The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1396

[1396. Chapter 1325 Tulip Bubble]

Since the great voyage, countless wealth has gathered in Franconia.

This made the wallets of countless French nobles become increasingly full.

As early as a hundred years ago, the Renaissance began to appear in Italy, which brought a new trend to the entire Franconian world.

Extravagance began to become a fashion. New palaces, new castles, oriental porcelain, Persian blankets, gold and silver plundered from the New World, all wealth became used by people to embellish and decorate themselves, and to show off to others. Ornaments that show off.

They gradually began to use porcelain as decorations, hanging on their walls, and decorating their palaces with the most exaggerated colors. Even the domes of churches were made of expensive glass, and the buildings became more and more elegant. The grander it gets, the more people compete to wear the most gorgeous services, just like a peacock spreading its tail.

The only drawback… is that it has the most gorgeous colors in the world and the price is really high.

Because the production of purple pigment is complicated and extremely scarce, in later generations, even ordinary princes could not afford to consume this noble color respected by the Byzantine court.

But now…

when people looked at this purple-red flower pinned to someone’s chest, all of a sudden, this flower attracted everyone’s attention.

After the salon ended, all that was left was the whispers of a group of businessmen and nobles.

People asked about the flowers they had never seen before.

The news began to spread like wildfire, and soon after, people discovered that the wife of the Governor of the Northern Province also had such a flower on her chest.

So, it got a name, tulip.

This is a very beautiful name, as noble as the flower itself.

After more than ten days.

The Queen of France appeared at the banquet wearing this flower.

Soon after, merchants began selling tulip bulbs in the Northern Province.

Some people began to see business opportunities and began to purchase these bulbs and let farmers cultivate them.

The number of nobles looking to buy tulips also began to increase.

As happened throughout history, the Francons had a morbid love for tulips.

This comes entirely from the traditions of their own culture.

And… when people gradually discovered that although some people were selling tulip bulbs, they were still hard to find. The merchants who purchased the tulip bulbs quickly discovered the Dutch business talent.

Many merchants began to hoard goods.

The nobles rushed to order this bulb. It is said that the Queen of France required that the tulip arrangement be changed three times a day in her palace, and she would always have a gorgeous tulip on her chest.

This produces tulip bulbs that, all of a sudden, start to become popular.

…………

Liu Wenshan drank plain water.

The tea he brought has been drunk. This is the most distressing thing about his trip. Without tea, it is like a man has lost his roots. It seems that all of a sudden, life has become imperfect.

He listened carefully to Liu Jin’s report.

“Dad, my son really admires those Dutch businessmen. Their ability to hoard goods and spread it out is really eye-opening.” Liu Jin had looked down on the Franco people before, but now, he found that these people His intelligence is not inferior to his own. At this time, his face can’t help but be filled with admiration.

The Dutch merchants are as famous as the Venetian merchants.

They have a high acumen for commodities. Once they feel that there is a profit, they will immediately buy the tulip bulbs released by Liu Wenshan on the market.

After the acquisition, on the one hand, they began to use various relationships to show the nobility brought by tulips to the Franconian royal family and nobles, which continued to arouse people’s love for tulips. They even hired painters to paint tulips. Carry out various artistic creations.

A court painter was invited to Habsburg Austria to paint a portrait of Augustus Octavius commanding the army to win the Battle of Phassaro. In front of the Roman Augustus’s shining breastplate, he Pin a tulip.

It seems to be showing that tulips represent victory, honor and dignity.

In the French court, merchants presented such precious flowers to the queen, which immediately won her love.

As a result, tulips began to skyrocket under their joint hype.

In just half a month, the price tripled.

And… demand still exceeds supply.

“Don’t be in a hurry to put the bulbs out, put them out little by little.” Liu Wenshan thought for a while and continued to drink water. He pondered for a moment: “We must always maintain an imbalance between supply and demand, and we must also ensure that those Dutch businessmen are profitable.

“We cannot make tulips skyrocket on our own. The reason why they are valuable is that countless merchants can make profits from them. Therefore, only by maintaining a small amount of stock can we allow those who are hoarding.

“

The merchants who bought the tulips continued to build momentum for the tulips and sold them at higher prices.

“But how can we… make money with just this amount of goods?” Liu Jin muttered.

Liu Wenshan smiled: “The time has not yet come.”

The price of tulip bulbs is still rising.

By this time, it was no longer the merchants who realized there was a profit.

Even ordinary citizens in the Northern Province, even farmers in France, priests with a keen sense of smell from Rome, and small nobles in Vienna began to gradually feel this craze.

Making a profit is a difficult thing for anyone. Farmers need to work hard to get some harvest; sailors need to take huge risks and escape death before they can improve their situation; Switzerland The mercenaries earned nothing more than a small profit with their own blood and sweat.

But when someone discovered that it turned out that there was no need to take risks, no need to hang one’s life on the waistband, or even… no work was required, just…

some farmers in northern France began to sell their farmland. Cows, bought some tulip roots, and then… …when their neighbors laughed at their wishful thinking.

A miracle happened.

One cow was exchanged for bulbs. In just ten days, there was already hope of exchanging three cows for the bulbs.

People around them became rich overnight just because they bought bulbs, and those who owned bulbs told the people around them a story they believed in over and over again.

Tulips…noble…luxury…it is a gift from God, everyone needs it, and its value is far beyond what it is now.

Everyone who owns it firmly believes in it, even with fanaticism. They tell people about it over and over again, tirelessly.

Many farmers have made a lot of money.

Some small citizens began to spend all their savings.

They also preached various legends about these bulbs everywhere, and their story-telling skills were far better than those of French farmers. They whispered about the legends about princes and nobles who wanted to buy tulips for their money.

This bulb… no one even bothers to cultivate flowers. Instead, they treasure it and wait for a price.

However, the human heart is never satisfied.

When its price doubled, people were so ecstatic that they would just hide it in their hands, hoping it would rise even more.

When its value increased tenfold, and some people even started using tulip rhizomes to trade real estate with others, all the tulip rhizomes on the market were hidden away and refused to be sold anymore.

No one is selling, but countless people are buying.

People began to believe that this myth would never be broken, because everyone believed that the roots of tulips had incomparable value.

This is no longer just a small group of businessmen behind the scenes, there are even citizens taking out loans to buy large quantities of tulip bulbs.

The nobles became aware of this terrible trend and began to participate in it.

No one can resist the temptation of crazy asset appreciation.

Think about it, a small farmer’s wealth continues to grow in the blink of an eye just because he purchased tulips early, but his financial situation gradually becomes less optimistic.

In this case, the nobles not only used tulips to show their wealth, but also needed to keep their financial situation stable.

Since the Great Navigation, the Spaniards brought back countless amounts of gold and silver, which caused the precious metals, as well as the Franconian currency as a whole, to depreciate day by day.

As the currency depreciates, wealth continues to shrink, resulting in inflation, which leads to anxiety among all classes in France.

Having accumulated wealth for countless generations and hiding it in the castle, they originally thought they could sit back and relax. However, as early as decades ago, people discovered that the accumulation of their ancestors was becoming less and less valuable.

And now…the tulips appear.

Nobles began to rush to order.

There was even a mutated tulip. It was no longer purple-red, but purple-red with white spots. At the auction, its price was as high as 1,300 Spanish gold coins.

At banquets and salons, those well-dressed nobles who like to talk about painting and war no longer have the heart to discuss these issues. They repeat the stories they have encountered over and over again. These stories are added to the story, as if… …The most beautiful things in the world are discovered by yourself.

In one month…

the tulip bulbs have grown thirty-fold.

One cow turned into thirty cows.

The count in charge of finance in France asked the king to withdraw some gold coins from the treasury to buy tulips.

In fact… the Austrian King of Habsburg was also considering this matter at the same time.

The first to take action was the Habsburg governor in the Northern Province. He was the first to make use of the gold and silver in the treasury and make investments. Now, the finances of the Northern Province have ranked first in the entire Franconia. , its assets increased thirteen times.

………

These chapters will be quite tiring to write. There is a constant battle between heaven and man in my mind. I don’t know whether to write in detail or in brief. If I write in detail, I am afraid that readers will think it is verbose. If I write less, I am afraid that there will be no way to explain it. Please give me your opinion on the causes of the tulip bubble.

(End of chapter)