New Shun 1730

The last words are a bit heartbreaking.

In the eyes of Europe, Dashun is actually a vegetable grower, a worker, a ceramic maker...

Dashun is a group of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans.

But in Europe, workers and farmers are almost at the bottom of the social contempt chain, far inferior to those who do business and finance.

Dashun itself does not have a large internal market. With a quarter of the world's population, the market is extremely small. The general poverty in rural areas and the high rent of the landlord class make many commodities almost unsalable.

If the family has money, of course they are willing to buy some spiced pork, a porcelain vase, and some silk to make clothes.

Most people can't afford it.

From a business perspective, among the hundreds of millions of Dashun, at most six or seven million are people, and the rest are worthless livestock.

This is also the problem that has been lingering in Dashun's foreign trade: how to sell the goods.

However, Dashun has found a way, that is, not to eat alone. Relying on the cost advantage, as long as a group of compradors are found, the alternative industries in Europe mentioned by the Dutch can be squeezed out.

The Dutch proposed that the basis for Dashun's failure was that Dashun wanted to eat alone.

But Dashun did not want to eat alone, but just pretended to eat alone.

The Duke of Qi smiled faintly at the Dutch's statement and said, "Whether it works or not, we should always try. The Celestial Empire is vast and has everything, and it doesn't lack this little money. Anyway, it's all the court's money, and it's the taxes collected from the people. Even if we lose or the business fails, there are hundreds of millions of people to share, and each person can't share much."

"If we win, it will be a huge profit. If we lose, the Celestial Empire can afford to lose. It will never be like you, who will almost collapse after losing once."

"As a small country, how can you know how rich the people of the Celestial Empire are?"

The Duke of Qi refused to talk about substantive issues in a somewhat rogue manner, and directly talked about the potential of the Celestial Empire. Anyway, the Celestial Empire is so big that it seems to have mountains of gold and silver to outsiders. Losing once or twice is completely affordable.

According to this meaning, the Celestial Empire does not need to be responsible to shareholders when doing business. It only needs to execute the will of the court and the emperor. Winning is good, but losing is nothing. It's just a few million taels of silver.

These words are of course just to fool these European countries. If it were in the court, a few million taels of silver would be shocking to officials from all walks of life.

Before the financial crisis in 20 years, the registered capital of joint-stock companies in the UK was more than 800 million taels of silver. The private wealth hidden in the Netherlands is far higher than this.

They used their own consciousness to speculate on the national conditions of Dashun, and naturally felt that Britain and the Netherlands could make 10 billion taels of silver. Dashun is so vast and has such a large population. With the prosperity of Jiangnan that Dutch merchants can see, it seems that 10 billion taels of silver is not impossible.

This number sounds scary, but in fact there are traces to follow. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the present, Spain has mined about 150,000 tons of silver in the Americas, which is equivalent to about 4 billion taels of silver in Dashun's measurement unit.

In addition, there are about 3,000 tons of gold.

Compared with Europe's total economic volume and the stock of silver currency, Europe's currency is seriously over-issued. Of course, a lot of it has flowed into China.

In addition, Japan has been producing gold and silver on a large scale since the middle of the Ming Dynasty. A large part of Japan's gold and silver and America's gold and silver has flowed into China, and even enabled China to complete its currency reform. The excess silver can actually be monetized.

This is the rational basis for Duke Qi to brag. But emotionally, the Dutch's impression of China's wealth is the basis for his bragging that can scare people to death in the court. After all, no one has counted how much silver has flowed into China since Columbus arrived in the Philippines. It is just that China intuitively feels that China is eating gold and silver in big mouthfuls, but it is difficult to spit it out.

The bragging words shocked the Dutch and they couldn't respond. I thought, yes, he is the emperor, his word is law, whether to pay or not, there are no shareholders watching, no shareholders demanding the disclosure of accounts, if he is really determined to do it, he will definitely succeed.

If you really want to eat alone, it is not impossible. Although all countries have high tariffs and laws. But if law and morality are omnipotent, there will be no smugglers in all countries, and the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce, which mainly relies on smuggling tea to North America, would have closed down long ago - smuggling always requires someone to take over, and the person who takes over must be a local. Morality and law cannot restrain them, and they will not stop being a smuggler for the benefit of their motherland.

The Duke of Qi actually killed the conversation when he said this.

The topic of this banquet could not continue.

Indeed, it is not easy for Dashun to eat alone. The high tariff policies, mercantilist policies, and anti-smuggling measures of various countries can make Dashun, who wants to eat alone, miserable.

But what good is this for the financial capital and big businessmen present?

Capital is very keen on things that hurt others and benefit itself.

Capital really lacks interest in things that hurt others and benefit itself.

Even if Dashun choked to death while eating alone, none of you here would get any benefit. Can you be happy?

I am afraid the only happy mentality is to gloat over misfortune: you deserve it, you are allowed to eat alone without me, so what, choked to death?

But gloating over misfortune is a personal emotion.

It is the nature of capital to pursue profit. People can gloat over misfortune, but capital will not find any pleasure of endorphin secretion from gloating over misfortune.

The Dutch invited us to this dinner because it was easy for us to choke if we ate alone, so why not eat together?

The Duke of Qi meant that he wanted to eat alone, and the system of Dashun did not need to be responsible to shareholders. If the court wanted to eat alone, no one would be held accountable even if it choked to death. It was up to them.

In this way, they really did not agree on anything.

Once they did not agree on anything, the second half of the banquet became extremely dull.

After the banquet was over and the Duke of Qi and the Dashun group left, the Dutch looked at each other in confusion.

After the Dashun people left, all that was left was endless speculation about Dashun's attitude and endless irony about Dashun's policies.

"The Marquis's idea of ​​free trade is completely wishful and unrealistic. If free trade is achieved, who will be responsible for the textile workers in Leiden, Lancaster, Manchester, and Lyon who have no food to eat?"

"If free trade is achieved, what will happen to the rights and interests of big companies such as BEIC, VOC, SOIC, DOK, etc.?"

"The British East India Company, as a large local company in the UK, will be targeted by Parliament for cotton imports to prevent the destruction of the British textile industry. As an outsider, why does China think it can convince the Parliament in London better than BEIC in London?"

"The Chinese are not stupid enough to think that the world will operate according to the laws they have imagined and wishful thinking, right?"

Wishful thinking is a taboo in international politics.

In fact, the Dutch did a very poor job in this regard. It can only be said that knowing is easy but doing is difficult. If the Dutch really understood that wishful thinking is a taboo in international politics, they would not have the naive idea that "diplomacy determines everything".

It's just that most people's political literacy is just like that. It's basically wishful thinking, without considering the economic foundation behind it. They just think that as long as China opens its arms to embrace the world, European merchants will be happy and China will be developed long ago. The reality is that you open your arms to want free trade, but they impose high tariffs, administrative orders to ban the wearing of cotton cloth and government-authorized monopolies.

Most Dutch people are actually just as mentally retarded.

It's just that now the whip is on them, these Dutch "elites" will be so sarcastic about Dashun's fantasy.

Although Dashun has made a stunning appearance in Europe, it is still a mysterious country in Europe. In addition, the huge cultural differences make many actions on China's side incomprehensible to Europe, and they also feel that China's actions do not conform to their cognitive logic.

So the Duke of Qi's bragging of scaring them and asking for more in the future made these Dutch people confused.

A director of the East India Company shook his head and sighed: "In this case, the company will have only one way out, bankruptcy and liquidation. I think it will be impossible to do even if it is an asset voucher."

"The Chinese came with a huge amount of money, and they have proved their ability to incite public opinion. I think they will soon incite public opinion and demand that the company liquidate all its assets and sell them in bankruptcy."

"All we can do is learn from them, incite public opinion, and use patriotism as a starting point to let the Hague government issue a decree to prohibit foreigners from purchasing East India Company assets."

It is feasible to prohibit foreign countries from acquiring domestic assets based on patriotism.

However, after the company directors finished speaking, the others did not care much about it.

What is the significance of issuing this decree? What benefits can it bring to them or the Netherlands?

The company is finished and irreversible. The company's assets are liquidated to repay bonds. But it is really as the Duke of Dashun Qi said, many assets are worthless now, and no one is willing to buy them.

The Hague government will not take over the East India Company, and nationalization is meaningless. If Southeast Asia still existed, nationalization would certainly be beneficial. But now that Southeast Asia is gone, there are still tens of millions of taels of silver left in debt. If the Orange family in The Hague were to nationalize at this time, they would have to drink themselves to death before they could do it.

No one was willing to take over, and now a group of Chinese with money came to buy it. Isn't this a timely help?

What reason do the company's creditors and shareholders have to stop Dashun from purchasing the company's liquidated assets?

Every penny is a penny. Are they waiting for the East India Company building to be sold at a low price and transformed into a brothel, tavern, or hotel when no one is interested?

A kind of Dutch was silent, thinking, and sighing in their hearts.

Many of them were shareholders of the East India Company, and they must have been extremely angry about Dashun's going to Southeast Asia.

Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing their parents.

But as the saying goes, a dead person cannot be resurrected, and parents have been killed, and they cannot be resurrected.

There is no point in being angry. It is better to cooperate with the enemy who killed your parents and make money. This is the right way.

No matter how angry you are, you can't survive.

From the Dashun declaration of war in April, to the news of the Dashun's occupation of Southeast Asia in August, to the Dashun envoys' visit today, the Dutch have actually accepted this unchangeable fate.

When the unchangeable fate has been accepted, they have to consider where to go with their capital next?

The Netherlands has no investment direction, and buying its own national debt is meaningless. British government bonds can be bought, but the interest rate is not high.

If Dashun can cooperate with them, the rate of return will definitely not be low.

Even if Dashun doesn't cooperate with them, they think Dashun is thriving, and if they can invest in Dashun, the rate of return will definitely be very high.

It is relatively easy to borrow money from Britain, France and the Netherlands, and their credit is also good, and the interest rate is not high.

The interest rate of Russia's national debt is still quite high, and the rate of return on investment in Russia is also high, and you can even get serfs who are almost free to use. But Russia, a new country, is "too small" after all, and it doesn't need so much money.

Originally, Dashun seemed like a country in the book, illusory. Now that it has entered reality, I am thinking about investing in Dashun. Even if the rate of return is slightly lower than that of Russia, with the size of Dashun, it is not a problem to eat ten times the investment of Russia, right?

But the words of Duke Qi cut off the Dutch's hope. It seems to make sense. According to the thinking of Dutch commercial capital, China's foreign trade has always been in surplus and never in deficit in recent years. Will there be a lack of capital in the country? Will there be a lack of investment? They were ready to buy the East India Company's merchant ships, Persian warehouses, and Cape Colony together. They didn't look like they were short of capital.

And the most profitable investment, like the East India Company, how could outsiders intervene? The insiders had already digested it. They thought that even if the Dukes and Marquises of Dashun couldn't come up with one or two million taels of assets, they could still come up with three or five hundred thousand taels, right? How could the Dutch capital take over the real profitable investment?

The depressed Dutch finally came to a strange conclusion.

"We thought that a few years ago, the Marquis of Dashun visited Europe, and China, an empire that had always been at the junction of legend and reality, could really be touched by us. Investment and loans can completely consider this empire that is gradually becoming a reality."

"But now, we understand that this empire has gone from legend to reality, but it is still incompatible with us. It can hurt us, but we can't touch it."