Chapter 305 Solving the Problem (X)
Henry, a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, returned with three Chinese personnel on his ship. It was not until several years later that Huo Chong realized how anxious these British people were to leave. The basic operation of this era was to stay at anchor for a few more days and sell as much goods as possible.
Moreover, it was spring, and the British had to face the southeast wind all the way south. This is why the British ships were very good at sailing against the wind, which allowed them to keep going south.
Some of this knowledge was later gathered by Huo Chong from what he heard from the Huaxia fleet, and more of it was written in the daily diaries of the three personnel who returned two years later.
The three men's diaries initially recorded only how they felt seasick, but they had no idea how long they had been seasick. When they were no longer seasick, they found themselves in a land they did not understand at all.
After arriving in India, the three were almost dying of the heat. Fortunately, the people of the East India Company respected them very much and vacated a very good house for them to live in. Soon after, they were sent to another ship and headed straight to Europe...
As soon as Captain Henry arrived here, he asked if anyone was seriously ill and needed surgery.
Sir Ed listened to Captain Henry's question and replied with some disappointment: "Henry, is it because you didn't make any money that you are looking for someone worse off than you?"
Captain Henry then took out a small glass bottle of morphine and explained to Sir Ed how it could allow surgery to be painless, in front of Sir Ed's puzzled gaze.
"Shouldn't we find Indians to experiment with at this time?" Sir Ed expressed his own opinion. Such an insightful point of view made Sir Henry immediately understand that Ed in front of him could become a knight not simply relying on his personal family background.
On the third day after Captain Henry arrived in India, the colony found an Indian servant who had to undergo surgery to survive. In the past, the East India Company's India would have been left to fend for itself, but at this time the servant was sent to the operating room like a British person.
The doctor in the operating room was also one of the "heartless surgeons". He had done things like tying people up and chopping them with knives and axes, and piercing the patient's body with a small needle on a syringe. It was not even a gentle breeze or drizzle, but a completely peaceful day with no wind or rain.
Soon, Indian servants, who were usually not liked by anyone, began to be manipulated like toys by many people, including senior staff of the East India Company in Bombay. These people would feel disgusted even if Indians kissed their feet, let alone touch the Indians in the colony.
After playing around for a while, the bosses of the East India Company still couldn't believe it. These Indians were very cunning and were trying every way to be lazy. Maybe this sluggish state was just pretending? One boss asked, "Is there really no reaction?"
The doctor didn't say anything. He licked his lips and reached out to pick up the scalpel. When the bosses saw this, they all took a few steps back.
After a while, the big guys all frowned, and some even turned their heads away. Although these colonists have done many bad things, cutting human bodies with blades is still beyond the tolerance of most bad guys. After all, bad guys and perverts are not the same.
On the night of the operation, Captain Henry was invited to dinner by the deputy of the local East India Company in Bombay. Three days later, the Indian servant who had undergone the operation did not die, and the head of the local East India Company in Bombay invited Captain Henry to dinner.
Although he didn't know Chinese, Captain Henry still knew the principle of playing the long game and catching big fish. He didn't talk about the price of morphine right away, but asked the other party to propose a price.
Sure enough, the price offered by the other party was within the acceptable range for Captain Henry, but Captain Henry was not in a hurry. The price offered by the other party for the first time was already the lowest price, and the subsequent negotiations were about how high the price could be raised.
The negotiations alone took a long time . In the end, Captain Henry only kept a small amount of morphine for his ship and sold the rest to the East India Company.
This was not the result Captain Henry was looking forward to. If possible, the captain would rather take the morphine directly back to the United Kingdom. There were too many hospitals in London, especially the Royal Hospital, that would spend a lot of money on such an anesthetic.
But it was not the time for Captain Henry to indulge himself, because the only place in the United Kingdom that produced opium was the Indian colony. In that precious agreement, both parties exchanged opium for morphine. If Captain Henry did not give some benefits to the East India Company guys, they would not give Captain Henry any benefits.
"Captain, please have a look." A printed contract paper was pushed in front of Captain Henry.
The captain opened it and took a look. As he expected, the head of the East India Company gave Captain Henry a very good price, but also put new shackles on Captain Henry with a contract. Morphine must be sold to the East India Company, which will then sell it to Europe.
Captain Henry snorted softly, but signed his name readily. Once the contract is signed, this lucrative business will fall into the hands of the East India Company. But what can be done? The arm cannot twist the thigh.
After the contract was signed, the head of the East India Company smiled hypocritically, "Captain, what product do you want to obtain the exclusive rights for?"
Henry heaved a sigh of relief. This was what he wanted. Monopoly meant that Henry could obtain the trading rights of a certain commodity in the future, but it was certainly not a monopoly. The East India Company would not be so generous. The captains could only get a portion of the quota of a certain commodity.
But even so, it was the limit of what Captain Henry, who was not a noble, could do.
"I want the monopoly on opium," replied the captain.
The heads of the East India Company did not take it too seriously. Opium was also a common drug in Europe, especially among sailors.
The only problem was that the opium was produced in Bengal at that time. It had to be shipped to Calcutta by the Bengal branch for sale. But this was not important. As long as we thought about the profits that could be made after selling morphine to Europe, this little trouble was completely acceptable.
In the late summer of the second year of Emperor Kunlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, which was June 1731 in the Western calendar, several operations were completed in succession in the British Royal Hospital. The patients who underwent the operations lay on the operating table as if they were dead, allowing the surgeons to cut open their flesh with various knives, remove the lesions, and then sew the flesh together.
Every operation was watched by 30 to 40 people. The doctor and nurses who performed the operation together numbered only 4 to 5 people, and the rest were medical experts and other surgeons.
After each operation, seeing the patient lying peacefully on the operating table, there was thunderous applause in the operating room. These surgeons who were described as having hearts of stone could not help but smile from the bottom of their hearts.
For hundreds of years, countless doctors have been looking forward to the emergence of a drug that can make patients sleep during cruel operations. When this dream finally became a reality, no doctor could be unhappy.
The surgeons really had no other emotions except joy.
Of course, the drugs, which were shipped back in just a small box, were quickly priced at a price that exceeded the same weight of silver.
At the East India Company's London headquarters, the head of the East India Company had a private conversation with several people. Soon, several people were ordered to leave.
The editor-in-chief of the Weekly News was drinking rum at home and talking with people from the East India Company about recent strange events. When he heard that there was a drug that could make people sleep while their stomachs were cut open, he burst into laughter and said, "Where did this supernatural story come from?"
The East India Company staff smiled calmly, "Sir, do you know Dr. Wilde?"
The editor-in-chief of the Weekly News stopped smiling. Of course, he knew Dr. Wilde. He could not believe what the East India Company guy said, but if Dr. Wilde said the same thing, he had to believe it.
The staff of the East India Company were secretly delighted, as it seemed that their mission was about to be accomplished. On August 13, 1621, British publishers Nicholas Boerne and Thomas Eckel founded the first British periodical, "Weekly News" (also known as "Newsweek"), with the king's special authorization. The English word "News" was used as the name of the magazine for the first time as a means of news. The content of the magazine was taken from Dutch news books, mainly foreign news.
What a drug like morphine needs is publicity, and the East India Company hadn't had any truly inspiring discoveries in a while. Let Newsweek break the story, and it would have made a completely different story.
The editor-in-chief went to see Dr. Wilde in person the next day, but was told that the doctor was performing surgery. The editor-in-chief wanted to wait a while, but then he remembered the purpose of his visit and asked, "Is it the kind of surgery that can keep the patient immobile?"
"Yes, have you heard about this too?" The hospital staff's face was full of pride when talking about this change of heart.
The editor-in-chief thought for a moment, took out a small silver coin and tossed it in his hand, "Can I go and have a look too?"
Things happened just as the East India Company expected. Almost at the same time, the latest anesthetic drugs were introduced in three newspapers: The Daily Weekly, The Oxford Gazette and The Review.
In 1665, the famous Oxford Gazette was founded, later renamed the London Gazette and served as a government gazette.
In 1704, the famous writer Daniel Defoe founded the weekly Review, which was the originator of political magazines and was also quite influential.
With the news of anesthetics appearing in all three newspapers, the issue was no longer confined to the medical community, the East India Company, or a small section of British upper society.
Anyone who read such reports was shocked by this miraculous drug. For half a month, the entire British upper class banquets, meetings, and salons were filled with people talking about this miraculous drug.
Originally, the slaughterhouse-like operating room was a place that everyone avoided. However, the hospital suddenly received countless requests. Those gentlemen humbly asked those previously disgusting doctors if they could be allowed to watch the surgery.
By the time some gentlemen were frightened and fainted in the blood-spattered operating room, the name of this drug spread like wildfire throughout the British upper class, and even the middle class knew about the existence of such a drug.
The news was not limited to Britain. First, doctors in France across the Channel, and then in other countries, heard about the drug that solved a centuries-old wish.
Britain is not the birthplace of surgery, and surgeons from other countries do not even look down on their British counterparts. So they set out from all over the world to London. Some wanted to see the effect of the drugs, but more wanted to expose the tricks of these British scammers.
As the East India Company expected, the fame of morphine spread throughout Europe. As more doctors were forced to admit that this anesthetic was indeed effective, the price of morphine also began to soar. At first, the price was between the same weight of silver and gold, and soon the price exceeded the same weight of gold. Later, it exceeded the same weight of fine gems, and finally the price exceeded the same weight of fine diamonds.
By September, at least all the royal families in Western Europe knew that the British East India Company had obtained this miraculous drug from somewhere. Even the British royal family made their own request, placing this miraculous drug on the list of exclusive rights approved by the most powerful investor in the East India Company, the British royal family.
At this time, Captain Henry, the real signatory of the Morphine Agreement, had already driven his ship, transported the goods, and sailed into Jimo Port again, which is the Qingdao Port in another time and space.
Without further ado, Captain Henry asked the negotiator frankly, "Sir, how much morphine do you have for sale?"
The people who participated in the negotiations did not know what was happening in Europe. The negotiators felt that the foreigners in front of them were too arrogant and said unhappily: "Isn't there an agreement?"
"I am willing to use silver to purchase the excess. I will buy as much as you have." Captain Henry said sincerely.
Although he didn't know how much morphine could earn, Captain Henry knew that he could make a lot of money in this trade. Moreover, the maritime business was so dangerous, so it was best to catch a big profit early, make a lot of money, buy a manor in the UK, and live a happy life with financial freedom.
The Chinese negotiator did not quite understand the British's enthusiasm, and felt that something was wrong, so he brought the negotiation news to Huo Chong. Huo Chong was not surprised, because it is said that the most profitable trade in the world is controlled drugs.
But from a real business perspective, there is no more profitable commodity than legally traded controlled drugs.
Legal trade is always more profitable than illegal trade because the volume of legal trade is huge. For example, even Mexican drug dealers have used their huge profits from drug trafficking to buy weapons and transform themselves into warlords, thereby controlling the trade of avocados and iron ore.
Drug dealers earn tens of billions of dollars a year. Even if a ton of iron ore is worth 100 dollars, if 1 billion tons of iron ore are exported a year, that's 100 billion. The trade volume of an iron ore company exceeds the money earned by hundreds of thousands of drug dealers in Mexico. And they don't have to dirty their hands.
Even so, seeing the amount of opium that Captain Henry brought in, Huo Chong was a little nervous. After calming down, Huo Chong gritted his teeth and said, "Ask that bastard and ask him to explain how he got so much opium."
"Governor, do you want to kill this guy?" the negotiator asked quickly.
Huo Chong then felt that his reaction of gritting his teeth was too fierce. However, as a Chinese, it was abnormal to smile happily when talking about the large-scale opium trade.
Putting away his ferocious expression, Huo Chong sighed, "Don't kill anyone, but find out how the East India Company got so much opium. Tell them, we don't need so much."
"Governor, do you want to bargain?" the negotiator continued to ask.
Huo Chong was stunned for a moment, then felt that the professionals were worthy of being professionals, so he nodded in agreement.
Soon, the report was sent. Opium was imported in small quantities as early as the Tang Dynasty. It was also included in the tributes of Southeast Asian countries during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, but it was used as a medicine. The first Western colonial countries to traffic opium to China were Portugal and the Netherlands, who used Macau as a base to import opium to China.
By the 18th century, Britain's demand for Chinese silk and tea was increasing, but its industrial products were difficult to find a market in China, where the natural economy was dominant. In order to reverse the situation where the trade deficit had to be offset with cash, Britain and its merchants actively developed the opium trade that poisoned the Chinese people.
Since the East India Company's ships were prohibited from carrying opium to China, the opium produced in Bengal had to be sold in Calcutta first and then shipped to China from there.
The negotiators were also experienced and even got the price. A box of Indian opium "gongbantu" costs only 200 to 300 rupees, but the auction price in India is 1785 rupees, and the selling price in China is 2618 rupees.
"Fuck you!" Huo Chong couldn't help but curse. But he soon stopped cursing, lest someone misunderstand and kill the British.
But it was inevitable to be angry. What happened after 1731 had not happened yet, but Huo Chong knew very well what was going on.
, transporting Indian opium to China was seen as a quick way to get rich. Foreign companies such as Jardine Matheson and Sassoon all started out as smugglers of opium. The opium trade changed Britain's trade deficit with China. Opium alone nearly offset the value of all imports from China. The opium trade also brought a huge amount of income to the British Indian government. In 1829, opium taxes exceeded 1 million pounds, accounting for 1/10 of the British Indian government's annual revenue. British merchants used the funds from smuggling opium to import tea from China to Britain, causing the British government to increase tea taxes by millions of pounds each year. The British bourgeoisie forced Indian farmers to grow opium and export it to China, while at the same time dumping large quantities of cotton textiles into India, using the income from Indian farmers growing opium to find a way out for British industrial products.
This time, Captain Henry brought 50 tons of opium, 50 tons of opium of real value. It is said that the captain had exhausted all his resources and was ready to stop after this deal.
If this was the new China, the captain would have been machine-gunned to dust for dealing so much opium at once. But this time, he was lucky. He would not die, but make a fortune.
