The Rise of the European Emperor

According to the previous agreement with several lords in the Breisgau area, half of the 103,500 Gulden gold coins paid by Marin this time should be offset by food and other materials. For example, cane sugar from Cuba, and dried ginger from Grenada.

Whether it is sucrose or ginger, they are all luxuries welcomed by nobles. Especially ginger, which is still classified as a spice, is mostly imported.

In fact, Europeans don't know that ginger can be grown in southern Europe. Because, ginger can also survive in subtropical climates. Only the northern region has a high latitude, and the temperature is not enough to meet the requirements of ginger growth.

It's just that the ginger they imported in the past was basically dried ginger. Naturally, they didn't know how to breed it. They thought it was a tropical specialty like pepper and other spices. Only the traverser Marin knows that ginger can be grown in the Yellow River Basin. For example, Shandong in later generations is an important ginger producing area.

Of course, it seems that in the 16th century, Europeans also mastered the cultivation technology of ginger. No, at the time of Queen Elizabeth I in the late 16th century, the queen invited her ministers to eat ginger cake. At that time, the price of ginger had dropped to 2 shillings per pound, which was a little more expensive than sugar. Pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. are still expensive, because these cannot be cultivated locally in Europe.

Now, it has not been a few years since the Europeans found the route to India. Therefore, ginger has not been found to be grown in southern Europe. As a result, ginger prices remain high at 8 shillings per pound. In particular, after Marin rescued Juan III with ginger syrup, ginger became popular. Especially in Spain, the price once rose to 12 shillings per pound. However, as Spain took over the Indian route from Marin, a large amount of dried ginger flowed into Europe, and the price returned to 8 shillings per pound. However, because of the overbearing effect of ginger syrup, although the purchase volume of ginger has increased, the price has not fallen. Therefore, it is still very popular for Marin to offset part of the cash with dried ginger.

Since Juan III contracted a cold and was rescued by ginger syrup, the current European nobles often come to a bowl of ginger syrup when they feel uncomfortable, which makes ginger and sucrose more popular.

Moreover, after Marin introduced sugar workers from Daming, he not only produced the frosting sugar of the yellow mud method, but also produced brown sugar that was more advanced than the popular brown sugar in Europe. This time, what Kohler brought was all brown sugar. Brown sugar is paired with dried ginger slices, and you can have a bowl when you catch a cold, which can prevent colds in many cases. The cold is a serious illness in Europe, and it may cause death. In ancient China, probably because of the popularity of ginger syrup, people were not prone to accidents.

In addition to dried ginger slices and brown sugar, Marin also brought sugar ginger slices marinated with sucrose. This thing has been promoted by Marin in the army once before when he attacked the Republic of Siena, and it is very popular. This sweet and spicy taste seems to be very suitable for the taste of Europeans in this era. After all, Europeans in this era eat bread dipped in pepper, and the spiciness of ginger perfectly suits their taste.

Today, the senior military officers and nobles of the Beihai Kingdom fell in love with this kind of candied ginger slices, so they would have a few slices as a snack. Seeing that candied ginger slices are so popular, Marin naturally wants to open up foreign markets. So, this time he asked Kohler to carry 1,000 packs of candied ginger slices sealed in oil paper bags, just to test the water.

Right now, the North Sea country only has ginger planting areas on the island of Grenada, and the planting area is only 1,000 acres. However, because of the use of modern fertilizers, ginger yields are as high as three or four thousand pounds per mu. Although it is less than half of the 8,000-jin yield per mu of the later generations (mainly due to the variety issue), the total yield is also very scary. 1,000 acres are 6,000 mu, and the average yield per mu is 18 million pounds even if the lowest yield per mu is 3,000 pounds. With such a high output, the North Sea country simply cannot consume it all. Therefore, selling it is the best choice.

However, in order to avoid stimulating Spain and Portugal, which monopolize the spice trade (including ginger), Marin endured for 10 years before starting to open up the European market. After all, another 10-year buffer,

It also sounds reasonable to open up a ginger planting base in the Americas.

Moreover, the Portuguese seem to have also cultivated ginger on the island of Sao Tome in Africa (the Portuguese did not know that it could be grown locally, but thought it could only be grown in the tropics). However, Marin's spies in Portugal inquired that the Portuguese planted technical waste and did not know how to fertilize, and the yield per mu was only 500 pounds.

But with Portugal's self-planting in front, Marin's planting of ginger is inconspicuous. The only question is—whether they can sell such a large amount of goods. After all, the price of ginger hasn't fallen yet. But with the success of the Portuguese planting, ginger will definitely decline in the future.

Marin's plan is to make a fortune before the price of ginger falls. For this reason, he intends to control the sales volume and ship slowly so as not to affect the price. After all, if 18 million pounds of ginger flooded into Europe all of a sudden, it would be difficult not to plummet the price. But even if it fell to 2 shillings per pound during the Elizabeth I period, Marin made a lot of money. After all, the cost of this thing is not high.

However, dried ginger is currently popular in Europe, not fresh ginger (mainly due to preservation issues). When fresh ginger is dried, it tends to lose most of its weight. For example, 18 million pounds of ginger, only a few million pounds left after drying. But even if one million pounds of dried ginger were sold, the total price would be as high as 1.6 million gold coins. However, in order not to let the price of ginger slices plummet, Marin only planned to take out 100,000 pounds of dried ginger to test the water at first. No, the lords of Breischgau were the first subjects he tested in the German region...

...

In Freiburg, the largest city in Breisgau, after Kohler arrived at Breisach on the Rhine in the west of Freiburg with a fleet full of grain, he brought 1,000 packs of candied ginger to the city of Freiburg. Meet with several local lords.

Although Freiburg is not the territory of several lords, because of the Breisgau area, Freiburg is a city that can be sold. Therefore, this meeting and negotiation is arranged here. After all, lords also have to talk about pomp. However, the quality of their own country manor is a bit low, so they chose to negotiate in the city of Freiburg.

Before the negotiation, Kohler smiled and gave each lord two hundred packs of candied ginger slices. Several lords were a little puzzled, so Detrich, the Baron of Emmendingen, who took the lead, took the candied ginger slices suspiciously and asked:

"Master Kohler, what is this?"

"Sliced ​​ginger, pickled ginger with sucrose!" Kohler said succinctly.

Several country lords were surprised at once—how extravagant it is to marinate ginger slices with sucrose...

For the few rural lords who only rely on farming to obtain tax, neither cane sugar nor ginger can be squandered, and they can only eat it occasionally.

However, thinking of the upcoming transaction, the few people regained their confidence—after this transaction, I can eat ginger for a long time...

According to Kohler's instructions, Baron Detrich tore open the oil-paper bag and saw the golden candied ginger slices inside. Then, he hesitated...

"Is this really edible?"

As soon as the words fell, Kohler took two pieces, threw them into his mouth, and chewed. While eating, he was still vague (with sliced ​​ginger in his mouth) Di said:

"Of course it's edible, and it's delicious. Let me tell you, it's very popular in Beihai..."

Seeing Kohler "test the poison with himself", several lords stopped hesitating and began to eat. As a result, they all fell in love with this sweet and spicy food, and began to chew...

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