The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin was able to handle a lot of stale grain for the Spaniards mainly because - this year's spirits production was suspended...

In the past few years, Beihai Kingdom was full of firepower and produced too many spirits. After all, Beihai has so much grain output that it can brew wine vigorously. But the problem is - the price of spirits is so expensive, and the market capacity is limited...

In this era, food prices in Europe were extremely expensive, and spirits made from grains were naturally also very expensive. However, Europe in this era is very poor. Especially the Eastern European region that loves spirits the most, that is the poorest of the poorest...

And in the richest Italian region, people there don't like spirits, they only like wine... So, after producing a lot of spirits at full power, spirits are now a bit unsalable.

After the sales of spirits were slow, oak barrels filled with spirits were piled up in the distillery under the name of Beihai Guomarin. Fortunately, spirits are not afraid of expired and deteriorated, and even the longer the time, the better. Otherwise, Marin would not have time to cry. This is also the reason why Marin chose to mass-produce Erguotou instead of mass-producing beer-Erguotou can be preserved...and beer, even if it is preserved, can only be preserved for 6 months. And draft beer can only be kept for a few days...

What? You said that spirits are hard to sell in Western Europe? For this, Marin has already made a countermeasure - as long as there is an order, it can be blended on the spot. Using strong Erguotou, with boiled water and maple syrup, the "Royal Salute" of about 20 degrees was blended on the spot. Then, using the canning process, the packaged "Royal Salute" can be boiled, and then it can be sold as a first-class noble wine...

Originally, Beihaiguo Distillery could also continue to brew Erguotou. Anyway, Erguotou is not afraid of being stored for a long time. But the problem is - it seems that Beihaiguo Distillery has a backlog of too much rye Erguotou. Even, there are not enough oak barrels for wine...

Coupled with the poor harvest last year, Marin simply suspended the production of Beihaiguo Distillery this year. Exactly, there is a batch of old grain left. Seeing that Spain is short of food, it is like a favor to the other party. Of course, it's not for nothing. Although the price given is not high, it is old grain, which is about to deteriorate after the next year... As it happens, Spain has made a lot of money because of its monopoly on the spice trade in India, and Marin needs a lot of money now. Then, the two hit it off. . .

However, Marin did not know that at the Toledo Palace at this time, Ferdinand II and his son Juan III were discussing a major coinage issue...

Juan III and the queen looked at each other and said:

"Father, I have discussed with Margaret, and I have decided to use the cheap copper ingots imported from India to mint an additional batch of Malawi copper coins..."

Ferdinand II frowned and said:

"Juan, I know there are huge profits to be made with cheap Indian copper coins.

But the problem is that most countries in Europe do not recognize copper coins now. They want gold and silver coins! No matter how many copper coins you mint, no one will recognize them when they leave Spain! "

Juan III glanced at his wife and said to himself:

"It's nothing, it's a big deal. We will only use the newly minted copper coins for the domestic market. Then, we will use the copper coins to exchange gold and silver coins from the private sector for international trade!" Obviously, he and the queen discussed this issue and have mature ideas. .

"Then how much are you going to cast?"

"Let's get 3.4 million first, which is exactly 100,000 riyals (1 riyal = 34 Malawidi)! When more copper is shipped from India next time, I plan to mint 34 million Malawidi copper coins …”

"Pfft—" Ferdinand II spat out a sip of tea. However, there was no one in front of him, and no one was sprayed.

"Cough-cough-you have a big appetite..."

Juan III smiled:

"This is also what Marin inspired me. Since he gave us the right to trade in spices, he has sent ships to follow our fleet to India every time. Although he can only buy tens of thousands of pounds of spices, the ships under his command always go to India every time. Buy a lot of saltpeter and copper ingots from India. Moreover, Beihai Kingdom also issues a lot of copper coins. The price of copper in India is several times cheaper than that in Europe. We use Indian copper to mint copper coins, and the profit is very high! But, I have seen the copper coins of Beihai Kingdom, Their copper coins are very shiny, and they look a bit like gold coins, and I don't know how they did it..."

Of course he didn't know that the copper coined in Beihai Kingdom was zinc brass. Europeans didn't know what zinc was, so how could they mint copper coins that looked like gold coins?

With the order of Juan III, the Royal Mint of Toledo began to work at full speed, minting 1513 Malawian copper coins day and night.

In fact, Juan III and Margaret of Austria have been discussing the issue of coinage for a long time. Margaret of Austria is a very discerning woman, he believes that in the future copper coins must be an indispensable part of trade. Because it is too inconvenient to trade with silver coins. Ordinary people work a day and earn only one or two small silver coins. However, some small commodities can't be found with silver coins... Therefore, there is still widespread barter among the people...

After marrying to Spain, Margaret of Austria was surprised to discover that the Malawidi copper coins made by the Spaniards seemed to be very useful in private trade. At least, very useful in small commodity trade. Although copper coins for bulk commodity trade appear too cumbersome, for small commodity trade, copper coins are very convenient for settlement.

What made Margaret of Austria even more tempted was that if she learned from Marin to buy copper ingots from India, it seemed that the cost could be reduced several times. Minting Malawian copper coins with Indian copper can earn several times the seigniorage profit...

In addition, Margaret of Austria also found a serious problem - every time the Spanish fleet went to India to buy spices, it cost a lot of gold and silver. In the long run, there will be insufficient gold and silver in Spain. Even if you can use spices to earn gold and silver from European countries, but in this way, there will be less and less gold and silver in Europe... Eventually, there will be a money shortage in Europe...

So, Margaret of Austria encouraged her husband, Juan III, to promote copper coins minted from low-cost Indian copper ingots in Spain. The currency minted with copper ingots in India is used to make up for the shortage of currency in the domestic market and avoid a money shortage in Spain.

Moreover, she has a longer-term plan-to make copper coins accepted throughout Europe, accept copper coins from Spain...

In fact, she wanted to advise his father, Maximilian I, to promote copper coins in Austria and the Netherlands. However, Maximilian I and Prince Philip were concerned about this. Mainly, I was afraid that I would not be accepted when I came out early.

Therefore, Queen Margaret simply suggested to her husband to increase the circulation of Malawi copper coins in Spain. On the one hand, the low cost of Indian copper is used to make coinage profits. On the other hand, the copper coins of Malawi will be fully spread in the Kingdom of Castile, Aragon and Naples. Then, spread to the entire Italian peninsula. Then, affecting the German region...

When people in the German region also accepted copper coins, her impoverished father, Emperor Maximilian I, could mint copper coins to improve the poor situation of the Habsburg family. After all, there are still quite a few copper mines in Austria. Although many were mortgaged to the Fugger family, the Habsburg family and the Fugger family could still make a lot of profits by minting copper coins. It's really not possible, you can also buy some cheap Indian copper through the relationship with Spain, and mint copper coins to save the emergency...

Even, at the instigation of Queen Margaret, Juan III also wrote a letter to Marin, asking Marin whether to accept Spanish copper coins as a means of payment for food...

After Marin received the letter, he almost vomited out a mouthful of old blood - Nima, do you think I didn't know that you just bought a shipment of copper ingots from India? Let me accept your copper coins? beautiful you...

Therefore, Marin replied directly and rejected Juan III. Of course, the letter also said - unless Spain is willing to open up the supply of merino sheep, he will only accept Spanish copper coins this time, and only this time... In addition, Marin also asked that he could use the horses he received. Verdi copper coins to buy merino sheep...