Chapter 485

Tulips have been hyped in the Netherlands for more than 30 years, and the event has become a national movement in the Netherlands, with almost everyone hoarding and trading tulips.

As early as the eighth year of Chongzhen, there were a large number of foreigners, mainly (YT), who heard that tulips in the Netherlands were very valuable, and began to join in this incident of hyping tulips, which caused the price of tulip bulbs, which was already sky-high, to soar again.

An ordinary tulip is now about sixty-five guilders. At an auction, ninety-nine tulips were auctioned for a whopping price of 90,000 guilders, and the sale of forty tulip bulbs was recorded for 100,000 guilders.

For comparison, the price of a ton of butter is about one hundred guilders, and a skilled worker can earn one hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty guilders a year, while "eight fat pigs" cost two hundred and forty guilders.

The average pig is worth about thirty guilders (according to the International Institute of Social History, the purchasing power of one guilder in 1637 was equivalent to 11.51 euros in 2016). At this rate, ninety-nine tulips are equivalent to one million 35,900 euros.

Historically, the tulip bubble in the Netherlands appeared on February 4, 1637, but in this time and space, because of the influx of a large number of Ming goods into Europe, some clever merchants found that Ming goods were in short supply, especially beautiful porcelain, very comfortable, very heavy four-wheeled carriages, and a large number of lightweight, warm and breathable wool cloth.

They must rush before everyone notices, order goods from the hands of Ming merchants, in this era, the Ming Dynasty is not like later generations, just pay five percent, or even one percent of the deposit, you can get the goods, but also use the principle of death at the bow of the ship, after receiving the goods, all kinds of picks, looking for opportunities not to pay.

Ming merchants will not be like this, their deposit is at least 50 percent, and some businessmen in order to get the goods as soon as possible, they will increase the deposit, some businessmen even take out a 70 percent deposit of the purchase price, but the problem is that many businessmen find that the cash in their hands is hoarded on tulips.

Now that tulips in the Netherlands have risen to sky-high prices, the possibility of rising again is very small, so many businessmen began to withdraw funds from the tulip market.

But the problem is that as tulips are sold one after another, there are even businessmen who are willing to sell at a loss, and their original intention is to lose money on tulips and use Daming commodities to make a profit. As a result, everyone sold tulips, and in just a few days, the sky-high price of tulips became the price of cabbage.

With the collapse of tulip prices, the first financial crisis in history began to appear, in just half a month, more than 900 billionaires in the Netherlands went bankrupt, this financial crisis quickly affected the Dutch shipbuilding industry, physical processing industry, including overseas colonial industry.

After the bankruptcy of countless wealthy people, in order to pay off their debts, they could only devote themselves to overseas colonization, which also indirectly led to the decline of the status of the Netherlands as a world financial center, and also stimulated the Dutch maritime transportation industry. There is no way, they are all poor.

Now there was great chaos in the Netherlands, because there were too many bankrupts, too many people who took risks, the guns continued all night, and countless bankrupt middle class became criminals, who took muskets and began to gather together and attack the estates of the big capitalists.

The chaos was heated from the beginning, and the Duke of Olivares, the Prime Minister of Spain, who received information from the Netherlands in Madrid, was excited, and drank a bottle of potato liquor directly after drinking it.

Of course, after sobering up, Olivares carefully analyzed the real reasons for the collapse of the Dutch economy, and he came to the conclusion that it was caused by the arrival of the allies of the Ming Empire in Europe, forcing Dutch merchants to lose faith in the future of the Netherlands.

This further strengthened the Duke of Olivares to strengthen relations with the Ming Empire, and he proclaimed to King Philip IV and knighted Deng Xianwu and Xie Xianlin to demonstrate the friendship of the Spanish Empire.

As a result, Deng Xianwu and Xie Jinglin were both knighted as Spanish knights.

During this period, Xie Jinglin and the staff of the Daming Foreign Affairs Corps were very busy, they not only quickly sold the goods of more than 20 large ships, but also collected more than 880 tons of silver just for the deposit, you must know that the Ming Dynasty only has 37.3 grams, and one ton of silver is equivalent to 26,809.66 taels, more than 880 tons, which is equivalent to more than 20 million taels of silver.

Of course, there was not only silver in the deposit, but also more than sixty tons of gold.

Xie Jinglin looked at Deng Xianwu and said with a smile: "When we return to China, the king will at least raise Deng Xuezheng to the third level!" ”

Deng Xianwu shook his head and said: "I have no interest in being promoted, as long as the rivers go and the sun and the moon shine, the guest of the land is not the king's land......"

"You are a noble man!"

Xie Jinglin said: "I saw Viscount Tirena's wife enter your room!" ”

Deng Xianwu's old face flushed: "I learned Spanish from the wife of Viscount Tirenne, and she learned Chinese from me......"

"Well, you have to pay attention, although Viscount Tirrenne is not in Madrid, he is leading an army to fight against the French, if you let him know that you have cuckolded him, I am afraid it will cause a dispute between the two countries!"

Deng Xianwu said a little unnaturally: "There shouldn't be a problem, they are very open in this regard!" ”

"What do you mean by letting go, if you weren't the commander of the Daming Ocean Fleet, would you see if the viscountess would be looking at you?"

Before Xie Jinglin's words were finished, Deng Xianwu said: "You are the same, don't make trouble, let alone violate the principles, if something happens, the king will not be able to explain it!" ”

Deng Xianwu also had a headache, the soldiers of the Ming Royal Navy held back at sea for too long, and when they came to Spain, they were warmly received, and they couldn't refuse at all.

Deng Xianwu and Xie Jinglin lingered in the city-states of the Spanish Empire, and they were very happy, but the other group of people did not have such a good fate. While Deng Xianwu was having dinner with the Viscountess, a fleet full of exiles arrived in Australia, no, it should be Zhanzhou.

The prisoner walked out of the cabin in a daze with the roar of the soldiers, and after only one glimpse of the outside world, he wailed in despair!

The cabin was hot and humid, and the smell of sweat, athlete's foot, and vomit mixed into a terrifying stench that turned the small space into a haunted purgatory.

At least for Wang Yangxi, the son-in-law, now this son-in-law is almost collapsing on the bed, angry and pale, which really makes people worry about whether he will choke his breath in the next second.

Wang Yangxi is a famous family, born in a scholarly family, good-looking, suave, plus his father Wang Yingxiong is the second assistant of the Chongzhen Dynasty, there are countless people who rush to send money to the door, and they can accumulate thousands of family wealth by collecting a little bit casually.

And everyone knows the urine nature of Ming officials, since they have become officials, there is no reason to accept a little casually, and accepting bribes has become an officialdom culture, only a little? Joke! Just because of such a good father, the prince lived an extremely prosperous life, spendthrift, and regarded money as dung.

When Wang Gongzi was in Beijing, he got acquainted with a large group of evil young people, not doing business, traveling all day long, lingering in fireworks and willow alleys, restaurants and tea shops, like oppressing people with power, but there is, robbing women from good families, he really hasn't done it, Wang Gongzi's identity is placed there, who he fancies, whose blessing is it, if he wants a woman, he can row from their door to Dongzhimen.

For him, everything is so perfect, the national policy of the Ming Dynasty to treat the gentry is for the children of a scholarly family like him, spend money and donate a person to worry about food and clothing for a lifetime, and his parents and ancestors have unparalleled influence in the officialdom, can easily settle all the troubles for him when he commits a crime, he was born to enjoy happiness, is there a more perfect life than this?

The only thing that is not perfect is that his father is the second assistant king of the Ming Dynasty, Ying Xiong.

It's not that I look down on the second assistant of the Ming Dynasty, although the second assistant is not as good as the first assistant, but it also holds the core power of the empire, there is a father who is the second assistant, and the ancestral tomb is not smoking, but breathing fire.

The reason why it is said that there is a father who is a secondary assistant is not perfect is because this secondary assistant has a mortal enemy named Cheng Shijie.

A long time ago, Wang Yingxiong and Cheng Shijie became mortal enemies, in order to bring down Cheng Shijie, Wang Yingxiong jumped up and down, acting as Wen Tiren's pawn, and even did not defect to the enemy and betray the country.

But the problem is that Cheng Shijie's life is relatively hard, and he led the Ning Navy to settle the battle in a battle, the Qing army was annihilated, Cheng Shijie replaced Chongzhen and became the regent of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty entered a new era.

And entering the new era means that a lot of old things can die, the first thing that the iron-blooded tyrant did after coming to power was to liquidate the crimes of the Shi Dafu group, and none of the guys in the cabinet who colluded with foreign enemies escaped, Wen Tiren, Wang Yingxiong, Yang Sichang, Chen Xinjia......

Naturally, all of these cabinet ministers were cut down. Some also enjoyed Ling Chi, and Wang Yingxiong was one of the people who were Ling Chi.

As for the children of their family, they were not punished by the Nine Clans, but it depends on how many crimes they have committed, if they just use their power to embezzle, let them be exiled, and let them die, then you are not welcome.

As for your Wang Yangxi's uncle, Wang Yingxiong's younger brother Wang Yingxi, and Ni Tianhe, the son of his fellow townsman and Nanjing official Ni Sihui, rolled into a big prison, and took advantage of the situation to break his family.

Wang Yingxi didn't even have the opportunity to be distributed, and was directly beheaded to show the public, Wang Yangxi was very lucky, because this thing didn't even have the ability to be a bad guy, his biggest hobby was drinking flower wine, singing, his three cousins, a little nephew, were all happier than him, and they were directly soft.

Of course, for the gentry officials, Cheng Shijie was too ruthless, not only beheading their children, women into lowly status, men under the age of eighteen were exiled overseas, women emigrated to the Northeast, the killing was ruthless, and the punishment was severe, which really made the officials of the world relive the bloodshed and horror of the Hongwu period.

Not only that, Cheng Shijie also strictly investigated corruption, embezzled more than 500 taels of money and silver, and all of them were exiled overseas to work! It should be said that Cheng Shijie does not intend to kill them all, and the dividing line of five hundred taels has already given officials in the world a chance to live.

However, the officials of the Ming Dynasty are too capable of death, a round of strict investigation, officials at all levels regardless of size have been arrested, and they all packed their bags to work in the Zhanzhou farmhouse, for a while, the Ming Dynasty was simply boring!

In that bloody and terrifying atmosphere, Wang Yangxi found out for the first time that it was not a good thing to have a father who was a big official, this

's luck, all his crimes have been investigated, in addition to relying on his Lao Tzu's name to accept bribes, he is actually one of the few powerful children who have not been contaminated with human life.

But the death penalty can be avoided, the living crime cannot be escaped, he lost everything overnight, relatives, friends, status, money, women, these are gone.

After a few months in prison, he was put on a big ship along with many rich boys like him, and then it was a nightmare voyage, and the wind and waves of the sea and the humid and stuffy conditions of the ship made everyone want to jump into the sea and let the sharks tear themselves apart, so that they could die a happy death.

He himself was sick, and he was so uncomfortable that he died, but fortunately, there was a doctor on the ship, and the medicine reserves were quite sufficient, so he was given some medicine every day, and he actually survived half-dead like this.

He doesn't have any gentleman's revenge, ten years is not too late, he just wants to live. Only by living can there be hope, and when you die, there is nothing. No matter what the circumstances, people will always try their best to survive, this is human instinct.

"Get off the boat and assemble immediately!"

The officer in black uniform walked into the cabin with a thick stick, looked fierce, and shouted: "Get off the ship immediately!" ”

Hearing this, Wang Yangxi's nose was sore, and he almost cried, thank God, it was finally here, this nightmarish voyage finally reached the end, and they didn't have to stay in this cabin like a gas tank in the future, long live!

He scrambled to his feet, and staggered out, while the officer watched, and kicked him when he saw any of them, and if any of the uneyed fellows dared to glare back, they would reward him with another stick.

Wang Yangxi was still sick, and his movements were naturally slower, so he was naturally beaten with a stick, and he glared back dissatisfied.

The officer immediately raised the stick at him, but seeing that he was pale and depressed, and realizing that he was sick, the stick did not fall after all, but just pushed him: "Hurry up!" What are you grinding for? Do you still want to stay in this hellish place? ”

Wang Yangxi reluctantly quickened his pace, staggered out of the cabin, and came to the deck.

The long-lost sea breeze blows in your face, carrying the saltiness peculiar to the sea, and it is not very pleasant to blow on your face, but for these unlucky people who have been stuffy in the cabin for too long and are almost moldy, this is simply a gift from the gods.

They cheered loudly at the blue sea and enjoyed the fresh air.

Wang Yangxi finally squeezed to the side of the deck, greedily breathing in the fresh air, feeling that the whole person was alive. He began to look around, trying to see what the end of the journey that nearly killed him looked like.

What Wang Yangxi saw was a vast and desolate continent, this continent was boundless, the terrain was flat, but the vegetation was relatively sparse, exposing a large area of dry and cracked land, except for weeds, desolate, like the flood era, except for some strange animals, this is a land where no traces of civilization can be seen.

Wang Yangxi looked at the officer and asked, "Where is this?" ”

"Zhan Zhou!"

The officers were not depressed, because they were different from these unlucky people, they had come to Zhanzhou for five years, and after they went back, they could be promoted to three levels in a row.

(End of chapter)