The Rise of the European Emperor

After receiving instructions from Marin, Kohler personally rode south. By changing horses along the way, he arrived in the Breischgau area in a few days, and negotiated with several local lords in the city of Freiburg.

After some haggling, Kohler agreed to pay 30 gp for each family that included a strong man and had to include children under the age of eight. For children over 8 years old, 10 gulden for boys and 5 for girls. Of course, the price of beautiful girls over 10 is higher than boys...

The reason why ordinary boys are twice as expensive as girls is because this era is an agricultural society. In an agricultural society, men are the backbone. After all, many of the hard-working women in the farmland simply can't do it. Therefore, in rural areas where farming is the mainstay, it is normal to prefer boys over girls, and it is not normal for men and women to be equal. In the city, because there is no heavy farm work, the status of women is much higher than that of rural women.

But girls over the age of 10 are different. In this era of Europe, the average 15-year-old girl is about to get married. Girls over 10 years old can do that for a few years. Therefore, the price of a beautiful girl is much more expensive than that of a boy who can work as a laborer in a few years. Especially those wretched nobles would not be willing to sell those beautiful little girls.

Of course, Kohler didn't want to buy those pretty girls either. why? He is to increase the population of Beihai Kingdom, not to pimp the nobles of Beihai Kingdom. Therefore, Kohler bought only 1000 teenagers and 700 teenage girls. After all, Beihai Kingdom needs to pay 103,500 Gulden Gold Coins. These expenses are not all cash, and more than half of them will be paid in food.

Moreover, Breischgau is on the edge of Alsace, close to the upper Rhine, but navigable. Therefore, Beihai Congress used inland galleys to transport food worth more than 50,000 gulden gold coins through the inland river.

In addition, Kohler negotiated with several lords to offset part of the payment with cane sugar and ginger from Grenada, as well as spirits from the North Sea. Several lords happened to have needs for this, and then, more than 10,000 gold coins were offset by sucrose, ginger and spirits.

...

After the negotiation, Kohler did not return home immediately, but turned to the Principality of Württemberg, northeast of Breischgau, and visited Duke Ulrich, an ally who also belonged to the Habsburg family.

Kohler brought 100 bottles of Beihai Guo's specialty "Royal Salute" liquor, which is actually Erguotou mixed with boiling water and maple syrup. However, because of the addition of maple syrup, the Royal Salute tastes good and is very popular with European aristocrats. Now, it is an expensive luxury in Europe, and a bottle is worth several gold coins. 100 bottles of Royal Salute, take it out to save face, just like 100 bottles of Maotai in later generations.

Sure enough, Duke Ulrich, who likes to enjoy, likes this gift very much. Nonsense, who in the future will bring 100 bottles of Maotai to your door, don't you like it? If you can take it...

Because of these 100 bottles of "Royal Salute", Kohler himself also received courtesy of Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg. Although Kohler is already an earl of the Grand Duchy of the North Sea, this is a title within the vassal state, not an imperial title recognized by all of Europe. Therefore, Kohler is generally regarded as an imperial baron in other vassal states. As a prince and duke, Ulrich is the top boss in Germany. For an earl of a vassal state like Kohler, it is generally only necessary to send a palace minister to greet him. But this time, because Kohler's gift was in line with his heart, he personally received Kohler and had a cordial conversation with Kohler in the living room.

During the conversation, Kohler deliberately divulged the purpose of his trip, and introduced to Duke Ulrich that he spent more than 100,000 gold coins to buy 3,000 captured peasants from Breischgau.

Then, Kohler discovered—before he finished introducing, Duke Ulrich's saliva dropped...

"More than 100,000... Gulden gold coins?" The Duke was a little dumbfounded. He really didn't expect that those rural mud legs could be exchanged for gold coins... This is... this is... It's incredible...

Why is the Duke so sensitive to gold coins? Because what he lacks the most is gold coins!

These 15 years of Duke career,

Let Ulrich owe a huge debt of 1 million gulden (historical fact, not fiction). So Ulrich was eager to get a way to get money. And squeezing the peasants is also his last resort. After all, the Württemberg Mountains and the Black Forest are so many, it's really not a place rich in products.

However, when it comes to population, the population of the Principality of Württemberg can rank among the top few in Germany. There are more and less people...

Speaking of which, the area of ​​Württemberg is actually quite large, more than 10,000 square kilometers, which is comparable to that of Israel in later generations. And Israel has a population of 8 million...

Of course, this cannot be compared. Israel is a super agricultural power with a yield of 50 tons of tomatoes per mu. And what about Württemberg? Although the area is not smaller than that of Israel, there are more mountains and forests and less arable land. Moreover, the yield per mu is only about 100 pounds, and it cannot support too many people at all.

Therefore, even Ulrich, the Duke of Württemberg, dislikes the domestic population too much...

In fact, Marin had recruited soldiers from the Principality of Württemberg many times before, and recruited about 10,000 people from the Württemberg Mountains to serve as soldiers. Counting their families, it is enough for tens of thousands of people.

However, this did not benefit Duke Ulrich. Because he couldn't receive much tax from those poor ghost mountain people. Also, the most populous places in Württemberg are those agricultural areas, not the mountains.

Therefore, Marin's previous recruitment of soldiers did not decompress the Württemberg countryside. Even, because the mountain people left, the burden on the farmers was heavier.

However, Duke Ulrich still felt that the population was too large...

Now, there are more than 600,000 people in the Principality of Württemberg. If you include the mountain people who were recruited by Marin before, the total population is estimated to exceed 700,000.

(According to the two bigwigs of Marne, the population density of the Duchy of Württemberg at this time was as high as 44 people per square kilometer. The area of ​​the Kingdom of Württemberg is 19,000 square kilometers, but the Duchy of Württemberg may not be that big, like the Danube River. The land on the south bank has not yet been incorporated. Therefore, it is calculated according to about 15,000 square kilometers, which is similar to the legal territory of Israel in later generations.)

But Duke Ulrich felt that with so little arable land and so many useless mountains in Württemberg, a population of about 500,000 would suffice. Even 500,000 is too much...

In recent years, many surplus serfs from Württemberg have also emigrated (the surplus serf manor owners will not restrict them from leaving the manor) to make a living in the cities of other vassal states. He doesn't care about these. Anyway, these people can't bring him any benefits if they walk or not. If they don't leave, there will be no extra arable land for them to plant. If he leaves, he will not be able to receive the tax after leaving Württemberg...

But what Kohler said today seems to have opened a window for him...

"It turns out that those poor ghosts can also sell it for money..." At this moment, the gold coins in Duke Ulrich's eyes shone...

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