Chapter 46: As expected of the Merchant of Venice Seeing that these "angels" who lacked moral integrity were completely blown away, as if they were about to turn into world-destroying demons, the shocked Venetians finally softened and did not dare to continue to satisfy the appetites of the angels.
Game, but moved the belongings over with some reluctance.
Although the Venetians originally planned to imitate the evil bosses of later generations who delayed their wages, and whetted the appetites of these angels so that they could send them to work.
But facing these angels who do not hesitate to abuse their divine power to demand wages, the Venetian's small frame really cannot bear it.
Despite this, it was impossible for the Venetians to get together the one million ducats the "angels" asked for.
Since the days of the ancient Roman Empire, the "Silk Road" and "Spice Road" to the East were opened. , in order to obtain these wonderful luxuries, gold, silver and precious metals from Western European society have been continuously flowing out.
In the Dark Ages, when everyone spoke with swords, the lack of gold and silver didn't matter.
Anyway, there were very few professional merchants in those days, the lords collected taxes in kind, and market transactions were mostly barter.
However, in the Renaissance era when commerce began to rise again, the shortage of gold and silver currency, especially gold coins, became a long-standing problem that troubled Western merchants.
Entering the Age of Discovery and supplemented by gold and silver from America, Venice's annual mintage has reached as high as two million ducats.
However, now that there is still a century and a half before the discovery of America, Venice's mint is also a skillful woman who cannot make a meal without straw.
The Europeans at that time were so eager to obtain gold that they were about to suffer from pinkeye.
Before Columbus sailed to the New World, he openly declared that he was sailing for gold: "Gold is the most precious of all commodities.
Yes, it not only represents wealth.
People who own gold can not only meet their needs in this world, but also find a way to save their souls in purgatory and embark on the road to heaven."
Closer to home, in the mid-14th century, the total minting volume of Ducat gold coins in the entire Western world was just over one million.
At that time, Venetians exchanged bills of exchange in merchant houses and banks, and tried their best to do this kind of exchange trade without actual money exchanges, so as to overcome the problem of insufficient circulation of precious metal currency.
Even in places where bills of exchange are not commonly used, the actual payment is mainly based on silver coins, which are in relatively sufficient supply.
It is rare to actually take out gold coins, but they are still expressed in a certain number of ducats on the books to satisfy one's certain needs.
A sense of vanity.
Just like Wall Street in modern New York is a place of wealth, you don't expect to find dollar bills piled up in skyscrapers here.
In those days, Venetians rarely used whole boxes of gold coins for bribes, but instead gave money orders, bonds and bankbooks like modern people.
Therefore, although there is a lot of money in Venice, and there are many rich people with hundreds of thousands of ducats, but if they really want them to come out with gold coins immediately, no one can come up with even 10,000 ducats or someone.
Some bankers really have so many gold coins, but they still have to mobilize them on a large scale from stores scattered everywhere, and this requires a long time of preparation.
In this way, despite the fact that the Governor of Venice searched his treasury and even used his own personal savings, the leading figures in the Venetian Grand Council donated generously and enthusiastically repaid the money, and even emptied the vaults of several banks with IOUs.
The Venetian government's IOU was very credible, and within a few days, only 50,000 ducats were collected. coins and more than 100,000 Grosso silver coins.
The rest are all bills of exchange, bonds, IOUs, charters, bank books, and the land deeds mortgaged by the borrowers.
Well, strictly speaking, these things are not waste paper.
On the contrary, they are They were priceless, but unfortunately the automatic pawn machines refused to accept them, so the helpless "angels" had no choice but to refuse to accept them.
Fortunately, although the number of gold and silver coins is limited, you can still find a lot of other valuable things.
In the past half a year when the Black Death was raging, almost half of the people in Venice had died.
Most of them were poor people, but there were also rich and wealthy families who were extremely fat, so they left a lot of inheritance, which the Venetian authorities could use as gifts.
Of course, even the estates of these dead people have heirs, but it is easier for a person to give up these windfalls than to donate the savings he has worked hard for half his life.
Moreover, in the era of the Black Death, preserving life was the most important thing.
Otherwise, everyone will just live today without knowing whether there will be a tomorrow.
No matter how much inheritance they get, what's the use of it?
It won't just change hands and make it cheaper for others.
In addition, the Republic of Venice has been able to defeat many powerful countries and dominate the vast Mediterranean with a small territory and a population of less than 200,000 for hundreds of years.
The overall view and sense of sacrifice and dedication of its upper ruling class are really worth it.
Praise, otherwise it would be impossible to deceive two hundred thousand Venetians who are known for their cunning and cunning.
They were united and worked hard for the interests of this city-state, fighting endlessly in the turbulent international disputes.
Governor Andre took the lead in donating all the inheritance his family had recently inherited, as well as any luxury that could be collected in the Governor's Palace and his own private residence.
He even took out his necklaces, rings and the gold cross on his own shrine.
St.
Mark's Basilica also donated gold and silver instruments given by donors from past generations.
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And other powerful families had to take action and do their part to raise this huge sum of money.
If it were Beijing or Nanjing in the late Ming Dynasty, those rich and powerful people who were extremely selfish and cold-blooded and had no sense of social responsibility would rather hold on to their gold and silver treasures and watch the people in the city turn into withered bones.
Be willing to spend a copper coin to pay for citizens' medical expenses.
Of course, it's a good thing that these Venetians are sensible.
Otherwise, if they continue to push the ball and try to default on the debt, Doraemon, who is about to be driven crazy by the loan sharks, might really lead the time travelers to launch a war.
A massacre in Venice to make money.
The only regret is that although the wealthy people in Venice have a big-picture view when it comes to raising money to eliminate disasters, the definition of the concept of "treasure", to be precise, is the value of various luxury goods.
Travelers and There was obviously a very huge difference in the ideas of medieval Europeans "This is the exquisite porcelain that the great Mr.
Marco Polo brought all the way from the East.
It is said to be a gift from the Tatar Khan.
It is also one of the most proud collections of the Dandolo family.
But in order to thank you for saving Venice, We are still willing to offer it with both hands.”
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Doge of Venice, Andrea Dandolo, seemed to be in great pain, opening a wooden box filled with soft hay, taking out a package wrapped in woolen, sheepskin and linen, untying it layer by layer, and finally finally He took out a tray as if to show off.
It was a large, thick, round blue and white porcelain tray, about one and a half feet in diameter, with beautiful patterns with strong Chinese characteristics burned on it.
Such a large-sized blue and white porcelain vessel was extremely rare in Europe at this time.
Governor Andrei highly praised it and tried to price it at three thousand ducats in gold coins.
However, Wang Qiu sighed and resolutely rejected Governor Andre's "generousness".
When the Governor was puzzled and asked about the reason, he was simply generous and borrowed it from Doraemon.
He went into a period vending machine, stuffed a few 10,000-yen bills into it, bought many blue and white porcelain plates, blue and white porcelain tea cups, and blue and white porcelain teapots and generously gave them to the people present, which immediately blinded a lot of dogs.
Although the Venetians present did not seem to understand what this meant specifically, they still roughly understood that the so-called "priceless oriental porcelain" they owned was probably not worth much in the eyes of these angels with high vision.
It's really not worth the money.
All in all, although Governor Andre seemed to be deeply psychologically affected, the Venetians who were allotted so many beautiful blue and white porcelains all at once cheered and cheered.
Many of them could not afford to buy a real Oriental porcelain with their lifetime savings.
What about porcelain?
Afterwards, these blue and white porcelains were treasured as family heirlooms by the recipients and passed down from generation to generation.
Since they were "god-given objects" presented by angels, in the eyes of medieval Europeans, they were probably more valuable than those sold from the East.
All porcelain is precious.
It’s just because of Wang Qiu’s accident that he bought a few pieces of ultra-high-end products.
The high-quality blue and white porcelain mouse, blue and white porcelain USB flash drive and blue and white porcelain camera made the Venetian people try their best to guess the purpose of these weird gadgets afterwards.
They were classified as some kind of Eastern pagan idol totem, carefully pressed into the bottom of the box.
"These are precious oriental teas, luxury goods that have the effect of prolonging life.
It is rare to get a few batches every year."
A businessman held up several tea bricks that were dark in color, rough in appearance, seemed to have been soaked in sea water, and covered with salt and frost, and proudly showed off to the "angels".
Doraemon also smiled bitterly and was generous, inviting them to taste the flavors of English black tea, Chinese green tea and Japanese matcha.
As a result, the Venetian authorities' plan to use these tea bricks as payment for 10,000 ducats was also shattered.
"This is high-quality black pepper imported from the Levant, the medieval name for the coast of Palestine and Syria.
Contracts have been signed to pre-sell it to buyers.
Unfortunately, all of the buyers have died of the plague.
Even this spice is used as a spice."
The merchants who bought and sold all their families died, so these goods were confiscated because no one paid taxes, and became government property, but they were definitely well preserved."
A government official pointed to the bags of small dark brown particles that exuded a wonderful smell, and introduced to the "angels", "How about sixty deniers silver coins per pound of black pepper?
This is definitely a very fair price." " Wang Qiu's reaction was to sigh deeply, put his hands on his forehead, and asked the sky speechlessly, "What the hell, this is also called a discount price.
Do you want me to open a door for you to go to the Indian origin of spices and take a look?"
How much does the pepper in your hand cost over there?
Hey, you really want to go to India to buy goods and are willing to pay an extra 50,000 ducats for transportation.
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Well, okay, I can lend you the random door temporarily, but only for the days when we are staying in Venice.
Can you?
Successful business depends on your ability.”
So, classmate Wang Qiu, who was very amused by this, asked Doraemon to use a random door to connect Carteret, a major spice trading port in southern India.
Immediately afterwards, a group of adventurous Venetian merchants swarmed in, Bathed in the blazing sunshine of the South Asian subcontinent, Wang Qiu, who originally thought they would shrink back, couldn't help but feel deeply impressed.
Next, with half-baked Arabic and gesticulating body language, these Venetian merchants actually negotiated a deal with the Indian merchants, and were overjoyed with the huge profits.
In Catlett, a pound of Indian black pepper Only three Denier silver coins were sold.
It's a pity that Indian merchants only care about gold and silver, and have no regard for the glass beads, small bells, linen, ironware, wool tapestries, woolen and other trading items brought out by the Venetians.
Indians whose ancestors were very wealthy are not from Stone Age America.
The native Indians themselves produced the best refined iron in the world at that time, and they also knew how to burn glass.
Indian cotton was far softer and more comfortable than the European linen at that time.
The workmanship of European tapestries in the Middle Ages is also not as good as the Persian carpets that are common in Indians.
After thinking about it, apart from the real gold and silver that everyone loves, there is really nothing in the hands of Europeans that Indians like, but Venice.
Almost all the gold and silver that people could raise were looted by the "angels".
As for the glass mirror that would become a hugely profitable specialty in Venice in the future, according to the original historical trajectory, it would take another 160 years to be invented.
As a result, these daring Venetian businessmen had no choice but to shamelessly come back to the "angels" and beg for a large amount of "luxurious and luxurious" oriental porcelain, which was actually bargains from modern supermarkets and some glass that surprised them all.
Mirror, I just made this deal with the Indians, and I pulled many carts of pepper and other spices and returned home with a good load of pepper and other spices.
The Arabs, who had long monopolized the Eastern trade routes, were horrified after receiving the news.
But at half the cost, many people were infected with yellow fever, and they had to rely on the healing skills of the "angels" to save their lives.
Strangely, in There is no sign of the Black Death on the Indian side.
They are indeed outstanding children who grew up bathing in the Ganges. oshow7: