Chapter 118： Teutonic wool

After arriving in Königsberg, Marin told Chief Philip the news that he helped Teutonic, and advised Chief Philip to quickly return the State Council with Lithuania to settle the matter.

Because, at present, the Grand Duchy of Moscow has not been beaten by the Crimean Khanate, the Lithuanians are still a bit dazed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow. They are now also afraid that the Teutonic Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Moscow will attack Lithuania. Therefore, it is the best time to draw up a treaty now.

If the Grand Duchy of Moscow is abused by the Crimean Khanate, let the Lithuanians see the weakness of the Moscow people, they may not be willing to let go of the Teutonic Kingdom.

Therefore, Marin suggested that Chief Philip should complete the exchange and sign the contract with the fastest speed. Then, taking advantage of the New Testament's completion, the Lithuanians had not yet responded, quickly suppressing the Prussian nobles who had been supported by Lithuania, and completed complete control of the Teutonic state.

Know that the Prussian nobles are not as powerful as the Teutonic Knights, but the rural areas they control are much larger than the four Hanseatic cities controlled by the Teutonic Knights.

Basically, 50 kilometers away from the four Hanseatic cities, most of them are the territory of the Prussian aristocracy. The "enclosure movement" that the head of Philip, under Marin's suggestion, mainly occurred near the eastern border area. There is a wasteland there, not many Prussian nobles. Because the Prussian nobility is also mostly concentrated near the coast and the big river. Inland areas are made up of many wastelands. After all, the Teutonic State currently has a land area of ​​36,900 square kilometers, which is more than ten times that of East Friesland. However, its population is only 300,000, twice that of East Friesland.

Therefore, many areas in the Teutonic Kingdom are wasteland. Only close to the Baltic Sea coast and some large river border areas have more developed agriculture and denser population.

However, those native Prussian nobles occupy areas that are fertile plains and areas along the river, which are very suitable for agriculture. Many wildernesses in the eastern region lack rivers nearby and are inconvenient for water conservancy and irrigation. Therefore, they cannot grow land, but they are suitable for herding. Of course, if it is willing to smash money to open a ditch and dig a ditch, many plain areas in the interior can also be transformed into good fields. It's just that the investment is too large and not very cost-effective.

It can be said that the large rivers and fertile plains in the Teutonic Kingdom are basically controlled by the local Prussian aristocracy. Although these Prussian nobles did not have the money to control the Teutonic Knights in the four Hanseatic cities, they were backed by Lithuania and Poland. They were not afraid of being wiped out by the Teutonic Knights.

However, if the Teutonic Kingdom and Lithuania reach a compromise, these Prussian nobles are equivalent to being sold. By then, the Teutonic Knights quickly dispatched a large army, they could sweep these local nobles, complete the control of a large area of ​​land in the Teutonic State, and truly control the entire economic lifeline of the Teutonic State.

"Philip, hurry up with the Lithuanians! What are you still hesitating? While the Grand Duchy of Moscow has not been defeated by the Crimean Khanate, you should take the opportunity to send troops immediately and take down all the Prussian nobles who are not in control! I know that those Prussian nobles have no solid city as their backing, and there are at most a few small castles. As long as you dispatch a large army, it is easy to sweep their manor. As for the castle, you can take some time to conquer. The city is so difficult to overcome ... "

Chief Philip's face was tangled, and after thinking about it, he said to Marin:

"Marin, I know you are right, I also prepared 10,000 new troops. However, the Teutonic Kingdom is different from your East Frisian Lambert State. You can say a word in East Frisian Lambert State. , I need authorization from the Teutonic Knights Conference on my side! "

"Then the conference will be held soon! As long as you take the opportunity to wipe out the Prussian nobles, the Teutonic Knights will be a stable and unified country in the future. In this way, you do n’t have to worry about domestic rebellion."

"Well, I will issue an order to convene more than 800 Teutonic Knights to come to Konigsberg for the conference!"

"That's it!"

"By the way, Marin, you used to let me engage in 'enclosure sports' in the eastern wilderness area. Now, a few years have passed. I also rely on the 'enclosure sports' to attract thousands of wandering knights. The most important thing is What's more, the first batch of sheep from the 300 pastures occupied by wandering knights has become large-scale and has begun to produce wool on a large scale. You see ... Is there a way to help me solve the sales of wool? "Philip, head of the large group Rubbing his hands, he looked at Marin expectantly.

Marin only remembered this time. Five years ago, after the head of the Philippe Group had just become the head of the Teutonic State, he had suggested that he use the large number of public wastes in the inland areas of Teutonic to attract those wandering to the Teutonic State. German wandering knights, let them raise sheep in enclosures, and then concentrate on shearing wool for foreign trade.

Now, five years later, Marin estimated that the sheep of the head of Philip's men have also been on the scale, and indeed it is possible to export large-scale wool. So he asked:

"Philip, your sheep, are they coarse-wool sheep or fine-wool sheep?" Generally speaking, the fine wool of fine wool sheep is used to spin high-grade wool textiles. The coarse wool is made of low-grade wool textiles. For example, the black cross vest with white background for each of Marin's soldiers was woven with coarse wool for the sake of cheapness.

"Well ... I have been looking for fine wool sheep breeds for the past few years. However, it has not been too successful. Because, the best fine wool sheep is currently in Spain. The breed seems to be called 'merino sheep'. But the Spanish This kind of sheep is not allowed to be exported at all. It is terrifying to kill whoever exports. Therefore, we cannot import the Merino sheep of Spain. Therefore, we can only import from another large wool-producing country-England. It's just that the British have started to control the export of fine wool sheep. It took me 5 years to smuggle to get 500 British fine wool sheep. Now, after breeding and expansion, it only reached the scale of 2000 ... As for the other sheep, it is still the local coarse wool sheep ... "

"2000 ... very good ... By the way, at what price do you plan to sell wool?" Marin asked with concern.

Helping Philip sell wool is not a problem, but the problem is that you want to be profitable. Otherwise, you are not so interested ...

"Well, the fine wool of British fine wool sheep, I plan to sell 2 fenny per pound. As for coarse wool, 1 fenny two pounds ..."

"It's cheap ..." Marin exclaimed.

Know that the British export wool, about 2,000 pence a bag, each bag weighs about 360 pounds. On average, the export price per pound of wool is as high as 5.55 pence. However, this is not counted, the British also levy a high wool export tax, each sack of wool 33 shillings and 4 pence export tax, equivalent to 400 pence. In this way, the wool is actually in the hands of foreign merchants, actually up to 2400 pence a bag. On average, the cost per pound is as high as 6.66 pence. The equivalent of pennies and fenny, that is to say, the price of fine wool in the UK is as high as 6.66 fenny per pound.

The head of Philip set the price of British fine wool at 2 fenny per pound, not even one third of the export price of British wool, which is indeed cheap. It's a pity that there are too few shipments. After all, the Teutonic State has only 2,000 British fine wool sheep ...

As for coarse wool, the European market generally has about 1.5 fenny per pound. Philip ’s offer is only one-third of the Western European market ...

"No way, Marin, you know, the Teutonic country is in Eastern Europe, and it is inconvenient to trade with Western Europe. It is also troublesome to transport the Teutonic wool to Western Europe. If I do not use the price advantage, it is difficult to obtain market."

Marin nodded, and Commander Philip was also a wise man. The wool of Teutonic countries has just entered the market. If you do not take the low-cost route to attract customers, you will not be able to spend any money. The most important thing is that the wool of the Teutonic State is not famous, and it can only rely on the early dumping of low prices to attract merchants to purchase.

At present, there are 2,000 British fine-wool sheep in the pasture of the head of Philip and his men. However, there are more than 30,000 local sheep, and it is increasing rapidly. The annual wool output is also tens of thousands of pounds. If, after this battle, Philip can seize more serfs from the defeated Prussian aristocracy and help herding sheep, he and his men can raise more than 100,000 sheep without any problems, or even more. The reason why there are only more than 30,000 sheep now is mainly because there are not enough manpower for herding sheep ...

Suddenly, Marin remembered—since he could buy slaves from the Crimeans. It seems that the Teutonic Kingdom can also buy slaves of shepherds from the Crimeans ...

Marin told the head of Philippe about this idea. Philip was very interested in this idea ~ www.novelhall.com ~ However, he also worried about how to transport slaves from the Crimean Khan to the Teutonic Kingdom ...

"The last question, is the Teutonic State exporting wool, is there an export tax?" Marin asked with concern. There is no fixed standard for export tax. It is purely based on the mood of each country. If the export tax is too high, the cost of the buyer will be greatly increased.

"No export tax is levied for now, because the export of wool is still in the trial stage. After that, the export tax rate must be set. However, I am the head of the group and can reduce the export tax as much as possible. Wool export tax is set at 10% ... "

Marin breathed a sigh of relief, and his previous worries disappeared. If the export tax of the Teutonic wool is as high as that of the United Kingdom, and the export tax for foreigners is directly set at 40%, then the wool procurement cost will be greatly increased. Coupled with long-distance freight, it will reach half of the price of super-high British wool.

Fortunately, Philip himself is the head of the Teutonic State, and can interfere with the export tax formulation, but it is good news ...

In fact, European wool is very tight now. In the Flemish region of the European Textile Center, many wool mills have closed down because of the UK's restrictions on wool exports. If the wool of the Teutonic country is transported to the Flemish region, it will definitely be very popular and will not be sold.

Moreover, his own East Friesland has also begun to develop a small-scale woolen industry. However, the technology is not yet mature. Mainly cleaning and degreasing wool, as well as removing odor, etc., need to be improved. After all, if you take out a piece of woolen textile, you can't take out the smell of sheepskin ... When these technologies are perfected, Marin even plans to sacrifice textile artifacts such as "Jenny Spinning Machine" and "Flying Shuttle". Therefore, it is a good idea to obtain a source of wool now ...