As for the living standards of ordinary people in the ancient West, through observation and research during this time, Wang Qiu and they have more or less understanding.

According to Queen Cleopatra, Egypt was originally quite rich, and the living standards of its residents were still acceptable in the Mediterranean civilization circle at that time, so that it attracted immigrants from all over the world to settle down on the banks of the Nile River and enjoy the rich products of this rich land.

(Wang Qiu thinks it's because Egypt doesn't need to wear clothes much, and there is no need to burn charcoal for heating in winter, so he saves money.) ）

But the problem is that Queen Cleopatra has had a bad year since she ascended the throne, and after two years of crop failure, the standard of living of Egyptians has fallen in an avalanche. After the scuffle between Queen Cleopatra and her husband Ptolemy XIII, and the looting of the Roman army, the Nile Delta became a purgatory of ruins, and everyone had to rack their brains to fill their stomachs.

Although since Queen Cleopatra returned to the capital, she has begun to rebuild the cities, palaces and irrigation canals that have been razed by the war, and through a series of large-scale projects to provide relief for work, temporarily solving the livelihood of many refugees. But after all, not everyone has the strength to do heavy physical work. The food earned by a strong laborer after a day's hard work is often not enough to feed a large family, and the remaining women and children also need to fend for themselves.

Therefore, even the most insignificant edible things, the hungry Egyptians refused to let go. In Alexandria, Wang Qiu saw Egyptians searching for shellfish the size of a finger on the beach. There are also edible algae and small crabs, which are rarely talked about, but which are now a delicacy on the tables of the poor in Egypt. Many people search the beach every day to satisfy the need for that mouth.

Far from the coast, hungry Egyptian farmers scoured the ditches for fish smaller than a finger. Or hunt for wild ducks in the reeds on the banks of the Nile, digging for reed roots and lotus roots. As fuel is as scarce as food, firewood-wasting bread has become a luxury, and most people have to cook porridge directly from wheat. The old men and women go out on crutches every day. Stare everywhere looking for hay and fallen leaves as fuel for cooking. Later, Wang Qiu couldn't stand it anymore, so they replaced some of the wheat distributed to the hungry people with flour. This ensures that at least most of the children can drink the batter. Whether it is a peasant in the countryside or a citizen in the city, most of the conversation is usually about food, and in such a state of abject poverty, it is natural that there is not much market for luxury goods such as silk, perfume, and glass mirrors.

And the whole West shijie outside of Egypt. They are also suffering from wars and famines. Spain and Italy, for example, are also suffering from droughts. Moreover, the agriculture there was backward and dependent on the weather for food (relying on natural rainfall), and the food production was particularly severe, and the Romans could not even guarantee the food supply of the legionnaires. The rich men of Rome had just been bloodbathed by Mark Antony, who was anxious to raise military funds, in the name of hunting down the "enemies of the state", and all the money obtained from the raid was used for military salaries, and for the time being, there was much money left over for the pursuit of luxury pleasures.

Asia Minor and Syria were not suffering from drought, but the army of Pontic King Pharnasis was sweeping through Western Asia, and he called himself the "liberator of the Greeks" (the kingdom of Pontus was founded by the descendants of Alexander the Great's generals). belonging to the typical Greek country), massacring the Romans everywhere in the East. At the same time, they did not forget to burn and loot to replenish military supplies, and by the way, extort protection money from the "liberated" Greek colonial cities.

Poor Greek colonial cities in the East, such as Rhodes, Antioch, Caius, etc., were originally blackmailed by Pompey (the republicans who retreated to Greece needed to loot the resources of the East and organize an army that could fight against Caesar, and the huge expenses were all pressed on the common people in the East), and after the Battle of Pharsalus, they were extorted by Caesar again. Now that the demands of Pontic King Pharnaciss, they are really tossed to the point that the people are exhausted, and even the bones and slag have been taken out to boil oil, and it is really impossible to consume too many luxuries.

- For the city-states that refused to pay, whether the Romans or the Greeks did the same, it was the Holocaust......

After Pompey was defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus, his army collapsed, but the naval fleet remained intact. But the problem is that only a small part of them are still fighting with the republicans, and the rest of the fleet has turned into pirates and engaged in unprofitable business at sea. And because they are all newcomers, they don't talk about the rules of the road at all, not to sit on the ground and set up cards to collect protection fees, in order to seek a long stream, but also to have money, but also to live, stop a merchant ship and burn it down, which further blows the confidence of the merchants to go to sea to do business.

Stimulated by these rookies, the Silesian pirates who had been dormant for many years (the same unruly fellows who had once pit Spartacus in southern Italy) also rose up on a large scale, making a mess of the entire Mediterranean trade network.

For the half of Egypt under Queen Cleopatra, the only relatively stable trade route at present is the Red Sea-Indian Ocean route. Thousands of years ago, merchants from Persia and India sailed between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean on merchant ships, importing spices, precious stones and silk from the East and gold from East Africa to Egypt. However, due to the influence of monsoons, voyages, and seafaring jishu, such trade was usually carried out only once a year in the first century BCE, and it was difficult to expand the trade significantly in a short period of time—the number of ocean-going ships and skilled sailors was limited.

Moreover, in 47 B.C., this annual transcontinental ocean trade was almost a catastrophe – merchants from India rushed to bring precious spices and silk, only to find in despair that the price of silk in Alexandria was cheaper than their purchase price (consider the cost of silk weaving in ancient China, and then consider the cost of transporting Shu brocade from Sichuan to the west coast of India on pack horses), and pepper and cardamom could not be fetched. For a while, there were not many unlucky people who went bankrupt and jumped into the sea, and even fewer people could afford to buy silk and spices from Egypt and sell them back, let alone expand trade. It would be nice if the trade volume did not shrink next year - it will take time for the market to adjust!

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“…… In troubled times, all kinds of luxury goods will definitely not be sold at a high price, and only weapons and food can make people empty their pockets......" Professor Yang lowered his head and muttered for a while, and then said, "...... Have you considered this aspect in the past? ”

“…… Why didn't you think about it? Who doesn't know that the arms business is very profitable! Wang Qiu shrugged, "...... Last week, a great Greek merchant ate 4,500 Roman daggers in one go. We let the small hardware factory use spring steel plates to specially process and manufacture, in exchange for 65 kilograms of gold, barely a profit. But the money he sent was actually a gold bar with the Ptolemaic cobra insignia (the wealth that the Roman republicans had stolen from the Ptolemaic treasury). made Queen Bixia angry and annoyed for a while...... It is estimated that this so-called Greek merchant is acting as a broker for the Roman Republican leader in North Africa, Cato the Younger!

In addition, the axes and rubber tappers we got in the past have been sold one after another. But the problem is that there were no forests to cut down in ancient Egypt. But there are already pirates who have landed and attacked fishing villages off the coast of Egypt with the axes we have sold, and have cut off the heads of Egyptians...... In short, the profit from selling modern knives is not small, but the demand is still limited, and it will also pose a threat to our own base, so we dare not sell too much for the time being. ”

“…… And what about grain? Professor Yang asked again, "...... Since there is a famine in the entire civilization circle around the Mediterranean. Grain trading should be more profitable! Although it is somewhat politically incorrect to resell grain to foreign countries, the amount of several thousand to tens of thousands of tons. Our unit should be able to hold on. ”

-- In modern China, grain has always been a commodity controlled by the government, of course, the government cannot strictly manage every grain of grain, no matter who wants to buy some grain in China, it is not a difficult thing, but if you want to smuggle it for export, you have to bear it.

Fortunately, Wang Qiu's limit for each transmission is only about ten tons, and he can only do a few thousand tons or tens of thousands of tons of grain at most, and such a quantity of grain is nothing in the market (China consumes more than 500 million tons of grain every year). There is still a lot of stale grain to deal with every year in the country - and if it can be exchanged for much-needed resources, it is perfectly feasible to let the chengguan become grain sellers for a while.

“…… Of course, I tried the grain business, but it still didn't work. Wang Qiu spread his hands, "...... Selling wheat over there is a loss! ”

“…… What the? Will you lose money by selling grain to the disaster area? The eyes of everyone in the room widened together, "...... How is this possible? ”

“…… According to the market of ancient Mediterranean shijie, the price of grain in ancient Egypt is already very high today. But the problem is that ancient coins are not commonly used in modern shijie! Wang Qiu smiled bitterly, "...... As long as you count the difference between the ancient and modern silver prices, this business is simply not possible. ”

- Among the common monetary units used in the ancient Roman Republic in the 1st century BC, one gold coin of "ore" = 25 "dinars" of silver = 100 copper coins of "Sesters". Among them, the Auray gold coin weighs about 10 grams, but the mint volume is very small, and there are not many in circulation on the market. A silver dinar coin weighs 4 grams and has an actual purchasing power equivalent to about 200 yuan, and is usually used to pay for large transactions. If Wang Qiu wanted to dump grain in Alexandria, the coins he received were mainly silver dinars and copper Sesters.

But the question is, in the modern market, how much is a gram of silver worth in yuan? The answer is about $5. 4 grams is 20 yuan

In a normal year in the first century B.C., the price of wheat in Egypt was usually 20 kilograms per dinar, and even in a disaster year, it could have doubled at most, otherwise no one would be willing to buy wheat in large quantities and sell it abroad, because the freight was also not cheap.

(Here is the lowest price of wheat in Egypt, which is the lowest in the Mediterranean, and then it can be sold more expensive in the interior of the grain-starved areas.) ）

In this way, that is, if Wang Qiu wanted to dump grain in Alexandria, he would probably only be able to exchange 2 yuan worth of silver per kilogram of wheat, taking into account the transaction fee of silver exchange. It's simply completely unprofitable, and even if you don't get it right, you will lose money. Moreover, he can't make up the numbers with old rice and old millet used as feed. Because the buyer is not a fool, he will definitely try his best to lower the price when he sees the old grain.

“…… When ancient Egypt dumped food across planes, it was only possible to make money by settling with gold or gemstones, but the gold circulating in the market was very scarce, and it was difficult to estimate the value of gems - there were no professional appraisers among us......"

Wang Qiu drooped his head in frustration, he was in the middle of the transaction for a while, but he was respectful by those who seemed to be respectful. In fact, the black-hearted ancient profiteers were not lightly pitted - lacking the fanatical love and research of dragons and women, he more than once took some cheap ore for expensive gems, or accidentally accepted fake gold with lead bars inside. On another occasion, he almost turned the shiny pyrite into gold......

Thanks to the help of several court jewellers sent by Cleopatra, his negligence did not cause serious consequences, but it also led to the rumor that "although the divine envoys have the power to destroy the world, they lack vision in many small things".

“…… Not to mention. Egypt itself also needs to consume a lot of food. And these relief foods have taken up a large part of our funding......"

- In the two years leading up to 47 B.C., the unusually low water level of the Nile River caused crops to die in drought and crops to be harvested in Egypt, and grain production plummeted; By 47 B.C., the water level of the Nile River had finally returned to normal and the crops could be irrigated, but the fields were devastated by a series of wars...... Therefore. Egypt, as the "bread basket of the Mediterranean", now has no surplus grain to export to earn foreign exchange. Instead, we have to find ways to import food. Otherwise, we will have to wait patiently for large numbers of people to starve to death until the food supply is balanced.

In order to fill the food shortfall, the Egyptians had to live a half-starved life until the next harvest season, while looking for "substitute food" such as reed roots, seaweed, and shells. On the other hand, it is necessary to rely on the generosity of the "divine messengers" - Queen Cleopatra has been looted so much that even her body has been mortgaged, and she has no money to pay for the relief food.

Therefore, since it is a relief grain given free of charge to help the Egyptian government "maintain stability", Wang Qiu's misers naturally come up with some of the most inferior old grains, how cheap and how to come, mainly old rice over the years, overstocked wheat, unsellable sweet potato flour, etc., which can only be used as feed for livestock, and the price is naturally much cheaper than fine grains such as rice and white flour. In order to help the relevant departments solve the inventory, Wang Qiu also found expired bacon stored in the strategic resource reserve for 20 years and old flour that had long been hardened into lumps - the flour was really hard as a stone, and it had to be chopped with an axe when it was taken out - but even so, it was still far from enough for hundreds of thousands of people to eat the next wheat harvest.

Fortunately, the first batch of potatoes and sweet potatoes ordered by Queen Cleopatra has been harvested, and the yield is quite gratifying, and it seems that because of the use of high-yield potato seedlings, even in the case of a serious lack of chemical fertilizer and cultivation experience, a good harvest of one and a half tons of potatoes per mu and three tons of sweet potatoes per mu has been obtained, which shows how rich and fertile the land on the Nile is.

——As food crops known for their high and stable yields, sweet potatoes and potatoes have the characteristics of wide adaptability, strong resistance to stress, drought tolerance and barrenness, and few pests and diseases. For example, sweet potatoes can be used as food rations, fodder, and starch production, and even the leaves can be used as high-quality green fodder - there is hardly any waste. In particular, their growth period is short, with the climate of Egypt, as long as the irrigation water can keep up, they can be planted almost all year round, compared with the hybrid rice that has more stringent requirements for water, fertilizer, light and heat conditions, it is really a more meaningful "crossing artifact".

Of course, sweet potatoes and potatoes as the main food crops are also very problematic. Potato crops like this one can be infected with a variety of viruses during growth and storage because of their long-term vegetative reproduction. These viruses continue to accumulate in potato pieces or potato seedlings, which will cause serious degradation of seed characteristics, poor quality, and a significant decrease in yield, with a yield reduction of more than 30%~70%, and only the use of detoxification jishu can solve this trouble. And the detoxification jishu and equipment are not something that ordinary farmers can afford. Therefore, when modern farmers grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, they can only buy potato seedlings from professional seed companies, while in ancient Egypt, this also means that life-and-death agricultural production is controlled from the source by the "time-traveler colonial authorities" - just like the American Monsanto Company used the trick of controlling crop seeds, almost becoming the emperor of many poor farmers in the third Shijie country.

But the problem is that it is never easy to promote a new crop to the skeptical people, so these potatoes and sweet potatoes were completely forced to be planted by the queen's decree, and for a time provoked a small protest and backlash. After a few stupid people died of poisoning from eating sprouted potatoes, it aroused great suspicion among Egyptians about new crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes.

For this reason, Queen Cleopatra had to use a loudspeaker to make a public speech, preaching to the people the benefits of potatoes and sweet potatoes and precautions when eating, and held many potato feasts and sweet potatoes, taking the lead in eating baked potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes "with the people", zuihou has been eating baked sweet potatoes all day long and eating non-stop farts from morning to night, which barely eliminates the doubts of the people about new varieties of high-yield crops.

However, although the food shortage problem in ancient Egypt of the Ptolemaic Dynasty was barely solved, the problem of making money for the city managers was still not solved.

As a result, Wang Qiu, who had already exhausted his discipline, had to start his evil crooked brain again-after the last time he lost his conscience and resold human organs from ancient Egypt to modern Shijie, and now he has started the unethical trade of making counterfeit money...... (To be continued......)