New Shun 1730

"Guess how much this most common Wuyi tea cost per pound in London before your majesty conquered the Rakshasa and I went to Yongning Temple to copy the inscriptions?"

The merchants guessed that since Liu Yu said so, the price must be more expensive than it is now.

But how much more expensive it is is hard to imagine.

Wuyi tea is not a good tea. It's not that Wuyi doesn't have good tea, but that the "Wuyi tea" that is specifically sold in bulk to the West and is specifically called is not a good tea.

When it comes to the good tea of ​​Wuyi Mountain, there are dozens or hundreds of taels per pound.

But when it comes to specific export Wuyi tea, these merchants use their imagination and give the highest price, which is three taels of silver.

According to the current purchase price, three taels of silver is a 1000% profit, which has exceeded the limit of these merchants' imagination.

Of course, these merchants don't know that nutmeg and cloves had a maximum profit of 5400% in Europe back then.

The strangeness of reality made it difficult for their imaginations, which were hindered by lack of knowledge, to imagine. People who have never seen whales but only cows, can only imagine a monster that is one circle larger than a cow.

Liu Yu laughed at the number of three taels of silver per catty and said, "The number is correct, but the quantity is wrong."

"Three, that's right. But it's not two, it's pounds."

"Wuyi tea was sold at 2 pounds and 18 shillings per catty. 20 shillings is one pound, which is equivalent to three taels of silver."

"That is to say, Wuyi tea was sold at 9 taels of silver per catty at that time!"

This number is really too shocking. These businessmen know very well what kind of goods the exported Wuyi tea is.

Westerners don't know how to drink tea at all, and they won't buy real good tea. This specific, specially exported Wuyi tea is almost one of the lowest-grade teas in the Dashun market.

Now in Songjiang Prefecture, if you don't count the tariff, you can actually buy a catty for more than one qian of silver. Even if you count the shipping tax and the like, 2 qian of silver per catty, that's still a 4500% profit.

Perhaps it was too shocking, many merchants stood there at a loss, and it was hard to imagine the concept of multiplying profits by dozens of times.

However, some merchants looked at the two lines of poetry written on the curtain board behind Liu Yu, thinking.

The swallows in front of the halls of the Wang and Xie families in the old days flew into the homes of ordinary people.

If the price of this tea, especially Wuyi tea, has been maintained at 9 taels of silver per catty, I am afraid that not many people will buy it?

If you can monopolize it, the price is actually set by yourself.

Some merchants thought, the Duke said this, I am afraid he is talking about how to set the price?

Does he think that the prices of some things are a bit too high now?

On the stage, Liu Yu said slowly: "I guess you have also thought that this overpricing is not necessarily a good thing. Of course, it does not mean that overpricing is necessarily a bad thing. This must be viewed dialectically."

"What is dialectical? I will not talk about this for now. You listen to me talk about the price of tea and spices and think about it yourself."

"It was probably during the years when your majesty conquered Russia that the price of tea in Europe suddenly plummeted."

"The plummet is not as simple as a halving, but it fell from nearly ten taels of silver per catty to more than one tael per catty."

"If we do not go to Europe to do business, but only do traveling and sitting business, this will definitely be a good thing."

"I think some of the older people here should have an impression that it was probably during the years when this dynasty conquered Russia that the amount of tea bought by Westerners suddenly increased sharply. Originally, the most they bought was 600,000 to 700,000 catties. After those years, almost every East India Company bought millions of catties."

"Is that right?"

The composition of these shareholders is complex.

Some of them were engaged in trade with Japan, some were Western compradors, and some followed the right person and became rich.

Some of them were specialized in Western comprador business before, and they were deeply impressed by this incident.

It was just that I thought too much before, but now that Liu Yu mentioned it, I suddenly thought of it, that's right.

It was precisely during the years when the Celestial Empire conquered Russia and fought with Russia in Heilongjiang, the amount of tea bought by Westerners increased several times or even ten times.

I didn't understand what was going on before.

Now looking at the two lines of poetry written on the screen, I seem to understand.

If tea is still seven or eight taels of silver per catty, not many people can afford it. Even if Europe has mountains of gold and silver, and they have not been drained clean after all these years, I think the worst tea at ten taels of silver per catty is not something that ordinary people can afford.

Liu Yu just said that whether the price is high or low, whether it is good or bad, should be viewed dialectically.

These merchants certainly don't know what dialectical thinking is, but they think that there must be a reason for the sudden price reduction.

As expected, Liu Yu said: "You also know that Europe is at war now because the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire has died, and there is no male heir in the family, only a princess."

"It should be said that we can sell a lot of tea, and we have to thank the former emperor of the Holy Roman Empire very much."

"Even if we can make four or five times the profit from selling tea now, we have to "thank" the former emperor of the Holy Roman Empire."

"About four or five years before I went to Heilongjiang, the former emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the Habsburg family established the Ostend Company. Some of you who were engaged in business before should have an impression. It was short-lived and existed for only seven or eight years?"

This company that did not cause much waves in history still existed in the memory of these merchants at this time. When Liu Yu said this, many people immediately remembered this company.

More than 20 years ago, several ships suddenly arrived in Guangzhou. At that time, businessmen saw the French flag, the British flag, and the Dutch flag, but the new company was flying a completely different flag from them.

After these memory fragments were awakened, many things were connected together.

Just a few years before Dashun started the war against Rakshasa, this new company suddenly appeared in Guangzhou.

Then, tea sales began to skyrocket.

Then, probably during the years when Dashun conquered Junggar, the company suddenly disappeared overnight.

If it weren't for Liu Yu's reminder, none of them would have known that the country to which this company belongs is Austria, the fuse of the current war in Europe, where the European trading companies robbed each other's ships and made huge profits from their first business.

These things that had existed in the past and seemed to have no connection were gradually connected in the minds of these businessmen, and they seemed to have found out why the price of tea dropped, and why Liu Yu said he wanted to thank the former Emperor of the Shinra.

"We have a saying, break the drum and beat it with thousands of people."

"One more thing, if you want to tease a nun, you should probably say, the monk can touch it, but I can't?"

"The Habsburg family established the Ostend Company and made money the next year. When Sweden, Denmark and other countries saw this, they thought: Even Austria can make money from maritime trade, how can I not make money? arrive?"

"Before that, those who engaged in maritime trade were traditional maritime powers such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal. This is just like neighboring countries such as North Korea and Annan. They feel that there are some things that China can do but we cannot; but If the Ryukyu Kingdom actually does something, Korea, Annan and other countries will think that if Ryukyu can do it, I can do it too."

"This is probably the case. Austria's land warfare is okay, but its sea warfare is not as good as that of Denmark, Sweden and other countries. In the past, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries were doing this trade, and they could only watch. They knew that they were not capable. If the UK and the Netherlands could do it, they might not be able to do it themselves. Do."

"When Austria has done this, Denmark and other countries will know better."

"As a result, like mushrooms after a rain, various countries have established their own trading companies with China. You should have the impression that around the time when the Celestial Empire conquered Rakshasa, a large number of cargo ships from new companies came to Guangzhou."

"This is a later story, let's not mention it for now. Let's just say that the Ostend Company has been eyeing the tea trade since it came to Guangzhou. At that time, tea was still making huge profits of seven or eight taels of silver per pound."

"When Yinghe takes a look, is this okay?"

"But the problem then arises: a pound of tea worth seven or eight taels of silver can be sold for one million pounds a year. It's impossible for so many people to buy it."

"Now that the Ostend company has interfered with it, according to the price of seven or eight taels of silver per catty, it can only weigh one million catties at most. That year, Europe suddenly had seven to eight million catties. What do you think? , what to do?”

They are all in business. As soon as this question was asked, everyone had the answer instantly.

What to do?

Lower the price.

Tea leaves are not gold or silver, so it won't matter if they are kept for ten or eight years.

There is still a big difference between new tea and old tea.

Moreover, this thing takes up capital. If we don’t withdraw the funds quickly, how will we buy goods next time we come to Guangzhou? Once it breaks, the company will be defeated by other competitors.

Of course, it could originally be sold for seven or eight taels per catty, but now the price is reduced to the extreme. At least don't throw it away. How much money can you get back?

But there are still some people who think that the Ostend company is like a flash in the pan. After the company's business stores are gone, it seems that the price of tea will not rise back.

Thinking about it this way, these companies must have discovered that they are still profitable after lowering prices, so they all chose to lower prices.

Didn't you expect that lowering prices would actually make more money?

Or do you think of it, but don’t dare to do it?

There must be some reason for this, right?

On the stage, Liu Yu finished his first "thank you" to the Habsburg family, and then said: "Afterwards, probably in the year when our dynasty conquered Junggar, the Shenluo Emperor could not give birth to a son. In order for other countries to recognize his daughter's inheritance, the Ostend Company had to be dissolved, as a bargaining chip for Britain, the Netherlands and other countries to support his daughter's inheritance. "

"The second 'thank you' I say is for this disbandment."

"Let's put it this way, Ostend is as far from London as it is from Songjiang Prefecture to Suzhou Prefecture, maybe even worse."

"Guess, if he gave birth to a son and the company was not dissolved, would Britain be forced to cancel the tea tax?"

"You have to know that the British tea tariff this year is 125%. The Netherlands was an ally before. Due to human kindness, the country is weak and cannot go too far; Sweden, Denmark and other countries are too far away."

"Then think about it, if the tea from Songjiang Prefecture is taxed at 125%, while the tea from Suzhou Prefecture is tax-free. Do you think it can be managed?"

"With the distance from Suzhou Prefecture to Songjiang Prefecture, I'm afraid that if he gave birth to a son, he wouldn't ban the Ostend Company. I'm afraid the British would have lowered the tea tax as early as this dynasty's invasion of Japan."

"The UK's reduction of tea tax is a good thing for merchants in China and Hangzhou. But it is not a good thing for those of us engaged in maritime trade. Nowadays, 450% of the tea produced by the Western Trading Company in the first year is Gross profit, and it suddenly amounted to millions of kilograms..."

"To put it further, it's really thanks to Guanyin that she gave the Habsburg family a daughter."