Chapter 46: Worthy of being the Merchant of Venice (Part 2)
Seeing that these "angels" who lacked moral integrity were completely blown away, as if they were about to turn into world-destroying demons, the shocked Venetians finally softened and did not dare to continue to satisfy the appetites of the angels. Game, but moved the belongings over with some reluctance.
——Although the Venetians originally planned to imitate the evil bosses of later generations who delayed wages, and whetted the appetites of these angels so that they could send them to work. But facing these angels who do not hesitate to abuse their divine power to demand wages, the Venetian's small frame really cannot bear it!
Despite this, it was impossible for the Venetians to collect all the one million ducats the "angels" asked for at once - since the days of the ancient Roman Empire, the "Silk Road" and "Spice Road" to the East had been Since the opening up, in order to obtain these wonderful luxuries, gold, silver and precious metals from Western European society have been continuously flowing out. In the Dark Ages, when everyone spoke with swords, the lack of gold and silver didn't matter. Anyway, there were very few professional merchants in those days, the lords all collected taxes in kind, and market transactions were mostly barter. However, in the Renaissance era when commerce began to rise again, the shortage of gold and silver currency, especially gold coins, became a long-standing problem that troubled Western merchants.
——In the Age of Exploration, after being supplemented by American gold and silver, Venice's annual mintage reached as high as two million ducats. However, now that there is still a century and a half before the discovery of America, the Venetian mint is also in trouble. Cooking without rice...
The Europeans at that time were so eager to obtain gold that they were almost suffering from pinkeye. Before Columbus sailed to the New World, he openly declared that he was sailing for gold: "...gold is the most valuable commodity among all commodities. The most precious thing is that it not only represents wealth. Those who own gold can not only meet their needs in this world, but also find a way to save their souls in purgatory and embark on the road to heaven! ”
Closer to home, in the mid-14th century, the total minting volume of Ducat gold coins in the entire Western world was just over one million. At that time, Venetians exchanged bills of exchange in merchant houses and banks, and tried their best to do this kind of exchange trade without actual money exchanges, so as to overcome the problem of insufficient circulation of precious metal currency. Even in places where bills of exchange are not commonly used, the actual payment is mainly based on silver coins, which are in relatively sufficient supply. It is rare to actually take out gold coins, but they are still expressed in a certain number of ducats on the books to satisfy one's certain needs. A sense of vanity.
——Just like Wall Street in modern New York is a place of wealth, you don’t expect to find dollar bills piled up in skyscrapers here.
(In those days, Venetians rarely used whole boxes of gold coins for bribes, but instead gave money orders, bonds and bankbooks like modern people.)
Therefore, although the city of Venice is rich in land, and there are many rich people with hundreds of thousands of ducats, but if they really want them to come out with gold coins immediately, no one can come up with even 10,000 ducats—— Maybe some bankers really have so many gold coins, but they still have to mobilize them on a large scale from stores scattered everywhere, and this requires a long time of preparation.
In this way, despite the fact that the Governor of Venice searched his treasury and even used his own personal savings, the leading figures of the Grand Council of Venice donated generously and enthusiastically repaid the money, and even emptied the vaults of several banks with IOUs. (The IOU from the Venetian government is still very credible). Within a few days, only 50,000 ducats were collected. and more than 100,000 Grosso silver coins. The rest are all bills of exchange, bonds, IOUs, charters, bank books, and land deeds mortgaged by borrowers... Well, strictly speaking, these things are not waste paper, but on the contrary They were priceless, but unfortunately the [automatic pawn machine] refused to accept them, and the helpless "angels" had no choice but to refuse these items.
Fortunately, although the number of gold and silver coins is limited, you can still find a lot of other valuable things - in the past half a year when the Black Death was raging, almost half of the people in Venice had died, and of course some of them were dead. Most of them were poor people who had nothing to gain, but there were also rich and wealthy families who were extremely fat, so they left a lot of inheritance, which the Venetian authorities could use as gifts.
Of course, even the estates of these dead people have heirs, but it is easier for a person to give up these windfalls than to donate the savings he has worked hard for half his life. Moreover, in the era of the Black Death, preserving life was the most important thing. Otherwise, everyone will live through today without knowing whether there will be a tomorrow. No matter how much inheritance they receive, what is the use? Didn't it change hands and make it cheaper for others?
In addition, the Republic of Venice has been able to defeat many powerful countries and dominate the vast Mediterranean with a small territory and a population of less than 200,000 for hundreds of years. The overall view and sense of sacrifice and dedication of its upper ruling class are indeed quite worthwhile. Praise, otherwise it would be impossible to fool two hundred thousand Venetians who are known for their cunning and cunning to unite all year round. With one heart, he worked hard for the interests of this city-state and fought endlessly in the turbulent international disputes. Governor Andre took the lead in donating all the inheritance his family had recently inherited, as well as everything that could be collected in the Governor's Palace and his private residence. Luxury goods, even his own necklaces, rings and the gold cross on his own shrine were taken out. St. Mark's Basilica also donated gold and silver instruments given by donors from past generations. And other powerful families had to take action and do their part to raise this huge sum of money.
If it were Beijing or Nanjing in the late Ming Dynasty, those rich and powerful people who were extremely selfish and cold-blooded and had no sense of social responsibility would rather hold on to their gold and silver treasures and watch the people in the city turn into withered bones. Be willing to spend a copper coin to pay for citizens' medical expenses.
Of course, it's a good thing that these Venetians are sensible. Otherwise, if they continue to push the ball and try to default on the debt, Doraemon, who is about to be driven crazy by the loan sharks, might really lead the time travelers to launch a war. A massacre in Venice to make money.
The only regret is that although the wealthy people in Venice have a big-picture view when it comes to raising money to eliminate disasters, the definition of the concept of "treasure", to be precise, is the value of various luxury goods. Travelers and There was obviously a very huge difference in the concepts of medieval Europeans...
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"...This is the exquisite porcelain brought all the way from the East by the great Mr. Marco Polo. It is said to be a gift from the Tatar Khan. It is also one of the most proud collections of the Dandolo family. But in order to thank you all We are still willing to dedicate our hands to the kindness of saving Venice..."
In full view of the public, the Doge of Venice, Andrea. Dandolo seemed to be in great pain as he opened a wooden box stuffed with soft hay, took out a package wrapped in woolen, sheepskin and linen cloth, unwrapped it layer by layer, and finally took out a tray as if to show off—— This is a large and heavy round blue and white porcelain tray, about one and a half feet in diameter, with beautiful patterns with strong Chinese characteristics burned on it. Such a large-sized blue and white porcelain vessel was extremely rare in Europe at this time. Governor Andrei highly praised it and tried to price it at three thousand ducats in gold coins.
However, Wang Qiu sighed and resolutely rejected Governor Andre's "generousness". When the Governor was puzzled and asked about the reason, he was simply generous and borrowed it from Doraemon. I bought a [chronological vending machine], stuffed a few 10,000-yen bills into it, and bought a lot of blue and white porcelain plates, blue and white porcelain tea cups, and blue and white porcelain teapots... and generously gave them to the people present, which immediately blinded a lot of dogs. .
——Although the Venetians present did not seem to understand what this meant specifically, they still roughly understood that the so-called "priceless oriental porcelain" they owned, in the eyes of these visionary angels, I'm afraid it's really not worth much money.
All in all, although Governor Andre seemed to be deeply psychologically affected, the Venetians who were allotted so many beautiful blue and white porcelains at once were cheering - many of them could not afford to buy a real piece of real porcelain even with all their savings in a lifetime. Oriental porcelain!
Afterwards, these blue and white porcelains were treasured as family heirlooms by the recipients and passed down from generation to generation. Since they were "god-given things" presented by angels, in the eyes of medieval Europeans, they were probably more valuable than those sold from the East. All the porcelains here are precious... Well... It was just because of Wang Qiu's accident that he bought a few pieces of porcelain. The blue and white porcelain mouse, blue and white porcelain USB flash drive and blue and white porcelain camera were so expensive that the Venetians had to do their best to guess the purpose of these weird gadgets afterwards... In the end, they were still puzzled. I had no choice but to classify them as some kind of Eastern pagan idols and totems, and carefully pressed them at the bottom of the box.
"...These are precious oriental teas, luxury goods that have the effect of prolonging life. It is rare to get a few batches every year..."
A businessman held up several tea bricks that were dark in color, rough in appearance, seemed to have been soaked in sea water, and covered with salt and frost, and proudly showed off to the "angels". Doraemon also smiled bitterly and was generous, asking them to taste the flavors of English black tea, Chinese green tea and Japanese matcha...
As a result, the Venetian authorities' plan to use these tea bricks as payment for 10,000 ducats was also shattered.
"...This is high-quality black pepper imported from the Levant (the name for the coast of Palestine and Syria in the Middle Ages). Contracts were originally signed for pre-sale to buyers. Unfortunately, the buyers have all died of the plague. Even this merchant who was engaged in spice trading had his whole family die, so these goods were confiscated because no one paid taxes and became government property... But they were definitely well preserved..."
A government official pointed to the bags of small dark brown particles that exuded a wonderful smell, and introduced to the "angels", "...how about sixty deniers of silver coins per pound of black pepper? This is absolutely very fair. Discounted price! ”
Wang Qiu's reaction was to sigh deeply, put his hands on his forehead, and asked the sky speechlessly, "...What the hell, this is also called a discount price? Do you want me to open a door for you to visit the Indian origin of spices? , look at how much the pepper in your hand sells for, really? Are you going to India to purchase goods? And are you willing to pay an extra 50,000 ducats for transportation? Well, okay, [Shuimen] can be loaned to you temporarily, but only for the time we are in Venice! If you can’t do business, it depends on your ability!”
——So, classmate Wang Qiu, who was very amused by this, really asked Doraemon to use the [Random Door] to connect Carteret, a major spice trading port in southern India. Immediately afterwards, a group of adventurous Venetian businessmen came together. Swarming in, bathing in the blazing sunshine of the South Asian subcontinent... Wang Qiu, who originally thought they would shrink back, couldn't help but be deeply impressed for a moment.
Next, with half-baked Arabic and gesticulating body language, these Venetian merchants actually negotiated a deal with the Indian merchants, and were overjoyed with the huge profits - in Catlett, one pound of India Black pepper only cost three Denier silver coins!
It's a pity that Indian merchants only care about gold and silver, and they don't pay attention to the glass beads, small bells, linen, ironware, wool tapestries, woolen and other trading items brought out by the Venetians - Indians with very rich ancestors are not from the Stone Age. The American Indians themselves were rich in the best refined iron in the world at that time, and they also knew how to burn glass. Indian cotton was far softer and more comfortable than the European linen at that time. The workmanship of medieval European tapestries is also not as good as the Persian carpets that are common in Indians. After thinking about it, apart from the real gold and silver that everyone loves, there is really nothing in the hands of Europeans that Indians like... Unfortunately, almost all the gold and silver that the Venetians could raise were looted by the "angels". As for the glass mirror that would become a hugely profitable specialty in Venice in the future, according to the original historical trajectory, it would take another 160 years to be invented. As a result, these daring Venetian businessmen had no choice but to shamelessly come back to the "angels" to buy a large number of "luxurious and luxurious" oriental porcelain (actually cheap goods from modern supermarkets) and some items that shocked themselves. I made this deal with the Indians with my own glass mirror, and brought back many carts of pepper and other spices. By the way, the Arabs, who have long monopolized the Eastern trade routes, were horrified after receiving the news... But the price was that half of the people were infected with yellow fever, and they had to rely on the healing skills of the "angels" to save one life... Strange Surprisingly, there is no sign of the Black Death on the Indian side - they are indeed outstanding children who grew up bathing in the water of the Ganges!