Marlin, who was in a good mood, decided to go out and breathe. So, he took a group of bodyguards, rode on the war horse, and went to the manor in the north of the city for a vacation.

Summers in East Friesland are not hot, and even temperatures above 30 degrees are rare. Because it is close to the North Sea, it is greatly influenced by the sea. From the latitude, it is in the prevailing westerly wind belt. East Friesland is close to the North Sea, and the cool breeze blowing from the sea makes East Friesland unable to heat up. Similarly, most of the entire North Sea Country does not heat up in summer. Moreover, there is no shortage of rainfall.

However, this also poses problems. Because, many crops need high temperatures in summer to grow smoothly. For example, corn, its optimal temperature during germination is 28~35 degrees. However, weather exceeding 30 degrees in northern Europe is rare. Therefore, the maritime climate of northwestern Europe is not suitable for growing crops such as corn that require a certain amount of heat. Of course, corn can also be grown in northwestern Europe. However, corn is grown locally not to make corn cobs, but to silage corn stalks. The growth requirements of the straw are not high, and before it is mature, it can be harvested and silage. As for the corn cob yield, they didn't wait for the corn cob to set up before harvesting, and the corn yield didn't matter what it was, because people only needed sweet corn stalks......

Due to the lack of hot weather, the coastal areas of England, the Netherlands and northern Germany are not suitable for growing rice, soybeans, corn and other crops. Even wheat cultivation has been affected. Of course, with the improvement of wheat varieties and the widespread use of phosphate fertilizers to promote growth, wheat cultivation became widespread. However, in this era, northwest Europe, and even most of Europe, was still dominated by rye cultivation that did not require much service and did not require high temperatures.

On the other hand, Huaxia, from south to north, has a particularly low summer temperature. Even in the cold Tohoku, it can reach more than 30 degrees in summer. Therefore, Huaxia is very suitable for agriculture. Even in Tohoku, high-quality crops such as rice, soybeans, corn, and sweet potatoes can be grown.

The northwestern coast of Europe, with its warm winters and cool summers, looks very suitable for human habitation, but not very suitable for many crops. Only in the Mediterranean region, where summer temperatures are higher, is more suitable for agriculture. So, the Roman civilization appeared in the Mediterranean, and so did the Greek civilization. Even in the 16th century, France and Spain played a dog's head for Italy.

In fact, from the perspective of later generations, Italy is mountainous and has few plains. If it weren't for the abundance of sunshine, high temperatures, the introduction of advanced irrigation technology from the Middle East, and the addition of volcanic ash soil, it would not be the fertile land it is in the eyes of Europeans today.

Today, the most fertile places in Italy are probably Sicily, known as the "Golden Basin", and the Kingdom of Naples in the south. This is because the volcanic ash soil here is more fertile and agriculture is more developed.

But in later generations, people learned to use chemical fertilizers and no longer relied on the volcanic ash soil. Then, the most developed part of Italy moved from the south to the north to the Lombardy plain, which owned the city of Milan, and the Po Valley, which owned the city of Turin. And Sicily and Naples, which are prosperous now, will be the poor countryside of Italy in later generations, and the people of northern Italy even want to get rid of the burden of the south......

……

It was precisely because northern Germany was not suitable for agriculture that Marin was bent on colonizing North America. North America, mainly in the United States, has a climate similar to that of China, and the summer temperature is relatively high, which is more suitable for agriculture. For example, soybeans, which Marlin values very much, are more suitable for cultivation in North America. It is important to know that North America is the main soybean producing area in later generations. In addition to being used as the concentrate of war horses, soybeans can also be used for oil extraction. With soybean oil, people's nutrition can keep up. In the era when there was no oil and water, people liked to eat fatty meat because of the oil and water. In later generations, when the supply of vegetable oil was abundant, people mainly ate lean meat, and even specially bred lean white pigs. In conclusion, soybeans are a very significant crop.

In Europe, the main concentrate feed for horses is oats. However, soybeans can be used to extract oil and make tofu, which are advantages that oats do not have.

……

Ride a horse and wander around the manor ranch north of the city. Industrious farmers are seen feeding their horses, or brushing them and shoveling horse manure. Seeing the farmers looking over, Marin smiled and nodded. After all, these farmers are working for themselves, and it's okay to give them some smiles.

However, when he walked to a stable, Marin suddenly saw a group of white horses with their bellies painted with black stuff. So, he stopped with a frown and asked:

"What do you put on the horse?"

When the farmer saw Marin, he bent down in a panic and said:

"Dear Grand Duke, I don't know what it is, it was the steward of the manor who asked me to smear it. It is said that it can treat skin diseases in horses. ”

"Skin disease? Can it be treated with this? Marin was a little surprised, thinking that it was a miracle ointment concocted by a veterinarian. However, when he got closer, Marin actually smelled the volatilization of gasoline......

"The smell of gasoline, the black oil...... Could it be ......" Marin's face changed, and he said to the groom:

"Call your stewards!"

"Yes!" The groom hurried to find the steward. After a while, a slightly chubby steward came running out of breath, sweating profusely. The corners of Marin's mouth twitched - Nima, this steward must have been greedy for a lot of oil and water. Otherwise, you can't eat fat in this era. After all, there is very little oil and water in the food of this year. It seems that there is no shortage of fat, oily and watery food......

However, Marin did not come to him about his greed for ink, but about the oil smeared on his horse's back......

Yes, oil! Marlin judged by the smell and morphology - the horse had a skin disease and had oil on its back. This made Marin very surprised, could it be that the North Sea Country still produces oil?

After listening to Marin's inquiry, the fat steward breathed a sigh of relief - Nima, scared to death, and thought that Greedy Ink had been discovered. As for this black oil, the fat man knows:

"Dear Grand Duke, this is the younger brother of the villain, when he went to sell whiskey spirits in the Galician region of Poland, he happened to find someone in the local Vistula Valley digging a black oil from the ground. This oil smells bad and can also burn. However, its greatest effect is that it can be applied to people and animals to treat skin diseases. It just so happened that the villain was in charge of this horse manor, and the villain's younger brother helped the villain bring some of this black oil back from there for the treatment of war horse skin diseases......"

"Polish Galicia...... Vistula Valley......" Marin frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly realized—

Yes, in the early years of Europe, Romania, Galicia, Bavaria and Sicily, there were indeed records of oil seedlings outcropping from the surface. In ancient China, as early as the Song Dynasty, there was a record of the extension of oil in northern Shaanxi.

Of course, the yield of these oil seedlings is very low, and a manually dug seedling pit can produce dozens of catties of oil every day. In ancient times, only Baku, later Azerbaijan, had a high oil outcrop on the surface. According to Marco Polo, Baku's annual output of oil could fit hundreds of ships. The artificial oil wells extended in the Song Dynasty were only "400 catties a year", and the output was incomparable. Of course, Baku does not have only one artificial oil well, but dozens. In the Song Dynasty, there was only one well, with an annual output of 400 catties. Of course, it may be more than 400 catties per year, which may be part of the amount handed in.

Later, the fat man told Marin that there are three artificial wells in the Vistula Valley in Galicia, Poland, which produce 20 barrels of oil per year, and each barrel is less than 200 pounds. His brother brought back a total of 22 barrels this time, and he had already used up more than one barrel.

"So, what about the price?" Marin asked with a frown. If it's too expensive, it's not a good thing either. But with such a small production, it's certainly not cheap.

"The price, according to my brother, a barrel of black oil can be exchanged for a one-pound bottle of whiskey. And in Poland, a bottle of whiskey costs one gold coin. ”

"However, it is also worth more than twenty gold coins. Your brother is just a person in charge of distribution, does he have more than twenty gold coins? ”

The fat man scratched the back of his head and said worriedly:

"He saw that this black oil had a special effect on treating the skin diseases of horses, so he tried some first. Anyway, the annual cost of treating horses at the horse farm is not small. As long as there is a curative effect, the villain can help him reimburse this cost......"

In fact, because the brothers monopolized this drug, the fat man could also enrich himself. For example, if the purchase price is 1 gold coin per barrel, he can quote 2 gold coins...... However, in the face of Marin, he did not dare to lie. Because, you can know the details of this matter by looking it up.

Marin thought about it for a while and said:

"You did a good job of taking the remaining 20 barrels of oil...... Give me all the black oil, I want it all! Also, don't make a public announcement. ”

Before leaving, Marin turned back and said:

"Let your brother report to my office next time, I have something to look for him. If this is done, you brothers will be rewarded! ”

After saying that, Marin happily asked his bodyguards to return to the city with 20 barrels of oil. He's going to rush back with the oil and do some black technology experiments......

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