Future library

As the number of Xingzhou Star Warlocks increased, the consumption of supplies also increased.

The importance of De'an Port was immediately apparent. No matter how rare the goods were, anything that could be bought in the capital city could not be bought in De'an. No matter how big the transaction is, anyone who can afford it will receive the goods. Many of the major trading houses that control the sales of goods in Daxia focus on De'an. Some firms with relatively low qualifications and pursuing high profits have moved one after another in pursuit of De'an's zero-tariff policy.

In contrast, the reactions of Jingcheng and Huangjin were as slow as an old lady who broke her foot. Not only were they moving slowly and turning around slowly, but their powers of observation were also declining. The ministers of Daxia discussed how to contain Cheng Jinzhou every day, but few of them focused on revitalizing the port and excluding De'an.

Perhaps in their view, such work is thankless, although they can't think of any other ideas.

Taking this opportunity, Shi Yan led three trading houses to purchase various cotton, linen, bamboo and wood. The Star Alliance seemed to be quite interested in natural products rich in cellulose, and the prices were satisfactory. Being able to supply and trade in bulk is also important. If it were more than half a year ago, Dr. Cheng Da's purchasing method might have been discovered. But now, De'an uses its small Tamsui Terminal to handle more than one-sixth of Daxia's re-export transactions. The daily business transactions have reached a level that is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish with the naked eye.

A boat comes and a boat goes; a team of cars comes and a team of cars goes; a mountain rises and a mountain rises. These are common sights that can be seen every day. Cheng Jinzhou was among them, pretending to change hands. Except for Shi Mo and Shi Yan, no one knew that countless supplies were sent to the Star Alliance.

Those grain merchants, cotton merchants, hemp merchants, bamboo merchants, sugar merchants, and lumber merchants just thought that De'an's business was easy to do, so they flocked in one after another, regardless of what they did with the money. Not to mention normal transactions, even during the war, good businessmen still have to do business.

The daily sales of at least 100,000 star dollars are not too much in silver. It can be easily maintained by using low-priced food as an offset.

After about two weeks of this, the supplies on the market suddenly began to gradually decrease.

Shi Yan felt normal at first, but soon, the merchants' reactions made him feel strange. While he was still purchasing, the supply of some materials was reduced for no reason. While the prices of wood and other items were rising, they were also out of stock. Commodities such as food that should be easy to maintain their value began to fall crazily. These strange problems occurred with the materials on Cheng Jinzhou's list. Relatively speaking, the prices of other materials either remained unchanged or increased slightly.

He has not been in business for more than a year. After a short observation, Shi Yan quickly sorted out the prices and fluctuations of various materials and reported them to Cheng Jinzhou.

Cheng Jinzhou, who had just obtained the title of three-star warlock, was very ambitious and confident. Therefore, he decided to have some leisure time and live the life of a noble.

He placed a lounge chair at the highest end of the Star Warlock Tower. There were various snacks, juices and low-alcohol wine on the small table next to it. On the lounge chair at the other end of the small table was the shy Qing Shuang beauty.

Green mountains and green waters, thousands of sails to distant harbors, and beautiful girls, nothing can cultivate sentiment more than this.

In the peaceful atmosphere, Cheng Jinzhou still advised: "Like me, wear less clothing, apply olive oil, and bask in the sun very comfortably. De'an is not far from the sea, so sunbathing is great."

Olive oil comes from the far west and is a luxury product for the astromancers.

"It's not like you." Although Liu Qingshuang said this, she exposed her calves and forearms and lay on the chair peeling nuts.

Cheng Jinzhou happily munched on nuts and dried meats, drank juices with different flavors, and chatted nonsense with Liu Qingshuang. Nuts in the 21st century are valuable, but Daxia’s nuts are available in as many quantities as you want, and they are all natural and pollution-free. Pine nuts, walnuts, beech nuts, after dozens of chefs' research, it is easy to achieve a satisfactory taste. There are more kinds of dried meats and juices, carefully prepared and prepared by professional chefs, and they are far more flavorful than mass products.

Liu Qingshuang also enjoyed the conversation with Cheng Jinzhou. She didn't have to think too much and understood each other. She doesn't understand what modern love is, but she feels the same way.

Both of them enjoyed this kind of afternoon leisure. When the waiter at the door knocked on the door, Cheng Jinzhou felt particularly unhappy and shouted, "Don't bother me with trivial matters."

Shi Mo bared his teeth at Shi Yan and whispered, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't dare."

After speaking, Shi Mo raised his voice again and said, "Third brother, Shi Yan is talking about business."

Cheng Jinzhou is now independent, but according to the rules of the aristocratic family, if he is not married, he is still the brother.

"Come in." Liu Qingshuang put down her trouser legs and sleeves and said softly.

Cheng Jinzhou sucked the juice depressedly. The straw was made of a kind of soft bamboo. He chose the bamboo that had grown to the right age. He hollowed out the middle and soaked it in tasteless herbs. He kneaded it repeatedly until the fiber was soft so that it could be bent at will. Compared with For plastic straws, bamboo straws are more comfortable in contact with the lips. Of course, it is best not to consider the price. Just the price of supporting a dozen craftsmen is not something ordinary people can afford, and the production cost is the same.

Shi Yan carefully pushed the door open, smiled like a flower, and apologized: "Third brother, I really found that the business at the port was abnormal, so I came to report it."

"Sit down and talk." Liu Qingshuang said and walked away from the rooftop.

Cheng Jinzhou watched the girl leave and sighed: "If there is only one problem, there is no need to talk about it."

If his trading behavior with the Star Alliance can be called dumping, there must be something wrong with it.

"The whole market is abnormal." Shi Yan looked left and right, sat on the small horse on the ground, took out the documents he brought with him and said: "Third brother, the things in the list you gave me are , I usually buy them when I see suitable ones, and sometimes I hang them out for a few days, but recently, I have found that the prices of many products have become higher.”

"Hasn't it been rising for a year?" Cheng Jinzhou didn't care. The things he buys will not enter the market, and the final result will definitely be a situation where demand exceeds demand. The price of linen once tripled, and now it has increased by 30% compared to a year ago.

"There are some things I didn't buy, but they have all gone up, such as bamboo and medicinal materials, which I haven't bought in two or three months."

"Isn't the supplier raising prices maliciously?"

Shi Yan said with a bitter face: "In the past half month, many suppliers have stopped coming to De'an. Except for Qinyu Trading Company, several other firms have negotiated prices with me and said that they will only send things over after the price has been negotiated. I haven’t agreed yet, but if it’s just to drive up the price, they won’t dare.”

Cheng Jinzhou immediately turned cold and said, "What's the reason?"

"I've been looking for people to ask, but all the businesses are hiding it."

"You can't." Cheng Jinzhou said flatly: "You go to my father now. Forget it, go to my second uncle and ask him to come forward to convene people from various trading houses to talk."

Considering Master Cheng Yun'an's temperament, Cheng Jinzhou felt that Cheng Yunxiang might be more suitable to come forward. Moreover, his status as Jinzhou Qianshi is equivalent to a high-ranking official in Jinzhou Province. Coupled with the status of the Cheng family, no business firm dares to deny him face. As for Shi Yan, the businessmen at most regarded him as a servant of a wealthy family and would not reveal business secrets casually.

In fact, if commodity trading were not so important to Cheng Jinzhou, he would not get involved easily.

After writing a brief two-line letter, Shi Yan took the order and left. Cheng Jinzhou lay back on the chair again, but he no longer felt as leisurely as before.

He knew in his heart that even if Daxia's production level was low and the degree of commodity exchange was low, materials such as grain, which could easily be bought and sold for tens of thousands of tons, would not cause a nationwide trend of price increases - unless someone Deliberately so.

Expanded to dozens of commodities, if it were not for inflation, war disasters and other factors, it would be impossible for prices to skyrocket all at once.

"Is someone driving up prices? Or is it something worse?" Cheng Jinzhou tapped his fingers on the small table, making a rhythmic clicking sound.

At dinner time, five fourth-level star warlocks ate together with Cheng Jinzhou, Lu Xu and Liu Qingshuang, happily sharing real rice. With Li Xianfeng's presence, several senior star warlocks quickly recognized the value of real rice.

In the Star Alliance, although there is food that can increase physical fitness, the price is such that ordinary Star Warlocks cannot eat it every day, and the effect is even inferior to real food.

Taiyu hugged the bowl with emotion and said: "When I was still an apprentice of the Star Warlock, I ate high-grade rice with my teacher once. I remember that time I published an article with a full 6 points of influence. Now Looking back, it feels like a lifetime ago.”

"A hundred years is like five generations." Jiang Huang felt the same way. If it weren't for Cheng Jinzhou's cotton fruit and his accumulated original contribution points, his life would have come to an end in another thirty to fifty years.

The age of fourth-level star warlocks is generally over 150 years old. They are moved by the scene and talk to each other about the past years. Li Xianfeng was eating her rice quietly, still not eating any food. While several star warlocks were chatting, she had finished three large bowls of food.

The two maidservants stood in front of the rice pot and concentrated on scooping out rice, which meant that the general could keep up with her and Lu Xu.

Among the several people, Hui Minren cared most about aristocratic etiquette, chewing carefully and observing the expressions of others.

Seeing Cheng Jinzhou's expressionless expression, he joked in a rare way: "Mr. Cheng, are you worried that we will finish all your real rice?"

When he told jokes, his face was straight, as if he was asking seriously.

"Where." Cheng Jinzhou sighed and said, "I had some trouble purchasing the goods, which may affect the research progress."

The only thing he is currently researching is chemical purification, which is enough for casual cover-up.

"Can't buy it, or the price is too high?"

"It's because the price has gone up so fast recently, but I didn't buy it. It's weird." Cheng Jinzhou put his chopsticks on the bowl and patted his head.

Li Xianfeng continued to eat fiercely, and took the time to say quickly: "Just because you didn't buy it, it doesn't mean that others didn't buy it."

"But if I want to buy something, the price will go up before I do it. If I want to sell it, the price will go down before I do it." This was Cheng Jinzhou's first feeling when he saw the data.

Hui Minren said casually: "Maybe someone is doing the same experiment as you? I also did it once..."

Cheng Jinzhou's expression changed drastically, and he turned around and left the table without even having time to eat, leaving a circle of people looking at each other in shock.

…

Birdsong: I originally wanted to express the structure in the book, but I still want to explain it.

1. Real rice. This bird is not considered a problem. Everyone seems to be worried that the popularity of real rice will cause the protagonist's advantages to be lost. Popularization is inevitable, but the advantages of the protagonist will not be weakened by this. For Cheng Jinzhou, the question is when it will be popularized. Just like undergraduates are worried about migrant workers taking away their jobs, doctoral students don't need to care. Professors will want to have many excellent graduate students, not elementary school students. Now that the invasion has occurred, the world will not remain the same. This is especially true from the perspective of the Star Alliance. In addition, higher-grade grains will appear. The current real rice has no effect on metamorphosis of more than 5,000 star points like Lu Xu and Kant.

2. What is the use of mathematics? In fact, mathematics only needs to play a basic role and prove its own value. As for more advanced applications, it is continuously stated in this book that astrologers discriminate against the application of mathematics. Utilitarianism is a malady of modern society. Literati What's the use of writing a good calligraphy when a poet wastes decades of youth and thousands of hours? Most literati don't even bother selling words. Poems, lyrics and songs, high and low. In this world, purity is the most important. I am as tired as a dog. I work 20 hours a day. No matter how much money I have, I still create value for society. I work two hours a month. What do I want to do? Whatever you do, that’s how you enjoy life. Star warlocks study mathematics and science, live a leisurely life, and are respected and envied by countless people. Naturally, pursuing a longer life is better than being a dirty politician? Although this does not mean that they are pure-hearted people, it at least means that they are not relying on eating garbage to survive. Finally, I want to point out that many scientific researches are meaningless in themselves. If they must be meaningful, it is for the future. Hawking's study of black holes has no practical purpose other than making money by writing "A Brief History of Time"? The more basic the research, the more so. Just like Plutarch's evaluation of Archimedes quoted before in this book, astrologers should also be: bent on pursuing the wonderful knowledge that is not mixed with worldly needs.

3. Newcomers to the Star Alliance. What is supposed to come will always come, the losers who have been preparing for it for a long time.

4. The relationship between Star Warlock and the government. Many people think that because the Star Warlocks are so powerful, they must control the government, or there will always be Star Warlocks who will control the government. Such things have happened in the Far West, but it does not mean that it will also happen in Daxia. There are many small countries in Europe, and they are not destined to be swallowed up by big countries. Moreover, whether the Astromancers need or want to control the government is another matter. As mentioned before, the Astromancers' pursuit is a long life, respect, and sufficient supplies. If a government of ordinary people was in power, why would the Star Warlocks go to war shirtless and do a thankless job when they could get it? This is just like the existence of Chinese state-owned enterprises. If the proportion of their shares is small, it does not mean that the country will suffer losses, and the Star Warlocks will suffer losses. Of course, occasionally Star Warlocks are interested in interfering with the government, just like state-owned enterprises occasionally eat up fat private companies alive.

…

Sorry: the explained patch was too long, affecting pricing. As long as the previous chapters are confirmed to be uploaded, further modifications will not affect the pricing, so I did not pay attention to it. However, since more than 200 people have subscribed, lifting the ban will still cause losses, so in the next two chapters, two 2900-word or more chapters will be updated. A 3900-word chapter is provided as compensation.