The British still had a hard time fighting against the Franco-Spanish forces of the Bourbons on the globe. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Although in the last year, the British, seizing on the stupidity of the Spaniards, managed to break through the naval blockade of Gibraltar, sent supplies to Gibraltar, and wounded the Spanish and French armies. And the fleet of the Franco-Spanish alliance was also defeated in the North Atlantic, the French Glory-class cruiser had just returned home from the west coast of North America, the British took advantage of the fact that the Glory-class had not yet arrived, and carried out a surprise attack on the French fleet, the French suffered a lot of losses, and the conservative Louis XVI was unwilling to send the Glory-class battleship that France had just arrived to the English Channel, so the war to invade the British mainland was finally lost.

However, this did not mean that the British were victorious, neither France nor Spain suffered major losses, and in the Indian battlefield, France sent more troops, so that the British East India Company could only barely support and lost a lot of territory. The British were able to control Bharuch in northwestern India, but Salaset, the closest to the capital of the Maratha Empire in the south, was eventually occupied by the French. Due to the intervention of the French, the strength of the East India Company was insufficient, especially since the French were equipped with rear-loading rifled guns from the Tang Dynasty, which caused heavy casualties to the East India soldiers who still used the relatively backward brown Bes. The East India Company repeatedly asked the British for help, but the British were particularly worried that the French and Spaniards would take the opportunity to intercept them, and the Glory class brought the British no less fear than the Tang naval warships in the North American Revolutionary War.

To the horror of the British, France bought a series of machines from the Tang and even asked the Tang to build them a railway. The opening of the French market has made better Datang goods crowd out the market space for British goods, and of course this is inseparable from the war between Britain and France. More importantly, the British understood what industrialization stood for. If France, with its own better resources and conditions, achieved industrialization ahead of schedule, had more machines, and could manufacture more advanced weapons, then Britain could directly fight GG and then move on to the next expansion.

The British thought of a lot of things. But not much is likely to work.

Let the Dons stop importing goods and machines to France? How is it possible, why don't the Tang people make this money, in order to keep you Britain always advanced.

Or open their own markets to the Tang in exchange for no longer selling technology and machinery to France and Spain? Not to mention whether the Tang people will exchange one for two, let's just say that the British merchants will never tolerate their own government to let in such a tiger, and the Tang merchants will eventually eat them even with their bones.

Intimidation by force? No kidding, during the North American War, the Tang Army beat out all the and urine of the British army, and many British prisoners returned to Britain. And even refused to continue to serve, because they did not want to face the terrible fire of the Don army. The Tang people can send more than 20,000 troops to fight a large-scale war 10,000 kilometers away, this ability makes the British afraid to die, Britain claims to be the first power, but they absolutely can't do the Tang people, conduct such a large-scale war, and finally crush the Qing Dynasty, which they think is the largest country in the world.

Even if you don't want to admit it. But Britain can't win against the Tang State, full stop.

The conditions are unfavorable. But the British could only fight for something as advantageous as possible. So, George III and the Earl of Rockingham sent their important minister Thomas? Robinson, Baron Grantham, traveled to Los Angeles to hold talks with the Tang Republic, hoping to get something more favorable.

Robinson after arriving in Los Angeles. There is no arrogance at all, and as for the Tang people to stop selling technical products to France and Spain, he will not mention this kind of brain-dead request at all. The goal of Robinson's trip was clear: to establish new diplomatic relations with Datang and end the state of hostility with Datang. Meantime. Seeking from the Tang Kingdom to buy various important technical products that Britain did not have, the benchmark is railways and trains.

Before the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty, the relationship between Datang and Britain was still at a freezing point, so the two sides did not formally establish diplomatic relations. Britain also bought some things from the Tang Kingdom, but the two sides did not negotiate on a deeper level, such as railway equipment, machine tools, and munitions, and in fact, the Tang people did not intend to sell these things to Britain at that time.

However, in the past two years, the French have opened a new chapter by importing Datang machinery, and France is making continuous progress in the mining industry and textile industry. According to British intelligence, the French were trying to buy equipment for steel smelting from Datang, as well as equipment for power generation, and Louis XVI wanted Paris to become a truly prosperous city that never sleeps.

All this worried the British very much, so they had to buy whatever the French wanted to buy. All kinds of mining equipment driven by steam engines, textile machinery made by Datang that is better than Jenny's spinning machine, trains and rails, they all want.

The new Foreign Minister Su Liangxing and the Minister of Commerce Lin Youde attended the meeting with Robinson, and after Robinson expressed the subjective will of the United Kingdom, Lin Youde spoke: "The Datang Republic has always adhered to the principle of fair and open trade, Baron Robinson, have you seen that our Datang machines are exported to France and Spain, but you have not seen our other goods exported to Paris and Madrid?" Datang's high-end leather goods, perfumes, cigarettes, candies, and coffee have become the most common consumer goods in these places. France and Spain are important trading partners of our Tang Republic and undertake the sales of our various goods, so we are happy to export all kinds of technical products to them, and we are also happy to teach them more things. But we are sorry that we do not see the same sincerity in England again, which makes it impossible for us to offer you the same conditions as the examples of France and Spain. ”

Robinson took a deep breath and said, "So, do you mean that we must open our markets to the Tang Kingdom?" ”

Lin Youde nodded and said, "That's right, that's exactly the truth." ”

Robinson said flatly: "This is absolutely impossible. ”

Lin Youde and Su Liangxing glanced at each other, not surprised at all. During this period, the protectionism, or mercantilism, of the British was very serious. The British understand the allure of Datang goods, even if the British customs levy high tariffs, there are still some goods that the British can't do or can't do well, so there are still people who will buy them. Moreover, once the import of these products is liberalized, the people in China will find that these goods are very cheap, but the unscrupulous government has imposed a ridiculous tariff on them, which makes the price of these products super outrageous when people buy them. At that time, the British government will be attacked by the people, and there will be serious riots in the country.

The British made a very loud calculation, which was nothing more than to exclude the Tang Dynasty goods from the country, and then absorb the technology of the Tang people, make comparable goods, and then sell them to the domestic market, and then distribute them to their own colonies, so that the money is earned by themselves.

It's just that there is such a good thing in the world, and the Tang people are not stupid, they simply sell you technology, and then watch you grow up to compete with yourself, and even this is not competition, within the British colonial system, goods from other countries are never allowed to enter.

Before the twentieth century, trade was by no means free.

Unwilling to give up the effort, Robinson asked, "We can buy those machines at a higher price." ”

Lin Youde once again reiterated: "This is a matter of principle. ”

The negotiations were then at an impasse, and Robinson had no choice. At this time, Foreign Minister Su Liangxing spoke, and he said: "As Minister Lin said, we Datang will not do business with people who are not sincere. Since Britain has no intention of opening its own market, there is nothing more to say. ”

Robinson retorted, "If we want you to open the market, can you agree?" ”

Lin Youde said, "Why not? We Datang welcome British businessmen to do trade, and you will find that our Datang tariffs are on average less than one-third of your British tariff rate. ”

Robinson was stuck again, he didn't know if the numbers Lin Youde said were true or false, but guessed that it was probably true. France and Spain have opened their markets to Datang, and Datang has actually opened their markets to France and Spain. In particular, Spain's silver mines from Peru, copper mines from Chile, and natural fuels from Mexico are all exported to Tang in large quantities. The miners and plantation owners of many Spanish colonies have made a fortune over the years, because the demand for these raw materials is very strong in the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Kingdom is closer to them, and the cost of travel to Spain is less.

But Robinson also understood that in this way, it was actually the Spaniards who suffered. The Spaniards supplied Datang's industrial production with cheap raw materials, and the Tang people produced industrial products and then exported them to Spain, and their profits multiplied many times. Moreover, some Spanish mine owners did not care about the local Spanish governor for the sake of profit, and in the end, it was not clear whether these colonies were Spanish or Tang.

British goods can be sold to the Datang market, which is a good thing at first glance, but as far as textiles are concerned, Robinson understands very well that the quality of Datang's textiles is better, the level of printing and dyeing is also better, and the price is almost the same as that of British products. This is the reason why the Tang people can confidently and boldly open the market to each other and pretend to be generous.

Robinson, who had been cornered into a corner, was desperate, but at this time, Su Liangxing spoke again: "It's not that we can't sell the machinery you asked for to you, but you need to show sincerity." ”

Seeing that things were turning around, Robinson asked, "What are the conditions of your country's hope?" It is impossible for us to fully open the market. ”

"It's not an open market, you can continue to engage in your protectionist trade. Let's put it bluntly, Britain sold Rupert's territory to Datang for 2 million pounds, and recognized Datang's possession of North American land west of the Great Lakes, and we agreed to sell you the technical products you need. (To be continued.) )