When Guedes learned that the Tang Western Company had directly sent two cruisers, and that he would take them to bypass the Portuguese blockade, he had already vaguely guessed something.

This Ying Zihua, this fleet of the Tang Western Company, is definitely not just for trade!

Guedes speculated that they may have been trying to bypass the Portuguese, open new routes, establish a new trade war, and wean themselves off their dependence on the Portuguese in trade with Europe.

In fact, this idea coincided with Guedes, who had planned to bypass the Portuguese and go directly to Europe for trade, so he was ready to sneak around the Portuguese naval blockade.

Now the Portuguese have almost completely blocked the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca in order to monopolize trade with Asia.

And Guedes is no exception, although Guedes used to be Portuguese, but now Guedes is glorious, the great Tang people, his merchant ship is fluttering the Tang dragon flag, and he is no longer Portuguese.

However, although he guessed that Datang Western Company was planning to be grand, and even there must be an official plan behind it, and this process would also be accompanied by great risks, Geddes did not feel the slightest fear, but was a little excited!

This is not only because of the sense of honor that as a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, I can contribute to the Tang Dynasty, although this sense of honor is also very important, but how can there be gold and silver cute?

The reason why he felt excited was because if the official forces represented by Datang Western Company could open up a new route and establish enough trade wars and supply stations on the route, then he, a citizen of Datang, would also be able to reap huge benefits from it!

Guedes's guess is not wrong, the Tang Western Company sent a fleet to Europe for trade this time, it was a long-term plot, the Tang Dynasty in recent years, has long felt the monopoly of the Portuguese on the Europe-Asia trade route, which has caused serious infringement of interests to the Tang Dynasty!

The route was monopolized by the Portuguese, and there was no large-scale trade with other European countries, and the price of many goods exported by the Tang Dynasty was basically determined by the Portuguese, and if these goods were bought in Europe, the price was still determined by the Portuguese.

Trade profits are one aspect, and the other is to maintain and expand the production area of industrial raw materials and product markets!

For example, the most typical light industrial product in the Tang Dynasty today: cotton cloth, cotton is needed to produce cotton cloth, and cotton cloth needs to be marketed to produce cotton cloth.

Although the country provides a large number of cotton raw materials and the sale of cotton cloth, the greed of the merchants is endless, they have already begun to import cotton, and then sell the cotton cloth produced to Southeast Asian countries, North Korea, Fuso and other countries.

Although the current amount of cotton imports and the proportion of cotton cloth exports are not large, for example, cotton, the import volume is less than 10 percent, and the cotton cloth export is only about 15 percent.

But you have to know that the land of China has a large population, and cotton production has been rising in recent years, and the sales of cotton cloth are a very large amount, so the annual cotton consumption and cotton cloth produced are actually very large.

And cotton imports and cotton cloth exports can occupy a place in such a huge market, so it is conceivable that cotton imports and cotton cloth exports are actually not small.

And the cotton spinning industry is only a part of it!

Another example is spices, you must know that Datang is also a big consumer of spices, but now the production areas of these spices are basically controlled by the Portuguese or the indigenous countries of Southeast Asia, Datang can only buy and buy at a high price, and this kind of thing is naturally unbearable for those businessmen.

They are also trying to find or seize the source of spices, and meddle in the spice trade from the source.

There are too many aspects, prompting the merchants of the Tang Dynasty to try their best to avoid the Portuguese, even if they can't open up routes to Europe alone, but the Tang Dynasty also hopes that more fleets from European countries can come to the Tang Dynasty to trade, not as it is now, the trade with Europe is basically completely monopolized by the Portuguese, and only occasionally the Spanish fleet ventures to arrive.

In this context, Datang Western Company has become a pioneer in opening up new routes and establishing trade and supply stations.

At the same time, Datang Western Company is currently the only trading company with an official background in the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the most powerful trading company in the Tang Dynasty.

What's more, Datang Western Company recently obtained the only Western trade license issued by the Tang Dynasty, and it is an exclusive Western trade license, which clearly stipulates that the Tang Dynasty only grants the company a trade license.

The authority of this license was very large, and the Tang Dynasty allowed the company to form armed forces overseas, which were used to open up trading bases, protect maritime trade, and have part of the administrative power in overseas trading bases.

The administrative powers specified in this license are accurately described as: The Tang Western Company has the obligation to assist the Tang Dynasty in administering the colonies!

Military power allows the Tang Western Company to form an armed force to protect overseas trading bases and escort the company's merchant ships, well, there is no upper limit.

At the same time, there is also a provision that any territory acquired overseas by the Tang Western Company, including but not limited to trading posts, colonies, etc., all belong to the territory directly under the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty directly dispatches officials to govern and collect taxes!

Therefore, the most important taxing power still belongs to the supreme Ministry of Taxation!

Of course, more importantly, the company has an exclusive license to conduct maritime trade in the Western Ocean, mainly in the area west of Malacca, including India, West Asia, Africa, and Europe, and the exclusive license only includes maritime trade, and West Asia and India trade by land, which is not within the scope of exclusive monopoly.

In fact, judging from the above-mentioned authority, in fact, Datang Western Company is more like an overseas governor, with administrative, financial, military power and other powers.

In Li Xuan's positioning, the Datang Western Company has never been just an ordinary trading company engaged in maritime trade, but an extension of the Tang Dynasty overseas, a colonial pioneer, and the European East India Company in the Age of Discovery.

However, unlike many European East India Companies in the Age of Discovery, it did not have the power to levy taxes, and the executive power was only to assist.

The function given to it by Li Xuan was not that of a colonial enterprise, but of a monopoly trading company.

One of its main business models will be to open up shipping routes, establish trading posts, plunder colonies, and then monopolize trade for good profits.

In order to avoid all kinds of turmoil and troubles in the future, and to let the company have a popular base, rather than becoming a simple official organization, and in order to raise a large amount of funds, Li Xuan will divide the company's shares and offer shares to powerful businessmen all over the world.

At the same time, in order to avoid a single shareholder controlling power, it is stipulated that each shareholder is not allowed to hold more than 0.1% of the shares, only individuals are allowed to hold shares, after one person holds shares, no immediate family members are allowed to hold shares, non-Datang foreigners are not allowed to hold shares, institutions are not allowed to hold shares, and share transactions must be reviewed and allowed by the Royal Assets Department, and the royal family will still retain a large number of shares.

A series of disallowed, but behind it is the huge profits of monopoly trade, and the dividends alone can make those businessmen enthusiastically buy shares.

To colonize, it takes a lot of money, and the current Tang Dynasty is actually difficult to spend so much money on the treasury for colonial expansion, so Li Xuan can only play the idea of raising funds.

And when the time is right, Li Xuan will also directly repurchase the foreign shares of Datang Western Company, abolish the company, and normalize Western trade, after all, monopoly trade cannot last too long.

Now, it's time to have this company as a pioneer!

At present, Datang Western Company has not announced this trade license to the outside world, and at the same time, it has not announced the prospectus to the public, and the follow-up will be carried out after Datang Western Company has explored the trade route for the first time.

After all, at that time, financing can achieve maximum benefits!

Under such a big backdrop, Ying Zihua led two armed merchant ships of the Datang Western Company, and the two cruisers left Guangzhou Port with Guedes, and then went straight to Nanyang, which was not their focus, but the starting point!

Standing on the Caiyuan, Ying Zihua was also full of emotion, he was still an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a month ago, and his grade was not low, he was the deputy director of the European Department, but a month ago, he received a recommendation from his boss, and then went north to meet the Ancient Sage, who asked him if he would like to go to Datang Western Company to serve as the vanguard of Datang's open colonial wave!

To be honest, he was very hesitant at the time, after all, at that time, he was the deputy director of Zhengsipin, a high-ranking official, but after going to Datang Western Company, although he was said to be one of the main responsible persons, he was still an ordinary identity in the final analysis, not an official.

But Li Xuan's personal reception, and after talking about the trade license of Datang Western Company, he still let go of his concerns, in his opinion, although he is not an official body, but there is no difference between him and an official body, and more importantly, Li Xuan values him.

As long as he does a good job in Datang Western Company, he will definitely have the opportunity to return to the central government in the future, and at that time, maybe the director will be a squire.

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