Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 331 The war bonds that drove Napoleon III crazy
On November 1867, 11, the French Empire unilaterally announced a suspension of its military invasion of the Kingdom of Siam in the Far East. Napoleon III asked Rama IV to come to Paris to discuss the armistice agreement with him in detail.

But Rama IV refused. He publicly declared that he would not accept the French Empire's request to cede eastern Cambodia to the French Empire. He must conquer these places currently illegally occupied by the French Empire.

To this end, the king announced that he would increase the import of weapons from countries outside the French Empire to show how determined the Kingdom of Siam under his leadership was to resist French invasion.

On November 1867, 11, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark announced that due to the financial constraints of the Kingdom of Siam for purchasing weapons, the three countries would accept war bonds issued by the Kingdom of Siam in the name of leasing weapons from the Kingdom of Siam.

The three countries subscribed for more than 50 pounds of war bonds.

For a time, the government of the Kingdom of Siam, which had been destitute due to the war with the French Empire, was resurrected with full blood.

Although other countries were extremely cautious, they were also attracted by the high-interest war bonds, so they also purchased them one after another.

This made Napoleon III almost jump out of anger and curse these countries. After all, the French Empire originally wanted to rely on its own comprehensive strength to consume each other to death. After all, where is its own economic size and how weak is the Kingdom of Siam? .

In any case, the Kingdom of Siam was unsustainable.

It turned out that Napoleon III had long been collected by intelligence agencies, and the Kingdom of Siam had reached the point where it was running out of money. They had no money.Just as he came out in the name of peace negotiations, the other party should come running over and ask for an end to the war. In that case, France can slowly enjoy the power of the Kingdom of Siam under the premise of threat. It's fun to cut your body.

Unexpectedly, the Netherlands and other three Nordic countries would come to do this. This was definitely a big blow to the French Empire. Although this was not new in Europe, he did not expect that the Far East would also issue war bonds, and It is also worth buying with confidence from European and American countries.

Now, his wishful thinking failed again.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but hate the three Nordic countries.

On November 1867, 11, the Privy Council meeting of William IV continued.

After William IV had just asked all members, mainly the Netherlands, to promote industrialization, Industry Minister Wem Kotter became the next person to attract attention, because he was named by William IV in the future and asked to talk about the process of industrialization.

Especially recent developments since 1867.

“On February 1867, 2, the Dutch Wilhelm Gunpowder Company and the Swedish Nobel Company jointly invented matches. The two companies established a joint company to jointly manage the global sale of matches.

It consists of five parts: stem manufacturing, stem processing, match tip manufacturing, box manufacturing, packaging and phosphorus brushing. It is beautiful and safe to use. It has captured a large number of users as soon as it was put on the market.

With its widespread promotion and wide range of use, it suddenly defeated most similar products in the world. Even the ancient country in the Far East, the flint they had used for thousands of years was quickly replaced. Their Thirteen Foreign Trades Imported matches are available for less than a month.He imported more than 1 million boxes from the William Gunpowder Company at a price of 5 cents of silver for one Luo (one Luo equals 144 boxes). In just one month, he paid nearly 1 taels of silver to the William Company, not counting Europe and the United States. This made United Invention suddenly become a gold-eating monster.

Although European and American countries feel distressed, they have to admit that the emergence of this invention has put an end to all similar products. Just like the flint (also called fire sickle) in the Far East, it was immediately dumped by the monopoly exercised by the Dutch Wilhelm Gunpowder Company and the Swedish Nobel Company. Completely occupying the global market.

According to our statistics, in the first nine months of 1867, the global sales of matches exceeded 9 million pounds, and the current orders alone will exceed 120 million pounds in the next year. We predict that next year in 1, the combined company's turnover will exceed 200 million pounds, and will continue to increase as the market expands in the future. "

William IV asked: "Where is the factory located?"

This is very important. After all, this is the first large-scale joint company in Europe and the United States. The distribution of workers and the distribution of profits are all of great concern.

Wem Kotter said: "In Europe, Rotterdam in the Netherlands is the largest factory in the world, supplying Western Europe, Southern Europe and North America. Stockholm in Sweden mainly manufactures and supplies Northern Europe, including the Tsarist Russian Empire and Prussia and other central Europe. We created a factory in Sydney in the Far East. The largest manufacturer and supplier of products in the Far East and South America has built a large manufacturing plant in Suriname, a Dutch territory."

William IV "Employed Population?"

Industry Minister Wem Kort said in detail: "Sweden has 3000 people, and we have more than 7000 people. Among them, the Sydney factory in the Far East accounts for 4000 people. Mainly because that ancient big country has the highest usage rate."

William IV nodded and looked at the report in his hand with a mixture of sadness and joy.

On the one hand, my motherland in my previous life felt uncomfortable as countries began to use advanced products and slowly conquered their traditional handicraft workshop industry.
On the one hand, I am happy that under his leadership, the Netherlands has a strong position in the economic field.However, he became one of the leaders of the great powers in his previous life.But then I felt relieved.

Even if the Netherlands doesn't do it, there are other countries that do it, and the import of these matches is also beneficial to the country and the people. After all, if it is not easy to use and the price is low, then there will not be so many imports. Survival of the fittest. That's what I'm talking about.

Industry Minister Wem Kot said again with an excited tone:

"Another of our biggest sales items in the Far East is needles. For that country, they are a necessary daily necessities for every household. Their old-fashioned way of making needles requires grinding the wire and filing it to a sharp point, and then giving it a This kind of needle has a thick needle shaft, a blunt tip, is soft and easy to bend, and is not resistant to wear.

The machine-made foreign needles imported from Europe and the United States have thin iron rods, smooth and hard needles, and sharp needles, which are far easier to use than ordinary needles for sewing clothes.

Although the initial price of our needles was higher than that of local needles, after that ancient country opened its borders in 1860, the price of needles in the West plummeted. Every hundred needles imported from the West sold for only 2 cents and a half cents, which was lower than theirs. Native needles were much cheaper, and in 1861 the West imported 2.07 million needles.In the following years, the rate doubled. By 1865, imports were 8.57 pieces, and even this year, in 1867, they had reached 19.58 billion pieces, completely defeating the local needle manufacturing industry. "

The people who were working looked at him in shock when they heard these data.

More than 19 billion and nearly 20 billion coins?

This data is so terrifying.

First come first served. The Netherlands has so many large-scale workshops in the Far East. It goes without saying that the Minister of Industry, Wem Cote, was so excited. Needless to say, he and they also knew that the Netherlands had an absolutely small share of the Western imported needles imported by this big country in the Far East. No.

Even William IV was confused by the 20 billion figure.

According to his understanding, the current population of that ancient country is less than one-fifth of that figure, and they only have four needles per person.

Industry Minister Wem Cote said happily: "We in the Netherlands occupy more than 6% of the supply factories in Melbourne, which means that more than 12 billion pieces are manufactured by us."

He seemed to be influenced by William IV and knew that His Majesty valued employment, so he continued: "There are nearly 5 employees."

A large needle manufacturing factory with 5000 people?

William IV would not think that this factory was specifically supplying that country. After all, were there surrounding areas there?
South America is a huge market.

"In the construction of plastic factories, because the Dutch East India Rubber there is the world's largest production base, so in Jakarta and Lampung, Sumatra, we are building the world's largest plastic factory group, where the plastic supply There are more than 20 workers in the chain and finished product factories, starting from planting rubber trees to making rubber products, etc., one-stop completion. The products here supply global demand, which is an industry that we are difficult to shake by other global powers."

In other words, they have a monopoly on the global plastics industry.

Plastic technology in this era is one of the most advanced technologies. There is no idea of ​​environmental protection, and there is no pollution.

Therefore, Dutch production is operating at full capacity in large-scale production to meet the needs of traditional industrial powers such as Britain and France. The Dutch plastics industry is diverse, and under the guidance of William IV, it maintains low prices, which is important for For other countries, if they want to enter the ranks rashly, they must invest a large amount of money in research and development of technology, purchase of machinery, hire a large number of workers, etc. After a series of work, it is unbearable for ordinary enterprises, let alone the Netherlands. Shamelessly keep prices low.

This is why countries such as Britain and France, although their governments intend to reduce their dependence on Dutch plastic products, have no reason for large domestic companies to enter the industry, so they can only look to the Netherlands and sigh.

"With 20 jobs, there are only more than 800 million people in East India. This supply chain alone has created 20 jobs, 4% of the population. Therefore, we must strictly control management, otherwise it will create a crisis for governance and management. , just like the general strikes across Europe and the United States some time ago, we need to take a warning.”

Naturally, no one here would object to William IV’s reminder.

Because the anti-monopoly movement initiated by the Netherlands eventually mutated into general strikes in various places, and it was also a transnational one, with an unprecedented scale, which made governments all over the world reluctant to deal with it. This made countries have no time to think about anything else, especially the French Empire. The suspension of military operations in the Far East was an unexpected surprise.

However, this also proves that industry has now entered a period of great development. Look, how could small workshops have such a great influence in the past, which has made governments around the world panic. The population of big cities is gradually increasing. This has shown that, In the future, urbanization and industrialization will be the main direction of national development.

(End of this chapter)