In Li Sheng's cognition and memory... spices were not only a major event in international trade in the early days of the Age of Discovery, but also in the 19th century.
Even the famous one crow and two crows have this reason behind it - the direct cause of this war is known to all, "crow". But before the "crow" issue, there was another situation, which is rarely exposed.
, and even young people in later generations are often surprised when they know it, because it is completely beyond common sense.
——Although Britain had already completed industrialization at that time and was even a pioneer and leader in the European industrial field. But...
In international trade, the trade between Great Britain and the Qing Dynasty has always been dominated by Great Britain.
Although Great Britain is industrialized and has industrial products for sale, the profits are naturally excellent. However...
Facing the handicraft industry of the Qing Dynasty, Britain's industrial products could not be defeated. The Qing Dynasty had been making money, especially the rapid loss of silver.
Finally, the Queen of Great Britain summoned the loyal ministers and righteous men in the country to discuss what to do about this matter.
So the loyal minister of Great Britain thought for a while and told Her Royal Highness the Queen... In China, you can't fight with physical skills, you can only use magic - Madam, let's just go to the crow.
So there was the "crow" trade and the "crow" problem. As time went on, gradually...
Great Britain really regained its trade disadvantage, and gold and silver began to flow back to London. However... as a result, China suffered a heavy blow, which led to the famous cigarette smoking incident and the One Crow and Two Crow War.
But then again... In short, before the war between the two crows, China had always had a trade surplus with Great Britain, and had been making money from Great Britain's gold and silver.
And Great Britain is the leader of the industrial revolution. Normally speaking, large-scale industry cannot be defeated by China in international trade...
But such a magical thing happened after all, and the reason why it happened... It can be imagined that although the people of China only had handicrafts, they still accumulated a lot of hard work and wisdom. In the world at that time, China's porcelain and silk were
Like the Apple mobile phones of later generations, hard currency sales are invincible.
But apart from silk and porcelain...
There is another big item that Europeans were always chasing for their bad money back then, and that was spices.
Spices should not be eaten or drunk. If it were in a normal era, it would naturally not be popular. The key is that it cannot be turned into an industrial product, forming a situation where "millions of farmers are dependent on food and clothing". Similar to "millions of farmers"
Many times in history, things mean bubbles, which is not a good thing, but there are exceptions, because if these millions of workers are indeed invested in a certain industry in an orderly manner, they can often produce high-quality products. After all...
…Only those who have talent will be smart and intelligent, and only then will there be industrial upgrading.
And spices are something that seems to have little room for industrial upgrading. Even if they are upgraded... no, there will be no industrial upgrading in the perfume industry in later generations. The upgrading has always been "sales".
It is obviously impossible for Li Er to care about sales, he only cares about the thing itself.
And the spice itself is exactly what the three of them said...it is almost impossible for ordinary people to use it to defeat pirates. This is just like a joke.
However, Li Sheng's words made people think deeply... because it was clear from the first listen that he was genuine.
Could it be?
"Spices... shouldn't be eaten or drunk, but don't farmers grow them now?"
Li Sheng smiled and finally expressed his complete thoughts.
However, when he said this, Li Er, Wei Zheng and others were startled.
"This...peasant family shouldn't eat or drink, but we in the Tang Dynasty..."
Li Er instinctively felt that this logic was a bit weird and nonsense, and then Wei Zheng couldn't help but nodded and said, "We in the Tang Dynasty need so many spices, and we shouldn't eat them or drink them, and we can't fight, so we can use them for..."
As Li Er and Wei Zheng subconsciously asked questions, Fang Xuanling watched the scene...
His face gradually darkened, "Grass..."
Although Fang Xuanling has always been a good-natured person, she still couldn't help but secretly complain at this moment, and couldn't help but smile and grab the words, "Everyone... uh, this, farmers can grow spices and sell them..."
When Fang Xuanling said this, Li Er couldn't help but frown.
He yelled out on the spot, "You're an old man, you have no right to speak." But he still held it in, and said displeasedly, "Farmers can grow spices and sell them to merchants. Although the profits are huge, the entire Tang Dynasty has grown a lot of spices."
What’s the use of all those spices?”
Mainly, Li Er also felt a little unhappy.
Fang Xuanling, an old boy who skipped classes and couldn't solve the problem, seduced me to pester his son. Do you think this is what a loyal minister does?
but……
The words of reprimand have just been spoken.
Suddenly... Fang Xuanling was not scolded, he looked at Li Er blankly.
The next moment, Li Er himself was stunned.
Wait... I seem to have said something just now.
spices……
Spices are grown by farmers... they can be sold for money and are very profitable...
And Datang is engaged in the spice industry, which is of no use... and so on.
Li Er suddenly reacted in his mind.
Was it useless for Tang Dynasty to develop spices?
But Datang’s spices can also be used to sell them for money!!
It is true that spices should not be used for farming or fighting.
But spices are luxury goods, but they are perfect for absorbing overseas value!
Of course, spices are indeed not a forbidden army and cannot directly force overseas countries to pay, but...
This is an excellent bait to shake up overseas countries' trade barriers, because overseas countries are no different from China. In addition to having a royal family, they may be wary of the harm of spice imports, but do the nobles in the country also think so?
No...impossible.
So, this also means that sooner or later, spices will be able to empty the pockets of nobles from overseas countries at the speed of light.
And most importantly...
Maritime merchants currently sell items such as swords and agricultural tools made of standard steel, as well as silk porcelain, etc. These things may be able to earn some gold and silver from overseas, but...
Because although swords and farm tools are expensive, they can still be sold because they are of excellent quality and have certain productivity attributes, but the income from these two items is still not much after all...
After all, what Datang wants to make is not the interests of the poor overseas poor, but the overseas gold and silver reserves, and there is no doubt that the gold and silver reserves are in the hands of the nobles...
At present, the Tang Dynasty is actually able to increase its efforts to take out the gold and silver from the pockets of nobles from overseas countries, that is, silk and porcelain... The current investigation of the imperial court has clearly confirmed this. But... Silk is okay, but porcelain
In this regard, a large number of personnel are needed...