Sweden's radical politicians need a five-year political record; The directors of the East India Company chose to share a portion of the profits rather than go bankrupt; Dashun needs to open the European market to gain a foothold and be willing to pay a certain price.

The three parties talked a little and agreed on some kind of bottom line.

The bottom line is acceptable, but Carl can't give a definitive answer right away.

He is not yet a state secretary, and even though he is confident that his radicals will be in power in parliament this year, they are not.

The name is not right, the word is not good.

The process that should be followed still has to be followed, and a bold idea popped up in Carl's mind.

You can set a bottom line for the East India Company.

If, all goes well, and his own radicals take control of Congress this year, then he can recognize Kambil's negotiations in China.

If there is an accident, then the terms of Kambier's negotiations in China have no legal effect, and Sweden can directly not recognize them.

In the eyes of politicians, if Sweden backtracks, Dashun has countermeasures to cut off trade and increase Sweden's export tariffs.

But that doesn't matter.

If, on the other hand, something happens and the radicals fail in this parliamentary convening, then all the blame lies with the current Secretary of State, Arvid.

This is undoubtedly a means of killing two birds with one stone.

Cutting first and then playing, resulting in established facts, Congress can posthumously recognize and approve at a later stage.

If the election is successful, when Cambier returns from China, he, the new radical state secretary, can be used as a propaganda for his political achievements: See, I have reached an anti-Russian alliance between Sweden, France, and China, and I have protected the interests of the shareholders of the East India Company.

Now that Cambier had found it, it was clear that within the East India Company there was some kind of common consciousness.

Unlike the British and Dutch East India Companies, Sweden's East India Company ledgers were not public, and they were destroyed as soon as the ships arrived. So there is no need to deal with a large number of small shareholders at all.

As long as the major shareholders agree, the small shareholders can't afford to make any waves – they don't even have the right to know what the profit is, as long as they make sure that their returns are higher than Dutch government bonds or British government bonds, they are worth investing. Otherwise, in Sweden, what is the investment direction to increase the value of the money while keeping it? You can't learn from the king and raise silkworms in Sweden, right?

This bold idea in Carl Gironberg's mind was like a nettle sprouting in spring, which soon filled his heart, driving away the rest of the weeds with those poisonous burrs.

As for the shipbuilding owners, this can be done with money. And this money can be used as a condition for negotiations, and the businessmen of Dashun will be used as funds to lobby the Congress in order to amend the monopoly regulations.

After pondering for a moment, he decided that the steamed buns were only conveying some kind of intention, and indeed did not have the qualifications for final negotiations.

So he asked Mantou to leave first, leaving only the representative of the East India Company, Cambier, to discuss this private issue.

"Sir Cauley, since you are the plenipotentiary in the negotiations with China, what is the bottom line for the Secretary of State to give you?"

Karl, who was not yet a state secretary at this time, inquired about it, and it was supposed to be a secret, and there were some things that could not be discussed publicly.

"The Secretary of State didn't give me a specific bottom line. He said he only needed to hold me accountable to Congress and abide by the East India Company's monopoly regulations. Such negotiations are bound to be meaningless and will certainly come to naught. ”

"If I obey the East India Company's monopoly regulations, it means: Chinese merchant ships cannot participate in shares, they can only be built in Sweden; The owners of Chinese merchant ships had to accept the Swedish military position and be under the control of the Swedish navy in wartime...... Obviously, this is unacceptable to the Shun Empire. ”

"If they can't accept it, they will inevitably take countermeasures. Increase export duties to Sweden, increase the port tax on Swedish ships, and even close the Swedish trade hall. ”

"The bottom line of the Minister of State is ambiguous, and all the responsibility is borne by me."

Cambier is very sober-minded, and the current Secretary of State Arvid doesn't want to take the blame, and the bottom line given is pure nonsense.

Isn't it nonsense to not violate Swedish decrees and to ensure the survival of the East India Company?

Whatever conditions he agreed on on the Chinese side, he was wrong in the end.

Allowing Chinese businessmen to take shares would be against Congress; Chinese businessmen were not allowed to take shares, which led to the collapse of the company.

The Minister of State does not have to bear responsibility, but can criticize him, which is really naïve politics.

The title given to him is the plenipotentiary for negotiations with China, but what can he negotiate? The rope behind is tied so tightly that going to the left is death, and going to the right is also death.

Therefore, Cambier did not expect to be entangled in the current Congress, and he pinned all his hopes on a reshuffle of Congress, supporting the radicals to take office, ousting Avid, and replacing it with a politician closer to the East India Company, that is, the Carl Gironberg in front of him.

deliberately revealed his helplessness, waiting for Carl to make a statement.

"I have to say that the foreign policy of our Lord Avid is weak and stupid. There are too many rotten people like him in Congress. ”

"If I were the Minister of State, I would agree to many of the conditions of the Shun Empire. Having turnips to eat is also better than being hungry. ”

Karl expressed his attitude very cryptically.

"Sir Carr, the East India Company, also considered some of the foreign policy of Congress to be too moderate. At least, for the East Indies, overseas interests could not have been profitable without the support of China. Instead of calling it the East India Company, it is better to call it the Swedish-Chinese Company. This is the reality. ”

"For the UK and the Netherlands, although we owe a lot of debt to the Dutch, you know, the Dutch are very trustworthy in doing business. When the Netherlands was at war with Spain and France, Dutch merchants could transport grain and gunpowder to the French castles as long as they gave money. ”

"Even if we expand our business, it will cause dissatisfaction in the UK and the Netherlands, but ...... But in fact, as you know, the Swedish East India Company was dissatisfied with the Anglo-Dutch from the first day of its formation. Our diplomatic note to the British, which was not opened at all, was sent back; The Dutch are about the same. Now that they are dissatisfied, there is no problem for us to expand our business a little more. ”

From the perspective of a businessman, Cambier calmly analyzed the situation of the East India Company at this time. The Dutch's "credibility" is still very tenable in Europe, and even if it can't, with the capital of the merchants of the Shun Empire, it is completely possible to repay the Dutch bonds with principal and interest.

Of course, it's better not to pay it back. It is the uncle who owes money, and the more debts he owes, the greater the worries of the Netherlands, and if the principal is repaid, it will make the Dutch less worried.

Moreover, the East India Company's current problems are mainly two points.

The capital is small, the ships are small, and the goods are small.

In China, it was suppressed by the Dutch, British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese that were deeply rooted there, and could not obtain fine tea and porcelain.

If Dashun businessmen can buy shares, they can indeed solve both of these problems. Whether it is the guilder or the Spanish silver dollar, in Guangdong and Fujian, the stock is not less than that of Cadiz or Amsterdam.

Last year's order of merchant shipping porcelain also shows that doing business in Dashun, with an official background, let you live you can live, let you die you have to die, let you get the goods you can get the goods, so that you can't get the goods you can't get the goods.

He had made these questions clear to the directors of the East India Company, who were not too stupid, and now he needed to make them clear to the man who was likely to be in charge of Congress.

This is not for Carl to understand, but for Carl to be questioned in Congress.

"Sir Cauley, your words make a lot of sense. The profits of China's trade should not be monopolized by Britain and the Netherlands, and Sweden should have a piece of the pie. Moreover, this does not contradict our radical mercantilist policies. As long as you promise that you will not sell Chinese textiles in Sweden, I think this should be the only bottom line that Congress has granted you. ”

"As for the rest, you as a merchant, the first goal of a businessman is the pursuit of profit, and you are also the initiator and first shareholder of the East India Company, I think you can clearly choose your interests in the negotiations."

"Congress should support, not oppose."

At this point, Karl couldn't be too clear, after all, he was not yet the Secretary of State, and his radicals did not yet control Parliament.

But he has already given Kambier's bottom line: as long as the textiles are not sold in Sweden, the rest can be discussed.

"However, the interests of some members of Congress may be harmed. This may require some degree of compensation. This, perhaps, should also be used as a condition for negotiations with the Chinese. ”

Cambier understood perfectly. He calculated that this year's parliament was going to meet, and the radicals were likely to win a big victory, so he didn't need to listen to the ambiguous bottom lines that the old secretary of state gave him.

Once a son of heaven and a courtier.

The most likely new minister of state in front of him has given himself a new bottom line, and this trip to China will be much easier.

Well, the rest is to pay bribes. Or rather, it's called lobbying.

At the end of the conversation, Kambier made another appointment with Mantou and, after vaguely expressing his conditions, he immediately returned to Gothenburg to resolve the shareholders' most concerns, the distribution of shares in the separation of the China business.

The steamed bun could not return to Gothenburg immediately, and when he came, he brought some gifts for the Swedish king.

Since the Son of Heaven knew about this, the state of etiquette, it was impossible for them to come empty-handed, so naturally he gave a lot of gifts, so he had to wait here for the return of the Swedish king.

The gifts given by the Son of Heaven are expensive and heavy.

Nobles, first of all, conform to the etiquette system. The Celestial Empire does not recognize Sweden as an empire, according to the county king's ceremony, rosewood lacquerware is the top, and some of the ceremonial utensils of white jade and green jade are single, and it is estimated that the Swedes do not understand, and they may not feel valuable.

The heavier ones are porcelain, silk, tea and other three-piece sets, which can be sold at a good price in Sweden, and the King of Sweden must have returned the corresponding gifts.

Fortunately, the king of Sweden is the Count of Hesse in the HRE, and he has a lot of territory, so he will not be unable to get the corresponding gifts.

While waiting for the Swedish king to gather gifts, two pairs of exquisite blue and white open pots, four fine satins, twenty fans with a backlog of trade with Japan, two Japanese knives, a set of vermilion lacquer chrysanthemum petal plates, six balls of Pu'er tea, and other gifts were sent to Carl Gironborg's mansion.

In addition to these gifts, he also gave a cash equity worth 2,000 taels, saying that when he became a shareholder in China in the future, Karl's share would be directly invested in the Swedish East India Company, and the dividends would be used as an annuity after his retirement, and he could directly withdraw interest in the Gothenburg building of the Swedish East India Company.

Not afraid of giving gifts, but afraid of not finding the right person for gifts. It seems that this Carl Girondborg is a worthy gift.