The Rise of the European Emperor

The island of Cuba is huge, at 105,000 square kilometers, the largest island in the West Indies. More importantly, most of it is plain, which is very suitable for planting.

The islands of Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and other islands near Cuba Island, although not small in size, have rugged terrain and do not have as many large plains on Cuba Island.

Therefore, the Spaniards colonized the Americas and chose the island of Cuba as the most important farming base. And places such as Mexico and Peru on the plateau are just places used by the Spaniards for mining.

Of course, the island of Cuba did not live up to the expectations of the Spaniards. After years of operation, Cuba Island later became Spain's largest sugar cane planting base and the largest sugar production base. When Spain lost most of its American colonies, it still tightly controlled Cuba and the Philippines, for the sake of Cuban sugar and the Philippines' trade with China. It's a pity that the emerging old America saw the weakness of Spain and took the opportunity to rob Cuba and the Philippines...

Moreover, the world-famous rum was invented by Cubans. They use Cuban sugar cane to brew a sweet-flavored rum. Since then, rum has become an important commodity in Cuba, and it has also become a favorite drink of sailors and pirates in the age of sailing. Before the popularization of citric acid insurance technology, sailors and pirates on the sea also carried a lot of rum to the sea to drink as water. Because, if there are no special measures, the shelf life of fresh water does not exceed 7 days. Rum, on the other hand, can be stored for a long time.

Cuba is such a large island, with so many plains, abundant rain and many rivers, it is naturally an excellent area for farming. In later generations, the mere island of Cuba is not as big as a province in China, but it has become a major producer of sugar in the world, with sugar exports, ranking among the top three in the world, and becoming the backbone of Cuba’s economy.

Another pillar of Cuba's economy is nickel mines. In the 21st century, the export of Cuban nickel ore and nickel metal has reached nearly 1 billion US dollars a year, becoming another major economic pillar of Cuba.

The importance of nickel, needless to say, stainless steel cannot be made without nickel. The use of stainless steel, needless to say, is absolutely universal and practical. In addition, the alloy of nickel and copper is the famous cupronickel. In ancient times, some people used it as silver.

Moreover, European silver coins, because of the high copper content, have approached copper coins. If it hadn't contained a little silver, the "silver coin" would probably not be white.

Before, the bad coins minted by Marin were all lead-tin alloys, that is, the composition of solder wire. Although copper is added to increase its hardness. However, it has a fatal flaw - that is, it is afraid of high temperature. Just put it on the fire and burn it, or if you encounter a red-hot iron block, it will melt into a liquid, which is easy to identify.

But if it is cupronickel of copper-nickel alloy, there is no way. Because nickel and copper are metals with a melting point of more than a thousand degrees. Their alloys cannot be detected at high temperatures.

It can be said that Marin has set his sights on the nickel mines in the coastal mountains on the southwest side of the island of Cuba. Once the nickel is extracted, the counterfeit copper coins will hit Europe...

The reserves of nickel ore in the southern coastal mountains of Cuba are huge, with several million tons. Unlike those silver mines, which can contain hundreds of thousands of tons of silver, they are considered large mines. Getting nickel is far easier than getting silver.

Therefore, for the obscene counterfeit currency issuer Marin, the nickel mine is very important. Even if you don't want the vast plains in the west, you have to live with the nickel mines of the mountains in the southwestern part of the island of Cuba.

In the future, after owning a large amount of nickel, Marin intends to use cupronickel vigorously to make French coins, hit the French market, and snatch the official coinage profits of France. You make a lot of money by reducing the silver content, right? I don't use silver anymore, I use nickel and copper, which one has the lowest cost? How about France, there is something you can detect if it is true or false? The properties of cupronickel are very similar to those of French coins with more copper and less silver...

Thinking of using fake money made of cupronickel in the future to attack the European markets, making it difficult for them to distinguish,

Malin was excited just thinking about it...

...

While Marin was enjoying himself, people in most parts of Germany and northern France were worried. This autumn rain that broke out in the second half of the autumn harvest has been going on for a long time. It is certain that more than half of the rye has rotted in the fields. Nearly half of the rye that was harvested before was also moldy because there was not enough time to dry it.

In short, it was a catastrophe that engulfed half of Germany and half of France, and a widespread famine was inevitable.

In the entire northern part of Germany, probably only East Frisian counties, because the spring ploughing ended early and the autumn harvest was early, it was able to avoid a catastrophe.

Marin now has a total area of ​​100,000 Ugrams of arable land, including the newly reclaimed fertile fields from the swamp. And the nobles under him also have a total of 35,000 Eugram lands.

This year, as usual, everyone's yield per mu is about 500 pounds. In other words, the total grain output of those nobles reached 210 million pounds. Marin's production is more, because he has 95,000 Eugrams of land planted with rye, and another 5,000 Eugrams are planted with oats for horses.

Normally, the price of rye in Germany is 1 pfennig per pound. However, 0.7 pfennig per pound is not bad if the grain is sold to the buyer. Unless Marlin helps sell it to southern Europe or the UK, it can reach a high price of 1 pfennig per pound. Because food prices are higher in these areas.

However, this year is different, because large-scale rains broke out during the autumn harvest, and food prices in Germany and France will inevitably rise this year, and they will rise sharply.

Therefore, after anticipating this market situation, all the East Frisian nobles are not in a hurry to sell food. Only when the rye harvested in the first half of the autumn harvest is used up will the grain rise sharply. Moreover, it is estimated that food prices will at least rise to more than twice the usual level. That is, 2 pfennig or more per pound...

By then, even the purchase price of grain merchants will be well over 1.5 pfennig per pound. Then, 6 million pounds of grain from the baron's house with 1,000 Eugram rye fields can be sold for a sky-high price of 9 million pfennigs. After all, it was as much as 150,000 gold coins. As for keeping food rations at home? Left enough last year. Of course, when selling grain, we must give priority to the old grain from the previous year and last year. This year's new grains are used to press warehouses.

Like the nobles of East Frisian Country, the nobles of southern Germany are also crazy. In the southern part of Germany, deep inland, there has been little precipitation. This time, the precipitation that swept across most of Germany allowed them to escape. Therefore, the aristocratic landlords in the south can also be sure that the price of grain will definitely rise this year.

For example, Austria, under the control of Maximilian I, avoided the widespread rains during the autumn harvest this year and achieved a bumper harvest. The emperor, who has always been financially tight, will also make a fortune.

However, the Netherlands under the control of Maximilian I's son was also affected. Therefore, for the Habsburg family, there is profit and loss. But overall, it's still a good deal.

"The price of food this year and next year will definitely rise!" Looking at the heavy rain outside the door, Marin raised his glass and said to Columbus, who was drinking with him.

"Yeah, everyone is going to make a fortune this year!" Thinking of the 6 million pounds of new grain in the warehouse at home, Columbus's old face almost turned into a chrysanthemum with a smile...

In particular, Marin promised that as long as he ran this voyage, got the rubber tree seeds, and applied to the Spanish royal family for Cuba Island as his own territory, Marin would take 1,000 fertile arable land in Eugram Lair County and join him. Change……

Thinking of this, Columbus's eyes are full of gold coins...

1000 Eugrams! Even if the price of food does not rise much, the annual income is tens of thousands of gold coins. Anyway, his second son, Fernando, will become a wealthy noble in the future...

It's just that he didn't know how big a treasure Cuban Island was. If he knew that Cuban Island, which he sold to Marin, was such a rich place, he would not agree to exchange it for a mere 1,000 Ugrams of arable land in Marin...

Later, before his death, Columbus wrote in his diary: "The most wrong and most cost-effective decision I made in my life was to exchange Cuba Island and His Majesty Marin for a mere 1,000 Eugrams of arable land"...