Theodora was a little helpless about Guo Kang's obsession.
"Hey, why do you think about selling these things every day?" She sighed.
"We have to negotiate business with the Ming Dynasty, don't you understand?" Guo Kang also shook his head: "The current situation is that we need to import iron pots, import silk, and probably also import cotton cloth in the future. There are also sugar, Porcelain, blah blah blah..."
"In short, regardless of food, clothing, or use, we need to import a large amount of Eastern materials. All bulk commodities are what we need from the Ming Dynasty, not what they need from us."
"If this kind of trade can be carried out, it will make our life very comfortable in the beginning, but problems will definitely arise over time. The materials we export are far less than the imports. For this difference, we have to buy gold, silver, rare products and the like High-value supplies will be used to fill it. In the future, if the trade volume increases, it will not be enough to fill it with 'Alemannic Silver'. No matter how big the savings are, it can't stop people from sitting on the mountain."
"Then we can't count on these things." Theodora pointed to the model: "How much deficit can we recover with this?"
"I really can't think of any commodities that are equivalent." Guo Kang spread his hands.
"What else can't be done?" Theodora was a little surprised.
"Nothing will work." Guo Kang said firmly: "As long as it has anything to do with agriculture, there is no hope."
According to the experience of the previous world, let alone these serious products, they are not serious and will be useless in the end.
At that time, the British just couldn't find a normal way to reverse the deficit. Even if the Qing Dynasty's tariffs were much lower than its own, and even if it had industrial and colonial cost advantages, it still couldn't compete with others. When all conventional methods failed, they finally made a desperate move to vigorously develop the tobacco and soil trade.
However, historically, after the first war, the tobacco and soil trade could only be considered partially open. The British didn't take it seriously at the time and thought this was enough. But more than ten years later, they found that the trade deficit at this time still had not been reversed and could only continue to push forward.
Finally, in the late 1860s, after the second war between the two sides ended, the scale of the tobacco trade further expanded, and the Qing Dynasty's anti-smoking efforts were considered a complete failure. By 1876, the Qing government gave up completely and declared tobacco legal, and the British efforts were finally completely successful.
But the problem is that after the Qing Dynasty abandoned medicine, the tobacco industry also appeared in the country. Local cigarettes have developed slowly in the past ten years, but expanded rapidly after being fully legalized, causing foreign cigarettes to encounter fierce confrontation. Just five years later, in 1881, the British consul reported that Persian tobacco was no longer profitable and Indian tobacco was being driven out of many provinces. If this continues, it will soon be impossible to make money again.
Sure enough, in 1882, the Qing Dynasty's exports of tobacco exceeded its imports, and it officially became an exporting country. The main target of his exports is Britain itself.
Of course, the British could not accept this situation, and in 1885 they forced the Qing Dynasty to set a cap on foreign cigarettes to reduce sales costs. But even with many advantages, foreign cigarettes still cannot compete with local cigarettes. By 1891, the import volume of foreign cigarettes dropped by about 15%, the market value dropped by 35% to 40%, and it began to collapse across the board.
The Qing Dynasty's tobacco had already adhered to the principle of free trade, traveled across the ocean, and sold well in the UK. London and Liverpool became the centers for the Qing Dynasty's dumping of opium to Britain. A number of Qing Dynasty-style opium dens also appeared, teaching various new methods and exporting culture to Britain.
By 1906, the quantity of native cigarettes exported by the Qing Dynasty had reached 11 times that of imported foreign cigarettes. Thanks to the efforts of both parties, the people of the British Empire finally lived a happy life with plenty of food.
The proliferation of cigarette smoke has led to the collapse of social order and even had a negative impact on the British governance model, which was finally unacceptable to the British government. The British could only change their attitude and began to vigorously advocate anti-smoking, and asked the Qing government to also implement anti-smoking measures. The Qing Dynasty had basically lost its ability to control at this time, but it still opened its mouth to ask for benefits.
Finally, in 1907, Britain was forced to sign the Sino-British Anti-Smoking Treaty with the Qing Dynasty, which was humiliating and humiliating to the country. The treaty stipulated that the import of Indian cigarettes into the Qing Dynasty was banned year by year, and import tariffs on foreign cigarettes were increased. The Qing Dynasty also extended its hand into the British sphere of influence, stipulating that smoking should also be banned in concession areas, and allowing Qing Dynasty officials to be stationed in India to supervise the auction and packaging business at the Port of Calcutta.
The fruits of decades of war were abandoned after a short period of persistence. Not only did it make the previous efforts ridiculous, but it also made the "freedom" and "morality" advocated by the British a joke. It was like a continuous slap in the face of Queen Victoria. Of course, because of the situation, we just slapped people. At that time, everyone obviously didn't care about so much.
Therefore, the conclusion is also very simple: when it comes to agricultural products, do not try to compete with Seris on any product. This guy was a giant of terrifying size. Even if he lay down and committed suicide, he would be smashed to pieces.
The situation at the end of the Qing Dynasty was not good, let alone the previous era. Guo Kang is convinced of this.
Although Theodora was a little reluctant, she still accepted his point of view.
"So what do you mean, we can only earn back a little bit through these... not very mainstream products?" She thought about the problem and responded quickly: "I study Steam Brother every day, is this the same idea? "
"It's just a direction to work towards. It can last for a while." Guo Kang thought for a while and said: "If we really hope to integrate the entire Mediterranean world, then there is some hope of competing. These technologies are to strive for this goal. Time."
"So pessimistic..." Theodora muttered in surprise.
Guo Kang spread his hands and didn't know what to say to her.
These are actually the lessons of blood and tears of Europeans in his world and "later generations". Because almost all bulk products will face the same problem.
For example, iron pots, for most of the time from the advent of ocean-going trade in the Tang and Song Dynasties until the time he lived, were mainstream export products—even in the industrial era. There may have been a pause of about a hundred years, and then the Seris people started selling iron products all over the world again. This thing is simply an invincible product. Competing with others in this aspect is just looking for trouble.
Throughout history, this may be the norm, and "Serris's inability to have an all-round advantage in commodities" is an unexpected situation. When the unexpected period of time passes, the world will return to "historical normality"...
"If you think about it, even the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty failed to completely interrupt the export of Eastern goods. Now, in order to compete for the ocean and support war with war, the Yuan and Ming Dynasties are running around like crazy." He shook his head. , talking about the example at hand: "Even if we don't care, they will come to us, or even find our enemies, to make the situation worse. That's why I feel that this is something that must be done, but after doing it, it will be the same It’s going to be very uncomfortable.”
(End of chapter)
