"Qi is really a rich and dreamy country!"

The drizzle had been falling all day, and it still didn't seem to stop, and the light of the rain and fog, under the reflection of the street lamps, made the whole street glow with a hazy halo.

The tall and straight buildings on both sides of the street, in the night, reveal huge and blurred shadows, looking up, giving people a thick sense of coercion.

The galloping carriage brought up splashes of water, occasionally bursting onto the side of the street with umbrellas, eliciting a few low whining and cursing.

Victor Sassoon withdrew his gaze from the side window, then smiled at Naftali Bennett, the head of the Daxing Jewish Merchant, who sat across from him.

"If you're in Istanbul, or in Baghdad, you might not be able to travel at all on a rainy day like this. Not to mention the condition of the roads in these two cities, as well as the dilapidated and poor drainage system, even the safety at night cannot be guaranteed. Victor Sassoon said: "Of course, if you have to hire a considerable number of armed guards to accompany you, you can ignore this problem. ”

"Mr. Sassoon, in this city, at night, there are still all kinds of potential criminal activities." Naftali Bennett blinked his eyes and said softly, "However, overall, many Qi cities, including Daxing, should be relatively safe. The heavily armed police patrol the city day and night, not only to keep us law-abiding citizens safe, but also to deter criminals with bad intentions. ”

"Mr. Bennett, a few days ago, a large number of military and police raided and arrested all the personnel in the English Merchant House. Do you think this is a witch hunt against the English, or an act of economic retaliation against them? ”

"Mr. Sassoon, according to the information I have obtained, the arrest of the personnel of the English Merchant House by the military and police of the State of Qi is a normal law enforcement action." Naftali Bennett said: "In order to obtain the most cutting-edge steam engine technology in the country, the English carried out a kidnapping and killing of the scientists of the country, which was detected by the military and police of the country, which led to this murder that shocked the whole city. I have been in Qi for almost fifteen years, and I have never heard of any case of political persecution or economic retaliation against merchants who trade normally. ”

"Qi is a very civilized and civilized country, but also a very secular country. As early as more than 80 years ago, when the state of Qi was just established as a state, the principle of the sanctity of private property was clearly defined in law. In this country, as long as you do business legally, pay taxes according to the rules, and do not engage in any illegal and criminal acts, your person and property will be strictly protected by the state. In this country, even the emperor has no right to illegally deprive others of their property. ”

"Oh, to hear you say that, the country of Qi is really a very civilized and legally protected country." Victor Sassoon nodded slightly, and then asked, "So, what is the attitude of this country towards us Jews?" ”

"Mr. Sassoon, as I said earlier, Qi is a very secular country." When Naftali Bennett talked about this topic, his brows couldn't help frowning, and his face showed a little helplessness, "Qi Guo put forward a slogan in the early years, which has been continued to this day, and has implemented it in all aspects of national governance, that is, 'one country, one nation, one language'. ”

"Although the main ethnic group of Qi is mainly the Han Chinese, they do not exclude immigrants, whether you come from the traditional Chinese civilization circle in the East, or from India, Persia, Arabia, and even Europe and other countries and regions. As long as you become a naturalized Qi country, you can only abandon the label of other countries or nationalities and become a Qi person. ”

"In this country, whether it is Christianity, or true God, and even Buddhism and Taoism in the East, they must be placed under the rule of the king and the government, and cannot override or break away from the government, that is, implement a strict separation of church and state. Qi advocates religious freedom, but it stipulates that religion can only be regarded as a matter of people's private belief, and cannot intrude into the political and public spheres represented by the state, let alone compete or form alliances with political power, and can only carry out religious activities within its own scope in accordance with laws and regulations. …… And we Jews are no exception. ”

"That is to say, if our Sassoon family comes to the Qi country, we must make a certain cut from all foreign political and religious ties, act in strict accordance with the laws of the Qi country, and integrate into the country economically and in life."

"Yes." Naftali Benett nodded and said, "If we want to preserve the faith and identity of Judaism, we can only do so in a very limited circle in private. But in any case, politically, culturally, economically, and even traditionally, it is better for us to integrate into this country and become 'a people' as they claim to be." As for the claim in our Jewish doctrine, the Jews are God's only chosen people, and it is best to hide them in our pious hearts. In Eastern civilization, the emperor is revered as the son of heaven, and his status in the world is the most exalted, he is the creator of this world. ”

"Am I to think, then, that as long as we are attached to the Qi state and integrated into the one of the nations they profes, we Jews will be protected by the emperor and the government, and will no longer be subjected to unwarranted expulsion and persecution?"

"Mr. Sassoon, before I came to the Qi Kingdom, dozens of well-known Jewish families had migrated to the Han Continent. Over the years, no Jews have been deported or unjustifiably persecuted, except for a few who have been tried for violating the laws of the Empire. ”

When Victor Sassoon heard this, he couldn't help but feel relieved, and a relaxed expression appeared on his face.

The Sassoons are a well-known family in Arabia, originating in the Middle Ages and first settling in Spain, engaged in the financial industry (usury) and inter-regional trade. But in the 16th century, Spain began to exclude Jews, and countless Spanish Jews disappeared under waves of trials, deportations, and massacres, and most of the remaining Jews were forced to convert.

It was at that time that the Sassoons fled to Baghdad to take refuge under the protection of the Ottoman Empire. During the more than 100-year-long Ottoman-Persian War, in order to secure the family's life, he gave a lot of financial support to the central government of Istanbul and the local government of Baghdad. Of course, in return, the Ottoman government and the governor of Baghdad also granted the Sassoon family a monopoly on local finance and trade, which amassed a huge fortune over the course of a hundred years.

Decades ago, when Qi's commercial power infiltrated Persia, Egypt, Arabia, and even Asia Minor, the Sassoon family also seized the opportunity to obtain the agency rights of Qi's goods in Arabia, and made entrepot trade prosperous.

However, in the last decade or so, two governors of Baghdad have taken an anti-Semitic attitude, carrying out political persecution and economic repression against the Sassoon family of Xuanhe. If it weren't for the fact that the family had donated a large sum of money to the Sudan and the Great Vizi of Istanbul, they would have been granted temporary political asylum, and perhaps the entire family would have been swallowed up by the local governor, and the centuries-old inheritance and wealth would have been destroyed.

In line with the principle of the three holes of the cunning rabbit, the Sassoon family began to take precautions and actively prepare for the future. They first sent their descendants to Bushehr Port to participate in the construction of local infrastructure for the Qi people, thus catching the line of the Qi people. Later, through the recommendation of the Persian trading company of Qi State, the Sassoon family invested heavily in Shanghai (now Mumbai, India), Anfeng (now Cochin, India), and Gangneung (now Kolkata, India) in India, established several international trading companies, and at the same time gradually transferred family assets.

In October last year, the Sassoon family sent Victor Sassoon to Han Chau to inspect the political, economic and social environment of Qi on the spot, so as to provide constructive suggestions on whether the entire family should relocate to Qi.

For more than a thousand years, the Jews were also a poor people, and for more than a thousand years, because they were alien to the mainstream society around the world, they were excluded from normal occupations, especially as officials and in the army, and the door was closed to the Jews.

The only thing the Jews could do was to do business. With Judaism as the spiritual bond and the Jewish communities scattered all over Europe as the fulcrum, they engaged in some reselling and trafficking business, and ran around four trade routes all the year round: First, luxury goods such as carpets, precious stones and other goods from Central Asia were shipped to European countries through the hands of Jews, bypassing the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. The second is the specialty of Egypt and other African countries, which were loaded by Jews on large ships, transported across the Mediterranean to Europe, and then sold to other countries. The third is to transfer Southeast Asian spices purchased by Shinshin merchants to Europe through two trade routes, both land and water, and some Jews even sail to Southeast Asia to purchase spices. The fourth is the short-term trade of European countries.

Because of their religious and ethnic blessings, the Jews were more united than other merchants, and soon took control of several trade routes, becoming the mainstream of the commercial society, making huge profits every time they did transit trade. And in doing business, Jews relied on religion and community, forming a trade network that spanned Europe, Asia, and Africa, and found trading partners wherever they went.

So the Jews in the Middle Ages became synonymous with the rich.

Later generations said that Jews were wise and wise, and that they were born to do business. Actually, there is no such thing as "innate", but the Jews are driven to a dead end and can only do business. Only Jews who can do business will survive, and those who can't do business will be eliminated by history.

Jews who have money can improve their lives and are guaranteed to succeed in business. With money, we can invest in education, so that future generations can have a minimum understanding of the world, and although it is not guaranteed to surpass most people, it can raise the lower limit of future generations' success. With money, you can build connections and make your path smoother for yourself and future generations.

In this way, it was almost impossible for the European peoples of that era to compete with the Jews in commerce, so the Jews in the Middle Ages were more like large united merchant gangs with spiritual beliefs, trade networks, and technical experience.

However, since ancient times, power and wealth have been two sides of the same coin. Power is a red flower that rises high, and it needs wealth to be a green leaf embellishment. Wealth is the foundation of worldly life, and power is also needed to ensure security.

The best match of power and wealth, the top must be both power and wealth, can not only give orders, but also enjoy life, well, just like the emperors and ministers in ancient China, the capital magnates of European and American countries in later generations.

The second level is the power but no wealth, such as the affairs officer of the modern state in later generations, whether it is to realize the ideal or receive a salary, he can do as much as he can anyway.

Again, there is no power or wealth, and ordinary people such as us can at least ensure safety and live an ordinary life.

The saddest collocation is that there is wealth and no power, in this collocation model, wealth has no power as an umbrella, which is equivalent to a fat sheep to be slaughtered, as long as the high-ranking and powerful person is willing, he can draw a knife to cut meat at any time. Half a life of hard work, in the end I made wedding clothes for others.

The Jews of the Middle Ages were this kind of wealthy and powerless. They made huge fortunes through their vast trading networks, but because of their low political status and disconnection from mainstream society, the Jews had no umbrella for their wealth, and they became fat sheep that could be cut at any time by the European elites.

In that case, who will you slaughter if you don't kill you? Add to that the religious and ethnic issues, and the exclusion of Jews is simply politically correct.

During this period, the Jews lived comfortably only in Britain, France, and the Netherlands. At that time, the deceased ministers of France, such as Richelieu and Colbert, recognized the benefits of Jewish enterprises to the French economy, and Bordeaux, a major trading city, was very friendly to Jews, believing that once they left, the economy of the whole city and even the whole province would suffer a heavy blow. Louis XIV, the Sun King, was also very considerate of the Jews, and in 1670 he issued several edicts granting immunity to Jews who had been arrested by the local government on charges of "performing peculiar religious rituals."

Of course, the Jews also reciprocated, and in the several wars launched by France, many wealthy Jewish merchants and bankers donated large sums of money to support the expansion of the Sun King, which shows the importance that Jews attached to France.

The situation of Jews in Britain is somewhat worse than that in France, but it has been improving in recent decades. In the past, when Charles II was in exile, he was also heavily financed by Jewish merchants, so after his restoration, the Jews received many economic benefits. Not to mention the later King William III, who had close relations with the Jews when he was in Holland, and when he came to London, the Jews collectively donated money to him to help him pay for the mercenaries. Today, Jews are thriving in London in banking and bill-dealing.

Of course, Jewish life in the Netherlands was one of the most pleasant. The bankers and wholesalers in Amsterdam are roughly Dutch, Italian, and Jewish. In 1688, Susso, a Jewish merchant, privately donated 2 million guilders to support William III's entry into England.

Such a generous intervention, and the absence of political and religious repression, naturally allowed the Jews to be at home in the Netherlands. The Jewish community in Amsterdam is so large that it has earned the nickname "Jewish Holy Land".

Many of the commodity agents and wholesalers with whom the Qi people habitually dealt in Europe were heavily Jewish, and their penetration and control over the entire European commerce can be seen.

But the money of the Jews is not very easy to use in front of the Qi State, which is the consensus of all Jews in the whole of Europe and even the world. With the massive expansion of Qi's economic power, they did not crave Jewish money or trade channels.

So, what else can attract the people of Qi?

They have a strong economy, a high level of industrial development, a well-developed financial sector, and a military power that is evident – the navy controls the entire Indian Ocean Rim, the army is invincible, and they have countless territories and strongholds in the Pacific. More importantly, Qi also occupies many key nodes on the world's major trade routes.

"Qi is planning to build public infrastructure in several surrounding island territories to promote local people's livelihood and economic development, railways, roads, ports, and mining development, as well as the expansion of various cash crop plantations." Naftali Bennett smiled and said: "I think the Qi government is very happy to see a large amount of private capital invested in these places, which is highly consistent with the government's economic guidance, and then brings more social capital to participate in it." Although the rate of return on these investments is relatively low and the cycle is relatively long, under the leadership of the Qi government, the safety is absolutely guaranteed. At the same time, it is also the most effective means to curry favor with the Qi government and integrate our Jews into the mainstream social and economic system of the Qi country. What do you think, Mr. Sassoon? ”