Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 23 United Fruit
[Tsk tsk tsk, you are useless if I give you a chance, Mr. Preparatory Great Master. ], Seeing that she really won the prize, Apollonia sent a taunt from the void, [You didn’t want the fortune before, but if you speak now, you won’t be able to save face. 】

"How did I know it was so fast? You must have gone too far, right? Why did you hit 270 million taels in one go?"

【Blame me?It's all your own fault for not trusting me.And if I had counted I could have taken that shot?I have told you that solving hexagrams is more important than hexagrams.Let's not blame anyone, shall we? 】

"Shangluo Immortal Master." Palka saw that he was a little embarrassed, and asked in a low voice, "Can you promise us? Can you save Chichen Itza? Save the Mayans? If you are really too busy, I can’t give us some guidance, so can you send a message to your teacher to find a great immortal teacher to save us?”

"Um"

Shangluo thought for a while.The court must know about this kind of thing.It is easy to restore the Mayan city-states, but the court turned a blind eye to it.There must be some deep meaning in it, and he doesn't intend to get involved lightly.

However, from a personal standpoint, he still wanted to help the person who treated him to creamy cocoa all afternoon.After all, he also verified Apollonia's reliability for himself.It's just that Apollonia is too reliable.

It was empty all around.The huge office has been evacuated, and everything that can be moved out has been paid out.The business of the entire Chichen Itza Hotel has also dropped a lot, and their life is not going well.

"Or, how about this." Shang Luo raised his head, "I want to ask Maya why this happened first. From my point of view, it is very strange that all 17 city-states of Maya went bankrupt at the same time. What is the reason?"

"Then. It's not a long story. Master Shangxian, have you ever eaten bananas?"

"Banana? Have eaten it."

"No, you haven't." Palka looked into his eyes, "to be precise, you haven't eaten a real 'banana'. Do you find it strange that many banana-flavored drinks and banana-flavored The snacks you eat and the 'bananas' you usually eat are completely two flavors?"

Shang Luo thought for a while, then nodded.

He does feel that way.For example, banana-flavored potato chips, banana-flavored candy, and banana-flavored soda, which have completely different flavors from the usual bananas.

"Then why is that?"

"Because 'banana' has long been extinct. 37 years ago, a sudden infectious disease swept the world's banana planting industry, and the banana plantations in 17 city-states of Maya died in just 3 months. Bananas around the world also died. All of them became extinct within one year, and now there are only a few "precious orchards" in Yanping County King in Nanyang, which strictly isolate the pollution from the outside world and keep a few real banana trees. The annual output is very limited, Most of them were given away as tributes and gifts.”

"Why is there a global mass extinction so soon? Bananas are not human, and bananas can't run away."

"Because bananas are different from other crops. The banana industry was born based on a coincidence - because all bananas are actually copies of the same banana plant. That banana was called the 'Big Mike Banana' by a man named Mike The captain found it from a small island in Jamaica. The banana plant was a rare triploid seedless banana—full flesh, high sweetness and aroma, but it could not reproduce naturally because it was seedless. Since then, tropical regions around the world They were all planted with 'Grand Mac' bananas, and all bananas were grown vegetatively."

"No wonder there's something wrong with those banana-flavored snacks these days, it turns out that's the flavor of the Gros Michel. Did the Gros Michel go extinct very suddenly?"

"Yes. It was really sudden. Some say it started in Africa, some say it started in Southeast Asia, and some say it started in the Maya. But that doesn't matter anymore, that shock 37 years ago destroyed In the world's banana industrial parks, there has not been a single banana entering the consumer market in the world for four full years."

"But it's just that there is no harvest for one season, will it really make you all go bankrupt?" Shang Luo still couldn't figure out why they went bankrupt.

The Maya gave birth to a fairly ancient civilization, and it is very suitable for agricultural production.In the dense rainforest, there are favorable conditions for the same period of rain and heat, and with the blessing of agriculture, the output has soared.It's hard to imagine that Maya could all collapse because of the disappearance of one banana variety.

"Of course not under normal circumstances. The warehouses at Chichen Itza were designed for war, and we were able to stay in the castle for years when we resisted the Spanish invaders - but at the time, all the Mayan city-states accepted the joint fruit The "New Dawn" plan. United Fruit buys bananas at a price slightly higher than the market price, and almost unlimited purchases.

"The Mayans are excellent farmers. We completed the plantation transformation of almost all the land within five years, and all of them were replanted with Gros Michel bananas, and the banana production was 5 times that of the initial one. However, United Fruit still has nothing to lose. Satisfied, the purchase price did not fall but rose. As a result, the last onlookers also invested in banana planting.”

Palka came to a meaningful pause.Everything after that is self-explanatory.When the Gros Michel quickly went extinct, you can imagine the impact.

"And then you went bankrupt like that?"

"At that time, I came back from studying abroad in Nanjing Guozijian. I wanted to show my talents when I returned from my studies, and the commodity futures trading market was a very new thing at that time. I think this kind of "futures trading" can bring prosperity to the planting industry , but to meet the standards of futures trading, high-quality bananas need to be planted. So under my leadership, the Mayan city-states and Nanyang Lanfang Company jointly established United Fruit to coordinate the banana production of the Mayan city-states. I never thought that United Fruit Turned out to be the customer.

"After the extinction of bananas, we defaulted on a large scale in the commodity futures trading market, and even the insurance companies were implicated and bankrupt. The Mayan states fell into financial crisis and had to sell their countries to pay off their debts. You know, the size of each Mayan city-state is different. It is only about the same size as a county in Kinai, and Chichen Itza is only a slightly larger county. Our size is really unable to withstand the historical impact, coupled with the large population. We can only use betrayal in exchange for aid, and finally Nothing major happened. Now I’m growing a different kind of banana that I discovered a few years later, but I’m never going back to the way it was.”

"Why didn't you report it to the court?"

"Are you kidding me? Even if I am able to maintain my status even if I am bankrupt and traitorous, I am still the lord of Chichen Itza. And it is a big deal that weighs a thousand catties. If you really want to go to Yujing, it will not break the sky." ? At that time, none of our 17 city-states will be able to escape, and all of them will be dismantled. Fortunately, everything was resolved peacefully in the end. The livelihood of the people is as before, and no major incidents that alarm the emperor have occurred."

(End of this chapter)