However, he could not forbid the civilians, that was to violate the commercial interests of the Empire of the Sun Never Setting. These evil imperialist crocodiles, sharks, sea turtles, lobsters, and crabs would immediately kill him.

Even Zhao Kuo's implementation of a monopoly system for domestic opium has aroused the dissatisfaction of some young men in the British Parliament - he believed that this infringes on free trade, and the Far East opium merchants standing behind it are naturally the Far East.

"Since you have any objections to domestic monopoly," Zhao Kuo looked at the cold words of British Minister Wen Han that day, and gritted his teeth and thought: "Then let's go into the water together! Global monopoly! Damn!"

Immediately, led by the loyal lackey Zhong Jialiang and using futures trading as a tool, the British opium merchants were gathered to discuss an evil plan.

The British and American NPC merchants could almost monopolize the source of opium in India, which was equivalent to determining the supply to the Far East and the international price; while the domestic monopoly power of Song, led by Zhong Jialiang and others, could manipulate domestic prices and create various illusions.

Soon, the reactionary forces of imperialism at home and abroad colluded to jointly manipulate the opium market.

First, we stockpiled opium supplies from the origin and no longer shipped goods to the Far East, creating the illusion of shortage in the Far East. Domestic and port opium merchants began to build momentum, and the price of opium soared.

During this period, through the futures exchange, these insider giants went long, almost crushing all short sellers and sweeping away a huge amount of money.

Then, at home and abroad, they joined forces to turn empty. The opium fleet sailing from India first said it had encountered pirates, and it also falsely said it had encountered a typhoon. It hid on a small island for a while, and then the Song Dynasty navy sailed again to Haisong in the name of search discovery. As a result, a huge amount of Indian opium suddenly arrived at the port, crushing all the longs, and earning tens of millions of taels of speculative funds again.

But this involves market manipulation between countries, and it is impossible without the court's intervention.

Zhao Kuo made every effort to help imperialism.

According to the needs of the big opium merchants, he asked the navy to cooperate, go in and out, create various rumors, and successfully captured a large number of small opium merchants and speculators in one go.

This is not enough. The huge amount of funds needed to manipulate nearly 60,000 boxes of opium market in the past six months was all the edict of Emperor Zhao Kuo to hold French bankers responsible.

This time the opium surged and then collapsed. The big opium merchants in the United Kingdom and the big opium merchants in Haisong all made money. The big bankers with shares in Napoleon III of France became rich as if they were lending funds. Zhao Kuo himself bought a large amount of futures in the name of his queen and made a fortune (this is said to be the first business of female customers on the Haisong Exchange, but these records were burned in the exchange fire in 1862); and the consular and diplomats in power in various countries, as long as you get close to Zhao Kuo and you forgot to pray for God, you will get a share of the pension. You will never have to worry about pensions in this life.

"This is a perfect masterpiece of the ruling class, imperialism and the plunder of the big bourgeoisie." Zhao Kuo was amazed after seeing the foreign investment plan for the first time.

After this battle, in addition to the huge profits made by the big merchants from various countries, an international opium trust was also born, including Indian suppliers, British and American distributors, and the transportation company distributed by Haisong Yuandong, which Zhao Kuo himself invested in.

Faced with this later generations of OPEC-like oil, Zhao Kuo could only sneer, and he was no longer afraid of them.

If they were dispersed, they would definitely use their influence to criticize themselves in the British Parliament for monopolizing the domestic opium business of Haisong, which infringed on business principles and interests.

But now, with Zhao Kuo's acquiescence, these powerful merchants formed a trust and squeezed every drop of blood from the opium with the Sea Emperor.

Monopoly can only have one result: production cuts and price increases, and absolute inefficiency.

Monopoly, whether it is price manipulation or inefficiency, will lower supply and reduce demand. This is an absolute bad thing for oil or legitimate industries, so the United States and other countries have introduced restrictions on monopoly.

But this opium trust monopolizes drugs.

Moreover, because of the convergence between the Sea Emperor and the Opium Trust, the Opium Trust is absolutely the monopoly of the Sea Emperor over the country, as a reward for obtaining huge profits.

The monopoly of the domestic monopoly business of the Song Dynasty, led by Zhong Jialiang, did not let down the trust of the Sea Emperor. In just half a year, the price of opium in the Song Dynasty increased by at least twice, and it was still increasing.

Another advantage: the quality of service in specialized tobacco restaurants is extremely poor!

In other parts of the Qing Dynasty, when you go to a tobacco shop to smoke opium, the waiter in the shop comes out like a pug; when you smoke big cigarettes in Haisong, the tobacco shop waiter looks like your father, his eyes turn white: "What are you shouting? Have you seen the old man eat melon seeds? Stay there!"

This opium monopoly system is not only high salary and inefficient, but also nepotism and chaos. The only efficient part is to report the Dasong Smoke House that competes with them.

When Zhao Kuo encountered a black tobacco restaurant, he would not be polite. The boss directly broke the house and raided his head and hung a wooden cage. The guest threw it into the prison for smuggling opium, asking his family to take money to redeem the people.

Moreover, Zhong Jialiang is very unscrupulous. He not only monopolized the land to collect money, but also kept the goods from being sent to the futures exchange to manipulate the market and make another profit.

After Haisong Opium Industry handed over to him, the sales volume was reduced by half, but the price increased by twice!

It is not surprising to think about it. In the past, the Qing Dynasty was corrupt, and all bad guys made opium, with small profits and quick turnover; but now Zhao Kuo secretly monopolized, and he, a bad guy, made opium, naturally had to sell less and raise prices.

Zhong Jialiang was incompetent and unscrupulous, and Zhao Kuocai loved him. He wanted this effect: In other parts of the Qing Dynasty, those who smoked big cigarettes were all old men; while Hai Song, the poor were kicked out of the tobacco shop directly, and the rich people who smoked big cigarettes were worse than dogs. They spent money to buy money in a special tobacco shop. They might even be imprisoned when they went to the tobacco shop.

It is only in Zhao Kuo's interests that the opium industry is completely overturned!

In addition to directly grabbing money and reducing opium sales, Zhao Kuo also gained additional benefits through this, that is, virtual transactions began to appear in Haisong.

Futures exchanges can conduct physical transactions, but the proportion of virtual exchanges that do not involve picking up goods is becoming increasingly large.

Because of opium speculation, the exchange was deeply rooted in Haisong. Even children knew what the opium line was, but this thing was monopolized by Zhao Kuo. He was not like he thought of Shanghai. In the late 19th century, more than 100 exchanges appeared in Shanghai in just a few years! Everything from flour to cloth was available. But most of them went bankrupt soon.

Therefore, Zhao Kuo directly held the power of the exchange in his own hands, and guaranteed the reputation of a country (Guangdong Province), standardized contracts, and intermediated by the exchange (both buyers and sellers in the exchange trade for the exchange, rather than direct transactions), improving the security of the contract and increasing the prestige of the exchange.

The consequence is the development of Haijing commercial trade. Although Haijing is not as much as Shanghai as capital, merchants have begun to gather towards Haijing. With Jardine Mahjong's behavior, many major commercial banks have begun to move towards Haijing.

Although the corrupt and shameless imperialism this time was closely linked with Zhao Kuo. He had a bloodbath of small and medium-sized opium merchants and speculators, Zhao Kuo only sneered and had no sympathy.

In the opium industry, Zhao Kuo only wants to monopolize the last drop of blood, but never wants him to prosper!

Among the businessmen who are knowledgeable and financially engaged in opium speculation, the proportion of Chinese is not high. Not to mention Haisong, the entire China and the entire Far East are still dominated by agricultural economy, and there is insufficient commercial capital. Where can there be excess speculative capital?

Only 30% of the Chinese are Chinese, and most of the others are foreign merchants. This plunder will not hurt the young Hai Song.

Moreover, politics, military and business have a huge impact.

At the cocktail party, Forbes, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce, who was carrying the blood and sweat of Chinese and foreign investors, came over and smiled at Zhao Kuo, "My dear Eastern Christ, opium is such a good thing. Thank you, you are a business genius, but you don't realize that the exchange only has too few opium futures? It is possible to promote opium to other agricultural products. I suggest that tea can also be futures to reduce the risk of Chinese merchants transporting tea to the far-reaching United States."

"I am also considering this issue, but our country needs to collect tea from Qing Yao to smuggle. A few days ago, Qing Yao harassed British cargo ships, and our army shelled Zhoushan at sea. You know..." Zhao Kuo was interrupted by Ren Rewa as soon as he spoke.

"Your Majesty, why don't you completely take Zhoushan outside Shanghai? Together with this channel! I went up to see the Qing army's fortifications fortifications. If the British army has the combat effectiveness, the picnic-style advance will be over within 30 minutes; with Hai Song's combat effectiveness, I guess one day will be enough!" Luo Nan said.

"Your Majesty, you should unify the whole of China!" Zhong Jialiang, who was so proud, drank too much, and he also squeezed into the small circle of high-level officials where everyone in foreign countries was afraid of, and shouted: "Your Majesty, if you attack Jiangxi, I will donate a military expenditure for a foreign gun team! When you attack Hunan, I will donate a musket factory! When you attack Beijing, I will donate a life!"

"Haha, of course you think about it!" Zhao Kuo and the others burst into laughter. Of course, this domestic monopoly merchant wanted to conquer the city and territories. Wherever Zhao Kuo captured, his opium printing machine would be opened.

"I heard that your country wants to sell large warships to the Qing Dynasty? Is it true?" Zhao Kuo turned his head and looked at Sir Wenhan and asked.

"Your Majesty, where did you hear it? I don't know much about the London issue thousands of miles away." Wen Han smiled treacherously.

"No, what are those guys in the London House of Parliament in the UK?" Boulbron heard this as soon as he came over, laughed, and then said in astonishment.

Ten minutes later, in the marble bathroom at Zhong Jialiang's house, Zhao Kuo followed Ma Dichen in and said, "Mr. Ma Dichen, the British government is trying to sell large warships to the Qing Dynasty to restrict our country. I think Jardinet, as the leader of British businessmen, can exert political influence and not let the British government go wrong. Believe me, I am the only one who can protect the Far East trade!"

Ma Dichen was stunned, and then snorted coldly: "Mr. Wenhan, like those politicians, is used to playing this kind of provocation and profit-making." Then he nodded to Zhao Kuo and said, "Your Majesty, believe me, we businessmen are all on your side."

In this article: Feeding pregnant women with alcohol mixed with opium tincture for pain relief comes from family communication letters from Robert Luo Bokai (1852-1910).

The Prussians came to Nanjing at the invitation of Zhang Zhidong in 1885 to improve the Yangtze River Defense Fortress, and later served as the chief instructor of the Nanjing Army Normal School.

Once, his Chinese servant's wife had a difficult delivery, but the doctor did not arrive. In order to maintain his omnipresent Western medicine (foreigners are all Western medicines) legend, he fed pregnant women wine and opium tincture to relieve pain and waited for the doctor.
Chapter completed!