After the First Opium War, Shanghai established a concession business center, which moved from Shiliupu to the adjacent Bund. The scale of trade expanded rapidly, and soon it moved from grain trading in the past to silk tea export center.
On the surface, foreign businessmen and Chinese businessmen bring out the best in each other. Foreigners are unable to enter the market, so the history of hiring comprador to purchase goods on their behalf is very likely to criticize comprador. In fact, the most violent conflict with foreigners is that this group of comprador has the greatest conflict of interests with foreigners.
After the Second Opium War, the business model of foreign firm plus comprador has been established in Shanghai.
This has to be said to be a satire. One of the reasons why the British launched the Opium War was to recognize the place where the government restricted trade and did not allow ordinary businessmen to trade directly with British businessmen. After the Opium War, they forced the Qing government to let foreign businessmen trade with ordinary businessmen.
In fact, the monopoly of thirteen lines chosen by the Qing government on foreigners’ trade has a cause and effect. At that time, there were many trade conflicts between China and foreign countries, and there were often cases where Chinese businessmen pretended to deceive foreigners and cheated foreigners to pay for goods, and there were also cases where foreigners owed huge sums of money to Chinese businessmen.
Once, a businessman owed money to a British businessman, and as a result, the British went to Qianlong. When Qianlong felt that he had lost someone, he ordered thirteen banks to double indemnity and sent merchants from countries that owed money. But later, the Americans owed Pan Jia a huge sum of money, and the Qing court didn’t come forward, which led Pan Jia to fight the lawsuit to Washington and failed to get back the debt.
With the increasing frequency of such conflicts, the Qing court issued this thirteen-line package purchase method to let those well-known businessmen with strong financial resources do business with foreigners. It turns out that this method is really effective, which greatly reduces various conflicts and increases mutual trust. The annual balance of the East India Company is often directly with big businessmen like Wu Bingjian, and these big businessmen often lend money to the East India Company and even invest abroad through institutions such as the East India Company.
After the Opium War, the thirteen firms were dissolved, and foreigners gained the benefit of direct trade with all Chinese businessmen. But at this time, they found that those fraudulent firms appeared again. They didn’t believe in Chinese businessmen and foreigners, and as a result, foreign firms still had to rely on the strength of Chinese people to do business. This led to the emergence of the comprador class. The significance was that foreigners themselves followed the past path and went back to the thirteen firms’ era. It was different that merchant employer had changed from the past thirteen firms to comprador, big and small.
In the past, their conflicts with Chinese businessmen have also come back, and even they have been in constant conflict with their own joint purchases.
However, it is only in recent years that the real development of the confrontation between the two major commercial groups in China and foreign countries has taken place.
The first big conflict was in 166 when Jardine Matheson, the largest ocean merchant, clashed with its comprador.
In November of that year, the British businessman Huitor brothers bought 23 packages of silk from Jardine Matheson. In mid-December, Jardine Matheson comprador Qiu Qixuan sent five packages of goods to Whittall brothers’ broker Qiu Qixuan. Although he was comprador from Jardine Matheson, he was more like an independent businessman. Jardine Matheson didn’t pay the goods to his business until the goods were delivered to the buyer. Jardine Matheson responded to the buyer’s dunning, and gave Qiu Qixuan two Zhuang tickets, which were paid by Jardine Matheson.
At this time, Jardine Matheson had a conflict with his comprador. Jardine Matheson admitted that he had paid the Zhuang ticket, but he didn’t want to bear the loss himself. He sued Jardine Matheson in the Supreme Court for demanding payment of silk money.
Because this case is a comprador lawsuit by a foreign firm, it is a rare thing, which has been widely reported by local newspapers, especially the North China Good News.
In court, Qiu Qiqi admitted that he was the agent of Jardine Matheson for more than three years, and his purchasing bank represented Jardine Matheson, so Jardine Matheson had the right to pay the business. Moreover, such payment must be subject to the receipt of real money through negotiation.
However, at this time, Jardine Matheson made a move to break the concept of China businessmen’s unification. They denied Qiu Qiqi’s identity and did not admit that Qiu Qiqi was their comprador.
This has greatly stimulated the world outlook of local businessmen, and China businessmen will also be involved in business. In his view, this feeling is more important than anything else. Therefore, their business rarely signs a formal agreement, and there is no entrustment agreement with Jardine Matheson. However, we have been together for many years. Not only does Qiu Qixuan have business with Jardine Matheson, but China businessmen have long recognized that Qiu Qixuan is the comprador of Jardine Matheson.
However, Jardine Matheson denied its comprador in front of tens of thousands of taels of silver, which is regarded by China people as a betrayal and a move to abandon the car and protect the handsome.
Jardine Matheson has their reasons. They think that if they don’t pay Qiu Qiwa an annual salary or commission, Qiu Qiwa is not a comprador. Even if the two sides have been together for many years, it is still a good relationship and can’t represent Jardine Matheson.
Jardine Matheson has paid the Zhuang Piao for this batch of goods, which should be regarded as the completion of the payment. Later, when the bank closed down, they should not bear the risks and losses
The two sides held their own words, but in the end, Jardine Matheson expressed a compromise, asking Qiu to drop the lawsuit and Jardine Matheson was willing to pay for the goods with real money. As a result, Jardine Matheson lost 22,000 silver in this single business, which was considered worthwhile by Beihua Jiebao. After all, Jardine Matheson kept its reputation in China.
In this case, Jardine Matheson weighed the pros and cons, and the loss saved the reputation, but the impact was very bad, which directly impacted the world outlook of Chinese businessmen.
Chinese businessmen feel that even "Oriental Rothschild" like Jardine Matheson will refuse to recognize their actual comprador identity when necessary, which is a dangerous line, which makes them full of distrust of foreigners and they think it is necessary to plug this loophole.
The China Silk Guild will act first.
The guild issued new guild rules and handed them over to Haidaotai and informed the foreign chamber of commerce.
The Silk Guild stipulates that all transactions must be approved and interpreted by the Guild (translation is actually comprador), otherwise this rule will not be carried out, which will make those foreign companies behind the comprador who have not registered with the China Guild lose the right to purchase directly from China firms.
At the same time, in terms of settlement, although Chinese businessmen all hope to conduct cash transactions, after all, the amount of cash transactions is huge and the identification of silk quality is quite complicated. Therefore, it seems unrealistic. Therefore, a compromise scheme has been worked out, and foreign businessmen can pay for the goods first, but the payment must be settled before the silk is shipped overseas. Even if the silk has been shipped, it should not be regarded as foreign property. For example, in the event of an accident, such as the bankruptcy of a foreign firm, an acceptance bank or a bank, Chinese businessmen can get back the goods. Even if the money has not been paid, foreign
This regulation of the Maritime Silk Guild obviously circumvents the risks of Chinese businessmen, so foreigners are extremely dissatisfied, but they can’t help it. Anyone who dares to do business with foreigners privately without going through the guild will be resisted by body businessmen. As a result, foreign businessmen can finally succumb. After all, this era is still the buyer’s market of China businessmen. British businessmen don’t meet with the legitimate chambers of commerce of these guilds, and they always encounter the dilemma of the thirteen-line era, that is, foreign commercial laws flock to confront various Chinese-style groups of China businessmen.
To put it bluntly, commercial competition is still a financial competition. In this era, it is true that China merchants who have monopolized for centuries compete with each other, but times are changing.
In 169, the Suez Canal shortened the 12-day shipping time from London to the sea to 55 to 6 days. Suddenly, foreigners did not need to prepare goods for half a year. Their purchase became slow, so that they could cultivate comprador and purchase goods in depth. The newspaper also enabled them to keep up with the European market and greatly avoid the risk of purchase. Technological progress has made them powerful. Chinese businessmen have advantages, but they have the advantage in the world market.
When foreigners feel that they are stronger, they are more and more unwilling to accept the unequal rules of China businessmen’s organizations
The first counterattack of foreigners was in the field of tea trade. After the Suez Canal was opened, quasi-steam ships were required to pass through. A large number of steam ships quickly replaced flying shears and put them into east-west shipping, accounting for 7% of China’s export. After the voyage from London was shortened by half, it became cheaper to transport and protect China tea, which could be kept fresh by steam ships. Therefore, the London market no longer needs to maintain a tea warehouse for 62 months.
Increasing the production capacity of tea on a large scale led to the saturation of production, so in 172, the price of tea in the London market fell, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai still tried to control the price of tea. This time, foreigners refused to accept it, even the most famous foreigners in Huizhou, Qihong, refused to import it for a while. This time, foreigners won, and finally they quoted sea tea at half price in the past two years.
While foreigners are slowly taking the lead in the tea field, Chinese business organizations still monopolize the trade price in the silk field.
In recent years, the silk industry has been a seller’s market, and the world silk price has turned upside down from the Franco-Prussian War. Although Guangdong’s rapid development of machine weaving industry has driven the east wind, it has little impact on the sea market, because Guangdong silk is mainly low-end and sea silk is high-end.
Hand-woven silk with white silk produced in Su Hu area in the south of the Yangtze River is still exported to the western market in large quantities, but this kind of silk has grown at a rate of 7% to% for two consecutive years, which has enabled businessmen to export this kind of goods in large quantities. After the rapid shipping, the speed and frequency of silk trading have accelerated, and the silk export was completed in the first 23 months of the season.
All kinds of benefits stimulated the sea market to exceed the load capacity. Silk quality problems were exposed in the surge of export demand, and the quality of silk reeling and textile links was seriously slippery. In May 172, Lyon Silk Chamber of Commerce complained to Haixi Commercial Office about the false label of China silk quality problems. They warned that China silk might be driven out of the French market by European-made silk (mainly France and Italy) if it was not improved.
At this time, France has come out of the chaos after the Franco-Prussian War, and the new bourgeois government has pushed them to quickly restore their silk production capacity. The international silk price has dropped sharply, and foreign businessmen have lowered the silk purchase price in the sea.
However, at this time, Chinese businessmen believe that foreigners are interested in cracking down on silk prices and have formed an alliance, refusing to reduce prices, while foreigners believe that prices in the international market are falling. They refuse Chinese businessmen’s quotations, and Chinese businessmen will not budge in tandem with each other in newspapers. They must maintain last year’s high prices, otherwise they will never ship goods to foreigners.
The big silk merchants are also unwilling to accept low prices. In response to the call of the Chamber of Commerce, they also joined forces to boycott foreigners’ quotations, and a commercial war between China and foreign countries broke out in the silk field
Zhu Jinglun read the news in the newspaper, and he suddenly smelled an economic crisis.
He is well aware that foreign businessmen are more affected by the world economy than Chinese businessmen. The world market has become sluggish this year. Foreigners are certainly reluctant to import when they are not making money. It is obviously impossible for Chinese businessmen to maintain high prices at this time.
In the end of this commercial war, it is not a question of who wins or loses, but whether the market will collapse.
Zhu Jinglun remembers that a pre-capitalist economic crisis broke out in the world in 173, which lasted for more than five years and was more serious than the previous crisis. It was not until 1929 that the crisis exceeded the scale of this crisis.
He felt as if he had to take measures to deal with this economic crisis.
Section five hundred and seventy Great Crisis and the Northern Expedition
Zhu Jinglun attaches great importance to this economic crisis, because in his memory, some people say that this economic crisis can meet a great depression in his life. In the economist’s discussion, history has experienced four times, such as the Great Depression in 1929 and the Great Depression in 1929. Zhu Jinglun did not personally experience it, but he was deeply touched by the depression in 1929.
Zhu Jinglun immediately instructed Guangfu Bank to quietly sell various bonds, mainly government bonds and railway bonds, to raise hard currency from the market, and also asked them to finance 52,000 yuan in the London and new york markets in the name of building a new railway.
After the war in the United States, China’s economy ushered in an explosive growth, especially the crazy expansion of the railway industry. All kinds of railway bonds were very popular in new york market, and in recent years, the indicators of the big economy were very good. Guangfu Bank issued $30,000 bonds in the United States, which were underwritten by Jay Cook Bank, the largest bond underwriter in new york, and drexel Bank, the largest bond underwriter in the city, and soon sold them. This money was nothing to the crazy American financial market. Jay Cook, a bank, was underwriting $100 million bonds on the Taiping Railway in the north of the United States.
The 10,000-pound bonds issued in London were also underwritten by Rothschild and Bahrain Family Bank in London, and soon sold-Britain has completed the industrial revolution in this era, and a lot of surplus capital has appeared in their industries. Many industrialists and new noble have turned to investment and development, which is similar to that of the Dutch a hundred years ago. Britain has also produced a large number of people who rely on investment dividends to make a living. Even the American railway bonds are mainly digested by the British. It is not a problem to issue railway bonds in large quantities.
Seeing that the issuance was so smooth, Zhu Jinglun did not expect that he underestimated one thing, that is, before the economic crisis, the market often had an irrational prosperity, and at this time, the credit expansion exceeded the reality
Fortunately, Zhu Jinglun let Guangfu Bank issue the second bond and at the same time threw out the banner of Guangzhou-Guangxi and Fujian-Shanghai railway lines, and successfully issued 52,000 bonds again. In tandem, he raised 100 million taels of hard currency in the British and American markets and Guangfu Bank tightened its own monetary policy. At this time, Zhu Jinglun’s personal cash in the bank added up to more than 200 million taels, and his heart was solid.
Unexpectedly, a huge event broke out from China without the impact of the international economic crisis.
Li Xiucheng mobilized 300,000 troops to spend the Northern Expedition of the Yangtze River.
The Northern Expedition of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was different from the Northern Expedition of Lin Fengxiang, and this time it was well prepared.
First of all, in the economy, after five years of steady operation, they have prepared enough grain and grass materials.
In the military Taiping Army, there are as many as 30,000 rifle barrels and 30,000 cannons of various calibers.
Self-respect if they are equipped with two armored ships.
Two years ago, they ordered two armored ships from Dalian and delivered them at the end of last year.
These two armored ships were newly designed by Elkson, and the mast design was abandoned. Two three-expansion reciprocating steam engines and a boiler were used for power drive. Even if one of the steam engines was turned off, the total power could be maintained at 5 horsepower, which was the same as that of the Guangdong armored ship of the Great Navy a few years ago. Guangdong was a 6-ton armored ship, but the tonnage of the two armored ships delivered to Taiping was only 5 tons. Obviously, these two ships were relatively more powerful and faster.
It is said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom accepted this small armored ship, but the big engineers told them that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s coastal defense was mainly in the Yangtze River. If the tonnage was too large, they would sail all the way from the sea to Tianjing, so they accepted this tonnage warship.
But the real reason is that the navy wants to prepare its own second-class warships for technology. The navy has decided to complete the ironclad of all warships in five years. On the one hand, it will equip old wooden warships with ironclad, on the other hand, it plans to build a new batch of ironclad warships.
Although they have other purposes, there is no doubt that the performance of these two armored ships can reach 12 knots, not to mention the highest speed, which can reach 14 knots. The firepower is not the same as that of the most advanced British Infineon White, which greatly meets the requirements of Taiping rebels.
A total of three batteries were installed in the front, back and middle, and a total of six imitation Krupp 1 caliber heavy guns were installed. There were as many as four side guns on both sides, all of which were 7 to 15 caliber Krupp rifled guns. No wooden warship could resist the firepower.