The Rise of the European Emperor

For cultivated land, there are "Prader plow trucks" with 30 mu of cultivated land per day; for sowing, there are columbine trucks for sowing 40 to 50 mu of land per day; It is a technology at the level of the 19th century. It is very appropriate to say that it is "agricultural modernization"!

There are more than 300,000 young farmers in Beihai (excluding herdsmen and fishermen). If each person farms more than 100 mu, then Beihai can plant 30 million mu of land. Even if the average yield per mu is 200 pounds, the annual grain production is 6 billion pounds. If the average yield per mu is 400 pounds, that's over 12 billion pounds...

Such a large amount of food can directly reduce the price of food in the European market by half...

In fact, it's more than that. Because, this time, Marin also brought in 26,500 farmers from Württemberg, 3,000 farmers from Breisgau, and 67,800 Hungarian men from Hungary...

Even if only 50,000 of the 29,500 German farmers and 67,800 Hungarian farmers are busy farming, 5 million mu of land can be planted based on 100 mu of land per family!

In short, the Beihai country will inevitably usher in an agricultural explosion, and there will be a lot of food!

What do you do when you have food? Naturally, birth is encouraged!

The reproductive potential of human beings is very great. If the next life is released, one child per year is not a problem. But the problem is, the poor generally dare not let go of the afterlife! Because, even if you give birth, you won't be able to support yourself!

Think about it, if a farmer only has a few acres of land, he can only produce a thousand or several hundred catties of grain a year (this is the level of ancient China). So, do you dare to have so many children? After paying taxes on a thousand and several hundred catties of grain, there are only a few hundred catties left. If there are fewer children, the couple will be diligent and thrifty, and they can barely make ends meet by digging more wild vegetables. If there are many children...you can only starve to death, or you can't help but sell them to a rich family as a slave... Otherwise, you will starve to death if you stay at home...

The reason why China's population soared to hundreds of millions in the Qing Dynasty was because the Qing Dynasty promoted high-yield sweet potatoes, and the head tax was exempted during the Yongzheng period. The yield of sweet potatoes per mu is more than 2,000 catties, and two acres of sweet potatoes can feed several children. Then, everyone felt relieved and began to have children, and the population also skyrocketed...

Likewise, Ireland. Before potatoes were introduced, Ireland had a population of less than 2 million. After potatoes were introduced in the 18th century, the population of Ireland grew explosively in just over a hundred years because of sufficient food. By 1841 there were 8.2 million people!

However, success is also a potato, and failure is also a potato. The Great Irish Famine that occurred from 1845 to 1850 was not caused by natural disasters, but because Irish potatoes were generally infected with late blight and spread. The originally high-yield potato harvest failed, and the Irish naturally lost a sufficient source of food. Then, the most terrifying famine in human history broke out.

This famine caused millions of people to starve to death in Ireland, and another million people traveled across the ocean to the United States in search of a way of life, allowing the United States to earn enough demographic dividends.

In addition, the reason why poor Prussia dared to wage frequent wars in the 18th century was because Prussia planted potatoes extensively, resulting in no shortage of food. Then, they have the confidence to start a war. Prussia would never have fought without potatoes. The lack of food alone can drive poor Prussia to collapse...

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It can be seen that whether food is sufficient is the prerequisite for population growth. Otherwise, not to mention whether the common people are willing to have more children,

Even if they are born, if there is not enough food, they will starve to death.

Therefore, for Marin, food not only means wealth, but also population!

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However, the exchange of food for population in Marin is still far away, but Simon, the guy in Kyiv, Ukraine, in the northern part of the Eastern European prairie, feels the charm of food for population...

That's not right, it's not food for population, but the by-product of food for people!

At this time, there were about 3 million Ukrainians on the steppes of Eastern Europe. Most of them gathered in the northern region, under the protection of the powerful Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But there are also many who are not afraid of death, and become Cossacks, wandering on the prairie in central Ukraine...

What, why don't you wander the southern grasslands, you ask? Sorry, those who dared to wander on the grasslands of southern Ukraine were captured and sold as slaves by the cavalry of the Crimean Khanate...

Therefore, most of those Ukrainian Cossacks only dared to wander on the grasslands in central Ukraine. Sometimes, they would take their grazing animals to the north to exchange goods with merchants from Lithuania and Poland.

Among them, the rye Erguotou produced in Beihai is a very popular commodity among Ukrainian Cossacks. Even, a small bottle of rye Erguotou can be exchanged for a fat sheep.

After Simon became the Earl of Ukraine, under the guidance and funding of Marin, he built a large-scale outer city in the south of Kyiv. There is a super market in the outer city, which is dedicated to various trades for Ukrainians.

In this Kyiv super market, spirits and ironware are the most popular commodities, followed by horses, cattle and sheep.

In order to attract the population, Marin gave Simon a trick-Simon announced that all Ukrainians who took refuge in the Ukrainian counties can get a 30% discount on the purchase of spirits whiskey (rye Erguotou). Those who have no refuge will be purchased at the original price.

This trick is naturally not attractive to rich people. However, for the poor Ukrainian Cossacks, the attraction is too great. Because they don't have that much money! A 30% reduction in the cost of purchasing spirits is very attractive to poor Cossacks!

It's not that they haven't thought about playing tricks, but Simon has already prepared an army to guard this super big market day and night. Even if someone wants to be violent, they have to ask those powerful guards to agree or not...

Moreover, for the benefits of a small bottle (250ml) of whiskey per day, Simon had already recruited 3,000 Cossacks with high martial arts skills in Cossacks. With them sitting in the super market, ordinary people would not dare to make trouble.

However, Eastern Europeans are addicted to alcohol! Many Cossacks couldn't stand it. In order to save 30% of the wine money, they simply went to Simon with their families.

Anyway, near Kyiv, where Simon is located, there is a large area of ​​land that is desolate there. Moreover, they are all good black land!

Then, on the grassland to the south of Simon's territory, the population kept increasing. More and more Cossack alcoholics, in order to save 30% of the drinking money, came to live in the village prepared by Simon for them.

However, exchanging horses, cattle and sheep for spirits has already made those alcoholics almost exchange their own livestock. When many people came to join Simon, there were not many animals in the family.

But Simon doesn't mind, because he doesn't lack that little money. In other words, Marin does not lack that little money...

Under Marin's instigation, Simon sent people to divide the Cossack families who came to vote to the fertile black land near the river. Then tell them - want more booze? Okay, let's farm!

What? Don't want to farm? Let me tell you, the rye produced by farming can be returned to spirits, and the priority is to exchange it! Higher priority than cattle and sheep!

Then, many drunkard Cossacks immediately succumbed - boss, tell me, what kind of rye?

So, Simon brought in the agricultural experts from the North Sea State to instruct those alcoholic Cossacks how to grow rye...

There is no need to fertilize or anything, because the black soil in Ukraine itself is very fertile. Moreover, Marin does not want agricultural secrets to be leaked. Therefore, these Cossacks want to grow rye, so do it directly on the black soil!

The purchase price Simon set for them was - 6 pounds of rye for 1 pound of whiskey (rye Erguotou)!

This price is very low, because when brewing rye Erguotou, two pounds of rye can produce one pound of whiskey. However, the cost of transporting whiskey from the North Sea country to Ukraine is quite high. Therefore, it is not particularly profitable to exchange 6 pounds of rye for a pound of whiskey. Of course, earn a lot.

And for those Cossacks who took refuge in Simon, this is also very good. Because, an acre of rye, even if the yield per mu is only 120 pounds, can be exchanged for 20 bottles of spirits! If 20 acres of land are cultivated, the rye produced can be exchanged for 400 bottles of one-pound spirits! On average, they can drink more than one bottle a day!

What? You say they want food for themselves? Feel sorry! These Cossacks who are accustomed to a nomadic life are similar to the Crimeans. Their usual food is sheep milk products, horse milk products, or milk products, not grain. For them, planting rye is just to exchange for wine!

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In this way, relying on the policy of discounting spirits and planting rye for drinking, Simon's Ukrainian counties have attracted tens of thousands of Cossack households in just a few months, and there is an increasing trend... …

These simple-minded Cossacks, tempted by the bright prospect of "being able to drink spirits openly", came directly to Simon. Then, he was fooled into farming...

Although this group of people may still be more accustomed to nomadic life, as long as they settle down and get used to farming, even if they are still not used to being farmers in this life, their next generation will also get used to being farmers. At that time, Simon's Ukrainian counties will have enough citizens to farm and pay taxes. Even, with a larger population, Marin can be distributed a lot...

This is Marin's so-called "spirit-for-population" plan, using spirits to attract Cossacks, and then fooling them into farming, exchanging grain for spirits... In the end, training them into farmers suitable for ruling...