What was Europe like in the 17th century?

Poverty everywhere, widespread hunger!

In Britain, along with the enclosure movement, a large number of British peasants lost their land, and these people became displaced people and gathered in London, forming a huge slum. Only a small fraction of this population is absorbed by industry and commerce into the industrialized labour force, but there is still a large surplus population that has nothing to do. Even when they become workers, they are often confined to living in slums due to increased exploitation.

By the eighties of the seventeenth century, the capital London had a population of more than 600,000, equivalent to one-tenth of the country's population. London became the largest city in Europe and was notorious for being dirty, poor, and criminal.

London's slums are hell on earth, with urine and garbage piled up in the streets or directly in the River Thames, the city's most important source of water......

Even after many years of being here, Zhang Jingde still has a hard time adapting to the harsh environment here.

"The whole city is like a!"

And every time, while walking through the slums in a European costume, Zhang Jingde would hold a handkerchief and put it between his nose to prevent himself from being stupefied by the stench. Every step is taken with care.

"In the upper social salons of London, everybody will boast that they have walked through the slums, and this is the talking point, how many times have I been here?"

Walking in the slums, feeling the gaze cast around him, Zhang Jingde thought to himself.

Those eyes were full of greed, but more awe, eight years ago, Zhang Jingde came to the slum for the first time, just like every well-dressed rich man came here, he was surrounded by a group of small beggars, and then those bandits who tried to rob with daggers, and Zhang Jingde immediately pulled out his sword and taught those people a hard lesson.

Since then, London's slums have known that there is a murderous Oriental who is a hundred times more powerful than the worst bully – he kills hundreds of famous bullies at once.

Only God knows, and he only killed nine people that day.

And out of self-defense!

However, he was notorious, and from then on, whenever he came to the slums, he felt awe, even if he did not carry the sword that symbolized his status, it did not matter, no one would doubt that even without a knife, he could cut people in two, and make people struggle in a pool of blood to try to reconnect the severed bodies.

Today, as in the past, Zhang Jingde's left hand was still holding the sword, feeling the awe-inspiring eyes cast around him, and he didn't react at all.

He needs such awe!

The slums were crowded, and in addition to the tattered houses on both sides of the road that were crowded with poor people from all over the country, on both sides of the road, there were also tents full of rags, and those tents made of rags were barely able to live in them, damp and dark, and the hungry people were crowded there, and they were all covered with dirt, and they looked at this decent man with a dull expression, and the rats were running among the people, and when the rats tried to steal the spoiled food, they would cause people to cry, even if it was a spoiled, smelly loaf of bread, here, It is also a delicacy in people's mouths.

Suddenly, a thin figure ran in front of Zhang Jingde, and when the thumb of his left hand was about to flick off the knife, he silently withdrew his fingers.

"Sir, have mercy on me......"

It was a dirty child, she was very thin, dark and thin, and her blonde hair was not shiny at all, and it was dry, like a withered eggplant. But surprisingly, she had beautiful eyes, blue, like jewels.

"How old are you?"

Zhang Jingde asked.

"Nine."

Looks like they're only five or six years old at most. Although the child is very thin, Zhang Jingde knows that as long as she is given enough food, dressed up, and bathed every day, she will become a beauty billet for half a year at most.

"Do you have parents?"

Zhang Jingde took out a silver coin.

"My mom is there."

The girl pointed to the distance, and in the corner by the side of the road, a woman with a shaved head, curled up in the corner, where she lay there, even if it was far away, Zhang Jingde could see it, her eyes were black, and saliva was dripping from her mouth.

She stared at the man next to her, who was lying there with a smoking gun in his hand, smoking opium.

Opium!

Eight years ago, opium first appeared in Europe, of course, it was not popular with the upper class, but flooded the slums, and as soon as it appeared, it immediately became popular in the slums of London, for these poor people, opium is like the "medicine of forgetting" in the Bible, which can make them forget all the troubles of the world. It can bring them spiritual pleasure.

Not only does it dispel the troubles of the people, but it is even a good medicine, because the poor people who drink the unclean water of the Thames have always been plagued by diarrhoea, but opium is a good medicine for diarrhoea, and it is also a good medicine for pain.

This cheap medicine quickly became popular in London, and for these hungry poor people, opium smoking had another effect, that is, it could fight hunger.

"Another opium ghost ......"

Complaining in official language, Zhang Jingde walked up to her and saw that she was greedily sucking the opium cigarettes spit out by others and indulging in them, he said.

"Is this your daughter?"

The woman with her shaved head, perhaps who had sold her hair, opened her misty eyes and looked at the gentleman in front of her, and then at her daughter, and immediately smiled.

"Sir, do you like her? As long as 1 Guinea, she is still a virgin, and you will be satisfied......"

Seeing that Zhang Jingde didn't speak, the woman said again.

"Master, do you think it's expensive? Is half a pound OK? It's only half a pound......"

In the woman's mouth, her daughter is like a tool to make money, she completely regards the gentleman in front of her as one of those old men with perverted habits, blindly promoting her daughter, and completely ignoring the despair in her daughter's eyes.

The girl's eyes were full of despair, she looked nervously at this tall old man, although she was still young, but for all this, she had already understood, here, I don't know how many girls will eventually fall to this step. Even some of her friends were pregnant early.

"This is 2 Guineans, sell her to me, I mean sell it to me!"

Zhang Jingde took out two gold coins in his hand, and the people around him showed greedy eyes without exception.

Two Guineas, for the people in the slums, is absolutely equivalent to astronomical sums, and it is only possible to have that much money if they sell their daughters.

"Master, she's still a virgin."

The woman tried to bargain, but in exchange for Zhang Jingde's mocking sneer.

"This is your only chance, and if I turn away, you may sell her for half a pound one day, but henceforth she will be worth only a few shillings at most, and she may soon be infected with syphilis, and then lose her life......"

Shaking the two gold coins, Zhang Jingde pointed to the smoke house not far away, and then said to the woman.

"Two guineas is enough for you to smoke opium for a month, you just have to save the money, and for the next month, you won't need to ...... like this again."

Smoke houses, which can be found everywhere in the slums, are hungry and poor, where they smoke cheap opium and indulge in the pleasure and fantasy brought by opium.

Ten minutes later, Zhang Jing took the girl's hand and left, he looked at the girl with a panicked expression and said.

"Don't be afraid, I won't bully you, from now on, you won't go hungry, and you can put on new clothes......"

Zhang Jingde squeezed out a smile at the girl, and the girl nodded nervously.

He then led the girl to a warehouse in the slums, and around the storehouse, there were guards with swords and firearms, and as he entered the warehouse, he said to the gatekeeper.

"Let her stay here first, and I'll go in for a while."

After entering the warehouse, Zhang Jingde just nodded at the British, and then came to the office, and then a Jewish accountant walked in and said respectfully.

"Sir, this is yesterday's income, a total of 1,786 pounds of opium were sold, and the profit is ......"

When Frick reported the accounts, Zhang Jingde did not speak, he just looked at the account book silently, he was the largest opium dealer in Britain - eight years ago, he was the one who brought opium to Britain, and even taught those British people to smoke cigarettes.

"I heard ......"

Suddenly, Zhang Jingde looked up at Furick and said in a cold tone.

"Someone has raised the price of opium cigarettes, right?"

Being watched by the boss's eyes, Frick immediately said nervously.

"Sir, good luck is because last month, someone snatched Mr. Andrew's goods, so Mr. Andrew will appropriately increase the price......"

"Tell Andrew that he was stripped of his retail rights!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhang Jingde made a decision.

"Sir, Mr. Andrew is the biggest seller, and in this case, it is very likely that it will affect your business." "In London, anyone is willing to sell opium, it's the most lucrative industry of the future, Frick, remember that it's not just Jews who can deal in opium!"

Zhang Jingde sneered,

He didn't know why the bureau liked to cooperate with Jews, maybe because these Jews could cooperate with the devil for money, or maybe because they didn't have a country, so they didn't care about loyalty.

These Jews will do whatever it takes to open up the market and, of course, help him with some special business without any burden. But after eight years of working with them, he knew very well that these Jews would never be trusted, that they had no loyalty, that they had only profit in their eyes.

So, he always needs to remind them in his own way who is the boss.

"Yes, yes sir......"

The boss's words made Frick respond nervously. Indeed, in London, there are many people who can replace the Jews at any time.

"Greed is never a sin, but excessive greed will always make people pay a price!"

Again, Zhang Jingde began to talk about his business experience.

"In my case, a pound of opium costs only half a pound, and after a markup by the retailer, a cigarette pill is still extremely cheap in the hands of a smoker, a penny or two. Only in this way can they afford to smoke opium, instead of fishing for the sake of fishing, and any price increase is unacceptable! ”

Why did the bureau send him to England?

It was to promote opium in Britain, in order to make the desperate British addicted to this "elixir of forgetting", if the price was too high, how could these British people afford to smoke it?

"If you fish with all your might, you won't get it, and next year you won't have any fish."

After saying this, looking at the dazed Fukule, Zhang Jingde shook his head helplessly and sighed, these people didn't understand the meaning of this sentence at all.

Hey, it's a bunch of barbarians!

Mocking the barbarism and rudeness of the British in his heart, Zhang Jingde asked about business-related matters, of course, most of them were the promotion of opium, which of course were the responsibility of those Jews, and they promoted them.

After asking carefully, Zhang Jingde nodded slightly, and then said.

"Faulkrie, do you think any of these people could be my partner?"

The boss's words made Faulkry ask in surprise.

"Partner?"

Zhang Jingde nodded.

"Yes, it's a partner, after all, I will always leave the UK, leave London, here, it's hell at all, or Da Ming......"

Recalling the beauty of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Jingde's eyes were filled with nostalgia for his homeland, and then he said.

"So, one day, I'll leave here, and when the time comes, I'll hand over the business here to a trusted partner who I need to be able to continue the business, and of course, he's going to do it in London as my agent, and I, and my partners, will continue to supply him with opium......"

Although he didn't know when he would be able to return to China, Zhang Jingde had already sent a letter to China again, he hoped to return to China and return to Zhongdu, even if it was not Zhongdu or Shaanxi, as long as he could return to China, no matter where he went, it would be better than London.

For a person who has been away from Daming for eight years, he dreams of Daming and everything there almost every day.

It is precisely because of this that he hopes to be able to make arrangements in advance, and the reason why he needs a Jewish partner is because, in the letter he received from China, he has been vaguely told that in the future, the Ming people will not directly get involved in this business, and this business can be handed over to the Jews, or anyone else. The bureau doesn't care about the profits brought by opium at all, what does the bureau need?

Just a Britain full of opium...... No, maybe Europe!

"Sir, if the news gets out, perhaps, everyone is eager to be this partner."

Faulkry looked at Zhang Jingde, trying to see if his words were sincere.

"But not everyone can be, and I need a partner who can keep this business going for a long time!"