PFC Chapter 240
Chapter 240
When they returned to Zhou Lu's restaurant from the cave, it was already past seven o'clock in the evening. The three of them had a simple meal here, made a pot of tea and chatted there.
At this time, an aunt who was helping in the store came over to pack up and casually asked them if they had got anything good on this expedition and how the profits were.
"Is there any profit in exploration?"
"Who would do a job that doesn't make money?" Auntie looked at Zhou Lu's cousin. "A few months ago, a group of people came to our place to collect things. They took away the cabinet of an old lady next door. I heard it was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Zhou Lu laughed. He came to the village to collect antiques, which could not be considered an adventure. According to the old saying, this was called sneaking into someone else's house with a bundle.
"Those guys don't necessarily accept us. Sometimes they even break into houses and pick locks... they're not very polite." Qi Cheng took a sip of tea and continued, "But to be honest, the expeditions did pay off in the beginning, or maybe they were hired by the wealthy."
……
The small antique dealers who were selling their goods outside the sky all spat in unison. How could their counterparts in later generations be so unscrupulous? Although they relied on their eyesight to buy low and sell high at that time.
But I will definitely not be dirty.
This is a serious taboo.
"I think those people in the future are not colleagues at all. They are just some thieving bastards."
"That's right, these people should be punished."
……
Since he had nothing to do, Qi Cheng talked to Zhou Lu and the others about the income from the expedition.
"If we talk about the benefits of exploration, we have to go back to the 16th century. That was when the maritime industry boomed. Columbus discovered the New World, and Western adventurers rushed to America like crazy."
"They are jackals. Seeing gold is like seeing meat."
"There was a Spanish adventurer named Pizarro who discovered what is now Peru and the Inca Empire in South America. He felt the number of people he brought with him was not enough, so he went back to bring back hundreds more."
"Then he used a trick to capture and imprison the emperor of the Inca Empire at that time, and he demanded that the Inca Empire pay a roomful of gold to redeem the emperor."
"But when the house was almost full of gold, they killed the emperor and divided the gold..."
……
"A room full of gold?" Several Tang Dynasty ministers were stunned. "There must be a lot of gold over there. Your Majesty, why don't we go over and take a look?"
Li Shimin also wanted to go, but their navigation technology at that time was too poor. Let alone going to America, even going to Southeast Asia was a bit difficult.
Let’s develop technology quickly.
Ming Dynasty
When Zhu Di heard that there was so much gold, his breathing became rapid. The Ming Dynasty was short of money now. He felt that if there was so much gold, the Ming Dynasty's technological level would definitely develop better.
The Mongolian Tartars can also be driven away.
You can also build more palaces.
"Zheng He is back, let him come quickly and we will discuss how to go to America!" Zhu Di laughed. He wanted to get there earlier than the Spanish and grab all the gold.
"Your Majesty, we have been heading west, but I have read some introductions to Tianmu and I think we have a plan," Zheng He said in a low voice, "but I am a little worried."
"what?"
"What if those Western barbarians reach the territory of our Ming Dynasty?"
"Don't worry about that. Your fleet has made a profit this time. I will also leave an order to the Crown Prince to strengthen the navy."
……
After listening to what Qi Cheng said, Zhou Lu and his cousin were also very surprised. Explorers really made money at that time. How much gold would they have earned?
"So do we have any stories about explorers here?"
“There’s something very infuriating going on.”
Qi Cheng sighed and told Zhou Lu and the others that Spain had obtained countless gold from South America, but its value was just that. Foreign explorers in the late Qing Dynasty had obtained tens of thousands of cultural relics from the Mogao Grottoes.
Stein, Pelliot, Yoshikawa Koichirō, Oldenburg.
"Those artifacts in Mogao Grottoes, right? They're scriptures and paintings from the Sui and Tang dynasties..." Zhou Lu's cousin sighed, "It's all the fault of the impoverished and weak Qing Dynasty. They couldn't even protect their own things."
Zhou Lu also shook his head. The Qing Dynasty was really weak.
……
Tang Dynasty
Li Shimin slammed the table hard. He was just thinking about how to get the gold from South America, but in the blink of an eye, it was stolen by someone else.
The Qing Dynasty is really garbage.
It is worse than the Song Dynasty. At least the Song Dynasty left a reputation of prosperity and wealth.
Moreover, they are of the same lineage, so how could they not know the importance of these cultural relics? But they just can't stand up straight and get scared when they see a foreigner.
Qing Dynasty
Emperor Qianlong threw the blue and white porcelain wine glass in his hand and wondered why he had these damn descendants who made him get scolded every day.
Were a few foreigners so frightened that they gave away all the things left by their ancestors?
"Heshen, do you have any good ideas to prevent the cultural relics in Mogao Grottoes from being stolen?"
"Well... the Emperor suggested sending Sauron soldiers to directly surround this Mogao Grottoes. No one is allowed to explore inside."
Emperor Qianlong knocked on the table, as if waiting for someone else's answer.
A minister stepped forward and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, we can get the contents out now and hide them in the Forbidden City. Even if the foreigners go there, it will be empty."
Heshen sneered in his heart. This guy must be thinking about what to eat in the evening. How could he come up with such an outrageous answer? Even a pig couldn't come up with this idea.
Why did the Qing Dynasty not dare to deal with foreigners in the late Qing Dynasty? Wasn't it because they couldn't defeat them? It was said in the front that a militia minister named Wang Yirong died for his country after the fall of the capital.
Has he forgotten?
Even if they were transported back and stored in the palace, they would still be taken away by foreigners. At most, the two gangs of foreigners were not in the same group.
"Heshen, please continue." Qianlong felt that the minister just now was not very reliable.
"There are some confidential information involved."
Emperor Qianlong asked him to go down and write a memorial.
……
"Now... it's not that time anymore." Zhou Lu's cousin asked in a low voice, "Can explorers still make a fortune nowadays?"
"Relying on finding cultural relics is definitely not an option right now, at least not in our country. But you can post videos online. Once you have more fans..."
“You can sell goods through live streaming.”
"I see you recorded a lot of videos today. You can try to edit them and see if anyone likes to watch them." Qi Cheng made a suggestion.
"How do I cut this?"
"Look at how others edited it... This kind of thing should be pretty much the same, just add a little more suspense."