Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 2228 Daming people really run out of food?

Paris, with the cessation of food imports from the Ming Empire, this bustling city soon seemed to have lost its vitality and quickly became withered.

The capital of France in the old days and now the capital of the Seine province in Spain, its scale and prosperity far exceed the capital of the Spanish Empire. It is one of the few metropolises in Europe with a population of one million.

However, at this moment, the entire city is shrouded in famine. Even if the citizens have money in their hands, they can no longer buy food. The hateful food merchants now value the food in their hands as more valuable than gold, and have no intention of selling it at all. It means that even if the price of food has risen more than ten times now, they have enough profits.

But they were still not satisfied. The Ming Empire tightened up on grain exports, allowing these grain merchants to see the room for grain to rise in the future.

They didn't see the ten times the profit at all, but waited for the price of grain to rise to dozens or hundreds of times in a few months before selling it. At that time, the grain in their hands would really be as good as gold , as valuable as silver.

There is no food to eat, and the hungry crowd can do anything. In a short period of time, there are bandits and frequent robberies throughout Paris. Theft has become commonplace.

The hungry crowd had already eaten all the rats, and they only had to steal things, which was nothing at all. Even if the situation worsened, the situation of changing children and eating them would also be possible, after all When I'm hungry, I can't take care of so many things at all.

"It can't go on like this."

"Immediately send electricity to His Majesty the King, please allow me to use the army to forcibly confiscate the food in the hands of those merchants and distribute it to the hungry people, otherwise the whole of Paris will be drowned by hunger."

The Governor of Seine, Torres, looked at the hungry crowd on the streets of Paris in front of him and thought of the chaos that had occurred in the recent period, and he was also worried.

"Yes!"

As soon as the officials under him heard it, they hurried to handle it. At this time, the telegram from the Daming people is a good thing, and they can be quickly contacted across a long distance.

"My lord, my lord!"

"I'm back, I'm back!"

At this time, an official hurried back in a car, looking dusty and in a hurry.

"How's it going, Affleck?"

"Have you bought food yet?"

Seeing someone coming, Torres immediately asked.

The Afeilai in front of him is the official he sent to Hong Kong to buy food.

"I got it, I got it."

"Through some connections, I got in touch with a noble from the Ming Empire. This noble has a huge network of connections in the Ming Empire. He dared to sell us grain from the Ming Dynasty, but the price was 10 times that of the previous grain!"

Afeilai nodded and told his story in detail.

"10 times the price?"

"Although the price is much more expensive than before, it is still acceptable."

"Quickly ask him to deliver the food, as much as there is."

"Right now, grain can be bought at 10 times the price, but in a few months, it might increase to dozens of times, which is hard to say."

When Torres heard it, he said immediately.

In the past, if you heard ten times the price, you would definitely scold your mother, scold this Daming man for being greedy, and scold this Daming man for being greedy.

But now, ten times the price can be said to be the lowest grain price in the market. After a while, the price of grain may be even higher, so if you can buy more, hurry up and buy more grain.

"Yes!"

"I have asked him to send ten shipments of food, which is enough to alleviate the current food problem in Paris and Seine."

Afelai said quickly.

"Okay, well done."

"Immediately set up a grain monopoly point. Each household is limited to buying only 5 catties of grain per day, and the price will be sold at 10 times the price. We will not make money."

When Torres heard it, he immediately appreciated it.

It was indeed right to send this Afeilai to Hong Kong. Even if it was ten times the price, he dared to buy the grain first.

But it was also his bold decision to buy 10 shipments of grain for himself, and now he could relieve the urgent need, and he didn't have to use the army to forcibly confiscate the grain from those merchants.

Soon, with 10 shipments of grain shipped to Paris, coupled with Torres effectively limiting the amount of grain purchased, these grains played a very important role and were quickly sold to the hands of the lower-level citizens of Paris, alleviating the crisis in Paris. hunger problem.

"It's still an adult!"

"This strictly limits the amount of grain purchased by each household. Otherwise, even if we ship another 100 boats of grain, it may not be enough for the merchants and nobles to hoard."

With the import of food, Paris quickly and slowly settled down.

Afeilai also couldn't help admiring Torres. This restricts the amount of grain purchased by each household. This trick is very useful. Many merchants and nobles with ulterior motives want to take the opportunity to buy grain. It can fall into the mouths of the citizens and feed the hungry stomachs of the citizens.

"Haha, I learned all this in Daming."

"More than 30 years ago, in the 11th and [-]th years of Hongzhi of the Ming Empire, there were also large-scale famines in the three northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty."

"At that time, the merchants in Ming Dynasty also took the opportunity to hoard and drive up the price of grain. The grain that usually only cost seven to eight yuan a catty was raised to more than 100 yuan per catty by the merchants, and the sale of grain was also restricted."

"These businessmen even colluded with the government and businessmen to resell the grain in the Ming treasury, in order to further exacerbate the grain shortage and drive up grain prices."

"At that time, many Ming people died of starvation and freezing to death. Later, Liu Jin and Liu Gong, the chief assistant of the Ming cabinet, came up with a way to solve the famine problem at that time by relying on fishing and importing food from North Korea. A little bit, that is to limit the amount of food that each person can buy every day, so as to prevent the food from falling into the hands of merchants who make the country rich."

Torres smiled and shook his head.

"My lord, is there a famine in the Ming Empire?"

Hearing this, Afeilai thought for a while and asked.

The wealth of the Ming Empire is known to everyone in the world. It is rumored that even the standard of living of ordinary Ming people is higher than that of European nobles.

Moreover, the agriculture of the Ming Empire was extremely developed. According to the legend, large-scale mechanized farming was used. A farmer could cultivate thousands of acres to tens of thousands of acres of land, and the food produced was enough to feed tens of thousands of people.

The Ming Empire also has several of the best granaries in the world, and the grain output is huge. How could there be a famine in the Ming Empire?
"The Daming people are actually not that different from us, they are all the same."

"Before the Ming Empire was not really strong, the Ming people were no better than us. A few decades ago, the Ming people also suffered from hunger and hunger, and were harassed by nomads, Japanese pirates, and internal thieves. Bandits and the like are also plentiful."

"They have developed very fast in the past 30 years or so. Through continuous external expansion and rapid development of technology and industry, the Great Ming Empire has become the current Great Ming Empire."

"That's why I, Pelos, Alfred and others want to assist His Majesty to unify Europe, follow the example of the East, and carry out reforms."

"Because if we in Europe want to live the same life as the Ming people, then we must carry out reforms and develop technology and industry. Only in this way can we truly become strong."

Torres said with a smile.

He has been to Daming to study abroad, lived in Daming for several years, met many Daming people, and finally came to the conclusion that there is not much difference between Daming people and his own Europeans.

What Ming people can do, Europeans can also do. If Ming people can become rich and powerful, so can Europeans.

The premise is that Europe must be unified and concentrate on developing industry and technology. Only in this way can it be truly powerful.

Otherwise, Europe in a state of disunity will never be able to develop, because without unity, power is always limited.

Among other things, just to build a railway from Paris to Toledo, the capital of Spain, Spain can't come up with enough funds.

Because everything needs to be imported from the Ming Empire, and engineers from the Ming Empire are also required to build it. The cost is high, and it is simply not realistic for Spain now.

But if Europe is unified and Spain unifies the Holy Roman Empire and the Apennine Peninsula, then it can concentrate on these things, and building a railway is nothing at all.

"Stop talking about it."

"I just received a call from His Majesty the King, saying that we have regained the supply of food everywhere in Spain, but the price is ten times more expensive than before."

"I'm a little skeptical now, is it true that the Daming people have no food?"

"I still want to take this opportunity to use this disaster to raise food prices."

Torres smiled, then thought about it and talked about the restriction of grain exports by the Ming Empire this time.

The people of Daming announced in a high-profile way that grain exports would be strictly restricted, but through various connections, everyone was able to find some powerful Ming businessmen to buy grain, but the price was ten times more expensive than before.

"My lord, why do you say that?"

A Feilai asked puzzledly.

"Because I went to Liaodong Province in Ming Dynasty when I was studying abroad in Ming Dynasty, and I saw the mechanized agriculture of the Ming Empire with my own eyes. The vast and endless plains are full of grain. With the advancement of harvesters, a steady stream of grain is harvested."

"The grain produced by the Ming Empire in one year is enough to feed hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty for several years. Even if the harvest is a failure this year, the grain of the Ming Empire should not be able to get out."

Torres shook his head while thinking, unable to figure it out.

(End of this chapter)