New Shun 1730

In the following days, we discussed issues related to Indian trade, taking over the Persian Dutch East India Company's warehouse, the maximum amount of company profits and dividends and high accumulation policies, the exchange of banknotes and silver ingots, the establishment of supply stations in Cape Town and Madagascar pirate supply stations, the Amsterdam Dutch share dividend issue, the board of directors' jurisdiction over business intelligence agencies, the separation of shareholders' shareholding ratios and professional managers' decision-making groups, etc.

It is true that one of the three must be my teacher.

But whether to learn all the policies of others requires specific analysis.

Just like the strange "one person, one share system" of the British East India Company, not to mention that this policy itself is wrong, the standard is neither capitalism nor feudalism, and it is a fusion of capitalism and feudal guilds.

Moreover, this policy of the British East India Company itself is right to confront the government parliament and the royal family, in order to prevent the nobles with high share capital from seizing control of the company, relying on the numerical advantage of the merchant class, and creating a baseline of 1,000 pounds for equality and superiority.

However, Dashun would never have this opportunity, as the imperial court would think that the company was courting death.

In addition, many of the Dutch policies in Southeast Asia were due to the shortsightedness of Dutch merchants and the insufficient population of the Dutch in Southeast Asia.

On the Dashun side, Liu Yu was there to support them, so they would not have the situation of a 50-50 split between the Dutch company and the federal parliamentary government; nor would they consider special policies under the insufficient native population in Southeast Asia.

In short, the ultimate goal of this meeting was achieved, and the "transformation of the East India Company model" was completed in the company system.

This is very important.

Although the purpose of the shareholders participating in the meeting at the beginning was to know how much they had earned.

But they were gradually attracted by all kinds of discussions on "opening their eyes to see the world" and "dialectically looking at the differences and similarities", and even gradually faded the desire to know how much they had earned.

It was not until the last day of the meeting that Liu Yu was very happy to make the financial report of the first business of the Western Trading Company.

The results were gratifying.

The main profit markets of the Western Trading Company are mainly divided into four regions.

Nanyang Trade Zone.

India and Persia Trade Zone.

Africa and South America Trade Zone.

European Trade Zone.

What these shareholders didn’t expect the most was the trade volume in Africa and South America.

Dashun didn’t have any colonies in Africa, but as early as when Mantou went to Sweden to investigate the route on Liu Yu’s orders, he had already started to contact the pirates in Madagascar.

Waiting for the official establishment of the Western Trade Company, the self-proclaimed pirate king of the Pirate Republic of Madagascar, John Bajiao, also known as John Planting, began to cooperate formally with Dashun.

Dashun’s Western Trade Company, this time intervening in Africa and South America, can be regarded as catching up with the "dividend of the times".

Historically, John Bajiao’s transformation had to wait until the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. The direction of his transformation was the slave trade.

To this day, there is an island named after him on the coast of Sierra Leone, Planting Island. At that time, all the slaves in Sierra Leone had to be packaged and picked on this island.

And the important reason why he was able to transform was the Jenkins Ear War. Britain did not win and had to sign the Treaty of Madrid with Spain. Britain gave up its "obligation" to exclusively supply slaves to Spanish colonies.

Of course, the reason why he ran from the Caribbean to Madagascar was also due to the times.

First, the Caribbean region was cracking down severely in the past few years. Privateers, navies, and cruise ships with privateering licenses in various countries had to deal with pirates, and they had to strike hard and strangle them if they caught them.

Second, around 1720, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and other countries began to trade. And trade with China must pass through the waters near Madagascar.

The value of robbing an Eastern cargo ship is higher than the value of robbing a Caribbean cargo ship, and this is also the "no man's land" of China and Europe, two regions that have the ability to encircle and suppress pirates.

Some old pirates do not know how to transform and do not recognize the new situation. They are still in the Caribbean. Some die and some die.

John Basho changed his mind in time, broadened his thinking, and ran to Madagascar.

In history, his evaluation of a businessman is higher than that of a pirate. He is a pirate merchant with more business acumen than the last Madagascar pirate king Baldridge.

The last pirate king Baldridge was so stupid that he didn't even understand the principle of "a rabbit doesn't eat grass near its nest". Seeing that the slave trade was profitable, he caught local slaves in Madagascar in a fit of anger, and was driven away by the locals.

The new pirate king John Basho at least understood the principle of a rabbit not eating grass near its nest, and regarded Madagascar as one of the three burrows of a cunning rabbit.

Madagascar has a strong pirate tradition. Many "excellent" former industry leaders, who either couldn't win in the Caribbean or were too old to roll in the Caribbean, ran here to leave their bloodline.

Previously, the pirates in Madagascar tried to cooperate with the Swedish East India Company, because many of the first batch of pirates who settled in Madagascar were Nordic people - the descendants of these Viking pirates were losers in the Caribbean competition, and they could neither beat the Jewish Zion pirates organized by the Netherlands nor the professional British and French privateers.

Liu Yu had long been eyeing this group of people and had contacted them before.

These pirates have wild methods and extensive connections. With the help of Madagascar's geographical location, they have a wide range of smuggling routes, after all, they have to sell the stolen goods.

Since this person was able to transform into a well-known South American slave trader in history, he is also an excellent "potential stock". Liu Yu also took out a part of the shares and resold them to him. John Bajiao is also a shareholder of Dashun Western Trade Company.

He is responsible for the smuggling trade in the West African coast and South America. Now that the transformation is successful, his self-built "Rant Bay Pirate Republic" has been renamed "Rant Bay Commercial Trade Republic".

Not only was the transformation successful, but the Dashun Western Trade Company also quickly took advantage of the opportunity that the War of the Austrian Succession had not yet ended and the Anglo-Spanish War was still going on, and seized a large part of the South American and West African trade.

A lot of cotton cloth of the British East India Company was sold to Africa because there was a ban on cotton cloth in the country. On the one hand, Dashun detained British ships on the grounds of the opium case; France was still fighting with Britain in India, so that the British East India Company did not get enough cotton cloth in recent years.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Dashun's Western Trade Company cooperated with the pirates of Madagascar and basically seized the import of cotton trade goods in West Africa, as well as the supply of weapons, lead bullet trade, iron pots and other daily necessities of West African tribes.

In South America, with the end of the Anglo-Spanish War, the dawn has also arrived.

Originally, Spain did not forbid Britain from selling slaves. After all, Spain did not have the ability to do this business on its own.

For the royal family, it doesn't matter who sells slaves. The key is to pay taxes.

The main reason why the two sides were unhappy about the slave issue was that British businessmen had a bad "tradition" and always wanted to evade taxes.

To be honest, British businessmen like to evade taxes and smuggle. This habit is the same from North America to East Asia. It can be said to be a tradition.

A slave has to pay a "tariff" of 33 pesos. Not only did the British not pay it, they also refused to pay the Spanish royal franchise fee.

The Spanish royal family meant that you have a monopoly on the slave trade in South America. Isn't this also my investment? I use the administrative power of the country to invest in you and allow you to monopolize the slave trade in the South American colonies. This is worth 200,000 pesos, right? I don't want dividends, just give me the 200,000 pesos.

But the British not only did not pay the tariffs, but also did not give the agreed 200,000 pesos of capital.

Spain's colonial trade policy is actually somewhat similar to the tribute trade before Dashun.

The problem is that Dashun can do this and can not allow any ships from other countries to trade in Nanyang, and Nanyang will not lack anything.

There is no goods that Dashun cannot produce but Nanyang needs - no matter what it is, if Dashun does not have it, there is no other place. As for the navigation clocks that Dashun cannot produce by itself, Nanyang does not need them at all.

And Spain does this, which means that it has no batch of the level of its own handicraft industry.

So for the royal family, it is not impossible to buy foreign goods. The colonies also have to wear clothes and drink tea, so just pay taxes.

The key is that the British do not pay taxes, smuggle, and owe the King of Spain the monopoly fee of 200,000 pesos that was agreed upon.

As long as Dashun can establish a relationship and guarantee to pay taxes, Liu Yu feels that there is still a certain possibility of squeezing into the South American market.

The Battle of Jenkins' Ear, in general, was caused by the trade conflict between Britain and Spain.

According to the British, it was the Spanish who cruelly cut off the ears of British citizens.

But the British did not tell the truth.

They only told half the truth by relying on the right to speak.

The actual fuse was Matthew Provis, the chief accountant of the British company, who defected to Spain because of the infighting and intrigue within the company.

The defection of the company's chief accountant is fatal to any company that specializes in tax evasion.

So on November 14, 1938, the Spanish government officially notified the South Sea Company, a contracting company for the British slave trade, which was actually bankrupt but whose shares were transferred to the Bank of England and the East India Company: Hand over the slave trade account books over the years.

Hand in the account books, check the accounts, count as tax evasion, and pay the back taxes.

It doesn't matter whether the ears are cut or not, the key is to check the account books, which will inevitably incite war.

Anyway, the government pays for the war and the people pay for it.

Hand in the account books, pay the back taxes, but the company shareholders pay for it,

What does it matter if thousands of soldiers die, and even more than 1,000 of these soldiers get scurvy before leaving the port?

The South China Sea Company was run by the Tories, and it was a good opportunity to attack the Prime Minister of the Whig Party, saying that he was cowardly and incompetent, weak to foreign countries, sold out national interests, and allowed his country's legal citizens to be humiliated by Spain.

The intelligence collected by Liu Yu over the years can be regarded as a clear understanding of the ins and outs of these things and the trade policies of Spain, so he determined that Dashun had a chance to get a share of the South American trade.

Giving the royal family 200,000 pesos, equivalent to about 130,000 taels of silver, to buy 30 years of South American trade rights, even if slaves were not sold, this would be a huge profit.

Dashun Western Trade Company has strong capital. Even if it is 300,000 taels, let alone 130,000 taels, shareholders will never object.

Besides, Dashun Western Trade Company is not afraid of paying taxes.

The Spanish royal family is very poor. They offer a tariff of 12.5% ​​plus 5% net profit.

This may seem high, but the tariff is a thing that comes from the sheep. And the goods from Dashun can definitely support a 5% net profit - just make false accounts, the court can issue a tariff bill, and then refund the tax and subsidy.

Even if they didn't make false accounts, the Celestial Empire was asleep before and had no ability to ship goods to South America. As long as they were awake, even if they didn't make false accounts, the conditions offered by the Spanish royal family would be profitable for Dashun's handicraft industry, and they could definitely contract it.

Dashun was really not afraid of the 12.5% ​​tariff, but was afraid that they would not be given the opportunity to dock. Under the 12.5% ​​tariff, Dashun's goods were still very competitive-with a 96% cotton cloth tax, Jinling cloth and Songjiang cloth could still be sold in the UK.

So Liu Yu first cooperated with the pirates of Madagascar and took the opportunity of the Anglo-Spanish War to explore the way.

That is, taking advantage of the Anglo-Spanish War, fill the gap in smuggling trade and seize the market previously occupied by British companies.

Once the war is over, you can immediately become a regular employee.

Because there is already a market.

Pay money when you should pay money, pay taxes when you should pay taxes, and the colonial customs officials on the Spanish side are notoriously greedy. Dashun's merchants understand the meaning of bribery best.

After all, in the Anglo-Spanish War, Dashun was also qualified to participate in the negotiations - originally, they wanted Britain to occupy the Philippines, so they opened the ports to Britain for supplies, so that they could fight back in the future, so that they would not have to deal with the face of Spain, their war ally, when they went to war with Britain.

It's just that the plan did not change quickly. When the opium case came out, Liu Yu forced the British East India Company to transform and go to India.

Now it seems that as long as the British East India Company is not stupid, it is impossible to hold the hot potato of the Philippines in its hands.

Originally, it was of great significance to hold it in its hands, and it could be used as a tentacle to break the Dutch spice monopoly; now that it is in its hands, Dashun has a lot of tricks to deal with the British, and the East India Company will be very uncomfortable now if the tea trade is cut off.

Therefore, Dashun can come forward to "mediate". After all, Dashun is still qualified to say about East Asia and Southeast Asia: within the traditional sphere of influence of the Celestial Empire, nothing can be done without the Celestial Empire's nod.

The British supply and capture of Luzon in Guangzhou has proved this point; and the Dashun's voyage to Southeast Asia has undoubtedly deepened this impression.

In this way, the transformed pirate group can take advantage of the vacuum period to fill the gap in the African and South American smuggling markets and can be regularized at any time.

They can also use the Luzon issue to play a good role, by attacking Portugal, temporarily supporting Spain's occupation of Luzon and asking Britain to return it, and Dashun's pro-French foreign policy, or signing a secret agreement with Spain to guarantee Dashun's support if Britain and Spain go to war again, to get the "legal trade rights" of the Spanish colonies in South America.

Of course, from now on, the initial trade volume is not too large, and the expenses are also large during the filling period.

Dashun will never sell black slaves, and does not want to get involved in these things that will bear the original sin in the future. In addition, it is a new arrival, so the average annual profit in South America only replaces the profit of a large British smuggling ship before the war, about 280,000 pounds, about 840,000 taels of silver.

In fact, the gross profit is higher, because they also bribed Spanish officials with 70,000 pesos, about 40,000 to 50,000 taels of silver.

Dashun also learned the Dutch method, writing IOUs for bribes and reimbursing them when they come back.

This doesn't work in Dashun, and Dashun officials will feel that this is really insulting. Do you have to write receipts when you ask for favors and gifts?

In Europe, it seems to be very popular here, and you have to write receipts for bribes.

However, because it is smuggling, although 70,000 pesos were bribed, the actual profit margin is still very high.

And because they get the goods directly from Dashun, they don't need to go to London to pay taxes before leaving the port like British companies do. In fact, the profit margin is much higher than that of the British. After deducting freight and bribes, the profit margin is about 65%.

And there are also the monopoly fees of Western Trade Company to be paid to the court, naval construction donations, port construction, garrison expenses, etc. Although the money is spent in Nanyang or Dashun, it must also be shared in the South American and African trade. The profit margin after sharing is about 35%.

Even if we conduct legal trade in the future and give the Spanish royal family a 5% commission on net profits, it doesn't matter as the tariffs come from the sheep. We can still maintain a gross profit of about 60%, which is still profitable after deducting the amortized accumulation.