Chapter 65: Reasons for murdering Cuba
The Cuban island is very large, with a total area of 105,000 square kilometers. It is the largest island in the West Indies. More importantly, most of it is plain, which is very suitable for cultivation.
The islands such as Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica near Cuba Island are not small in size, but the terrain is rugged and there are not so many plains on Cuba Island.
Therefore, the Spanish colonized the Americas and chose the island of Cuba as the most important farming base. Mexico and Peru on the plateau are just places where the Spanish used to mine.
Of course, the island of Cuba also lived up to the expectations of the Spaniards. After many years of operation, Cuba Island has become the largest sugar cane planting base in Spain and the largest sugar production base. When Spain lost most of its American colonies, it still controlled Cuba and the Philippines violently, just for Cuban sugar and the Philippines ’trade with China. It is a pity that the new old beauty saw the weakness of Spain and took the opportunity to **** both Cuba and the Philippines ...
Moreover, the world-famous rum was invented by Cubans. They used sugarcane, which is abundant in Cuba, to produce a rum with a sweet scent. Since then, rum has become an important commodity in Cuba, as well as a favorite drink for sailors and pirates in the era 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. Because, without special measures, the shelf life of fresh water does not exceed 7 days. The rum can be kept for a long time.
The island of Cuba is so big, there are so many plains, and there is plenty of rain and many rivers, so it is naturally an excellent area for farming. In the later generations, the Cuban island is not yet a big province in China, but it has become the world's largest sucrose-producing country. Its sucrose exports rank among the top three in the world and become the backbone of Cuba's economy.
Another Cuban economic pillar is nickel mine. In the 21st century, Cuba ’s nickel ore and nickel metal exports reached nearly US $ 1 billion annually, making Cuba another major economic pillar.
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 copper-nickel alloy. In ancient times, some people used it to pretend to be silver.
Moreover, European silver coins, because of the high copper content, have become closer to copper coins. If it did not contain a little silver, the "silver coins" might not be white.
Before, the bad coins cast by Marin were all lead-tin alloys, that is, components of solder wires. Although copper was added, its hardness increased. However, it has a fatal flaw-it is afraid of high temperatures. Just put it on the fire and burn it, or if you touch a red iron block, it will melt into a liquid, which is easy to distinguish.
But if it is copper-nickel alloy of copper-nickel, it will be impossible. Because nickel and copper are metals with melting points above 1000 degrees. Their alloys cannot be detected at high temperatures.
It can be said that Marin has been eyeing the nickel deposits in the coastal mountains on the southwestern side of Cuba Island. Once nickel is extracted, the copper-copper counterfeit currency will impact Europe ...
The nickel deposits in the coastal mountains of southwest Cuba are large, with millions of tons. Unlike those silver mines, there can be hundreds or thousands of tons of silver content, which are considered large mines. Getting nickel is always easier than getting silver.
Therefore, nickel is very important for Malin, the sleazy counterfeit issuer. Even if we do not want the vast plains in the west, we must live the nickel mines in the mountainous southwest of Cuba.
In the future, after having a large amount of nickel, Marin intends to use white copper to make French coins, hit the French market, and **** the official French coinage profits. You are very profitable by reducing the silver content, right? I do n’t use silver anymore. I use nickel and copper. Whose cost is low? What about France? Is there a kind of truth you can detect? The properties of cupronickel are similar to the inferior coins with more copper and less silver in France. The nature is very close ...
I think of the fake money I used to cast in copper in the future, to hit the markets of European countries, and make it difficult for them to distinguish. Ma Linguang was excited, thinking about it ...
……
While Marin was there, he was worried about people in most parts of Germany and northern France. This autumn rain that broke out in the second half of the autumn harvest has been going on for a long time. To be sure, more than half of the rye has been rotten in the field. Nearly half of the rye harvested before was also moldy because of insufficient time to dry.
In short, this is a catastrophe that swept through most of Germany and half of France. A large-scale famine will be inevitable.
The entire northern part of Germany, probably only the East Frisian Lambert, because the early end of spring cultivation and early harvest of autumn, can withstand a great difficulty.
Marin is now in hand, plus the newly cultivated fields from the swamp, the total area of arable land has reached the scale of 100,000 Ugram. The nobles also have a total of 35,000 Ugram land.
This year is as usual, everyone's yield per mu is about 500 pounds. In other words, the total food output of those nobles reached 210 million pounds. Marin's output is more, because he has 95,000 Ugram land that grows rye, and 5000 Ugram grow oats to raise horses.
As usual, the price of rye in the German region is 1 fenny per pound. However, if the grain is sold to the purchaser, it is good to get 0.7 fenny per pound. Unless Marin helps to sell to Southern Europe or the United Kingdom, it can reach the high price of 1 fenny per pound. Because food prices in these areas are higher.
However, this year is different, because large-scale rainfall broke out during the autumn harvest season, this year's grain prices in Germany and France will inevitably rise, and it will rise sharply.
Therefore, after anticipating this market, all East Frisian nobles were in no hurry to sell food. Only when the rye harvested in the first half of the autumn harvest is consumed, the grain will rise sharply. Moreover, it is estimated that food prices will rise at least twice as much as usual. In other words, it will reach more than 2 Finney per pound ...
When the time comes, even the purchase price of grain merchants will steadily exceed 1.5 fenny per pound. Then, the 6 million pounds of grain produced from the baron ’s house with 1,000 Ugram rye fields can be sold at a price of 9 million fenny. This counts as much as 150,000 gold coins. As for keeping food and seeds at home? Last year it was enough. Of course, when selling grain, we must give priority to selling the grain from the previous year and last year. This year's new grain is used to suppress positions.
Like the nobles of the East Frisian Lambert, the nobles in the southern part of Germany are also crazy. In the southern part of Germany, deep inland, there is not much rainfall. This time, the rainfall that swept through most parts of Germany ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ let them escape. Therefore, the noble landowners in the south can also be confident that this year's grain prices will definitely rise.
For example, Austria, under the control of Maximilian I, escaped the extensive rainfall 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 Dutch region under the control of Maximilian I's son was also affected. Therefore, for the Habsburg family, there are gains and losses. But overall, it still makes a little money.
"This year and next year's food prices will definitely rise!" Seeing the torrential 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 food in the warehouse at home, Columbus's old face almost became a chrysanthemum ...
In particular, Marin promised that as long as he ran this voyage and got the seeds of the rubber tree, and applied to the Spanish royal family for Cuba Island as his own territory, Marin would take 1,000 fertile arable land of Ugramramer County and him change……
Thinking of this, Columbus's eyes are full of gold coins ...
1000 Eugram! Even if the food price does not soar, the annual income will be tens of thousands of gold coins. Anyway, his second son Fernando will become a wealthy nobleman in the future ...
It's just that he doesn't know how big a treasure is on the island of Cuba. If he knew that the Cuban island that he sold to Marin was such a rich place, he would not agree to exchange it for 1000 Ugram of cultivated land in the Marina area ...
Later, before his death, Columbus wrote in his diary-"The most erroneous and loss-making decision I have made in my life is to exchange the arable land of 1000 Eugram in Cuba and His Majesty Marin" ...
