Chapter 1389: Pay with salt

In fact, Marin was filled with evil intentions at this time, and he planned to expel those Bremen Hansa merchants without paying a penny. In this way, at least one million gold coins can be left. However, after thinking left and right, he endured.

If he only feels at ease to be a prince who is partial to one another, it is natural to do so. However, Marin wanted half of Germany to learn the Prussian route of later generations. Therefore, he should not be too ugly to eat. Otherwise, if a bad example is made, no one will believe him in the future.

In addition, at this time, Marin also needed the political support and economic cooperation of the Hanseatic League, and could not easily turn his face. What city is Bremen? That's the third in the Hanseatic League! The boss Lubeck and the second burger could agree that Marin moved it, which is already good. If you do it absolutely, you will lose the ally of the Hanseatic League. In Germany, it is difficult to mix without allies.

Moreover, if these Bremen merchants went to Hamburg and Lübeck, because of their strong financial resources, they would definitely be mixed into the upper levels of the two cities in the future. Today, they are forced to drive them away for a while, and then they will join the top management of Lübeck and Hamburg, and they must wear their own shoes. Therefore, Marin forcibly suppressed his mischief and chose a peaceful solution. Only when the matter is resolved peacefully will good relations with the Hanseatic League be guaranteed. At the same time, it also sets a model for conquering other regions and cities in the future-Brother is a reasonable person ...

However, if he really paid millions of gold coins for real money, Marin was not reconciled. After all, it was millions of gold coins. Even if Marin is financially strong, it hurts to take it out.

As for what to pay for food, Marin thought about it. However, unfortunately, because of this year's war, the North Sea nation's grains have been poorly harvested. Especially in Oldenburg, Marlin personally ordered the wheat field to be burned, and the loss was extremely heavy. In addition, Marin now needs a lot of grain for winemaking every year, so even if there is a lot of grain in the warehouse, Marin is not happy to pay with grain. You know, in this chaotic era, food is sometimes stronger than gold coins.

Therefore, Marin hesitated ...

At the reception banquet in the evening, Malinte held a grand welcome ceremony, mainly to welcome the two big speakers of Lübeck and Hamburg. At the beginning of the dinner, the beautiful waitress Mao took over the bread and salt that represented the highest welcome etiquette.

Bringing bread and salt is actually the etiquette of the Slavs. After the girls were introduced by Marin, they also brought this custom. Marin thought it was very interesting, so he chose the reserved program for the welcome banquet. Otherwise, according to the habits of the Germans, it is estimated that there will be a plate of sausages, or two big elbows.

The habits of the Germans are more practical, but they seem a bit discordant. After all, the meat of sausages, not to mention pig intestines, is often smashed. In this era, guests from other countries may not adapt. If the two elbows are brought up, the guests might be scared. Therefore, Marin introduced the Slavic "bread and salt" etiquette. After all, bread and salt look much cleaner and more hygienic. Moreover, the key is that Mao Mei holding bread and salt is very eye-catching ...

The two Speakers are not unfamiliar with this kind of Slavic etiquette, because both cities have close trade relations with the Baltic Slavs and naturally understand this kind of etiquette. So they naturally picked up a small piece of bread, dipped it in salt, and took a bite.

Then, Lubeck Speaker Heinrich praised:

"Well, yes, better than the salt of Lüneburg!"

Heinrich itself is a large salt merchant in Lübeck. Their family's business is mainly to transport the mineral salt of Lüneburg to the Baltic Sea region through the Streckitz canal. The profit of this business is very high, so Heinrich's family is also a rich man of Lübeck, and has long occupied the seat of the Lübeck parliament.

Heinrich's words were unintentional words, but they could be heard in Marin's ears, but they were like thunder-yes, salt of Lüneburg!

Marlin was suddenly excited ...

During this time he was busy here and there, almost forgetting the disposal of the salt mine in Lüneburg.

Dealing with the Lüneburg salt mine is the same as the Hansa merchants in Bremen, the original salt merchants need to be treated differently. For example, salt merchants from Lübeck and Hamburg cannot move their share. As for the share of the Welf family that originally belonged to the Duke of Lüneburg, Marin naturally swallowed his stomach.

However, due to the short-sightedness of the former Duke of Lüneburg, the Welf family accounted for only one-third of the salt mine. The remaining two-thirds of the shares were either sold by the former Duke of Lüneburg or divided by other nobles in the Principality.

Fortunately, this time Marin violently packed up the Welf family and annexed the former nobles in the Principality of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After all, in this war, these former nobles in the Principality of Brunswick-Lüneburg must have fought. Since joining the war, it must be a loser. The loser, it is justified to be robbed of salt mine shares.

As a result, Marin also got nearly half of the shares in Lüneburg Salt Mine. The Lüneburg Salt Mine produces more than 10,000 tons of salt per year. According to the wholesale price of 4 shillings per quart (12.7 kg), the value of each ton of salt is 315 shillings, equivalent to 63 gold coins. In this way, the annual output value of salt mine shares in Marin's hands is as high as 315,000 gold coins.

However, Marin's ambition is clearly more than that. As a ruler, he was not satisfied with only half of the salt mines. In the future, Marin intends to kick off most of the mine owners and wait for the majority of his own interests after the situation stabilizes. After all, in this era, table salt is a hard currency that can go side by side with gold coins and food. How can Marin allow others to get involved in such strategic resources?

Of course, there are still some miners who have a big future, and Marin is not easy to move people. Therefore, Marin's ultimate goal is to occupy 80% of the shares in Lüneburg Salt Mine. So, but the salt mine can bring him the output value of 500,000 gold coins every year. As for profit, it should be able to reach 400,000 gold coins.

Moreover, it seems that the salt mine production capacity in Lüneburg has not yet been fully explored. Marin had read European history before, and an article said that the Lüneburg Salt Mine had an annual output of more than 20,000 tons during the peak of the 16th century. In other words, Marin can double the salt output.

But Marin does not intend to really increase that much output ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ because, he just intends to use the Lüneburg Salt Mine as a guise ...

At his salt cooking base on Cape Breton Island, his salt production is no lower than the Lüneburg Salt Mine. Moreover, the quality is better. However, because it is difficult to explain the source, Marin can only control the salt production. Although the sales of some Eastern European countries have been secured, the courage to enter the German table salt market has never been dared to be feared.

But with the Lüneburg Salt Mine, it is different. With the Lüneburg Salt Mine as a cover, Marin can pretend to expand the scale of the salt mine production. But in fact, it is just expanding the scale of salt cooking on Cape Breton Island. Then, in the name of Lüneburg mineral salt, dumped table salt to the German states.

...

Of course, that's all later. Right now, the first thing Marin has to solve is the problem of buying property in Bremen Hansa merchants. Since you do n’t want to pay with cash or food, salt is also a good choice ...

Therefore, Marin told Hector and other representatives of Bremen:

"I agree to pay for your real estate in Bremen, but I intend to pay with salt!"

...