The end of the blue sea seemed to be a vague horizon, and Jensen and the others were very excited, because after a two-month voyage, they had finally returned to New York to complete their mission to the Tang Dynasty. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"I really didn't expect it, we went from New York to Los Angeles, the land and water alternated, the distance was closer, and it took half a year, but I didn't expect to come back from Los Angeles, it took less than two months, which is amazing. At this rate, the New York-Los Angeles route could be as important a trade route as the London-Boston route. Dearborn, a young officer, said excitedly.

As a businessman, Jensen was more sensitive to these things, he sighed, pointed to the steamer of the same tonnage following the Fubon freighter and the frigate Li Wenzhong, and said: "Even if there is not much difference in time, but the operating cost will be very different, the route from Los Angeles to New York is roughly 15,000 miles, and Datang does not have any supply stations on the way, although they can get fresh water and some food along the way, but it is difficult to get food and coal from their steamships." So the ship didn't load anything else, and loaded a shipload of coal for the two ships. And that's just the coal they needed for the one-way trip, and they had to gather enough coal in New York to make the trip. ”

"This shouldn't be a problem, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts all produce coal, and the local residents use coal for heating and fires to power ships and other machines, and the coal mines should be better run," Dearborn said. ”

John Jay said, "I think, Mr. Jensen means. Travel between Los Angeles and New York. The costs involved in the process are enormous. How many times did the two ships replenish the coal during our coming? I can't count them, and although the Tang people have specially added a design to facilitate the transportation of coal, the whole process is also quite cumbersome. In terms of the cost of buying coal, transportation, and the use of manpower, the cost of the Los Angeles-New York route will be more than dozens of times that of the cost from London to Boston. However, I would like to ask Mr. Jensen. If a ship is filled with novelty cargo from Datang and then sold on the East Coast at a relatively high price, will the profits generated offset this huge cost? ”

Jensen thought for a moment and said: "I estimated that the time spent in the middle of this route may be seven or eight months, but now the Tang people only took two months to finish, although the cost of maintaining this route is extremely huge, and the weather and other conditions along the way are not good, but with the popularity of Datang goods, I think it is still possible to make huge profits, and it is absolutely no surprise that it is much higher than the cost of shipping." I think. This time, the Tang people carried a lot of cargo in the cargo ship, and they were also doing a test. They want to see how profitable the route is, and if the Tang people think it's not bad, then they'll continue it. ”

Dearborn hugged the small teapot in his arms and said, "At least, I think it should be cheaper to buy the tea brought by the Tang people than to buy the tea from the British." Our merchants, if they receive goods from the Tang Kingdom, will be more competitive than the English tea. ”

Jensen nodded and said: "There is no dispute about this, the Tang Republic is somewhat similar to the Netherlands, advocating free trade, but they seem to be more extreme than the Netherlands, I have learned about it, their import and export trade tariffs are very low, and the tariffs on many goods are incomprehensibly low." If Tang tea can be distributed to North America, it will definitely have an advantage over British tea. At least, the Tang people will not monopolize the sale of tea, and our tea merchants will also be able to benefit. ”

In fact, after the protest of the North American people, the British were afraid of exacerbating the conflict, so they abolished the stamp duty and lowered the tea tax from one shilling per pound to three pence (1 pound = 12 shillings = 144 pence). The threepence tea tax was equivalent to 2 per pound of tea at the time. 5% is not particularly expensive.

The real cause of the tea dumping was more complicated, although the British lowered the tax, but the idea of indiscriminate and arbitrary expropriation never ended, and they kept repeating this thing, stamp duty was enacted and abolished, and then there was the Townsend Act, and the people of the North American colonies were tired of it. The British are constantly working on tax bills, trying to get money by all means. In addition to taxation, it also includes mandatory unfair competition.

Britain has a long history of imposing tea taxes in North America. This levy was not directed at consumers, but against the East India Company. The British government granted the East India Company a monopoly on tea, leviing a tax of 25 pence per pound of tea (1 shilling was later reduced again, mainly to increase the East India Company's tea sales). The East India Company could not sell tea directly in North America, but had to be auctioned in London and shipped to North America by London merchants for sale. High taxes and a complex marketing system undoubtedly drove up the price of tea in North America, which led to poor sales of tea by the East India Company and a large backlog. Moonshine in the North American market has become popular.

The British East India Company was in difficulty, and in order to save it, the British enacted the "Relief of the East India Company Ordinance", which allowed the East India Company to sell the backlog of tea in the North American colonies, and at the same time exempted the East India Company from the high customs duties of the thirteen colonies in North America, levied only 2.5 percent of the tea tax, and strictly prohibited illicit tea. At that time, ninety percent of the tea consumed by the colonists was smuggled tea, and a considerable number of tea merchants relied on this business to support their families. With this new regulation, the East India Company gained a huge competitive advantage, allowing the backlog of tea to be sold in North America at half the price of smuggled tea.

This, of course, seriously hurt the interests of local tea merchants in North America, and the quality of the backlog of tea was naturally not very good, coupled with anti-British propaganda and the North American people's distrust of the British government, which led to the tea dumping incident. At that time, the tea merchants propagated, "Do not drink this cursed thing, because the devil will follow this thing into your body and immediately turn you into a traitor." So in order to avoid being labeled as a traitor, people began to drink coffee for the sake of "political correctness".

The current Thirteen Colonies of North America are in a period of serious boycott of British goods, as long as they can not buy British things, they do not want to buy them, so as to fight for their rights. Datang is also a transshipment of tea, because the domestic consumption of tea is actually relatively limited, so a large number of purchased tea has been done transshipment trade, Jensen believes that according to the low tariffs and other preferential trade policies of the Tang people, the Tang people's tea into the thirteen colonies, should be more competitive, local tea merchants can form a cooperation with the Tang people, the British tea completely out of North America.

Jensen said: "I have negotiated with the people of Datang International Trade Company, this batch of goods, I will contact the New York Chamber of Commerce in various powerful businessmen, according to the category of goods they usually sell, to receive the goods, Datang does not participate in our local sales, they agreed, that this saves their work, and the benefits are equal, Tang people believe in the philosophy of harmony and wealth in trade, mutual benefit and win-win." ”

Now in the minds of several prospective Americans, Datang is an advanced and friendly country, so they will unconsciously beautify this country, and tout and praise it, completely unconsciously.

John Jay said at this time: "Mr. Johnson can help deal with the trade matter, and our main mission is to deliver the arms to the Continental Army." ”

Dearborn nodded heavily: "Yes, we are almost there, I don't know how far the war is going now." ”

In fact, they were all a little afraid that if the Continental Army did not hold up and was wiped out before they returned, and the British maintained their rule in the Thirteen Colonies, then all their efforts would be in vain.

On the contrary, the Tang people who were on the same ship with them clearly knew what happened to the British and American troops during this time. After taking over the helm of the Continental Army, Washington, the future founding father, organized and reorganized the Continental Army, and began the siege of Boston, which lasted for more than ten months. The Continental Army, which wanted to seize all of the British North American colonies, attacked Canada in two directions, but both armies were defeated to varying degrees, and it was clear that the anti-British enthusiasm of the inhabitants of Canada was not as high as that of the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies. Moreover, the Continental Army, which fought in different places, also showed its immaturity.

Just as the ship was approaching New York Harbor, the sailors on the Fubon stirred slightly, and then the captain came up to Jensen and said: "We have found three British warships outside the harbor, which has caused a little trouble for our entry, and the Li Wenzhong has issued an order for us and the supply ship to retreat, and after the Li Wenzhong has defeated them, we will enter the port again." ”

John Jie also saw the British warship clearly through the telescope at this time, and he said with some trembling: "That's a battleship and two frigates, can you defeat them with only one ship of the Tang Navy?" ”

The captain of the Fubon sneered and said, "The British ship, we don't pay attention to it yet, a few of us will look at it." ”

Dearborn was excited and worried at the moment, the Tang Navy was not afraid to face the warships of the British Royal Navy, which showed that the Tang people were already on the same front as them, but although the tonnage of the Datang frigate was comparable to that of ordinary third-class battleships, it was still worrying to be one-to-three.

The Fubon and the coal carrier changed course and withdrew to the rear, while the Li Wenzhong of the Tang Navy sailed towards the British warship without hesitation. The captain of the ship had instructions when he set sail, if he encountered a British warship, he might as well fight, verify the strength of his own navy, and also strike at the current sea hegemon. (To be continued.) )