Invincible urban management

Chapter 21. The Illusory "El Dorado"

"...the gold, silver, jade and pearls in the entire kingdom have been exhausted! The gold and silver that our tribe's caravan just exchanged for porcelain, slippers, sea salt and salted fish from the distant inland are all in Here it is."

Sitting cross-legged on a plastic sheet, Wen Desi pushed a small rattan basket over with some helplessness.Inside are the latest gold, silver and gemstones exchanged by the tribal caravan, as well as the last batch of precious metal stocks left in the Hongxiutizgan Kingdom.

Wang Qiu took the basket, and after a cursory glance, he felt that the shape of these gold ornaments was very awkward. After taking it back, it was obvious that they could only be recast, and the color was generally not very good. It seemed that there were a lot of impurities mixed in. Don't say anything 24k pure gold, I'm afraid it doesn't even have the purity of 18k.

If you take them to the gold shop or bank in this time and space, the other party will only give you a purchase price of about 300 yuan per gram at most.

In addition, the total weight of these gold nuggets and nuggets is only about one kilogram, plus those silver and precious stones, and after bringing them back, they can be exchanged for about 100 million RMB, which is just enough to afford a set in a big city. A slightly decent house...

Well, this amount of money is already a lot for just four people.

But the problem is that the money is not pure profit, they still have to buy a lot of goods for Wen Desi!

Otherwise, how can this precarious small regime withstand the coming Spanish storm?

In this country that was barely kneaded together by exiles from all walks of life, the authority of the chieftain is not as great as that of the traditional tribes. It is impossible for every member to volunteer voluntarily. If you want to take away their gold and silver, you must "" equivalent exchange".

——In order for the Indian women to willingly hand over the gold bracelets on their wrists and the gold hairpins on their heads, the traversers had to transport all kinds of colored cloth, porcelain, cheap glass jewelry and small mirrors from later generations;

In order for the Indian warriors to voluntarily remove the gold and silver ornaments inlaid on their weapons, the traversers had to provide them with mellow shochu, novel curry powder, miso and other condiments, sharper stainless steel kitchen knives and various other items. type cold weapon;

In order to "upgrade" this ignorant country's civilization and further develop its productivity, Wang Qiu must purchase a large amount of vegetables, food crop seeds, as well as supporting chemical fertilizers and steel farm tools - hoes, shovels, shovels...

In addition, there are small carts for transportation, solar street lamps for lighting, cement for house renovation, mountain bikes for Wen Desi himself, and illegal self-made guns that can only fire iron sand... Well, the last one The contraband was confiscated by the police, and there was basically no money spent.

In order to prevent the germs brought by Europeans and traversers from causing a catastrophe in this closed primitive country, and to prepare for the upcoming cruel war, Wang Qiu and the others must also purchase a large amount of aspirin and oral penicillin tablets, Anti-inflammatory powder, Yunnan Baiyao, and the most critical smallpox vaccine and injectors - so many medical products add up to a ridiculously expensive price!

In the end, none of the four traversers were voluntary labor volunteers, at least Wang Qiu had been eagerly trying to take away his share of the gold.

It should be noted that even in the eyes of modern people who have already stepped into the era of electronic currency, gold still has infinite magic power.

Those who regard the medal as a broken piece of iron are because they have never stood on the podium and enjoyed that unparalleled glory!

Those who don't know the magic power of gold are also because they have never really witnessed the bright golden light emitted by a large pile of gold before their eyes!

Just like the famous line in Shakespeare's play: "...Gold, yellow, shining, precious gold! This thing, just a little, can make black into white, ugly into beautiful , the wrong becomes right, the humble becomes honorable, the old become young, the coward becomes brave..."

At least, when Wang Qiu got the box full of small gold nuggets and small silver nuggets from Princess Maca, he really seemed to be possessed, and he was in a daze for half an hour, playing with them one by one. Those golden nuggets refused to let go for a long time...

It is a pity that in order to expand the scale of trade as soon as possible, all the gold was sold as payment for the goods, and none of the gold was used for dividends.

Therefore, when he heard that the gold was gone, Wang Qiu couldn't help feeling a little anxious before the others had time to speak.

"...Master Literary, now is not the time to begrudge this bit of gold and silver! If you can't take advantage of modern industrialized products and improve your overall strength as soon as possible, you will have more gold and silver in your hands when the Spaniards come over." What is the use of gold, silver and jewelry?"

"...I really don't have any more gold!" Wen Desi spread his hands with a wry smile, "...I'm afraid you don't know that Elder Rapoza in the town even talked about it in order to buy your Red Star Erguotou. All the gold teeth were pulled out..."

Having said that, he couldn't help but sighed again, "...where else do you want me to get gold?"

To be honest, although Wen Desi occasionally has some brains that can't turn his head, he is definitely not a miser like Grandet.

In this savage age of Central America, even if there is a lot of gold, what can you buy?

corn?Dried fish?dog meat?cotton?Rough pottery?Or stone tools polished with obsidian?

As the future heir of a small state or a large tribe, he will not feel lacking in any of these things.And the modern goods brought by the traversers from later generations, even a can of Sprite and a stainless steel fruit knife, cannot be bought with any money in this world.

What's more, the army of the Aztec Empire is on the other side of the mountains, and the sailboats of the Spanish invaders are already wandering in the Gulf of Mexico. The day of destruction is gradually approaching... If you can't increase your overall strength as soon as possible, take the initiative to participate in this ups and downs The ups and downs of the key history changed the tragic fate that was already doomed. Then no matter how much gold he had hoarded in his hands at that time, he could only invite the looting and massacre of the Spaniards.

However, the gold and silver are indeed gone. In order to pay for the goods, the local Indian women even cut off the last gold nose ring.If you want more gold and silver, you can only wait for the tribal caravan to find a way to raise it elsewhere.

And that obviously takes a long time.

Faced with such a payment capacity bottleneck, Wang Qiu and others are also unable to imagine.

But looking back to check the account books, Wang Qiu was quite surprised to find that during this period of time, they seem to have collected five or six kilograms of gold from the beginning to the end, plus a dozen kilograms of silver...

"... Hey, Literary Chief, you now have territory with a radius of hundreds of miles, but you can only get so little gold and silver. It's too pitiful! In this era, Central America should be full of gold. Is it silver treasure?

In those pirate legends, the treasure ship of the Kingdom of Spain was the most attractive prey in the entire Age of Discovery!And the Mexican eagle ocean that was cast later was widely circulated in the entire Chinese market... Why can't you even make up a box of treasures here? "

"...Hey, young man, you don't seem to have learned enough foreign history! Those big gold mines and silver mines were mined in the Spanish colonial era! There is not so much gold and silver in Mexico these days !"

In response to Wang Qiu's question, Professor Yang immediately dug out a book of materials and notes he had sorted out by himself, and explained the whole story.

It turns out that there are a lot of gold and silver mines in Mexico.But the problem is that the Indians in the Stone Age were very backward in mining technology, and at best they could only mine a small part of the open pit.

Moreover, most of the gold and silver mines in Mexico are located in uninhabited places, and few indigenous people set foot in them.

Therefore, in the early 16th century, before the Spanish colonists invaded, the total amount of gold owned by the Mexican indigenous people was actually very limited, far less rich than some adventurers imagined.

The reason why the Spanish explorers who first set foot on this land had the illusion that the Aztec Empire was full of gold and silver, and even exaggeratedly called it the "El Dorado" was mainly because of the Aztec empire. People use almost all of their gold to decorate palaces and temples, or make it into various jewelry to hang on their bodies, instead of casting it into currency and depositing it in the treasury—their hard currency is obsidian and cocoa beans!

In fact, at that time, many kings in Europe who were worried about financial deficits all day long could also achieve a more exaggerated and gorgeous visual effect if they used all the gold and silver in their treasury to decorate their palaces.

As for the contemporary Great Ming Dynasty, let alone, if the treasury could be exhausted, it would not be a dream to build a golden house to hide the beauty!

To give another example, just like the families of the rich in the era of banknotes in later generations, although they wear gold rings and gold necklaces on their bodies, and display gold crafts in their mansions, compared with their bank deposits, these things are really worthless. Not even a drop in the bucket.The gold and silver that the gangsters could rob from a billionaire's home might not even be worth 10 yuan.

Therefore, the Spanish adventurer who conquered the Aztec Empire, after two years of bold adventures and arduous battles, finally broke through the capital of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan. They were disappointed by the amount of wealth looted throughout the city.

According to the notes of the Spanish missionaries at the time, Colster deducted one-fifth of the tax paid to the King of Spain, as well as various major expenses of the expedition (ships, food, arms, etc.), plus left for himself After his share of the property, his subordinates who were full of desire to get rich, in fact, could only get gold, silver and gems worth 60 to 80 pesos (the old Spanish currency unit).

What's more terrible is that Colster's expedition team did not receive government support from the very beginning. These explorers basically purchased weapons, equipment and daily supplies at their own expense. At that time, a crossbow was about to be sold in Spain's New World colony 50 pesos, and 30 pesos for a steel sword. As for the medicines for treating various tropical diseases, they were sold at sky-high prices at that time. Many people owed a lot of debt to doctors.

In this way, relying on the spoils found on the ruins of the Aztec Empire, these Spanish explorers who traveled across the ocean and were born and died, after fighting hard for two years, not only did they not earn anything. Huge profits, but you have to lose your pants...

As a result, as soon as this frustrating distribution plan was announced, Korst's subordinates almost broke out in a big riot.In the end, it was Korster who made the decision and distributed the land of the Aztec Empire to them, which was barely appeased.

As for the huge amount of gold and silver that the Spaniards plundered from Mexico in the colonial era, they had to find their own way to explore and mine, and then dug them out of the ground—and the more weak traversers , obviously there is no condition to do so.

Although Wang Qiu and the others can definitely get the distribution maps of various minerals in Mexico from the Internet of later generations.But the problem is that none of these gold and silver veins in Mexico are currently within the territory of the Hunxiutizgan Kingdom.Travelers want to occupy these places, not only have to cross thousands of kilometers of mountains and deserts, but also have to beat down the Aztec Empire that is in the middle of the road—and when the Spanish are about to invade , It is obviously extremely irrational to do so, and it will only waste the strength of the natives of Mexico in vain and destroy their own potential market.

On the contrary, the Inca Empire, located in the mountains of Peru in South America, is the real El Dorado.Another famous Spanish conquistador, Pizarro who conquered the Inca Empire with more than 100 people, easily seized [-] pounds of gold and [-] pounds of gold from the country by kidnapping the Inca king for ransom. Thousand pounds of silver.And the Peruvian silver mines, which were exploited on a large scale later, have long claimed to have provided half of the world's silver production. Compared with Mexico's gold and silver deposits, they are much inferior.

"...So, if we want to directly obtain a large amount of gold and silver through trade, we have to go to the Inca Empire thousands of kilometers away to the south to find a way. The Aztecs in Mexico There wasn’t much gold in the hands of the Aztecs, and even less gold and silver in the hands of the Aztec neighbors, the Mayans, the Tlaxcalans, and the Hondizans here.”

In the end, Professor Yang concluded, "...In my opinion, if you want to do business for a long time, you can't just focus on gold, silver and precious stones, but diversify your business and see what is available. Other trading items that are worth taking back!"

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Well, since the gold and silver of the local Hongxiutizgan people have basically been exhausted, it is indeed time to open up their minds and think about other trading methods.

But the question is, apart from gold, silver and jewelry, in the hands of these aborigines, what other good things can be taken back and sold off in later generations?

Animal skin?

In Central America these days, there are no large animals at all, and otter skins are produced in North America thousands of kilometers away.Senior Wen Desi tried everything, but he only got a bunch of old dog skins and rabbit skins that had already shed and turned color, and they couldn't be sold for much.

As for the skin of the jaguar, the Hongxiutizgans only have two in total. One is the ancestral cloak of the great chief of Avaha, which is also a symbol of royal power; The identity of "Jaguar Warrior"... can't be sold casually no matter how you look at it.

In addition, when Wen Desi searched for rare animal skins, Wang Qiu and the others found a very rare human skin robe and an even rarer human skin drum on both sides... They were all frightened, and Cai Rong, the leader of the loli group, couldn't help but vomit again and again.

Crafts?

That's right, when the Spaniards first invaded the Americas, they destroyed a large number of precious local cultural relics, such as the bark books of the Mayans.Many things of Native Americans in this era are out-of-print treasures in later generations. As long as you buy some, you can definitely sell them at high prices.Don’t worry about carbon-14 identification or anything—these ancient cultural relics usually have a history of 2000 to 500 years. Even if the production period is shortened by [-] years, they are still cultural relics!

The problem is that, if it was the Honxiutizcan kingdom before the Aztec invasion, there might indeed be many ancient sculptures, murals and relief panels to be found in the temples, palaces and noble residences of the capital.

But the Hongxiutizgan people living in these newly built villages and towns are all war refugees who escaped after the subjugation of the country. When they fled, it was impossible to carry too many cumbersome burdens on them.

Even so, Wen Desi still carried a few bottles of Red Star Erguotou as trading items, and wandered around several villages and towns. Although the villagers were all very cooperative, they only collected some exquisite flint knives, Jade pendants and obsidian amulets.And according to what they said, the production age of these things is also very new, and no old antiques with a history of hundreds or thousands of years have been found.

Based on the idea that talking is better than nothing, everyone still sent these flint knives, jade pendants and obsidian amulets back to later generations, and then Ma Tong, a well-connected senior sister, went out and took them to the familiar small vendors in the flower and bird market for consignment.

In addition, her family's online store on Taobao launched two new advertisements in due course:

"... Dear, now sell all kinds of handmade Indian style stone knives! The stone knives are rough in shape, sharp in blade, can cut fruit, exquisitely carved in handle, full of original charm in patterns, and each piece is not the same! Selling seven now During the hot sale, free shipping is also included!"

"... Dear, now sell all kinds of handmade Indian style amulets! There are rain gods, sun gods, feathered snake gods, corn gods, jaguars, American parrots and other shapes, in order to thank new and old customers for their patronage , currently launching special promotions, buy one get one free and free shipping!"

However, compared with gold, silver and jewelry, the realization speed of these things is really too slow, and it should be thankful that they can all be sold within half a year... Considering the huge difference in time flow between the two sides of the wormhole, I am afraid that the funds have not yet been waited. Back in the cage, the Spaniards have conquered Mexico!

In the end, senior Wen Desi was so forced that he had no choice but to simply take out a bunch of small squares tightly wrapped with oiled paper and plastic film.

"...These things were stuffed into the crystal skull by Mexican drug traffickers before I crossed over. They are worth at least tens of millions of dollars. Just use them to pay for it! As for whether they are cocaine or something else, we can only I can invite you to analyze and study by yourself!"

Faced with this rogue trick, Wang Qiu, Ma Tong, Cai Rong and Professor Yang were all choked and rolled their eyes.

"...to pay the bill with drugs...Senior, don't talk about how to sell the drugs, you want us all to eat guns?!"

——Although the cheating method of drug trafficking was rejected immediately, the bottleneck of payment ability still cannot be solved.

In desperation, Senior Ma Tong, whose personal integrity has always been like a cloud in the sky, actually suggested to excavate the ancient royal tombs of the Hongxiutizgan Kingdom, and become a gold captain.Then he was told by Wen Desi with an embarrassing face that the Aztecs had already dug up the tombs of the successive kings in this sad country!

"...I really can't think of a way!" Wen Desi scratched his tangled hair in infinite distress, "...there are no silver mines, no gold mines, no precious stones, no oil and natural gas, and no iron mines in this place. I can’t find any coal mines! There are few pearls in the sea, and the tropical fish caught are also ugly... Alas, the territory left after the defeat of this country is too small and barren! Except for the fish in the sea and the trees on the mountain , and the crops in the cornfields, there is almost nothing produced!"

After hearing Wen Desi's frustrating words, the rest of the people also had a look of melancholy, and they couldn't help sighing again and again.

However, because of this, Wang Qiu suddenly had a certain inspiration in his mind, and he couldn't help showing joy, and jumped up when he slapped his thigh.

"...Yes! Even if there is nothing in this place, at least there are trees! Great! Senior! I have an idea!"