King of Mercenaries

Chapter 4: Meat is cheap and wheat is expensive

Marin looked left and right and found that there was no rope to hold the red deer. In desperation, he had to pull out the grass on the side and began to prepare the straw rope. Speaking of it, the work of knitting ropes, even in the rural areas of later generations, there are not many young people who know how to do it. Because the later generations of business are too developed, a variety of nylon fiber materials are sold in a large number in rope stores, not only cheap, but also better quality than straw rope. Therefore, everyone went directly to buy a chemical fiber rope.

Marlin's past life was also boring. When he was a child, he was a lonely old man child's who loved to make straw ropes and sandals when he was bored. He learned the skills of knitting straw and sandals. Then, it just happened to come in handy today...

Marin used the braided rope to hold the red deer's neck, then grabbed the red deer's front leg and pulled the red deer out of the trap. Then, Marin took the horse with his left hand and the red deer in his right hand. He couldn't stop the red deer who was trying to escape. He dragged the red deer to the nearest city...

The city closest to Marin at this time is the city of Bonn under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Cologne, the Bonn of the capital of West Germany. Marin spent a long time, only to bring the red deer outside the city of Bonn. But at the gate of the city, he was stopped...

It turned out that in ancient Europe, entering the city was to pay the city tax. The tax on the city is not high, as long as the two empire Finney (theoretically Finney and pennies are equivalent). The problem is that Marlin is now penniless!

In desperation, Marin had to inquire about the market outside the city and went to a market outside the city. You know, this year, two Finneys are also very impressive for the poor, almost equivalent to a day's work. In order to save the city tax, some people simply set up a stall somewhere outside the city.

Of course, local officials are not stupid. Are you setting up outside the city? OK, I can designate a market for you. However, those who set up stalls in the market must pay a tax, the same as in the city.

As for the buyer, there is no need to pay taxes. However, this is also conditional. That is, the stall outside the city must be a small business. If you are a big business, you want to set up a stall outside the city to save the city tax. The tax official will bring you a trouble with the sheriff.

In general, the stalls outside the city sell some cheap materials for the country. For example, farming tools, coarse cloth, needlework or something. As for the high-priced and rare materials such as salt, although the countrymen are also in great need, officials are absolutely not allowed to sell at the market outside the city. Because this will affect their taxation. Of course, people who are too far away from the city can also buy it at the market once every five days. But there are also tax officials in the market, which are very tightly targeted to business people.

Marlin came to the simple market outside the city, naturally not to sell red deer. Because there can be no big buyers outside the city. He came here to get the city tax.

After thinking about it, Marin felt that his body, horses and weapons armor must not be sold. But to get the city tax, you have to come up with something.

I want to think about it, only the short knife on my body can be sold. This short knife is used for survival in the wilderness of Marin. It can also be used as a dagger to defend itself. The quality looks very good. But Marin is hungry now, eating grassroots for two days, and seeing someone selling black bread on the market, he started to drool. Therefore, he decided to get the tax into the city and sell the red deer so that he could eat a normal meal.

In a nutshell, Marin's short knife is of good quality. After all, this is for the Cavaliers. In the case of the Cavalry losing the lance, the Cavaliers may have to pull out a short knife and desperately fight with it. Therefore, the quality of this short knife is generally good.

But now Marin can't manage that much, and he doesn't want to sell a good price. So, this excellent short knife worth 20 Finney was sold to a butcher by Marin with 8 Finney.

With the cost of entering the city, Marin happily took the horses and red deer to the city. But what made him depressed was that his tax on the city had four Finneys. The reason is that the red deer he is holding is a "bulk cargo" and he has to pay some taxes...

In fact,

If it weren't for Marin's face as a knight, the guards might have to ask for 20 Finneys and even ask for the price of the deer.

Moreover, the general people are hunting and even need the franchise of the lord. If a civilian is not licensed, hunting large animals in the territory, may be executed by the lord.

Only the wandering knight like Marin, the lord is not very willing. Because the wandering knight is a martial art masters who dare to kill people. The ordinary lords are afraid to provoke them. Moreover, many of the wandering knights have old friends and relatives, so provoking them is not the good thing to do. The soldiers in the defending city are just low quality infantry. How dare to offend the knight?

Legend has it that some years ago, a baron killed a wandering knight who had hunted himself in his own territory. Then, after two months, the family of the wandering knight came with a group of knights and killed the baron. Also ransacked the baron's manor. The family of the baron took things to the Imperial Court and did not solve it. Although the status of the baron is higher than that of the wandering knight (the deceased that is), but for the family revenge for their son, they really can't say that they are wrong. Moreover, the baron killed a knight for the prey he hunted, and it was too much. Therefore, this is the case, in the end, only the retaliators (knights) returned the stolen property.

Since then, the lords, are not willing to provoke the wandering knight. As long as it is not long-term hunting in your own territory, it is generally not considered. Even if it is discovered, it will only be sent away, not as fierce as it is to civilians. Because these wandering knights themselves, or their families, may be martial arts high-powered thugs...

Of course, if you are hunting in a local lord territory, like Marin, if you are known by the local lord, they may be able to send a knight to come back and ask for it. However, the spread of news is extremely backward in the medieval era, and communication is basically dependent on it. When the local lord knows the news, he will send someone to come and recover. Maybe three or two days have passed. And Marin itself is a hasty man on horse, where to find where he went? Even if it is found, it is useless. Unless, Marin is greedy, staying in this long-term hunting, giving people the opportunity to catch the thieve...

After entering the city, Marin quickly entered the city and spent a long time trying to find a restaurant that was willing to acquire the red deer. But the price makes Marin so depressed that he wants to vomit blood...

Why? The restaurant owner actually only gave 4 Finney a pound of venison price to buy the red deer. Moreover, it is based on a 50% meat yield. In other words, this venison, the boss is only willing to pay 800 Finney. In addition, because you can get a very complete deerskin, as well as by-products such as decorative antlers, deer bones can also be used to soup. So, the boss agreed to pay 300 Finney. In other words, such a big red deer can only sell 1100 Finney...

According to Marlin Hoffman's memory, the current value of five pounds per pound of wheat (this price will rise sharply after the beginning of the "price revolution" in the 16th century, by the 17th century, almost one or two per pound of wheat) Shillings are even higher. However, meat prices seem to have been relatively stable. Even the less valuable rye is worth 1 Finney per pound. In other words, the price of a pound of venison is not as expensive as a pound of wheat...

We must know that in modern times, the price of a pound of wheat is also a little more, and the venison, at least twenty pounds. This is still venison, if it is wild venison, it must be dozens. In other words, the price of modern venison is at least ten times that of wheat. In the medieval Europe, the price of wheat was more expensive than venison, which made Marin extremely shocked.

In fact, Marin's knowledge is short. You know, this is the Middle Ages. The current German region (excluding Hungary and other regions, but many regions of post-Poland, as well as the Netherlands and parts of France, about 560,000 square kilometers), the population is less than 10 million. In the later generations of Germany, the population of 350,000 square kilometers has a population of 80 million.

Therefore, the German region at the moment is still considered to be sparsely populated. Like the Rhine and the southern mountains, there are currently a large number of forests. In the forest, wild deer, wild goats, hares... There are many wild animals like this, enough to kill and eat.

Not only the German region, but now Europe is sparsely populated and there are many wild animals. As long as you have a musket or you are good at using a bow, you can always hunt the prey, so no shortage of meat, and you can sell it (provided you have the qualification to hunt).

At the same time, the European medieval agriculture was so low that it did not match the shoes of the Ming Dynasty. Wheat per acre in Europe is better in the Italian region, which can reach 150 kg to 200 kg per acre. In other regions, the yield per acre is generally about 100 kg. Of course, this is also related to the current climate. After all, this era is a "small ice age" and the temperature is low. But more reasons are that European farming techniques are extremely low. They don't know how to apply fertilizer, and the plow for arable land is also very backward.

For example, in the Tang Dynasty, China began to use the Qufu Plough, which was very advanced and labor-saving. In this era, there were only two kinds of ploughs in Europe the Saxon heavy plow and the ordinary light plow. The shortcomings of the light plow are obvious it has a shallow depth of cultivation and can only open the surface soil with poor results. The Saxon plow, the effect is very good. But it is too cumbersome and requires several horses to pull together.

(European horses are large in size and strong in strength, which is very suitable for horse riding. Therefore, horses have been popular in Europe, and cattle are used relatively little. Many cows are raised as cows or beef cattle.)

However, in Europe, how many horses can ordinary people have? Obviously impossible. Therefore, the Saxon heavy plow can only be used by nobles and wealthy households. The small landlords who are generally poor are not worthy of the Saxon heavy plough.

No manure is applied and the cultivation is shallow. This has led to a generally low level of agricultural production in Europe, which has led to high food prices. In contrast, because there are many wild animals in the wild, and the Europeans themselves will graze extensively, the meat source is very rich, which also led to the low price of meat in Europe in this era.

According to Marlin Hoffman's memory, at this time the beef was only 4 pounds of Finney, while the lamb and pork were only 3 cents a pin. In other words, the cost of eating meat is lower than eating wheat bread...

Of course, the price of rye is even cheaper than meat. Therefore, the poor people generally eat mixed "casting" of rye, earth, wood chips, stones and wild vegetables (why the sake of saying that casting? Because such a black bread can kill people, can be used directly as a brick, it's called the medieval "Nokia's super hard loaf bread").

Even the Hoffman family, who is a knight family, usually eats brown bread. Only in major festivals, will it be a luxury to eat white bread made of wheat flour. Of course, the black bread that the Hoffman family eats is not the same as the black bread that the poor people eat. At least, the black bread that Hoffman's family eats is not so hard, and it is not mixed with dirt and other things. It is a normal black bread.

Thinking of this, Marin's tears are full:

"I didn't expect that medieval wheat is more expensive than meat! What's special, I used to look through the novels, and thought that the author brags, I didn't expect that the reality is so!"

Before crossing, Marin had seen many novels that crossed into ancient Europe. For example, in a novel, it is mentioned that after the 17th century in Europe, the price of wheat was expensive and expensive, reaching a few pounds per quart (12.7 kg). To this end, the protagonist also made a fortune with the use of modern agricultural technology.

"Well, it seems that I have to find a way to grow wheat and get rich!" After all, Marin is a purely rural child, no stranger to farming.

But the problem is that the land must first have land! In the age when this feudal lord owned the land, you were rich and might not be able to buy good land. Even if you buy a good land, if the real kind of wheat makes a fortune, the lords around will be jealous, and will come to rob.

Therefore, when Marin wants to go, he still feel that it is better to go to the Emperor Maximilian I. First, help the emperor's fight, and then strive to establish battle contribution, get a piece of land. Then, with the land, when he become the lord, he will be recruiting serfs and will use modern agricultural techniques to produce tons of wheat and become a local tyrant...

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