Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in hlnovel.com -> Historic -> Daming Zhenhaiwang

Chapter 2099: The life of the nobles is not easy either.

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    The Paris Basin in France has always been the most important grain-producing region in France and the most important grain-producing region in Europe.

    The food grown in previous years can not only meet the food needs of the French, but there is also a large amount of food surplus that can be exported to surrounding countries.

    The land in the Paris Basin is fertile, the terrain is open and flat, and the wheat grown is of very high quality. It has always been the first choice for European nobles to bake bread.

    In the autumn of previous years, the bottom of the Paris Basin was full of golden waves of wheat. The endless wheat fields were filled with the joy of harvest. You can see countless busy figures busy in the wheat fields.

    The nobles of the territory and the king's tax collectors are also constantly calculating the food that can be collected. Even the priests of the church are calculating how much wheat can be collected from the tithe.

    However, in the past three years, the Paris Basin has been a different story.

    The year before last, there was a severe drought, and the Paris Basin also suffered a severe drought. Even the Seine River was extremely dry, exposing the river bed and turning into a trickle. The severe drought directly caused the Paris Basin to lose its harvest the year before last.

    Last year, we encountered another rainy year. There was a lot of precipitation throughout the year. The Paris basin floor became the hardest-hit area. The raging floods almost submerged everything here, resulting in a significant reduction in grain production here.

    It took two years with great difficulty. I thought this year would be a smooth year, but it turned out to be another year of drought. Although it was not as dry as the year before, it was not much better.

    The result is that after a year of hard work growing grain, the grain yield is very low, and the entire Paris basin is filled with hunger and barrenness.

    The autumn morning brings a hint of chill, and the temperature drops faster than in previous years.

    Marcel got up early. He was going to borrow some money from Henry, the nobleman of his territory, to buy food. Three consecutive years of famine had consumed almost everything Marcel had.

    ¡°It is also fortunate that there has been cheap food from the Ming Empire in the past two years, otherwise Marcel cannot imagine how he would have spent these three difficult years.

    If it were the same as before, during this year of famine, those greedy nobles and hateful Jewish businessmen would be eager to plunder every penny of everyone's money, and the price of food would even be higher than usual.  It will increase more than ten times or dozens of times.

    "Thank you to the people of Ming Dynasty, thank them for the price of food!"

    Marcel has thanked him many times in his heart. The food of the Ming Dynasty people is very cheap. Even in the hands of terminal consumers like them, it is still very cheap, so that poor people like them can afford it.

    It is said that this is because the Ming Dynasty has a strict agreement with these nobles and merchants. These nobles and merchants cannot increase prices or sell grain at high prices at will, otherwise they will no longer be able to obtain the trading rights of grain and other commodities from the Ming Dynasty people.

    These greedy nobles and businessmen had to sell these fine grains that brought the Ming Empire to the Ming Dynasty at low prices.

    Marcel quickly arrived outside Lord Henry¡¯s castle. After waiting for several hours, Marcel finally met his Lord Henry.

    "Dear Sir, I wish you all the best and may the Lord bless you!"

    Seeing Henry, Marcel prostrated on the ground, saluted and said hello to Henry respectfully.

    "What do you find me for?"

    Henry looked at Marcel in front of him and asked extremely impatiently.

    As a nobleman, he is very busy every day and has no time to care about these poor farmers. He can't squeeze much money out of them.

    Today I have to entertain friends from the Ming Dynasty from the far east. Counting the time, they should be here soon.

    "Dear Sir, I would like to borrow some money from you to buy food. As you know, the past three years have been famines, the harvest of the land is very small, and our whole family is starving."

    Marcel explained his purpose.

    "Borrow money?"

    When he heard about borrowing money, Henry almost jumped up.

    Damn it, these poor guys know how to borrow money from themselves.

    In the past three years, I have almost only been out of the house. The poor jingling in the family, these poor ghosts came to find themselves to borrow money.

    As a noble and lord, almost all of Henry's income came from the output of his territory. In three years, there was almost no output, and Henry's life was not easy.

    In the past, I would add three spoons of sugar to my tea, but now I am only willing to add one spoon. I really want to buy a car from the Ming Empire, but I still can¡¯t part with it.

    &n?The purpose of this visit.

    ¡°Cotton and sheep?¡±

    When Henry heard this, he immediately pondered and said: "I have also heard about the sharp rise in cotton and wool prices this year. We have a few nobles in France who have made a lot of money growing cotton and raising sheep this year."

    ¡°It¡¯s just that what I¡¯m worried about is that growing cotton and raising sheep are unstable and unreliable.¡±

    "We are all friends. You can rest assured that the prices of wool and cotton have always been very stable here in Daming. The prices are very good and the profits are huge."

    "This is also a good opportunity to make money. If you grow food, even in a good harvest year, the food will not be sold for much."

    "Because now our Ming Dynasty is selling grain to Europe on a large scale. The price is cheaper and the quality is better than your local grain. It is not profitable at all to grow grain."

    Ding Shiji looked at Henry and analyzed it in detail.

    "What you said makes sense. In the past few years, the income from my territory has dropped sharply, and my life has been very difficult."

    After Henry heard this, he felt it was very reasonable and was already shaken in his heart.

    "So, this is going to change. We have an old saying in the Ming Dynasty. When the trees are moved, they will die and the people will live. Since growing food can no longer be done, why can't we do something else."

    Ding Shiji smiled and said: "Listen to me, you can't be wrong. I can sign a contract with you now and lock in the wool and cotton produced in your territory next year at the current price in advance."

    "real?"

    When Henry heard this, he was immediately dumbfounded. Can Ming people still play like this?

    "Of course it's true. This kind of thing is very common in our country, especially for some commodities that are in short supply, such as rubber. This is almost always done in this way. They sign sales contracts with the rubber plantation owners in advance, and some even pay the money directly.  It¡¯s packed.¡±

    Ding Shiji nodded solemnly and said.

    ¡°That¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll do it~¡±

    Henry made calculations silently, then gritted his teeth and agreed.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report