To Four Thousand Years Later

Leonardo and Francis sat face to face in the carriage. As the sense of inclination came uphill, the sound of the wheels creaking became louder.

This old wagon looks like it has been used for a long time.

The interior walls of the compartment were unexpectedly not very dirty. Just thin and shiny. Although the cushion is a bit worn out, there is no oil stain.

He cherishes his carriage very much, and it is well maintained on weekdays.

"This carriage is well maintained. Francis looked up, patted the roof of the carriage curiously, and said loudly: "This horse looks very energetic. He has always been straightforward, and this moment is no exception.

In front, came the coachman's proud voice: That's right! Our whole family is making money from old John. The coachman was not angry, he just laughed and said. He sighed: "Right now, wheat is getting more and more expensive. Those nobles in the capital have implemented... what a new law."

"The March Act?

Leonardo asked suddenly.

yes. The coachman muttered indignantly: "You young masters may not know how cheap the Teutonic wheat is! I still remember that it was the cheapest wheat I have ever bought. A pound of wheat only costs two shillings! Two pounds of wheat cost five shillings!"

"Don't you have any land in your family?

Leonardo was silent for a moment, then asked again. The coachman said nonchalantly: "Who needs the land these days? If you rent out the land and work for a year and then pay back the rent, the rest may not be enough for the family's food. But anyone who is a bit aggressive will Lu "I will tell you." Say, my brother's son is in Florence. He used to work as a bleacher and dyer, but he is a clever person. He has watched the master worker for three years and has almost learned the craft. Then he went to Naples, said that he learned dyeing in Florence, and was paid as a second-class dyer-you guess what! He has been working for three years, but no one can see that he is just a poor apprentice! The coachman said cheerfully, "My son is studying Ruoshu now." He has good grades and can study in the church for two years. When he comes out, I plan to send him to Florence too, so that he can learn t! He can count, well done! "

"You said that people like us don't even buy newspapers, and don't know what kind of business to make money. But if you think about it, you know that there are as many people who make money, and there must be people who make money. I think accounting is definitely a good job... you guys What do you think?"

"Indeed," Francis replied.

But Leonardo sighed.

madness.

He sighed silently. The implementation of the Corn Law is actually a very dangerous warning. With the development of the times, fertilizers and breeding knowledge have rapidly increased grain production. After starving to death, people gradually began to not be satisfied with eating enough, but demanded good food. As a result, the demand for meat supply suddenly surged. And those local high-ranking businessmen and small nobles would convert their arable land into pastures in order to ensure their income. Let those farmers who are farming become herdsmen.

However, the amount of meat output is definitely not as good as the grain output of the same cultivated area. In addition, there has been no war for a long time, and the population of the Mediterranean region has begun to increase significantly. This led to an increase in the price of grain in the country—in fact, this increase in price occurred almost simultaneously and simultaneously in many countries. Only the Teutonic Kingdom was different. The Teutonic King Klein VIII demanded strict control of the minimum area of ​​cultivated land, and increased the amount of taxation on all nobles in the country. But the most terrible thing is that half of the tax is also required to be paid with the grain of the season.

This made those nobles have no choice but to turn a very small amount of land into pastures, and it was even so pitiful that they could only be used to breed offspring.

After Kret VIII obtained a large amount of grains, he did not choose to hoard them. Instead, he sold them to all surrounding countries at a price significantly lower than the market price. Because Teutonic wheat is cheap, it has led to a progressive decline in the price of grains in the book. The big nobles were able to remain calm, but the small nobles immediately converted more arable land into pastures, producing as little grain as possible. Or even stop producing food at all. Although these little nobles have some territory, they basically rely on rent and tax collection, and they don't actually have much savings. Coupled with the increase in the number of people doing ranch business, the price of animal products will also be affected. In addition, the nobles lived a life of extravagance in the past, and many people were even heavily in debt. Basically rely on borrowing from the bank to maintain a basic life. They had no choice but to raise land rent further. Keeping their own income basically unchanged means that while the income of the shepherds cannot be increased, the income of the farmers has actually decreased. It is conceivable that once they were completely dependent on the import of Teutonic wheat. And to completely stop domestic production...then the Teutons only need to suddenly stop importing wheat. With these pastures alone, it is impossible for them to feed so many people.

Leading the way, there will be a collapse in prices.

The price of grains that are in short supply will rise rapidly, and then the price of egg products will rise rapidly. A large number of civilians starved to death, and the small nobles could not repay their loans. This has led to industrial businessmen borrowing and this dumping has continued for more than half a year. Most of the countries that reacted quickly have already banned or restricted the import of food from the Teutonic Kingdom. And began to force the nobles to return part of the pastures to cultivated land... Naturally, the implementation of the decree also encountered many obstacles. And some countries that are relatively slow to respond are still happily accepting this kind of cheap food, unaware that their death is approaching.

This is already a relatively primitive form of economic warfare. The best solution is to let the actual land holders—that is, nobles and high-ranking merchants—uniformly lower the land rent, and then order them to return a fixed share of the land to farming. But that's obviously not the case. Times have changed. Nobles and merchants are no longer puppets and slaves held by the royal family. Those big aristocrats who could bear it and did not follow suit in the ranch business. There was a fierce conflict of interest with the big merchants who took the opportunity to hoard grain, and the local nobles who were in debt.

The compromise method chosen in the end is to completely ban the import of 1 Upper Teutonic wheat when the domestic grain price is below a certain price. So without immediately affecting vested interests of all. Start slow self-adjustment. This bill was named the March Act. Although its causes are very stupid and short-sighted. Full of luck. But its abolition will only make matters worse. But people obviously don't see that. All they care about is that the price of food has risen again, and the price of inner animals has followed suit.

Then, the workers in the city will demand new additions as a matter of course. In order to ensure that workers will not flow elsewhere, the industrial bourgeoisie had to agree to this addition. People in other industries will feel that the old son has become sad, and these industrialists will also be dissatisfied because of the increase in expenditure, and even combine to fight the March bill - all this is in Leonardo. . They can only see what is in front of them, let alone look at what is in front of them, stumbling and groping.

After the collapse of absolute monarchy. They should obviously be more free. But even more confused.

It was as if the night had passed. But came to another night sky.

"I woke up, but found that the whole world was still sleeping." Leonardo sighed softly, speaking in ancient Roman, which Francis could not understand.