The Rise of the European Emperor

How bright is the prospect of being able to get at least hundreds of thousands of pounds a day and extract a pound or two of saltpeter? But Marin wouldn't say it, instead he pretended to be sad and cried with everyone.

"Alas, His Majesty the Emperor, my business is not profitable at all!"

Maximilian I was not so easy to fool, so he asked:

"Why are you so active in doing this without making money? Don't coax me..."

At this time, many monarchs and nobles around the side also pricked up their ears, wanting to hear how Marin explained...

Marin naturally had a way to deal with it. He pretended to cough in embarrassment, and then explained:

"His Majesty the Emperor is really wise, and he saw the problem at a glance..."

"Why, it's very profitable?" Maximilian I came to be interested. For the impoverished emperor, nothing attracts him more than making money.

Marin shook his head and explained:

"Not for making money, but for another important material." After speaking, he gave the emperor a "you know" look.

"You mean... saltpeter?" As expected, the emperor guessed the "answer" according to Marin's assumption. Of course, that answer is not wrong.

Marin hurriedly coughed and gestured to the emperor, "You talk too much"...

But many nobles at the scene heard it, and the smart ones immediately showed an expression of sudden realization. And if you don't understand, ask those colleagues who "suddenly realized".

Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, explained to his colleagues:

"Marin means that he collects so much feces, not for profit, but to collect enough saltpeter..."

"Why is that?" asked Anthony, Duke of Lorraine, puzzled.

Frederick III went on to explain:

"You may not know, I heard that Marin could have purchased hundreds of thousands of pounds of saltpeter (220,000 pounds equivalent to 100 tons) from India each year. Later, Spain and Portugal jointly divided up most of the saltpeter in India, and only gave Marin kept a small share."

"But everyone knows that Marin's army of the North Sea has a high proportion of muskets and artillery, and it consumes a lot of money, so it must be far from enough. Therefore, I guess that Marin's army should be very short of saltpeter, so it does not count the cost. To acquire so much excrement to extract enough saltpeter..."

"I see……"

"Lord Frederick really has a brilliant eye..."

The melon-eating aristocrats immediately understood, but in fact, this was what Marin wanted them to know.

In fact, after Chilean saltpeter was developed and it began to be purchased from the Ming Dynasty, Marin was not short of saltpeter. However, Chile's saltpeter mines need to be hidden, lest they be united for competition.

Moreover, the cost of water transportation and collection is not high, and a large amount of nitrogen fertilizer and saltpeter can be obtained, so why not do it?

In addition, this can also create an illusion for other countries - oh, Beihai country is currently short of saltpeter, so aren't those guns a display? So, shall we vote?

But they didn't know that Marin was trying to make the outside world misunderstand that he lacked saltpeter. Otherwise, other countries are frightened by his military power and dare not take the initiative to provoke. How can he be on the right side and annex other countries?

This is Marin's wretched strategy - showing weakness to others,

Attract others to provoke him. Then, he annexed the territory of those provocateurs with "righteous words and fairness"...

No way, Germany is prone to group fights these days. If you want to annex others, there is a risk of being beaten by a group. Unless, you are on the right side, and people can't find a reason to beat you...

Of course, the next religious war need not be so troublesome. As long as you stand on the side of the Holy See's "orthodox and righteousness", you can openly engage in those "rebels" and annex them.

...

While negotiating the acquisition of "saltpeter raw materials" (feces), Marin also discussed with many "customers" about transportation. For example, shipping containers have become a very important issue...

Marin drew on the spot and "designed" an oak toilet similar to an oil barrel for shipping "goods". In view of the amount of at least hundreds of thousands of pounds per day, Marin proposed that Party A's Blackwater Company will provide 10,000 oak toilets to Party B who provide "saltpeter raw materials"...

And for some ulterior purpose, Marin gave the order of 10,000 oak toilets to the Netherlands and France respectively...

Needless to say, the order given to the Netherlands was definitely to support the poor emperor. Thousands of oak toilets are also profitable. Moreover, Marin guarantees that there will be a follow-up.

The order for thousands of oak toilets for France, on the surface, is to please this "the most powerful country in Western Europe", in fact...

The reason is simple - Marin is consuming the shipbuilding potential of the Netherlands and France...

Before, Marin sent people to the Netherlands to build a furniture factory, consuming the oak resources in the Netherlands and reducing the shipbuilding potential of the Netherlands. At the same time, John Lafite was also sent undercover in France to promote wine made in oak barrels, also in order to consume France's oak resources and reduce its shipbuilding potential.

But that wasn't enough, Marin later realized—the oak barrels were not just used for wine, but for other things. Like flour, sucrose, salt...even feces - like toilets...

Moreover, the demand for these wooden barrels for carrying daily supplies is much greater than that of the furniture and wine industries.

It should be noted that in this era, Europeans are used to using barrels for packing things. Not only wine, salt, grain, cane sugar and other bulk materials are customarily used in oak barrels, but also for loose commodities such as salted fish, bacon, plant ash, whale oil, resin and mineral sand.

Only goods that can be stacked in bundles without risk of leakage will be shipped in crates, bags, etc. For example, wool and fur, etc...

For trade, bulk materials such as grain and salt are very dependent on barreled transportation. Even in this era, the measurement of grain in Europe is not calculated by weight, but by volume. Rather, quarters and bushels are both used to measure grain. Because, when people ship materials, they often use barrels to measure them directly, and they are too lazy to weigh them.

Of course, that's a bulk transaction, and the retailing of small items, such as grain, is often measured in pounds. After all, ordinary people buy in small quantities and do not need such a large measuring container. However, when some wealthy households with better economic conditions buy grain, they also measure by volume. When buying grain in bushels, they use containers for measuring volume.

In fact, even the contemporary Oriental Huaxia was used to measuring food in containers. For example, use a bucket to measure rice. Rice shops sell grain, often by a few dollars per bucket of rice. Of course, there are also weighed by kilograms. But in ancient China, food was cheap, and even ordinary people could afford to buy rice.

In Europe during the same period, because the price of food was too high, the people at the bottom could work a day, and their wages were only enough to buy two or three pounds of grain, which was incomparable with China in the same period.

However, Western bulk cargo transportation is still very dependent on wooden barrels. Even if ordinary people don't use that much, merchants still use a lot of wooden barrels for transportation. So, the barrel business is big business.

This time, when Marin ordered thousands of oak toilets from the Netherlands and France, he had already set his sights on the cooperating industries of the two countries (regions).

After all, in ancient Europe, wooden barrels were widely used. Marin planned to invest heavily in the establishment of cooperage factories in these two countries and regions, specializing in harvesting local oak for mass production of oak barrels. Moreover, specialize in staring at the tall old oak tree suitable for use as a keel. There is no old oak tree that cannot be cut down as long as the money is willing...

Poor His Majesty the Emperor and the French envoys didn't know that, thinking that Marin's purchase of oak toilets from the two countries (regions) was a gesture of goodwill. Who would have thought that Marin was digging the foundation of their sailing...

"Your Majesty, I will definitely send someone to invest in the Netherlands and build more cooperage factories to produce oak barrels. At that time, the cooperage factories will actively pay taxes to the government!" Marin solemnly told Maximi Lean I said.

"Good, good, good!" Maximilian I was also very happy to hear it. Although most of the Dutch tax was squandered by his uneasy son. However, it can still provide some support for the Habsburg family's hegemony. Marin has this heart, and he is also pleased. Although not happy for Marin to please France at the same time. But he also knows that this is the way of survival for a small country - both sides...

Turning his head, Marin clinks glasses with the French envoy Dolby again, saying:

"Baron Dolby, please believe that the Kingdom of America and the Grand Duchy of the North Sea are very willing to establish a good relationship with the mighty Kingdom of France. These thousands of barrels are just the beginning. I plan to send people to build several cooperage factories in France. At that time, after these cooperages sell wooden barrels to create value, they will actively pay taxes to the French royal family..." Marin's face was very friendly, and he looked like a friend.

The French envoy Dolby was also very useful. He said in his heart, "France's strength is really useful", and then he said reservedly:

"I will convey the goodwill of His Majesty Marin to His Majesty Francois, and I wish the friendship between the two countries will last forever!"

It's just that he doesn't know that Marin has already made a ruthless plan to build a number of oak barrels with huge output in France. God knows how many old French oak trees will suffer...

But, later the French were happy with it. Because these cooperages did pay a lot of taxes to the French finances...

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