The Rise of the European Emperor

It doesn't matter whether Portugal is sad or Spain has made a profit. However, one thing is certain - the influx of African gold into Europe can largely alleviate the problem of gold shortage.

Right now, Marin has strongly supported the expansion of production at the Tyrol silver mine and the Saxon silver mine. At the same time, tens of thousands of Hungarian prisoners of war were also allowed to develop the Goslar silver mine. It is foreseeable that silver production in Europe will definitely skyrocket in the future. At that time, if the output of silver soars but the output of gold remains the same, then it is almost inevitable that the gold-silver ratio will fluctuate greatly.

Right now, the gold-silver ratio is around 1:12. If the production of silver increases greatly and gold remains the same, the price of silver will inevitably fall. Historically, since the 16th century, the gold-silver ratio has dropped to 1:15, and it has been maintained until the 1870s.

Then, the United States discovered the super silver mine in Nevada, which produced silver worth 6.45 million U.S. dollars that year (the U.S. implemented a gold and silver double standard system at that time, 1 U.S. dollar = 24 grams of silver). Two years later, the annual silver production doubled by 25 times, reaching a terrifying It is about 161.25 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 387 tons, equivalent to 3.87 million kilograms, which is 276 times the combined annual output of the Tyrolean silver mine and the Saxony silver mine at their peak. In addition to the super silver mine in Nevada, many new silver mines were discovered in the western part of the United States at that time.

This directly led to the collapse of silver prices in the 1870s and 1880s, and the gold-silver ratio fell from a stable 1:15 to about 1:20.

Then, the collapse in the price of silver led to the collapse of the U.S. gold-silver bimetallization system. At the same time, in the following 20 years, various developed countries in Europe and the United States abandoned the gold and silver bistandard system one after another, and chose to learn from Britain and engage in the gold standard system. And use gold as the currency to issue banknotes. Afterwards, only eastern countries such as the Qing Dynasty and India still used silver as currency in the world, while European and American countries entered the era of banknotes.

Before that, Marin had actually been worried about the fall in silver prices due to the outbreak of silver production in the three major silver mines of Tyrol, Saxon and Goslar. But now, with the inflow of African gold, the price of silver has been maintained to a certain extent.

As for the rise in prices due to the increase in gold and silver? Not currently possible. Because Europe is already seriously short of gold and silver. These gold and silver just filled the huge vacancy before and would not cause a sharp rise in prices.

Because every year, Europe spends gold and silver worth millions of gold coins to buy oriental products such as spices and silk. Even if the silver produced by Marin's Goslar silver mine, a large part of it will be traded in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, there will be no hoarding of gold and silver in Europe, and it is naturally difficult for prices to rise.

But this is also limited. As in the original history, the large amount of silver output in Mexico and Potosi, Peru, coupled with the large-scale development of the Iwami Ginzan during the Warring States Period in Japan, led to a serious surplus of gold and silver production, and there will be prices. Skyrocketing crisis.

In fact, if the Ming Dynasty hadn't digested so much silver for Europe, God knows what the prices in Europe would have been. The more gold and silver is not the better, it has its own value only when it is used to buy the desired commodities. Otherwise, it's just a lump of metal.

Therefore, Marin deliberately suppressed the development of gold and silver in the Americas to avoid excessive output of gold and silver, exceeding the value of total social commodities. Once this happens, the economic crisis will come.

As for whether Japan's silver will increase prices, Marin was never worried. Because the market of the Ming Empire is too big, that little silver is not enough for the Ming Empire to absorb and digest. The Ming Dynasty was a superpower with a population of hundreds of millions, and its food production far exceeded that of Europe. Japan's little silver output is not enough to beat the waves in front of the huge Ming Dynasty market. Unless the large American silver mines such as the Potosi Silver Mine and the Japanese silver mines jointly develop and explode production, it is possible to cause huge fluctuations in world prices.

...

To be honest, when Marin was still a hanger in his previous life, he never thought that one day in the future he would worry about the excessive production of gold and silver.

To the average person, this is a pretty silly idea. But as a state manager,

But I have to think about it. Otherwise, whether it is a shortage of gold and silver or an excess of gold and silver, it will cause turmoil in the national economy.

In modern times, the consequence of the economic crisis is that many people are unemployed, but very few people die of starvation. Because the state will intervene. But in this era, once an economic crisis occurred, the feudal monarchs could not control it at all. At that time, it is just a normal operation for hungry people to be everywhere. Many immigrants from the Americas had to go to the Americas to seek a living because of the economic crisis and famine in Europe. Otherwise, who wants to leave their hometown after a good life?

...

In order to maintain the stability of the gold-silver ratio in Europe, Marin even sent troops to help Portugal and capture Timbuktu when the time was right...

why? After getting Timbuktu, a large amount of gold will flow into Europe. When European silver production exploded, only by introducing a large amount of gold can the stability of the gold-silver ratio and market stability be maintained.

Moreover, Marin will never do it in vain. Because, he had planned a long time ago—to take advantage of the opportunity of sending troops to help Portugal seize Timbuktu, and ask for the colonial rights of South Africa as a reward...

This is a very obscene and immoral request. The Portuguese probably don't know that there are tens of thousands of tons of gold reserves on the inland plateau of South Africa...

The gold that can be obtained in a mere Timbuktu is not worthy of giving shoes to the Rand region of South Africa...

Of course, Marin will not immediately develop South African gold, but will hoard it deliberately. He didn't even intend to exploit South African gold while he was alive. Because, if the gold in South Africa is really developed, it is estimated that the price of gold will fall badly.

After all, this is an era when gold and silver can be used directly as currency. If there is too much gold, the price of gold will definitely fall to death.

How much gold is in South Africa's Rand region? That's more than 50,000 tons! Casting 356 grams of gold coins is more than 14 billion gold coins. The question is, are there so many commodities in the world right now? Even if some gold is developed, the world market will not accept it.

Only in the 20th century when the gold mines were developed, the world's productivity has been greatly improved, can South Africa's gold not impact the world economy. Because the size of the world economy in the 20th century was too large.

However, in the 16th century, this gold mine was still undeveloped. Because the world economy, which is still small at this time, simply cannot withstand the impact of so much gold.

Therefore, Marin intends to temporarily seal up South African gold, and first occupy the land. Otherwise, it would be bad if the Spaniards crossed the Linhe to explore gold mines south. Zimbabwe and South Africa are separated by a forest river. If Spain occupies the entire territory of Zimbabwe, it is easy to cross the forest river and go south. Therefore, Marin must seize the South African region before the Spaniards go south, and station troops on the south bank of the Lin River to prevent the Spaniards from going south...

Then, every generation of the Hoffman family will be informed of the existence of gold mines in South Africa. This gold mine cannot be developed until the social productive forces have developed to a certain height, and the North Sea country is still strong at that time. Otherwise, it will either be social and economic turmoil, or it will be wiped out like the Transvaal Republic...

"Every man is not guilty, but he is guilty of carrying a jade!" Marin wrote 8 vigorous and powerful Chinese characters, and sent someone to frame them, and hung them in his study, and asked Caesar to often go to study...

Caesar looked confused, he was still a child, how could he realize any profound principles? Moreover, Marin didn't tell him about the South African gold mine...

After figuring this out, Marin also blushed a little. However, in order to maintain the image of his strict father, he still pretended not to know anything, and continued to ask Caesar to comprehend those 8 inexplicable Chinese characters.

Of course, he didn’t go crazy enough to strictly ask Caesar to stare at those 8 characters. Instead, he put a lot of novels in the study, deliberately putting them there to pass the time for Caesar...

...

In short, the pit king Marin dug more than one pit for the Portuguese, but pits connected to each other, and each pit was deeper than the other!

When the Portuguese look back at history hundreds of years later, they will find that they were too miserable by Marin...