Chương 49: In Germany, in 1866 (Part One)
Biên tập viên: Tehrn
Since last time, the cane sugar had sold well, this time Huang Xuan specially bought more than 10 tons of it, as well as 5,000 tons of wheat and rice, and about 300 tons of corns that had been widely grown in Europe in late 17th century.
Over 70 million tons of goods were dealt in via Port of Santos every year. Hence, near Santos City and Sao Paulo, there were countless import and export companies and agents. With a single wave of one’s credit card, a Brazilian would come up warmly and offer his help.
After the upgrade, all materials that could be naturally degraded, for example, rotted or dissolved within a short time, were allowed to be carried.
A small trade company soon purchased enough grains and transported them to Port of Santos, including wheat of moderate quality priced at $290 per ton, Thailand rice at $330, and corns at $150, the total cost of which was only over nine million RMB. As long as Huang Xuan wouldn’t be thrown into the Amazon Jungle, he would absolutely make a fortune.
Huang Xuan also bought a set of clothes in ancient style made of natural fiber without zippers or buttons. Although Rolin thought it was useless, it comforted Huang Xuan a lot.
All set, they started off on the afternoon of June 5th at the starting point of Rolin’s so-called super-long period.
“P138T1866W3890.”
Huang Xuan stepped outside, squinting his eyes. “T1866? The 19th century?” The only thing he knew about this age was the Opium War (1840-1842).
“Where are we?”
They were surrounded by stout oak. Several poplars with lush branches towered over all the other trees. The road was covered with fallen leaves, which squeaked when stepped on. “Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. The similarity, 96%. Now it’s called Prussia.”
“Kaiserslautern?” Huang Xuan slapped his forehead. “Football?”
“There are fewer than 10,000 people living here right now.” Rolin scanned the surroundings around them and said, “We are in a forest. It might take us one day to walk out.”
Huang Xuan looked at his feet and said inside, “Sorry, buddies, I forgot to buy you a pair of good shoes.”
Rolin continued scanning. He had used energy much more often than before ever since the electrolytic factory had been able to supply electricity steadily, but the loss of energy during transportation had increased gradually since the base had been moved to Brazil.”
“I thought the spots you chose were all places people had been to before.” Huang Xuan pulled his clothes tighter and started walking.
“They are, but the place always changes a little after temporal and spatial oscillation.” Rolin hated wasting time. He paused for a moment and then continued, “We can stay in this space for five days. I hope you can find something valuable.”
“It seems the upgrade is indeed helpful, but five days is still too short,” Huang Xuan said as he walked.
“How long you can stay here depends on the length of the time period when we left P112. The longer the period is, the longer you can stay. The base has a stronger analytic ability now, but it can’t guarantee a long time every time.”
“OK.” Huang Xuan got impatient. “It takes one day to walk. Luckily, we don’t need to walk back. Otherwise, we won’t be able to do anything else.”
Germany had just started its unification in the second half of the 19th century. Four years before, Otto Von Bismarck had been made Chancellor and foreign minister of Prussia. He had claimed in his first speech in the Prussian parliament, “The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power. Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favorable moment, which has already come and gone several times. Since the treaties of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill-designed for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided—that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by iron and blood.”
With the Iron Chancellor’s domination, Prussia won a decisive war against Austria in 1866, that was now, while his neighbor, France, would launch another war four years later.
Rolin’s introduction excited Huang Xuan, because he knew whatever age it was, where there was a war, there were needs for grains. The more, the better.
Now he saw that there was a reason why grains had become the standard currency of plane trades.
Walking in a forest was disgusting. The forest wasn’t like the jungles in scenic spots. There was everything in it, such as bird crap, which was sufferable, and reptiles, which depended on individual interest. But rotten leaves not only stank but also covered the dung of mammals, which one could easily fell over. The areas near lush trees were damp and would cover more of it.
Huang Xuan couldn’t stand it anymore. He said, holding a branch, “Why couldn’t you just send me where I wanted to go? Can’t one be teleported inside the same plane?”
“If the space is settled, the time won’t be. Only the base can move in the same space, because the base takes up one coordinate. Actually, the things the base can do in other planes are very limited.”
“At least more than what I can do.” Huang Xuan took his steps indignantly.
“Not necessarily. The base can be seen as the air force in your age. Only the air force taking control can come into play, but it can’t take the place of infantry.”
“Are you saying that I am the infantry?” Huang Xuan was annoyed.
“If you like the army better—”
“Forget it.”
They were chatting when some noises came. Rolin raised his voice and said, “Congratulations. There’s a lumber mill nearby.”
At this moment, the sky looked much bluer to Huang Xuan, and the road wasn’t so slippery anymore. Even the sawing sounded beautiful.
There were only three timber workers and one woman in charge of cooking on the logging farm. They were all farmers from Bavaria.
Kaiserslautern was in Prussia, by the Rhine River, near Bavaria. It produced sausage and beer. China’s best-known brand of beer, Qingdao Beer, had also originated in German colonial period.
Huang Xuan’s appearance surprised them. But since Germany hadn’t started militarism at this time, all Huang Xuan needed to do was to say that he was lost.
Rolin’s German was good, but his Bavarian accent was changed. Fortunately, the workers didn’t mind. They put down their tools and asked Huang Xuan to have some sausages and vegetable soup.
There were only two sausages the size of a finger and a lot of vegetable soup which didn’t taste yummy. Huang Xuan drank it, holding his breath.
“Which city is the biggest around here?” Huang Xuan asked, although he had got the answer from Rolin.
“Kaiserslautern.”
The workers’ answer was disappointing. Huang Xuan pursued, “How far is Hamburg? Can I reach it in three days?” According to Rolin’s materials, Hamburg was the most developed city in Germany.
The female worker served rye bread and said with a smile, “You need to hire a cart in the town to go to Hamburg, and you won’t make it in three days.”
“Frankfurt?”
The woman smiled and shook her head.
“Berlin?”
She shook her head again.
“How about Paris?” This place was on the border of France. Huang Xuan felt Paris was his last hope.
Impossible too.
Huang Xuan sat down with depression. “It seems that I won’t be able to take home the artists’ masterpieces.”
“It is not a good deal to trade a lot of materials for a little goods.” Rolin was talking about the big plane age when the aims of the dealings were to get energy. According to Albert Einstein’s theory, there is mutual transformation between energy and any material. Hence, the essence of plane dealings was to save energy. After all, it wasn’t economical to produce materials with enormous energy, which was the foundation of free plan theory. However, it didn’t work on Huang Xuan, whose purpose was to get notes rather than energy.
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