Rule over Ming Dynasty

As the news of the shipwreck spread, and the Ottoman Empire declared that the Mediterranean and the Black Sea belonged to it, a panic quickly spread in Beijing.

The capital market is different from the agricultural society. The agricultural society is most afraid of natural disasters, while the capital market is concerned about the industry prospects and the operating conditions of the purchased companies.

The Ming Dynasty’s capital market has reached its current size largely due to its prosperity in maritime trade.

Whether it is an import and export company engaged in maritime trade or a basic company like Royal Shipping that is engaged in ship production, they actually need a good maritime trade environment.

The reason why companies engaged in maritime trade have been able to make a lot of money over the years is precisely because the Ming Dynasty was the overlord of the seas and had monopolized all maritime trade routes.

Taking the spices sold from Southeast Asia to Europe as an example, only the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty could pass smoothly through the Strait of Malacca, cross the Indian Ocean, and enter the Mediterranean Sea from the Strait of Gibraltar.

However, "Success and failure are both due to Xiao He." The maritime hegemony brought huge profits to the Ming Dynasty's enterprises, but once the Ming Dynasty lost its maritime hegemony, all Ming Dynasty enterprises would face heavy losses.

Today, the Ming Dynasty's maritime hegemony in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea is challenged by the Ottoman Empire, which directly affects the entire European market.

The capsizing of the merchant ship Oceania XIV in the Dardanelles also dealt a heavy blow to related companies such as Susong Ocean Shipping and had an extremely serious negative impact on maritime trade.

"It's over. We can't sell our goods to Europe anymore!"

"It's not just Europe, will there be incidents in other waters?"

"I heard that challengers have also appeared in the Indian Ocean, and they have formed an anti-Ming alliance!"

……

As the news continued to ferment in Beijing, many investors became pessimistic and even rumors spread, as if the Ming Dynasty's maritime hegemony had been lost overnight.

Human weaknesses are greed and fear, and now fear is being magnified madly, causing many people to believe everything they hear, making the entire Ming Dynasty seem like it is about to collapse.

"Run, our stock market bubble is about to burst!"

"Yes, let's sell all the stocks we have as soon as the market opens!"

“If there is no overseas market, who can we sell our cotton cloth to?”

……

Driven by this pessimistic sentiment, many investors are no longer optimistic about the prospects of listed companies and are preparing to sell all the stocks they hold.

Not only do they think so, but they also do so.

The next morning, thousands of investors gathered in the square in front of the Beijing Stock Exchange.

There was a look of frustration on their faces, and everyone was holding a stock certificate in their hands. The whole square was filled with negative emotions, and they were staring at the gate of the Beijing Stock Exchange.

The moment the door of the Beijing Stock Exchange opened, a large number of investors rushed in frantically.

"Let's let one let, let one let!"

"Sell all the stocks I have!"

"And mine, no matter how much it costs, I'll give it all away!"

……

Affected by negative emotions, these investors rushed to the windows of the Beijing Stock Exchange hall frantically, then raised the stocks and securities in their hands and sold them loudly.

Anyone familiar with market rules knows that if a commodity has only sellers but no buyers, the price will inevitably plummet.

Originally, the Beijing Stock Exchange had a certain capacity to take on the market, and some investors wanted to take the opportunity to buy some stocks at a low price.

Unfortunately, current stock transactions are all offline transactions, and a large number of investors are rushing to the window to sell their stocks, which in turn keeps out investors who intend to buy stocks.

"United Textiles, sell, 1000 shares!"

"Royal Textiles, sell, 2000 shares!"

"Royal Shipping, sell, 5000 shares!"

……

Crazy speculators don't care about the real situation. They just want to sell their stocks as soon as possible, even at a lower price.

"Falled!"

“Why is it still falling?”

"It's over, it's really over!"

……

This panic quickly spread in the investor hall, and a large number of stocks were sold by investors regardless of cost, which directly led to the decline of all stocks today.

“Haha…finally sold it!”

"I sold mine and made a small loss!"

"Haha... I bought in early and am still making a profit now!"

……

In the stock market, where everyone could make money with their eyes closed, no one expected such a huge risk to arise, so many investors decided to lock in their profits and chose to sell them regardless of the actual situation of the stocks they held.

"Royal Shipbuilding, price: 1010 silver dollars!"

"Royal Shipbuilding, price: 1000 silver dollars!"

"Royal Shipbuilding, price: 980 silver!"

……

Affected by this disappearance, the share price of Royal Shipping, which had only broken through 1000 silver dollars a few days ago, fell sharply, directly falling below the 1000 silver dollar mark, and heading towards 900 silver dollars.

"How could this be?"

"I...I'm broke!"

"Didn't the Royal Shipping Industry say it would double? This is going to kill me!"

……

The most watched Royal Shipping went straight to the 900 mark. Even the most glorious stock on the Beijing Stock Exchange had fallen like this, and other stocks fell even more miserably.

History seemed to be repeating itself. Since humans are simply unable to overcome their greedy nature, those investors who chose to borrow money to trade stocks all went bankrupt.

At this time, it is actually a time to test the market's ability to carry.

Once the Beijing Stock Exchange has enough funds to take over, no matter how big the incident is, it can get through it safely. Besides, this incident is not really the end of the world.

“I bought the bottom!”

"What's going on? Why is the stock price still falling?"

"I'm willing to accept the loss and I'm leaving at a loss!"

……

The first batch of bargain-hunting funds entered the market, but they underestimated the panic in the market. A large number of chips were thrown out by panicked investors, causing many bargain-hunting investors to turn into market dumpers.

It is precisely this unsteady bottom-fishing behavior that not only caused the entire stock market to fail to stabilize, but also caused stock prices to continue to fall, thus triggering a new round of panic in the market.

"Royal Shipping has stopped falling!"

"Haha... Royal Shipping has bounced back!"

"I see, Royal Shipping is going to distribute dividends!"

...After the share price of Royal Shipping fell below 900 silver dollars, there was a surge of buying funds in the market. After all, Royal Shipping is the world's largest shipbuilding company, and its annual profits are very considerable, so it has won the favor of many investors.

As the top company in the Beijing Stock Exchange, Royal Shipping is naturally watched by countless eyes, and the fluctuation of its stock price directly affects the confidence of investors in the entire market.

It just so happened that at this time, Royal Shipping Industry itself did not live up to its expectations and this year's dividend plan was officially released.

The difference was far from what everyone expected, with only 40 silver dollars per share. If calculated based on 1000 silver dollars, it would take Royal Shipping 25 years to get its money back, or even longer.

"Why is the dividend so small?"

"It's over. This stingy guy has made me suffer!"

"I'm afraid it will fall below the 800 silver dollar mark today!"

……

Faced with Royal Shipping's dividend plan, the entire market seemed to have been hit hard, and Royal Shipping's stock price fell sharply.

After all, once the Ming Dynasty lost its maritime hegemony, the domestic demand for ships would not be as strong as in previous years, and the royal shipping industry was destined to decline.

Although the Beijing Stock Exchange seems to be stormy, compared with the bloody Suzhou Stock Exchange thousands of miles away, it is just a gentle breeze and drizzle.

"It's over, run away!"

"The stock price has been cut in half? This...can't be true!"

"If Su's silk cannot be exported to Europe, what hope is there?"

……

As the news from Europe reached Suzhou City, this most crazily speculative place of the Ming Dynasty suffered a critical blow, especially the Su silk that they pursued was the first to be hit.

Unlike the Beijing Stock Exchange, which has high-tech enterprises, Jiangnan is more focused on traditional handicrafts, and the goods here are more dependent on exports and the European aristocratic market.

Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire seized the Ming Dynasty's maritime hegemony in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, causing Ming Dynasty's products to directly lose the European market.

"Su's silk, price: 100 silver dollars!"

"Su's silk, price: 95 silver dollars!"

"Su's silk, price: 85 silver dollars!"

……

Su Silk was the top brand of Suzhou Stock Exchange, but Su Silk was negatively affected by the loss of European market. Coupled with the loss of a large amount of goods, the stock price fell below 100 silver dollars immediately after the opening.

"Su's Silk, closing price: 59 silver dollars!"

When the stock market closed in the afternoon, Su's Silk fell directly from its highest point of 120 silver dollars. In just three days, the stock price of Su's Silk had been halved.

However, the panic spread further, and almost all stocks were cut in half, while Susong Ocean Shipping fell by 90%.

boom!
A middle-aged man suddenly jumped down from a high tower opposite the Suzhou Stock Exchange, and then fell on the blue brick ground, leaving a blood stain.

“Is this Yu Baiwan?”

"Yu Baiwan...dead?"

“The stock market really kills people without a knife!”

……

Investors who had just walked out of the Suzhou trading hall came forward one after another. Someone immediately recognized the identity of the deceased, which caused everyone to be shocked. At the same time, they realized that the stock market could actually kill people.

Yu Baiming's real name is Yu Ren. He was originally an ordinary worker in the papermaking and spinning industry. However, because he entered the stock market relatively early and made a fortune in the crazy speculative atmosphere of Suzhou Stock Exchange in recent years, he got the nickname "Yu Baiwan".

It is too exaggerated to say that Yu Ren owns one million silver dollars, but according to insiders, his personal assets have reached 300,000 silver dollars, making him a veritable tycoon.

However, "Success and failure are both due to Xiao He", the parent company of Ocean No. 14 was Susong Ocean Shipping, in which Yu Ren had a large stake. Who would have thought that such a major change would happen.

The reason why Yu Ren was able to become rich quickly in recent years is that he has always insisted on using leverage to trade stocks, and the same is true for the Susong Ocean stock this time.

As a result, Susong Ocean's stock price plummeted and he went bankrupt instantly.

Since he simply could not accept this psychological gap, or perhaps he could no longer return to those hard days, he finally chose to commit suicide.

The day after Yu Ren's death, the Ming court finally took action.

The Ming Dynasty took the lead in rescuing the Beijing Stock Exchange. When the price of Royal Shipping fell to 800 silver yuan, the Ministry of Revenue and the Royal Treasury rushed to buy shares of Royal Shipping.

As Royal Shipping's share price stabilized, the entire stock market actually began to bottom out and rebound.

"No matter what, I'm betting on Royal Shipping!"

"We have dominated the ocean for more than ten years, how can we just lose it like that?"

"The Ottoman Empire is nothing, our Ming fleet is invincible!"

……

After seeing that the share price of Royal Shipping stabilized, all investors gradually calmed down, and many investors in particular began to think calmly.

Although the Ming merchant ships had encountered problems in Europe, the Ming Dynasty had been the overlord of the seas for many years, and no kingdom hiding in Eastern Europe could challenge it.

In particular, many investors were very panicked at first after taking out their money, but after slowly calming down, they realized that what else could they do besides investing in the stock market?

Aside from the continued rise of the stock market in recent years, the stocks they purchased have paid dividends every year.

Even if they hold on to the stocks and do not sell them, the company's annual dividends are very substantial, which is a hundred times better than hiding silver dollars at home.

As for the stock market bubble, if the Ming Dynasty had always dominated the ocean, then all companies would be able to plunder the world's resources. What would this tiny bubble matter?

That's why some investors sold their stocks and then returned to the stock market after seeing that Royal Shipping's share price had stabilized.

However, they dare not buy foreign trade stocks, but they can choose the currently emerging domestic consumer stocks and the former leader Beijing-Tianjin Railway.

The Beijing-Tianjin Railway became a benchmark for railway companies in the Ming Dynasty. The initial investment of 1000 million silver dollars shocked the entire dynasty, but now the annual dividends can be as high as 200 million silver dollars, making it the most profitable railway company in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this turmoil also gave rise to new problems. A group of gamblers like Zhao Xiaosi went bankrupt, and they had no choice but to apply for immigration overseas.

Ottoman Empire, Constantinople.

The current king, Bayezid II, is over sixty years old. His hair and beard are all white and his face is full of wrinkles, but his eyes still reveal a fierce look.

He was the son of Mehmed II. After Mehmed II died in the 17th year of Chenghua, Bayezid and his younger brother Cem went to war for the right to succeed to the throne.

His brother Djem fled to Rhodes after the defeat and sought help from the Knights, who took Djem hostage and later sent him to France, where he was handed over to Pope Innocent VIII.

The Pope wanted to use Djem as a tool to expel the Turks from Europe, but his crusade attempt failed, and he later used him as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Bayezid II.

Bayezid II asked Basayet to pay 3 gold coins every year to imprison his brother, but he did not take family affection into consideration, so he kept paying the fee to the Pope and kept his brother in prison until his death.

In the fifth year of Hongzhi, King Ferdinand II of Spain ordered the expulsion of all Jews in the country. Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire immediately dispatched the Ottoman navy to Spain to safely send the Jews expelled from Spain to the Ottoman Empire.

Bayezid II settled the Jews in various provinces of the empire and issued orders to each province of the empire, requiring them to treat the Jews in a friendly manner and prohibit anti-Semitism, otherwise they would be sentenced to death.

During his reign, he continued his father's work of expanding territory, not only strengthening control over the land route to Crimea, but also gaining maritime hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean.

However, the emergence of the Atlantic Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty made him feel that the Ottoman Empire's maritime hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean was threatened, so he decided to clean up the Ming merchant ships appearing in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Although the defense and attack capabilities of the Ming merchant ships were much stronger than they expected, the strength of the Ottoman navy and its geographical advantages enabled them to successfully implement their plan.

Bayezid II was very satisfied with the result of clearing the Ming merchant ships, so he made arrangements: "Next, we must pay attention to the movements of the Atlantic Governor's Office and do not give them the opportunity to launch a sneak attack! As long as they do not launch a sneak attack, with the strength of our Ottoman Navy, we are not afraid of them at all!"

"Oh no!" Just at this moment, a personal guard commander ran in with a panicked look on his face. (End of this chapter)