Pirate Kingship

September 1473 of the Silver Age, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the capital of Amstel.

Squeak, squeak, squeak

The huge windmills rotate with the wind, like giants standing tall and tall, which are spectacular in the morning light.

About 40% of the land in this coastal country is below sea level, and they have to continue to strengthen sea dams.

And a large number of windmills and pumping facilities were built to ensure the country's drainage and irrigation.

Windmills of all sizes have also become a beautiful scenery on this land.

The royal capital Amstel is the brightest pearl among them.

It is the capital of tulips and diamonds on the east coast, one of the most important return ports in the Age of Discovery, and the largest financial center in the entire Silver Continent.

Although its land area is not large, it has more than 16,000 merchant ships and hundreds of large and small warships. It is undoubtedly one of the powerful countries in the Age of Discovery.

At this time, in a large plantation manor outside the capital.

"Be careful, don't dig up the bulbs.

Nowadays, tulip bulbs are priced at one price every day. If you destroy a precious species, you won’t be able to afford it even if you sell it. "

"Have you not eaten? Hurry up, the buyers are already waiting at the entrance of the guild. Every minute you waste is a waste of Mr. Cromwell's money!"

"Hey, my carriage has arrived, your goods are not ready yet?

The contract has been signed, 500 kilograms of common species and 20 rare species, no less."

The fields are filled with black heads and are being harvested, but what they are harvesting is not grain, but tulip bulbs that look like onions.

There were more supervisors, clerks, guild brokers, professional managers, and impatient buyers than there were laborers, all gathered around to watch.

This scene alone shows how hot the tulip trading market is now after two months of fermentation from July to September.

The frenzied atmosphere has swept through everyone in this land.

"Quick, quick, come two people and send our orders away first."

Thomas, who wears a bow tie but has a messy beard, is a clerk at the Tulip Guild. He has been working overtime for a month continuously and has not even been home.

At this time, he only had the work of the guild in his mind, leaving all other unimportant things behind.

Children playing truant? unimportant.

Wife complains? Let her be.

Parents are sick? Little things.

A good friend's funeral? That's even more of a trivial matter. A gift from someone is enough.

Only the boss's matters are the most important. Even the trivial matters of the company or guild are still huge matters to us.

Must go all out.

Of course, none of this was his original intention. A poor working man simply couldn't afford such precious flowers, so taking the opportunity to make a fortune had nothing to do with him.

Just because Thomas is the [Silver Good Servant] of a certain Gold Dollar Sequence [Banker].

This extraordinary ability comes from the famous saying of a famous modern economist: "Money is a good servant and an evil master."

After the [Banker] signs a labor contract with the employee, he only needs to pay the agreed small amount of silver coins regularly to meet the other party's basic living needs.

The other party must adopt the attitude of a "good servant" and give priority to meeting all his work requirements regardless of family, family ties, love, and friendship.

"As Mr. Cromwell said, it is the platform of trading companies and guilds that gives us the opportunity to develop. As long as you work hard and have wealth and status, others will look up to you.

Even if you don't go to many key occasions, no one will say anything. If you go once in a while, others will feel honored.

So we don’t need to socialize ineffectively, we just need to concentrate on work. "

After learning how to PUA on his own, he is simply a perfect workman chosen by heaven.

The situation of his immediate boss, Manager Taylor, who was already bald, was even worse than his.

At least Thomas, although haggard, still has a lot of humanity in him. He can empathize with the lower-level flower farmers and workers. He knows that it is not easy for them, and even though he urges them, he also knows how to step forward to help.

The latter only has indifference and the tasks assigned by the top management in his eyes. He only looks at the results and does not care about the process.

He would always scream and yell:

“You clumsy idiot, if you make another mistake, I will have the HR manager fire you.

Let your wife, children, and sixty-year-old mother all sleep on the streets! "

Moreover, this Taylor manager was obviously only thirty-five years old, but his back was already stooped, his hair turned gray prematurely, and every step he took seemed to be carrying a big mountain on his back.

Because he was not only a [Good Servant of Silver], but also took the initiative to find himself a [Evil Master of Gold] in order to purchase real estate in the royal capital.

was a banker at another bank.

A mid-sequence [Banker] can forcibly turn someone into a slave of money by lending them excess gold.

He will have to struggle for the rest of his life to repay this loan.

Even if he is under heavy pressure, his back is bent, and his teeth are bleeding, he will never let himself relax for a moment for the survival of his family, let alone lose his job.

Most people in the Kingdom of the Netherlands cannot afford this interest throughout their lives, and they will remain a walking corpse controlled by the [Golden Evil Lord] until their death.

Compassion?

As a middle-level manager with heavy debts, he could no longer afford such luxury.

The originally good and normal person has completely become the absolute implementer of the high-level will.

Not to mention interpersonal relationships, at critical moments, even they themselves can be sacrificed to the high-level money-making enterprise.

Of course, on the surface, it seems that with continuous promotions and salary increases, there is hope for relief, but how can it be so easy to repay the usurious loans of bankers in the gold and dollar series?

They have developed countless financial products for the development of the financial industry and their own career advancement, and those who do not fall into the trap are the outliers.

These clerks work very efficiently and hard.

The tulip bulbs were dug out of the soil, put into sacks still covered with fresh soil, and sent to the carriages that had been waiting for a long time.

Regardless of whether it is a distributor or a third-level market, as soon as it shows up, people will quickly buy it up waving gold pounds.

Put a small amount of treasures in the auction house, and you can even exchange them for a real estate in a blink of an eye.

It's a pity that no matter how enthusiastic you are from top to bottom, you can't create new tulip bulbs out of thin air. The supply quantity per unit of space is really limited.

Failure to make more money is a loss.

Even if the guilds and suppliers were so anxious that they were beating their chests and jumping up and down, there was nothing they could do.

Tulips are native to the Star-Moon Empire on the west coast, and later came to the east coast along the trade routes and nine crusades.

The climate and soil conditions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are very suitable for the growth of tulips, and it has gradually become the largest tulip cultivation and trading base on the east coast.

However, due to the previous breeding technology of [Famine Hunter] and the not-so-strong demand, the scale of planting has never been too large.

The most important thing is that there are only two ways of propagating tulips: one is through seeds; the other is through tulip bulbs.

If propagated by seeds, it will take at least 7-12 years to obtain ideal bulbs.

What is traded in the bulk tulip market is never the flowers, but the bulbs that are easy to store and transport.

Plant the bulbs in spring and they will bloom in April or May. The flowering period is only about ten days.

The powerful are in urgent need of having a dance party, and it is also convenient to let [Famine Hunter] violently spawn.

And in September every year, new bulbs will grow from the roots of the tulips in the ground, and the new bulbs can be up to twice as big as when they were planted.

If priced by weight, the value can also be doubled.

Therefore, new bulbs are only available in September every year to meet the growing demand for tulips from customers.

Catherine's purchase plan started at the right time. With the arrival of September, the entire tulip market in the Netherlands was pushed to a climax.

However, because of the natural supply limit, the selling price has always remained high.

In a luxurious and majestic villa next to the tulip plantation.

A group of parasitic big shots who have gained real power in the Kingdom of the Netherlands are also hotly discussing this earth-shattering wealth.

“I’m very happy to be able to make a big fortune, but the lack of supply and the inability to make more money makes me extremely miserable.

If only I could order a few more tulips this spring. "

“Who could have predicted that the market changes this year would be so drastic?

Led by the Lancastrian royal family of the North Sea Empire and the Valois royal family of the Iris Kingdom, the upper classes in many countries began to follow suit and pursue tulips.

In just two months, the price of ordinary bulbs has doubled.

We failed to plant in advance to expand production scale. Even if all the bulbs in the field were dug out this year, we would not be able to meet the market demand. "

Most of the dozen or so gentlemen present here are elderly, but all of them are well-dressed and energetic. Even every gray hair is meticulously taken care of.

They are completely different from the group of front-line clerks outside who come and go through wind and rain.

This is probably a true portrayal of "vigorous old people and depressed young people".

Among them, William Jones, the president of the Tulip Trading Guild, saw his net worth skyrocket during this period, earning wealth in just two months that he had never been able to earn in his entire life.

But in this conference room, it can still only be ranked in the lower reaches.

Infected by his emotions, other rich and powerful people also expressed regret:

“The total amount of bulbs is really limited, and even if the unit price is higher, the market limit has been reached.

If we had prepared early, we could definitely expand our influence tenfold or a hundredfold and reap the huge wealth of half a continent.

It seems that we can only plant bulbs in the beginning of next spring, and then wait until this time next year.

But by then, the war between the Orthodox Alliance and the Protestant Alliance may have reached a fever pitch. I wonder if there will still be so much hot money in the market to push up the unit price of tulips? "

"Alas! Not being able to make this money would be more uncomfortable than killing me."

Sitting next to the president, William Jones, was [banker] Hal Black, who had long secretly taken refuge with Byron. He belonged to the "Free Masons" together with all the noble gentlemen here.

After hearing the complaints from his colleagues, Blake pretended to ponder for a moment, and then reminded him very "kindly":

“President Jones, and gentlemen.

We are usually very smart people, so how come we all fall into the backward thinking of those industrialists at this time?

Although this year’s output has bottomed out, next year’s output will still be there.

And it will expand three times, five times, or even ten times based on this year.

Isn’t this the perfect source?

Except for those powerful people from various countries, do most buyers really want bulbs? What they want is to make money through speculation. "

The others were just stunned, and then their eyes lit up:

"Mr. Black, are you saying that we imitate the futures exchange on the online financial street and establish our own tulip futures?"

Financial products such as "futures" are nothing new.

It was first invented by two people from the online financial street, Mr. Wednesday and Ms. Friday, whose identities are still unknown. They have been selling it for who knows how long.

Who here has not bought the famous whale oil futures on the online financial street?

Due to the existence of "trap doors", whale oil trading is naturally cyclical. No one knows the specific output and transaction price of the new batch of whale oil until the trading day at the end of the month or the beginning of the month.

If it lasts a long time, it will make you rich and popular, and make countless people flock to it.

By analogy, everyone instantly understood the key and secretly applauded Hal Black's sensitivity.

William Jones, the president of the Tulip Guild, was even more delighted and laughed loudly:

"Mr. Black is right when he says that the biggest problem we face now is the imbalance between tulip supply and demand.

If we put the output in September next year on the market in the form of "Guild Standard Sales and Purchase Contract".

Then make a clear agreement that when the tulip bulbs are harvested, they must be delivered at the current transaction price. Wouldn’t this be the best of both worlds?

Tulip futures is a great idea tailor-made for us! "

So, in a few words, tulip futures appeared in the world for the first time.

After the cake suddenly expanded ten times, others were gearing up to raise funds to join in this gluttonous feast.

From today on, the tulips traded in those taverns are no longer physical bulbs, but "Guild Standard Sales and Purchase Contracts".

There is no need for the cumbersome steps of taking out, transporting, and warehousing. You only need to pay the money in one hand and the contract in the other, and then pick up the goods with the contract on the delivery day.

Transactions instantly become countless times more convenient!

In the past, you could only trade once in a few days, but now you can trade countless times in just one day.

As for whether these people will suffer losses?

After all, the rules of the game and the supply of goods are in their hands, how can the banker lose money?

The senior leaders of the "Free Masons" had no idea what this thin futures contract written on bagasse paper meant to them.

Only Black knew that the last shackles restraining the expansion of the bubble had collapsed, and that this trend was destined to sweep across the country and even the entire East Coast.

In a heated atmosphere, the most senior meeting host in the conference room suddenly spoke:

“Gentlemen, tulip futures are indeed a good idea.

We can just take this opportunity to harvest the wealth of the whole country, and even the surrounding countries, to support the war of the Orthodox Alliance.

Don’t forget, the most urgent task is that we in the Kingdom of the Netherlands want to help the Orthodox Alliance win the religious war.

If it works well, in the end not only the money spent will be ours, but also the land and country of the Protestant Union will be ours.

Now we are infinitely close to the goal of becoming a ‘world noble’!

If we win this battle, the future material world will be the era of our big bankers. "

The members of the Free Masons present held their chests and saluted, solemnly promising:

"Yes, Lord Cromwell, we can sort out the priorities."

The person sitting at the top is none other than Elon Cromwell, the Guardian of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the President of the Free Masons, and the fifth-level legendary [Banker] of the Remites.

At the same time, he is also the finance minister of the kingdom and the actual controller of the parliament. He was named [Lord Protector] by the young king.

Byron's Wild Hunt servant Salome, the Elf of Love, who had been killed once, was his daughter.

[Lord Protector] Elon Cromwell looked at everyone with sharp eyes and continued to mobilize before the war:

“Everyone must remember that no matter how much time passes, the Holy City of the Three Religions will always be the ancestral homeland of our Remit people.

If we can rebuild our country, that will be our best choice.

The last time even the Western Silver Empire was destroyed by [Lord of the Two Seas and Two Lands] Mohammed II, all the male members of the royal family were killed.

This brutal act frightened everyone.

Even the radicals of the "Golden Power Restoration Party" no longer proposed returning to their ancestral homeland, and instead chose to establish their country overseas.

Now, our once-in-a-millennium opportunity has finally arrived. "

The gorgeous gemstone ring on his hand projected a very detailed map of the world, with two red battle lines drawn east and west.

“There is no doubt about the strength of our Orthodox Union.

Although the Pyrenees Empire was fighting on both the east and west fronts, the North Sea Empire, which had the strongest strength in the Protestant Alliance, could not devote all its energy to participating in the war.

Standing at the end of the third gyre zone, his enemies would be more numerous and stronger than the Pyrenees Empire.

The Pope promised that when the other party opens up the Corridor of Truth, he will additionally reduce the support of the Silver Law, causing him to suffer greater losses.

The Beihai Empire has stirred up a hornet's nest in the Eastern Continent, and there will definitely be a steady stream of dependent colonists coming to attack them.

Just the spontaneous tide of monsters in the sea of ​​monsters is enough to make them miserable. "

Seeing the members of the Masons nodding in agreement with him, his tone suddenly became high-pitched:

“If we can help the Pyrenees Empire defeat the Star-Moon Empire, we can dominate the sea and even the west coast.

It may be impossible to divide the Holy City of the Three Religions to us, but it will definitely not be a problem to set aside a piece of land outside the city for us to build a country.

When the time comes, with the help of the zero-level holy relic [Dead Sea Scrolls] we hold, we will definitely be able to obtain the promised land given to us by the Holy Father.

Even if the world is flooded by the Luan Dynasty, we Remit people can become the chosen people of the new world! "

"Roar——!"

Everyone was in high spirits for that beautiful future, and clapped their hands until they were red.

Only Hal Black's eyes flickered slightly, and he transmitted the first-hand information on the scene to his main god.

North Sea Empire, Kingston, Ganquan Palace.

In addition to the red roses that bloom all year round, the garden in September is also full of large tracts of tulips.

In other places, September is the season for harvesting bulbs, but here the tulips are particularly bright and brilliant.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

In the colorful flowerbed, the whirlwind whistled, and two mithril swift swords collided, exploding sparks all over the sky.

Two blurry figures flashed in front and behind, chasing in the flowers a moment ago, and suddenly Each of them took a step forward and stepped onto the stratosphere.

The sword light was crisscrossed, cutting the white clouds into pieces.

Only when the two swords collided could their figures be vaguely seen.

One was naturally Byron wearing a white shirt, and the other was Catherine, the [Queen of Finance], with a golden hair shawl and a ribbon.

A slim red skirt with black lace sleeves, the waist and back straps made her waist slender. During the fight, she turned around and swung the sword, and the skirt spread out, like a grand red rose.

The two of them have reached the extreme of the fifth level, and have gathered all the prerequisites for promotion. Only the half-step sixth level of the ascension ceremony is left. The aftermath of the battle alone may severely damage ordinary fourth-level heroes.

"Huh, it's great. You were not at home some time ago, and no one could practice with me. My body is almost rusty."

Byron smiled at her lovingly, raised his hand to help Catherine brush a strand of golden hair behind her ears:

"It's different now. As long as sister is willing, I can be with you at any time. ”

After morning exercise, the brother and sister lay side by side on a white cloud, silently looking at the miniature version of the Kingdom of the Netherlands below.

There is also the real-time intelligence transmitted by Hal Black.

Catherine hugged Byron's arm and pursed her rosy lips:

"In the script I originally arranged, I started to increase purchases from July to induce speculation, which fermented throughout the second half of the year and reached its peak in winter.

When they realize that they must plant the bulbs in the ground when spring comes, and then they can no longer continue to deliver, they will gradually realize that these "Contracts" cannot be left in their hands.

Then panic selling will be triggered.

Harvest in January or February at the beginning of next year.

I didn't expect that the old Pope would be willing to spend a lot of money and convene the Orthodox Alliance to catch us off guard.

When the war spreads, the financial market will no longer develop according to our ideas.

However, this is not a big problem.

I have the [Financial Priesthood] in my hand, and I just need to give it a push. "

As he spoke, he stretched out his tender little white hand and grabbed Byron's big hand, activated the [finance] priesthood, and launched the [invisible hand].

Byron also activated his [human] priesthood, launched the [spiritual undercurrent], and then they pushed gently towards the Kingdom of the Netherlands under their feet.

It was easy to set off a wave of turbulence in the collective subconscious sea of ​​the country, mainly the Remit people.

Huh——!

A spiritual wind blew through everyone.

The [invisible hand] and [human] of the two of them are the personal authority of gods that can best touch the essence of the collective subconscious of mankind.

As long as they want to do bad things to human opponents, the power of any old god cannot match their destructive power.

Especially when The financial market, which is seriously influenced by human hearts, is like a demigod looking down on all living things!

At this moment, the tulip bubble began to expand rapidly.

Listen carefully, and waves are rolling in the collective subconscious of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A mixed voice of men, women, old and young sings sadly:

"Finally, the money-worshiping craze is like a raging flood that has submerged everything;

Greed is slowly rolling in, like a haze of mist, covering the sunlight;

Politicians and national fighters are addicted to futures;

Noble ladies share dividends like servants and foremen;

Judges become brokers; Bishops eat the common people;

The monarch puts the kingdom on the card table for gold and silver;

All living beings dance and spend the rest of their lives to please your queen!"