The Rise Of Australasia

Moreover, the gold standard had not yet been abolished, and gold remained tremendously important to other countries, which increased the difficulty of procuring gold.

However, compared to gold, some relatively valuable antiques and calligraphy and paintings were also available for purchase.

And compared to the still robust value of gold, the value of antiques and calligraphy and paintings during the economic crisis had plummeted to their lowest point, with a bag of rice even being able to trade for a set of paintings, and a sheep for a normally priceless antique.

Australasia’s history and cultural heritage were still relatively weak, after all, it was an immigrants’ country that had only been established for a little over 20 years, and the lack of extensive collections in museums was a shortcoming and regret for Australasia. Discover hidden content at NovelBin.Côm

But if it were possible to acquire a large number of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, as well as some worthy items of collection from abroad by purchasing, it would not only greatly enhance the storage capacity of Australasia’s national and small-scale museums and improve the country’s cultural heritage and historical flavor, but it would also avoid the nation being stigmatized for amassing a large number of antiques in the future.

The British Museum of later generations had already borne too many stigmas, and indeed it was so.

British people collected a significant amount of wealth from countries and nations around the world during their extremely glorious colonial period, including a large amount of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and rare treasures.

However, the British mostly collected these items by means of plundering, while Australasia would be much more civilized, peacefully purchasing from Europe, America, and other countries, and would naturally not bear stigmas.

Arthur was not particular about these antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and rare treasures; whether they were from any country, region, or nationality, they could all be procured for Australasia.

Even some calligraphy and paintings of average value were sold by weight, with a pile of normally priceless antiques and calligraphy and paintings only being able to trade for enough grain to feed a family, but this in the midst of an economic crisis was already hard to come by.

The shortage of grain during an economic crisis did not necessarily mean the country truly lacked grain; more often, it was that the capitalists were unwilling to let cheaper grain fall into civilian hands as it would disrupt the entire grain market.

They would rather destroy that grain than give it away for free or sell it cheaply to the poor.

This led to millions starving to death during the economic crisis, with a vast amount of food being wasted as well.

For ordinary people who had antiques, the best outcome at this time was to trade these antiques and calligraphy and paintings for grain or money.

Antiques and calligraphy and paintings were of no use if kept at home, trading them for grain might still give their families a chance to survive.

This was also the harshness of the economic crisis; for ordinary people, there was no way to cope during such a major disaster, they could only kneel and pray that the country would not forget them while hoping to have some reserves at home.

Although Arthur already had a plan to bottom-fish during the economic crisis, as the crisis was still unfolding, and some companies were still struggling, it would inevitably draw attention if he entered the fray at this time.

Only when the United States’ economy was in utter chaos due to the economic crisis, and all Americans were too preoccupied with the severe casualties of the economic crisis to pay attention to anything else, that would be the perfect opportunity for Arthur to massively buy in at the bottom.

Whether or not the country banned firearms didn’t actually make much difference in normal times, because aside from a few rare madmen, nobody would carry firearms all the time, nor would anyone draw a gun over a minor conflict to kill others. @@novelbin@@

After all, in the United States where firearms are legally held, having a gun means that others have guns too, and this sort of life-risking gamble isn’t something ordinary people do to extremes.

But during an economic crisis, the already fragile hearts of the people suffered multiple devastations, and the extremists became even more radical.

According to statistics from a New York newspaper, in the little over a month since the outbreak of the economic crisis, there had been at least 12,000 shootings in New York alone, resulting in at least 10,000 deaths and 30,000 injuries—a tragic outcome.

Moreover, these shootings were mostly Caucasians shooting at Black People, as well as Black People retaliating against Caucasians after obtaining firearms.

Initially, Black People had no organization and could only flee in panic in the face of the Caucasians’ massacres.

But somehow, a group called the Black Storm Organization emerged in the United States. Just as its name implied, all the members of this organization were Black People, and the sole purpose of the organization was to create a black storm across the entire United States.

The Black Storm Organization planned numerous retaliations against Caucasians and rescued some Black People from the hands of some extreme Caucasians.

This substantially improved Black People’s feelings toward the organization dedicated to their protection, and more and more Black People joined the Black Storm Organization, making its scale larger and larger, indeed showing a trend of sweeping across the United States.

It didn’t stop there. Perhaps seeing a wild opportunity, many Black People began to emulate the Black Storm Organization, trying every possible way to get firearms and launch crazy retributions against Caucasians or forces they were displeased with.

The retributions of these individuals contained too much self-interest. Some were indeed retaliations of Black People against Caucasians out of hatred, but more often, they were terror organizations committing robbery under the guise of resistance.

These Black People often did not distinguish between friend and foe in their robberies, and although they more frequently targeted Caucasian-owned shops, Asian shops were also often visited, and even other Black People could be their robbery targets.