The British threat, the dismemberment of China, the economic war, the tea war, the Chinese colonialism......!!!

This is the answer Hu Chuyuan found, and the only key to solving China's tea crisis.

Even if the British side has not spoken as arrogantly and casually as he is, the evidence is grasped, and even if it is not evidence, it can be turned into ironclad evidence through the brush of Chinese politicians.

Hu Chuyuan decided to use intimidation tactics to force the Manchus to grant amnesty to the tea economy.

He wanted to convince the Manchu court that if the tea industry was not supported, Britain would completely disintegrate China's economy, make China poor and weak, and eventually become the next India.

At that time, the Manchu nobles would not even have the opportunity to withdraw to the three eastern provinces.

Hu Chuyuan knew very well in his heart that as long as he could do this, he could solve the problems behind him by his own strength.

There are still many people in Britain who are richer than him, but almost all of the people at his level are the kings of finance, steel, and railways...... Probably he is the only one who is thinking about investing in the tea industry.

This is his advantage, which means that his opponents are all weaker than him, and he can use huge sums of money that others cannot imagine to complete the monopoly of the tea industry.

Thinking about this clearly, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help laughing, laughing very indifferently, with a smell of blood.

Wu Shuzhen, who was already familiar with him, smiled leisurely and said, "Have you found a way?" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded with a smile and said, "Although it is not certain that it is effective, it can also be considered." I would like to ask you to help me hire a few Americans who are familiar with the UK, and who are required to work in media journalism, with the task of gathering all kinds of information and materials in the UK. I'll give them the money to help them get more special news. ”

"Oh?" Wu Shuzhen laughed brightly, a little surprised, but said, "Is it to use spy tactics?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said very seriously: "It's not a spy, it's just collecting public intelligence information, checking, sorting, summarizing, and then sending it to me." ”

Saying this, he had a special idea in his heart, that is, to set up a special intelligence agency in the Huameng Association, not only to collect foreign intelligence, but also to target the main political enemies at home, especially within the Qing Dynasty.

The idea of spreading the "British threat theory" was only kept in Hu Chuyuan's mind for the time being, and he did not say it, but only gave some instructions to Zheng Xitai to conduct complete statistics and analysis of the tea and food retail industries in the United Kingdom.

Immediately, he brought RS Butterfield back and the two of them met individually.

I feel that Hu Chuyuan seems to be very sure at this time, RS Butterfield is not in a hurry to speak, drinking tea silently, and thinking about something in his heart.

Hu Chuyuan didn't rush to say anything.

He slowly drank half of the legendary Darjeeling black tea before asking RS Butterfield, "Mr. Battle, I would like to ask, is there any new development regarding my stake in Swire & Co." ”

R.S. Butterfield couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

To be honest, he was reluctant to continue to entangle with Hu Chuyuan on the issue of Chinese tea.

As a businessman who is good at grasping the big picture, he is well aware that Chinese tea has been left with traditional consumption habits in the British market, and will be completely replaced by Indian black tea in less than a decade.

He didn't want to cooperate with Hu Chuyuan to run Chinese tea, that was just losing money.

He said with a smile: "Congratulations, Hu Shao, the Schwyawah family has agreed to divest the Liverpool business from Swire & Co., and the Taikoo trademark rights belong to me, while they retain the Schwya. In other words, the businesses you are not interested in are kept by them, and the businesses you are interested in will remain in the new Swire & Co. Provided, of course, that I'll have to come up with £300,000 at a time. To be honest, this money still has a certain amount of pressure and risk for me. ”

Hu Chuyuan asked, "So, how much are you willing to transfer to me?" ”

R.S. Butterfield said boldly, "You can do as much as you want, my friend." This is obviously a good deal, and our steamship company in China alone is worth 1,400,000 taels of silver, plus our estate in Hong Kong, and the various businesses we represent, the total value of 1,400,000 taels of silver is not excessive. Of course, these are insignificant, and with your support, we can soon have a monopoly on the UK raw silk market. We can set up our own textile mills to produce high-grade silk and cotton blends, or we can hold those large textile mills through a controlling stake. At that time, the profits will roll in. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded in agreement and said, "I will lend you 200,000 pounds, on the condition that I can convert these debts into 49% of Swire & Co. at any time." ”

RS Butterfield cautiously put down the teacup, thought for a moment, and suddenly said: "With all due respect, Hu Shao, you can be a little bolder." If you choose to become a British citizen in a special way, even if you own a 55% stake in Swire & Co., I would welcome it. This is the market for capital, and think, my friend, that the great wealth you hold can freely enter and exit all the colonies of the British Empire. At that time, you still need to think about dealing in tea in China, with your wealth, you can take 50% of the tea in India and Sri Lanka within three years. ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "This question has been raised to me more than once, and I think I should ask another person's opinion." ”

After saying this, he asked RS Butterfield to wait for a while, and went out to invite Wu Shuzhen in.

The three of them sat down again, and Hu Chuyuan told Wu Shuzhen about Butterfield's proposal, and asked her about the various possible surnames in the law, as well as the necessary surnames.

Wu Shuzhen thought for a moment and said, "Of course you can, the problem is that you must ensure an absolute secret surname!" ”

R.S. Butterfield whispered: "Mr. Hu, I have a special channel through which you can obtain Irish citizenship, which is very easy, and I have a way of keeping it very secret, only a few of us know. With this status, you are also automatically entitled to British citizenship under the constitution of the British Empire. ”

Wu Shuzhen smiled faintly, and said to Hu Chuyuan: "It seems that it is possible, I have not studied the legal provisions in this regard." ”

As she said this, she blinked slightly rhythmically.

Hu Chuyuan vaguely felt that Wu Shuzhen didn't agree very much, so he said to RS Butterfield: "I'll talk about this question later, I'll think about it more carefully for a few days." ”

"You have to think about it, the market always welcomes your huge capital, and with them we can get everything in the UK." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, he turned the topic back, and RS Butterfield asked: "If I control the tea market in Jiangnan in my hands, and will be exclusively exported to the UK by Swire & Co., and can keep the cost down, at most some import tariffs higher than Indian tea, do you plan to operate it?" ”

"So......?"

RS Butterfield couldn't help but be a little surprised, although he was suspicious in his heart, but he still thought about it very carefully for a moment.

After thinking about it, he said: "First of all, we have to solve the problem of the quality and taste of Chinese tea...... ”

Without waiting for him to finish, Hu Chuyuan said: "I will solve it, of course, these need your help!" ”

"That's a lot easier!"

R.S. Butterfield laughed, and seemed a little interested, and said, "We have to grade the tea and sell it according to our standards, just like the system you have set up in the silk industry." Then, allow us to do everything we can to squeeze Indian tea and praise our own...... Actually, I'm not really good at doing these specific sales businesses, and I can recommend you to a guy who is also an Irishman who has a lot of Lipton food stores in Scotland. Although he doesn't deal in tea, I believe that he is an expert in the food retail business, and it would be much better if I could join forces with him. ”

Lipton.

Toms Lipton.

RS Butterfield's words reminded Hu Chuyuan.

In fact, the person who really completely defeated Chinese tea was Thomas Lipton, and it was the price reduction storm he blew in the British tea market that completely defeated Chinese tea and expelled it from the British market.

To some extent, his merits completely surpassed that of the British Navy at that time, and it was effortless to bring the Qing Dynasty to its final demise.

For this achievement, Queen Victoria of England gave him a special award of knighthood.

Tea is indeed a magical industry, and only the agricultural products in the tea fields that can continue to grow every year can be exchanged for a large amount of gold from the international market, such an industry, which country does not want to have?

However, Hu Chuyuan didn't mind cooperating with this person.

If he could take a big stake in the future Lipton company, he would not say no, and of course, Thomas Lipton is indeed one of the most gifted distribution experts of this era.

Hu Chuyuan quickly nodded, and said to RS Butterfield: "Please contact him for me, and I will have someone prepare a gift and letter." If I have the opportunity to meet in person, I hope to arrange it later, and in this time, I may have to go to the United States. ”

RS Butterfield smiled, "I'm more than happy to serve you, so leave this matter to me." ”

Hu Chuyuan bowed slightly, and asked RS Butterfield to further collect various information about the British market, including the British chain food store industry, as well as textiles, shipbuilding, steel, etc., as a reference for his investment in the UK.

When RS Butterfield left, he asked Wu Shuzhen: "What do you think about becoming an Irish citizen?" ”

Wu Shuzhen said with a smile: "It's really unnecessary, and it's an increase in risk for no reason." The other risks are small, the key is rs Butterfield himself, everyone knows that this matter must not be known to the Qing court, if your cooperation with him ends for some reason, and he chooses to cooperate with someone like Sheng Xuanhuai, what will happen? ”

Hu Chuyuan spread his hands and said with a smile: "Then I will die, even if I don't die, my business empire in China will collapse." ”

Wu Shuzhen said: "So, the risk is too great. According to the rules of the trade treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States, Americans can invest in British industries by registering their capital in the United Kingdom and paying taxes in accordance with British law. As we originally planned, we would first enter the UK through a GCA private equity fund and find a licensed lawyer in the UK to handle all tax and legal issues. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said, "Then let's do it, I plan to go to the United States as soon as possible, if everything goes well, I want to ...... I've found the key to the tea problem, a whole bunch of keys to be exact. ”

Wu Shuzhen smiled quite interestingly: "I knew you would come up with a way, okay, talk to me, don't fish my appetite!" ”

For her, Hu Chuyuan really has nothing to hide, so he tried to explain all the steps as simply as possible.

Since the land resources of tea are more concentrated than those of the silk industry, most of the local tea estates directly control hundreds of acres of tea fields.

According to Hu Chuyuan's plan, first of all, a special joint venture system was adopted, through the Jiangnan Agricultural Cooperative, to take shares in various tea estates, to open tea factories in the local area, and to control the tea fields through the tea estates.

The joint operation system is different from the consignment system, its one-time surname investment is relatively large, and the income is relatively stable, but it is mainly suitable for the tea industry, and is not suitable for promotion in the silk industry and sugar industry.

In the joint venture system, Jiangnan Agricultural Cooperatives play the role of financial and technical investment, and are also the general agents of the overall trade, with the cooperatives directly selling the tea for export to Swire & Co., and the domestic tea being distributed by the Jiangnan Commercial Bank.

Secondly, he controls Swire & Co., and directly controls a number of chain food stores in the British market, providing the most unimpeded access to the British tea market.

Third, he sets standards and occupies the high-end market as the first goal.

Fourth, he will reduce the cost of transporting and producing Chinese tea through various means.

…… In short, after nearly a month of consideration, he has already thought of dozens of details of the continuous surname, using the most advanced production structure and sales structure, and integrating the world tea market.

The rise of Indian tea is not likely to be stopped, since it cannot be stopped, then learn to control it, and greatly reduce the lethality of Indian tea, and protect Chinese tea to the greatest extent.

Therefore, he will also curb the British political axe's plan through pure market manipulation, and it will be a very large capital manipulation and attack.

Hu Chuyuan had already said it as simple as possible, but such a clear organization and steps still made Wu Shuzhen feel extremely stunned.

Yes, she knew that Hu Chuyuan would come up with a way after all, but she didn't expect that there would be so many ways and such a comprehensive way.

After being surprised for a while, she had to sigh: "There is no way, you are indeed too powerful, completely beyond the limit of what I can imagine, I think, you will dominate the entire world tea and silk market in these five or six years." Really, I'm a little scared of you! ”

Hu Chuyuan couldn't help laughing out loud and asked, "Why are you afraid of me?" ”

Wu Shuzhen smiled and didn't answer, shook her head, and asked, "Then when will you go to the United States, we have already arranged the naturalization matter!" ”

By "we," of course, she was referring to her and her father, as well as the state judge.

At this time, the United States is also a country with serious corruption, and Hu Chuyuan believes that for this matter, the Wu family is afraid that they have not spent less money.

He said: "I have to wait at least a week, I have to sort out the problems of the Fujian sailors first, and after I go to the United States, I have to stay for a while longer." We have to think about the matter of young children studying in the United States, and we have to think about the issue of Chinese exclusion. ”

Wu Shuzhen nodded slightly, but persuaded very seriously: "Chu Yuan, don't always put so much pressure on yourself, don't live so tired, since you don't even care about the Manchu court, why do you have to work so hard." I, I wish you could have a more leisurely life and not worry about so many things. ”

After a pause, she smiled helplessly: "Of course, I also know that you don't care if you can't do it, if you really think about it, it seems that only you can solve those troubles." Alas, what's the use of that court, it's better to let you be the emperor. ”

Hu Chuyuan also smiled, looked at her quietly, hid his love in his heart, and said: "Although I can't enjoy more leisure, at least for a while, I can be more leisurely." ”

Wu Shuzhen smiled and said nothing.

Neither of them said anything more, quietly sipping tea, enjoying this moment of tranquility and warmth.

At this moment, their hearts seem to be very quiet, and they can even feel each other's heartbeats.

(To be continued)