Chapter 16, Trivia in Crete (Part 2)
Not to mention how Carol, Doraemon and King Minos in the underground palace were in a mess in the wind, with chickens flying and dogs jumping, and chickens and ducks talking... In a side hall outside the palace, Wang Qiu He Ma Tong was sitting cross-legged on a brand new reed mat, playing with a box of Babylonian checkers in his hand.
In today's civilized countries around the Eastern Mediterranean, this thing is a puzzle game played by everyone from the royal family to the common people.
However, since it is a thank-you gift from the Minoa royal family to all the "gods", this set of checkers is naturally extraordinary - the chess box is made of gold, the black chess pieces are polished from obsidian, and the white chess pieces are made of silver. It was cast, and some mythical figures were inlaid with various gemstones such as lapis lazuli and carnelian on the lid of the box. Just such a small thing is enough for many ordinary people at the bottom to feed them for a lifetime.
In addition, the Queen Mother also presented them with various Cretan-style gold and silver vessels, handicrafts made of gems, pearls and beautiful shells, as well as precious fragrant woods, etc., which were all displayed for a while, but It is far from being able to repay Doraemon's huge debt of tens of billions of yen - which is finally an order of magnitude lower than the previous debt of 300 billion yen - and it is not what Japanese immigrants need to establish colonial towns.
Therefore, after giving some modern commodities such as fruit knives, refined salt, and candies to the royal family of Minoa, Wang Qiu and the others naturally proposed that they wanted to start trade in this seaport city and hoped that the royal family would provide convenience—the main goal It is not only to raise money for Doraemon to pay off debts, but also to purchase some "special goods" for immigrants that cannot be provided in the modern world, or to be precise, cannot be obtained through legal channels...
The Queen Mother naturally responded to this simple and reasonable request - she was also very curious about the goods of these "gods".
However, since today is not a market day, no one is doing business even at the market, so the royal family must first send people to notify all caravans in the city and ask them to bring their goods to the market to meet and hold an unplanned special market. Market... In order to attract as many merchants as possible to bring their goods, so as not to make the scene too deserted and displease the "gods", the Queen Mother even gritted her teeth and exempted today's transaction tax.
However, it turns out that she seemed to have underestimated the appeal of the Nile daughters and "gods" who descended from the sky to curious people.
——As time passed, Wang Qiu and Ma Tong soon heard the increasingly noisy noise outside even though they were deep inside the palace.
Then, a palace maid wearing a high-slit white linen skirt came over respectfully to inform them of the news.
"...I would like to report to you distinguished guests that all the merchants in the city have been summoned to the market and have arranged their stalls. The palace steward and the guards have also made preparations to travel. Can you please move now? Departure?”
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As the world's largest maritime trade center in this era, Crete's business atmosphere is obviously much stronger than that of Egypt, an agricultural country.
For example, the largest market in the capital city of Knossos is located directly in the large square in front of the palace. At a glance from the front of the palace, there are tents everywhere as far as the eye can see, tall and short. People of all kinds crowded around each other, and the sounds of hawking and shouting filled the sky.
In fact, even the garden-like palace itself in the city of Knossos was used as both a royal warehouse and a royal handicraft workshop. In addition to a few industries such as metal smelting, the pollution problems of those handicraft workshops in ancient times were It was far less serious than the large industrial factories and mines of later generations, so if necessary, craftsmen and nobles could stay in the same yard without worrying about the unpleasant smell.
Unlike other countries, the goods hoarded in the palace of Knossos and the handicrafts produced by palace craftsmen were not just for supplying nobles, servants and the army, but were also put on the market for trade - the royal family and It is the country's largest industrial and commercial group and import and export company, not only to obtain financial resources from trade, but also to control the country economically like the Lee family in Singapore in later generations.
——In other countries in the West at that time, because the civil service system had not yet emerged, all countries were theocratic and militarized societies. The king claimed to be the incarnation of God, controlled the people's thoughts with temples and armies, expropriated the wealth of the land, and suppressed all parties. resistance to maintain control of the country.
But in Crete, which relies on maritime trade for a living, due to its high degree of commercialization from the beginning of civilization, the population is highly mobile and has never been tied to the land. As a result, the Cretans are open-minded and religious. The faith is far less pious than that of the mainland people, but it is very close to modern Western society. The status of the priests is relatively pitiful, and they are even part-time - so it is so easy for Mycenaean spies to sneak in. If it were ancient Egypt, letting a group of foreigners control the temple would be as absurd as letting a group of blond foreigners control the imperial examination in Ming Dynasty China.
Not only did the temple system not work very well in Crete and it was difficult to fool the people, but the army also had special problems. Although the government of this country has devoted all its efforts to develop a powerful fleet and its maritime power is unparalleled in the world, the navy cannot go ashore after all. It is difficult to expand territory externally and suppress resistance internally. The most terrible thing is that the wealth of Crete mainly comes not from land, but from trade. Abuse of violence and extortionate expropriation will only drive businessmen to their competitors, leading to the decline of the country. Therefore, the royal family of this island country has to personally participate in trade and industry, firmly hold on to the largest share of profits, and rule the people with wealth rather than violence or superstition, similar to the large conglomerates in the modern West - of course, modern Wall Street has It has developed to the point of using finance to control society, but this was not possible in Crete BC.
In short, Cretan navigators and merchants from all over the world brought all kinds of rare goods to the island, ranging from various ferocious birds and beasts to exquisite rings and earrings... …pottery, grain, furs, cloth, ivory, pearls, amber, spices, dried fruits from far away, exotic blankets, well-trained slaves, clowns and dancers, all the goods that can be found in this era, in It has it all here. Most of the businessmen with some status put their goods in front of the tents for guests to choose from. At the same time, only a few clerks were left to look after the business, while they themselves had to take time to wander around the market. , purchase those goods that you like.
——In this ancient era before the birth of money and the emergence of a wealth society, the social economy of all countries in the world was based on self-sufficiency, international trade was still in its primitive state, and commerce was only an accessory and supplement to the production industry. Therefore, most merchants do not make profits through reselling as their first goal, but exchange their surplus products for scarce materials that are difficult for the owner to produce and interesting novel items as their first priority.
For example, the Egyptians have a surplus of food but a shortage of wood and metal. The first task of the Egyptian caravan is to find a trading partner willing to exchange wood and metal for food, and ensure that food can be exchanged for wood and metal. Don't care about the level of your own profits.
In the same way, those peoples who own mines and forests but lack fertile land must use all the resources within their own countries in exchange for food to avoid famine. Due to the poor transportation conditions in ancient times, in practice, as long as we could find a caravan willing to send food, we would be thankful. As for the specific amount of food that can be exchanged, it doesn't matter whether it will be a loss. In today's barter commercial market, most commodities are generally in shortage rather than surplus. Just like the big American capitalists in later generations who let wheat rot in the ground and poured milk into the Mississippi River in order to maintain profits, In this era of underdeveloped productivity, it will never happen.
Therefore, international trade at this time was really just an enlarged country market. Not to mention a majestic trading building, there might not even be fixed shops (the private mansions of big businessmen were another matter) ), far less high-end and western-style than later generations. Everyone just found a place with convenient transportation and put out their remaining products to see if they could reach an exchange. Today's Crete, due to its powerful fleet and unique geographical location, is able to play this role. The role of the market is to make profits, but that's all.
In addition, the lack of money as a universal intermediary forced merchants to often complete shipments and purchases at the same time. What worries them most is often not how much profit they can make, but how to reach a deal with the other party and exchange their own things for what they want...
In this case, when classmate Wang Qiu commanded a group of Japanese refugees from the zombie apocalypse world of "School Apocalypse", they carried [automatic pawn machines] to the market in front of the palace and publicly announced their willingness to purchase these businessmen. With everything of value in hand, and all modern goods from glass, iron, cotton, matches to condiments open for sale, the entire city of Knossos suddenly boiled!
——This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to clear out inventory! All those gadgets that couldn't be sold in the past can be sold now!
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So, in a short time, locally produced olive oil and colorful pottery, fresh fish and dried fish from the Aegean Sea, Babylonian bronze crafts inlaid with filigree, ivory wine cups from Abyssinia, emerald bracelets from Mitanni, Hollow silver vases, ornaments made of various shells, and oriental spices that are as expensive as gold. It is said that after eating them, a woman will be rejuvenated. Mysterious dried mushrooms, as well as pickled animal parts that can make men show off in bed... All kinds of strange or mundane stockpiles have been used by the hard-working Cretans and foreign businessmen. I dug them out from every nook and cranny of the city and brought them in front of all the time-travelers. They stood in a long queue and stuffed them into the [automatic pawn machine] in turn.
Then, they took a few pieces of printed paper and metal round cakes given by the other party and went to a nearby stall to exchange for various novel products: small wooden sticks that can ignite flames with a single stroke; water as clear as spring water, which can be drunk Fragrant spirits that burned like fire; wonderful cloths with bright colors; sweet "candies" that were as colorful as gems; metal knives that were sharper than Hittite iron swords...everything made them feel intoxicated. , beaming with joy.
However, some people are dissatisfied. For example, a senior craftsman in a painted pottery workshop could not accept that the fine colored pottery pots he had carefully made using ancestral techniques could be exchanged for what he could get from the "gods". Not a big crab randomly picked up by a coolie on a dock - but Wang Qiu was helpless in this matter. Regarding this Cretan painted pottery jar, which was very crude in modern eyes, the [automatic pawn machine] spit out a 100 yen coin, obviously not treating it as an antique. Valuation... This is the difference in productivity between the industrial era and the agricultural era!
So, after a few arguments, the unhappy middle-aged man exchanged a fruit candy and took it back to make the child happy.
——In the above-mentioned transaction, the time-travelers sold all the goods purchased from the modern world at twice the price in order to quickly raise funds.
What makes the Cretans even more happy is that these gods who are said to have cured King Minos are also willing to treat each of them!
In the Mediterranean world of the fourteenth century BC, although humans had long since escaped ignorance and established civilization, medical technology was still very primitive. The so-called doctors were actually more like wizards, and sometimes they were just messing around when treating diseases. Even in ancient Egypt, which is known as the most advanced medical field, those Egyptian doctors would let patients with dental caries eat raw mice to treat tooth decay. When they couldn't figure out what the patient was sick about, they would jump on him and recite incantations to ward off evil spirits... This way The efficacy of the messy medical skills can be imagined, but the problem is that the medical level of other countries is not even as good as that of ancient Egypt!
Therefore, once most ordinary people in this era get sick, they can only lie at home and beg for blessings from the gods. If you survive, you will be blessed by the gods with good fortune. If you cannot survive, you will be summoned by gods to reach eternal bliss... Nowadays, I see that there are real "gods" coming down from the sky to treat everyone's illnesses. Anyone who has a sick person in the room, Everyone hurriedly carried the sick relatives over. At the beginning, Wang Qiu also used the [automatic medical kit] to diagnose and treat them one by one to ensure that the medicine was cured, and many people were quickly cured of tuberculosis and rheumatism. But it seems that those rich people are quite sensible and know that they need to send some gold, silver, jewelry and other thank-you gifts. The remaining poor people could not pay for the medicine at all, and would only kneel on the ground and kowtow to thank them, causing them to lose money... So they began to be stingy, and only the rich people were treated carefully, while the poor people were left to a few Japanese refugees to deal with casually. Ask them about their condition, and just give them a few aspirin - this medicine is basically useful in treating common diseases such as headaches, brain fever, analgesia and inflammation. Besides, even if the medicine is not suitable for the patient and has no pharmacological effect, at least it still has a psychological effect. As for the truly severe patients, that is your life. No matter which world there are poor people dying of illness, we time travelers are not here to do charity...