New Shun 1730

Lian Fuguang, who had already retreated to the door, paused involuntarily when he heard about the good news of the spice trade.

But he couldn't ask any more questions at this time. He adjusted his body and slowly retreated to the door.

As soon as he left the Governor's Mansion, the Lei Zhenlans complained to Lian Fuguang.

"Brother Lian, we risked our lives to start a rebellion and seize Batavia. In the end, the court still wanted to move us away. If we had known this..."

Lian Fuguang sneered, "If we had known this, what would we do? Bring the servants to help the Dutch defend the city, and when the city was broken, all of us were hung on the mast? Now that things have come to this, what are you complaining about? You also saw the team entering the city. Can it be that they can't capture it without us?"

When these people started the rebellion, they thought that Lian Fuguang was very powerful and must have connections in the court, and they had been secretly communicating with him.

Now it seems that it's bullshit. The princes and marquises looked at Lian Fuguang like a dog.

It's not surprising that they think so, mainly because they were all born in Batavia, and the highest official in Batavia is the Governor. Under this inertial thinking, just like the Eastern Enlightenment story made up by Westerners, the emperor's style is like a manor knight, at most a baron, wandering around, visiting the sufferings of the people, and can travel all over the country in a month or two...

These people often come into contact with the Governor on weekdays, and think that the Governor is at least a prince, right? Don't they see him often? So they think that Lian Fuguang's relationship in the court, not to mention the prince, at least can be attached to a minister? Who would have thought that it is not the case now.

Bribery and the like are not easy to grasp now. If you say that no one doesn't love money, how can an official not like money?

However, the conversation just now directly brought up the old story of Guo Jie and Wei Qing, and these people couldn't figure out the meaning of it, so they didn't dare to bribe properly, so as not to be accused of collusion between the military and businessmen.

At this moment, they were dissatisfied and unwilling, but they could only endure it. If they said they had no resentment in their hearts, it would be a lie.

When the Dutch ruled, they were considered first-class people. They had a high status and were respected. They had plenty of money to hire lawyers and make friends.

Now that the imperial court has come, not only has their status dropped sharply, but they even have to move away from their roots.

If the imperial court still allowed them to continue to pay taxes, continue to be Kapitan, and continue to use the Dutch way of ruling, they would definitely support the imperial court from the bottom of their hearts, look forward to the imperial court, and shout "Long live the emperor." Unfortunately, the imperial court is not like this.

They are full of resentment, and they are no longer in a state of mind that they were worried about being killed after the city was broken.

Lian Fuguang sighed and said, "You should all go back with me and prepare the deeds. Attach the head tax statistics when the Dutch registered the people and the list of the city's population. Don't complain here, complaining can't change anything."

"Besides, it seems that the meaning of the Whale Marquis is to give us the opportunity to continue to make money. If this spice trade can be done, wouldn't it be much better than before?"

"Before, the Dutch ate meat, how could we drink soup? At most, the meat scraps were hanging on the ground, attracting bugs and maggots, and we picked up the maggots to eat. It's not our turn to eat meat and drink soup, even meat scraps."

"If we can really raise shares and buy shares, wouldn't it be a hundred times better than now?"

Lei Zhenlan, who was surnamed Chen next to him, snorted and laughed, "With such a good thing, it's our turn? Now that Nanyang has been conquered, we can just sit and wait to collect the money. Why give us such an opportunity?"

…………

In the room, Li Li was also a little puzzled by this and asked almost the same question.

"Marquis Jing, now that Nanyang is under our control, we can just sit back and reap the benefits. Do we need to raise funds? Even if we do, why use these people's dirty money?"

"Dirty money? Hahaha, Your Highness, are you going to treat money as a thing?" Liu Yu joked with a smile, and Li Xi hurriedly said: "No, no, no, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you run the household. Since I am in charge of the navy, of course I know that money is a good thing. I think these few people are no good, and I just feel a little disgusted when I see them. Marquis Jing is too kind. If it were me, I would just confiscate their property, exile them, and send them to the border."

Liu Yu shook his head and said: "Everyone's money is money. Once money starts to flow, it becomes capital , it doesn't matter whose money it was originally. It doesn't matter if it's dirty or smelly, as long as the money goes to where it should go. "

"It doesn't matter whether their money came from opium trafficking or human trafficking. Let bygones be bygones."

"Besides, Your Highness, do you think that Nanyang can just sit back and collect money? It's too early... Have you ever calculated how much money Nanyang invests in a year?"

Li Li shook his head and said, "To be honest, I don't dare to count the money. Every time I counted the money in the navy, I was terrified. But, it seems that Nanyang doesn't need much money, right?"

Liu Yu denied it seriously.

"Your Highness, that's wrong. Garrisons cost money, warships cost money, merchant ships cost money. Building warehouses costs money, collecting payments for goods costs money, repairing fortresses costs money, maintaining fortresses costs money, suppressing resistance costs money, controlling monopolies costs money, preventing smuggling costs money, changing land policies costs money... It's really not as simple as just sitting there and collecting money, and it's definitely not something that ordinary people can afford."

"This is different from trade with Japan. For trade with Japan, a capital of 6 or 7 million taels is enough. Because the Japanese help us to crack down on smuggling, and there is no need to control the archipelagoes, as long as we receive goods everywhere and send them over."

"To operate Nanyang, if the court really does nothing and completely imitates the Anglo-Dutch model, it will definitely not be enough without a capital of 20 or 30 million taels."

Twenty to thirty million taels is almost Dashun's annual treasury income. Even though Li Han had "seen the world" in the Navy, he was still shocked when he heard this number.

"So much money?"

"Hahahaha, your highness, your highness, you still haven't learned to settle accounts. I just ask you, how much has the imperial court spent so far in the Western Regions? From the beginning, the fight against Rakshasa was for the Junggar tribe in the Western Regions; including the military Change; including the expedition to transport food and supply logistics; counting the compensation for the fallen soldiers; counting the immigrants; counting the annual rewards; building cities in the Western Regions; building fortresses; placing artillery... Unconsciously, the Western Regions have also spent three to four thousand It’s like ten thousand taels of silver. But it’s not a one-time payment, and it’s not a lot of money, so it’s not that scary.”

After doing some calculations for Li Huan, Liu Yu stood up and said: "Just in time, Your Highness will follow me to the Hekou Pier to see the Dutch warehouses, so that you can intuitively feel how much it costs to run a colony. money."

Li Hao stood up in response. Without any ceremony, they each left the Governor's Mansion with a few personal followers, bypassed the noisy crowd outside, and came to the warehouse next to the dock.

As the "capital" and general dispatch port of the Dutch East India Company, Batavia has the East India Company's largest warehouses and warehouses in Asia.

The climate here is humid, and warehouse storage is also a technical job. The warehouse complex built by Dutch architects covers a large area.

At this time, seals have been affixed above, and there are soldiers guarding outside.

Due to the time when Dashun started the war, the cargo ship had just left Batavia, and there were not many Southeast Asian or East Asian goods such as spices, sugar, tin blocks, copper ingots, porcelain, silk, rhubarb, etc. accumulated in the warehouse.

However, there are a large amount of woolen goods, ironware, gunpowder, nails, wine and other goods that are to be sold in Southeast Asia or Dashun this year.

After doing some calculations with the list in hand, I found that the inventory alone contained nearly 3 million taels of silver.

This was the situation after the Persian market collapsed and the Japanese market was dominated by Dashun.

Of course, these 3 million taels of silver are just a gross price. After deducting the cost and transportation, it is just a porridge, which is definitely not enough to distribute the 18% company's bottom line dividend.

Looking at this warehouse, which is comparable in size to the logistics warehouse of Weihaiwei Naval Base, Li Hao has a slightly more intuitive understanding of the principal required for this kind of trade.

The surrendered Dutch forts and forts in the distance, the masonry built, and the cannons placed were also a huge expense.

"His Royal Highness himself is doing some calculations in his mind. He wants to control the long coast from Ceylon to the Moluccas, prevent smuggling, and even expand his rule. The fortresses left by the Dutch need to be garrisoned; at least three more About ten frigates are used to arrest smugglers, focusing on the Portuguese and British. "

"These investments alone require 8,000 garrison troops, plus sailors from fleets and merchant ships; company employees, accountants, warehouse managers; consignees; people selling goods in warehouses and shops... After all the calculations, there are about 20,000 employees. ”

"Just calculate it according to the salary of a soldier. Rice is cheaper, and guns and gunpowder are discounted into the monthly salary. Three and a half is not too much, right?"

"The annual expenses for employees alone are more than 1.2 million taels of silver."

"The annual salary alone is 1.2 million taels of silver. How much do you think the total assets are? Add in the real estate such as cargo ships and warehouses... The Dutch East India Company can easily owe 60 to 70 million Dutch silver guilders. The debts are still operating. How much total assets do we need to be able to bear the debt of 60 to 70 million guilders? "

"This is really not money that a family can scrape together."

"After I settled the account for His Majesty, His Majesty also felt that it would be impossible for him to eat alone. Therefore, private equity participation is still needed."

"Otherwise, if the money from the national treasury is used as internal money, wouldn't it be like what Chengzu Ming Dynasty did when he went to the West?"

"The key is that during the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, spices could be sold domestically. Now, spices have long been saturated in the country. The Dutch also tried to sell pepper to us, but they couldn't sell it, so that's it. Still have to Sell ​​things to Europe.”

Li Han didn't know Liu Yu's plan to support Dutch financial capital as an agent. Hearing this, he said: "That's the case, there are British people in Bengkulu. We also have cooperation with the Swedes. Countries such as Denmark and France, in this country There were also merchant houses in the DPRK, or the East India Company."

"This year's spices don't seem to have much to worry about selling. The Dutch are gone and they're sold to the British, Swedes, and Danes. Isn't it the same thing?"

This is what Liu Yu is most worried about.

After hearing what Li Huan said, Liu Yu hurriedly said: "Absolutely not! I would rather burn it or collect it and throw it into the sea than sell it to the Swedes or the British this year."