"This is very bad news. The Ming Dynasty does not allow us to exist independently, and it also wants to find out the assets stored in us by the nobles of various European countries!"
Representatives of the Swiss cantons had gathered in Zurich for a meeting to discuss how to deal with the Ming Dynasty, which was encircling Switzerland.
At the meeting, Marquis Senard first explained Ming's intentions.
The aristocratic representatives of the various states were very disappointed after hearing this.
Because they are planning to monopolize the wealth stored in Switzerland by the nobles of Western countries. After all, the nobles of Western countries have now become prisoners of the Ming Dynasty.
Due to the Thirty Years' War and the domestic disputes between Protestants and Catholics, the nobles of Western countries have been transferring their wealth to Switzerland for more than a hundred years.
Therefore, it can be said that Switzerland stores the wealth that Europe has plundered from all over the world and accumulated over the past hundreds of years.
This is naturally a huge number.
As the nobles of the Swiss cantons who look after these wealth, they are naturally very greedy.
"In addition, what is even worse is that the general from the Ming Dynasty said that how the wealth of the nobles in Switzerland is distributed can only be handled by their courts."
Senard said.
"Absurd! We have the right to protect the private property of our customers. Only the customers themselves can take away this wealth!"
A Swiss nobleman named Zhege immediately objected.
"That's right! This is the property of the customers. The Ming Dynasty court has no right to distribute it. It can only be temporarily kept by us. This is the right granted to us by the customers."
Another Swiss nobleman named Sonaban also retorted.
"But we have no ability to resist the will of the Ming Dynasty. Now everything around Switzerland has been annexed by the Ming Dynasty. We are completely surrounded!"
The more sober nobleman Jia Yuke poured cold water on these nobles.
But he himself was also very disappointed, and pointed to Senard: "To say that all this is because of your wrong suggestion, Marquis Senard! It was you who suggested that our Swiss states should remain neutral and not join the Grand Alliance, so that I The European Grand Alliance has insufficient troops and is defeated by the Ming Army! If we were willing to join the Grand Alliance at that time, then when the Ming Army launched a blitzkrieg against France, we would have sent troops to rescue France, and we might have been able to prevent more than 300,000 Grand Alliance troops from being exposed. The army surrounded us! So much so that now, there is no country that can help us.”
Senard spread his hands helplessly and said: "You agreed to this at the time. In addition, the nobles from various European countries did not refuse our neutrality. Even at the most critical moment, they did not come to us. Maybe they were also imagining They will still be able to successfully get back their private property in the future, but no one thought that they would be put on trial and we would also be deprived of the right to manage our wealth."
"But I was against neutrality."
With that said, Gayuk pointed at Senard and other Swiss nobles: "So, you are all short-sighted, very short-sighted!"
"Okay! We didn't say that we must surrender to the Ming army and hand over our management rights to the wealth of the nobles of various European countries. We want to fight to the death with the Ming army for the benefit of our customers!"
Sonaban replied.
"This may be the only option. Switzerland is a mountainous country with complex terrain, so we can rely on the terrain to fight against the Ming army. Perhaps it will force the Ming army to make a decision because they are unwilling to suffer too many casualties. compromise."
Ci Hege said at this time.
"Forget it, everyone in the Ming Dynasty should know by now that Switzerland has a lot of wealth from European nobles. As long as the emperor is willing to take a small part of the wealth stored here in Switzerland as a bounty, I believe that many officers and soldiers of the Ming Army are We are not afraid that the number of casualties will be too high, but we will be more aggressive than attacking other European countries. Let us not underestimate the power of money."
Senard replied.
When Senard said this, these Swiss nobles became discouraged.
Senard then said: "In my opinion, it is better to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty. Didn't the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty advocate only confiscating the land of the exploited serfs and returning the serfs to freedom, while protecting personal legal wealth? So , the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty should recognize our right to manage the wealth of European nobles here."
…
Long before Zhu Cizhuo left Beijing, Zhu Youxiao convened his ministers to discuss how to deal with the legal and illegal private property stored in Switzerland by nobles from various European countries for hundreds of years.
"One of the banners we used to annex Europe was to recognize the commercial property of local people and collect taxes to protect it. It is really inappropriate to take it away directly."
Du Yinxi therefore spoke first.
Wen Tiren smiled and said: "But this is the wealth accumulated by the nobles of the Western Yi countries for hundreds of years from all over the world. It is a huge piece of fat. Wouldn't it be a pity if it was not returned to the imperial court but used for the development of the country? Is it really necessary? It would be a terrible thing to make those banks in Switzerland cheaper, and it would even challenge the financial stability of our Ming Dynasty, and would be detrimental to our Ming Dynasty’s control of the global economy.”
"Then they will only retain their own property, but any property stored in Switzerland by European nobles will be deemed illegal and must be confiscated. The reason is very simple. We only recognize the wealth of nobles from various countries within the borders of their original countries."
Lu Xiangsheng suggested at this time.
"Then it's hard to judge. What if these Swiss nobles take the opportunity to do something and transfer the wealth stored in Switzerland by European nobles to their own names? The account books are in their hands, and they can naturally change them however they want."
Zhang Huangyan replied.
Zhu Youxiao said at this time: "I have a way."
"Your Majesty, please make it clear."
The ministers hurriedly asked for instructions.
"Refuse to recognize that Switzerland's classification of all wealth is only based on the standards given by me, Da Ming, and this standard is based on the minimum assets of Swiss locals. At that time, only the assets of their personal minimum assets will be left to all Swiss people, and the rest will be left to all Swiss people." Contribute to national funds!"
Zhu Youxiao said.
“Then what if the Swiss nobles distribute all their wealth equally and raise the minimum asset level of everyone in their country?”
Du Yinxi asked.
Zhu Youxiao asked with a smile: "Does Aiqing think they can do it?"
"I don't think so! The conflict between the rich and the poor cannot be bridged by me donating half of my family property to you."
Wen Tiren replied at this time.
"Just do this. If Switzerland can really make everyone rich, I admire them very much, and I am willing to use commodity trade to earn back the wealth they share."
Zhu Youxiao made up his mind.
"yes!"
…
After Zhu Cizhuo arrived in Europe, he sent people to bring this decree of the Ming Dynasty to the hands of the nobles of the Swiss states.
The nobles of the Swiss cantons therefore met again.
"The Ming Dynasty is too overbearing. Why doesn't it recognize our wealth classification instead of setting a new standard for us?"
Cihege said with great dissatisfaction.
"Hey, accept it, it's useless to say this now."
Gayuk said.
"That's right, the only way now is to quickly prevent any poor people in my Swiss cantons! Share all your wealth and increase the minimum asset amount for everyone in my Swiss state."
Senard made a suggestion at this time and said: "Only in this way can the Ming Dynasty allow me, Switzerland, to have more wealth."
"No, I don't want to. I don't want to distribute wealth to the poor. Why can those poor get our wealth for no reason? Why should we distribute the family property that we have worked hard for generations to the poor?!"
Sonaban said very painfully, and then he smashed the table with his fist very excitedly, causing a banging sound in the hall.
"Okay, we accept the greed of the Ming Dynasty. As the victors, they may be entitled to a share of the profits, and we can share it with them. However, what qualifications do the poor have? We just give them wages!"
Cihege continued.
"You just think this is a game that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty likes to play. There is nothing you can do. Who makes him more powerful than God now? We are only qualified to obey. As for the poor, they are just the beneficiaries of this game."
Senard replied.
"game?"
Sonaban sat back.
"That's right, Yuxi, this Emperor of the Ming Dynasty named Zhu Youxiao is really an unpredictable emperor. What he did is really incredible. Who would have thought that he didn't need the most The primitive way of plundering the wealth of Switzerland does not allow us to continue to retain our wealth in the most lenient way. Instead, it sets a minimum asset standard for us and then only prepares us to retain the wealth of this standard. This is simply like a A carpenter with obsessive-compulsive disorder requires that the wood he processes must be flat enough."
Senard smiled helplessly.
"I agree with the Marquis de Sennard. Everyone, we have no choice. The top priority now is to prevent the Swiss people in each state from having a poor person. We need to spread the wealth and provide the Swiss with the minimum assets."
Jia Yuke agreed at this time.
"Well, that seems to be all we can do."
Ci and Ge also said helplessly.
Sonaban also nodded and said: "Okay, let's distribute the wealth to the poor. At worst, we will find a way to take it back in the future. Now we can only satisfy the carpenter emperor of the Ming Dynasty first."
Next, the aristocratic representatives of the Swiss cantons expressed their agreement and stated that they would do so.
Sennard was still worried that the representatives of the nobles from various states would not be willing to do this, so he had to advocate again: "You must distribute all your wealth as soon as possible, including the wealth stored in Switzerland by the nobles of various European countries. Give it to the poor when you see them, and be sure not to leave anything behind.”
Senard therefore took the lead.
As Zurich aristocrats, he and Sonaban took out a large amount of gold and silver from their own bank vaults, packed them in boxes and stacked them on the carriages. They packed a total of twenty large carriages first, and then they took them on their own. He drove a large carriage and walked with his mercenaries to the countryside outside the city.
They first saw a farmer's family living in a small wooden house.
The farmer was a middle-aged man who looked dirty.
Senard asked the middle-aged man first: "Excuse me, what is your name?"
This middle-aged man already felt fear when he saw Senard dressed luxuriously and coming out with such a large team, so he timidly said: "Lawrence."
"Mr. Lawrence, can you tell me how much assets your family has? Don't worry, we are not taking away your assets, but relieving you."
Senard asked with a smile.
Lawrence didn't expect that this nobleman who was obviously from the city would suddenly come up to him and take the initiative to talk to him, and even said that he wanted to help him. He was very flattered and said: "This, what you see, is all I have." assets."
Senard looked at this dilapidated cabin and felt that it was far worse than the den where his dog lived. At least it didn't have soft blankets.
So Senard gave Sonaban a wink.
Sonaban asked someone to carry a heavy box to Senard.
Senard asked someone to place the box in front of the middle-aged man and ordered: "Open him."
Lawrence opened the box with some anxiety, and was immediately dazzled by the bright white and dazzling box of silver coins inside: "I have never seen so many silver coins in my life!"
"These silver coins are yours now."
Senard laughed.
Lawrence looked at Sennard in surprise: "Sir, are you telling the truth?"
Senard nodded and said with a smile: "It's true, it's all yours now."
Lawrence still couldn't believe it, so he couldn't help but waved his hands and said: "I, I don't dare to accept it, what do you want me to do?"
"You don't need to do anything. You just need to say that these silver coins are yours when the Ming people come."
Senard said with a very kind smile.
"Remember, you must say it is your own."
Sonaban also gave a reminder.
Lawrence nodded happily: "Okay, okay!"
Next, Senard, Sonaban and his party continued to go to the countryside.
Not long after, Senard and Sonaban and their group met a rural teacher named Lenika.
This rural teacher named Lenika is also very poor and lives in a simple log cabin.
But Lenica asked one more question: "Excuse me, why do you want me to do this, why do you give me so much wealth?"
Senard told Lenica the reason.
After hearing this, Lenica glanced at Senard and said: "Then I refuse to accept your wealth!"
"Why, we gave you a box of silver coins for free, but you didn't want to. Are you willing to be so poor for the rest of your life?"
Sonaban asked in shock.
Lenica sneered and replied: "Because I would rather be poor than you continue to have so much wealth."
"you!"
Sonaban pointed at Lainika angrily.
Senard also gradually stopped smiling. He suddenly realized that this game seemed not as simple as imagined.
Lenika also said to his wife Mitis: "Today we go to the town to buy some beef and eat it. Before the Ming people come back, we will make the family poorer. I believe you support me, right, dear?" of."
"good."
Mitis smiled and replied, "I'll get the money."
Senard and Sonaban just watched helplessly as a box of silver coins was abandoned by the Lenika family and walked away.
"Is there anyone in this world who doesn't like money?"
Sonaban was extremely shocked.
