The princes of small countries were helpless without the protection of the boss, and since the Imperial Diet was not on his side, Otto III, Count of Schaumburg, could only accept the fate of the Recklinghausen region being forcibly bought.

According to the market price, the price in the Recklinghausen area is 200,000 gold coins. However, Marin can't get the cash out now. After all, Europe was already short of precious metals in this era. The biggest problem of Marin's North Sea State is not the lack of wealth, but the lack of a currency that represents wealth. Of course, it was not only Marin who lacked currency, but now the whole of Europe was short of gold and silver, otherwise there would not have been a great voyage.

You know, Europe is not rich in gold and silver deposits. Moreover, in trade with the Middle East and India, Europe itself could not produce any special goods that would interest the other side, so it could only pay for gold and silver coins. Therefore, over the years, Europe's foreign trade has been a net outflow of gold and silver. And with the massive outflow of gold and silver, European countries, which lacked gold and silver, had to come up with the crooked idea of adulteration in silver coins. Then, the silver content of European silver coins generally fell below 50%......

It is also because of the lack of gold and silver that prices in Europe are not high now. Of course, the low prices mentioned here are compared with the prices that came after the "price revolution". Compared to the Ming Dynasty or India, prices in Europe are still very high. The reason for this is that European agriculture is too rubbish.

Generally speaking, money is a measure of the total wealth of a society. Although there is a shortage of gold and silver in Europe, there is a shortage of food in particular. That's why food is so expensive. And, it's pretty good right now. After the "price revolution", food prices will increase several times.

The "price revolution" occurred because in the 16th century, the Spaniards obtained a large amount of gold and silver in the Americas and shipped it back to Europe. However, since European agriculture is so rubbish, it has not improved. Therefore, when the total volume of goods remains the same and the supply of gold and silver rises sharply, prices naturally rise wildly.

……

In fact, grain and salt are now hard currencies in Europe. After all, silver coins are worth a lot of money these days. But the smallest denomination of 1 pfennig small silver coin is also a large denomination for ordinary people. After all, the average person sells a day of hard labor, and the average salary is only 2 pfennig. If the most common wage standard in a small place in the future is calculated as 3,000 a month, the daily wage is 100 yuan. So, one pinknig is equivalent to 50 pieces......

Is 50 dollars a large denomination? In later generations, however, there were smaller denominations of 20, 10, 5, and 1, and there were coins of 5 cents and 1 cent......

So, in Europe in this era, metal money could not fully quantify commodities. So what to do? Barter!

And the core of bartering is probably the three major things of food, salt and cloth. Even in ancient China, where products were more abundant, grain and cloth could be counted as currency.

However, in Marin's hands, the most abundant is still rye. As for the cloth, he had less in his hands. And the salt is also selling very well, so I don't have to worry about selling. But for rye, Marlin generally did not dare to ship, for fear that the shipment would be too large, hit the price of grain, and be suspected of having the means to have high grain yields. This time, Marin was forced to be helpless, because he had spent too much money before, resulting in no currency in his hand, and he had to use grain to top the account. Fortunately, it is occasionally not noticeable.

……

And for Marin's desire to use grain as a means of payment, Otto III did not refuse. After all, there is a bit of food shortage in the whole of Europe, which makes it impossible for the population to rise.

The only problem was that Otto III was worried about the loss of grain during transportation. After all, the people who transport grain also consume grain.

Marin was not worried about this issue. Why? Because he dug through the Münster Canal. Although the Münster Canal is not large, it is no problem to use it for grain ships. The cost of transporting grain by water is very low. Moreover, he said that all the food losses along the way are counted as his. After all, Marin is now the least food-hungry person in Europe. In East Friesland alone, Marin has built a number of large cement warehouses for grain storage. Even, because there was too much grain, Marin had to develop a road for brewing rye erguotou to avoid the grain from being useless and moldy in the granary.

As for the valuation of grain, it is not based on the market price of 1 fennig per pound in the market. After all, that's the retail price. However, at a wholesale price of 0.7 pfennig, Marlin is too much of a loss.

So, in the beer hall in this small town, Marin and Otto III haggled and finally paid a compromise price of 0.85 pfennig per pound to pay for the 200,000 gold coins to buy Recklinghausen. In this way, Marlin needs to pay 14.11 million pounds of rye. It is difficult to take it out if it is rested on other princes. But for Marin, a man with modern farming techniques, it was a trivial matter.

Of course, this is not clear to the outside world. The reason why Marin insisted on adopting the serfdom system and refused to give freedom to the peasants was also afraid of the leakage of news. You know, serfs and peasants are different. Farmers have a higher degree of freedom and can even leave the estate and spread the word. And serfs, except for those serfs who were voluntarily abandoned by the serf owners because the manor was full of people, other serfs could not leave the manor at will, unless they were allowed by the serf owner.

Obviously, serfdom was more conducive to the secrecy of modern agricultural technology. Therefore, until now, the secrets of Marin's agricultural technology have not been known by foreign countries. After all, Marin not only took advantage of the poor flow of information under the serfdom system, but also organized a large number of soldiers to patrol the periphery of the farmland during the spring ploughing and autumn harvest periods, and strictly forbade all outsiders to approach. In this way, no one else will be able to know the secrets of Beihai Kingdom's agriculture.

Even, in order to prevent passing foreign merchants from hearing untold news, Marin ordered that foreign merchants should not be allowed to pass through the country during the spring ploughing period and the autumn harvest period, and only a few foreign trade ports such as Emden were opened. When the autumn harvest is over and there is nothing to be seen in the fields, traffic control will be lifted again. And domestic businessmen have also been warned not to talk nonsense outside. Unless, I want my family to be arrested......

Moreover, Marin is also a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle". Obviously, he has a lot of grain in his hands, but he doesn't dare to sell it on a large scale. Even if grain is sold for cash, it is always sent abroad to sell in Spain, Italy, England and other foreign regions with high grain prices. Moreover, the flags of merchant ships of other countries were also hoisted.

Under such circumstances, the secret of the high grain yield of the Beihai country has not been exposed until now, and it can be regarded as a proper method.

But, after all, there is too much food in the country, and it must be consumed. The biggest problem is that Marin can bear not to sell food, and the nobles under him may not. Therefore, in order to consume food, Marin specially developed the brewing industry to consume food. Moreover, it can also be sold at a price.

Selling wine is much more subtle than selling grain on a large scale. Even, in order not to be conspicuous, Marin also claimed that the origin of the whisky is Scotland, and Scotland is overseas anyway, Marin is not worried about these people to verify. Besides, Scotland does have a craft for making spirits. However, Scotch whisky in this era is called "eaux-de-vie".

At present, the Kingdom of Scotland is in serious chaos because the king has been captured and cannot pay the ransom. Even if other countries want to go to Scotland to inquire about the news, it is difficult to do so.

It just so happened that the current King Edward of England intended to annex Scotland and give Marin the territory of southern Scotland near Northumberland, which was also agreed before.

Marin also intends to use this opportunity to promote whisky making in Northumberland and the upcoming Scottish Border Shires in the south of Scotland. In this way, it can also provide cover for the local brewing industry in Beihai Country.

Of course, whisky is made in this region under the guise of a pretense. Marin would choose to build a few larger distilleries in Newcastle Harbour to openly brew "whisky". As for the grain used in sake brewing, it is imported from abroad. Of course, this import is actually just transported from the granary of Beihai State. However, this is not shown in the accounts, but imports from other countries. In this way, the side of the North Sea Country will not be noticeable.

Previously, Marlin had been vague about the origin of the whisky, which led to speculation. However, saying that the North Sea Country is the production area of whisky, Marin is a little worried. After all, what if someone else came to Beihai to investigate? Well, a lot of problems will be exposed.

This year, a major Polish wine merchant went to the North Sea country to investigate the origin of whisky. Although he was fooled by Marin's men, the other party seemed to be very interested. Moreover, people like this are definitely not three or two......

In addition, this year's autumn harvest is almost here. It would not be good if the autumn harvest was ten minutes and the spirits lover broke into the Beihai country and discovered the secret of the autumn harvest.

So, after much thought, Marin decided to set up a "whisky distillery" in Newcastle as a front to attract the attention of the outside world. Moreover, the origin of the "Royal Salute" is also counted in Newcastle.

In addition, Marlin will add the phrase "'eaux-de-vie' of origin in Scotland" to the bottle in the future. In this way, it can be regarded as explaining the origin of whisky.

Moreover, this is not afraid of investigation. Because, if someone goes to Scotland to investigate, they will indeed find that the old version of "eaux-de-vie" whisky is indeed about 40% alcohol. As for the difference in taste between the rye and the two pot heads marketed by Marin, it can be explained by the difference in the skills of the winemakers......

Even if someone else gets the recipe for Scotch whisky, Marin is not afraid. This is because Scotland's own way of making whisky is very pitiful, and it requires peat......

Scotch whisky is made by first smoking barley malt in a mud pool to create a unique aroma. If you want to learn to brew, you need a lot of peat...... Moreover, this method of soil is expensive and the brewing process is long. If the average person learns, it is not pleased.

Moreover, it also requires a lot of expensive food, and that's the point. Marin's winery in Newcastle as a cover would bring in a lot of grain every day and show it to outsiders. Of course, the brewing process is confidential.

In fact, the grain that was brought into the brewery was an illusion. Because, these "grains" are also grain on the top and dirt or stones on the bottom...... Those foreigners who come to Newcastle to inspect whisky production may have retreated when they saw that food was "consumed so much"......

Under the cover of the Newcastle Whisky Distillery, the domestic whisky production in the North Sea will not be targeted by those wine merchants and spirits lovers. You know, for good wine, God knows what these people will make.

Marin was not afraid that they would make trouble against the brewery, after all, there were guards in the brewery, but he was afraid that they would find out the secret of the high grain production in the North Sea Country. To this end, Marlin specially built a new whisky distillery in Newcastle as a guise, and publicly branded "Scotch whisky" to attract the attention of others and ensure the information security of the North Sea Kingdom......