Zhao Xin smiled lightly and said: "Don't you like black tea the most? Do you also want green tea?"
Basnin asked: "So, how much can you provide, Your Excellency?"
"Your five families, plus other small merchants in the city, will be counted as one family, and each family will receive five thousand poods."
Ouch~~The pie is smashing in the sky!
As soon as Zhao Xin said this, the five major families' eyes were straightened, their mouths opened wide, and they were almost in disgrace.
In the Tsarist era, one pood was 16.38 kilograms, and five thousand poods was almost 82,000 kilograms. However, the weights and measures of the Qing Dynasty were different from those of later generations. One pound of Hehua scale was 28 jins, so one jin in commodity transactions in the Qing Dynasty was the current 0.855 market jin.
Give me a chestnut. In the past, when Russians bought tea from Kyakhta, one pood sold for 11 rubles. The currency of this era is not paper money, it is all real gold and silver. If 11 rubles is converted into silver, it is 8.2 taels of silver. According to the clear scale, one kilogram of tea is 0.293 taels of silver, and one load of one hundred kilograms is 29.3 taels of silver.
To put it simply, if Shanxi merchants purchase green tea or pekoe directly from the tea-producing areas in Fujian, one hundred kilograms is equivalent to a load. Depending on the grade of tea, the purchase price per load ranges from 500 to 78 taels, with some in between. There are freight costs thousands of miles away, tea sales fees, taxes, bribes, etc., but even so, the profits are several times greater.
In general, the tea trade in the Qing Dynasty was a very complicated business, with so many details, including tea cultivation, production, agency, underwriting, and government affairs, that it is impossible to describe it in just a few sentences. If an outsider wants to get involved here, it is impossible without spending a lot of money to clear the joints.
The problem is that Zhao Xin doesn’t need it! Beihai Town can send a ship to buy it directly from Jiangnan, and the 490,000 kilograms are only 490 tons.
Shen Jingdan had mentioned to Zhao Xin before that the interruption of Kyakhta trade had led to a large backlog of tea in Fujian. Countries such as Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands simply cannot digest so much tea in Guangzhou alone.
As mentioned before, a major feature of Thirteen Banks' trade was that the payment for goods had to be advanced by the merchants, and the settlement could not be settled until the foreign merchants returned to Guangzhou the following year. With the current strength of the seven or eight merchants in Guangzhou, there is no way they can consume a large amount of tea.
Zhao Xin's plan has actually been considered for a long time. Force is one aspect, and economic interests are the core of whether Beihai Town can firmly rule Eastern Siberia.
The specific operation is to transform Irkutsk into a distribution center and transfer station for east-west land trade, and a trade expo will be set up here in Beihai Town. Whether it is cotton fabrics, silk, sugar or tea, or Russian leather products or woolen fabrics, as long as Kyaktu is blocked, nothing can get out or in. At that time, you can control all the supply of goods. inside.
Don’t Shanxi merchants like to hoard land? Sooner or later, let them spit it out!
When Beihai Town defeats the Shanxi merchants, they can seize the Shanxi merchants' tea territory, and then use the profits from Sino-Russian trade to subsidize southern tea farmers, establish agricultural cooperatives, and improve the quality and output of tea. China's tea dominance will be No one can shake it.
As for the British wanting to establish tea gardens in Sri Lanka, it is simple to say the least. Now that the British can encourage the Nepalese to engage in Tibet, Beihai Town can encourage the Pearl River pirates to go to Sri Lanka to engage the British.
Isn't it just chaos? Compared with the British who are stirring up trouble all over the world, Zhao Xin's ability to do three things and four things is unparalleled in time and space.
The five major families headed by Sibiliakov have not imported tea from Kyaktu for several years. Although there was smuggling during the period, the scale was not large, and they themselves were not enough. Since the Qing Dynasty stopped the Kyakhta trade, it has been very strict on smuggling. Qianlong has punished several groups of officials for this.
You must know that since the late 18th century, tea has become a daily necessity for every family in Siberia, so much so that every time the Qing Dynasty closed down the Kyakhta trade, many families would become impoverished due to the interruption of the tea trade, and even be reduced to begging for a living. .
In this era, tea in the West was not only drunk, but also a symbol of wealth. Many dignitaries and wealthy businessmen showed off tea as a luxury product. They would take out various tea leaves that their guests had never seen before and treat them to drink one after another. It feels like some people in modern times show off how many LV bags they have, posing them all and taking photos to show off.
In fact, the economic role of East Siberia's tea trade extends far beyond the entire Siberian region, and also has a great impact on Europe and Russia. From 1780 to 1785, the tea trade volume between China and Russia increased fivefold.
Since the closure of Kyakhta trade, the five major families can only buy tea from British, Dutch or Danish merchants. The procurement cost is three or four times higher, with the cost as high as 52 rubles per pood.
At this time, Zhao Xin's chief of guards, Chen Jishan, came into the room carrying a tray with a pot of freshly brewed black tea and a small plate of tea samples.
Basin, who was the most knowledgeable about tea among the five businessmen, saw the tea, picked it up and smelled it, and suddenly said with surprise: "Is this Wuyi BOHEA?"
Zhao Xin nodded and said: "Yes, the real Tongmuguan Souchong."
The so-called "Tongmuguan Souchong" is the Lapsang Souchong known to later generations. From the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, Lapsang Souchong was brought to Europe by Dutch merchants. It soon became popular among the British royal family and even the whole of Europe, and set off the "afternoon tea" trend that has been passed down to this day. This kind of tea is bright red in color, rich in aroma, and sweet in the mouth. It is now called "WUYI BOHEA" by Europeans.
Zhao Xin held the cup and gestured: "This is what I have in hand. Please, gentlemen, have a taste and see how it tastes."
Sibiliakov and the other five people saw Zhao Xin drinking, and then they tried to take a sip, after thinking about it for a moment, and soon showed a very satisfied expression.
Dudorovsky asked tentatively: "Thirteen rubles per pood?"
"Twelve rubles."
However, when former mayor Sibiliakov heard the price, his expression suddenly became solemn. There are never free benefits in this world, and there are often traps behind honey.
"Mr. Zhao, what are your plans? With just a few of you, do you really want to start a war with the entire Russia?"
Zhao Xin stood up and walked to the window, looking at the city where snow had begun to fall, and said without looking back: "Everyone, I hope you recognize the reality. Beihai Town is far more powerful than you think. Since your queen can do this If she decides to invade China, she will bear the consequences of failure.
Now that we have captured this city, no one can take it away. We welcome those who choose to stay; we will not stop those who wish to return to the west of the Yenisey River. "
"What?! Yenisei River?" Sibiliakov and others could no longer sit still and all stood up.
"Next spring, we will send immigrants here to build a commodity trading center and expand the city." Zhao Xin turned around and looked at Sibilyakov and continued: "You must not know that the Central Plains Dynasty in the south There are 200 million people. For me, it is extremely easy to send 10,000 or 20,000 people here. Where to go, you go back and think about it."
What? Two hundred million! The leaders of the five major families broke out in cold sweat on their necks after hearing this. Not to mention Siberia, the entire Tsarist Empire in history only had 35.5 million people in 1800.
Shortly after Zhao Xin ended his conversation with the five major families, the news that the Chinese occupying forces could provide a large amount of tea quickly spread, causing a sensation throughout the city.
A pood only costs 12 rubles, so it’s a big deal!
The Russian businessmen who originally wanted to leave by boat immediately gave up their plans to pack their luggage. It’s great to have tea. With the tea trade, everyone can make money. Not to mention why everyone came here from Europe to get rich. As for the fact that this place will become Chinese territory in the future, the worst case scenario is that we can make money and go back to Europe to be happy.
In order to comfort the people in the city, Zhao Xin asked Markovich to post the North Navy's first local notice a day later. The core is two words, tax reduction! Abolish the head tax and all taxes directly related to commodity transactions.
As soon as the news came out, both the civilians in the city and the farmers outside the city were all ecstatic.
It is said that in Tsarist Russia, like ancient China, the main taxes still came from land. Regardless of whether they were state serfs, church serfs or landlord serfs, they had to pay taxes. In addition, there are station tax, shooting tax (the cost of shooting for supplying the army), horse yoke tax, shoe and hat tax, bathhouse tax, mill tax, ship departure and landing tax, etc.
The most famous of these is the beard tax, which is collected according to levels. 60 rubles for nobles and civil servants, 100 rubles for wealthy merchants, 60 rubles for ordinary businessmen, and 30 rubles for servants and lower-level church personnel. Peasants were not taxed on growing beards in the village, but they had to pay one kopeck to enter and leave the city.
Starting from the time of Peter I, Russia's direct taxes and other special taxes collected an average of 2.5 rubles per household, and the in-kind tax paid by farmers increased to 5.6 poods. After Catherine II came to power, although the salt tax was abolished and the poll tax and physical tax were reduced, the problem was that this woman was really good at wasting money. A total of 138 million rubles of banknotes were issued in 27 years; this is It’s almost the same as the Ming Dynasty’s treasure banknotes, and the banknotes are all worthless.
Why did Catherine II deprive the church of its property? The core is agricultural taxation. Because the land rent paid by church serfs to the church was 2 to 3.8 times less than the tax collected directly from these people by the state.
Regardless of Catherine II’s advocacy of industry and commerce, many emerging industrial cities only exist on paper. This is the most amazing thing about the autocratic regime of Tsarist Russia and its system of absolute obedience. The Queen gave the order and no one complained, but I just wouldn’t do it.
In this way, Zhao Xin used tea to conquer the merchant class on one hand, and stabilized the civilian and peasant classes with tax cuts on the other. A few days later, the agricultural product markets that had been in ruins gradually resumed trading.
The original official class did not make up the majority in the local area. In fact, the government controlled by businessmen did not have that many officials. Zhao Xin's approach was to double the salary and get out by boat if he was unwilling to work.
At the same time, Kyaktu, hundreds of kilometers away, was a different scene.
After lunch yesterday, the merchants in the trading city and the Eight Banners soldiers stationed there heard several explosions on the Russian territory opposite. Many people thought it was the Rakshasa's gunpowder magazine that exploded. But as fierce gunshots and shouts of death rang out, everyone realized that something big must have happened on the other side.
After hearing the news, the director of the Lifan Yuan who was in charge of the trading city came to the city gate. Through the crack in the door, he could see smoke filling the Russian city opposite. The flames of explosions soared into the sky, and the intensive gunshots made people's hearts tremble. He hurriedly mobilized troops and horses in the city to prepare for the situation, and at the same time sent fast horses to report to the minister of affairs in Culun.
It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon, which was Shen Zheng's time, when the gunfire in Kyaktu City gradually subsided. The dozen or so Russian soldiers who had managed to escape from the city were now stunned. They ran towards the Buying City regardless of their heads and feet, shouting for help.
Unexpectedly, as soon as these guys ran to the river bank, they were knocked to the ground by a dense rain of bullets behind them, and then rolled into the Kyaktu River. This movement frightened the Qing troops in the trading city and shivered behind the wooden wall. They had never seen this before!
However, a few interested people noticed that after lying on the crack of the city gate and looking at it for a while, the Qing army leader who was stationed at the north gate suddenly turned pale and sweated profusely on his forehead, as if he was suffering from dysentery.
They don't know that at this moment, Master Xie Ling is in a state of turmoil, and the only thing running through his mind is: "Oh my God! How come these guys are here!"
Daqing, this person was also a guest in Beihai Town. After being released back then, after some operations, he was stationed in the Trading City. I thought to myself that this time I was far away from the group of rebels. There were thousands of miles between them. The result was unexpected, we became neighbors in the blink of an eye!
At dusk, the raging fire in Kyaktu Town gradually extinguished, and the double-headed eagle flag on the southeast corner of the tower was thrown down from the tower. Not long after, a white five-pointed flag with a red background and a white gear in the middle appeared on the tower. Immediately afterwards, on the southwest corner of the tower, a huge flag with the character "Liu" was hung. This sight made all the Qing soldiers and civilians on the city wall stunned.
Is this the end of Rakshasa? But who are these soldiers on the other side? How could they use the banner of the Han people?
In fact, regardless of Qianlong's closure of the Kyakhta trade and Tsarist Russia's invasion of Heilongjiang, the Sino-Russian relations in the Trading City have always been very "harmonious".
The Manchu Qing government regarded itself as the supreme kingdom of heaven and regarded all foreign vassals as barbarians. Neither the Cullen Minister of Affairs nor the local Lifan Yuan magistrate will stand up for businessmen. They only care about how much tax they can collect.
So in order to reduce trouble, the Qing court made a strange rule that required any Chinese not to have any quarrels with Russian businessmen. Even if he was later proven not to be wrong, he would be imprisoned for ten days. If there are various types of claims, they should be stated calmly and politely to the Russian commander in a friendly manner, so as to avoid sometimes small feuds between businessmen leading to big disputes between countries.
In addition, in order to prevent Tsarist Russia from understanding China's internal affairs, the Qing government required the Chinese in the trading city to only speak Russian and resolutely refused to give the Russians the opportunity to learn Chinese. So until this time, almost all Chinese people in the trading city can speak Russian, but none of the Russian businessmen in Kyakhta can speak Chinese.
Under such a trading rule, do you want to live in harmony?
By the next morning, the frightened Lifanyuan official did not dare to come forward at all, so he sent the shopkeeper of "Meiyu Gongji" in the city across the river to find out the truth.
Meiyu Gongji is the property of Chang Huaiju, a Shanxi native. They have several shops in the shopping city. Historically, among the many Shanxi merchants engaged in trade with Russia in Kyakhta, the one with the longest operating history and the largest scale was Changjia in Chewang Town, Yuci. Shanxi businessmen's favorite silver winter melon also started from the Chang family.
Tian Tongzhou walked gingerly across the wooden bridge with his nephew Tian Sanhuai, and walked outside the wooden city gate under the watchful eyes of several soldiers from the Northern Navy. He bowed to the soldiers from the Northern Navy at the door and said, "I'm going down to Shanxi Yuci Tian Tongzhou , I came here to pay my respects on the order of Mr. Wu from the Lifan Academy."
Shopkeeper Tian spoke in Yuci dialect with a heavy accent. The Northern Navy soldier at the door blinked, and then said in Henan dialect: "I'm here, what are you talking about?"
()
.
