The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin's plan to keep the Lancers in the Canary Islands was fraught with difficulties, because the Spanish kings did not believe that Marin was attacking Laayoune in order to raise horses.

Ferdinand II believed that Marin may have taken a fancy to Morocco and used Laayoune as a springboard to attack the southern part of Morocco's Atlas Mountains.

In fact, Ferdinand II was wrong, how could Marin have such a big appetite? No matter how weak Morocco is, there are tens of thousands of cavalry. Even if Marin wants to play Morocco, he doesn't have that condition now. Moreover, Morocco has nothing to attract Marin other than apatite. With Spain and Portugal vying to colonize the Moroccan coast, Marin is even less likely to intervene. Any ambitions for Morocco may be met with unanimous hostility from Spain and Portugal.

And if he controls Laayoune, Marin has already obtained the apatite he wants, and there is no need to expand north. Although, there is more apatite in Morocco. However, most of the apatites in Morocco are near the inland Atlas Mountains. If you want to control there, you need to send a lot of troops and horses to control many places in Morocco, the investment is too large, and the transportation is also troublesome. So, Marin didn't have much interest. Anyway, Laayoun's hundreds of millions of tons of apatite mines are enough.

So Marin wrote a letter to the Spanish kings, swearing that he had no intention of coveting the territory of Morocco. Then, he also selected three horses from the Arabian horses he bought and gave them to the twin kings of Spain and Prince Juan.

After getting Marin's assurance, and receiving the Arabian horse of the steed, plus Prince Juan's good words, the two kings of Spain reluctantly agreed to Marin's request to borrow the Canary Islands.

However, out of the ambition to bring Morocco under Spanish jurisdiction, the two kings demanded that Marin must occupy Laayoune in the name of the Count of the Wilderness of Spain, not the Count of East Friesland. In this way, Laayoune is also a Spanish territory. Although, Marin does not need to pay tribute to Spain because of Laayoune.

Then, Marin attacked Laayoune's troops, and the two kings requested to land on Fuerteventura, the island closest to Laayoune, and prepare to attack Laayoune. Spain's largest port in the Canary Islands, Las Palmas, did not allow Marin's troop carriers to approach.

After receiving the approved reply, Marin arranged for the ship to go to the Teutonic State to transport the people. Coincidentally, a new batch of 250-class armed merchant ships was launched, a total of 5 ships. Each ship can carry 150 people at a time, or 50 people + 50 horses.

Relying on these ships was not enough, so Marin leased five Kirk sailboats from the Hanseatic League to help transport troops and war horses together.

This time, there were not only 1,000 Lancers, but also their war horses, plus a lot of equipment and supplies for humans and horses, the transportation volume was not small. Moreover, Marin had to bring 1,000 elite infantry and guns by himself, resulting in a larger transportation volume. But Marin was not in a hurry to launch an attack, but let the early arrivals adapt to the local climate first...

The Teutonic climate is completely different from the Canary Islands. One in cooler Eastern Europe and one in the sunny Canary Islands. One is cold and damp, the other warm and dry. Therefore, Marin did not immediately order troops, but let everyone get used to it for a while. It just so happened that he also wanted to accompany Angela and little Caesar for a while. As for the war, there is no rush.

In order to confuse the Spanish kings and conceal their true intentions, Marin also sent two ships with great fanfare to pass through Spain, stop at the port of Cadiz, and continue to the east. While staying in the port of Cadiz, Marin's subordinates advertised that they were going to Egypt to buy Arabian horses and put them in Laayoune to raise them. Because the climate of Laayoune is close to the living area of ​​Arabian horses, it is more suitable to raise horses there.

In this way, everyone in Spain thinks that Marin is really hot and wants to raise horses in North Africa. Of course, even with suspicion, it is impossible to guess that Marin was mining apatite. because,

In this era, no one (except Marin) has realized the value of apatite. According to the original history, it was not until the mid-19th century, when chemical fertilizers were invented, that people realized the value of apatite.

In addition, in order to further confuse the Spaniards, Marin also applied to the Spanish Double Kings to raise the Spanish national treasure-Merino sheep in Laayoune...

The reason for Marin's application is simple - likes to eat merino lamb...  

In fact, in this era, Spain strictly prohibited the export of Merino sheep, and violators were executed. Of course, the king is not covered by this ban.

Although Marin is not a Spaniard, he has the title of Count of the Wilderness of Spain. Therefore, it is also considered half of my own. Therefore, it is not illegal for Marin to apply for the introduction of Merino sheep in the name of the wild count of Spain.

"Haha, I understand! This sly boy, raising Arabian horses is just an excuse. His real intention is to raise Merino sheep!" Ferdinand II "suddenly realized" after Marin made this application...

"Merino sheep?" Isabella I was a little puzzled.

"Of course, my dear, the Merino is an Iberian treasure. It has the best wool in the world, and its meat tastes very good. It can be said that it is the most precious sheep breed in the world. Marin, this bad boy, clearly It's because of the merino sheep..."

"Then shall we give it to him?" Isabella I frowned.

"Here, merino sheep are precious, but that's it. The Indian trade we get is priceless. However, it can't be unrestricted. For example, we can request that merinos are never allowed to be raised on European soil. Sheep can only be raised on that kid's nominally Spanish colony. In this way, Merino sheep don't count as leaving Spain..."

"What if he violates the request?"

"Then let's reduce the number of his Savage Continent colonies as punishment..."

"good idea……"

In this way, the two kings of Spain agreed to give Marin a hundred pairs of Merino sheep, but they asked that they could only be raised in Laayoune, and could not be brought to other areas to raise without approval. And, it is absolutely forbidden to bring them back to Europe for breeding. If violated, the number of colony points in the Savage Continent will be reduced...

Marin scoffed at this request. In fact, asking for Merino sheep was largely to confuse the sight of the Spanish kings. Also, merino sheep, while good, are not suitable for North America.

History has proved that Merino sheep are prone to rot hoof disease after arriving in North America, and they are not suitable for soil and water. Because merino sheep are more suitable for warm, dry climates, such as the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, and later the "arid continent" where merino sheep are most abundant - Australia.

In humid regions like eastern North America, purebred Merino sheep are not well adapted at all. Therefore, Marin has no plans to introduce Merino sheep into North America.

Of course, this means that there are no plans to introduce purebred Merino sheep into the Americas. However, there are plans to cross merino sheep with English sheep.

The British climate is humid and foggy, and the sheep there are well adapted to the humid climate of North America. Also, British sheep wool is of good quality, just a little worse than Merino wool, but better than sheep from other European countries.

Marin can use Merino rams and cross-bred English sheep ewes to get mixed-breed sheep adapted to the American climate. In this way, it is not a violation of the ban of the two kings of Spain. After all, the mixed breed looks more like the mother in appearance, but incorporates the excellent genes of the father. To be sure, the wool of this sheep may not be as good as that of a purebred Merino, but it is certainly finer and better than that of an English sheep. In later generations, countries around the world often introduced the genes of Merino sheep to improve local sheep to obtain better fine-wool sheep. For example, in Huaxia, the Australian Merino ram was introduced in later generations, and it was crossed with the local Xinjiang fine-wool sheep and the ewes of the military reclamation fine-wool sheep, and the Huaxia Merino sheep was cultivated...

This new breed of Merino sire and British sheep will be more similar in appearance to British sheep. That way, even if the Spaniards saw it, they wouldn't think it was a merino. At that time, Marin is not a violation of the ban...

In this way, while trying to seize the phosphate mines in Laayoune, Marin placed the Spaniards on the Merino sheep. Who gave him the title of Count of the Wilderness of Spain...