After many European countries had signed treaties, a brig anchored in a Spanish port when the Republic first set foot in European affairs with its huge stature.

A group of people on board were unloading some cargo down from the ship, and a young man in a long robe looked up at the sky, stretched out his spit fingers to estimate the direction and speed of the wind, and frowned.

This young man followed Chen Jian to sea, disembarked from Europe as a sailor and returned to the Republic, and also followed the subsequent envoys to witness the signing of some European treaties.

At this time, he had just received the exact news of the trade treaty between the Republic and Spain, and he rushed to the docks, unloading the unnecessary cargo from the ship, and preparing to send the news back to the country as quickly as possible.

Another person on the boat persuaded: "Brother, isn't it too risky to go back at this time?" The wind direction is not very suitable. ”

The young man said, "News is money!" As long as we bring this news back before anyone else, it will be worth thousands of silver coins. Ladies and gentlemen, there are opportunities everywhere, opportunities to make a fortune everywhere, but all these opportunities are bought by fate, don't you want to take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune? The first pot of gold, it's too difficult, if it's slow now, it will get slower and slower in the future. As long as we go back alive, we can live the life of a human being, otherwise why would we go to sea? ”

Someone objected: "But if we unload these goods and sell them cheaply, will we lose money?" ”

"What's that loss? As soon as the news was transmitted back to China, the shares of the Nanyang Trading Company would soon be allowed to rise, and was it not worth thousands of silver coins to the big speculators who squatted on the stock and futures exchanges every day? With a few thousand silver coins, we can have our own big ship, or we can buy more stocks! What could be more lucrative than this? Isn't it possible to die? What's that? ”

Several people gritted their teeth and nodded: "That's right, wealth and wealth are in danger, so I will fight this time and have a future." ”

Determined, the men took control of the brig and crossed the Atlantic in a fearless spirit for money, in the unfit season for the sake of water.

As they expected, when the news first reached Minjun, it sold for six thousand silver coins.

In the days that followed, rumors of a failed trade deal circulated in Min, and the shares of Nanyang Trading Company fell rapidly, and some big speculators appeared to be selling off the shares......

However, a few days later, an explosive and definite news appeared in the most accurate newspaper in Minjun - the Republic had signed a trade treaty with Spain, and trade was legal!

In an instant, the stocks that had fallen skyrocketed in one day, and those speculators who controlled them spent six thousand silver coins in exchange for ten times or even dozens of times the profits. And for a poor sailor, six thousand silver coins would be enough to change the fate of him and his brothers.

With the news of Europe coming in and the newspapers of the Progressive League, which popularized the situation in Europe, the stock and futures exchanges in Minjun were going on a daily basis.

Stocks of shipping insurance companies are rising, stocks of Chen Jian's steel ingots, parts and firearms workshops are rising, raw silk futures prices are rising, Standard Oil mill stocks are rising, cotton futures and yarn futures prices are rising, and stocks of Minjun Ceramics United Workshop are rising......

A carnival of small citizens and small industrialists was going on, and they were excited that the little money they had in their hands had become more valuable, and that they were excited about an open market.

It's just that the excitement of these small citizens, in the eyes of some big businessmen, is not worth mentioning, because the most profitable things will never be the turn of these small citizens.

Some of the opinions that Chen Jian wrote in The Hague called "analysis" were actually "magic sticks", which were constantly published in the newspapers of the Progressive League, expanding their influence and becoming the best-selling newspaper in the entire Min County or the six coastal counties.

The big businessmen looked for business opportunities from above, and their trust in Jian Chen made them a windfall.

As the world is no longer confined to the homeland, with the development of foreign trade, and with the establishment and deepening of the hearts of the people of the stock and futures exchanges, the "joint-stock bank" united by the capital of the six coastal counties was inevitably established.

The people who inject capital know that there are huge benefits in this, and this is where the real money comes from, compared to the little things of the burghers who are petty in their fights.

The composition of joint-stock banks is very complex, with wealthy businessmen, workshop owners, party property and entrusted private property, as well as a small part of the external offering of shares, as well as capital injections from some large families in the north.

In the beginning, the business was simple, exchanging different currencies from different countries, because the silver coins of each country differed in silver content, weight, wear, and jagged edges that were worn off, etc., all of which would lead to the depreciation of the currency itself.

With the exchange business, the transaction of large amounts of precious metal currency became somewhat complicated, so some credit large amount banknotes began to be issued as designated banknotes for large transactions.

The shareholders were inextricably linked to trading companies and large mill owners, as well as to large speculators, and even though the matter was still being discussed in the council, the credit system dominated by capital soon established the credibility of the banks in the coastal areas and in foreign trade.

Under the entanglement of interests, profit became the first goal, and the Nanyang Trading Company inevitably started the slave trade, because it was very profitable.

Some people questioned that this was not right and that people could not be slaves. But the huge capital controlled by the trading companies quickly launched a public opinion campaign.

This is not only the capital of trading companies, but also the interests of capital related to banks, marine insurance, shipbuilding, arms manufacturing workshops, etc.

They hired a large number of members from the original Progressive League, and began to build momentum with the pen and stick. Fortunately, at this time, Lin Xi's article about the mutation of animals and plants in a domesticated state and the survival of the fittest have not yet reached China, and the basis for building momentum has not moved towards extreme racism, at least not temporarily.

The starting point of the campaign was to analyze the interests of the slave trade, first acknowledging that the slave trade was wrong, and agreeing that slaves were not allowed in the country. But at the same time, the penmen also said that now is like many years ago, when the country was in dispute, others are making profits but we stick to the bottom line, then we will only weaken.

Therefore, a strong republic can stop the slave trade, because all this is useless by lip service. And if you want to be strong, you must earn enough benefits to make your values become the mainstream values of the world, and so on.

Many big businessmen and spokesmen of capital jointly wrote a pledge: they would not transport slaves to the country. If the world order is established, and the known powers promise to ban the slave trade, they will stop the slave trade at the first time and will never oppose it. But they will not abandon this behavior until the world order is established. Our slave trade is precisely to make the republic qualified to influence the order of the world, and anyone who opposes the slave trade is a traitor.

In a logically deductive way, they gave a strange explanation: they did the slave trade so that there would be no more slave trade in the world. As long as the end is right, the means can be ignored.

It sounds like there is a little bit of truth, but the opposition continues, and a protracted debate begins in Minjun.

Capital and people's conscience compete for the dominance of public opinion, and the content of scolding is also escalating day by day. Newspapers and leaflets naming and attacking each other are traitors on one side and anti-humanity on the other.

The council has not yet made a decision, and this trade is in a gray area.

A gun can be exchanged for slaves in Africa, and the profits in this are staggering. After the trading company bribed the council to buy a certificate of legality for trade with the Spanish Viceroyalty at a high price, the first ship to Peru to trade "legally" was a shipload of slaves brought back from Africa.

The mass extinction of the Indians left the plantation labor on the Peruvian coast in short supply. The smugglers promised three times the profit, but in fact it was five times the profit.

Capital can break through the bottom line of mankind for the sake of profit, or maybe the bottom line of mankind does not exist at this time, and a joint-stock company called "slave breeding factory" was openly established.

A plot of land was purchased from the oil port, houses and fences were erected, a large number of female slaves were raised in the same way as pigs and cattle, and male slaves were raised.

Doctors, disinfectant-treated water, midwives, vaccinia, and other measures are all available, and futures are scheduled for a few years later. Using scientific methods to oppose humanity is the highest level of anti-humanity.

Under these circumstances, a former member of the Progressive League, who wrote a pamphlet entitled "The True Ideal Society", began to advocate a different idea: the invasion of the state by foreign countries, the compulsory labor of the rest of the ethnic groups, the use of all alien races as slaves, the distribution of dividends among the whole people, and the realization of the prosperity of all the people of the real ethnic group. And in the book, he promised a good society: as long as the members of the pure-race ethnic group were to serve in the military, and those who served in the military had the right to vote. Distribute land and slaves according to the size of the merit, so that the members of the purebred group at the bottom can get a hundred acres of land and two slaves, so as to achieve a beautiful society where every family is full of smiling faces.

As soon as this pamphlet came out, it caused a sensation. In the absence of Chen Jian, the various parties of the Progressive League, which had already fallen apart, made a decision: the Progressive League was officially dissolved and no longer used this organization to carry out any kind of activities.

On the day of the dissolution, the leaders of the former coalition parties shook hands with each other for the last time.

"We all think we're right. Who will judge us right and wrong? ”

"Leave it to time."

"I miss the old days. At that time we were the world, so the progress we pursued had similar enemies. ”

"We didn't have a choice. Now you have a choice. We are no longer the world. But what is strange to me is that when the concept of the world changes, the enemies who are similar and common are no longer enemies? ”

The crowd was silent for a while, but finally smiled kindly, said nothing more, and left.

When I was going out, someone from a certain party shouted, "Hey! In the future, we will bury you with you. ”

The man who was shouted did not turn back, but raised his hand and waved it, and replied with certainty without the slightest hesitation: "Each other, each other." ”