Author: Chongqing Lao Q

June 18, 1680, Linzi Prefecture, Jindu County (now Bathurst, Australia).

On the banks of the Goldwater River (now the Macquarie River that flows through Bathurst, Australia), seven stocky men wielded pickaxes and plowed the gravel-covered ground with their hoes. After digging for a while, they would

He would stop, squat on the ground, hold the dug stone in his hands, brush away the soil on it, and observe carefully.

"Damn, I've been digging here for five or six days, and I haven't found a single piece of gold. We're as tired as dogs. I wonder if we should change places?" Lu Zhiyuan threw away the pickaxe and sat down.

On the ground, he was breathing heavily, and sweat was dripping down.

"It's only been five or six days and you can't stand it any longer? If you want to get rich, you have to hold your breath." Zhang Ensheng stopped what he was doing, stretched out his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and looked up at the hillside where they were, "It's so far away from here.

The core circle of gold mines designated by the government is very close. Keep working hard

, maybe a big pile of gold will be dug out. By then, we brothers will be rich! With tens of thousands of dollars in our pockets, we can buy a big house in Linzi and buy each of our wife, children, and children a suit of silk and satin.

, living the luxurious life of those big businessmen, that is called enjoying life!"

"Zhangtou, with dozens of yuan in his pocket, it is already very heavy. If you said you want to carry thousands or tens of thousands of yuan in your pocket, wouldn't it burst your wallet!" Hong Weiping said with a smile.

"You're so damn stupid!" Zhang Ensheng sneered: "Silver dollars are too heavy, so you don't know how to exchange them for gold coupons? That thing is just like silver dollars. You can exchange the full amount of gold at any bank.

silver."

"To be honest, I still like those heavy silver coins. Carrying them in my pocket makes me feel very at ease!"

"Country bumpkin! If you go to a big hotel and carry a bag of silver dollars, aren't you going to make people laugh?" Zhang Ensheng said disdainfully: "Think about it, if you sit in a splendid hotel and eat sumptuous delicacies from all over the world, then

He took out a 100-yuan gold yuan coupon from his pocket and told the waiter that there was no need to look for the rest, I rewarded you! That would be so honorable!"

"Haha..." After hearing this, several people nearby burst into laughter, "When it comes to grandeur, you have to look at your head. Otherwise, you can be a squad leader in less than three years in the army!"

"Bahhhh..."

While everyone was talking and laughing, suddenly there was a sound of horse hoofbeats from the upper reaches of the Jinshui River, causing everyone to immediately suppress their smiles, pick up the tools on the ground, and hold them tightly in their hands. In this gold mining area, in order to compete for

Fighting breaks out from time to time on the territory. There are even desperate people who do not hesitate to secretly kill others in order to rob the gold dug out by others.

"Gendarme patrol!" More than a dozen gendarmes, carrying muskets on their backs and sabers on their backs, drove slowly along the river bank. When they saw six or seven people gathered on the hillside, they immediately stopped and took the muskets on their backs.

stand up.

A gendarme stepped out from the crowd, riding a horse, and slowly approached the hillside.

"What are you doing?" The military policeman held a flintlock gun in his right hand and looked at everyone with sharp eyes.

"Digging wild vegetables." Zhang Ensheng said nonchalantly.

"Digging wild vegetables?" The military policeman looked at the holes dug everywhere in the place and was amused. "What the hell are you digging for wild vegetables here? What's the matter? The family's life is no longer going to be sustainable. We need you big men to run away.

Come to the mountains to dig wild vegetables to make a living?"

"Why, the government has expressly prohibited people from digging wild vegetables?" Zhang Ensheng asked rhetorically.

"..." Looking at the tough-tongued man in front of him, the military policeman was a little irritated.

Damn it, you can even come up with excuses for digging wild vegetables. This really insults your IQ!

"I suspect that you are fugitives who have fled here!" The military policeman changed his gun to his left hand, then took out his saber with his right hand and pointed it at them. "Everyone is lying on the ground. If you dare to do anything evil, I will chop him down."

Your heads!”

"Sir, if you attack the people of Daqi for no reason and falsely accuse someone of being a thief, you will be punished by military law." Zhang Ensheng was not frightened at all. Instead, he took a step forward and faced the military police's sword.

"Oh ho..." The military policeman was startled by these words, "You fucking understand military law?...Have you ever been a soldier?"

"Zhang Tou used to be a cavalry squad leader in the army." Hong Weiping shouted from behind: "I also served in the army, from the 19th Battalion of the Fourth Regiment of the Army."

"Oh, it turns out he was the former military policeman." The military policeman's face softened a little, and he took back his saber and inserted it into its scabbard. "Why, after retiring from service, he couldn't live a simple life in this place, so he came to this place.

Where to dig for gold?”

"Brother, in our country of Qi, who doesn't want to live a better life." Zhang Ensheng said with a smile: "The salary and silver earned during the years in the army was only enough for the wife, children and children at home to live a small life with sufficient food and clothing. But.

, think about it, my son and daughter have grown up

, you are not allowed to prepare more betrothal gifts and dowries for them? When the elders are older, you are not allowed to give them better food, clothing, housing and transportation, and prepare more money for soups and medicines. You are not allowed to replace the adobe house at home with a large tiled house with seven or eight rooms, and then merge with him.

Live a good life, right?"

"This area is not very peaceful!" said the military policeman: "In less than ten days, we discovered and stopped five or six armed fights, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen. We also arrested more than twenty

, he is the master who wants money rather than his life!"

"We saved it." Zhang Ensheng nodded and said, "We don't cause trouble here, but we are not afraid of trouble. As long as we find a few pieces of gold, worth three to five thousand yuan, we will stop and go home immediately."

"That's not necessarily the case." At this time, a military policeman accompanying the team by the river (Second Lieutenant) rode slowly in front of the crowd, with a look of disdain on his lips, "Those who died so stiffly

When the gold diggers first came here, they thought the same thing as you!

I would like to advise you, go home and live a peaceful life as soon as possible, and don’t test your own and others’ greed here. As the saying goes, windfalls are not enough to kill the poor, and the grass is not fat at night and the horses are tired and sick. Don’t think about windfalls coming from heaven.

What a sweet dream, be careful you lose your life!"

"Sir, thank you for reminding me. Life and death are determined by fate and wealth. We just want to take a chance." Zhang Ensheng heard the harsh and slightly warning words of the accompanying captain, so he took a deep breath and responded in a deep voice.

"Humph, since you are so disobedient, then just do it on your own." The captain who accompanied the army turned around and prepared to lead the team away. "I hope that when we see you again, each of you can still stand and breathe and talk.

!”

"Zhang Tou, can we really dig out gold?" Hong Weiping asked carefully as he watched the military police patrol galloping towards the lower reaches of the river.

"We can definitely do it!" Zhang Ensheng said firmly: "In the past two years, so many people have returned to Linzi City with gold in their hands, and then became rich overnight...We can definitely do it too!"

——

July 6, Linzi.

After more than 30 years of development, Linzi has become the fourth "big" city in Hanzhou with a population exceeding 100,000. As of the end of last year, statistics show that the city's permanent residents reached more than 101,300, with a population size of more than 100,000.

Second only to Jianye, Weihai and Daxing.

Andris Noppert is a Dutchman living in Linzi who is employed by Qi Guo Southeast Securities Trading Center to provide necessary guidance and assistance for the construction and development of Qi Guo's financial market.

As the most developed commercial country in this period, the Netherlands has repeatedly innovated in business and financial models and established the most advanced and complete financial tools in the world. Capitalists and big businessmen racked their brains in order to make money.

Method.

In order to share trade risks, the Netherlands created a joint-stock company system. The first joint-stock company in the world was the Dutch East India Company. In order to encourage all people to participate in shares and share business risks and benefits, the Netherlands established the world's first stock exchange in Amsterdam.

In order to raise funds to repair the dam, the Netherlands issued the world's first perpetual bond, which is still paying interest today. In order to promote the development of the commercial economy and accelerate currency circulation, the Netherlands also created the world's earliest banking system.

The first city bank was born in Amsterdam in 1609.

With the rapid development of Qi's economy, corresponding financial instruments and financial markets have also been born. In order to better regulate and manage the domestic financial market and enable it to develop in an orderly and healthy manner, Qi has hired many financial "experts" from the Netherlands.

", combined with the actual local conditions in Qi, began to gradually establish a local financial market.

While serving the Southeast Securities Trading Center, Andris Noppert was also engaged in the "gold mining" business. He would purchase some exquisite objects and strange pearls in Hanzhou, and work with others to make some precious metals.

Arbitrage business.

Sometimes, he had to admire that the Hanzhou continent occupied by the Qi State was simply a treasure land, with countless coals, high-grade iron ore, endless bauxite, and massive amounts of gold and silver buried underground. It is said that the Qi people wanted to

To ensure unnecessary price inflation in the country, many gold mines have been deliberately sealed and no one is allowed to mine them. However, the output of the few gold mines currently in operation is also very amazing, even comparable to several gold mines in Spanish America (

The silver mine is enviable.

Due to the influence of the Commercial Revolution and the crazy import of gold and silver by the Spanish, the price revolution continued for nearly a hundred years across the European continent. The currency continued to depreciate and prices continued to rise, which further led to a shortage of precious metals. From 1500 to 1650, the Netherlands,

The silver content of the currencies of France, the HRE, and the German region was reduced by 50%, while that of the United Kingdom was reduced by one-third.

Corresponding to this is the strong price of gold, which has caused countless people to pursue it crazily. As early as decades ago, the Dutch East India Company used the price difference of precious metals in the Ming Dynasty to ship silver from Japan to the Ming Dynasty and robbed a large amount of gold.

, and then transport them back to Europe to make huge profits.

Although Qi's currency is transitioning to the gold standard and is preparing to issue banknotes and gold yuan certificates based on its large gold reserves. However, currently within Hanzhou, including the surrounding East Indies, Qin, Korea, and even Japan, the currency is still based on silver taels (yuan).

) as the base currency, the price ratio of gold and silver still leaves huge room for "arbitrage" compared to mainland Europe.

At this time, in a Dutch store, Andris Noppert was carefully observing the gold nuggets on the table with a magnifying glass, and at the same time, he was secretly estimating its gold content.

"Full gold!" The Qi people opposite may have waited too long, and their faces showed a bit of impatience. "If I hadn't heard that the purchase price here is high, who would be willing to sell it to you foreigners?

"

"Oh, please be patient, sir." Andris Nopert spoke fluent Chinese and said with a smile: "This piece of gold is so heavy that it can't allow me to observe and study it for a while? This will happen once

Once confirmed, I will pay a large amount of money!"

Natural nugget gold has a shiny golden appearance and is highly recognizable, but its texture is not pure and is quite different from pure gold. Nugget gold is extremely rare in the world and is very rare.

, but several larger gold mines in Hanzhou are rich in nugget gold. Over the past few decades, more than 3,000 pieces of nugget gold larger than 10 kilograms have been discovered. Although there are fewer private collectors, once discovered, it often causes

Huge sensation.

Nugget gold contains more stones and impurities, and is bumpy. This is because the environment in which it is produced is mostly sand grains rich in groundwater, so it is rich in sand grains. If calculated according to the color of gold, its purity is usually 83

%~92%, while individual gold nuggets found in Hanzhou can be as high as over 96%.

The gold nugget held by Andris Nopert weighs 12 kilograms and is dark yellow in color. Based on many years of experience, he is very certain that the fineness of this piece of gold is over 90% and is extremely valuable.

However, in order to suppress the purchase price, he naturally could not show any expression of satisfaction. Instead, he told the Qi man with great regret that the fineness of this piece of gold was only about 80%, and it was the most common nugget gold.
To be continued...