In the morning, Darkus burst out laughing while Genevieve was washing him.
"Have you thought of anything happy?"
"I had a strange dream last night." Darkus held Genevieve in his arms and said with a smile as he was twisting the towel.
Darkus had a bizarre dream. He dreamed about his past life. The longer he came to this world, the less he dreamed about his past life. In his dream, there was a boy in school who owed him money. When he went to ask for it, the other party launched a nine-stage gradually decreasing attack on him. The other boy's boys were waiting there like monsters guarding the gate. Some were holding shovels. Some were holding brooms, and some were holding poles used for high jump, and then...he saw through the opponent's tactics at the first sight, and he laughed all the way through it, just when he was about to catch the guy who owed him money. , he woke up...
Genevieve leaned on Darkus's arms and twisted the towel calmly. She didn't feel pain on Darkus' body, and she didn't ask what Darkus had done. Strange dream. Dreams are a very evil and taboo thing in this world. If Darkus wanted to say it, he would naturally say it. If Darkus didn't want to say it, she wouldn't ask.
Darkus then remembered that after all the Druchi dignitaries dispersed last night, when he and Malekith were the only ones left in the tent, Malekith had already figured out what he was going to do next. Malekith was half He said teasingly and semi-sarcastically that he was looking for trouble and problems for himself when he had nothing to do. Wouldn't it be over if he just destroyed the Anureil Peninsula? What if Ulthuan knew about it?
Darkus admitted that what Malekith said made so much sense! Because he thought so too, but he still wanted to give it a try, just to have fun for himself and exercise his political and conspiracy skills. After all, he was still the God of Deception and a follower of Loic, so he had to show his expression.
Darkus has already thought about what to do next. All he has to do now is wait for the sorceresses who went to training to come back, wait for Ha Shen wearing glasses to fly in the sky normally, and wait for the follow-up planning meeting. Perfect and complete, plus Ulthuan's side, both ends move together!
At the same time, a veteran fear lord from the Nagol who had participated in the attack on Hagrid Grave, under the orders of Dorian, brought a newly formed Druchi thousand-man team, as well as a The centurion lizard war group drawn from Umak's personal guard went south and stationed at the southern outpost, blocking the eddy swamps and passages leading to the Lower Cawchen Plain.
"How do you say "rich" in lizard language?" Darkus suddenly asked Ren beside him while standing on the mountainside with a telescope looking into the distance.
"Sir, the transliterated word in Elvish is, Potosi!" Renn blurted out without thinking. He knew that Darkus could communicate with the lizard people, but Darkus would not say it like him. Reptilian language.
Darkus put down the telescope and turned to look at Ren. He didn't expect such a coincidence. He nodded to Ren and motioned for Ren to measure the surrounding location.
If there is no problem, Potosi is the last section of the so-called nine sections of Dacus. The Salta administrative region, which has salt, silver, and can grow a large number of cash crops, is close to the Sotigo Ridge and close to the Lizard in the north. In the human temple city of Okoos, skinks riding Kauchen Chocobos occasionally patrol the junction of the plains and jungles. It is the safest place in the entire Kauchen Plains.
Standing here, Darkus could already see the bird shrine at the top of the pyramid of Okoostepok, and he even saw the road to the sky further to the northeast.
The Skyway rises high in the jungles of southern Lustria, a massive brick path suspended from towering pillars like a highway emerging above the tree canopy.
Although Darkus has not walked on the Sky Road, he knows the existence of the Sky Road. Before the great invasion, the lizard people once connected Okoos and Chapeuto, and extended to the Cauchen Plain.
The Sky Road is one of the Lizardmen's greatest architectural achievements. Lizardmen armies march along this road. It is a passage that connects the nodes of the spiritual veins. Magic sparkles to illuminate the way forward. In the past, The energy flowing through the road enables it to span distances far greater than the physical dimensions allow. Occasionally, Slann magic priests will perform awakening rituals to channel energy into the symbols of the road, so that they can reach any key node in the spiritual network of Lustria.
However, these glorious scenes disappeared with the invasion and the sinking of Chapeuto, plus the Thunder Dragon that sometimes wandered here. Now, most of the Sky Road has collapsed, but a section can still be used. Whenever the Sky Road is used in the awakening ritual, it will be further weakened, so the Slann Demon Priest is unwilling to use the Sky Road.
But it was also used, such as in 2349 of the Imperial Calendar, when Itaza's lizardman army used the Sky Road to quickly reach the besieged Twilight Fortress and drive away the Druchi who attacked there.
Darkus plans to restart the Sky Road in the future, connecting Okoos with Asriel and Chapeiuto. It will be used as a strategic passage. It can move quickly during war. Druch soldiers can move quickly when needed. At this time, you can quickly enter the Lustria Jungle through the Sky Road to support the Lizardmen, or the Lizardmen can use the Sky Road to go south to support the Cawchen Plains.
The Sky Road is usually used as an economic passage. The rich skinks who come to the Cowchen Plain can enter the lizard humanoid temple city at the northern end of Ashriel through the Sky Road. After entering the jungle, they can use the complex waterways to transport goods and materials. Go to various temple cities located in the jungle.
What you need to pay attention to is the raid of the rhynchids, as well as some problematic druki, such as the raid by the Khaine assassins loyal to Morathi, the druki that are crazy about money, and those Amazon female warriors who may launch Raid.
South of where Darkus is now, there is a lizardman building, the Time Sentinel, standing on the Sotigo Ridge, but he has not been there yet. It is said to be very magical...
In Darkus's previous life, Bo In 1545, when Tosi was discovered, Europe and Asia were experiencing what economists call a "precious metal famine." In the centuries following the Black Death in the 1340s, population growth and commercial expansion drove demand for metallic currencies, which crossed cultural and political boundaries. In Eurasia and North and East Africa, only gold and silver qualify as metallic currencies. Except in some areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, copper, bronze, and iron coins were not accepted outside the king's domain.
As for banknotes? Come on, open your mouth and eat Jiaozi, take this banknote and spend it, you're welcome...
Trade circulation requires precious metals, whether they are raw materials or finished currency. Likewise, most militaries around the world require metal currency as military currency. Globally, gold is scarce and silver is scarce. Silver was relatively abundant compared to gold, so most international or inter-imperial monetary transfers used silver.
The ever-changing exchange rate between gold and silver, or the bimetallic exchange rate, is key to guiding global trade flows. Even royal decrees usually could do nothing about this, but after 1570, the Ming Dynasty's demand for silver was enough to reset the rhythm of the global commercial economy, and at the same time, Potosi was also marching forward!
The same was true in the medieval world! With the adjustment of Ulthuan's foreign policy, the world will also usher in changes. The medieval world is currently at the point where Potosi, the previous life of Darkus, was discovered. Is this sense of substitution coming all at once?
Darkus paid Sovereign when he visited the Krakarond Market before because the magic items and rare items brought back by the Druchi pirates and adventurers after all the hard work were worth that price!
There was blood and life behind those items. It would be a bit funny if those items that went through so much trouble to bring back to Naggaroth were only worth a glass of wine...
In Naggaroth, the Sovereign made of silver has another name. Like its Assur cousin, it is called the "Silver Dragon". The same Sovereign made of gold is also called the "Golden Dragon", but To distinguish themselves from their cousins, druchis are rarely called this.
The exchange ratio of silver dragons to gold dragons remains between 1:8 and 1:9, while the exchange ratio of bronze dragons is simple. The exchange ratio of silver dragons to bronze dragons has always been maintained at 1:100, which is very stable.
In other words, Jinlong has a spending power of 850 yuan.
Potosi is neither the beginning nor the end.
In the past and modern times, the largest output of silver mines came from Latin America. The first large-scale silver mines were not mined in Potosi, but in Sultepec, Tacoco and Tortilla. However, these deposits, which were first developed in the 1530s, are not easy to mine. Floods and stubborn rocks can be seen everywhere. Further north, the mining districts of Zacatecas and Guanajuato, discovered in the 1540s and 1650s, proved more promising, but they were far from indigenous population centers. Only the wealthiest or most reputable Banya colonial mine owners could afford African labor dispatch, and the Banya royal family was unwilling to subsidize the slave trade.
Therefore, silver mining in Tortilla remained at a faltering stage until 1690, when it began to grow until it became the largest in the world and reached its peak just before independence in 1810, when Potosi was already in decline. Potosi's heyday preceded Tortilla's Great Silver Age, which produced more silver than Tortilla had produced before 1650 combined! Within a few years of Potosi's discovery, the word "Potosi" became a global synonym for unlimited wealth, and the word once spread to the Ming Dynasty. It quickly replaced "Rubi" and became a well-known synonym for wealth.
As an immortal species, the dwarves retain a large amount of precious metals, but the dwarves have declined after being visited by the Slann Demon Priest. Moreover, the dwarves still have all their characteristics... Perhaps the dwarven god of mining and blacksmithing, Granni, has a Brother, is your name Grandet? Everyone understands...
Dacus believes that his Potosi will support his career, and he will not allow another tortilla to exist in this world!
That is not what should be included in the grand plan. That is some kind of misunderstanding of the grand plan, and that needs to be corrected! Unless that tortilla is also in Lustria.
In order to support the next business, Darkus needs a large number of silver dragons to circulate in Druchi society, in Asul society, in the Old World, Arabi and Cathay. He needs to use the silver dragon to pay the salaries of Druchi soldiers, pay the Druchi captains, sailors and sorceresses who travel to and from the merchant ships in Nagaroth and Lustria, so that the Druchi who are responsible for high-level production in the factory can have a salary. .
In addition, the magic center built on the Nagor also requires a large number of silver dragons to maintain daily expenses, but this is another system.
The merchant ships then transported a large amount of daily needs of grain, fish, meat, eggs, milk and vegetables, as well as sugar, wine, fruit, tobacco, honey, etc. that are highly consumed as luxuries, as well as light industrial items such as cotton and textiles back to Nagaros. Let these things circulate among the common people of Druchi. Let Druchi consume the silver dragons he distributed, then take back these silver dragons and distribute them repeatedly.
As for the lizardmen, there is no need for things like currency in the lizardmen's society. They usually barter, but the lizardmen still need these commodities. This is another system, and Darkus is going to take it. Some of the things produced in the Kauchen Plains and the steel products produced in Nagaros will be used as a commission for the elves to develop in the Kauchen Plains, and the other part will be used in exchange for things to let some Skinks get rich first!
There are many valuable items in the Lustria continent. For example, the hematoxylin in the jungle is very valuable. The hematoxylin is also called redwood. This is the best wood. The grains are straight and the wood is very dense and tough. The trunk is rich in water. The natural red dye component is mainly used as a dye, and it is also a high-end furniture and musical instrument material. But the main disadvantage is that it grows slowly, making it uneconomical to plant on the Cawchen Plain even with magic.
For example, the cinchona tree contains a kind of quinine. I won’t introduce this. Everyone knows about it... There are also all kinds of weird magical plants. Many of these magical plants have functions similar to the cinchona tree. Various potions can be extracted to meet the needs of war and daily life for Druchi and Lizardmen, and some can also be used as casting materials for spells.
Some rare birds and reptiles can be used as magic pets, as well as decorations collected from bird feathers, various lizardman handicrafts, etc., which can all be exchanged.
Usually bartering is the most likely to lead to conflicts, profiteers and the like, so it is very important to have a Druchi who can communicate with the lizard people from Darkus's point of view, and Walter plays this important role. .
The old world is even simpler. Darkus is planning to rule Ulthuan. After the political stability is stable, he will choose a period to use diplomacy or force to open a port in the old world to dump goods produced in the Cawchen Plain and cheap consumable steel. Products, as far as he knew, the empire's provincial soldiers seemed to have to prepare their own weapons? And he had already thought of good points of intervention, such as at Marienburg during the Great War.
Of course, Darkus hasn't thought through the entire plan yet. It seems to him that it's too far away at the moment. If you take one step and see ten steps, it will take a hundred steps. Besides, he doesn’t know much about things like free economy. He is worried that dumping will bankrupt a large number of human peasants and handicraftsmen. This is not what he wants to see. He wants to see an extremely ingenious way of maintaining the bottom level of human beings. In the interval between survivability and non-viability, and cheap materials can extend a large population, some humans can fill some places through trade.
It's the triangular trade...
Darkus doesn't know how to play Utopia, that's too difficult for him. He only plays exploiting and being exploited, and the old world is a good target for exploitation, and it has the ability to resist the invasion of Chaos. , and it can benefit the elves. Of course, he hasn't figured out how to do it yet.
But Darkos knows that the premise of all this is to ensure that the elves have a huge navy that can crush the world! By then, there will be no need for humans to go to sea. This is also in line with the wishes of the radical Slann priests. All races will stay in their own places. Of course, the elves are not included in this range.
At the same time that Potosi came into view of the world, goods from all over the world also entered Potosi. Like California during the gold rush, merchants selling tools, clothes, food, and liquor followed closely behind the miners seeking their fortune. As a result, wine, olive oil, iron and luxury textiles from Banya also arrived quickly. The extravagant consumption style of the newly rich mining owners shocked the pioneers who visited this place.
A long string of baskets containing cogu stretches its length from the plain to the town's main square. On the other side were piles of blankets and thin, wide, ornate shirts. On the other side were piles of corn, dried potatoes, and other foods, not to mention plenty of prime beef.
The market in Potosi was equally competitive, with Rouen wool, velvet, and windmill linen available almost as cheaply as in Banya.
As time went on, the display of wealth became more and more intense, and even poor Potosi people would wear suits made of the finest European wool mixed with Ming Dynasty silk, proudly wearing them in public. There is a constant supply of spices and gemstones from around the world, as well as high-quality handmade items such as glasses, scissors, and even Venetian glassware. The "City of Kings" was still a poor hillside before the discovery of silver mines, but it soon became one of the world's great cities in terms of consumer goods and the diversity of its inhabitants.
Potosi thus became one of the early modern 'world cities' whose growth and development depended on continued connections with the rest of the globe. Potosi is not a port city or administrative center in the ordinary sense, but a newly discovered mining city, a frontier capable of replenishing international finance with funds.
There is no place in the world that has a unique charm like Potosi. Therefore, Potosi’s iconic red peak towering above it seems destined to become a symbol of the new global economic and political order.
But this phenomenon is not what Darkus wants to see, at least his Potosi should not be like this. He believes that since Potosi stands here, it should be closed instead of becoming a world-class city.
Potosi is Potosi, but it is not Potosi. This is the medieval world, the continent of Lustria, not the Latin America of Darkus' previous life. The location of Potosi is extremely closed, backed by the Sotigo Ridge and bordering the jungle to the north. It is the last point of what Darkus calls the nine-section invitation. The Cauchen Plain is a plain, but it is also closed at the same time. Ruth There is no Peru in Chia. There is a passage over the Sotigo Ridge.
Rich goods and large amounts of money mean that there will be a large number of speculators later, and then the same old talk will follow: nobility, friendship, conspiracy, overnight wealth, and overnight bankruptcy will all follow. Represents chaos.
All this is inevitable, this is not what Darkus wants to see, he wants all this to happen in the port city of Chapeuto, not Potosi.
With the existence of time sentinels, the further you go into the Kauchen Plain and the higher you go, the more closed, strict, and central you become, and there may even be no way to go.
One of the purposes of Darkus' trip was to see this silver mountain, and the other was to plan the necessary projects, such as planning a permanent fortified town halfway up the mountain that could accommodate Druchi bureaucrats, garrison troops, The space needed for labor dispatch and supporting facilities such as mints, and at the same time, a river must be introduced into the town to meet daily needs and silver smelting needs. Although he did not understand the process of silver smelting, he knew that water power was definitely needed, and smelting Silver wastewater may contain highly toxic substances such as mercury.
In addition, not only Potosi, but also the winding mountain road below must be planned. The road has been connected to Asriel, which is the administrative center, and to Chapeuto, which is the port. It will also be equipped with supporting canals to meet the needs of daily transportation. .
Next, Darkus has to walk through the Kaochen Plain again, plan out what is needed at the beginning, and then pick some key problems to dismount the master. He calls this the "Moon Shadow Style Development Method"! Highlight a violent, convenient!
Next comes labor dispatch. (End of chapter)