Since the time of the Roman Empire, due to the import of oriental silks, spices, tea and other needs, the gold and silver of Europe and the Mediterranean world have been flowing out of the East and Asia. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In particular, from the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty to the 1800s, China maintained a huge trade surplus for two and a half centuries, which is rare in the history of world trade.

There are many reasons for the huge inflow of silver, two in particular: trade surpluses and arbitrage.

The Americas and Japan made up their trade deficits by exporting silver, while Africa made up the deficit by exporting gold and slaves.

As a result, all three regions are able to produce the "goods" needed elsewhere in the world economy. In contrast, Europe produces almost nothing to export to cover its chronic trade deficit.

Europe can only survive by "operating" exports from the other three trade deficit regions, from Africa to the Americas, from the Americas to Asia, and from Asia to Africa and the Americas, with Europe becoming an intermediary in the global trade network.

In order to balance the business with China, it seems to be a permanent surplus!

According to statistics, from 1522 to 1566 (during the Jiajing period), China's pig iron production reached 45,000 tons, ranking first in the world, while Britain did not reach 2,000 tons until 1740.

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, China has gradually become the center of the world economy. Dozens of countries in Europe are combined, and none of them have money.

Until Columbus discovered the New World and thus obtained gold and silver from the Americas, gold and silver were scarce in medieval Europe.

At the height of the Roman Empire, Europeans were able to obtain a certain amount of gold and silver supplements from black Africa, which was rich in gold and silver south of the Sahara Desert.

But with the Arab conquest and the occupation of all of North Africa, even the only way to replenish Europe with gold and silver was cut off. Now there is a catastrophe and a national war in the Americas!

In other words, as long as Zhu Zilong's body is happy in the Americas, the gold and silver in the hands of Europeans are pitiful.

Although Europeans loved gold, they liked to keep a record of their income and expenditure in gold coins in their books. But in this situation, it will not take a few years. I am afraid that the only thing I can actually get will be copper coins at that time.

In fact, it can be said that there is not much oil and water to fish. Those who can make Zhu Zilong make up their minds will only remain, their land and women!

You say, it's all up to this, Zhu Zilong is still engaged in a fart economic invasion?

It's better to engage in a white race-killing invasion!

A few months later!

On the side of the road, the delicate flowers are still blooming as if no one was around.

Provence, the most petty bourgeois romantic place in France. The world-famous hometown of lavender, it is also the "city of knights" in Europe, and the birthplace of chivalric lyric poetry, an important literary genre in the Middle Ages.

It has attracted countless tourists since ancient Greek and Roman times, and it is still a tourist attraction today.

In history, the brutal Hundred Years' War between Britain and France has never affected here. Today, however, an even more terrible catastrophe has befallen here!

The catastrophe known as the Second Mutant Black Death broke into this romantic and tender paradise of troubled times.

Wherever the terrible plague passed, countless cities and villages were wiped out one after another, and the mortality rate was no higher than that of the first Black Death. But contagiousness is even higher.

In just a few months, the whole of Provence was reduced to an eerie ruin of death. Only animals don't know what life is. And the white Europeans, in death, let out a dying moan!

The helpless white Europeans felt extremely frightened and helpless.

In the sky above every village where there was no smoke to be seen, there were flocks of crows hovering for a long time. It represents the arrival of the Grim Reaper!

They have feasted on all kinds of human corpses, and have become fearless of humans anymore...... (In fact, there may be more animals than the population of Europe, and they will no longer be afraid of humans!) ）

If anything, there are whites who have a higher survival rate.

I'm afraid it's just the lords and nobles who are huddled in the castle fortress. Because, their castles are generally far away from densely populated cities and have their own system.

After the news of the plague spread, these lords imposed strict quarantine measures for the sake of their lives, prohibiting merchants and travelers from entering.

Eat and wear all in your own castle, grow in your own fields, even if you can't eat enough every day, it's better than dying of illness!

In that year, in the midst of a death frenzy, less than a third of the people in the entire Provence region survived. Of the survivors, only 50% lived in castles!

It is rare to see humans walking on the main roads.

However, Liu Feng and his caravan still insisted on wandering around. (One is to inquire about information, and the other is to see how the mission is accomplished?) ）

Along the way, what they saw and heard was not only shocking, but also satisfied with the results of their mission.

(Sure enough, they all learned badly from Zhu Zilong, and all the exercises were negative.) ）

These vigilant castles, Liu Feng can go in and inquire except for those who have friendships. Most of the rest, now they can't get in.

Of course, he wasn't going to go in either.

After looking at the situation in Provence again, they made their way to the holy city of Avignon.

Liu Feng really wanted to see that in the face of such a large-scale natural disaster, the so-called church, the so-called messenger of God, and the agent of the world. And how can we deal with it, or save the world?

Okay, God and the Church are omnipotent, let's see it too?

It's a pity, as Liu Feng guessed.

No matter how devout the Christians of Avignon, the city, less than a hundred kilometers from Marseille, soon fell!

The reason is simple!

The population here is particularly concentrated!

According to the European Church, the pope is the intermediary between God and the earth, and he can beg God on behalf of mankind and forgive human beings on behalf of God.

That is, this is where the savior exists.

So, under countless social opinions. Knowing that they didn't have any magic and superpowers, the church personnel could only bite the bullet and give orders.

Hold a holy procession, and make a proclamation to God!

For a time, it is said that in the last month, there were only a few hundred thousand white Europeans here. Lift up icons and crosses, sing hymns and walk the streets in an attempt to impress the cold God!

It's a pity that it seems to have turned into a catastrophe in the end.

Liu Feng and his friends heard the wind, but they didn't see the real picture, so they came to take a look.

(During the plague, all rallies, processions, and other activities were basically acts of death.) Because, patients carrying germs can infect hundreds or thousands of healthy people at a time. They don't cup, who cups? ）

------- (To be continued.) )