Soon, after arranging the next few days, Marin went to the military port of Emden to board the battleship and went to London. When I went to London, I was still accompanied by 10 warships. Although the cost of travel is a bit high, it is better to be safe.

You know, Beihai is not a pure land, and there are many pirates here. If you are not careful, take a normal ship, and happen to encounter a powerful pirate fleet, it will be capsized in the gutter. Therefore, it is good to say that he spares his life or talks about pomp. Every time he went to sea, Marin would accompany at least a few 500-ton warships. In this way, safety is guaranteed.

Upon arriving in London, Marin proposed to Edward a plan to annex Ireland at the opportunity......

"Annexation of Ireland? What are you doing there? Poor and remote, rainy all day long, it is not easy to grow food......" Edward frowned, as if he did not look down on the western part of the island of Ireland.

Indeed, the island of Ireland faces the Atlantic Current, and most of its western edge is rainy and sunny all year round. Such weather is very unsuitable for growing food. Because, when the autumn harvest comes, it is likely that you will be rained and rained, and the grain will rot in the ground......

Of course, this humid climate is very suitable for growing pastures. Whether it's pasture or forest, they all like the warm and humid climate of the western part of the island of Ireland. As long as the roots do not rot due to water accumulation, the grass and the forest will grow well.

However, in these days, England has no shortage of livestock, nor is there a shortage of wood......

After all, England's population is now only 3 million, nearly 20 times less than the 55 million that followed. Therefore, there are large areas of uncultivated land in England at the moment, and there is no shortage of forests and meadows, and there is no shortage of livestock.

As a result, England is not very interested in the pastures and forests of the island of Ireland. As for the eastern coastal counties on the island of Ireland suitable for growing crops, they were now under the control of England.

As a result, Edward had little interest in annexing the rainy parts of the western part of the island of Ireland......

There was no way, Marin could only persuade him bitterly:

"Your Majesty, why are you sending troops to the northern coast of France? Are there any benefits? ”

"I ...... I want to retake the fortress of Calais......" Speaking of which, Edward himself was a little weak-hearted.

The fortress of Calais was the only stronghold of England on the European continent at that time, so England spared no cost to build the fortress of Calais very tall and strong. The French besieged it several times, but they all returned with a feather. Now the fortress of Calais fell into the hands of the French, who also attached great importance to Calais, stationed heavy troops in it, and fortified the city. The British now want to recapture the fortress of Calais...... It's not your average hard ......

According to the speculation of the French generals, the current fortress of Calais can withstand the siege of England for 8 months or more. And 8 months was enough for France to react and send a large army to reinforce it......

Provided, of course, that Marin did not participate in the siege of the fortress of Calais. After all, the cast-iron gates of the Calais fortress could not stop Marin's water king's water......

But Marin's aqua regia is a secret thing that the outside world doesn't know. Therefore, according to normal thinking, the cast iron city gate is indeed difficult to solve. And if you climb the wall, the taller and stronger the wall, the more difficult it is to overcome......

……

Hearing Edward's lack of confidence, Marin rolled his eyes and said:

"Your Majesty, do you believe that the English army will be able to capture the fortress of Calais before the French react?" Marin specifically named "England" and did not include himself. Because, he has aqua regia......

Edward stopped talking......

Marin continued:

"Unable to conquer the fortress of Calais, we sent troops to the north of France and plundered some of our belongings at most, but it is said that this time the French had prepared and hid most of their belongings and food in the various forts along the coast. It's not easy to ransack the northern coast of France...... In this way, we don't have much advantage of sending troops to northern France, we can only land and grab some property like the Vikings, which is too cheap......"

"That'...... So what do you say? To attack Ireland? Even if you capture a few indigenous forces in the west of Ireland, it won't be of much benefit...... Perhaps, the spoils of war have not yet looted the northern coast of France......" retorted Edward.

Marin stroked his forehead with a helpless expression:

"My Majesty, your mind cannot learn from those merchants! You are the king, think long-term! Indeed, even the small indigenous nations on the island of Ireland did not receive much of their wealth. But what a big deal! When the time comes, you will be the first great king in the history of England to completely unify Scotland and Ireland! Such feats will be recorded in history forever! ”

Marin felt that Edward's strategic vision was terrible, although Edward was quite smart, but he was a little childish, and did not have the bearing and long-term vision that a big nobleman should have.

However, he can't be blamed for this. Before Marlin teamed up with Margaret County Lord to rescue Edward from the Tower of London, Edward was imprisoned by Henry VII for more than a decade. And those ten years were supposed to be Edward's adolescent years when he received an aristocratic education......

It is precisely because he did not receive the education of the great nobles in time when he was the most deserving of education, so although Edward's talent is not low, his foundation is too poor. After becoming a monarch, although he is not stupid, his eyelids are still a little shallow. He thinks more like a businessman than a monarch......

Therefore, Marin decided to give him a good lesson......

Marin spread out a map of Ireland, pointed it out to Edward, and explained:

"Your Majesty, please see, this is the ...... of the Ulsterber Kingdom" (please refer to the map on the 8th floor of the Rise of the Emperor)

The Ulster province of this era was not the Ulster province of later generations. The province of Ulster covers more than 8,000 square kilometres, accounting for more than half of what later Northern Ireland is.

Marin remembers that in later generations, Northern Ireland was mostly in the eastern part of the rain-shaded area, and its southern part was still very suitable for agriculture. After all, the North Atlantic Current, which brings moist airflow, rushes from the southwest, northeast of the island of Ireland, right on the backside. Of course, its back coast is still affected by warm and humid air currents, but the southern part of Northern Ireland is still suitable for agriculture.

But now the Ulster Kingdom is very small, only a small part of the easternmost coast of the later Ulster Province, and about the same size as the county of Wicklow, which is about 2,000 square kilometers. A large area of its interior is still indigenous.

As long as the troops are sent to sweep through the indigenous Irish people, not to mention anything else, just the west and south of the current Ulster Castle, and the north of the territory directly under the British crown, that large tract of land can be reclaimed a lot of fertile land.

“…… If the army occupies this place, I estimate that 1 million acres of arable land will be cultivated here...... And, it is completely under you and ......"

Marin casually reported a figure of 1 million acres, which is roughly equivalent to 4,000 square kilometers. This number is still very reliable. After all, the area of the later Ulster province was 8,000 square kilometers. Moreover, it seems that he has seen a topographic map of Britain in later generations, although there are some mountains in Northern Ireland, but most of them are green (the plains are green), so he should be able to make so much arable land......

Then Edward stood up:

"Can you really reclaim so much arable land?" Obviously, Edward was tempted.

In these days, although the English aristocracy loved to raise sheep to earn money. However, as a king, Edward also knew that food was the foundation of the country......

For example, when you send troops to fight, can you use sheep as military rations? No! And sheep are not used to kill and eat meat, usually, the herdsmen only shear their sheep. When you are hungry, squeeze a little smelly goat's milk and drink it or make a smelly goat milk product. If you really want to use sheep as military rations, there is not enough to eat. As for eating the strong-smelling goat's milk products, those soldiers who came from English farmers may not be able to bear it.

Therefore, for Edward, as king, food was still more important than wool. Wool can only be used to make money, and grain is the country's capital. If you have 1 million acres (6 million acres) of arable land, even if you don't sell it for money, you can guarantee a long-term food supply for tens of thousands of troops. In fact, even 500,000 acres, let alone 1 million acres, can impress Edward. After all, one acre equals 6 acres of land. Even if England's agricultural technology is backward at this time, the yield of 6 acres of land is still comparable to the yield of 1 acre of land in Marin Beihai Country, right? If you raise a soldier on 6 acres of land, 500,000 acres can feed 500,000 troops......

The more Edward calculated, the happier he became, and he happily agreed to abandon the attack on the northern coast of France and instead send troops to annex the entire island of Ireland......