Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2393 "The Era of Excellence" (Part 2)

"Although coffee existed in the time of King Louis XIV, it really became popular at the end of the 17th century, when a Sicilian named Francisco Procopo introduced a new drink in the market of Saint Germain. , it's right next to the tennis court and bowling alley, so that the hipsters will go to his café for a little drink after bowling and have a chat." Georgiana took Farron on her arm He walked on the lawn with his hands on the lawn, and said while walking the old perfumer, "In my time, there were many cafes, the most famous being the Procobe cafe, where Diderot, Voltaire, and Rousseau were all. frequent visitor."

   "Have you seen Voltaire?" asked Georgiana scornfully.

   "Of course not." Farron smiled. "If I had seen him, I'd be a little older than I am now, but now I heard that the best coffee shop is at the Royal Palace, have you been there?"

  Georgianna shook her head.

   "Didn't the Führer take you to the coffee shop?" Farron asked.

   "I've been," she said dryly, "but not to the café at Palace Royal."

   "How do you feel?" Farron asked.

   How did she answer? Said he was rude to her like a rascal?

   She felt more and more that the "Leon" she knew at that time and the one she knew now were completely two people.

   "By the way, what's so good about the café at Palace Royal?" asked Georgiana.

   "It used to be the palace of the Duke of Orleans, so it attracted a lot of women," Farron said.

   "What?" Georgiana exclaimed.

"The palace is not open to the public, ma'am, they are very curious about the life of the palace. If there are female customers, there will be male customers, and then music and coffee." Farron smiled. "If you want to fish, you need bait, women love coffee, men love women."

  Georgianna was dumbfounded.

"The biggest feature of Paris is conversation, and because coffee has become a kind of group activity, do you know how much Parisians spend on coffee every year?" Before Georgiana could answer, Farron said, "There are three million livres. Well, that's more than cheese is consumed."

   "How do you know?" asked Georgiana.

   Farron did not answer this question, and continued, "I used to know many friends who had land in their overseas colonies. For Europeans in the 1980s, cotton was not produced in the United States."

   "Where is that?" asked Georgiana casually.

   "Caribbean plantations, the Ottoman Empire, and India," says Farron. "There was a planter named John Montalette who grew cotton instead of sugar."

   "What's the matter?" asked Georgiana.

"Not all the land on that island is suitable for coffee and sugar, ma'am, it started out on a small scale, then it grew more and more, and traders who were supposed to transport sugar cane and other tropical commodities started to divert cotton, which they originally intended for cotton To loosen the soil, then use the profits from the cotton business to invest in cane sugar, and then hundreds of plantation owners joined together to develop a new commodity, and sooner or later, if the revolution did not break out, Santo Domingo would become cotton. main origin.”

   "What do you mean?" Georgiana let go of Farron's hand.

   "Cotton and cane sugar are rivals, ma'am, they both need slave labor, and since we now freely exchange cane sugar and silk with England, and high tariffs on cotton, cotton growers turn to sugar cane."

   "Are cotton prices skyrocketing?" asked Georgiana.

"The price of cotton is going up every day, but not twice as much as when the revolution broke out in Santo Domingo, because of the abolition movement, Liverpool is now shipping far fewer slaves than before, now it's the slaves that are worth the money." Farr Rong said: "Soon small farmers will find that buying a slave doesn't earn them cash, and some say emancipation will double or triple the cotton, with devastating consequences for Britain, the heart of these trades. Yes, cotton flows from America to Europe, and money flows from Europe to America, and this money is often mortgaged by slaves, if the debtor defaults, the creditor of the mortgage will take a certain number or specific slaves, 88% of my friends are mortgaged That's how the loans come, South Carolina is 82%, so the increase in slave prices means asset appreciation, but if they run away..."

   "You're going to lose a lot of money," said Georgiana.

"Let me give you an example, there were two young men, let's call them Tom and John, Tom bought a rice plantation and he planted rice on the land until 1793, the year he heard Whitney's gin, so took out a loan of $32,000 and used the money to buy extra slaves, replanted some of the fields to cotton, and bought some more gins, and the business made a lot of money because the cotton kept going up, just seven years Then he paid off all his debts, and still had money to renovate the dilapidated manor and buy more slaves and gins. Another man, John, planted indigo. In 1790, due to the disappearance of the British market, John's indigo business collapsed. He had to grow food for his family on a plantation and was in deep debt. Also in 1793, he heard about the flower gin, a lucrative crop, and 4 years later he paid off all his debts, And also built a new manor, new slaves and gins. Thanks to people like Tom and John, American cotton dominated the British market, while West Indies producers suffered, and the price of cotton is still But the number of slaves as collateral for loans has decreased, and some of the fewer slaves have been divided up by sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean, so what's the problem now?"

  Georgiana tilted her head.

"If slaves made the cost of growing cotton fall so that many people could afford clothes and sheets, the market would expand rapidly. It is precisely because the cotton material is cheap that the cotton textile industry has developed rapidly. Now the price of cotton is higher, There are also high tariffs and less market demand. Continuing to expand production will result in a huge accumulation of textiles and lower prices. There is no shortage of cotton supply. In addition to the United States, there are also Ottomans, India and Brazil. The problem now is slaves. Without them, loans and labor is not available, there will be other farmers who are in deep trouble with Tom and John, and once the slaves go to the free state, I think those public works companies that open banks can provide them with jobs, so the problem that forms is the United States The contradiction between the free state and the slave state, and they still have gunpowder factories and musket factories, may eventually lead to a civil war. As a result, the United Kingdom needs to find other suppliers to provide raw cotton. In fact, in addition to the United States In addition, Egypt can also grow cotton, and as far as I know, unlike Europeans who rely on credit, Egyptian rulers do not want foreigners to meddle in domestic trade.”

   "I still don't understand," said Georgiana.

"European explorers have been on the coast, not inland, so they don't know how cotton is produced. Some Americans have gone deep into the plantations of the West Indies, they know how cotton comes from, and then they start planting, but Sea island cotton is not suitable for their land. The cotton production is declining every year, so they need new land to continue planting. If there is no slave trade from Liverpool to the Americas, they can still capture the aborigines as slave mortgages, but this means In order to break the 1790 peace treaty between Washington and the natives, there will still be war in the Americas, so it is important to find new sources of raw cotton."

   "I heard about Naples..."

"It's Egypt, my dear. I heard that the British are still stationed there. Why don't they build there like the Führer?" said Farron, "I heard that they gave the simplified cotton textile machinery to Saxony and Saxony. Switzerland."

  Georgianna did not ask, when Napoleon used land to make the Rhine princes obey his orders, the British were also using technology to buy people's hearts.

"Everyone knows that there are only one or two factories. If there is no industry, it will not be able to compete with the UK. The other is the steam engine. Without it, it will be the same as Portugal. In the competition between the two countries to get cheap, even if the Yuan first imposes a trade blockade on the UK, these countries will obey orders even if they suffer losses," Farron said.

   "How cunning," said Georgiana.

"It's good to get used to it, ma'am, British businessmen themselves are not willing to export cotton yarn, especially the German region. Low wages and cheap food will make their handmade products cheaper than theirs, and they are worried that it will affect the employment opportunities of British people. "

   She was even more incomprehensible.

  If factory owners really care about workers' employment, how did those Luddites come about?

"The key is to provide a way out for those who want to invest, but have little ability, no matter what they do, they will be a swarm." Farron said with contempt, "Do you think that all perfumes produced in France are 'French perfumes'? "

   "Looks like you've suffered a lot," said Georgiana, looking at the perfumer.

   "Forget it." Farron said dully, "St Germain used to be the most prosperous, but now it's depressed."

   "Have you been to Paris?" asked Georgiana.

   "I've lived there, but I don't know how many old friends I'll see when I go back this time."

  Georgianna was speechless.

   Then Farron continued walking with her on the lawn.

   (end of this chapter)