Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 481 Big Gift

The historic Gothic palace of the Prince of Chu boasts a history of 366 years, originally owned by the Duke of Kensington. Its interior is resplendent and luxurious, with period palace-style furnishings and a strong European flair.

The towering spires of Westminster Abbey can be clearly seen from the window. Hyde Park is only two or three minutes' walk away, and Buckingham Palace is only about ten minutes away.

There were only 120 Royal Guards officers accompanying them, and they could only carry pistols and swords, and were not allowed to carry more lethal rifles.

It's not that the palace cannot accommodate them, but it is located in an extremely important place. In addition to the necessary security forces, additional forces will be closely monitored.

According to the initial opinion of the London Metropolitan Police, an entourage of 30 guards would be sufficient.

This is the maximum defense force that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs achieved after repeated negotiations with the British side and making some promises.

The "Dongting Lake" immigrant ship could only dock at the London Port. The main force of the ship's Royal Guards was allowed to disembark for vacation, but they were not allowed to carry weapons and had to return at night and be under strict supervision by the British side.

There are two British warships docked next to the "Dongting Lake" immigrant ship. There are many more British military and police deployed at the dock than usual. These are all preventive measures.

The Palace of King Chu in London

After listening to the itinerary plan proposed by Foreign Minister Zheng Xin, the ministers discussed it for a while, put forward their own suggestions, and finally submitted them to the King of Chu for decision.

The first three days were mainly group activities, including going to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Victoria, attending the Royal Ball, formal meetings with the British Prime Minister and cabinet members, and a series of visits to the Royal Museum of London, the Royal Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Arts, etc. The schedule was quite tight.

On the last day, he went to the British House of Commons, where King Zheng Guohui of Chu personally delivered a speech on the theme of "Prospects for cooperation between Chu and Britain in regional peace and stability and global affairs". He also met with leaders of parliamentary parties to exchange views.

Finally, the entire delegation was divided into three parts. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Wu Qingfeng, led a team to visit major industrial towns in Britain to learn from them, and also to expand economic and trade cooperation and invite investment. The visit lasted more than 20 days.

Lieutenant General Pan Tianshou, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Army, led a team to visit the British Army and Navy Military Academy, the Admiralty and the War Office, met with Chu students studying at the Military Academy, visited the British Royal Dockyard and Portsmouth Naval Base, etc., and held consultations with the British side on deepening cooperation between the two militaries.

The King of Chu, accompanied by Foreign Minister Zheng Xin and the remaining officials, has recently mainly participated in some activities hosted by the British royal family, such as the Autumn Royal Polo Club and formal evening parties hosted by top aristocrats. He has had extensive contact with the powerful upper-class aristocrats in Britain, and has been invited to visit Windsor Castle. He will have several private meetings with Her Majesty Queen Victoria and her husband.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu basically agreed with this itinerary, so he decided on it.

A new face appeared beside the King of Chu, that was the new deputy secretary-general of the royal family, Li Jingxi. He had been studying at Oxford University in the UK for more than five months and finally joined the delegation at this time.

After the brief imperial meeting, night fell quietly.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu left Li Jingxi by his side, while all the other ministers took their leave one by one and went to the big restaurant for dinner. Let’s not talk about them for now.

"Zhongxian, you have traveled to many places over the years. You have made real achievements in the Congo River Company and have seen a lot. What are your insights into this world?" King Zheng Guohui of Chu affectionately called Li Jingxi by his courtesy name, treating him as his son or nephew.

This is the natural advantage of the children of nobles. If it were an ordinary official, the monarch might not even know his name, or only have a vague understanding of him, so how could he be promoted or reused?
This topic was a bit broad. Li Jingxi knew that this was the consideration of His Majesty the King of Chu. After a moment's hesitation, he replied cautiously:
“Your Majesty:
In my humble opinion, the world can be divided into three parts, each of which is different and cannot be generalized.

The third category is mainly composed of the African continent where I have experienced, including the Near East, India, the Dutch East Indies and other relatively backward areas, which are still in a relatively primitive state of slumber.

The people here follow the routine of slash-and-burn farming, repeating the relatively primitive life that has been going on for hundreds and thousands of years. They are indifferent to the turmoil in the outside world and have fallen behind the development of the entire era.

The second category is mainly composed of the northern Shenzhou continent, including the surrounding Fusang, Ryukyu, southern Siam and Indochina Peninsula, as well as countries in Central and South America, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.

This type of country has been awakened by modern steam industrial civilization and is promoting changes to a greater or lesser extent to adapt to the development of the new era, with some countries moving at a faster or slower pace.

The characteristic is that steam industrial civilization has blown open the doors and windows of these countries. Some people stand out to welcome it, some are hesitant, and some want to close the doors and windows. The changes that have emerged are too numerous to describe one by one.

The first-tier countries are mainly European industrial countries, including our Chu State and the United States. They actively embrace the steam industrial civilization that represents the world's advanced trends. Their science and technology are developing with each passing day, and they are the force that leads the world's progress.

Here I have observed that even in the birthplace of European industry, led by Britain, there is still a fierce confrontation between emerging and conservative forces. This is a very interesting phenomenon.

The three Nordic countries, the Netherlands, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, the Balkan countries and the Ottoman Empire stubbornly adhered to their traditional lifestyles and refused to industrialize, and their social and economic development lagged behind.

On the contrary, the Black Sea coast of the Russian Empire has recently shown signs of industrialization due to the influx of French capital, which requires further observation."

"Well, that's right. This idea of ​​dividing the world by the process of industrialization is very novel and indeed worthy of in-depth discussion." King Zheng Guohui of Chu was pleased with this and nodded in agreement.
“The division of the three worlds can clearly present the appearance of the current world, which shows that Zhongxian has put in a lot of effort.

The development of the world today is like a hundred boats competing in a current. If you slow down one step, all steps will be slow.

If the State of Chu wants to join the ranks of world powers, it must have a large number of young officials of the new era who are idealistic, talented, passionate, enterprising, and have an international strategic foresight to take on important responsibilities and be brave enough to forge ahead.

So and so
Only then can we take over the burden of our parents and become the backbone of the motherland's development into a new era.

Zhongxian, this study tour in Europe will help broaden your horizons, so you must study hard.

The only way to achieve success is to accumulate knowledge and then release it."

The advice from King Zheng Guohui of Chu brought warmth to Li Jingxi's heart. At this moment, he felt deeply the deep care that he had not felt in more than 10 years, and his eyes couldn't help but become moist.

Li Jingxi bowed deeply to the ground, his voice choking with emotion as he spoke, "Your Majesty's grace is so great, and you protect me like a feather. I am truly grateful. I wish I could repay you with all my heart, but even that would be a fraction of what I have received."

"Please stand up, no need to be so polite." King Zheng Guohui of Chu extended his hand to help him up.

This was not because he favored Li Jingxi, but because Li Jingxi was indeed extremely talented. The Li family was full of talented people, which made Zheng Guohui very happy.

As the King of Chu, he would not be jealous of his ministers' talents.

The more capable and talented ministers we have, the better. Nobles like Li Jingxi, who have been loyal for generations, should be employed boldly.

After dinner

King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not go to the imperial study to handle government affairs as usual.

Instead, he went to the balcony on the third floor, lit a cigar, and looked out with deep eyes.

London is the world's largest metropolis today and the first top metropolis in the world to exceed 500 million in population. Its prosperity is hard to imagine for the outside world.

Standing on the balcony and looking out, the twinkling lights are as bright as the stars, which makes the metropolis in the night become colorful and full of unique charm.

The lights of the buildings are reflected on the Thames, illuminating the famous river.

This beautiful scenery is a prosperous night scene built up by countless wealth. New York, Paris, Manila and Chicago of the same era are much dimmer and inferior to it.

Greater London only

In 1883, the amount of coal consumed for industrial and residential heating reached 1.16 million tons. When the Chu King's fleet passed upstream along the Thames, the river bank was filled with dense coal-carrying fleets, the number of which was extremely astonishing.

London is located in the northern part of Western Europe, with a relatively cold and humid climate. Heating is a mandatory requirement for almost every household, and is mainly fueled by coal.

Entering November
The climate in London was relatively cold in the morning and evening, so wealthy middle-class families began to use fireplaces for heating, mostly using the more expensive smokeless coke.

Ordinary citizens mainly burn coal. In one winter, each ordinary London household will burn at least 20 to 30 tons of coal.

The nobles and upper class people who lived in castles and manors squandered money extravagantly, and the resources they consumed were countless, all of which were money.

Because of the wealth of the British Empire, almost every household in London could afford a kerosene lamp. The amount of kerosene consumed in Greater London alone was 10% more than that used in the entirety of France.

The crude oil import volume of the United Kingdom alone is equal to the combined demand of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Among these palaces and luxurious manors around Hyde Park, almost every one is brightly lit, reflecting the magnificent palaces. How much kerosene is needed in one night?

And this is exactly what makes the Chu State most happy, although the price of kerosene has been falling steadily, from 120 silver dollars per barrel in the early days to 1880 silver dollars per barrel in 68, and then to 49 silver dollars per barrel today.

As a result, consumption has become increasingly widespread, demand has increased sharply, the total amount of crude oil exports has increased instead of decreased, and profits have become more substantial.

in today's world

There are only three countries that can export crude oil: Chu, the United States and Russia. The small oil fields discovered by other countries are only enough for their own use, and they need to import a certain amount to make up for the shortfall.

During the 10th Russo-Turkish War, Tsarist Russia seized the Baku oil fields from the Ottoman Empire. In addition to supplying kerosene to major cities such as St. Petersburg and Moscow, the remaining crude oil was mainly exported to Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

The economic and trade relations between the United States and the United Kingdom are quite rigid, and they often impose high tariff sanctions on each other, including on American crude oil.

This gave the State of Chu an opportunity to seize most of the British market with extremely competitive prices, reaping huge profits and actually depriving the United States of a part of its national destiny.

in the original history
This part of the British market is monopolized by the United States. The UK's thirst for crude oil has led it to continuously lower the barriers to its trade blockade against the United States, allowing the United States to ultimately win the transatlantic trade war.

The situation is different now. With a large amount of cheap Chu crude oil entering the British market, after satisfying the huge appetite of the British domestic market, the tone of Britain's promotion of global free trade has also risen.

The trade sanctions against the United States are becoming increasingly tough and comprehensive, which has caused great suffering to the United States and has shown signs of softening its stance.

If the United States cannot withstand the pressure, it will have to take the initiative to lower tariffs on industrial products and allow industrial products from Europe to enter the North American market, so as to ease transatlantic trade tensions.

Invisibly, the domestic industrial development in North America will be subject to certain external shocks and will require more time to adjust and adapt.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu knew that such good days would not last long.

The development boom of the Texas oil fields in the United States is getting higher and higher. In a few years, a large amount of crude oil will flow into the European market.

The world crude oil price will also fluctuate violently, from the current 49 silver dollars a barrel, it will drop rapidly to 25 silver dollars a barrel, then to 16 silver dollars a barrel, and finally to less than silver dollars a barrel.
At the lowest point, a barrel was worth only six or seven silver dollars.

Faced with such a grim prospect, the State of Chu had already accumulated abundant wealth capital for the oil trade war, and had vigorously increased production, actively explored new markets, and made all preparations to fight.

From the beginning of next year

The State of Chu will launch a large-scale oil trade war, cutting the price in half and frantically dumping crude oil into the European market, trying to occupy the French, German and Austro-Hungarian markets in one fell swoop, and strongly sniping the US Texas crude oil.

The State of Chu had made sufficient preparations for this and had prepared 2-ton crude oil tankers for the Eurasian trade route. A total of 22 of these large crude oil tankers had been ordered, and half of them had been launched.

By the beginning of next year

There will be approximately 17 2-ton crude oil tankers available for use on the Eurasian route. By the end of next year, the remaining five will be completed and launched, increasing the crude oil shipping capacity on the Eurasian route by 5 times.

The subsequent second and third batches of crude oil tanker orders will be issued one after another, maintaining wave after wave of more fierce offensives and madly sniping Texas crude oil.

Through the oil trade war, a fierce blow was launched before the crude oil production in Texas, USA, so that the more American crude oil producers invested, the greater the losses they would suffer.

Before production increases significantly, the cost of input per barrel of oil is still quite high.

It is precisely for this point

The Chu State planned to launch an oil trade war in advance to push the crude oil price down to below the cost line of US crude oil exports, so that it would lose money on every barrel exported, and the more it exported, the greater the loss.

The Bandar Seri Begawan oil field has already achieved production expansion ahead of schedule, and the cost of each barrel of crude oil can now be reduced to around 5.5 to 6 silver dollars. Even after the long transportation cost along the Eurasian route, plus 20% customs duties and fees, the total cost will not exceed silver dollars.

Even if the price is lowered to 22 to 25 silver dollars per barrel of oil, there is still a 100% profit (Note: local British distributors account for % of the profit).

American crude oil exporters are in a terrible situation. Today, American crude oil mainly comes from the Oil Creek Oil Field in Pennsylvania. After being mined locally, it is transported to export ports on the East Coast by tank steam trains and then shipped to the European market.

Due to geological and depth reasons, its extraction cost is already high, reaching US$9.5 per barrel, which is 70% higher than the cost of Chu crude oil.

In addition, Pennsylvania is located inland and needs to be transported by train, stored in oil depots and shipped by sea. The cost of shipping to Europe is no less than US$13. Add to that high customs taxes of 40% (Note: customs taxes in France and Germany) or even 60% (Note: customs taxes in the UK), and the cost can easily soar to more than US$20 per barrel.

Add to that the profits demanded by local distributors, and you're bound to lose money.

Why is Chu State only charged a 20% customs tariff when exporting crude oil to Europe, while the United States charges such a high tariff?
Actually

Today, the United States implements a high tariff barrier policy, not only targeting British industrial products, but also industrial product imports from Germany, France and other European industrial countries, with high tariffs often reaching 200, or even %.

Conversely, there is no doubt that European countries also impose high tariffs on industrial products and raw materials imported from the United States.

The United States did this to protect its underdeveloped domestic industrial system and the interests of capitalists, and to avoid the impact of massive industrial products from Europe.

The situation was different in the State of Chu. It pursued a free trade policy and the tariffs imposed on all industrial products did not exceed 20%, with most ranging from % to more than %.

The State of Chu had signed reciprocal trade and tax treaties with all major European countries, which was very advantageous in this regard.

This was also the biggest confidence for the Chu State to take the lead in launching the oil trade war, expelling Americans from the European market, plundering the huge oil wealth that originally belonged to the Americans, and plundering their national destiny.

this move
This is the greatest benefit that the Chu State has brought to the British government, and it is also the situation that the Glastonbury government most hopes to see. While significantly reducing crude oil expenditures, it can exert strong trade pressure on North America and force it to open its doors.

The US economy is developing very rapidly, and the North American market is particularly vast. It is a big cake that British industrial capital has long coveted, but unfortunately it has not been able to obtain it.

As the British Liberal Party Cranston government representing the interests of capitalists, it needs to make some achievements and breakthroughs in this field. The oil trade war planned by King Zheng Guohui of Chu is the sharpest spearhead.

I believe that the British will not give up this good opportunity and will definitely make full use of it.

The oil trade war launched in Europe was the biggest gift brought by the King of Chu.

This will severely hit the US oil capital and shake the high tariff barrier policy that the US insists on, and is expected to lead to exciting breakthroughs.

On the other hand, as pure importing countries, Britain, France and Germany can enjoy cheaper crude oil, allowing more people to have access to light, and kerosene lighting and its use can be promoted to thousands of households.

This is a real positive move, who wouldn't be happy?

The Chu State, which initiated the oil trade war, did not suffer any loss. It lowered oil prices through large-scale exports, causing overall losses for American oil companies and curbing large amounts of capital investment in the Texas oil field development boom.

The more you invest, the more you lose. Who would be willing to do such a loss-making business?
In this way

This can significantly delay the explosive growth of Texas oil production. Even if it is delayed by one or two years or three to five years, it will be a huge profit.

In the original historical trajectory

The explosion of oil production in Texas has led to a global oil glut and a long-term slump in prices, leaving no one with much money to make.

It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the second industrial revolution, centered on electrification and the chemical industry, broke out in full swing. The social scientific and technological productivity took a big step forward, the demand for oil rose sharply, and oil prices began to rise steadily.

In such a dire situation, the better to postpone it for a year.

(End of this chapter)