Yuzhu read the account books carefully. The East India Company purchased the most products from the Qing Dynasty. The first was tea, the second was porcelain, and the third was silk products.
Moreover, Yuzhu also knew that the British Tea Commissioner, more than half a century later, would definitely try his best to obtain the method of growing tea trees from unscrupulous businessmen.
The reason is actually very simple. After the British developed the habit of drinking afternoon tea, the tea trade between China and Britain was monopolized by the East India Company...
Monopoly is fiercer than tiger!
When Macartney visited China, he took tea trees from Jiangxi from the Qing Dynasty and handed them over to a botanist named Joseph Banks.
Joseph Banks was very capable. He actually successfully transplanted in Calcutta, India.
However, the East India Company considered the huge profits from monopolizing Qing tea and did not use Calcutta tea.
In the early days, the East India Company only sold about 50,000 pounds of Chinese tea. Now, it has soared to 5 million pounds per year, and the British can no longer do without tea from China.
The East India Company needed tea, and the tea was in the hands of Shisan Xing, that is, in the hands of Yuzhu.
We are all businessmen and need each other, so we can cooperate very well!
Yuzhu held a wine glass in his hand, and he and Churchill got together. Through Alice's so-called translation, they had a good conversation.
Unlike ordinary merchants, the East India Company was a company worthy of respect.
This kind of respect is not an emotional respect, but an emphasis on strength.
Strategically, you can despise it, but tactically, you must pay attention to it.
Jianghu, theory of strength!
This time, Churchill came over from Macau. In addition to attending Yuzhu's party, he also wanted to buy a piece of land and build a formal business center in the Shisanyiguan area.
According to the rules of the Qing Dynasty, foreigners must obtain Yuzhu's consent to build foreign merchant houses.
After Yuzhu heard Churchill's idea, he nodded and agreed without saying a word.
Obviously, Churchill was just a test. Yuzhu nodded immediately, and he immediately realized that there was an essential difference between the young supervisor and the old bureaucrat Wen Ershan.
There was still some time before lunch, so Yuzhu invited everyone to the lawn in the back garden and gave them two high-fives.
At this time, the melodious tune of "Pavan Dance" suddenly sounded in the sky above the back garden.
Alice's eyes immediately widened and she stared at Yuzhu's face without blinking. What kind of devilish man is this?
What Alice, and all the foreign businessmen present, never expected was that in the back garden supervised by the imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty, the Pavan dance, which was extremely popular in various European courts, would actually appear.
Puff dance, also known as peacock dance, is a slow double court dance popular in Europe in the 16th century (Renaissance period). It consists of many pairs of double dancers forming a queue, in 2/2 time, and the dance steps are slow and solemn.
Usually, Pafan dance and Galier dance are performed in pairs.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the dance music has started, dance to your heart's content!" Yuzhu winked at Alice and asked her to translate his words to everyone.
Alice suppressed her inner shock and announced the good news of free dancing in public.
As a result, foreign businessmen from various countries cheered and applauded the Qing Dynasty's imperial supervisor for being so enlightened.
For a time, the foreign businessmen and their dancing partners came off the stage to dance.
Yuzhu actually didn't know how to dance this heavy and slow court dance, but Alice insisted on teaching him to dance.
"Sweetie, I don't want to make a fool of myself in public. Why don't you teach me somewhere else?" Yuzhu's request was reasonable and Alice agreed.
As a result, in Yuzhu's inner study room, Yuzhu pulled Alice and danced side by side.
Alice's face turned red from being rubbed by the jade pillar, and she was extremely shy.
After having enough trouble, Yuzhu still followed Alice very cooperatively and learned the Pafan dance and Galier dance.
When Yuzhu and Alice appeared in the dance hall together, the foreign businessmen were immediately excited, with whistles and screams flying all over the place.
After dancing, during the lunch buffet, Yuzhu raised his wine glass high and said a toast.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I want to announce good news to you. From now on, the amount of ship's currency for each ship will be reduced to 50 taels of silver." The news announced by Yuzhu in public is indeed a great benefit.
information.
After a foreign ship of this era arrived at the port of Guangzhou, in addition to the normal cargo tax, it was also necessary to collect "ship notes" according to the size of the ship.
Ship notes and silver are divided into three grades according to the size of the merchant ship, namely six hundred taels, one thousand one hundred taels and one thousand four hundred taels.
According to William, if there were not such ridiculously expensive shipping bills, there would be at least 90% more foreign businessmen coming to Guangzhou to do business.
Of course Yuzhu can understand, William's statement is quite reasonable!
The so-called ship notes and silver are the same as the city gate tax collected in every city in the Qing Dynasty, which greatly hindered the flow of commerce.
Today, Yuzhu paid for the treat. His purpose was to spread this amazing good news widely through the mouths of foreign businessmen from all walks of life.
To put it bluntly, the more foreign businessmen come, the happier Yuzhu will be.
After private bargaining, the old emperor gave Yuzhu a half-year buffer period. After that, he must pay one million taels of customs silver to the Ministry of Internal Affairs every year.
Treating guests to a meal, dancing a few court dances, and spreading the good news of investment to foreign businessmen. How amazing is this?
While the wine was in full swing, Yuzhu took advantage of the situation and introduced Mr. Zhen from the Universe bank account to the foreign businessmen in public.
Only by controlling finance can you earn the largest and most generous profits!
In addition, Yuzhu ordered the customs declaration forms printed in advance to be distributed to the foreign merchants.
From then on, when the tax soldiers inspected the customs declaration form, they checked it one by one according to the obvious details. If there was any concealment of declaration or contraband was included, a fine of 1,000 yuan would be imposed upon inspection.
Alice, the more I look at Yuzhu, the more confused I become. Is this still an incompetent Qing Dynasty bureaucrat?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The day after the meeting ended, Yuzhu took people to Hong Kong Island.
Yuzhu's entourage included Lin Yaner's brother Lin Zhangwu, as well as Xingrui, Xingjiao and Alice.
As for Bai Xing and Niu Tai, as well as the fifty or so military officers, they all followed.
In this era, there was only one small fishing village on Hong Kong Island.
The land on the island cannot be farmed at all.
In a small-scale peasant society, land that cannot grow food is worthless no matter how much it is.
Yuzhu stayed on Hong Kong Island for two days and ordered Lin Zhangwu to buy as much wasteland as possible, especially the wasteland by the sea.
After leaving Hong Kong Island, Yuzhu diverted and went to Macau Island.
Macau Island in this era was completely different from Hong Kong Island.
The Portuguese came to Macau Island very early and obtained permission from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to settle on the island.
After so many years of development, Macau Island has also become very prosperous.
Guangdong Customs has jurisdiction over seven general gates: the provincial capital gate, the Macao gate, the Wuba gate, the Anbu gate, the Meiyan gate, the Hai'an gate and the Haikou gate. There are several smaller gates under each general gate.
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Among them, Daguan, the provincial capital, and the main entrance to Macao have the most important status, as they are where the central Ming Gate is located.
The provincial capital gate is located in the former salt hospital office in Wuxianmen, Guangzhou (between today's Yiyi Road and Subo Lane), and the most strategic locations of Humenkou and Huangpukou are both under the provincial capital gate.
Yuzhu came to the main entrance of Macau for inspection, which was perfectly justified and justified.
According to William, the yard of a certain trading house in Macau was actually a den for smuggling guns.
When Yuzhu heard this, he immediately became excited.
Free flintlocks and cannons are a waste if God does not take them!
Let's go to Hong Kong Island first. That's because Yuzhu didn't want to scare the snake.
After Yuzhu arrived in Macau Island, he entertained or went to banquets with foreign businessmen every day.
Niu Tai, who carried the eagle, became the main force in investigating the trading company.
Yuzhu has a very cautious temperament. If he doesn't take action, he must hit it with one hit.
In fact, the news about William was only heard through hearsay, and he was not an insider in the gun smuggling industry.
According to Yuzhu's estimation, the chance that the flintlocks and artillery were hidden in that courtyard was actually very small.
It is more likely that the flintlocks and artillery were hidden on merchant ships on the sea.
Because, after Kangxi laid off the Guangdong Navy, the Qing Dynasty's control over Macau and other offshore areas was beyond description.
Fortunately, Niutai raised a golden eagle.
Although the golden eagle cannot speak, under Niu Tai's training, he can stare at the smuggling leader from the air and then find the smuggling boat.
To be honest, there are dozens of large and small ships docked in Macau Port.
If the smuggling boat cannot be accurately targeted, the officers and soldiers will be discovered as long as they pass by the shore.
By that time, the firearms will definitely be thrown into the sea, and they will only be caught alone.
After leaving Niu Tai on Macau Island, Yuzhu took the people to the Humen Naval Camp on Shanghengdang Island.
There is no other way. The flintlock rifle that was confiscated from William's house requires a special training ground.
It is definitely appropriate to shoot guns every day in the supervision yamen.
Yuzhu only has the armed force of the Humen Naval Battalion in his hands. Moreover, Shanghengdao Island is a military restricted area and there are no idlers.
Neither the general of Guangzhou, nor the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, nor the admiral of Guangdong could intervene.
Yuzhu was not familiar with flintlock rifles, but William, who had been an officer in the Royal Navy, naturally became an instructor.
Objectively speaking, Yuzhu has always employed people based on merit and does not care about so-called loyalty.
As the old saying goes, a strong wind knows the strength of the grass, and a rough and turbulent wind knows the loyal ministers.
In normal times, everyone will behave very loyally. In fact, at a critical moment, how many of your subordinates are truly loyal?
The so-called loyalty is too expensive, so it is better to just practice meritocracy with clear rewards and punishments!
William's character was very poor, but this former Royal Navy officer did not live in vain. He had some personal experience in improving the firing speed of flintlock muskets.
When the officers first arrived on the island, the firing rate was only one shot per minute and a half.
After half a month, the shooting speed increased to two shots per minute.
To put it bluntly, if the officers who have a foundation of organization and discipline can then train their shooting speed, they will get twice the result with half the effort.