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After the board of directors, Henry Pitt talked to Zhou Lang privately.

This issue is too sensitive, and after several years of information communication, if Henry Pitt had not noticed that Zhou Lang had other thoughts, then his political sensitivity would be too low, which is completely inconsistent with the situation in which he has been immersed in the political family atmosphere since he was a child.

Zhou Lang's identity is now very complicated, he is not only the head of the Chinese company in the East, but also an official of the Chinese Restoration Regime (Tiandihui), and a nobleman who married a princess (according to Western practice, Zhou Lang even has the right to call himself a prince). Zhou Lang is still the commander of the company's military forces, and at the same time the commander of the armed forces of the local government, so the ownership of this armed force is very controversial, that is, is the army under Zhou Lang a company or from Fengshan County?

The military issue is only one manifestation of the problems brought about by Zhou Lang's complex identity at present, and there are also more complicated procedural issues, such as whether Fengshan County is considered a company's assets, and whether Zhou Lang is ruling Fengshan County as a company or as an official of the Heaven and Earth Society, these need to be clarified.

The two had an open and honest conversation.

Zhou Lang's insistence that the legitimacy of his rule over Fengshan County stemmed from Chen Zhouquan's appointment, so Fengshan County was a local government, not a corporate rule, as in Bangladesh; As for the issue of the army, Zhou Lang also believes that this is a very troublesome procedural issue. If the armed forces are owned by the company, it means that the company will have to provide all the military expenses for the armed forces, but it is not only the company that benefits from the military movement.

The argument between the two was very fierce, and Zhou Lang very much hoped that the army could be counted as the company's armed force, which meant that the British shareholders could pay for future military operations; But-for-tat, Henry Pitt insisted that if the army was a company, then every military action, if Fengshan County or other regimes could get benefits, must give corresponding benefits to the company, and the East India Company in India's military operations, if it was beneficial to a certain princely state, the princely state would give benefits in return, including ceding land, paying commissions, or opening ports, and so on.

Zhou Lang found that Henry Pitt was not easy to fool, so he quickly cut through the mess to avoid trouble in the future, and the two negotiated to the end, Zhou Lang agreed that the army unit was completely under Fengshan County, and the naval fleet was currently under the company's banner, because the current benefit of infantry operations was greater in Fengshan County, and the company needed to maintain maritime trade, so it should bear more naval costs.

However, Zhou Lang, as the ruler of Fengshan County, signed an alliance agreement with Henry Pitt on behalf of the company, Fengshan County would give power support if the company needed infantry support, and the maritime security of Fengshan County was guaranteed by the company's warships.

It's really just a matter of procedure, left hand to right hand. Whether it was the army or the fleet, if it was a year ago, Zhou Lang would not dare to operate like this, but now, no matter whose account it nominally belongs to, Zhou Lang is confident that he will absolutely control this army.

The most sensitive question of the ownership of the army was settled, but the two men were at loggerheads over the issue of privileges.

Henry Pitt was very dissatisfied with Zhou Lang's cooperation with the Dutch, and he believed that Zhou Lang allowed the Dutch to conduct free trade in Fengshan County, which had found a strong competitor for the company, and the Chinese company had the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of Taiwan's trade alone. Henry Pitt hoped that Zhou Lang would tear up the agreement with the Dutch, but Zhou Lang firmly disagreed, citing the sacredness of the treaty.

In fact, the Dutch are very useful to Zhou Lang at present, and the cooperation between the Dutch and himself does not have any political goals, and the cooperation is not only comfortable but also reassuring.

Henry Pitt insisted that the British and the British East India Company could provide all the aid that the Dutch could provide, and that more than the Dutch.

But Zhou Lang doesn't think so, the Dutch currently send more than 50 aid workers to Taiwan, and the British East India Company has the ability to send more, sending 100 or even 300 people, but at least there is one thing that the British can't do, that is, the Dutch not only send various advisers, but also bring their own translators.

This is the question of the background, which country is the easiest to find a translator in Guangzhou? The answer is Portugal! Although Portugal was a small country, no matter which merchant ships arrived in Guangdong, the pilots they recruited must have spoken Portuguese or not. The reason is that the Portuguese have been deeply involved in Macao for more than 100 years, and there are more people in Macau who know Portuguese, and there is even a mixed race of Portuguese and locals, Macanese!

The same is true of the Dutch, although they have lost the colony of Taiwan, but for more than a hundred years they have not left the East, have not disengaged with the Chinese, in the Dutch-controlled Java colony, there are a large number of Nanyang Chinese, some of whom went there even earlier than the Dutch. Moreover, in the early days, in order to solve the labor and technical problems of the colony, the Dutch hired a large number of Chinese, and the Chinese were the largest immigrants in the area. It was for this reason that the Dutch could easily find a large number of Chinese who knew Dutch to act as interpreters in Nanyang, which was not available to the British in the Indian colonization, and the Magalny mission even had to go to Italy to recruit interpreters.

At present, with the help of various Dutch technical talents, Zhou Lang has established a basic military industry.

The Dutch brought with them the most advanced musket-making technology in Europe, and the Dutch consultants provided the manufacturing skills to the local craftsmen hired by Zhou Lang, which did not escape the technical level of the Chinese blacksmiths, so the rifles were quickly produced; The technology of casting artillery, mastered by Chinese craftsmen, was easier than the production of elaborate rifles; Only the European-style battleships have not yet been built, because before Zhou Lang in order to form a force as soon as possible, he asked the newly built shipyard to build the old lock ships with all his might, and now thirty old lock ships have been built, and the materials of two third-class battleships have been set aside, and the construction of two third-class battleships has begun, but it will take a year for this kind of warship to be manufactured, so in order to prevent them from occupying the slipway for a long time, the two battleships will finally be produced.

The Dutch provided different technologies from the British, such as the technology for making rifles, which were French and used copper instead of iron, which was commonly used by the British. Using French technology, the process is more complex than that of British technology, and the cost has increased, but through various channels, Zhou Lang learned that in this era, the best reputation in weapons is not made in Britain with a higher degree of industrialization, but French weapons have a long reputation and are recognized as the most sophisticated weapons in Europe; Copper cannons, although a large investment, but copper cannons are more durable than iron cannons, a copper cannon can fire a thousand shells, while an iron cannon can only fire 600 cannons. It can also be recast after the end of the service life, so the cost is not high if it is used for a long time. The main reason why the British chose to use iron to cast their guns was that Britain had high-quality iron ore but lacked high-quality copper ore.

Therefore, Zhou Lang adopted the technical scheme of the Dutch, chose to cast the cannon in copper, and also chose the French rifle scheme. Henry Pitt's proposal to replace the aid of the Dutch with the aid of the East India Company, thus severing commercial cooperation with the Dutch, was unacceptable to Zhou Lang.

However, Henry Pitt's request for Zhou Lang to obtain a concession for the ruler of Taiwan for the China (East India) Company was a certain effort for Zhou Lang.

The two talked about this time, it was late at night, but Henry Pitt hadn't finished talking, he finally proposed a plan, which suddenly made Zhou Lang nervous and sleepy, because Zhou Lang felt threatened!

Henry Pitt said: "I think it is necessary to set up a management committee for the current development of the company in China. ”

This is a challenge, and Zhou Lang was the head of the company in China before. Now there is a committee to be set up, similar to the one of the East India Company, which means that Zhou Lang's behavior will be restricted, at least not as arbitrarily as before.

Therefore, Zhou Lang immediately refused: "I don't think it's necessary." The current structure of the company is that China and India operate independently, and you and I, as the heads of China and India, respectively, do not need to set up a new organization. ”

Henry Pitt shook his head: "I don't think there's anything particularly worth expanding in India, so I'd like to come to China and be part of the management board." ”

Henry Pitt actually wanted to come to China in person, which made Zhou Lang feel very troublesome, because Henry Pitt was the younger brother of the British Prime Minister, and his identity was destined for him to go to China, and Britain's attention to China would increase, and the conspirators would never be used to operating in the spotlight, once Henry Pitt began to operate in China, all of Zhou Lang's actions would be magnified under his nose, and then he would be concerned by Britain and the British East India Company.

Like killing Colin, killing Henry Pitt, that impact is too great, and Zhou Lang can't afford to take this risk.

But how to refuse Henry Pitt?

Without waiting for Zhou Lang to come up with a reason for refusing, Henry Pitt took the initiative to attack.

Henry Pitt said very seriously: "Zhou, I hope you can support my suggestion. We are very excited about the company's expansion in China, so we felt that we needed to invest more. I propose that this committee be composed of three people, and that I will personally join it, and that you have the authority to join or send a representative to join. In addition, the British East India Company, as the majority shareholder, will also send a representative. ”

"British East India Company?"

Zhou Lang was even more worried, and the most worried opponent came.

Henry Pitt nodded: "In fact I have been authorized by Britannia Company, but I don't want to bring it up in the board meeting, I want to ask for your opinion first to show my respect for you." You'd agree with that sound suggestion, wouldn't you? ”

Zhou Lang didn't hesitate, and immediately smiled: "Of course! ”

He did expand his stake on the board of directors, but the British had more stake in their hands, especially the shares of the East India Company, which was more than Zhou Lang could control, and the East India Company gave Henry Pitt authorization, so in terms of legal procedures, Zhou Lang no longer had the right to decide, unless he wanted to tear his face with them and not play the Western business model, he had to accept it.

As for the East India Company, which was currently on the defensive under the leadership of John Shaw, Zhou Lang thought that they should not be provoked, so as not to provoke the East India Company to put too much Indian power into China, which would be much more troublesome than their dealings with Zhou Lang on the board of directors.

As for Henry Pitt's intention to be based in China, this is not necessarily a bad thing, it depends on how to guide it!

Since he didn't want to stimulate the other party, he simply took more strength to paralyze the other party, and between the lightning and flint, Zhou Lang made a decision, and he made a suggestion to Henry Pitt.

He wanted to form an alliance with the East India Company!