Chapter 2382 Tea Disturbance

In the month after the end of the "Golden Horn Battle", the Far Easterners won one after another on the Eastern Front, crossed the river to regain their positions, and drove the imperial army to the isolated city of "Olivier Fortress" to besiege them. Joan's mentality It also becomes more complicated.

Now he no longer doubts that the people in the Far East are capable of winning this war, but instead worries about the turmoil in the empire due to the defeat in the Far East. After all, this country is still his motherland legally, and he does not want the holy Ashan Empire with a glorious history of thousands of years In this way, it fell into a slump, and even went to collapse.

While Joan was deep in thought, Rebecca then chatted about the new political trends in Port Leiden.

"Since the boycott of the land tax in Alfheim this spring, the imperial cabinet has had a hard time. After some investigation, it was learned that the 'Sons of Liberty' who took the lead in the anti-tax movement were behind the colonial smuggling group. The provision of funding changed the strategy, on the one hand actively wooing the 'royalists' in the colonies, and at the same time targeting the 'independent' funders - smuggling syndicates."

"The high-level empire realized that they would not be able to collect taxes in the New World anyway, so they simply dumped goods at low prices to the colonies, which could not only crack down on smuggling groups, but also return funds as soon as possible to provide blood transfusions for the expeditionary forces trapped on the front line."

"In the past many years, tea has been the best-selling commodity imported from the empire to the colonies. Most of the smugglers in Alfheim made their fortunes by selling tea."

"The imperial authorities decided to use tea as a weapon to launch a war without gunpowder against the smuggling groups."

"At the beginning of April 1625, the imperial royal family chartered three traders to transport the tea in stock to the New World for sale at a low price, thus sounding the charge of the war!"

Rebecca's tone gradually became heavy.

"Royal Chartered Traders wholesale the tea to their agents in Alfheim, the so-called 'consignees', who pay the transportation cost of the tea and the duty of 5 copper coins per pound. "

"Because the price of this batch of imported tea is extremely low, even if freight and tariffs are included, the cost is still lower than that of smuggled tea."

"According to the tea market in previous years, the imported tea sold on the market would be sold at 3 to 4 silver dukas per pound, and the price of smuggled tea would generally not be lower than 3 silver coins per pound. However, this batch of legally imported tea this year The tea leaves are expected to sell for not more than 2 silver coins per pound."

Rebecca smiled sarcastically, and continued: "For the vast majority of the residents of the Alfheim colony, it is a good thing to be able to buy tea at a cheaper price, but those merchants who make a fortune by smuggling tea can are you happy?"

"I'm afraid not." Qiao An shook his head lightly, "Let's not talk about whether this business is legal or illegal, but if someone loses his job, he will definitely feel unhappy."

The open and secret struggle surrounding "tea leaves" reminded Joan of the prediction made by Rebecca a month ago:

Assuming that one day in the future, the price of goods sold from the empire to the colonies is lower than that of similar smuggled goods, it stands to reason that this is a good thing that benefits the public, but the "Sons of Liberty" controlled by the smuggling group will still rise to make trouble.

The reality once again verified Rebecca's foresight. In order to protect their own interests, the smuggling group began to actively build momentum as early as a week ago, trying to incite the public to resist the entry of low-priced tea into the New World market by resisting the aftermath of the land tax.

On May 6, a leaflet entitled "Alert" appeared on the streets of Leiden Harbor.

The leaflet is anonymous, but anyone can see that the article came from the Leiden Post, which is controlled by the Sons of Liberty.

The leaflet author claims:

"The imperial authorities dumped a large amount of tea at a low price to the New World, threatening to monopolize the market and drive other traders to a dead end."

"Those royal franchisees who wear the same pants as the bureaucrats of the empire, once they have tasted the sweetness, will extend this dumping policy that disrupts market order to other commodity fields, forcing businessmen who do not collude with the bureaucrats to go bankrupt, and in turn The roots of liberty are lethal."

"What's worse, if the people of Alfheim buy these tea leaves, it will be tantamount to funding despicable and corrupt officials and businessmen to suppress honest and honest businessmen, and will become an accomplice of "bad money drives out good money" Pay the import tax under the circumstances - after all, the distributor's tax burden will eventually be passed on to the consumer."

"In the long run, other more excessive taxes will follow, until the colonies are completely bowed to the feet of the imperial tyrant and his corrupt bureaucracy."

Rebecca sat on a bench by the garden pool, read the leaflet entitled "Warning Bell", and then asked Joan what he thought of the author's point of view.

"The logic of this article's argument is not rigorous enough, and it may sound alarmist, but the main idea is not unreasonable. It is possible to destroy competitors through cheap dumping, monopolize the market, and then raise prices to obtain high profits. of."

Joan made an evaluation from an objective perspective as much as possible.

"The competitors you mentioned, that is, the poor, so-called 'honest and honest businessmen' on the leaflets, who are they specifically?" Rebecca asked.

Scratching her head in embarrassment, Joan replied truthfully: "It's mainly smugglers."

"You can say that the people are short-sighted and greedy for small profits, but you can't practice double standards. Low-price dumping is indeed suspected of monopolizing the market. At least during this period, ordinary consumers can get real benefits, but what benefits do smugglers bring to the public? gone?"

"If the group of smugglers who claim to be 'honest and honest' gain the upper hand, won't they monopolize the market, and won't they increase the price of goods to seek higher profits?"

"The fox and the jackal bit each other. The fox cried to the chick for help. The chick saw that the fox was in a weak position and believed its high-sounding rhetoric. Based on righteous indignation and sympathy, he did not hesitate to hurt himself to drive the jackal away. Guess the fox would How to repay the chicken?"

Rebecca's series of sharp questions left Joan speechless.

After a long silence, he tried his best to calmly explain his views on this dispute.

"Rebecca, you once predicted that the smuggling group would incite the public to boycott low-priced goods imported through formal channels in order to protect their own interests. Now it seems that you are right."

"However, I still feel that the 'Sons of Liberty' are not so despicable. The propaganda words of the boycott may be incited, but if the people are willing to be incited by them, I believe that the folks around me are better than the bureaucrats and businessmen across the ocean. Nor can it be asserted that the public is short-sighted.”

“The land tax campaign has shown that to fight tyranny, people need the leadership of the Sons of Liberty, who, while not as altruistic as they claim, are better organized than unorganized if they want to mobilize the people.”

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