In 1917, France founded a business called the Mississippi Company. The company's primary business was to develop colonies in the lower Mississippi River Valley in the central Americas. If this task is accomplished, it will be able to secure the Kingdom's great interests in the Americas. In order to finance the plan, the company, which had close ties to the royal court, sold its shares in the trading house.

And the big men who could probably represent the court boasted about the company's shares for various reasons. This has led to a huge amount of confidence in the company's stock from everyone throughout the kingdom. In May 1719, when the company was listed, the share price was 500 livres. On August 1 of that year, the stock price had risen more than fivefold. By August 30, the stock price had broken through the 4,000 mark.

And this skyrocketing lasted for 13 months. At its peak, the Mississippi company's stock price was more than twenty times what it was when it went public.

But when the sense of crisis hits, people whose confidence is shaken begin to sell their stocks.

What followed was an avalanche of irreversible. The Mississippi company's stock price plummeted for 13 months, and the kingdom's wealth evaporated like snow on a spring day.

And this incident greatly hurt the financial credibility of the kingdom's court. John Lawnay, the king's treasurer at the time, was a rare banker's genius. With the magic of alchemy, he surpassed the gold standard created by Isaac Newton and established the world's first state-guaranteed credit money system in the kingdom.

However, no matter how much this little genius wields, he can't save the kingdom, or more precisely, the collapse of the royal family's financial credit.

Xiang Shan looked at Bernard, and waved his hand twice unconsciously in front of him: "Lao Di, let me tell you this...... I'll pay you a salary, but I don't include letting you fool me. ”

Bernard Dubois's face remained unchanged: "It's just a matter of history." ”

"But you're obviously biased in your choice arguments." Xiang Shan shrugged: "Although the kingdom does not respect the laws of economy at all, the Britta Empire, which is across the sea from him, is not much better. In 1720, a year after 1719, there was an even worse 'South Sea Bubble' in the Britta Empire - in order to get rid of the huge national debt, the Britta Empire blew an even bigger bubble at home. ”

Bernard nodded: "I didn't expect you to be so familiar with the topic of history." ”

"Not really." Xiang Shan nodded his glasses: "It's just that I can skillfully use external thinking organs." So even if I don't know anything about history, I can look up information on the Internet temporarily. ”

Bernard smiled, "Tsk, this is an evil machine for an old man like me—it has wiped out any advantage I have over young people." Then again, is retrieval so easy? ”

"Ah, that's not it. But as a scientist, I'm more or less familiar with the life of Sir Isaac Newton. I probably remember another time he lost money in stock trading. Sir scolded, 'I can calculate the movements of the heavenly bodies, but I cannot calculate the madness of man.' ”

Isaac Newton is known as a physicist and mathematician. But that's just a part of his life. This genius was also a theologian and a scholar of biblical textual evidence. He also served as the director of the mint and contributed to the "gold standard" system in financial history.

This is not a bridge of "stunned young scholars entering the stock market".

It's just that at that time, the whole Britta Empire was like crazy. In early 1720, the Britta Empire, known as the "South Sea Company", made a deal with the Imperial Parliament, and the company subscribed to a large number of state bonds, and the empire reciprocated by granting the company many operating privileges.

In short, it is almost a replica of what happened last year on the other side of the continent, with a huge amount of money pouring into the company, causing the stock price to skyrocket, and then the bubble to burst.

"If you want to say bad...... Well, from the perspective of financial history, most scholars agree that the South China Sea bubble may have been a little worse. If empires and kingdoms are worse than rotten, they are obviously better empires. ”

"And the reason why the Britta Empire was able to overwhelm the Kingdom of France in the subsequent expedition was obviously because...... First of all, John Kaye was an Imperial; Secondly, James Hargreaves is an Imperial; Then, James Watt is an Imperial; Finally, George Stephenson was also an Imperialist. Finished. ”

John Kaye, inventor of the "shuttle". James Hargreaves, inventor of the Jenny loom. James Watt, inventor of the steam engine. George Stephenson, inventor of the steam locomotive.

These key inventions kicked off the first industrial revolution in the Britta Empire.

As a result, the Britta Empire became a huge empire where "the sun never sets on the land".

Bernard smiled: "You mean, are you Watt?" ”

"Ah, I could be George Stephenson?" Xiang Shan smiled, "Yagmov or Anatoly is more qualified to be 'Watt' than everyone else. ”

"After all, 'finance' is a thing that exists in 'intersubjectivity.' The thermodynamic and mechanical principles contained in the steam engine are closer to the 'objective laws' than it. In my opinion, the latter is stronger and more powerful than the former. ”

At this time, the walkie-talkie in the car was turned on again, and the assistant spoke: "Mr. Xiang, Mr. Dibois, the park is about to arrive." ”

Then, the intercom turns off.

Inside the car, the two looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Although I can probably understand that those of you in management positions also have certain demands and have your own development for the development of the enterprise. But in my case, please don't use such words. For me, that's a minus. Xiang Shan said: "'We' think that this is the right track now. If you feel that there is no future in this direction...... Tsk, I don't want to say anything too hurtful. You get the idea, right? ”

A natural smile appeared on Bernard's somewhat wrinkled face: "I can't jump out of the car at this time, boss." I truly believe that you can be the 'Watts' of the new era. You will be able to make a fortune in the next wave of the Industrial Revolution. ”

Xiang Shan sighed and looked out the window.

This is the "Transhumanist High-Tech Park" located in Daxing District, which was officially built the year before last and officially put into use last year. It is only now the first phase of the building. The main users here are the R&D institutions owned by Xiang Shan and his friends, as well as the supporting companies of these R&D institutions.

In addition, under the guidance of local scholars such as Xiang Shan and Chen Feng, this distant place has also established deep ties with universities such as Qingbei.

Of course, the most important thing is the project inside.

The whole world knows that projects under the themes of "human prosthesis" and "medical genetic modification" are being developed in this park. Over the years, this place has become a "geek mecca". Even though the core of the park is off-limits, technologists from all over the world still come here to give birth.

It's just that after nightfall, the Internet celebrities who come the most are all kinds of live broadcasts.

The people were wearing clothes with LEDs and saying something into their phones.

Bernard looked out the window with interest: "Let's see if there are any eye-catching girls this time—but these people are really weird." In their eyes, is putting LED lights on clothes 'cyberpunk'? ”

"Who knows."

Xiang Shan muttered. He was still thinking about Bernard's attitude.

From a purely personal point of view, Lao Di is a good person, philanthropic, compassionate, and tolerant, and is one of the few professional managers who can tolerate the radical tendencies of Xiangshan's team - after all, conservatives are all too common in this industry.

However, his business philosophy has nothing to do with his personal morality. As a manager, Lao Di is just a "personified capital" - the professional ethics of the manager requires him to achieve "multiplication" for the entity of capital. Whether he is a good person or a bad person, as long as he runs a business according to the instinct of "capital", he is contributing to the "inequality" of this world.

Whether he is a good person or a bad person, in that position, he has to choose actions that are more beneficial to capital appreciation. Otherwise, "capital" will flow to others who can fulfill this duty.

- Is that just small talk? Is he trying to influence me in this subtle way? Or is it a statement?

INTERVIEWER Among the managers, how many people think this way? Does it mean to form a force?

Xiangshan has never been very suitable for people who think about this kind of thing. But he at least knew that what his people had researched would change human history. As developers of technologies, they have a responsibility to control the impact of these technologies.

The car stopped for a moment in front of a gate. After checking the documents, the people at the gate were allowed to let them go. These are veterans who have retired from elite units. Some of these people are also secretly connected to national security. They ensured that people and others could not enter the core of the park.

Soon, the van was parked outside a small ten-story building.

Push the door towards the mountain and go out. Bernard waved at him: "Happy Chinese New Year's Eve, boss." ”

Xiang Shan nodded. As soon as he stepped through the door, the VR glasses immediately displayed a cluster of "pending documents" in the upper left corner of his field of vision. Some of them have countdowns behind them.

On the left side of the field of view, a small line of avatars is also revealed. These avatars are the "usual contacts" that he often comes into contact with in his work, and now has no important tasks and is still in the park.

Xiang Shan grabbed his computer bag and returned to his office. The office is also minimalist without much frills, and the desk is not made of the usual solid wood, but stainless steel.

Xiang Shan turned on his computer and first sent a piece of code that he had written outside to the lab, and asked the lab to arrange the test.