"The system and etiquette of the Celestial Empire are all superior to those of the West. Those who are good at the West are only skillful. This time I went to France, and sent more craftsmen there. Whoever reads should not go, and whoever is sent will be a disgrace. And in his eyes, he is only a trick and a trick, and he can't learn anything. ”

"I want to give some money from my inner money to encourage them to devote themselves to their studies in France and serve them in the future. The point is that these people must not be religious, and if they believe in God in France, they will not return. ”

Until now, the emperor and courtiers were quite confident in the institutional etiquette of the Celestial Empire.

The boiled frog-style changes that Liu Yu has been engaged in have all been made out of nothing, basically not touching the interests of vested interests, and they are also under the guise of the ingenuity of utensils, which contains the huge power and the risk of social tearing up in the future, and has not yet shown the slightest hint.

Even if you want to send craftsmen, you don't need to go to the government for this matter, Liu Yu can choose someone to go by himself.

Liu Yu thought that this was another opportunity for himself to exploit the loophole, Qi Guogong went to Paris, and estimated that he could hear a lot of "words without a king and no father".

Taking advantage of the fact that Qi Guogong's envoy group had not yet returned, Chen Zhen, who had been worried about the time bomb, didn't know what he would see in France and what ideas he would sprout.

It's better to take this opportunity to send out this group of people quickly.

It is very embarrassing to go out to study in this era, the hard power of the West has just been reflected, and there are still a hundred years before the qualitative leap in the era of black chimneys, even if you go abroad, it will not bring much shock.

He didn't want the emperor to send people there, and the people sent out by the emperor were basically conservative landlords, and what they saw and what Liu Yu let people see would not be the same perspective.

"Your Majesty, the ministers have been chosen, all of them are craftsmen, and some are children. Craftsmen go to learn how to build ships, children go, learn more and see more, and it will be convenient for translation in the future. The craftsman can return in five years, and the child will return in ten years. ”

"If the French mission wants to go back, it will have to wait until this winter's winds. If the French mission asks to visit Jiangnan, or go down the canal, it is absolutely impossible. ”

"One is worried that he will steal my silk and porcelain skills; The second is down the river, there are many poor people along the river, if you look at it, it will damage the dignity of the Heavenly Empire, so that it will look down on our dynasty. ”

What is the situation in this world, the emperor still has a point in his heart.

Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Guangdong, with their bright facades, are naturally not comparable to the internal poor areas. In particular, the existence of Cao Yun also requires a large number of levies to transport grain; Although money is given for repairing the Yellow River, the actual amount of money given is lower than the level of local hired laborers, and under the small-scale peasant economy, they only work in the slack field, and even if they are paid, they are actually only forced labor.

Of course, the emperor did not want to show these black and dirty places to foreigners, as long as he knew about it.

"It's very true. It's August, and they won't be here for long. When the time comes, he will follow Aiqing back to Weihai, and where he comes from, he will go from where. I would have rejected their invitation to go down the canal to Songjiang. ”

"It's just that there is no reason to prevent thieves for a thousand days. If Westerners really have a heart, unless they are completely retreated, it is really difficult to stop some people who forget their righteousness from passing on their silk and porcelain skills. According to Qing, now Westerners can actually fire porcelain? ”

Liu Yu thought for a while and decided to give the emperor a wake-up call.

"Yes, it's just a little bad. More than 100 years, less than 50 years, maybe it will equal this dynasty. As for silk, Persia, Rumi and other countries also produce more silk, and France also has silk weaving workshops. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Spaniards began to raise silkworms in the Americas. The minister said in vain that this kind of lying down to make money will not be too long. ”

"As for the tea...... In fact, there are many places overseas where tea can be grown. It's just that now the Anglo-Portuguese country has imposed heavy taxes on tea, and the East India Company is not profitable, so it does not want to invest too much in growing tea. Once the Anglo-Golese Kingdom chooses to liberalize the tariff on tea, I am afraid that Westerners will also grow tea and pick tea. ”

"Since the dynasty has chosen to switch trade, it must suffer this consequence. There are pros and cons to everything. ”

For a long time, the high-end porcelain and silk market was still only Dashun, but it was difficult to say about the low-end market.

The emperor sighed, and said in his heart that children and grandchildren have their own children and grandchildren, and if the craftsmen of the Westerners are exquisite and surpass their own dynasty, they can only solve it by themselves.

Although it is necessary to take precautions, the emperor has no way to do this kind of unprecedented thing.

Before that, where was there a situation where foreign products were better than their own countries?

But tens of thousands of miles away, and can't be stopped, think about what Liu Yu said, gunpowder was brought by the Mongols on the western expedition, and it only took two or three hundred years for the Westerners to catch up, and it seems very possible that the porcelain and silk will surpass in the future.

It's just that why did the Westerners quickly overtake them?

The emperor had a trace of doubt in his heart, but he didn't ask Liu Yu, because he guessed that if he asked Liu Yu, it would definitely be another old-fashioned rhetoric: Xingshi learning, running a school...... and even reform the imperial examinations.

Don't give him a chance to say such crazy things.

Li Gan's judgment of the outside world and his various actions in support of reform are nothing more than to regard Liu Yu as a eunuch who can enrich the internal treasury of the previous dynasty, let Liu Yu reform the military system to maintain the rule, and let Liu Yu preside over trade and money...... Zheng He can also do this job.

Through this reception of the French mission, the emperor made up for the situation in some European countries, and was more attentive to the temptation of "monopolizing Nanyang spices" given by Liu Yu.

The military reform was very smooth, he didn't think about the legacy left by Li Guo and the loose cracks in the door, leaving enough talents outside the imperial examination to make the military reform so smooth.

So he just felt that as long as there was money, there was nothing to do.

And Li Guo's legacy seems to have become a matter of course by now, and he has never thought about how difficult this military reform would be if it were not for the foundation laid by Li Guo back then.

Thinking only about money, of course, he also cares about the fact that Westerners steal technology, but he can't solve it.

"Since Aiqing played the matter of Western porcelain silk, since there is no solution, there is no need to think about it. Just be careful. ”

"I can't help it. If you put it in a tube, you will die, and if you put it down, it will be messy. ”

"I only need to say that it is strictly investigated, and the local festival makes it necessary to write a letter to cut off trade, and lazy government so as not to make mistakes. or smash the porcelain workshops around the customs, or make the daily inventory so that the officials can take the opportunity to make money. ”

As the saying goes: If you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of thieves. As long as the Westerners have their minds, the country will switch trade again, and sooner or later they will steal it. Let him be. ”

"Fortunately, the expulsion of the missionaries can always be delayed."

Liu Yu thought to himself, it is impossible to control this grassroots control.

Britain kept the steam engine so secret, didn't it even keep it for thirty years?

The emperor had other things to discuss with Liu Yu, so he first asked the British Duke to step down and prepare a golden sword plan against the Russians to force Russia to make concessions on the issue of the northwest boundary survey.

When the British Duke left, the emperor asked Liu Yu a very strange question.

"I have learned more about the Western countries these days, and I have also asked about the East India Company. But what do I think, this East India Company is all competing with the people? ”

"For example, the British East India Company had a monopoly on trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. If there was a private trade with the British, the East India Company could sink it. If captured, half of the ship's cargo would go to the treasury and half to the East India Company. ”

"In other words, even if you know that the Celestial Empire is rich in products and can earn a lot of money, it is a big crime to dare to go private."

"I have been thinking about it for a long time, but I really don't know how Yingyi ensured that the public would not be outspoken, and he would complain and compete with the people for profit? According to you, this King Yingyi is not the kind of person whose words are the law. ”

Liu Yu thought about the definition of competing with the people for profit, and said: "Your Majesty clearly sees that this East India Company is originally competing with the people. However, one is convenient for taxation, and the money can go into the hands of the royal family; Second, don't eat alone. In fact, Yingyi's East India Company also had problems many times, but it only issued new shares, so that those who shouted for profit with the people would become shareholders, and no one shouted anymore. ”

"As for the trading companies of the country today, the reason why no one shouts to compete with the people for profit is because they are not profitable in the first place. Whoever has the ability to get the trade card of the Japanese can trade. ”

"In the future, if the Japanese state switches, it will be a different scene."

"But as far as the ministers see, it is not profitable to form a trading company with the people. However, it is beneficial for the government, the domestic treasury, the treasury, and the formation of trading companies. Each has its own pros and cons, and this is also subject to His Majesty's Holy Judgment. ”

The emperor thought to himself, what else is this cutting? Naturally, it is allowed to form trading companies, monopolies are allowed.

As for what free trade is beneficial to the people, smuggling was rampant in the former Ming Dynasty, and it is indeed beneficial to the people, but the court has no money, what can it do?

If the world is only a corner of the southeast, it is easy to say, but if the situation today is to collect taxes in the southeast to subsidize other places, there is no way.

Relying only on naval and customs patrols, the coastline is long, and once the Japanese state opens up for trade in the future, it will not be able to prevent it.

It's better to throw them out in one go, including taxes, and if there are really smugglers, the ships of the trading company will catch them.

As for the many dissatisfied, the emperor listened to Liu Yu's explanation of "not eating alone", and thought that it was not difficult

。 There are many people who are shareholders now, and those who eat this food include nobles, royalty, and coastal maritime merchants, and the rest of them are shouting a few times to compete with the people for profit, and it will not become any climate.

But what he wanted to ask was not Japan's.

"You said the other day that you were going to send ships to Europe in the name of escorting back to the Swedish people who had been captured by the Quasi-Ministry. I wondered if Britain, the Netherlands, France, Sweden and other countries were able to form the East India Company, that is to say, apart from their companies, no private merchants from Western countries could come to China to trade? ”

Liu Yu didn't know what the emperor wanted to ask, and felt a little strange in his heart, and after thinking about it a little vigilantly, he could only nod.

"Yes."

"If I want to form the Europa Company and grant a monopoly, then, we need a navy that can defeat the Anglo-Dutch Fascia, force it to switch trade, and take back the monopoly of its East India Company; It is also necessary to close the customs at the port, and the goods of Western merchant ships are not allowed to enter the port, and only Western goods can be transported by Europa ship, right? ”

Liu Yu already heard that something was not quite right, but what he said was also true, and he could only say yes.

"That certainly won't do. So, what if I took all the trade with the West into a government business? Monopoly rights are granted at the expense of internal funds, in the manner of trading companies. Only Westerners were allowed to trade with chambers of commerce that had a monopoly. In this way, the profits will be more and the tariffs will be 100 times higher. I can spend an extra 1,200,000,000 taels of silver every year to build a navy, so what? ”

"The money is in the hands of the merchants, and they don't pay for the ships. I want to invest money, but I don't have it. If so, I think it will be good for the country. ”

"With the annual trade volume of millions of taels from the countries of the Western Ocean, I can get at least three million taels of silver a year. In this way, every year, I can take out one million taels to immigrate to the Western Regions and the Whale Sea; One million taels to change the land and return to the stream; One million taels into the navy. ”

Liu Yu reacted for a moment, pondered for a while, and was so frightened that his soul was gone.

Isn't this mother's leg just a mouthful of trade?

His face changed drastically, and he said in a loud voice: "I think it's ...... Never. I beg your Majesty not to do so. In this way, there is no benefit to the country, only great harm. ”