I took the money and paid the deposit for the watch. The tight feeling of anxiety in Kennedy's heart suddenly dissipated.
Especially after getting the deposit receipt issued by the counter, Kennedy instantly felt that the remaining balance could be relieved, and there was no need to be so anxious anymore.
After all, I have two days to raise money, so I can relax and take a good look around this royal mall for the rest of the day.
As for the balance, I can only bring it over when I get back to Jerry's boat.
In fact, in addition to sending Alice to China to find Jonathan, Kennedy's trip this time had also long wanted to see China to see if it was the same as what was described in European books.
Of course, he could also take this opportunity to do maritime trade. Go to China to buy some tea, porcelain, silk and other materials that Europeans need and transport them back to Europe for sale.
After all, Chinese goods are very popular in Europe these days. European maritime merchants who sell goods from China always make a lot of profits. It is common for them to double the price of a kind of goods several times or even dozens of times.
For such a good thing, Kennedy naturally couldn't miss it.
This time Kennedy came to China with two thousand pounds of banknotes, ten thousand Spanish silver dollars and five thousand ounces of gold.
If you have money, you will naturally be calm and relaxed. Even if he knew that the watch he liked would cost 10,000 silver dollars and nearly 3,300 pounds ②, Kennedy could still do whatever he wanted.
However, after paying the balance of the watch, it would be impossible for Kennedy to buy more supplies such as tea, silk, and porcelain.
Maritime merchants throughout Europe are well known that they can trade with China without bringing any goods, except gold and silver.
If there is no gold and silver for delivery and trade, it will be useless even if you pull a boatload of supplies and try to trade them.
Because Chinese people rarely buy European goods, on the contrary, the whole of Europe likes tea, silk, porcelain and other products from China.
It is precisely because of this that the entire trade between Europe and China now has a very serious trade deficit, which has caused a large amount of gold and silver in Europe to continue to be lost to China.
However, apart from real money and silver, Europe currently cannot find goods that can attract the Chinese people and thus initiate reciprocal trade with China.
However, as the trade deficit between China and Europe becomes larger and larger, over time, it will definitely be detrimental to the development of the entire Europe.
This matter also worries European countries.
Fortunately, the newly established Yi Dynasty has changed the Qing Dynasty's lack of desire in maritime trade.
They are constantly purchasing a large amount of production materials such as grain, wood, metal materials, high-quality minerals, and even fur, bristles, wool, etc.
Among them, grain is the most prominent. Whether it is traditional whole grains, beef and mutton jerky, or even salted fish, etc., as long as there is no problem with the quality, they can basically be sold here in Yichao.
Of course, Yi Chao's large-scale purchase of grain also caused grain prices in neighboring countries to rise. But it’s rare that Yi Chao is willing to purchase something, so who cares?
Even if the supplies needed by the Yi Dynasty cannot be compared with the prices of tea, silk, porcelain, etc., they can still reduce the deficit caused by the trade between various countries and the Yi Dynasty. This is also a good thing for all countries that trade with the Yi Dynasty. a good thing.
If we say that we purchase wood, wool and other production materials for production, many people can understand. However, many ministers in the DPRK could not understand Zhang Rui's order to continuously hoard food.
The Yi Dynasty originally occupied the most prosperous areas south of the Yangtze River among the eighteen provinces of the Han Dynasty, and these places were also important grain-producing areas.
As long as there are no serious natural disasters, there will definitely be no problem with Yi Dynasty's own food supply, and there may even be a surplus every year.
But even so, Zhang Rui still ordered to stock up on grains and purchased large quantities of grains in sea trade. This caused large granaries to be built everywhere in the Yi Dynasty. Many newly built granaries were filled with old grains as soon as they were built, leaving no room for new grains. As a result, local governments have to continuously expand and build granaries.
In addition to hoarding a large amount of grain, Zhang Rui also ordered the establishment of a grain storage bureau, allowing the court to directly control large-scale grain transactions, and explicitly prohibited the large outflow of national grain. At the same time, grain, salt, oil, etc. were designated as national strategic materials, and decrees were issued prohibiting any businessmen from hoarding and speculating on national strategic materials.
Anyone who violates this rule may have his or her home confiscated and beheaded.
It was precisely this policy that after the bandit-suppressing army captured Hunan and Hubei, the Fan family was designated by the Qing Dynasty as the first of the eight imperial merchants to prepare military supplies. Even low-priced grains failed to be sold.
Later, the Fan family was afraid of being punished by Qianlong for delaying military rations, so they had to go to other areas to buy military rations from the Manchu Qing Jiangnan camp at a high price, and that was the end of the matter.
As for why he needs to hoard food on such a large scale, Zhang Rui naturally has his own ideas.
Not to mention the purpose of consuming the useless high trade surplus in maritime trade③, but simply to stabilize the subsequent explosive growth of population, the country has to prepare food arrangements in advance.
Historically, the population census in the sixth year of Qianlong's reign was only over 140 million, but by the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong's reign, the population exceeded 300 million.
Without the help of pesticides and fertilizers, hybrid rice, high-yield wheat, etc., the current yield of fertile land is only 300 kilograms per mu, and even if there are crops such as sweet potatoes and corn, the country will still not have enough food to support the future population explosion.
Remove social factors.
In fact, had it not been for the large number of uprisings that had been breaking out during the Qianlong period, which was consuming the population, the White Lotus Sect incident would not have waited until the end of Qianlong and the beginning of Jiaqing to break out.
The White Lotus Sect incident caused the death of nearly 120 million people. After a large number of population dropped sharply, the Manchu people in the Qing Dynasty were temporarily satisfied with their food supply, and this gave the Manchu Qing Dynasty a temporary peace.
But in the next fifty years, as the population exploded again, land was annexed and grain production was insufficient. After the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion broke out again, causing a total of 160 million deaths.
For the vast majority of Chinese people, as long as the imperial court can keep the food rations in their mouths, it is their destiny, and this is what the people want.
Food is always a top priority for the people. Sometimes a mouthful of food can mean a life. How dare Zhang Rui be careless?
If it were not for the threat of the Manchus, in order to prevent the disaster caused by the continued explosive growth of the empire's population in the future, Zhang Rui would definitely send his troops to occupy the unclaimed lands in Australia, South America, and North America at this time to ease the future of the land. How could it be possible that the pressure would be surrendered to the robbers and thieves in Europe?
………
Closer to home
After completing the transaction here, Kennedy and others felt aimless and had nothing to do.
So, they followed the advice given by Jenny before and went to the Royal Supermarket to buy drinks.
At this time, in the Royal Supermarket, even the wide aisles were crowded with people, and the scene was extremely lively.
Royal Supermarket has a latest store transaction model that is completely different from the traditional store transaction model.
The pricing of traditional stores mostly comes from the personal preference of the store owner. Different people can have different prices, and different people can negotiate different prices for the same price.
Unclear pricing and uncertain bargaining, especially after knowing that others are buying cheaper than themselves, will make buyers feel like they have been short-changed and deceived, and they will feel very unhappy.
To this end, Royal Supermarket has innovatively solved these problems.
All items are directly marked with the lowest price, and there is no negotiation. We truly ensure that everyone is equal and no one is bullied.
Anyone who has purchased goods here knows that not only are there a wide range of items, but the key is that the prices are much cheaper than in stores outside.
The most important thing is that it is more comfortable to buy things here without having to negotiate the price, and people will not feel cheated, so naturally more people come here to shop.
When there are more people shopping, there will naturally be problems with theft. But no one without a brain problem would do this.
After all, once this is caught and confirmed, not only will he be compensated ten times, he may also be charged with theft.
The crime of theft in Yi Dynasty can be convicted according to the seriousness of the crime. Once convicted, the minimum punishment is to be put in the shackles at the city gate for three days.
This punishment is not too severe.
So, to avoid mistakes. Supermarkets generally recommend that people entering the supermarket push shopping carts or hand-held shopping baskets, and put them directly into them after purchasing goods to prevent mistakes and mistaking them for theft.
After entering the supermarket, Jenny took Alice and others to the beverage area to get drinks with ease and skill.
At this time, there were not many varieties to choose from in the beverage section of supermarkets. Compared with the dazzling variety of beverages in later generations, they were simply not worth mentioning.
But now, after all, there is no competition at all, and it is more about quantity.
In other words, if you have something to drink, you will be happy. Don’t think too much about what you don’t have.
The emergence of beverages is actually due to the emergence of food preservatives such as benzoic acid, sorbic acid, and their salts.
Food preservatives are definitely not healthy, but their appearance can greatly extend the storage time of food. As long as the dosage allowed by food is controlled, the harmful effects on the human body will not be too great.
Note ①: The imperial weight unit, 1 metal ounce ≈ 31g, is slightly smaller than the old system of one tael (37.3).
②: The more than 3,300 pounds here are calculated in Qing Dynasty silver coins. In fact, it takes more than 4,400 pounds in Yi Dynasty currency.
③: If it is not high-tech, it is not a good thing for a country to obtain a high trade surplus with pure materials. The stability and progress of a country cannot simply be settled in gold and silver, but rather come from the adequacy of the country's daily necessities.
