Chapter 2169： Trade in other commodities

The ironware trade was an important trade item for Marin and the princes this time, but it was not the most important. The most important thing is the salt trade. After all, Marin occupies the site of the North Sea, and knows how to cook salt with briquettes and firewood-saving stoves. Supported by coal in the Ruhr area, Marin has ample production of boiled salt.

In addition, Lüneburg, an important salt mining area in Germany, was also annexed by Marin. Therefore, if the princes want to eat salt, they really have to rely on Marin.

Of course, it is not to say that only Marin produces salt. There are also other forces that provide salt to the princes. For example, the Principality of Lorraine is the salt provided by the French. After all, France is a country surrounded by sea on three sides, and its salt production is also abundant. It's just that the French do not know how to filter the bittern and the secondary cleaning of salt. Therefore, the French salt is a bit bitter, and its quality is incomparable to that of North Sea country salt.

In addition, the princes in the south also purchase sea salt from Venice. Of course, it is not necessarily produced in Venice, it is just resold by the Venetians. Only by crossing the Alps, the Venetian salt can be transported to Austria and then to some vassal states. Because the land distance is closer than the distance from the North Sea and the French coast, land freight and tolls are cheaper, so there are many buyers. But there is still the problem-there is no step to remove the bitter and salt, and the taste is bitter.

However, Europeans also have another way. The solution is to marinate the salted fish with this bitter sea salt. Then, sell salted fish directly. People in the inland buy salted fish, which can be used as food and supplemented with salt.

Although this inferior sea salt is bitter, the salted fish has a strong smell. Using bitter sea salt, the bitterness and fishy taste are mixed together, but they cover each other's taste and achieve each other, making it easier for people to accept.

This is one of the important reasons why the salted fish trade in Europe was so hot in the Middle Ages. Bitter salt and smelly salted fish can really accomplish and cover up each other. Another important reason is the religious issue. There are many times when meat is not eaten in this era, but salted fish is not considered meat and can be eaten on fast days. Two major reasons have caused the salted fish trade to be very tight.

But Beihai country seems to be different, because Marin "invented" the technology of hatching chickens, ducks and geese in the Kang house, which led to a very developed poultry breeding industry in Beihai country. It should be pointed out that chicken and duck are not considered red meat, and can also be eaten during fasting. Its taste is much better than salted fish. Therefore, on the fast date in Beihai country, the sales of chicken, duck, goose, and eggs are very hot. Whenever there is a choice, who would eat salted fish? Isn't it better to eat chicken?

Mainly, the fishy smell of salted fish is difficult to remove. To remove the fishy smell, expensive spices are required. Or, it can be fried directly to get rid of the fishy smell, but it also requires a lot of cooking oil, which most people can't afford. Because the fishy taste is too heavy, the bitter sea salt has a bitter and salty taste, which greatly reduces or disperses the effect of the fishy taste.

Of course, this is a helpless choice for the poor. But the nobles are different, they are born to pursue a good quality of life. Therefore, they also like the salt of Beihai Country with very low bitterness.

Before Marin promoted the use of removing most of the brine and washing the salt again with clean water, most of the high-quality, non-bitter table salt eaten by European aristocrats was actually mineral salt. But most of the mineral salt is actually bitter, and only a small number of high-quality salt mines produce table salt that is not bitter. And these are all rounded up by the nobles, and the price is relatively expensive.

At the beginning, it was the Principality of Lüneburg that controlled the supply of high-end, non-bitter refined salt. The salt mines in Lüneburg, although not bitter refined salt is only a small part, but the total amount is also quite a lot. At least, it is enough to welcome the German aristocracy. Most of the bitter salt is sold to the people of Lübeck to pickle herring caught from the Baltic Sea. In this way, because of the high price of the bitter Lüneburg mineral salt, the Swedes invented the infamous canned stinky herring. The smell of canned herring is because the Swedes put very little salt when cooking the fish, which makes the smell uncontrollable. If there is enough salt, it won't be like this.

But the arrival of Marin, a traverser, broke the original pattern. He reduced the bitterness of sea salt by more than half by means of leading the way, resulting in the bitterness of sea salt almost indistinguishable, which is comparable to high-grade refined salt. On the contrary, at that time, Marin was stunned. The price for selling this "high-grade sea salt" with a very low bitterness was still very low, which was a little bit higher than that of bitter salt.

This touched the interests and bottom line of the Duke of Lüneburg. Later, the reason why Lüneburg formed the Eight-Power Allied Force to besiege the North Sea State, in fact, in order to retaliate for this matter. Unfortunately, the Principality of Lüneburg was defeated and even annexed by Marin.

Previously, Marin sold sea salt that was not bitter and covered it up, pretending that it was a high-quality concentrated salt mine produced overseas. But now, after annexing the salt capital of Lüneburg, Marin doesn't bother to use overseas salt mines as a cover. To conceal, "Lüneburg has discovered a new salt concentrate" is enough.

Therefore, when discussing the salt trade business with the hostile princes this time, Marin's banner was "Lüneburg has discovered a new large-scale concentrated salt mine. Every prince is welcome to order, and the price is favorable"...

Because Marin's confidential work was in place, he even put the main salt-producing area on Cape Breton Island in the Americas. The princes did not know that the so-called "refined salt" provided by the North Sea country was actually boiled from sea water. So, when they got the "Double Eleven Special Price" given by Marin, they didn't know that they had been slaughtered a long time ago...

No way, the gap in understanding between the two parties is too big!

According to the traditional experience of the past, the princes thought that the refined salt that was not bitter came from the essence of the salt mine. Therefore, they naturally believe that salt that is not bitter should be expensive.

How do they know that as long as they know a little bit of chemistry, they can make sea salt less bitter. Hundreds of years of knowledge and cognition gaps are not just for fun.

Even, many princes still laughed at Marin for selling the "gold" at the price of cabbage. How would they know that this hardly bitter table salt is sea salt, and the cost is the price of cabbage...

It is also fortunate that Marin's salt production base has always been on remote islands, and later the main production area was transferred to the Americas. Therefore, the princes do not know the inner situation, and the three views will not be subverted.

Marlin was also a chicken thief, but after learning about the consumers' thoughts, he decided to start cooking salt with coal in Newcastle, England. Moreover, the most common technique is used, no bitterness, no salt washing. The quality of the table salt produced is similar to that of ordinary salt of this era. Then, the two kinds of salt are sold together, especially externally. In this way, it is more rare to show the "fine salt" that is not bitter. The price should be higher. But within Beihai country, no matter whether it is aristocrat or serf, they eat salt that is not bitter. Only when it is sold externally will it be sold together with bitter salt, so that nobles in other countries feel that they are "superior". At the same time, it is convenient to have a high price...

In addition to salt and ironware, the trade volume of spirits is not small. Mainly, Marin used aging wheat to make a lot of rye Erguotou. After the white wine is brewed, it needs to be placed for one or two years, the taste is better, and it is resistant to storage. As long as it is above 40 degrees, liquor can be stored for many years. Therefore, now Beihai Country has stored a lot of rye Erguotou with a temperature of 53 degrees, which are all packed in oak barrels. When it is about to be sold, the barrel will be opened for further blending. For example, blended into a 40-degree whiskey, and a 20-degree Royal Salute. Then, bottled and sold.

Because the inventory is large, it can be sold and survived for the next three to four years. Three or four years later, the scale of sweet potato planting in North America will be expanded. At that time, sweet potato burning will replace rye Erguotou and become the main force in the sales of foreign liquors in Beihai.

As for food sales, Marin's family did not agree this time. Because the North Sea country is about to welcome hundreds of thousands of Ross people, it needs to reserve enough food to deal with it. But as compensation, Marin agreed to sell salted fish to the princes who needed food. Marin now monopolizes the Newfoundland fishing grounds and also vigorously develops the North Sea fishing grounds, so the fishery resources in his hands are very rich. The use of trawl nets has led to a large amount of fishing. Therefore, there is sufficient supply capacity to supply salted fish to the outside world. Moreover, the price can be very favorable.

In fact, the army of the North Sea State no longer eats salted fish with a strong smell. Instead, they choose to deep-fry the salted fish to remove the fishy smell, then mix it into powder and eat it in biscuits. In this way, sufficient protein nutrition can be obtained without the interference of fishy smell. Only for serfs, ordinary salted fish is still being provided. The main reason is that the North Sea country now does not have much soybean oil, so it can only give priority to the nobles and the army. Serfs, can only eat salted fish with a heavier smell first. Of course, when cooking, the chefs of the various manors in the North Sea will add cheap and inferior beer to remove the smell. Sometimes, some **** and vinegar are added. But **** is a spice in Europe in this era, and it is expensive. The vinegar is mainly apple cider vinegar, and the price is not cheap. Therefore, the manor cooks mainly rely on beer to get rid of the smell. If it is fried and fried with a little green onion, the effect will be better. Even, this is still a secret, people in other countries don't know. Because there is no technology for making fish in Chinese food, Europeans eating salted fish in this era is sour and refreshing...Boil it or grill it directly, the nobles can also sprinkle some spices to cover the fishy smell, the common people just bear it...

In addition to the four major commodity trades of ironware, salt, liquor and salted fish, Marin also strives to sell woolen textiles to other countries in the future. However, the North Sea country has not yet developed its wool textile industry. It is still meeting internal demand and has not yet had the ability to export wool textiles on a large scale. Therefore, it was only verbal to reach an intention with the princes, without actually exporting woolen textiles.

The sales of sucrose is currently in its infancy. In Cuba, many new sugarcane fields have been reclaimed, but the production has not yet exploded. Most of the previous cane sugar production was sold locally, and only a small amount was sold to the outside world. After all, there are two hundreds of thousands of people in China. Moreover, there will be a large supply of the army. It is said that eating sugar can make people happy and relieve the irritability and tension of the boring life in the military camp. Moreover, it can provide a lot of energy. Therefore, later generations have also listed sugar as a war preparation material. As a soldier in the North Sea country, eating sugar can be regarded as a very high welfare, and it is also a capital for soldiers to show off to their fellow villagers. As for the large-scale external sales of cane sugar, it is estimated that the newly opened sugar cane fields will produce a large amount of cane sugar.

In addition, Marin also began to sell canned fruits to the princes in a small amount. For example, canned pineapple, canned orange and canned yellow peach (the seeds were brought back by Marin in the Ming Dynasty). However, oranges and yellow peaches are currently planted in a small area, mainly in the Savannah colony in North America. Therefore, the current output is not high. Only Cuba has grown pineapples on a scale, and can mass produce canned pineapples.

Of course, most canned fruits should be supplied locally first. However, some can be sold in small quantities. The price is naturally very high. At least, it should be hundreds of times the price of food, like the later Maotai. Well, a bottle of hundreds of pfennigs. Anyway, you have no other sources of goods, you can only listen to my offer.

…

In addition to selling goods, Marin also placed orders for purchases from various princes. Mainly beeswax, wooden barrels and flax, as well as some rare metal raw materials such as lead blocks and tin ingots.

The main reason for purchasing beeswax is that there are a lot of canned food in North Sea, and the amount of sealing wax is also very large. Therefore, beeswax needs to be purchased in large quantities. The mountain flowers in southern Germany are very suitable for beekeeping and can produce a lot of beeswax.

There is no need to talk about wooden barrels. Most of the goods transported in Europe these days are in barrels, such as flour and salt. Although Marin has invested in many oak barrel production plants in the Netherlands, he even purchases oak barrels in France. However, because of the developed trade and the large cargo volume, wooden barrels are still in short supply. Therefore, Marin also began to purchase wooden barrels from the German princes.

As for linen, in addition to making clothes, it can also be used as rope and sacks. Flax fiber is tough and has much stronger tensile strength than wool. Therefore, it can be used to make hemp rope and sacks.

Although Marin is now seeking to use sisal rope for the ropes of ships in the North Sea, the current output of sisal is limited, and at most it can meet the needs of ropes immersed in sea water. The ropes used to pull the sails on the ship are mainly hemp ropes. Therefore, the demand for flax is also quite large.

As for lead and tin ingots, it goes without saying that the manufacture of lead bullets and bronze are indispensable, and they are strategic materials. Of course, the princes of this age don't have this awareness, and they can buy it as long as they give money.

Marlin did not ask the other party for discounts when purchasing materials, but instead purchased them at market prices. Of course, if the other party is interested in certain materials sold by Beihai State, they can barter. Marin also likes bartering things the most, because the North Sea country currently lacks gold and silver. If you can exchange low-cost materials such as table salt, spirits, ironware, and salted fish for urgently needed materials, that would be great. Anyway, the cost of these materials is actually relatively low. Even with discounts, Marin makes a lot of money.

Therefore, in the end, the princes who participated in the trade on both sides were very satisfied. Although differences in political opinions still exist, everyone's hostility towards the North Sea country has been reduced a lot. After all, in the past, it was just a political enemy, and there was no interest in it, so you can feel hostile. Now that I have become a trading partner, pointing to the other side to make money, the hostility will inevitably decrease a lot. At least, from the division to the next, the downgrade became hostile suppression...

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