It is useful to pretend that diplomacy is an important part of pretending that the Celestial Empire has become China.

If you want to pretend that diplomacy is useful, you have to get some authority.

And such a thing as boundary surveying is not authority, but just work.

"Guogong, this country's diplomacy is difficult to say, and easy to say. It is difficult to say, the country is not as good as Europa, it needs to be vertical, vertical and horizontal, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has nowhere to display its skills; Although the country and the countries of Europa are tens of thousands of miles apart, the sea and white sails connect them. ”

"If you want to do diplomacy, you have to get tariffs. In this way, diplomacy with non-tributary states can be achieved. Tariffs are the only way to deal with the DPRK at this time. ”

"Yes...... The public may wish to go up and ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to collect customs duties? ”

To seize power from this direction, Qi Guogong really didn't expect it.

At first glance, it seems that the wind and the horses and cows are not related.

But after thinking about it again, I suddenly felt enlightened, isn't the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in tariffs at this time?

Moreover, part of the Western tariffs do not go to the national treasury, and they are also in the emperor's internal funds. The key is that this money is not very much at this time, and it is tens of thousands of taels of silver, although the various customs departments have a lot of oil and water, but they take over from above, and the resistance is not great.

Qi Guogong had been to Europe once and knew that tariffs meant war and peace in Europe, and were an extremely important means of negotiation.

For example, Britain and Spain, France and the Netherlands, and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, I don't know how many times the two sides have fought over tariffs, smuggling, and so on.

Da Shunkong has such an ability, which is unique, but he almost never uses it.

Either that, it is a one-size-fits-all approach, and the customs must be closed to prevent Westerners from attacking and harassing them; Or, as now, the tax collectors are like fools, and the door is wide open, and from Songjiang to Guangdong, Western merchant houses can be rented here.

Hearing Liu Yu say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seized the authority of tariffs, Qi Guogong's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said in his heart that this is a good way.

It just so happened that the emperor asked him to cooperate with Liu Yu to deal with Sweden's affairs.

He also knew that his family had invested a sum of money in a trading company, but most of it was invested by Tian Ping, he was away at the time, and the head of the family did not have such courage, so he missed a good opportunity, but he also invested some.

If the last reception of the Russian mission was the starting point of diplomacy; So this time to solve Sweden's trade problem is the first thing Dashun's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done.

If you want the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have weight in the court, you have to hand over a weighty answer sheet to the court.

This weight is silver and gold.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of customs duties? Well...... It's not impossible, I can tell Your Majesty about it. Your negotiations with the Swedes are exactly what you need to cooperate with the tariffs. How sure are you about this? ”

The matter of demarcating the boundary can be done step by step, and the court has a bottom line, and basically has a number in mind, where to draw the boundary.

Sweden's affairs are the first shot of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This cannon should be fired loudly.

"Guogong, in fact, for Sweden, there are only two ways to start. One is the Rakshasas, the war between the Rakshasa and Sweden is inevitable, and the French also said that in order to contain the Rakshasas, they will also instigate the Swedes to confront Russia. The two sides have been fighting for decades, and the hatred is there. ”

"At this point, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can bring the power of pacifying the Western Regions and not necessarily intimidate the Rakshasas, but it can guarantee that if Ruiluo goes to war, it will mediate in the middle. The Swedes are very confident, but after all, a small country with a population of hundreds of thousands, even if they are one against ten, they can't beat the Rakshasas. At that time, if you can come forward to mediate, it can be regarded as a guarantee. ”

"But this alone will not convince the Swedes to concede."

This time he sent a merchant ship to Sweden, and Liu Yu was waiting for the opportunity of a big war in Europe. At this time, there was no international law, and privateers were running everywhere, from India to the Americas and then to Europe, and the European merchant trade was bound to be affected.

Once affected, there is a vacuum of supply. And this supply vacuum is the opportunity for Liu Yu to let Dashun's sea set foot in the Western Ocean.

As long as the amount of smuggling is large enough, either Britain will reduce the tea tax, export will soar, and the Dashun tariff will increase; Either the European countries will have to watch the smugglers run around and rob the East India Company of all its profits.

More than ten years ago, Britain, the Netherlands, France and other countries had just dismembered the Ostend company, and if they wanted to gain a foothold in Europe, they must take advantage of the contradictions between Britain and France to ensure that they would intervene when the contradictions were at their deepest.

The awkward part is that Dashun can't turn his face with Britain and expel the British merchant hall, and Britain has no worries anyway, and it can rob Dashun's merchant ships in the Atlantic; In order to prevent the British from hijacking Dashun's merchant ships, they had to give Britain a smile and let him continue to trade here, so that the British could negotiate to ensure the safety of Dashun's merchant ships.

If you dare to hijack the ship, I will dismantle the merchant hall and mortgage each other, so that the conversation can continue.

and the Netherlands, it's not easy to do. What Liu Yu wants is not just the trade of the Netherlands, but the uprooting of the Dutch business in Nanyang.

This requires a neutral white glove.

Choose and choose, and Sweden is the most suitable.

Russia's most common potential enemy, and this is a negotiable direction.

Of course, the Swedes were certainly reluctant to allow Chinese businessmen to get involved in the smuggling business in Gothenburg, and this required Dashun's diplomatic department to make a fuss about the tariff issue: if Dashun could not be allowed to take a stake in the Swedish East India Company's business in China, then the Swedish East India Company would be subject to tariffs.

There are no private individuals who can go to Guangdong to trade.

Because all European countries had a monopoly on the East India Company, private trade was not only illegal, but also would be caught and divided by the East India Company.

Even if you have a background, your background is better than that of the directors of the East India Company?

Liu Yu carefully analyzed with Qi Guogong the reasons why he could use tariffs to force Sweden to agree.

"The Swedes are not Dutch, there is no Batavia. They don't have any foothold in the South Seas. Therefore, once the trade is cut off, it is impossible for them to even rely on the opportunity of smuggling from the country's maritime merchants to get the goods. ”

"To put it mildly, the navy of Weihai can't clean up the Dutch at this time, and can't it clean up the Swedes?"

"Smuggling can't be, and competition is fierce in Europe. This means that they will either give up their business with China, or they will cut their flesh and bleed and give us a share. ”

"Suicide, or cutting off fingers, normal people will make the 'right' choice. That is, before bullying and bullying, I always switched on and off trade, thinking that there was such a real paradise for free trade. ”

"Moreover, Sweden was weak and had no money to build ships, so they were reluctant to build too large merchant ships. They were small merchant ships, and their share capital was far from that of Britain and the Netherlands. ”

"The British can still sell some Indian goods, and the Dutch can still sell spices, and they can only buy them with silver. The lack of equity also restricts their trade quota. It's a win-win situation for us. ”

"I reckon the Swedes will agree. This time I have asked Mi Ziming to bring a message, hoping that Sweden will send the founder of the East India Company to visit. He has been in Guangdong a few years ago, and he is also familiar with the road. ”

"If you can open up trade to the West, you will have money. If you have money, you will stand firm and speak loudly in the court. ”

Qi Guogong thought about what Liu Yu said, and he was also overjoyed in his heart, and asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

"Simple, the Swedish East India Company, divesting its business in China. For the China business, we contribute part of the share capital, and the Swedish royal family and the major shareholders contribute a part. Since we are all a family with the share capital, we can give priority to securing our own goods, and we can also cut off trade with Britain and the Netherlands if necessary. ”

Qi Guogong asked again: "If they don't agree, will it be possible to really cut off trade?" ”

"Yes, we're not intimidating them, after all, we have options."

"Alternative? Who? ”

"Portuguese. If you don't agree with us to trade in Europe through their shells and gain a firm foothold, then take back Macau and let them get out. Of course, this is only used to scare the Swedes, and when they pass through the South Seas in the future, Macao will definitely get it back. It is useless to keep it, but it will breed missionaries, and I personally do not want to have too much to do with the Portuguese, lest I be jealous in the future. ”

This alternative is much more than Qi Guogong expected.

After thinking about it silently for a while, I felt that this possibility was still very great, as long as the direction was controlled, it could be negotiated.

The key is that the Swedes are not Dutch, and they have no foothold in the South Seas.

Therefore, either get out of the way and completely abandon the business with China; Either a piece of the pie, China and Sweden will work together to develop the smuggling business to the extreme, so that Britain and the Netherlands and the Americas can use smuggled goods.

There was no alternative to smuggling Chinese maritime merchants into the South Seas, which made the Swedes acceptable.

Anyway, its share capital is not abundant, and Dashun will ship and ship without harming the profits of the original major shareholders, which is indeed feasible.

Qi Guogong thought for a while and said with a smile: "Yes." The Netherlands and Britain are both powerful countries, and they also have power in the South Seas and India. To cooperate with it is to seek skin with the tiger, which is very unwise. ”

"Only Sweden is a small country, which has no power in the South Seas and is neutral in Europe, and is the only enemy of the Rakshasas. The rakshasas could not rob the Swedes' ship. ”

Liu Yu said: "That's right. The biggest difficulty in trading in Europe is that the East India Company of all European countries has a monopoly. If you drive the ship over, you will not be able to sell it; And if he really sailed, he would be hijacked by the ships of the East India Company halfway through. ”

"The Swedes were the biggest smugglers in Europe at this time, and the future of Dashun Maritime Trade could only rely on smugglers. That's exactly what it is, hit it off. ”

Seeing what Liu Yu said, he was obviously thoughtful, and I am afraid that he had already told the emperor about it.

Qi Guogong thought about it for a while, and also understood the checks and balances.

Originally, Liu Yu could handle this matter by himself, but the emperor didn't want Liu Yu to dominate the negotiations with the West, even if this kind of dominance had to be told to the emperor.

As for the negotiations and border demarcation with Russia, there is not much difference between whether there is a foreign ministry or not. Before the boundary survey, there was no Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the eastern section of the boundary was also surveyed.

In this way, the emperor wants to set up this Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to divide the power of foreign affairs from Liu Yu. It can be regarded as a precautionary measure, worried that Liu Yu will negotiate too deeply with Westerners, or worry that the Celestial Empire will have to count on Liu Yu for diplomatic involvement in the future.

After figuring out this section, Qi Guogong also understood what to do.

This shelf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to be erected, so that the emperor can see that he has indeed done something.

What the emperor wants to see and want is this kind of administrative bureaucratization of taking off his pants and farting, so that Liu Yu can't do things by himself, and he must rely on more departments to cooperate.

Even if everything Liu Yu has done so far has been approved by the emperor, this power must be divided.

Qi Guogong said: Your Majesty knows the strategy against Sweden, and he has asked me to do it, that's what it means. And this kind of thing, Your Majesty is so concerned, I am afraid that there are also a lot of shares in the trade. But he refused to say it explicitly, so as not to be attacked and compete with the people for profit.

Thinking about His Majesty's thoughts, he should also point a little Liu Yu, so he said: "Normal, when this Ministry of Foreign Affairs is completed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will do it in the future." If you can get the right to tariff, you won't interfere in the future. If there is anything, tell those businessmen to react, go through the normal procedure, and hand it over to me from the customs side. ”

"In the court, you are the Eagle Uncle, the Naval Supervisor, and the Whale Sea. You should be in charge, you are in charge; You shouldn't be in charge...... If your Majesty has any difficulty in handling it, he will summon you, or announce your participation in the court meeting. ”

After admonishing Liu Yu, Qi Guogong also knew it in his heart.

Xindao himself is in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at most it will be until the Nanyang is pacified.

When it is necessary to work together to forge ahead, Your Majesty will use the good cooperation between the top and bottom; If you don't need to be aggressive, you have to think about how to balance the constraints.

He thought, Nanyang must be handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I know this, but I have to do it well, otherwise it will seem that I am resentful. If you can't do it well, you can't build a shelf, and you can't do one or two things that can be set for future generations, Your Majesty may have to take advantage of this to make trouble.