Chapter 3 2. I am crazy about wealth

Under what background was the new air route opened?Europeans worked so hard to open up new sea routes, why?Isn't that for death? The first thing he needs is gold.To develop capitalism in a country, there are four necessary factors: capital, raw materials, market, and labor force. Only with these can capitalism in your country develop, or in other words, industry can develop.The number one thing is money. If you don’t have money, it’s all bullshit. Why doesn’t Africa develop capitalism?Can it develop?As for flower shells, if you don’t have money, it’s all bullshit. Therefore, if Europeans want to develop capitalism, they should first solve the problem of funds.You have to have money, you can't do without money.Gold was scarce in Europe, so it had to go to the East.Not in China, only brass.We ancient Chinese people said gold, who was given 60 gold by Qin Shihuang, that is brass, how can there be gold in China, otherwise why do we spend copper coins, why not spend gold coins?China has no gold and belongs to a country that is extremely deficient in precious metals.

Our country's gold mainly depends on imports.Up to now, China's foreign exchange reserves are only more than 600 tons, while that of the United States is more than 8,000 tons.China is a gold-poor country. If you say there is no gold, it is a bit white, right?Hey!Neither does silver!Silver in ancient China relied on imports from Japan, and it became a commonly used currency after the Ming Dynasty.In ancient times, there were copper coins and iron coins, and there was a serious shortage of precious metals. Who would be so boring to tell Europeans that we have them here?It's an old horse!Marco Polo (Marco Polo (1254-1324), a world-renowned traveler and businessman. At the age of 17, he followed his father and uncle, passed through the Middle East, traveled in China for 17 years, and returned to Venice. Marco Polo was captured in a naval battle between Venice and Genoa, dictated his travels in prison, and Rustichello da Pisa wrote The Travels of Marco Polo. But did he have It is still controversial to have never been to China.)!That guy is talking nonsense!If you say he hasn’t been there, he’s compiled it so well that some people still believe it, and he even drew a road map according to what he said.You can really fool around, you have been to China, how can you write seven out of ten sentences are wrong?It is said that the roof of the Khan's palace is covered with gold, so what if the Khan fell a gold brick while sleeping and was crushed to death?Glazed tiles, you say they are gold, you are really ignorant.If you have been to China, why didn't you record the Great Wall?Why is it not recorded that Chinese people use chopsticks to eat?This is the bare minimum.This is what foreigners think is the most amazing thing about Chinese people. They actually use two sticks to eat. We think foreigners are even more funny. They use knives to cut people. Do you eat people?It’s still raw, and it’s eaten while it’s bleeding. These people are too barbaric.

Marco Polo said that China has gold, and this group of people mistakenly thought that China really had gold, and Fan Fei rushed here. In fact, it is Europe that really has gold.In ancient times in Europe, gold coins and silver coins were spent. He had gold, and his gold should be used as currency. It was right for him to be currency, and he would not have come here to open up new shipping routes.The imperial palaces in Europe, the ancient imperial palaces are incomparable with ours, almost like the Juyi Hall in Songjiang.You can see that the big stones are built with water seepage, and there are torches on the wall. The torch is as thick as an arm, which is eerie.What did he do with his gold?Their gold built churches.Why is there a Renaissance in the future?Why did the Renaissance oppose theocracy?You built churches with all this gold.

I went to Europe to visit, European travel is really!During the day, I just look at the cathedrals one by one. I feel that the Gothic cathedrals are similar. The shops close at 6 o'clock in the evening, and you dare not go to the open places. You can only sleep. It was still bright after 9 o'clock, and I couldn't sleep, which was very painful. It was even worse in winter, and it was dark at 3 o'clock.Look at the beautiful cathedrals one by one. Cologne Cathedral, it is no exaggeration to say that if you want to see the top with a hat on, the hat must fall off. The church is more than 170 meters high, which is equivalent to more than 50 floors. The building is so high. Before the appearance of reinforced concrete, it was built with stone blocks. This church has been built for more than 600 years.The church in Milan, Italy, has been built for 501 years. There are more than 2,000 statues of saints on the outer wall of the church, and then more than 100 spiers, with a gilded statue of the Virgin on the top, holding the Italian flag. In 1880s, until the unification of Italy, the Notre Dame de Paris has not yet been completed, so he stopped repairing it. Forget it, it was pulled down because there was no money, and the cathedral was not repaired for a long time.What's even more funny is the cathedral in Strasbourg, France, called the Unicorn Church. There is only one steeple, and the other will not be repaired if there is no money.Once the cathedral has been under construction for hundreds of years, it will stop when there is no money. If it stops, it can stop for a hundred or two hundred years, and then continue to repair when there is money. Anyway, build the inside first.How can that church spend so much money?Because the standard for building a church in an Italian city is to build a church so that the whole city can go in and worship.How big do you think this church is?If there are 2,000 people in our city, 2,000 people need to enter, and if there are 3,000 people, 3,000 people must be able to enter. It was built according to this standard.So if you look at all the ancient cities in Europe today, the tallest buildings must be churches.The same is true of villages and towns. The tallest building in all villages and towns in Europe must be the church.

When I arrived in Florence, I still lived in the suburbs, because there was no way to live in the city, and it cost several hundred euros a night, so I could only live in the suburbs.It’s too bright to sleep, let’s stand on the balcony of the hotel and have a look. I saw a castle, a very beautiful medieval castle, and then I asked a few people to go for a walk, to have a look, and then I went in .After entering, I found that there were still people living there, and there were a few people drinking coffee and chatting. After walking a few steps, I came to the very center of the castle. There was a lion standing on the door, like a Venetian lion, with wings.That church is a church in a small town. There are not even 1,000 people in the town. The pillars of that church cannot be hugged by three men. They are like the pillars of the Great Hall of the People. They are thick, with four pillars. It's like the hat can fall off when you look up.

After getting on the bus the next day, I asked the tour guide what the name of the church was.The tour guide said, that small broken church, who knows what it is called.Later, I insisted on asking the tour guide to ask me. The tour guide held the phone and didn't know who to talk to for a long time, and then told me that it was called St. Franciscan Church.I said you ask him how tall is the clock tower?The answer is 57 meters, which is equivalent to a 20-story building; then I said, you ask when the church was built?The tour guide is annoying, why do you have so many questions?Are you the legendary curious baby?Since the tour guide is annoying, let's pull it down, and I can't ask any more questions.I guess it wasn't built in the past two years, it must be something ancient.If you think it's a small town with thousands of people here, and building such a cathedral, it's a waste of money, all the money is spent on it.

In St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, there are 12 mosaic paintings inlaid with gold, all of which are inlaid with gold leaf. It takes 20 years to paint that painting, and it will take 240 years to calculate these 12 paintings, let alone build this church. Years, so every cathedral in Europe is resplendent and magnificent.It should reflect the dignity of God and the insignificance of man. God looks down on you from a high heaven, and once you enter there, you will naturally walk softly and slowly.There is a mouth drawn in all the churches of the family, and the simplified Chinese characters "No loud noises" are written, including "do not spit anywhere", "don't take the toilet paper", all are simplified Chinese characters, all are Chinese characters, and only The simplified words, "Here is the trash can", kindly remind us not to spit anywhere, please do not make loud noises, it is really exciting to go abroad to see it.

Gold is indispensable, and spices are also indispensable.Other than gold, the west is eager for the goods of the East, but spices. Spices are not perfumes, but are used for cooking, such as pepper, aniseed, cinnamon, and cinnamon.Because foreigners eat meat, and meat is not easy to preserve, he uses these things to marinate meat. Besides gold and spices, he also needed to spread Catholicism.Whether you call him noble or simple, foreigners feel very pitiful when they see a nation that does not believe in God.Chinese people have never believed in anything since ancient times. Have you ever seen Chinese people pray for rain?Holding the pig's head, I begged the Dragon Lord to let it rain, and then the rain really fell, it was so effective.This Dragon Lord is too cheap, it rains just for a pig's head, it's really low request.Give a pig's head, let it rain, give another pig's head, if it doesn't rain, walk with the pig's head and scold the Dragon Lord.You have seen foreigners enter his temple, oh, God, I will rob the bank tomorrow and bless me to succeed, no success, you are blind to God, absolutely not.This is the best thing about China, and they don't believe in anything.Foreigners include Matteo Ricci (Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar. He came to live in China during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. His original name in Chinese is literally translated as Matteo Leach, and Matteo Ricci is his Chinese name. He He was one of the pioneers of Catholic missionary work in China, and the first western scholar who read Chinese literature and studied Chinese classics.) When those people came to China, they were shocked when they saw China, oh my God!What are you doing squatting at home?Reading the Four Books and Five Classics, worshiping Buddha, and making alchemy, what do you believe in?We are quite proud of ourselves, but in fact the three religions are one, so we don’t believe in anything.The integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism (China's inherent ideological and cultural development is represented by Confucianism and Taoism. After the spread and development of foreign Buddhism in China, it has been in a complex relationship of mutual conflict and mutual integration. This collision lasted until the Han Dynasty Later, the basic pattern of Confucianism as the main, Buddhism and Taoism as the supplement, and "three religions in one" gradually formed.), every family is Confucius, Sakyamuni, and Taishang Laojun hanging side by side. You are not afraid of their brothers. stand up? !When living abroad, don’t say that you are atheist. I don’t believe in God. If you don’t believe in God, then you are an animal.If you want to eat dog meat, it is the same as cannibalism, so you might as well publicly admit that you cannibalize yourself.In the West, religious belief can be integrated into the mainstream society, and people will change. Why are entrepreneurs in Europe and the United States willing to do good and help others?Like Bill Gates, donating hundreds of millions a year is very related to the Christian belief.

Then there is the trade crisis.It turns out that there are old air routes leading to Europe, and they can communicate with Europe.Both the Maritime Silk Road and the Land Silk Road can go to Europe. Why are you opening up a new sea route with enough food now? That land was occupied by the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The poor trade routes caused a commercial crisis.After the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, the trade routes between East and West were blocked.The Ottoman Empire is the Turkic people called by the Tang Dynasty in China, the Western Turkic people.Since being annihilated by the Tang Dynasty, the Turkic people have moved all the way westward to today's Asia Minor, the Anatolian Plateau, and then converted to Islam. In the 11th century, a branch of the Turks established a country under the leadership of the leader Osman. This country was called the Ottoman Turkic Empire, and the English translation was called the Ottoman Turkish Empire.Turkey is English, and Turkic is Turkic, just like China and China are the same thing, not two countries.There are many kinds of Turkic people, and they all converted later, named after their first founding monarch, just like today’s Saudi Arabia, it is a country established by a person named Saudi in 1932, so this country is called Saudi Arabia .

In the 7th century AD, the Arab Empire rose in the Arabian Peninsula. In 642, the Arab general Amur led troops to capture Alexandria.According to Ibn Keef, a historian born in ancient Egypt in the 13th century, in his "History of the Sages", after Amur captured the city of Alexandria, some scholars had the courage to say that they hoped to preserve the precious books in the library of Alexandria. Moore then asked Caliph Omar (Khalifah), the Islamic title. Muhammad and his previous prophets were considered to be the agents and rulers of Allah on the earth. Later, the word was used to refer to After the death of Muhammad, the person who succeeded the leader of the state and religion in the Islamic country, the four caliphs who were in power in the early days of Islam belonged to this scope. Later, they were used by the rulers of Umayyad, Abbas and other dynasties.) Ask for instructions and get The answer was: "Read the book you mentioned first. If its content is the same as the scriptures (referring to), there is no need to preserve it; if it is contrary, there is no need to preserve it, and you might as well destroy it." So a fire burned for half a year, and the Alexandria Library It will be completely finished, and many things in human history will be destroyed.

Because of these, after the establishment of the Ottoman state, one can imagine the attitude towards the trade between Christians and Buddhists.First of all, 80% of the heavy tax is levied. Do you want to run away after collecting 80% of the tax?As soon as the knights pulled off their headscarves and covered their faces, they turned into Zoro. After chasing them, they were cut off in two, so the trade route was blocked. So let's find a way to get around it first. Although the Ottoman Empire controls the Eastern Mediterranean and involves the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, it is not from the North Pole to the South Pole after all. In Europe, the Ottoman countries occupied the Balkans, and to the north of the Balkans was Germany.You said that I can’t get through the Balkans, so I will go north from the Balkans to Germany, including Austria, which was called Germany at that time.To the east, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, be careful not to be licked by a bear. Therefore, if you go north and take the old route from the Ottoman Empire, it will not work. Will it work if you go south?The Ottoman Empire controlled North Africa, the south of North Africa, and Central Africa is the Sahara Desert, which is as big as Brazil, and you can’t get out if you go in. It seems that although the Ottoman Empire is not from the North Pole to the South Pole, it is in the middle of the world, around the root Can't go around, so I can only open up a new route. The second is the advancement of navigation technology.Nautical technology includes shipbuilding, compass, gunpowder, sails, etc. If you don’t have gunpowder and sails, you can only stare at the pirates, and you can’t compete head-on.The compass is the most important thing. Once the boat goes out to sea, follow the feeling. We can go as far as our heart wants. Then it’s over. You said I started from here and wanted to go to Xidan. I reversed 26 times and arrived in Huairou. Asking if this is Xidan, isn't this making trouble?You need a compass. Another one, if you want to sail, at least you need to know whether such a ship can sail far.The Mediterranean is fine, but going out of the Mediterranean is not good, let alone entering the ocean.There is a leak here, once water enters, the whole sinks.What kind of ship will do?Compartmentation.Once the watertight door is lowered, even if my cabin gets flooded, the other cabins will not be able to enter the water, the ship will not sink, and it can still sail with a cabin of water. This kind of ship is fine.Who taught the Europeans about such ships?Chinese.Still Chinese!Because the waves in our Bohai Sea are 1.2 meters high, we have to use this kind of boat. If we use that kind of one-cabin boat, we will be finished. for example.Look at the Titanic. The design of the Titanic was that 6 cabins were flooded and it would not sink. As a result, it was a little bit backward, and 7 cabins were flooded and sank.Because the captain made a mistake, he saw an iceberg in front of the bow, and the ship was about to hit it, but he steered the rudder, thinking he could turn away, and scraped against the iceberg.The bow of the ship is the strongest, so it’s definitely okay to hit the rear. It’s better not to hide, but to hit it directly. After hitting it, it’s sure to be fine. It scratched 7 cabins, just cracked this side, and sank immediately.This kind of boat cannot have only one sail, which will break when the wind blows. Greek warships have only one sail, and the multi-sail design was taught by China.Advances in technology have provided conditions for long-distance voyages. Furthermore, the centralization of Spain and Portugal completed the centralization of power in Spain and Portugal.Europe is about the same size as China. We are one country, and there are more than 50 countries in it. There is no concept of unification. They don't think they are divided and should be merged.The history of Europe, the history of the Middle Ages, and the history after the fall of the Roman Empire are very similar to our Chinese Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou.You see, the king of England is also the Duke of Normandy in France. He is the king in England and has a territory in France. He is a retainer of the king of France.For another example, if you are a king in France, you may be in the Champagne region (Champagne: East of Paris, France, around Reims, including Marne, Aisne and a part of Aube. The Champagne region is the origin of Champagne. According to French law, only Champagne produced in the Champagne region can be called Champagne, and similar wines produced in other regions can only be called "sparkling wine".), The common people don’t know France at all. First of all, they don’t know that they are French. Secondly, they don’t know that there is a king in France, because they are in charge of affairs here. The Earl of Champagne and the Duke of Bocandi. At that time, the most powerful country in Europe was Boken In the Principality, the most outstanding person is the Duke of Bokendi. Which country do you think he belongs to?There are several countries.So there is no such concept in Europe. Only Spain and Portugal completed the centralization and national unification at that time, because they wanted to expel the Arabs on the peninsula. During this process, the national unification was completed. The Arab Empire was later split into three: Green Clothes Dashi, Black Clothes Dashi, and White Clothes Dashi (Islam advocates black, white, and green colors, so there are "White Clothes Dashi" and "Black Clothes Dashi" in ancient books. And "Green Food". The Abbasid dynasty of Baghdad Caliphate whose capital was Iraq marked by black flags was called "Black Food". It was established in Tunisia and moved to Cairo in the early 10th century. Cairo Caliphate The Fatimid dynasty of the country called it "Green Clothes Dashi"; and the Umayyad Dynasty of the Caliphate of Cordoba, whose capital Syria was marked by a white flag, called "White Clothes Dashi".).The food in green clothes is in Egypt, the food in black clothes is in Baghdad, and the food in white clothes is in Spain.Later, the Spanish Christians launched the Reconquista Movement, and it took 800 years to drive these people away, which was the year of Columbus's voyage.The Spaniards completed their unification during this process, and it has two kings, one male king is Petillian, and the other is the female king Queen Isa Bella. The two got married to make this country Unification is complete. In this way, Spain and Portugal have completed the centralization of power, and they have the ability to pay the cost of long-distance voyages. Other small countries simply do not have this ability. Therefore, Dias started the long-distance voyage under such circumstances. In 1487, Dias of Portugal reached the Cape of Good Hope, and stopped going any further when he arrived at this place. In fact, it was not because he didn’t want to go, but because the sailors were about to mutiny.Everyone thinks this place is terrible. The two oceans meet, the rocks pass through the sky, and the stormy waves hit the shore. The gate of hell has been opened. If I go any further, I will be eaten by shark spirits. My mother told me to go home for dinner. Well, go back quickly.Dias went back and told the king that he saw the southernmost tip of Africa. In fact, it was not the southernmost tip of Africa, it was the southwest tip of Africa, and it was the southernmost tip of Africa if you go further, and Cape Point is the southernmost tip. It's named Cape Storm.The king became anxious when he heard it, and you dare not go there and scare others, so the king renamed it the Cape of Good Hope. Spain's eyes became red at the sight of it. You see how arrogant they are, we can't just sit idle, so we hired an Italian named Columbus to go on a long voyage, and finally arrived in America.Columbus’s voyage was a contract with Queen Isa Bella. His trip was not paid by the state, but Queen Isa Bella’s private money. It probably means that I will pay you for the voyage and you hire someone to go , and then you go to America, after you get the gold, my sister and I split 20/80, 80% to me, 20% to you, you are the governor admiral of all newly discovered territories, you will raise the Spanish flag wherever you go, Put up a cross and convert Indians, Japanese, and Chinese to Catholicism. It is said that the queen gave him all the jewelry boxes, and from then on the queen can only put flowers on her head.When Columbus saw that the business could be done, he went to get a boat excitedly. When he arrived in America, he thought he was in India, and he went six times without changing his mind.This buddy is a bit memorized, is there gold in that place?Where is the gold?America is rich in gold, but that is in South America, and North America is only found in San Francisco on the Pacific coast, not in the place where his brother went. Columbus failed to find the gold in the end, and finally the queen was in a hurry, you are a big liar, I was hurt by you.After the death of Columbus, one of his compatriots, Amerigo, confirmed that it was not India but a new continent that Europeans had never been to, so he named this continent with Amerigo, which is what we know as America.In fact, the Vikings who were hundreds of years earlier than Columbus have all been to America, but who made the pirates uneducated and forgot to record them.The Portuguese Da Gama arrived in Calicut, India in 1498. Zheng He died of illness in Calicut 65 years before he arrived in Calicut. Zheng He died in this place on his last voyage. .Then there was Magellan in Spain from 1519 to 1522. Magellan himself was Portuguese, but sailed around the world for Spain, and was hacked to death by natives.The Pacific Ocean is named after Magellan.Did people in ancient China go to the Pacific Ocean?No.All the voyages of China's maritime Silk Road are in the Indian Ocean.