Camphor is one of the fist products exported by Taiwan, mainly for medicinal and antiseptic purposes in the early stage, and is exported to India, Europe and the United States, known as "platinum". After 1860, camphor became a raw material for the production of many industrial products, such as celluloid, the first synthetic plastic of mankind, which resembled ivory in color and lustre, and was made into jewelry and handicrafts for sale, and was extremely profitable. There are also photographic films, cosmetics, toys, etc., and camphor is indispensable when manufacturing. Even the later French discovered that camphor could be used as a stabilizing agent in the manufacture of smokeless gunpowder, so European and American countries imported camphor from China, making it an important export commodity after porcelain, tea, silk and sugar. But that's for later.

Today's camphor, in addition to its antiseptic and medicinal properties, plays a major role in the production of celluloid.

Taiwan's camphor production accounts for 70-80% of the world's camphor production, almost all of which is exported, with good quality and high profits, with an annual turnover of more than 100,000 silver dollars at its peak. Therefore, the British have long coveted.

As early as 1825, some unscrupulous British businessmen drove ships to Taiwan without permission and secretly exchanged opium for camphor. At that time, British merchants made a lot of money from smuggling camphor, although the amount of camphor obtained through guò smuggling was small.

After the end of the two crows, Taiwan was forced to open its port, and there were 13 foreign companies that set up warehouses in Taiwan by British businessmen that year. Among them, Jardine Matheson and Dent Foreign Firms have abundant funds and renovated business methods, and Taiwan's camphor exports are gradually controlled by these two foreign firms.

The nature of businessmen is to chase profits, and when the two foreign companies formed a basic monopoly, they began to suppress the purchase price of Taiwanese camphor, which aroused the dissatisfaction of local interest groups in Taiwan. In the second year of Tongzhi, that is, in 1863, the Qing government decided to implement a monopoly policy on Taiwanese camphor and forbade British foreign companies to directly purchase camphor among the Taiwanese people.

The measures taken by the Qing government broke the monopoly of British businessmen, protected the interests of the Taiwan people, and were welcomed by the Taiwan people. But the British businessmen whose interests were damaged hated it to the bone marrow.

The conflict between the British merchants and the local area of Taiwan then became more and more intense, and in July of the seventh year of Tongzhi, a 'camphor war' that was not well known to later generations broke out. The British warships "Algieri" and "Busda" carried a large number of British troops to Taiwan and conquered the important Taiwanese town of Anping, and Taiwan's military and civilians lost Yan Zòng.

The affair, of course, ended with Beijing's concessions. China and Britain signed the Treaty of Camphor in which the Manchu Qing Dynasty dismissed many military and political officials in Taiwan, abolished the camphor barracks, and allowed foreigners and their employees to go deep into Taiwan to trade freely. In the past six years, Taiwan's camphor production and export rights have fallen into the hands of the British. Previously, Taiwan exported about 7,000 quintals of camphor every year, and the purchase price was 16 silver dollars per quintal; By 1870, under the control of British merchants, exports had more than doubled, and the purchase price had more than doubled, and the losses suffered by China can be imagined.

Liu Xian has never been a person who only eats from the land, and while clearing the acres of land, he also set his eyes on commercial tax development. In addition to the problem of camphor, the other two major products of Taiwan's exports, tea and sugar, are also in his plan. It's just that the problem of camphor has to be solved first, because the proportion of the tea industry and the sugar industry being invaded and infiltrated by foreign merchants is still very light, unlike the camphor industry, which was completely controlled by the British. That's what this business bureau does.

Xu Yanxu was very unhappy about this matter, he had no talent and talent in this area at all. However, Liu Xian is in control of the overall situation and is responsible for the first priority in the Taiwan Strait today - sorting out the defense and armaments of the Taiwan Strait; Liu Xuan, one of Zuo Zongtang's right-hand men and now Taiwan's political envoy, is in charge of laying submarine cables from Taiwan to Penghu and Fuzhou, as well as estimating the annual need for the entire Taiwan to resonate. Xu Yanxu had to follow the hot potato of the Commerce Bureau. And Liu Xiantiy's opening up of Taiwan's local commercial resources is to levy camphor tax and silver on every distillery on the mountain, which is the first appearance of the Commerce Bureau!

Now look, it's going to be messed up!

"Don't be embarrassed by that. Just put things in the hands of Liu Futai! ”

Seeing Xu Yanxu's 'Ya Pear' look, the staff around him said so. When Xu Yanxu was in Wuzhou, he was opposed to Liu Xian's 'foreign affairs'. When he was the prefect of Liuzhou, he was very uncooperative with Liu Xian. However, at that time in Liuzhou, almost all of the top and bottom received huge profits from Liu Xian's industrial park, Xu Yanxu was lonely, and his non-cooperation was just a personal non-cooperation.

From the point of view of the staff, the Bureau of Commerce is the most obvious foreign affairs department, and it is a very important foreign affairs department. Liu Xian threw it to Xu Yanxu, a person who does not understand foreign affairs and does not support foreign affairs, except for knocking Xu Yanxu down, there is no second reason.

Xu Yanxu 'returned' the matter to Liu Xian, which is to show his 'powerlessness', as long as his attitude is better, to put it bluntly, he will bow his head and be small, Liu Xian will never bully too much. Because the staff felt that such an important foreign affairs department, Liu Xian would not tolerate it in the hands of others.

Xu Yanxu's 'lesson' is the same as Liu Xuan's. Whether it is laying submarine cables or estimating the amount of co-ringing, Liu Xuan will also be very uncomfortable. He laid the submarine cable, but the telegraph office was in Liu Xian's own hands. The amount of the children's association is estimated, and Liu Xian will write to Beijing according to the amount, if it is finally found that the amount of the association is not enough, will Liu Xuan want to sit on wax?

It can even be said that Liu Xuan's current difficulties are greater than Xu Yanxu's. And the reason for this, what the reason is, everyone knows in their hearts.

Liu Xian warmly received Xu Yanxu in the flower hall, and he saw this person clearly. Although the character is conservative, it still belongs to the category of being able to be wooed.

What would he do if this matter fell into the hands of a person who was loyal to the imperial court, or in the hands of a person who was resolutely resistant to him?

Ignoring the protests of the British, the overlord made a bow, anyway, the matter came out, and the board of the court would not be the first to hit him. Liu Xian is the number one leader in Taiwan!

"Shengbo. Pass my orders! In front of Xu Yanxu, Liu Xian held a tea cup in his hand, showing his wisdom and skills. Ding Zhenduo immediately took out paper and pen.

"First, civilian firearms have been confiscated throughout Taiwan. By the end of this month, whoever dares to harbor firearms again will be punished for treason. ”

"Second, in the coming year, the whole Taiwan will be inventoried. All the soldiers in Taiwan Town returned to the camp to be investigated. ”

"Your Excellency is clever!" Xu Yanxu opened his mouth and stammered, these two were just a few crosses, but he shook like thunder when he heard it. In the end, I had to convince myself to say four words.

The use of camphor is not something that can be obtained casually. It is distilled from the camphor tree, which has the largest natural camphor forest in the world, but these camphor trees have disappeared from the plains and hilly areas with hundreds of years of deforestation. If you want to get a large number of camphor trees, you can only drill into the deep mountains and old forests of Taitung.

In the deep mountains and old forests of Taiwan, there are a large number of raw flowers. This into the mountains to pick camphor is like a military operation, especially those at the most basic level of brain-making workers, who are also known as "brain ding", venture deep into the inaccessible mountains and old forests, fight with the sky, fight with the earth, fight with people, go through hardships and dangers, accompanied by blood and tears.

To enter the mountains to take camphor, the brain must first be organized into a team, more than 100 more than 200 people, less than dozens of people, and to elect a leader who is experienced, highly respected and able to control the situation, and reaffirm discipline in three chapters of the law before he can enter the mountains. After entering the mountains, Brain Ding often has to open roads in the mountains and build bridges when encountering water, which is full of military operations. In areas where camphor trees grow, it is common to encounter some indigenous mountain people, who will be repeatedly attacked if they fail to open their joints in advance and obtain understanding and accommodation. From March to July every year, when the camphor is harvested in the mountains, there are not a few brains who unfortunately die in a fight. In many cases, for the sake of safety, it is necessary to ask the government to send soldiers to protect it, or to say that certain civil and military officials in Taiwan and the camphor industry have been combined, and the soldiers will be dispatched until the camphor is refined and transported out of the mountain.

It is indispensable to prepare for the camp of the Brain Ding team in the mountains, digging trenches, building sentry gates, and building roads in and out of the forest. In later generations, in Taiwan and even in northern Guangdong and southern Hunan, archaeologists will find the remnants of ancient walled cities, walls, walled gates, stoves, etc. buried in the barren grass and rocks from time to time, which are mostly speculated to be the last shelter of the rebel army in the late Ming Dynasty or the Taiping army of the Qing Dynasty defeated and hid in the mountains.

Liu Xian confiscated the firearms of Taiwanese people, that is, he broke one of the arms of the brains. In the coming year, the whole Taiwan will be cleared of those who serve as soldiers, which is to cut off the greatest support and backing of the brains in terms of force.

However, Liu Xian has not done anything to the end, he has not banned illegal gatherings and weightlifting among the people in Taiwan, nor has he ordered a thorough investigation of private "brain liao". He also left a gap in the gate.

As for whether or not you can enter this door, it depends on the choice of those squatters!

The current Qing Dynasty is not my Qing Dynasty after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, although there are several big holes in the tiger skin, but there is still a trace of majesty. The British and their employees could go anywhere in Taiwan and buy and sell camphor freely. But the British can't set up a distillery in Taiwan, that is, those private brains, no matter who the real owners behind them are, at least on the surface, they don't belong to the British.

Liu Xian has a way to fiddle with them.

As for saying that the British are playing tricks again, stirring up nonsense. Then we also have to see if Liu Xian is the Liang Yuangui of the year, and the soldiers of the Qin army are compared with the British lobster soldiers, which is stronger and which is weaker!

As soon as Liu Xian's order came out of the governor's yamen, it quickly spread in Tainan, Fengshan, and Chiayi, and the people talked about it one after another. But there wasn't much opposition!

This is not surprising, because the vast majority of people involved in Taiwan's camphor industry are people from northern Taiwan.

Tea and camphor were exported from Tamsui and Keelung in the north, and sugar was exported from Anping and Tagou in the south, and opium and groceries were the main imports. This is Taiwan's current trade. R1152