Originally, Britain planted cotton in India and sold it in the Qing Dynasty, which was also profitable, but later the landlords in the Jiangnan region of China also began to plant cotton in large quantities and improved planting technology, so that the price of Jiangnan cotton was cheaper than that of Indian cotton, and the quality was better than that of Indian cotton, and finally squeezed Indian cotton out of the market (as for how such a strange thing happened, Li Xian was also puzzled). Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In short, none of the goods produced by the great British Empire could be sold in China, not because of the interference of the Qing government, but because of the laws of the market that could not be harder.

In the end, British merchants could only use real money to buy goods in the Qing Kingdom, instead of using cheap British industrial goods to obtain all kinds of useful resources at a small price, as in other places.

When it was discovered that opium could be sold in China, it was not difficult to understand the ecstasy of the British.

According to Li Xian's investigation, the profits of this kind of business are quite terrifying.

British merchants bought opium in Bengal and other places in India, and the cost was about 400 yuan a box (100 to 120 catties per box), and when they sold it in Guangzhou, they could change hands at a price of 800 yuan a box.

Before Lin Zexu presided over the smoking ban, the landed price of opium was only 800 yuan per box, but after the smoking ban, the price rose to between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan, and then fell back to between 1,100 and 1,300.

So how much is this opium trade?

From 1835 to 1839, about 25,000 boxes of opium were imported into China each year.

During this period, the vast majority of the goods exported by the Qing Kingdom were tea, about 300,000 quintals per Chinese New Year's Eve, worth about 9 million to 10 million yuan.

In other words, during this period, the Qing State imported goods worth 20 million yuan (mainly opium) and exported goods worth 10 million yuan (mainly tea) every year.

In this way, the annual trade deficit of the Qing State is about 10 million yuan, and even if the British do not exchange all their profits for silver, the pure loss of silver will reach between 5 million taels and 6 million taels per year.

So, what was the financial situation of the Qing State during this period?

The total financial revenue of the central government of the Qing Dynasty reached about 45 million taels, which is equivalent to about 65 million yuan of silver dollars, and the total amount of silver held by the entire Qing State was about 900 million taels (this was already the first in the world at that time.

Anyone with a little economic common sense knows that if this kind of silver loss continues, even if the harm of opium itself is not considered, this loss of currency alone will reduce the amount of silver in the Qing Kingdom by 10 percent within 10 years and by 20 percent within 20 years.

Compared with the situation in the Ming Dynasty, and considering the Qing State's poor ability to resist financial disasters, the Qing State would encounter a serious money shortage within ten years, resulting in an almost insurmountable financial crisis, making it difficult for the central government to continue, and finally the country could only be torn apart.

Under normal circumstances, the result would be that the princes would rise up together, and a new dynasty would replace the old dynasty, but considering the rapid development of European countries at that time and the occupation of colonies everywhere, it would only be a few European powers to jointly divide China's land, divide China into several regions, and incorporate it into their own rule.

Therefore, Li Xian can also understand why the Qing court and Lin Zexu himself were so eager to ban smoking.

Maybe those people in the imperial court didn't see so far and didn't go so deeply, but they also understood that if the situation of the massive opium trade was not changed, what awaited the central court would only be a catastrophe.

Now that the opium trade is banned, the British may be beaten badly and lose a lot of things, but if they don't fight, I am afraid that after they arrive, they will not even have the opportunity to be beaten, and they will finish playing for some reason, and they will not know how they died simply because they die.

This is the situation on the Qing side, and the situation on the British side is also not optimistic.

Some people think that Lin Zexu's approach is a bit arrogant and too tough, and if he can be tactful, he may not be able to avoid war and strive for a better outcome for the Qing State.

But in Li Xian's opinion, this is simply impossible.

From the point of view of the British government, the annual sale of more than 20,000 boxes of opium has a net profit of more than 10 million yuan, and there is still a lot of room for growth.

Therefore, no matter whether Lin Zexu's methods were moderate or not, even if Yilu had the intention of reconciling with the governor's palace in Guangzhou and settling the dispute by peaceful means, the British government behind him would never allow the opium trade to suffer any losses, and any compromise was only possible if the opium trade was not affected in any way.

This is the wheel of history, and it is also the real general trend, which does not change by anyone's personal will.

In comparison, what is soft on righteousness and law, and what makes some British parliamentarians vote against war, etc., are just floating clouds, and hoping for these can only show that these people are too naïve to return their history lessons to the physical education teacher.

In the 21st century, there are still some people who want to understand the war from different angles, and put forward many strange opinions, including one that Lin Zexu confiscated the opium of British merchants, which is an infringement of the private property rights of merchants, so the legitimacy of the entire anti-smoking campaign must be questioned.

However, Li Xian understands how ridiculous this idea is.

Regardless of how one-sided this statement is, judging from the trade rules of this era, the opium brought into China by these British merchants was an illegal commodity without customs clearance, that is, smuggled goods rather than normal goods protected by law.

Whether in accordance with the international rules of the era or by subsequent laws, any government has the right to enforce the confiscation of smuggled goods.

Of course, Li Xian also understood that some people who were interested in raising the issue of private property rights were not because they did not understand the nature of these goods, but simply wanted to belittle the various protests carried out by the Chinese in previous generations to resist foreign enemies, which had nothing to do with the legality of opium.

Just like the wolf and sheep argument, no matter how many reasons you have, I will discredit you, and the reasons are actually "unfounded".

In short, the more he learned about the opium trade during this period, the more Li Xian understood that war was inevitable and that it would never be small in scale.

Not long after Li Xian pacified the pirate forces on Donghai Island and became a veritable leader in Leizhou Bay, history was still running according to his original trajectory.

On January 5, 1840, according to the will of Emperor Daoguang, Lin Zexu announced the official closure of Hong Kong and the permanent severance of trade with Britain.

On January 8 of the same year, the British captain of the "Wolasu" announced that from January 15, the Guangzhou port and the Pearl River estuary would be blocked.

On January 16, Queen Victoria addressed Parliament, saying that she was paying close attention to British interests in China and the dignity of her country.

The events that have taken place in China have caused the severance of trade relations between our subjects and that country, and I have taken great care of this incident, which affects the interests of our subjects and the dignity of the royal family.

On January 20, 1840, when the atmosphere in the whole of Canton was still delicate, Li Xian sent someone to contact the British consul in Hong Kong, Yilu, and asked to meet him to discuss some important matters.