The profits of the China Merchants Bureau must be shared with the Jiangnan Jin gentry of the Ming Dynasty. Calculated in this way, the direct profit gained by the Senate is even less.
The decrease in profits not only affects the Senate's finances, but also involves another problem, which in disguise increases the strength of potential opponents.
To be honest, what Wang Kai is least worried about is the money flowing into the hands of the Ming gentry, which can only be called "temporary custody" at best; what about the smugglers? In fact, it doesn't matter. After all, smugglers have a strong sense of adventure, and most of the money they earn will re-enter the trade cycle. And as the Senate becomes more and more powerful on the mainland, this part of the money can be regarded as "rotten in the pot."
In his view, the biggest danger is that this money has strengthened VOC, and its development momentum is faster than in the old time and space.
Because the Senate has been troubled by transportation capacity problems for a long time, most of the goods sold to Europeans are waiting for others to come and buy them; the routes directly operated are mainly two-way transactions between Lingao, Guangzhou and Jiangnan and Jiangnan through the China Merchants Bureau channel ―Japanese trade in Nagasaki.
The private maritime trade mainly focused on domestic trade in Asia and was gradually incorporated into the Dutch domestic trade system in Asia. In contrast, the business of Europeans, represented by the Dutch, can be described as smooth sailing. They have full choice and initiative in trade. The Dutch can even earn more than ten times the profit with only a small amount of capital.
VOC not only gained profits from the entire trade process, but also gained abundant liquidity. Wang Kai came to this conclusion after studying relevant models.
Of course, VOC is now their partner, and the relationship between the two parties can be described as "harmonious." But both sides were always wary - both the Senate and the Dutch.
"... Our identity relationship with Westerners is reciprocal. We organize mainland goods for them. They originally wanted to come over by empty ship. The price of the food shipped is not increased. Considering that our willingness to sell goods is greater than that of the old time and space. It is difficult for us to ask the various continental forces for "organizing commodity procurement". But we do need to ask them for some additional things. Also, our efforts for this Eurasian trade are actually greater than theirs. Much more, but the majority of the profits are in their hands. Why do you say that? We have provided maritime security throughout East Asia and the South China Sea. We have commodity organization capabilities and payment methods that transcend this time and space. We have what is known as the strongest navy in the world. What is our status? Using the analogy of countries in the old time and space, we have the strength of the US military and one-sixth of the trade status of Saudi Arabia. At most, we can add one-sixth of the Italian profit. Is this good? This Not good. It has to change!”
After reading this conclusion of his own, Wang Kai felt that it was almost done. He revised a few more words, put the memo into his folder, and called his secretary in.
"How's that appointment I asked you to arrange?"
"The general office just called back: You can go there on time."
It has become so difficult to meet the chief of staff now. Wang Kai secretly slandered. Power is something that can separate you from the people around you without even realizing it.
The appointment time is ten o'clock in the morning. It takes about half an hour to take a rickshaw from the Colonial and Trade Department, including the security check. Wang Kai looked at his watch. It was less than nine-twenty now. During the caution period, it is better to go there earlier.
At ten o'clock in the morning, Fatty Wang was brought to Xiao Zishan's office by the female secretary.
As usual, Xiao Zishan smiled and gave a "comrade plus brother" handshake, plus "warm hospitality" greetings. When the secretary gave him a cup of tea and left, Wang Kai knew that he could talk about business.
"Director Xiao, I came here today to report to you some thoughts and situations on foreign trade. In particular, some things about the recent trade adjustments with Japan."
Xiao Zishan continued to smile and nodded: "Easy to say, easy to say. But foreign trade is not my area of responsibility."
"I personally just want to express my thoughts as a foreign trade professional to you. I have no other meaning." Fatty Wang unconsciously used honorifics.
"In this case, I am all ears - I am a layman when it comes to trade."
"I'll try to explain it as clearly as I can."
Wang Kai first briefly explained the materials of the memorandum, and then he said:
"The main commodities on the Sino-Japanese trade route are raw silk and cane sugar. The cane sugar is currently completely under our control. The raw silk is also under good control thanks to the efforts of Hangzhou Station. There will be some smuggling, and they take advantage of the security we provide. The environment and local cooperation in Japan. But we can also provide 'unsafe', and the defecting pirates we control have already started to do it. In terms of transportation capacity, we only need ten H800 ships per year, and we can always squeeze it out. .”
"I have some doubts. We have obvious advantages in bulk products and industrial products. In this case, is the prosperity and freedom of trade more beneficial to us?"
"Your statement is correct in the 21st century. Countries with advantages in products and products naturally feel that freer trade is better. But it was different in the 17th century. The degree of trade exchanges was very shallow, the scale was limited, and the output and transportation capacity were limited. Restrictions and insufficient competition. At this time, we cannot be free, but must choose the part with the greatest profit. Pragmatically speaking, specifically for Australia and Song Dynasty, our current total trade income is far less than 5.9 million Australian dollars. , where can I get it back?”
Fatty Wang paused for a while to let the audience digest, and took a sip of water.
"In addition to transporting food and basic materials, what else do we need them to do?" Director Xiao is a pragmatic person and is more interested in this issue. "
"For example, we hope that Sanya's trade will prosper, and we hope that they will vigorously promote our new products, such as bone china. However, because they have many choices, they only need to respond kindly to us. There is no actual action.”
"I understand what's going on in Sanya. Can you tell me more about bone china?" Director Xiao asked.
"The texture of the bone china made by Dr. Qi is several grades higher than the traditional white porcelain celadon, and the yield rate is higher, so the materials are cheaper. Of course, the yield rate is high because he uses steam with thermocouple temperature control Powered mechanized continuous tunnel kiln, from its name, you should know that its equipment cost, or construction cost is relatively high. This means that we need Westerners to vigorously promote bone china and reduce equipment and construction costs as soon as possible cost, and give a higher price in about the first 5,000 boxes, which is about twice that of traditional porcelain. Although the quality of bone china is more than twice as good as traditional porcelain, Westerners still only promote it on a small scale in Asia, and the largest In the European market, they refuse to sell our new products.”
"Why is this?" Fatty Wang paused for a moment, then Xiao Zishan asked. It seemed that he had attracted attention.
"We assume that traditional porcelain is sold here for 1 Australian element and bone china is sold for 2 Australian elements; when Westerners ship them to other parts of Asia, they are sold for 2 Australian elements and 4 Australian elements respectively; if they are shipped to Europe, The prices are 10 Australian dollars and 20 Australian dollars respectively. You may have noticed that people who can buy porcelain for 2 Australian dollars in Asia can also buy 4 yuan for it. But in Europe, the absolute value of this gap becomes 10 Yuan, it’s not that easy to sell. Westerners, represented by the Dutch, have limited capital, uh, don’t count the money. They want to ensure a profit margin for every dollar, so they will be more inclined to traditional porcelain.”
"Oh, I understand, so do we have any means to make demands directly now?" Director Xiao asked.
"We have mentioned it, but the effect is limited, and our methods have not had a decisive impact. This is what I said before, they can easily obtain a large amount of silver in Japan. Even if we use diplomatic means and administrative means to force them to purchase a certain The product is not of much significance. There will be many such products, and we are in a passive state." Fatty Wang breathed a sigh of relief and finally explained half of the things clearly.
"Even if the Dutch earn a lot of money in Japan, they still have to spend it on us, right?"
"No, on the contrary, the more profits they make in Japan, the lower our sales will be. This needs to be explained in two parts. One is Japan's price exception, and the other is the Dutch trade model. Don't blame me Wordy..." Fatty Wang tried his best to make his explanation attractive.
"No, this sounds quite interesting."
"Let's use cane sugar as an example to illustrate. This time we will not make assumptions and use actual prices. In order to correspond to the unit of Japanese silver, I will not use Australian dollars for the time being. Our cost of purchasing cane sugar locally is 1 liang, and in our own port The price sold to the Dutch is 2 liang. In Japanese ports, the price of cane sugar can be sold for 6 liang. In Amsterdam, the price of cane sugar fluctuates between 10-13 liang. There is also a premise that our production is not enough to fill the demand at the same time. It can meet the demand of the Dutch for shipping to Europe and the demand of Japan. Mr. Mi, if you were a Dutch, what would you do?"
"Do the Dutch have other suppliers?"
"Yes, they can also purchase it in India, where the local production is higher than ours. It's really not enough, and there is smuggled beet sugar from Basra."
Xiao Zishan nodded thoughtfully: "I understand the problem you are talking about. The price in Japan is three times higher than our local price. What if we increase the price? To 6 taels."
"Then we will lose the European market, and at the same time, there will be a lot of goods that cannot be sold every year. The Dutch's purchasing principle for Asian cane sugar is: try to purchase Chinese cane sugar when the price is the same. Price still comes first."
"What if we lower prices in Japan? Will it increase demand in Japan?"
