Chapter 33: Introducing merino sheep

Marin's plan to make the cavalry stay in the Canary Islands was difficult, because the Spanish kings did not believe that Marin attacked Ayoun for the purpose of raising horses.

Ferdinand II believes that Marin may have taken a fancy to Morocco, using Ayoun as a springboard and wants to go north to capture the southern part of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Actually, 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 fight Morocco, there is no such condition. Moreover, in addition to apatite, Morocco has no other attraction to Marin. In the case of Spain and Portugal competing to colonize the coast of Morocco, Marin is even less likely to intervene. If they have ambitions for Morocco, they may be unanimously hostile by Spain and Portugal.

And if you control Ayoun, Marin has already obtained the apatite he wants, and there is no need to expand northward. Although, there is more apatite in Morocco. However, most of the apatite in Morocco is near the inland Atlas Mountains. If you want to control it, you need to send a lot of troops to control many places in Morocco. Therefore, Marin did not have much interest. Anyway, the apatite mine with a few hundred million tons of reserves in Ayoun is enough.

So, Marin sent a letter to the twin kings of Spain, vowing that he had no intention of coveting the territory of Morocco. Then he also picked three horses from the Arab Mali he bought and gave them to the Spanish Kings and Prince Juan.

After receiving the guarantee from Marin, and receiving the Arabian horse of Shenjun, and Prince Juan said good things on the side, the Spanish kings barely agreed to Marin's request to borrow the Canary Islands.

However, out of the ambition to bring Morocco into Spanish jurisdiction, the Kings demanded that Marin must occupy Ayoun in the name of the Barbarian Earl of Spain, not in the name of Count East Frisian. In this way, Ayoun is also Spanish territory. Although, Marin does not need to pay tribute to Spain because of Ayoun.

Then, Marin attacked Ayun ’s forces, and the Kings demanded landing on Fuerteventura, the closest to Ayún, and prepared to attack Ayún. Las Palmas, Spain ’s largest port in the Canary Islands, does not allow Marin ’s troop carriers to approach.

After receiving the approved reply, Marin arranged for the ship to go to the Teutonic carrier. It happened that a new batch of 250-class armed merchant ships were launched, a total of 5 ships. Each boat can carry 150 people at a time, or 50 people + 50 horses.

Is not enough to rely on these ships, so Marin leased 5 Kirk sailboats of the Hanseatic League to help transport troops and war horses together.

This time, not only 1,000 cavalrymen, but also their war horses, plus many equipment and supplies for people and horses, the transportation volume is not small. Moreover, Marin also had to bring in 1,000 elite infantry and guns, leading to greater transportation. But Marin did not rush to launch an attack, but first let the people who arrived earlier adapt to the local climate there ...

The climate of the Teutonic country is completely different from the Canary Islands. One is in the colder Eastern Europe and the other is in the sunny Canary Islands. One cold and wet, one warm and dry. Therefore, Marin did not immediately order to send troops, but let everyone adapt to a while to talk. As it happens, he will also spend time with Angela and Caesar. As for fighting, there is no hurry.

In order to confuse the Spanish kings and cover up his true intentions, Marin also sent two ships with great fanfare, passed Spain, and continued to the east after stopping in the port of Cadiz. While staying in the port of Cadiz, Marin ’s subordinates preached extensively that they went to Egypt to buy Arabian horses and put them in Ayoun to raise. Because the climate of Ayoun is close to the living area of ​​Arabian horses, it is more appropriate to raise horses there.

In this way, everyone in Spain believes that Marin is indeed a brain fever and wants to raise horses in North Africa. Of course, even if it is doubtful, it is impossible to guess that Marin is mining apatite. Because, in this era, no one (except Marin) realized the value of apatite. According to the original history, people will not realize the value of apatite until the fertilizer was invented in the mid-19th century.

In addition, in order to further confuse the Spanish, Marin also applied to the Spanish double kings to raise the Spanish national treasure-Merino sheep in Ayoun ...

The reason for Marin's application is simple-I like to eat mutton from Merino ...

In fact, in this era, Spain prohibited the export of merino sheep, and the offenders were executed. Of course, the king is not within the jurisdiction of this ban.

Although Marin is not Spanish, he has the title of Earl of Spain. Therefore, it is also considered to be half of its own. Therefore, Marin's application for the introduction of Merino sheep in the name of the Count of the Barbarians of Spain is not illegal.

"Haha, I see! This cunning kid, raising Arabian horses is an excuse. His real intention is to raise merino sheep!" After Ferdinand II submitted this application in Marin, he suddenly realized.

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

"Of course, my dear, the merino sheep is a treasure of Iberia. Its wool quality is the best in the world, and the meat taste is also very good. It can be said to be the most precious sheep breed in the world. Malin, this bad boy, clearly Fancy merino ... "

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

"Yes, merino sheep are precious, but that's it. The Indian trade we get is worthless. However, we can't do it without restrictions. For example, we can make a request, and it is absolutely not allowed to raise merino in Europe. Sheep can only be raised in a colony that the kid nominally belongs to Spain. In this way, Merino sheep are not considered to have left Spain ... "

"What if he violates the requirements?"

"Then we will reduce the number of colonies in his wild mainland as a punishment ..."

"good idea……"

Just like this, the Spanish kings agreed to give Marin a hundred pairs of merino sheep, but the requirement was that they could only be bred in Ayoun and could not be brought to other regions without approval. And, it is absolutely forbidden to bring back to Europe for breeding. If there is a violation, the number of colonies on the wild mainland will be reduced ...

Marin scoffed at this request. In fact, the request for Merino was largely to confuse the sight of the Spanish kings. Moreover, although Merino sheep are good, they are not suitable for North America.

History has proved that merino sheep are prone to rotten hoof disease when they arrive in North America, and they are not adhering to water and soil. Because merino sheep are more suitable for warm and dry climates ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ such as the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, and later the "arid continent" with the most merino sheep-Australia.

Humid areas like eastern North America, purebred merino sheep are not very suitable. Therefore, Marin did not intend to introduce Merino sheep to North America.

Of course, this is not intended to introduce purebred merino sheep into the Americas. However, there are plans to cross-breed Merino and British sheep.

The British climate is humid and foggy, and the sheep there are well adapted to the humid climate of North America. Moreover, the quality of British sheep wool is also good, but it is worse than the wool of Merino sheep, but it is better than the wool produced by sheep in other European countries.

Marin can use merino rams to cross with British sheep ewes to obtain hybrid sheep adapted to the American climate. In this way, it is not a violation of the ban of the Spanish kings. After all, the mixed breed looks more like a mother, but will incorporate the father's excellent genes. To be sure, this sheep's wool may not be able to catch up with purebred merino sheep, but it must be finer and better than British sheep's wool. In later generations, countries around the world often introduced the genes of merino sheep to improve local sheep to get better fine-wool sheep. For example, Huaxia introduced Australian merino rams in later generations, crossbred with the ewes of the local new Xinjiang fine wool sheep, and military reclamation fine wool sheep.

This male line is a merino sheep, and the female line is a new breed of British sheep, which will be closer to British sheep in appearance. In this way, even if the Spanish saw it, they would not think it was a merino sheep. At that time, Marin is not a violation of the ban ...

Just like this, while seizing the phosphate rock of Ayoun, Marin put the Spanish together on the Merino sheep. Who gave him the title of the Spanish Earl of Barbara ...