New Shun 1730

There is a kind of kindness, which is to send charcoal to others when it is snowing.

There is another kind of kindness, which is to make it snow heavily when the weather is fine, and then sell charcoal at a high price.

The Dutch basically don't understand the meaning of the former.

The latter, as a long-established commercial country and the world's financial center at this time, is simply beyond understanding. The game of short selling and buying long has been played countless times in Amsterdam a hundred years ago.

Duke Qi was just trying to scare this group of people, and his joke made the representatives of the Dutch merchant class silent.

Liu Yu really wanted the Cape Colony of Good Hope, and now he could buy it if he really wanted to, and it would definitely be at a low price.

There were no gold and diamond mines in this place at this time, it was really like a small shop selling water halfway up Mount Tai.

But he was not stupid.

Seeing that they were about to confront Britain, buying the Cape of Good Hope before taking India was no different from the Dutch going to Southeast Asia, which was at the doorstep of Dashun, before taking India.

As for the Dutch merchant ships, Liu Yu did not want to buy them.

Dashun's shipbuilding industry was still counting on a wave of take-off after going to Southeast Asia. Buying Dutch merchant ships at this time was a real comprador behavior, suppressing the domestic shipbuilding industry that had just started.

This was the way of thinking of industrial capital.

It was incompatible with the way of thinking of commercial capital such as the Netherlands.

So Duke Qi was just joking, but the Dutch believed it.

The Netherlands had no real industry worth taking advantage of. What was really valuable was the Dutch business network, as well as the Dutch business environment where gold and silver were not prohibited from leaving the country, and the country's extremely low return on investment and national debt interest.

After Duke Qi finished telling this cold joke, no one said anything for a long time, and the banquet was a bit cold.

In the eyes of the Dutch, Dashun was not short of gold and silver.

When the whole of Europe was sharply raising tariffs, Dashun relied on its two thousand years of handicraft foundation and extremely low tariffs compared to Europe, and still maintained a situation of eating without spitting out, and it has been maintained for more than two hundred years.

Since there is no shortage of gold and silver, there is really enough confidence to engage in financial acquisitions and take advantage of the fire.

As Duke Qi said to them, the East India Company's current large amount of real estate has become low-quality assets after Dashun went to Southeast Asia.

War and ship robbery made it temporarily impossible for Dutch merchant ships to sell at a price, and it was impossible for anyone to take so many merchant ships at once.

Warehouses in Persia and other places, Cape Colony, etc. The former without the East-West trade, the Persian warehouse is just a broken house; the latter without the East-West trade, the Cape Colony is simply a good cornfield and sheep pasture.

If Dashun does not cooperate with the Dutch East India Company, the existing real estate assets of the East India Company are not valuable.

If Dashun cooperates with the Dutch East India Company, the existing real estate assets of the East India Company will appreciate rapidly.

Dashun certainly does not want to take over the existing East India Company. It must wait until the existing East India Company is dissolved and the assets are liquidated before reorganizing.

The Dutch high-level business class present has no confidence in the company and believes that the company's bankruptcy and liquidation are inevitable.

However, they were shocked by the joke of Duke Qi. They really didn't expect that Dashun had such a big appetite.

"My Lord Duke, the Marquis of East Siberia in your country came to Europe last time to promote his free trade concept. The concept is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. We in the Netherlands also like free trade in Europe, but the fact is that each country has super high tariffs to protect its own handicrafts, each country's merchant ships have privateering letters, and each country's warships have been catching smugglers."

"Even if your country has enough merchant ships and sufficient supply of goods... This is the premise for your country to implement free trade, but having the premise does not mean that your country can really implement free trade."

"Many East India companies in Europe have exclusive monopoly rights to East Indian and Chinese goods. You want free trade, you want to take the goods Selling directly to Europe means damaging the interests of East India Companies in various countries. "

"Your Excellency the Duke should understand that the shareholders of East India Companies in various countries are at least scholars according to the class division of your country."

"Since your country cannot achieve equal distribution of land and exemption of grain, why do you think Europe can engage in free trade?"

"I think that although your country has won the war, what we should consider now is how to convert the results of the war into dividends. Instead of conceiving an idealized business model, thinking that by taking over Southeast Asia, we will completely master the initiative of trade."

A director of the company who knows China well explained the difficulties of engaging in free trade in Europe with a very inaccurate analogy.

Although the analogy is very inaccurate, the general idea is basically correct. The reason why Dashun could not carry out land reform and Britain could not achieve freedom of trade in the East is really similar: seriously damaging the interests of the ruling class.

In fact, the analogy of the director of the Dutch company is too small and modest. How can the director of the East India Company compare with the scholars of Dashun?

It is clearly above the level of the Six Government Ministers, and almost reaching the level of the Shangshu. How can a scholar from Dashun have the same status as the directors of the East India Company in China?

The directors of the company still hope that the Duke of Qi will think about it carefully and not think about eating alone. The result of wanting to eat alone is that you will get nothing.

If Dashun really bought a lot of merchant ships and decided to ship Southeast Asian goods directly to Europe. According to the directors of this Dutch company, the ship would be hijacked after passing the Cape of Good Hope, and it would be impossible to unload the goods in Europe. If it unloaded the goods in the port, it would be subject to high tariffs so that it could not be sold.

If Dashun could cooperate with these directors and Dutch financial capitalists, the bankruptcy of the East India Company would be handled differently.

Even if the company issued a lot of bonds, it is not impossible to operate.

For example, all the assets of the company can be converted into asset bonds. Including trading houses, warehouses, cargo ships, warehouses, etc.

These asset bonds are distributed to each shareholder and creditor in proportion to the bond ratio and share ratio.

Not sold separately.

It is a limited liability company, and the creditors can't do anything. No one forced you to buy the company's bonds at the beginning. If you buy them yourself, you will of course bear the risks.

According to religious theory, usury is not allowed by Christianity.

However, helping others, lending money to others when they need it, taking the risk after lending money, and getting appropriate compensation... this is not called interest, it is allowed.

In this way, if some insider transactions can be reached with Dashun privately, there will be a lot of room for maneuver.

If a deal is reached with Dashun privately, these people have inside information and are sure that Dashun will cooperate with them to sell goods.

Then, the news can be blocked, and the asset certificates of the company's real estate will soon become pieces of waste paper.

When it is the least valuable, a wave of acquisitions will be made, and the company's original real estate will be recovered at a very low price.

Once you cooperate with Dashun, these company real estates that were originally worthless will become valuable instantly. You can acquire a high amount of real estate at a very low price, and you can just lie down and count the money in the future.

The most critical point here is that the company's real estate cannot be auctioned separately. Instead, it must be converted into asset certificates.

If it is auctioned separately, it will be over. Sell ​​a ship today and repay according to the bond ratio; sell the building tomorrow and repay according to the bond ratio. In the end, nothing will be left.

But if we can take advantage of the mentality of "not worrying about the lack of wealth but the uneven distribution of wealth", take advantage of the conflicts between various creditors, and change the auction to convert all assets into asset bonds. Turn the entity into paper bonds, then financial capital will have a lot of room for operation.

So when the Duke of Qi said that he wanted to buy merchant ships, the people present were shocked.

First of all, it would be difficult to operate it into asset bonds if you buy it this way.

Secondly, Dashun meant that he didn't want to cooperate, but wanted to eat alone.

If either of the two was missing, these people couldn't make a fortune on the corpse of the East India Company, how could they not be shocked?

In addition to being shocked, the words he just said to the Duke of Qi inevitably revealed some of their thoughts.

Kang Budai, who was next to the Duke of Qi, was secretly happy, thinking that since you said that there are many difficulties in buying merchant ships and eating alone, it is obvious that you have the intention to cooperate.

It seems that the young master's inference is really correct. Ordinary people think that if they seize Nanyang, the Dutch will fight to the death; but in fact, if they don't seize Nanyang, they can't cooperate with the Dutch at all. Now that they have seized Nanyang, they have a basis for cooperation.

Since the Dutch have shown their desire to cooperate, Kang Budai thought that the initiative is in our hands, and we just have to wait. It's not a good deal to rush forward. Now there is no result to talk about, so let's wait and see the behemoth VOC fall.

Although the Duke of Qi doesn't understand the logic of business and the basic principles of economics. But he still understands the ways of the world. He says what he wants to say to people and what he wants to say to ghosts. That is the basic quality of being a senior bureaucrat in Dashun.

Listen to the words and the tone. When the Dutch said this, coupled with the purpose that Liu Yu hoped to achieve this time, the anxiety and desire for cooperation in the Dutch's tone were obvious, and Kang Budai didn't need to remind him anything.

Duke Qi stroked his beard and asked slowly and methodically: "In your opinion, this deal with the Celestial Empire cannot be done?"

The Dutchman quickly replied: "It cannot be done."

"It cannot be done? Then I don't understand, how can it not be done when the Celestial Empire has gone to Southeast Asia?"

The Dutchman was silent for a moment, then told the truth.

"In your eyes, you have conquered Southeast Asia. In our eyes, you are just a group of tea roasters, porcelain kneaders, spice growers, and workers. To be honest, Europe is not afraid of your monopoly."

"Porcelain, the formula has been passed down, and many porcelain industries have begun to rise. Although not as good as you, general substitutions are still possible."

"Tea, although we don't grow it, we can replace it with coffee."

"Silk, not only Chinese people have silk. Persia, Ottoman, India, Northern Italy, all have silk, and all have silk, and even France has its own silk industry."

"Spice, you can monopolize the spices in Southeast Asia. But there are many places in the world with similar climates to Southeast Asia. Brazil and the Caribbean have already begun to try to grow cloves and cinnamon. The Portuguese have also smuggled seeds over."

"Even if you have navigation skills and merchant ships, you can't get the profits from this trade."