"It's not impossible." Theodora was not too worried about this: "If we find a way to control Egypt, there will be no problem. It doesn't matter if we can't compete with the other side for a while. We can pass the cost to the barbarians and take advantage of the middle. Profit is enough.”
"That won't work either." Guo Kang shook his head: "You probably have no idea about the volume of maritime trade, right?"
"Why do I have no idea? I often deal with documents in this area." Theodora asked doubtfully: "What you said is too exaggerated. Isn't the wealth of the entire Europe enough to maintain trade?"
"I think Europe as a whole is pretty bad, and with Vinland it's about the same." Guo Kang said bluntly.
"How much gold and silver is there?" Theodora was so surprised that she couldn't believe it. She didn't know whether she didn't believe the scale of the trade or whether Vinland was richer than here.
"I don't know the total amount, but the gold and silver that can be obtained after mining is probably several times the total amount in Europe." Guo Kang said.
"Holy Mother..." Theodora's eyes widened: "Who else knows about this."
Guo Kang pointed at the two of them, and then pointed at the sky: "Heavenly Father knows, Holy Mother knows, you know, I know."
"I didn't even dare to talk about it, because I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut when he was bragging."
Theodora said nothing and nodded. The two of them knew each other's ins and outs, but were not worried about the other party speaking out in inappropriate situations.
"How much financial support is needed for Eastern trade? Is it enough to add gold and silver from Vinland?" She continued to ask without hesitation.
"Since the Ming Dynasty was not willing to trade and mainly relied on smuggling, it would probably require half of Vinland's gold and silver." Guo Kang thought for a while and said.
"Then, wouldn't that be..." Theodora was already a little dazed.
Guo Kang just shrugged. After all, he was speaking based on conservative data.
He had not given Theodora a detailed explanation of the route from America to Asia before, so she might not have the idea yet. But in the history he had learned before, one-third of the gold and silver obtained by Spain in the Americas had never been to Spain - they were transported directly to Macau via the "Manila Galleon" in exchange for Chinese goods. These "Spanish riches" never made it to Spain.
Most of the commodities purchased with gold and silver did not flow into Spain, but directly into the American colonies. As a result, because the Spanish were not good at business, the already fragile local market was severely impacted by a large number of cheap Ming Dynasty goods.
The final result was that the entire industry along the route was destroyed.
In the Philippines, the governor reported to the king that the natives no longer spun cotton. Because selling cotton to Ming Dynasty merchants and then purchasing the cotton cloth shipped by them was the most economical way;
In Mexico, the governor was surprised to find that more locals wore silk than cotton: because even across the Pacific, Ming Dynasty silk was cheaper than Spanish cotton;
In Peru, the price of Ming Dynasty silk was only one-third of Spanish products, which not only bankrupted the local silk industry, but also continued to spill over overseas. Because even if these Ming Dynasty silks are shipped back to Spain, these textiles that have traveled halfway around the world will still be profitable when facing the weak competitiveness of local Spanish products.
The Spaniards paid a heavy price for this. For hundreds of years, they braved extremely high mortality rates to open up new continents and explore mineral deposits, but in the end they left nothing behind. Even most of their money went to the Ming Dynasty. They can be called the greatest injustice in the Age of Discovery...
Since then, America has been importing large quantities of Eastern cotton and silk. It was not until the mid-to-late 19th century that the United States reversed this trend through extremely low cotton costs.
Moreover, there is another point worth noting: these results occurred when the Ming Dynasty officials were not particularly active in ocean trade and did not use national power to organize trade. Even Guo Kang himself couldn't imagine what it would be like if things got serious over there.
"You can make a rough estimate and you'll know. The total gold and silver in Europe is not enough to fill this hole." He shook his head and told Theodora: "That's why I said that there is no use for us to be middlemen - You sold all the barbarians in the lower reaches, and you can't even cover the difference."
"Then, what should we do?" Theodora couldn't think of a way now: "Why don't we plan in advance and find a way to open up Vinland as soon as possible?"
"The cost is too high." Guo Kang told her: "The early development was very difficult, and half of the people would often die on the way. The barbarians who could not survive could not bear such losses, and people from other places would be more likely to choose to rebel directly. "
"So, the best way is to get rid of the idea of waiting for the barbarians to slowly expand westward, and then we will go out and reap the fruits of their development. In this way, the cost may be much smaller."
"But even if this is the case, I don't know if it is enough. The Ming Dynasty is the 'silver pump' of this world, almost a bottomless pit. If they open up through the naval battle with the Javanese Yuan and learn to actively trade to supplement the navy's funds, the gap may still be there. Gotta be bigger.”
"Can't Europa and Vinland combined..." Theodora lay on the table and said feebly: "Is this true or false? How can it be so exaggerated?"
"This is all normal." Guo Kang was not surprised.
"People in the Central Plains like to call themselves 'Zhuxia', which corresponds to 'barbarians'. The place where Zhuxia lives is called China, which corresponds to 'foreign'." Guo Kang told her: "In the world view of the ancients, generally Just those two parts.”
"They often don't bother to distinguish, and like to think of 'barbarians', or to put it more euphemistically, 'foreigners' as one. But what's more embarrassing is that most of the time in history, 'China' did add up to all other 'foreign countries' almost."
"This is so arrogant..." Theodora sighed.
"No way. Over time, everyone has already developed a habit." Guo Kang shrugged.
In the world he lived in before, even people who despised Siris liked to make binary comparisons between "China" and "foreign countries" to prove that the civilization of the Central Plains was backward.
This leads to a very strange phenomenon: even when a Serisian despises the civilization of the Central Plains, subconsciously he still adopts a very ancient and very arrogant standard, treating "foreign countries" as those who disdained in ancient times. "Barbarians" who are unable to differentiate - even if their own subjective intentions are completely opposite, they still behave like this.
Therefore, the core of a civilization is extremely difficult to change—perhaps impossible to change. This conceited mentality of comparing oneself to the whole world every day may be a habit accumulated over a long period of time, and even turmoil and decline cannot eliminate it.
"To be able to compete economically with such a behemoth, we need a group that is at least about the same size. Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty may not even take us seriously." He explained his point of view: "That's why I think , we must at least try to integrate the Mediterranean world to reach this threshold.”
"Just being a middleman obviously cannot meet the requirements. Because the management of the barbarians is too backward and the efficiency is too low. Only by managing it ourselves can we realize the potential of this land."
"How can we build Rome with these guys?" he asked rhetorically.
(End of chapter)
