When Gerdes learned that Datang Western Company had directly dispatched two cruisers and said that he would take them to bypass the Portuguese blockade, he had already vaguely guessed something.
This Ying Zihua, this fleet of the Tang Dynasty Western Company, is definitely not just for trade!
Gerdes speculated that they might be trying to bypass the Portuguese, open up new routes, establish a new trade war, and get rid of their dependence on the Portuguese in trade with Europe.
In fact, this idea coincides with Guedes. Guedes himself had previously planned to bypass the Portuguese and go directly to Europe for trade. For this reason, he was already prepared to sneak around and avoid the Portuguese navy blockade.
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Nowadays, in order to monopolize trade with Asia, the Portuguese have almost completely blocked the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca. Except for the Portuguese merchant ships, merchant ships from other countries will most likely be in trouble if they encounter them.
And Guedes is no exception. Although Guedes used to be Portuguese, now Guedes is a glorious and great citizen of the Tang Dynasty. The dragon flag of the Tang Dynasty is flying on his merchant ship. He is no longer Portuguese.
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However, although he guessed that Datang Western Company was planning a grand plan, and that there must be an official plan behind it, and that this process would also be accompanied by great risks, Gerdes did not feel the slightest fear.
I'm a little excited!
This is not just because of the sense of honor of being a citizen of the Tang Dynasty and being able to contribute to the Tang Dynasty. Although this sense of honor is also very important, how can one be so cute with gold and silver?
The reason why he felt excited was because if the official power represented by the Datang Western Company could open up a new route and establish enough trade wars and supply stations on the route, then he, a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, could also
Gain huge benefits from it!
Gerdes's guess was not wrong. This time the Tang Dynasty Western Company sent a fleet to trade in Europe. It was a long-standing plan. In recent years, the Tang Dynasty had long felt the influence of the Portuguese on the European and Asian trade routes.
Monopoly caused serious infringement on the interests of the Tang Dynasty!
The routes were monopolized by the Portuguese. If no other European countries came to trade on a large scale, the prices of many goods exported by the Tang Dynasty were basically decided by the Portuguese. But if these goods were bought to Europe, the prices would still be decided by the Portuguese.
After all, the profits earned by the Portuguese were at least several times that of the Tang Dynasty.
Trade profits are one aspect, and the other aspect is to maintain and expand the production areas of industrial raw materials and product markets!
For example, the most typical light industrial product in the Tang Dynasty today: cotton cloth. To produce cotton cloth, you need cotton, and to produce cotton cloth, you need a market.
Although the country provides a large amount of cotton raw materials and cotton cloth sales, the greed of businessmen is endless. They have already begun to import cotton, and then sell the produced cotton cloth to Southeast Asian countries, North Korea, Fuso and other countries.
Although the current import volume of cotton and the proportion of cotton cloth exports are not large, for example, the import volume of cotton is less than 10%, and the export volume of cotton cloth is only about 15%.
But you have to know that China has a large population, cotton production has been rising steadily in recent years, and cotton cloth sales are a very huge amount, so the amount of cotton consumed and cotton cloth produced every year is actually very huge.
Since cotton imports and cotton cloth exports can occupy a place in such a huge market, it is conceivable that the volume of cotton imports and cotton cloth exports is actually not small.
And the cotton spinning industry is just a part of it!
Another example is spices. You must know that the Tang Dynasty is also a big consumer of spices, but now the origin of these spices is basically controlled by the Portuguese or indigenous countries in Southeast Asia. The Tang Dynasty can only buy them at high prices, and this kind of thing
, which is naturally intolerable to those businessmen.
They also tried their best to find or seize the origin of spices and intervene in the spice trade from the source.
There were too many aspects that prompted the merchants of the Tang Dynasty to try every means to avoid the Portuguese. Even if they could not open a route to Europe on their own, the Tang Dynasty also hoped that more fleets from European countries could come to the Tang Dynasty.
The dynasty carried out trade, instead of being like now, the trade with Europe was basically completely monopolized by the Portuguese, and only occasionally Spanish fleets ventured to arrive.
Against this background, Datang Western Company became a pioneer in opening up new shipping routes and establishing trade and supply stations.
Datang Western Company is a royal asset and naturally has an official background. At the same time, Datang Western Company is currently the only trading company with an official background in the Tang Dynasty. It is also the largest and most powerful company in the Tang Dynasty.
The most powerful trading company.
More importantly, the Datang Western Company recently obtained the only Western trade license issued by the Tang Dynasty, and it was an exclusive Western trade license. The license clearly stipulated that the Tang Dynasty
The company was only granted a trading license.
The authority of this license was very broad. The Tang Dynasty allowed the company to form armed forces overseas to open trade strongholds, protect maritime trade, and have some administrative powers in overseas trade strongholds.
The administrative power stipulated in this license is accurately described as: Datang Western Company has the obligation to assist the Datang Dynasty in managing the colonies!
Military power allows Datang Western Company to form an armed force to protect overseas trade strongholds and escort the company's merchant ships. Well, there is no upper limit.
At the same time, there is also a stipulation that any territory acquired by the Datang Western Company overseas, including but not limited to trading stations, colonies, etc., all belong to the territory directly under the Datang Dynasty, and will be governed by officials directly dispatched by the Datang Dynasty to collect taxes!
Therefore, the most important taxing power still belongs to the supreme tax department!
Of course, what's more important is that the company has an exclusive license to conduct maritime trade in the Western Ocean. The scope of the license includes mainly the area west of Malacca, including India, West Asia, Africa, and Europe. The exclusive license only covers maritime trade, West Asia, and India.
Trade via land is not within the scope of the exclusive monopoly.
In fact, from the perspective of the above authority, the Datang Western Company is actually more like an overseas governor, with administrative, financial, military power and other powers.
In Li Xuan's positioning, the Tang Dynasty Western Company was never just an ordinary trading company engaged in maritime trade, but an overseas extension of the Tang Dynasty, a pioneer in colonization, and the European East India Company in the Age of Discovery.
Somewhat similar.
The only difference between it and many European East India Companies in the Age of Discovery is that it did not have the power to tax, and its administrative power was only to assist.
The function assigned to it by Li Xuan was not a company operating a colony, but a monopoly trading company.
One of its main business models will be to open routes, establish trading stations, plunder colonies, and then conduct monopoly trade to obtain huge profits.
In order to avoid all kinds of turmoil and trouble in the future of the company, to allow the company to have a public base instead of becoming a mere official institution, and to raise a large amount of funds, Li Xuan will sell the shares of the company.
Differentiate and issue shares to powerful businessmen all over the world.
At the same time, in order to prevent a single shareholder from taking over the power, it is stipulated that the shares held by each shareholder are not allowed to exceed 0.1%. Only individuals are allowed to hold shares. After one person holds shares, immediate family members are not allowed to hold additional shares, and non-members are not allowed to hold shares.
Foreigners are not allowed to hold shares in Datang. Institutions are not allowed to hold shares. Share transactions must be reviewed and approved by the Royal Assets Department. The royal family will still retain a large number of shares.
A series of disallowances, but what behind them is the huge profits of monopoly trade, and the dividends alone can make those businessmen enthusiastically buy shares.
Colonization requires a large amount of money, and it is actually difficult for the Tang Dynasty to spend so much money financially for colonial expansion, so Li Xuan can only raise funds.
When the time is right, Li Xuan will directly buy back the foreign shares of Datang Western Company, cancel the company, and normalize Western trade. After all, monopoly trade cannot last long.
Now, it is time to own this company and act as a pioneer!
At present, Datang Western Company has not announced this trade license to the outside world, and it has also not announced its IPO prospectus. The follow-up matters will not be carried out until Datang Western Company goes westward for the first time to explore trade routes.
After all, only by that time can we maximize our profits through financing!
Under such a background, Ying Zihua led two armed merchant ships of the Tang Dynasty Western Company. The two cruisers left Guangzhou Port with Gerdes, and then went straight to Nanyang. Nanyang was not their focus, but the starting point.
!
Standing on the Caiyuan, Ying Zihua was also filled with emotion. A month ago, he was an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his rank was not low. He was the deputy director of the European Department. However, a month ago, he received a recommendation from his superior.
, and then went north to meet the Eternal Sage. The Eternal Sage asked him if he would like to work in the Datang Western Company and serve as the vanguard of the Tang Dynasty's colonial wave!
To be honest, he was very hesitant at the time. After all, at that time, he was the deputy director of the fourth rank, a serious senior official. But after he went to Datang Western Company, although he was said to be one of the main persons in charge, in the final analysis
He still has an ordinary status and is no longer an official.
However, Li Xuan personally met with him and told him about the trade license of Datang Western Company, which made him put down his worries. In his opinion, working in Datang Western Company, although not an official position, does not have the same status as an official.
What's the difference? What's more important is that Li Xuan values him.
As long as he does well in Datang Western Company, he will definitely have the opportunity to return to the central government in the future, and by that time, he may be the director or the assistant minister.