Chapter 576: The Crazy Tulip

According to an old proverb, kings, rich merchants, and bishops all ask a soldier to kill two other people, and give the soldier his own unique reward. After the Black Death spread, soldiers no longer believed what the bishop said. He only had to listen to the words of one person from among the king and the rich businessman. Money from rich merchants, rich merchants want the power of the king.

When faith loses any binding force in people's hearts, some people become devils in human skin. The Indian famine in 1776 is an example.

The people of the East India Company can starve thousands of Indians without doing anything, and ensure that food can be delivered on time to the United States and Britain, which are fighting the War of Independence.

Americans like real estate speculation, but they have learned from the Chinese "permanent warehouse", at least they can ensure that food prices do not fluctuate much.

In Britain, because of the confrontation between the bourgeoisie and the feudal aristocracy, even if they knew the benefits of "permanent positions", they still would not set up, so the price of wheat fluctuated greatly.

But as "capital became the supreme power of the country", the conflict between the king and the rich merchants became less acute, and soldiers no longer had to choose between killing the king or the rich merchants.

Before the Congress agreed to the first Opium War, the fleet had already arrived in India. Waiting for the British government to allocate military expenditures, I don’t know when it will take. The capitalists of the China and India Association will pay the military expenditures first when the military is expensive.

In addition to the concept of the unity of man and nature in China, there is also the relationship between man and nature. If the emperor violates the will of heaven and is unrighteous, there will be disasters and disasters to condemn and warn; if the government is well-organized and people are harmonious, heaven will send auspicious signs to encourage.

The late blight of potatoes in 1845 was a "scourge". The United States had no king, but in the early days they were very dependent on Britain. The 1837 financial crisis not only hurt the United States, but also the British, especially ordinary civilians. In the past, when the grain harvest was good, they could buy two clothes. Where is Christian kindness and devotion when the thief is hanged for a piece of bread?

Melanie couldn't do heavy physical labor, but she still gave food to passing soldiers. Scarlett complained about it, but she still let Melanie do it. Frank Kennedy was one of the rescued people.

He is like a frightened old badger who survived the war by luck. War is the most painful thing. Before Captain Butler left Scarlett, he also hoped to get her kiss. In the end, he not only got After a kiss and a slap in the face, Frank finally proposed to Sue after he came back. He always thought that he was not worthy of Sue, but the war made him suffer, and he also hoped that someone could comfort him.

Scarlett is like chili, the spiciness is not felt through the taste buds. Although the taste buds are activated when eating spicy food, the spicy taste perceived by people is not the taste felt by the taste buds.

It is actually a kind of pain. Some people love spicy food because they love the expansion of blood vessels and the swelling feeling of accelerated blood flow. Eating chili peppers in moderation is good for the human body, but excessive consumption of chili peppers can be life-threatening, because excessive chili peppers can cause breathing difficulties. , but people who love spicy food are as difficult as quitting smoking.

Oh, I know it's a pain, but I can't control it.

It’s okay to change the taste of chili once in a while, but it’s boring after a long time. The captain will definitely find Scarlett.

Frank is not a spicy person, he is just an ordinary man, suitable for living a life of being rich and safe. He can't control the hot Scarlett, but he is very tolerant, otherwise he would not listen to Scarlett and look for him My friend asked for the loaned money back.

Good deeds are rewarded. Scarlett’s unintentional acts of kindness made her meet Frank when she had nowhere to go. If she could learn to behave herself, they could have lived happily ever after. Unfortunately, she is a restless woman, just like a horse Ritual, that's not something Frank can handle.

The best relationship between Frank and Scarlett is between partners, not husband and wife, but "trust" is not so easy to build, and many partners will take other investors' money and run away.

Although the streets are full of people, it is so difficult to find a trustworthy and capable person. In the South Sea Bubble in 1720, the chairman of the South Sea Company was still King George I, and the king had deceived the common people. Merchants were never to be trusted, and God was no longer to be trusted. Who else could believe it?

Scarlett and Frank's marriage was a helpless tragedy, but after Frank's death, at least Scarlett was not as indifferent as she was in her first marriage.

She is also a black widow, her first husband died in the war, and her second husband died in a gun fight. When she married Rhett, Sue was almost jealous. Scarlett married three times, but Sue was almost an old girl. Now, if she wasn't so picky or dark enough to go to Ashley, she wouldn't have to go to that point, but it's a pity that she didn't do anything, and she was not married in a world full of bachelors.

As long as the man is good, it doesn't really matter if he has money or not. Frank didn't have anything when he first got out of the army.

It's just that some people can maintain self-control when they have external forces, but they lose self-control when they become rich, and lose their judgment when faced with external temptations, and make some wrong choices.

It is easy for people to be blinded by the high returns of hot money and forget the high risks involved. The tulip bubble that occurred in the Netherlands in 1637 was the earliest bubble economic event in the world. At the beginning of the 17th century, it achieved substantial independence. Since then, the Netherlands has become a maritime empire that dominates Europe. It also seized the spice trade business from Portugal, coupled with the fact that Central Europe was in the shadow of the Thirty Years War, so that all commercial activities were concentrated in Amsterdam.

At the same time, the Dutch East India Company also obtained considerable benefits from the operation of Batavia. Under such an era background, the Netherlands had the highest income level at that time, and even overseas artworks were concentrated in the Netherlands.

The popular Calvinism in the area regards diligence and thrift as a virtue, so the Dutch avoid wearing fancy clothes. The clothes of the rich and the poor are the same. It is difficult to detect whether a person is rich or not just from the appearance.

Tulip is a plant that is difficult to multiply in a short period of time. It is said that the birthplace is the Tianshan Mountains. After the Turks captured Constantinople, they built a solemn palace and began to cultivate several kinds of tulips and improve the varieties.

In 1593, a variety of tulip bulbs were brought to Leiden University to continue research and cultivation. At this time, tulips began to be introduced into the Netherlands. Kushius's research identified a mutation later known as tulip variegation, in which bulbs with variegated flowers produced beautifully striped flowers. The source of the disease was only unraveled in the 20th century. The root cause is that tulip bulbs are infected by viruses.

It was the plant lovers on a budget who were initially drawn to the beauty of tulips, since tulip bulbs were a high-priced commodity to begin with. Later, these horticulturists and enthusiasts tried to improve the varieties, and many famous varieties were produced. Although the price of monochromatic varieties is relatively cheap, it also costs more than 1,000 Dutch guilders. At that time, the monthly salary of a worker was only 250 Dutch Around 1634, the popularity of tulips attracted the attention of speculators. They were not interested in cultivating tulips or admiring the beauty of flowers, but just to drive up prices to make profits. At this time, the popularity of tulips spread from Leiden to Amsterdam, Haarlem and other cities, and the demand was expanding day by day. These opportunists acted in a planned way, and some people spent a lot of money on it. At that time, there was even a record of exchanging a bulb of a superior variety for a mansion.

At this time, tulips are traded on the basis of spot bulbs, so transactions are mainly carried out in winter. But tulips are so popular that there is a need for a trade no matter what the season.

Rumors that the tulip trade made people spend a lot of money in a short period of time were widely circulated among artisans and farmers, attracting them to enter this trading market. They originally had no funds, so they only started from the extent that they could afford it. The prices of the top varieties also began to rise, and gradually there were people who benefited from reselling. At this point, the trading mode of the market also began to change, and year-round trading began to appear and the futures trading system was introduced.

The mode of this transaction is not to go to the official stock exchange, but to the hotel. The transaction does not need to use cash or spot bulbs, but a bill of "pay next April" "the bulbs will be delivered at that time", or add a small amount of advance payment to complete the transaction. This advance payment is not limited to cash only, such as livestock or furniture, as long as it can be exchanged for money, it can be used. Therefore, such a bill has changed hands several times, and it may not even be known who is the creditor and who is the debtor. This prepayment system also attracted speculators who had no funds at all to participate in the market, from bakers to farmers, so the demand expanded again, even for the originally cheap varieties. However, as the price soared, the original buyers, who were plant lovers, began not to buy them, especially the low-priced bulbs traded by the public, and lovers also looked down upon them.

In early February 1637, prices suddenly plummeted. It is not so much a plunge as it is that no buyer can be found, because the bills cannot be cashed, and the number of people who cannot pay for the goods but are in debt is said to have reached 3,000. The Dutch cities are in chaos, and some of them are both creditors and debtors. Although some people are willing to sue, but in the case of the debtor's obvious inability to repay, the matter cannot find a way to solve it.

The situation finally shook the council and the city government into action, and finally a decision was made to "keep the tulip deal until the investigation is over", which made the bill invalid, but quickly settled the problem, leaving a handful of bankrupts and outbreaks Hurry up, the era of tulip mania is over.

The tulip is the national flower of the Netherlands. The collapse of the tulip bubble economy has almost left no impact on the Dutch economy and subsequent history. Although plant lovers continue to pursue high-priced tulips, historical records have not seen any impact on other industries, and the greater impact is on the level of spiritual culture. After the incident, the Dutch hated tulips for a time, and even called it the flower of the madman's hat. This frenzy was also regarded as a lesson and passed on.

People's pursuit of beauty is endless. When people's material is satisfied, they will turn to pursue spiritual satisfaction. But what is beauty, but there is no authoritative and convincing standard answer.

Some people think that beauty is the enjoyment of vision, like the beautiful lines on the petals of tulips; The scent of fine wine.

But for her, she just wants to dance, and she wants to make up for too many shortcomings. For example, after the dance at Malfoy's house, she went home immediately like a good child, keeping the door control time, and didn't go with him. walk in the garden.

And at the Christmas ball that year, she obviously wanted to agree to his invitation, but she refused again and again. As a result, he took Karkaroff to the ball, and she herself was in her own Crying and eating cake in the secret room, if he hadn't knocked on her door, there would be no follow-up story.

Gold was discovered in California in 1848, and to some people, gold is also beautiful.

In addition to causing a global gold rush, the railways in the United States also developed rapidly. From 1848 to 1858, the United States built about 33,000 kilometers of railways, surpassing the sum of the railways built in other countries.

The vigorous development of the American railway industry should drive the great development of its metallurgical industry, but the actual situation is not like this.

During this period, the production of pig iron in the United States stagnated for a long time, and the growth rate of the cotton textile industry was not fast. At the same time, imports of railroad tracks, pig iron, locomotives, cotton cloth, and other British manufactured goods grew rapidly, flooding the American market with British products and hindering the development of important industrial sectors at the time, such as American metallurgy and cotton textiles.

The overproduction of grain, the decline of grain price and grain export, and the fierce competition of British industrial products contributed to the deepening of the economic crisis in the United States. In 1857 alone, nearly 5,000 enterprises went bankrupt.

In turn, Britain's economic development was also hit by the crisis in the United States. The bankruptcies of American banks, railways, and commercial companies that were financed by the British also caused a sharp depreciation of the securities held by British investors.

In the same year of 1857, the War of Independence broke out in India. The full name of the East India Company is "the company of London merchants trading in the East India". This company is different from the Dutch East India Company. As early as 1849, the British East India Company Successfully mastered the domination of the entire territory of India.

Although the Indian uprising in 1857 was quickly suppressed by the Gurkha mercenaries of the East India Company, since 1858, the British East India Company completed the previous escrow mission and handed over power to Queen Victoria, who was transferred to the British rule directly.

The original name of the Gurkha scimitar is "Kukri". It was originally a production tool in the hands of Nepalese mountain people. The reason why people call it "Gurkha scimitar" is because it is a must-have for the Gurkha soldiers in Nepal. weapons. This kind of saber is not only the national sword of Nepal, but also a symbol of honor for Gurkha soldiers. Therefore, the British Gurkha Corps is known as the "Machete Warriors".

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. In addition to generous salaries, Gurkha mercenaries have the opportunity to visit their relatives every two years. Every time they go back, they are respected like princes and are popular courtship objects.

Should flowers be admired or given to warriors and beauties? If the bishop stepped down and became a woman standing between the rich merchant and the king, who would the soldiers listen to?

In the end, it is still a woman who gets married with a man and sleeps in the same bed. Who will sleep with her boss?

That picture really has no aesthetic feeling at all, it's like a nightmare.

Therefore, in that old proverb, the most likely to die is the rich businessman. With power, money will naturally come. rights are guaranteed.

"You're a quick learner," Severus said.

After leading the dance for a while, Pomona learned the tricks. Tango is said to be a secret dance between lovers. When dancing other dances, you must smile. Only when dancing tango, you must not smile and have a serious expression. It really suits him, who lacks a smile and uses "serious" as his name. .

"Maybe it's because I have a good teacher," she said mischievously. "Is it the Dark Lord who put his arms around you and taught you how to tango like me?"

"No." He said with a strange expression as if he had eaten Bibi multi-flavored beans with a strange taste, "Why do you have such a strange idea?"

"I didn't expect you to dance so many dances. Who is your dance partner?"

He didn't answer.

"Let's not talk about that woman." He forced a smile and said, "Where do you want to go later?"

"Flower market, that house lacks flowers."

In the continuous music, Pomona kept turning around with him.

There were no lights in the projection hall, only the images on the silver screen provided the light source, and the auditorium was still shrouded in darkness.

I don't know if it was her illusion, for a moment she thought she saw a woman in a black cocktail dress, she looked a lot like Bellatrix, that bitch crazy woman, to some She is also a nightmare for men, although she is also a woman.