Could the collapse of the British East India Company still trigger a war between England and the Qing Dynasty? Wu Bingjian frowned slightly, he had been a partner and business rival with the British East India Company for fifty years, he naturally knew how strong and powerful this company was, and it was no exaggeration to say that this company was not like a company at all, except for an empire like the Qing Dynasty, ordinary countries could not compete with this company at all.

However, after such a powerful East India Company had been in decline for a period of time, when it began to revive in full swing, it suddenly declared bankruptcy without warning, and he was also puzzled by this, he knew very well that the company was not bankrupt because of poor management, nor could it be bankrupt due to insolvency, nor because of the failure to win the competition of Citigroup, and there was no coup d'état in England, nor did it launch a large-scale foreign war.

In other words, the cause of the collapse of the East India Company could not be found, either from the outside or from the inside.

After thinking for a long time, Wu Bingjian still had no clue, reached out to ask for tea, but found that the tea was already cold, poured the herbal tea, poured a new cup, took a few sips, and then looked at Yi Zhizhi and said: "The East India Company went bankrupt and went bankrupt, there are different opinions, do you have a unique opinion or opinion?" ”

"It's just a matter of opinion." Yi Zhifen smiled and said, "The younger generation secretly thinks that the British East India Company committed suicide, in other words, the company was dissolved on its own initiative. ”

Suicide? Wu Bingjian's hand trembled, and he was scalded by the hot tea that was spilled, he hurriedly put down the teacup, and said in surprise: "How can it be suicide?" ”

"Only suicide can be explained." Yi Zhizu said: "Since the establishment of the British East India Company, more than 200 years, through ups and downs, countless people want to defeat it or replace it, including King Charles I of England, Louis XIV and Napoleon I of France, Tipu Sultan of India, and President Madison of the United States should also be counted as one, but no one has been able to succeed.

At the time of the company's collapse and bankruptcy, it had hundreds of thousands of troops, and in India alone, it directly controlled 280,000 troops, not counting the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and if you count the troops that the company could indirectly control, it was estimated to be one million.

The company can be said to have money, soldiers, and territory, why did it go bankrupt so calmly? Didn't even struggle to resist? There is no other possibility than suicide. ”

This is too far-fetched, Wu Changqing couldn't help but say: "I heard that it was the British House of Commons that announced the collapse of the East India Company, isn't it the British King or the House of Representatives who forced the East India Company to collapse?" ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhishu snorted slightly, and said: "The East India Company does not have the foolish and loyal idea that the king wants the minister to die, and the minister has to die, and the English King Charles I just said, when he was in power, he wanted to support another business group to replace the East India Company, do you know the result?"

The East India Company strongly supported the rebellion of another nobleman, Cromwell, who guillotined Charles I, and as for the British House of Commons, the vast majority of its members were shareholders of the East India Company or owned shares in the company, and they could not voluntarily cause the company to fail. ”

Despite Yi Zhi's conclusive words, Wu Bingjian still couldn't accept this speculation, and asked after a while: "Why did the East India Company commit suicide?" ”

"Tea!" Easy to be content with the crisp road.

"Suicide because of tea?" Wu Changqing's face was full of incredulous expressions, with such a long history and such a huge company committing suicide because of tea? Wouldn't that be too much?

But listening to the word tea, Wu Bingjian's expression was grim and afraid, and he said in a deep voice: "Is it because Assam has successfully transplanted tea trees and opened up tea gardens?" ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "It turns out that Pinghu Gong already knows. ”

Wu Bingjian sighed and said: "After the Anglo-Burmese War, the British found a large number of wild tea trees in Assam, and after the Anglo-Burmese War, the British took control of Assam and began to transplant tea trees in Assam and open up tea gardens.

The wild tea varieties of Assam were so poor that the British secretly bought a batch of Fujian tea seeds from Guangzhou and went to Assam to plant them, but neither the British nor the Indians knew how to cultivate tea trees, so they managed to smuggle a group of tea farmers from Macao to Assam.

However, hearing that the tea farmers were killed and the tea plantations were destroyed, it seems that the British never gave up and finally let them succeed. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhixiang was shocked, who killed those tea farmers in Assam and destroyed those tea plantations? Except for the Thirteen Lines, who else knows that the British secretly planted tea trees in Assam? Who cares about this except the thirteen lines? I really can't see that the hand of the thirteen elements can be stretched so far.

Wu Changqing interjected coldly: "Since you can destroy Assam's tea garden once, can't you destroy it again?" ”

"It's easier said than done..." Wu Bingjian sighed and said, "The importance of Assam to the British is self-evident, how can it tolerate destruction after destruction?" ”

"Not necessarily." Yi Zhizu said lightly: "It may not be difficult to destroy Assam..." ”

Isn't it difficult? Wu Bingjian looked at him with a puzzled expression, but he didn't say anything.

Wu Changqing said happily: "Brother Yi has a way to destroy the Assam Tea Garden? ”

"Assam borders Yunnan and is also a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, if the imperial court can understand the existence of Assam, it will make the imperial court lose tens of millions of taels of silver every year, and the imperial court will inevitably send troops to expedition to Assam." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "However, the military expenditure, I'm afraid that the thirteen lines will do their best to bear it." ”

Wu Bingjian shook his head with a wry smile and said, "The Qing Dynasty is not an English country, and it will not raise troops for commercial trade, and there is no possibility for an expedition to Assam." ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "Is it feasible to follow the example of the British East India Company and build a private army by the Thirteen Lines to expedition to Assam?" ”

This is just a joke, can the imperial court allow the Thirteen Lines to build an army privately? Wu Changqing glanced at him and said with a wry smile: "Brother Yi, this is a joke...... ”

Yi Zhi said disapprerovingly: "It's not okay to build your own private army, with the financial resources of the Thirteen Elements, hire a team of hundreds of people to infiltrate Assam to sabotage, this shouldn't be difficult for the Thirteen Elements, right?" ”

"It's hard to ......." Wu Bingjian sighed: "Assam is located in a river valley, the territory is swampy, both sides are high mountains, not to mention easy to defend and difficult to attack, the climate is particularly harsh, extremely humid, and often heavy rain, perhaps only Annam, Siam, Burmese people can adapt to that environment." ”

Wu Bingjian is so familiar with the geography and climate of Assam, it seems that he has sent someone to do a detailed investigation, needless to say, the last time he went to Assam to kill tea farmers and destroy tea gardens, it must have been Wu Bingjian's masterpiece.

Thinking of this, Yi Zhizhi couldn't help but smile secretly, everyone outside said that Wu Bingjian was timid and cautious, and even a little cowardly, but he didn't see him show his fangs, what a joke, a timid and cautious, and a little cowardly, can become the richest man in the thirteen lines of the country in just a few decades?