Chapter 528: South Sea Giant Crocodile

There are some people who may have been guided by God's golden finger and are destined to reverse the tide of history, and Isaac Newton is one of them.

With "Gravity", "Newton's Laws" and "Calculus", Newton became a famous figure during his lifetime, but in addition to scientific achievements, Newton also made a great turn in London's finance and maritime trade .

In 1696, Newton received a job invitation from his Cambridge classmate, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Montagu, to undertake the recasting of the Royal Mint's currency.

Coinage technology originated in ancient Rome and was perfected during the period of Edward I. In the era when precious metals were used as currency in circulation, the government would periodically take back damaged coins from the people, melt gold, silver, and copper and then recast them.

Since the Middle Ages, Britain, like other countries on the European continent, has implemented a double standard system in which gold and silver coins are used as the standard currency at the same time. Gold and silver coins can be freely circulated and bought and sold in the market, and most of the time silver coins are used as the main payment. Currency, gold coins as auxiliary currency. But by the end of the seventeenth century, the number of silver coins on the British market had shrunk significantly, seriously affecting the stability of the monetary system.

When Newton went to the mint, it was a bit of a crisis. At that time, Britain used real gold and silver to mint currency, but the gold-silver ratio in Britain was higher than that of France across the strait, so unscrupulous businessmen discovered the mechanism of arbitrage: melting British silver coins Make silver ingots, go to France to buy gold, and then transport the gold back to England to exchange for more silver coins. When this phenomenon intensified, Britain experienced serious silver outflows and currency shortages. At the same time, counterfeit and bad coins took the opportunity to flood the market, and the production and trading of counterfeit coins formed an extremely active underground industry.

At that time, Britain was in the middle of a war, and the Chinese should be very curious why there were so few Westerners. Before the great plague in 1665, Britain was busy competing with the sea coachman Netherlands for trade rights. After the great plague, it first went to war with the Netherlands. In the early 18th century It was also involved in the North American Colonial War that started with the War of Spanish Succession. At that time, the average age of civilians was about 35 years old. There was almost no need to consider the issue of pensions. Woolen cloth?

Huge military expenditures have left the economy in chaos, and the solution to both the outflow of silver coins and the flood of counterfeit coins is to re-mint coins. The Royal Mint has a heavy responsibility. Although Newton has no previous administrative experience, he has been recognized. "Britain's smartest man".

As soon as Newton arrived at the Mint, he dug out all the previous rules and regulations, and appeared in the workshop every morning before the start of work at 4 o'clock in the morning, and came to supervise before the start of the night shift. He observed and calculated the time required for each process, arranged the process reasonably, and greatly improved work efficiency. Originally, people thought it was unimaginable to produce 15,000 pounds a week, but Newton quickly increased the production to 50,000 pounds a week, and even reached 100,000 pounds a week. He commanded more than 500 workers and 50 horses, and completed the task of recasting new coins across the country within three years, totaling more than 6.84 million pounds, and the economic situation in Britain improved as a result.

However, Newton was not reminded when he accepted the appointment that the Superintendent of the Mint had also held another strange office since ancient times-the magistrate who enforced the king's laws in and around London.

At the beginning, Newton hated this part-time position very much, and repeatedly asked to be removed from this position. He was "Professor" Lucas, and he was very reluctant to manage the Royal Mint, which was full of abuses. Unfortunately, the Treasury Department came with clear instructions: Newton must fulfill this duty.

One can learn without administrative experience, and of course one can learn without criminal investigation experience. Newton quickly turned himself into a competent economic investigation captain. Newton learned all the dirty work, such as spying on intelligence, buying informants, placing undercover agents, and even extorting confessions by torture. He quickly got used to interrogating prisoners in the Mint's office.

Who can imagine what it would be like to extract a confession by Isaac Newton? Just like Sherlock Holmes has an "ultimate enemy" Professor Moriarty, Isaac's enemy is named William Chaloner. Although he has no formal education, he has a certain culture, some craftsmanship, and even a certain amount of economics. learn insights. Since 1691, he has produced counterfeit coins on a large scale. He is skilled, trades cautiously, and makes a lot of profits. He soon lives a wealthy life and lives in a mansion. Newton said that he "put on a gentleman's air", just like a high-class person up.

It took a lot of time to catch him Isaac. In the final stage, Chaloner repeatedly begged Newton for mercy in prison, but Newton responded with a hard heart and did not give him any answer. On March 22, 1699, Chaloner was hanged first, and then he was cut into four pieces by a machete while he was still breathing. Newton did not attend this bloody ceremony.

To start a war, a country needs military expenses. For example, buying guns and ammunition, manufacturing warships, and steel and timber also requires a lot of money. Therefore, Britain owes a huge debt.

The current way to deal with the deficit is to print banknotes. However, in the 18th century, gold and silver had to be used. At most, the fineness was reduced. They could not be as unscrupulous as banknotes. If you have no money, you can’t print money. The only way is to borrow money. The interest rate of the first national debt It was 9%. At that time, the British government borrowed money everywhere to fight the war. Regardless of whether they could afford it or not, they just borrowed it desperately. Calculate the general ledger, the British government owes more than 50 million pounds, and the interest alone is close to 5 million, which cannot be repaid with the fiscal revenue at the time, so the MPs came up with a way to find other rich people to borrow money to repay these national debts , and at the same time reduce the original interest rate to 6%, so that the interest rate can be reduced.

At that time, Britain lacked investment opportunities, and many rich people did not know how to spend their money, so the Chancellor of the Exchequer called them for a meeting.

Of course, no one is willing to lower interest rates to make people borrow money to repay debts, but the British government promised them a benefit at that time, that is, they can monopolize the South American trade. If other people are engaged in South American trade, once they are reported, half of the goods on the ship The informants and the royal family, half of which belonged to these debtors, so the parliament agreed with these people to form a company, the South Sea Company. The creditors of these South Sea Company borrowed 10 million pounds, replacing the old creditors with 9% interest as new creditors. The shareholders of the South Sea Company thought that they could make money by monopolizing the South American trade, and they could fully make up for the loss of 3% interest, so they happily agreed, but the reality is not the case.

There are many Spanish colonies in South America. Spain stipulates that the South Sea Company can only go to four ports, and one trade can only transport one ship of goods. Spain has a strong navy in South America, and the British Royal Navy has no way to fight for more benefits for the South Sea Company. , So the South Sea Company was established in 1711, and the first transaction was made in 1717. This transaction was for black slaves. Because there were too many people in the cabin, an epidemic broke out, many slaves died, and the South Sea Company suffered huge losses. .

The Nanhai Company was unwilling to bear this loss, so it tried to recover the loss in other ways. Throughout the ages, there has always been a group of people waiting to be slaughtered like lambs, and this group of people is the "common people".

The South Sea Company made the British government agree to sell shares to the people of the whole country. The common people bought the shares of the South Sea Company with cash, and the South Sea Company used the cash to buy the British government's national debt, and the interest rate was reduced to 5%. The South Sea Company is profitable, and the British government can reduce the interest rate on the national debt. The only unlucky people are the common people like leeks.

The Nanhai Company bought 31 million treasury bonds and asked the government to agree to use the treasury bonds to buy stocks, which is equivalent to exchanging the 9% interest rate treasury bonds bought by ordinary people for Nanhai Company stocks. The government and Nanhai Company treasury bond interest rate is 5%. In this way, the government can pay 4% less interest rate, the national debt is reduced again, and the government once again agreed to the request of the South Sea Company.

Stocks must be bought by someone to make a profit. The way to convince ordinary people to buy stocks voluntarily is to increase the price of stocks. If 1 million treasury bonds, 9% interest treasury bonds will mature at 1.09 million, but if stocks soar, 1 million will be It has become 2 million, of course everyone is willing to buy stocks with national bonds, so the minister of the British Parliament and the South China Sea Company have a holiday. , the Nanhai Company will make a lot of money in the future.

The fake news attracted a lot of people to buy the stock, and the stock tripled within a few months.

At that time, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the upper and lower parliaments received a lot of bribes from the South Sea Company and helped the South Sea Company to promote the Spanish contract. After hearing the news, the common people went crazy. The stock soared from 128 pounds a share to 330 pounds in March 1720. Pounds rose to 400 pounds in April and 600 pounds in May. Those who could not buy stocks were beating their chests. Some people even sold their wives and children to buy stocks, and even sold their land.

Businessmen don’t do business, lawyers don’t litigate, shoemakers don’t make shoes, and Newton bought some stocks. The South China Sea and the South China Sea are discussed in the streets and alleys. People are like collectively possessed by demons. The company's stock subscription certificate. Every time the exchange opened on Earley Street, there was a huge crowd of people rushing in, and people didn't know if they were trampled to death, because everyone was rushing forward.

People don't listen to anything at this time. The stocks have risen so much that congressmen don't use cash for bribes. Some stockholders bought it; some said, "I have the technology of perpetual motion, and there will be no need for horses to pull carts", and some stockholders bought it; some said, "I have a profitable project, but I can't tell you what it is for now But the stock will definitely rise sharply”, and some people still buy it.

The company that didn't announce the project was 100 pounds a share, with a down payment of 2 pounds, sold 1,000 shares, cashed out 2,000 pounds and ran away. This is equivalent to 20 years of income for ordinary people, leaving behind hundreds of shareholders who are confused. Corporations" created a dense bubble of little bubbles, and they took their money and ran.

In order to prevent the lies from being exposed in advance, the South Sea Company asked the British government to promulgate a law that no company could issue shares without the consent of the parliament and the royal family.

The police acted immediately and swept up those "companies" large and small. The stocks of these "companies" became worthless, and a large number of "companies" fled.

Shareholders only woke up at this time, and began to doubt the South Sea Company, which was chaired by King George I. Many people began to sell their stocks, and the shares of the South Sea Company fell from 1,000 pounds to 900 pounds.

Although the decline was not large, the shareholders of the South Sea Company had already noticed it. They sold their stocks together with government officials, and the stock price also plummeted from 900 to 540 pounds a share.

Nanhai Company also promised to small and medium-sized shareholders that there will be dividends in the second half of the year, so that everyone can hold their shares and wait and see. Soon the ship from South America will return, and everyone can make back their losses.

In fact, Spain did not have any agreement with the Nanhai Company at all. The Nanhai Company did not make money at all, and the stock price was still plummeting, 500, 400, 300...

Those who mortgaged their land before lost their own land, those who borrowed money were forced to commit suicide by their debts, there were robberies everywhere, random hacking and killing to vent their anger often occurred, and the public security seriously deteriorated.

A large number of stockholders wanted to sell their stocks, but Nanhai Company forbade them to do so at this time.

Newton, who originally made a small profit of 7,000 pounds, lost a huge loss of 20,000 pounds because he did not sell it in time. With his annual salary of 1,500 pounds as the director of the Royal Mint and the 500 pounds annual salary of Professor Lucas of Cambridge University, he will have to repay it in 10 years. It will take 200 years for ordinary people to pay off their debts.

Under the anger of the whole country, the British government began to investigate. The Nanhai Company made a mess of its own accounts, and some account books were directly burned. During the investigation, it was found that 578 members of parliament took bribes, and 9 ministers bought 650,000 shares. Nanhai Company The shareholders of the company were arrested, and the house of the chancellor of the exchequer was confiscated. The money recovered was divided equally by everyone, only 33 pounds per person.

Because the nature of the stock market crash was so bad, the UK did not issue any stocks in the 100 years before 1825, and the South Sea Company did not go bankrupt until 1853. It took more than 100 years for the UK to return to the level of 1720.

At that time, the East India Company rose. At the beginning, they only did some business such as selling black slaves in relatively nearby Africa. But it was later discovered that the real money was made in the far east.

The East India Company was founded by the Dutch. At the beginning, the shares of the East India Company could only be held and could not be transferred. On the stock exchange, those who missed buying the original stock at the beginning can buy other people's second-hand stock. Therefore, if investors want to recover their investment, they can only sell their shares to others to get their money back by transferring their shares, instead of withdrawing their shares from the company directly. Of course, they cannot cut leeks like Nanhai Company.

Before the First Opium War, the British were skeptical of East India Company stocks. After all, the South Sea Company example was there. Later, as the first batch of war reparations arrived at the Royal Mint, people saw real silver dollars from the factory. Only then did people realize that the stocks of the East India Company could really make money.

The "Nanjing Treaty" stipulated that the indemnity should be paid in foreign dollars, with a total of 21 million silver dollars. In terms of the specific time limit and amount of indemnity, Article 7 of the treaty stipulates that the first amount to be paid immediately after the signing and entry into force (August 29, 1842) is 6 million silver dollars, and the rest will be paid in six installments over three years: June 30, 1843 On or before, and on or before December 31, $3 million each; on or before June 30, 1844, and on or before December 31, each of $2.5 million On or before June 30, 1845, and December Before the 31st, each needs to pay 2 million yuan.

In case of arrears, an additional 5% annual interest shall be paid. Among them, the first immediate payment of 6 million silver dollars was the condition proposed by the British army to withdraw from the Yangtze River and lift the blockade.

The trade between China and Britain was interrupted before the war broke out in 1839. If the navy of the Qing Dynasty could beat the British like the Spanish navy, then the shares of the East India Company would still be worthless, and the prosperity of the Victorian era in England would not be worth anything at all. There will be no such thing as the "British Empire" if it exists, and may even be sluggish for another 100 years.

Due to factors such as the level of refining at that time and the background of using silver, the silver was mixed with gold but could not be valued. As a result, the actual value of the final compensation exceeded the total compensation stipulated in the treaty, which made the British earn a considerable extra profit. The profits were all consumed by the Great Irish Famine in 1845, and Britain lost dozens of tons of gold.

The Manchus were easy to bully, and when they had no money, they robbed the Chinese. The Second Opium War was not settled with silver dollars.

Europeans are not very good at mathematics, and most of them are not as good at mental arithmetic as Orientals, but a small number of elites are better at mathematics than Chinese, and it is this group of people who leads the progress of the times.

Britain did not win much money in the Opium War. What the British took away was the confidence of China's "Heavenly Kingdom" that had been passed down for thousands of years.

This time, "Calling the Night" took away the gold from the Royal Mint. Since World War II, more than 60 countries and regions in the world have stored part of their gold reserves in the United States. To be precise, they are stored in New York, the United States. Inside the "underground vault" of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The Muggle Prime Minister is about to go mad. Americans are now caught in the shadow of the subprime mortgage crisis. In the United States, loans are very common. Locals seldom buy houses in full, and usually take long-term loans. But unemployment and reemployment are very common here. These people whose income is not stable or even have no income at all are defined as subprime credit loan borrowers because their credit ratings are not up to standard when buying a house. Subprime mortgage loans are a high-risk, high-yield industry. , due to the continued prosperity of the US housing market and the low level of US interest rates in the past few years, the US subprime mortgage market has developed rapidly, but now the US housing market has begun to shrink, and the cooling of the housing market has also made it difficult to buy houses and refinance mortgages , the bank took back the house and couldn't sell it at a high price, causing a large area of ​​​​loss...

The British are not as lucky as the French. When the South Sea Company collapsed, there was no bourgeoisie to lead the revolution. In a mess, the losses can only be borne by themselves, and small shareholders can only commit suicide.

During that time, the Minister for Magic was Damocles Rolle, who proposed to be tough on Muggles, and there was already a proposal to build a wizarding prison in the Hebrides, but Rolle scrapped the plan , stick to Azkaban.

Together with Malfoy, he embezzled the money from the Ministry, and joined forces with Muggle MPs to make a fortune. What does it have to do with Muggle suicides and wizards being imprisoned in Azkaban?

This time Kingsley broke out of Azkaban and proposed a plan to build a new prison. Although the space in the prison can be expanded with magic, the Aurors are short of manpower, and they cry when they hear that they are being sent to Azkaban. God wipes away tears, in fact, there are no dementor guards in Azkaban now.

It would be great if all Chinese were as "cute" as pandas.

However, although the Chinese fireball is small, it is very agile. It is the most dangerous fire dragon. It is more difficult to deal with than the Hungarian hornet, but it is even more terrifying than the financial predators. In fact, the murderous intent has been hidden.

They are here, hoping that the British who like oriental culture will not be like Ye Gong, who loves dragons, and is scared to death when he sees a real dragon.