The Rise of the European Emperor

The price of the same nutmeg in Europe and Daming is very different. In the Ming Dynasty, no matter how expensive spices were, they would not exceed one tael of silver per catty. After all, the overall prices in the Ming Dynasty were so low. In Europe, nutmeg can be sold for 2 gold coins a pound because of its scarcity and hallucinogenic effects. According to the gold-silver ratio of 1:12, it is equivalent to 2.29 taels of silver per pound. Its price is several times that of the Ming Dynasty.

So, how could Marin give up the high-priced market in Europe? Not to mention selling all of them in Europe, but it is necessary to cash out some of them in Europe. The European spice market is worth millions of gold coins every year. If Marin doesn't want a piece of the pie, it's not him.

Of course, this also has reasons to further win over the Medici family. After all, the Medici family will produce two popes in the future. Robert wanted the support of the Medici family, but it was useless to rely on the support of himself and the Pope's father-in-law.

Right now, the support of himself and the Pope's father-in-law is of course crucial to Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici. However, once the Pope's father-in-law dies, it will be difficult to say. After all, there is a situation in the political world called "people leave tea cold".

If Giovanni Di Lorenzo de Medici takes over as Pope, the other party may treat Robert better because of gratitude in the first few years. But in the future, the human relationship will become weaker and weaker. When Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici's cousin Clement VII took over as Pope, the relationship between the two families was almost the same. Because Clement VII did not receive the favor of Marin and Julius II.

Therefore, if you want to ensure that Robert receives the best care in Rome, it is best to further bind the interests of the Medici family.

Before, Marin had agreed to the Medici family to take a stake in the Bank of Siena, but this was not enough. Because, the Medici family has its own bank. Cooperating with Marin to run the Medici Bank is actually to curry favor with Marin and Julius II, not necessary.

When Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici becomes Pope, they will definitely support the Medici family's own bank instead of Siena Bank, which is dominated by Marin. Therefore, it is not reliable to use the Siena Bank to tie up the Medici family. Moreover, the benefits are limited.

At present, the principal of Siena Bank is more than one million gold coins, and the annual income is only about 200,000 gold coins. Most of the 200,000 gold coins belonged to Marin, and only a few tens of thousands of gold coins belonged to the Medici family.

For the Medici family, the real role of the Bank of Siena is not the income, but the huge loan that can be provided during the pope's election, which is the most important.

But when Leo X was really elected, the importance of the Siena Bank became very low again. After all, the income of tens of thousands of gold coins per year is really nothing in the eyes of a man who becomes the pope. If Leo X was a man of conscience, that would be fine. If he is ungrateful, Marin's investment will be in vain.

Marin dare not bet on Leo X's conscience,

But he knew that a business family like the Medici family valued interests the most. As long as it can bring them long-term benefits, they have no reason to give up their support for Robert.

Just in time, Marin felt that part of the millions of pounds of nutmeg produced in Grenada every year should be cashed out in Europe. Therefore, the two sides can be regarded as hit it off.

Because it is to win over the other party, Marin's profit margin is also very large-he plans to use the wholesale price of 1 gold coin per pound to provide nutmeg to the Medici family. Then, the Medici family sold it for 2 gold coins per pound...

In other words, Marin gave up half of the profit, which can be described as very conscientious. Of course, the commercial channels of the Medici family also have operating costs. They can't earn 1 gold coin per pound, but most of them can still be earned. After all, the commercial channels of the Medici family were not established for the sale of spices. For them, the spice trade was a pure surprise.

As for the quantity, Marin tentatively plans to provide them with 200,000 pounds per year...

In other words, 20% of Grenada's nutmeg production will be handed over to the Medici family for sale in Italy. Then, Marin will cash out 200,000 gold coins.

The other 800,000 pounds of nutmeg are mainly sold to Daming...

Don't look at the low price of nutmeg in the Ming Dynasty, only a few coins per catty. However, Marin did not intend to exchange nutmeg for money in the Ming Dynasty...

Anyone who sells goods to the Ming Dynasty for money is definitely a fool! When real merchants left the Ming Dynasty, they definitely took away a lot of high-value specialties such as silk and porcelain.

For example, Marin sent 800,000 pounds of nutmeg to the Ming Dynasty, and it could also sell for four to five million taels of silver. However, if they are replaced with special products of Ming Dynasty such as silk and porcelain, and shipped back to Europe, the value will be at least several times, or even more than ten times.

Moreover, this also allowed Marin to save four to five million taels of silver in cash. Otherwise, Marin would need someone to transport hundreds of thousands of taels of real gold and silver to the Ming Dynasty, and the money shortage in Beihai would intensify...

After all, even if Marin tried every means to expand the output of the Goslar silver mine, the silver mine only produced 729,000 taels of silver every year. If there is no nutmeg, Marin will need to send most of it to the Ming Dynasty, leaving only a small part for domestic use. But with nutmeg, these silver can be left in the local area to make money, and then made into coins to promote commercial circulation.

In fact, Marin chose to focus on the development of nutmeg planting in Grenada. In addition to being influenced by the memory of later generations, there is also a relatively secret reason-nutmeg planting technology is very difficult...

At the beginning, after nutmeg was discovered to grow in the Maluku Islands, everyone did not think about introducing nutmeg cultivation. Unfortunately, they all failed. It's not that it can't survive, but it doesn't grow fruit. And nutmeg is the fruit of the nutmeg tree. Without the fruit, the tree is meaningless... So, for a long time, everyone thought that nutmeg was not suitable for planting without the Maluku Islands.

It wasn't until the 1800s that botanists solved the mystery -- and it turned out that the nutmeg tree is weird. Its trees are divided into male and female trees, and the male and female trees must be planted together to bear fruit...

This is the same as the seeds of yerba mate need to be swallowed and digested by special birds before they can germinate, and they all belong to the wonders of the plant world. Even if ordinary people introduce it, they can't make it happen. Only Marin, a traveler from later generations, who has read the story in this regard, has the confidence to do it. Moreover, you are not afraid of competition from others—how can you compete even if no one else can grow it?

Moreover, even if everyone discovers that Grenada produces nutmeg in the future, Marin will fool around and say that nutmeg is probably only suitable for tropical islands with special environments such as the Maluku Islands or Grenada...

If others want to introduce seeds, Marin will also enthusiastically provide them. However, Marin will never tell the mystery of the male and female nutmeg trees being planted together. The question is "not acclimatized"...