoping that all the Chinese in Batavia would be repatriated to Fujian."

"This matter has made the court very passive."

“What will happen if we agree and have no place to settle?”

“If we disagree, it would seem that the court is ruthless and not a benevolent government. As for the Chinese in Luzon… Hey, from the perspective of the court, most of them also hope that you British will take over Luzon. At least, your British East India Company does not sell opium, does not preach religion, does not kill people, and does not set fires, right?”