Chapter 176： Borrow

Just after the war, and 7,000 soldiers were sent to Italy, Marin felt that he had been able to develop the economy honestly recently.

Among them, the development of the textile industry has been put on an important agenda. You should know that in Europe, the textile industry is definitely one of the important industries to increase fiscal revenue.

The Flemish region, because of the wool industry, has become a European economically developed region. In Flanders, many women are engaged in the woolen industry and earn no less than men. Even, in many families, men have nothing to do and bring children at home, while women go to the wool mill to make money to support their families.

Moreover, whether it is operating a wool spinning factory, or exporting woolen cloth, or even importing and exporting wool, all can generate taxes. It is precisely because of the developed woolen industry in the Flemish region that the Flemish region became a famous wealthy region in Europe at that time. Of course, it also caused the coveted Charlie of the father-in-law of Maximilian I to be annexed.

Moreover, after Prince Philip, son of Maximilian I, inherited Burgundy, he did not live directly in the inland Burgundy, but moved directly to the most developed city in the Flemish region. Ghent.

At this time, Ghent, with a population of 55,000 people, is the fourth largest city in the Holy Roman Empire, second only to Milan, Prague and Genoa. It is the textile capital of Europe at this time. The city has 55,000 residents, most of them also related to the textile industry.

Every year, more than half of the taxes collected from the Flemish region are in the Netherlands. It is a pity that Prince Philip separated from his father since childhood, and was not too close to Maximilian I. Therefore, the famous handsome king Philip, the husband of the mad girl Juana, although financially sound, did not want to fully support his father Maximilian I, but intercepted most of the financial income to maintain his luxury life. If this were not the case, Maximilian I would not be financially stretched.

However, Maximilian I couldn't help it. After all, the Duke of Burgundy was his son Philip, not him. Therefore, Maximilian I has been unable to make full use of the financial power of the Netherlands. Moreover, the Dutch Parliament has always encouraged Prince Philip and his father to fight against each other. Prince Philip had been separated from his father since he was a child, and had been raised in the royal palace of Ghent. He accompanied him more often by members of the Dutch Parliament. Under their influence and instigation, Prince Philip's affection for his father was weak. It was Maximilian I who didn't mind the son's selfishness. After all, he is such a son.

In fact, the mad girl Juana, until now, is still a good person. It was just that he was mad by his fickle husband Philip.

Of course, we will not discuss the selfishness and unkindness of "Handsome King" Philip here. The main discussion here is the developed woolen industry in Flanders.

Originally, the reason why the wool industry in Flanders is so developed is that there are two factors-one is that the local textile industry has a large number of talents. In addition to various craftsmen who are good at making textile machines and handling wool, there are a lot of local masters Women spinning and weaving; in addition, the Flemish region is on the North Sea, facing the UK. At the beginning, Britain was a big exporter of wool. Moreover, British wool is fine-wool sheep, and the wool is of high quality. Throughout Europe, among wool quality, British wool ranks second and Spanish Merino wool ranks first.

It's just that the Spanish Merino was regarded as a national treasure and banned from exodus. Even the wool of merino sheep is only circulated in southern Europe such as Spain and Italy, and it cannot be circulated at all in the Flemish region.

Moreover, other countries have not tried to secretly introduce merino sheep. However, Merino sheep have a characteristic that they like Spain's sunshine and dry climate very much, and they are not suitable for humid climates.

For example, in history, merino sheep were introduced to North America, but failed. Because merino sheep, used to the dry climate, are prone to rotten hoof disease in wet North America. After being introduced into the dry continent of Australia, it has developed rapidly and has become Australia's "country riding on sheep's back."

The same constraints, other European countries, especially the northern countries, even if the merino sheep are introduced, they can not feed. Because, the soil is unacceptable.

However, Marin has a countermeasure ...

The countermeasure is to use the ewe to find the ram of the merino to "borrow the seed" to make a hybrid breed ...

As long as the mother is a sheep from the northwestern Europe, then the offspring produced by combining with the merino rams will probably be able to adapt to the humid climate of northwestern Europe and will not get rotten hoof disease.

Know that the animal's body is developed in the mother's body. Its physiological characteristics are also closer to the mother. Therefore, Jewish talents have a way to determine the Jewish origin based on their mother.

Therefore, if you want to introduce excellent foreign animal breeds, and fear that the exotic species do not adapt to the local climate, the best way is to introduce foreign male animals and let the local female animals become pregnant.

The later-generation China Merino sheep is made of Australian male merino sheep, mixed with the native West Xinjiang fine wool sheep and other local fine wool sheep ewes. German merino sheep were also obtained by breeding native ewes and merino rams.

British fine-wool sheep, born in the British island of humid climate, naturally will not get rotten hoof disease. The British climate is very similar to the coastal areas of the German North Sea. Earlier, Marin quietly produced a large number of British fine-wool sheep from the United Kingdom through high prices, preparing to use it as a mother, introducing the excellent genes of merino sheep, and creating a new sheep breed.

After blending the characteristics of merino sheep and British fine wool sheep, the final breed, the quality of wool, will exceed that of British fine wool sheep, but it is worse than pure breed merino sheep.

Marin also intends to develop the wool textile industry locally, but the wool textile industry also needs enough wool. Moreover, it must be good wool.

Europe does not lack wool, but European sheep, mostly shaggy sheep, are similar to those in North Africa and West Asia. Coarse wool is everywhere, and it is not rare, nor can it be sold at high prices. The fine wool is dominated by Spanish merino wool and British wool. These two high-grade wools are in short supply.

The current European silk production is very low and the quality is not good. Even so, only rich aristocrats can wear silk clothes. Generally, people with better economic conditions at home cannot wear silk, but they are not willing to wear coarse woolen clothes like ordinary people. Therefore, the fine wool woven into fine wool has been widely sought after by the wealthy class in Europe.

Therefore, in the European trade market, merino wool and British fine wool are now "hard to find." After Henry VII came to power, British officials are now cracking down on wool exports in favor of wool textile exports. This is mainly because the export of wool textiles receives more tax than wool export. Moreover, the development of the wool textile industry can also generate a large number of labor jobs.

Therefore, the economy of the Flemish region has actually suffered a certain blow in recent years. Because, they can get less and less high-grade British wool. Therefore, many wool mills have closed down. Even if it didn't fail, it had to be changed to low-end woolen spinning made of coarse wool. However, in this way, the profit is much lower.

Marin has worked very hard and paid a great deal of money. Within a few years, 1,500 female British fine-wool sheep were obtained from the British high price. Now, he intends to ship these British fine-wool sheep to Aoun Oasis in Western Sahara by boat, and breed them with merino rams. Then, take these pregnant ewes back to East Friesland. After the ewes are produced, they are then optimised, and some breeds that best suit the local climate and the best wool quality are selected for reproduction. In this way, you can get high-quality fine-wool sheep with better quality than British fine-wool sheep.

Before, while introducing 100 pairs of merino sheep from Spain, Marin was forced to assure the Spanish kings not to take the merino sheep away from Western Sahara. Now, Marin did not violate the agreement with the two kings. He just got a bunch of "British girls" in the sheep world, entangled with pure-bred Merino rams, and took the breed away. Even if the Spanish kings knew, they could not blame Malin. Because the lambs born in the British fine wool sheep are no longer merino sheep, but a new breed. Moreover, it is a new variety that can adapt to the climate of Germany.

This new breed of fine wool sheep, although the wool quality is not as good as the Spanish Merino sheep, but more than the British fine wool. British fine wool is still in short supply in the European market. The export price of British wool is about 2,000 pence a bag and weighs 360 pounds. Coupled with the heavy tax of 400 pence a bag, the export price of British wool is as high as 6.66 pence per pound ~ www.novelhall.com ~ sheep. When the time comes, will wool still be sold? The price can't be lower ...

When the time comes, breeding such high-quality fine-wool sheep will become an industry with high output value. It is a good choice to export wool or process it into high-grade wool and then export it.

Moreover, this new breed of sheep can generally adapt to the climate of the Americas. How big is the American territory? When the time comes to develop sheep farming in North America, and it is still the sheep industry that breeds new-style sheep whose quality is higher than that of Britain, hasn't the British sheep industry been defeated?

Sheep farming is different from agriculture, because arable land, sowing and harvesting require a lot of manpower, material and animal power. Therefore, there is not enough population, and even if there is more land, it cannot be developed.

But the sheep industry is different, as long as there is enough land, the herders can raise many sheep. Especially, with the help of a shepherd dog, the family can raise a lot of sheep.

For example, the New Zealand ranch that Marin had seen online in his previous life was as large as 100,000 acres, with 28,000 sheep and 26,000 cattle. However, this ranch has a total of 7 people and 40 shepherd dogs.

Therefore, in the absence of labor, and the lack of advanced agricultural machinery, the best way to develop a site as large as North America is to raise more sheep and cattle, and make full use of the land.

Thinking of this, Marin suddenly remembered the famous German Shepherd. It seems that this breed has not yet appeared. However, should it have an ancestor variety? Marin decided to send people to look around in Germany ...