The Rise of the European Emperor

() The salt and iron monopoly system, in the hands of Marin, became the salt and coal monopoly system. For iron, Marin does not pay much attention to it. Why? Because the Chinese feudal dynasty monopolized iron, largely because they were afraid that the people would rebel with iron swords.

Komarin's army has now entered the age of firearms, and cold weapons are no longer important. Therefore, it does not matter if the iron franchise is monopoly. Just like the current Ming Dynasty, it also liberalized the iron part (for the grassland peoples, the trade of iron products is prohibited, because the cavalry using cold weapons is also very fierce). Because the Ming Dynasty was also a dynasty that attached great importance to firearms, the control of firearms was stricter, and it did not pay much attention to civilian cold weapons, and only restricted the smuggling of iron weapons outside the customs. Only the Manchu Qing Dynasty, for fear of rebellion by the Han people, did not allow civilians to carry swords, and repeatedly issued bans on martial arts.

Therefore, Marin planned to also learn from the Ming Dynasty, and only banned firearms and powerful crossbows in the private sector, regardless of other things (the Ming Dynasty actually banned armor, the ancient Huaxia Dynasty seemed to prohibit the civilians from owning armor, and the famous Han Dynasty general Zhou Yafu kept the armor because of his private possession. Convicted to death. But it is not realistic in Europe, Milan city even made Milan plate armor into an industry, a lot of private sales, it is not good to ban). As for the American colonies, because of the threat of wild bears, Marin can partially release the firearm control, but only the arquebus is a more restricted firearm, and it must be a musket. Rifled arquebuses are also prohibited, otherwise they will be killed if caught. In this way, even if the American militia rebels a hundred years later, they who use arquebuses will not be able to defeat the regular army using advanced weapons.

Marin, who is familiar with the future, knows that coal is more important than iron ore in order to develop industry and economy. Iron ore can be imported, but coal... Generally, coal in coal-producing areas is mostly used for own use, and rarely exported. Only a resource-rich country like Australia, which lacks labor, is willing to export coal on a large scale.

Also, steel products are reusable, while coal is a one-time consumable that is consumed every day. After imported iron ore is smelted into steel, it can be used repeatedly. And imported coal will be gone as soon as it is burned, and then you have to continue importing a large amount of coal...

Therefore, later iron and steel industry centers are often close to coal mines rather than iron mines. Because importing coal is really not cost-effective.

Speaking of which, it is also thanks to the coal resources in Shanyixi and other places that China can develop in later generations. Without coal resources, it would be difficult for Huaxia Industry to get up. China's economic boom has been accompanied by black smoke from coal-burning chimneys. Without the energy of coal, the so-called Huaxia manufacturing is simply the moon in the mirror.

You see, Brazil and Argentina in later generations are quite big, right? The land is fertile and the population is large. But why can't it become a manufacturing power? Because these two countries lack coal resources. Brazil is the worst, with so many iron ore, but lack of coal. Therefore, I had to sell the iron ore to others to make steel. Argentina is even more frustrated, because there is a shortage of coal and iron ore, so it has to focus on the beef from the Pampas, and football. I want to start an industry, but I don't have the resources...

South America is a very strange region.

Although the Andes Mountains are rich in precious metals, most of the regions are severely lacking in energy. Only Venezuela to the north has oil and Colombia has coal. Other countries seem to lack energy. Therefore, it is difficult for South America to give birth to a world-class power. And the three big and powerful countries in the world are all rich in coal resources. Even the third brother has coal and iron. If it wasn't for the third brother's bad brains, who believed in the Asan Sect, who divided people into three, six, and nine classes, his potential might not be worse than Huaxia's.

It is strange to say that Western Europe is so big, but there are not many places with rich coal resources. Needless to say, France, if you say too much, you will be in tears. Didn't you see that the future generations can only play with nuclear power? Italy and Spain, looking at the scene in the early days, fell behind when the industrial revolution arrived. There is no way, there is no coal... Only the UK and Germany, which are rich in coal, have also created a strong industrial system...

The German coal, mostly concentrated in the Ruhr area. In addition to the Ruhr area, there seems to be a Saarland, which is also an important coal producer. In fact, the geographical location of Saarland is stronger than that of the Ruhr area. why? Because Saarland not only has its own coal, but is also very close to Luxembourg, which has iron ore, and also relies on Lorraine, which is richer in iron ore resources... Therefore, when it comes to the development potential of the steel industry, the Ruhr area must Gan Bai loses. And because of the rich coal, the French tried to annex the Saar region twice after World War I and World War II. After all, France is too short of coal... Luxembourg can develop into a rich country dominated by the steel industry in the future, and it is inseparable from the coal-producing area next to Saarland...

As a World of Warcraft player in his previous life, Marin really wanted to complain about the names of glass slag, Thrall and Alsace... Aren't they all German place names... Can you imagine a Chinese game company putting the names of important people Named Funan, Hu Jian? Doesn't it sound weird?

For Saarland, Marin is not without an idea. However, the Saar region is too far away from Marin's territory to reach! Moreover, the situation there is complicated, there are many princes, and it is very difficult to win there...

...

Shortly after Marin ordered the formation of Beihai Salt Company and Beihai Coal Company, Mikel, the former Danish Prime Minister who was originally based in Schleswig, also came from the east to report for work.

For the former Danish Prime Minister, Marin has always been very valued. Even, at one point, there was an idea of ​​​​righting it into a phase and replacing Jeffrey. However, after taking the Duchy of Schleswig from Denmark, Marin feared that the people there would not obey his rule, and had to keep Mikel in Schleswig. And when Jutland was seized from Denmark, it was even more inseparable from Mikel. After all, Mikel is a Dane, and was once the Prime Minister of Denmark, and has a high prestige among the Danes. With him sitting in Jutland, he can definitely maintain local stability and appease the Danes.

In fact, the results of the autumn harvest in Schleswig and Jutland were already reported to Marin by the messenger. However, Mikel came here this time, not to talk about the fruits of the autumn harvest, but also related to agriculture...

"What? You mean you support Ma Geng?" Marin was a little surprised.

Mikel nodded solemnly...

"Don't you know that the cost of raising a draught horse is four or five times that of raising a cow? That's the owner of oatmeal, don't tell me you don't know the price of oatmeal..." Marin said in surprise.

Mikel nodded, but shook his head again:

"Grand Duke, you only calculated the cost of raising horses, have you calculated the efficiency of horse farming?"

Marin nodded and said:

"I know this. The cost of raising a draught horse is four or five times that of an ox. The efficiency of a draught horse in plowing the land is two or three times that of an ox. In this way, it is still more cost-effective to farm with an ox!"

Mikel nodded and said:

"That's right, but, Grand Duke, have you thought about labor costs?"

"Human cost?" Malin was taken aback for a moment.

"Yes, labor cost! Now Beihai Kingdom has so much land, but our population is only a few hundred thousand people, and there is a serious shortage of labor force. Therefore, when there is a shortage of labor force, Ma Geng is the best choice."

"However, the cost of feeding..."

"Grand Duke, you are a monarch, not a businessman. What you need to consider is not only the cost, but also the total amount!"

"Yes, in terms of feeding costs, it is indeed expensive to raise horses. However, you must also see that. If you use horse farming, the fields that can be cultivated by your population will more than double. As for feeding costs, Do you really think that raising a horse is four or five times higher than raising a cow?"

"What do you mean?" Marin was a little confused.

"Grand Duke, you have the most advanced agricultural technology in Europe. So, is the output of oat farming twice that of other countries?"

Marin nodded. Indeed, the yield of oats in Beihai is as high as 3oo pounds per mu, while the maximum yield of oats in other countries is only 150 pounds. This is the difference after using new agricultural technology.

"Yes, in that case, is the cost of oats in Beihai Country half lower than other countries?" Mikel said excitedly.

Marin thought about it for a while, and it was true, so he nodded again...

"In this way, we can't use the market price to calculate the cost of raising horses. We should use the cost of Beihai to calculate the cost of raising horses. It seems that the cost of raising horses is two or three times that of raising cattle!" Mikel was excited! Dancing.

Marin was stunned for a moment, it seemed that it was true...

"In the case where the cost of raising horses is only two or three times that of cows, it is possible to cultivate more than twice as much land as cows. Is the ratio of cost and benefit very close?"

Marlin nodded again...

"When the ratio of cost and benefit is close, the amount of arable land will be doubled. Dagong, do your calculations. Which one is more cost-effective?"

"Ma Geng!" Marin said without hesitation.

"That's right! Therefore, we should keep horse farming and focus on cultivating it. Especially in sparsely populated places like Jutland, and more sparsely populated colonies in the Americas..."

After being silent for a while, Marin said:

"Okay, you convinced me! But, Mikel, have you thought about it? We can buy a lot of cattle from the Crimean Khanate. But where can we buy a lot of suitable strong draught horses?"

Mikel was speechless for a while...

As Marin said, it's easy to buy a cow, but to buy the right horse...

The Crimean Khanate can supply a large number of horses, but the horses provided by this Mongolian descendant country are also medium-sized riding breeds. After all, the Crimeans don't farm and don't breed draught horse breeds.

Therefore, even if Marin had money, he could not buy large-scale draught horses suitable for arable land. Therefore, no matter how right Mikel said, there is nothing wrong...

"Well, we can only coexist with horse farming and cattle farming..."

"I think so too..." Marin nodded.

...

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