October is the harvest season, in which the nobles of all Europe are excitedly waiting for the yield of the land, which is then discounted for them to splurge.

By the end of October, in addition to the old four provinces, which ended in the middle of the year, other provinces also sent good news to report the autumn harvest. However, because of the lack of new agricultural technology, the yield per mu of these new provinces is still more than 100 pounds, which makes Marin really not interested. So, he could only force a smile and encourage the representatives of several new provinces.

In addition, Marin also sent representatives in Northumberland and the Isle of Wight in the British territories to report on the results of the autumn harvest. However, England had just fought a war, and Marlin didn't expect much from there, so as long as he didn't let him send food for support, he would be thankful.

To Marin's relief, Northumberland did not need him to allocate food support. After all, last year Henry. The tens of thousands of refugees that Percy had taken captive were all embezzled by Marin. And this group of people, this year, in Northumberland to make great efforts to reclaim the famine, although there is not much bumper harvest, but also basically meet their own food needs. Even, the grain produced was even fed by the local garrison. This is also a surprise for Marin.

As for County Wicklow in Ireland, because of the war, there was a serious loss of population there, and there were few people left, and Marin didn't expect any autumn harvest there.

However, there are still hundreds of thousands of people on the entire island of Ireland. Of course, mainly in other countries on the island. Marin plans to transfer a batch of grain to attract the floating population on the island and move to Wicklow County to live and reclaim the wasteland. To this end, Marlin specially recruited a group of Irish people to go to the Irish states to carry out propaganda and encourage the Irish to move to Wicklow County to live. And the slogan that Marin asked them to promote was - "enough black bread tubes"......

This slogan, put into modern times, is estimated to make people laugh off their big teeth. But in this era, it's definitely a killer feature. Now, the Irish have not yet started growing potatoes, so there is a considerable shortage of food. Therefore, the population of the island is not large, only two or three hundred thousand people. Moreover, because of the backwardness of agriculture, many people in the Irish do not have enough to eat. Using the slogan "enough black bread" to promote it is absolutely powerful.

As for whether it will offend the other nobles on the island, Marin doesn't care so much. In fact, Marin even expected the other Irish princes to take the initiative to find fault because of their anger. In this way, Marin would have an excuse to send troops to annex his land...... Marin's slogan is - if you are not afraid of causing trouble, you are afraid of provoking others, and others will not react...... Because, if the other party endures it, Marin will have no excuse to play on the topic......

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These agricultural problems were minor, but the new Prime Minister of Northumberland, Mason Sr., sent a request to Marin to build a large salt base near Newcastle......

Old Mason was the former Prime Minister of Duchy Clifford, and after he helped John II, Duke of Cliffor, he was asked by Marin to go and sent to Northumberland as Prime Minister.

After arriving in Newcastle, Mason Sr. keenly discovered that the coal produced in Newcastle was very good for boiling salt.

In fact, the locals have been using coal to cook salt for a long time. However, the way Newcastle people cook salt is quite rough. They set up a cauldron directly on the beach and then used a lump of coal as fuel to boil salt. However, this primitive and extensive way of boiling salt is very inefficient. Unlike Marin's salt boiling base, all firewood-saving stoves are used, and the fuel utilization rate is high, and the speed is faster.

Moreover, the locals boil salt, which is also very stupid. They didn't filter the brine, they just boiled a pot of seawater dry, and then scraped the salt.

The salt boiled in this way has a slightly bitter taste due to the large residue of magnesium ions. Unlike Marlin, when he boiled salt, when he was halfway through the boil, he fished the salt out of the remaining salt brine. In this way, magnesium ions, which cause bitterness, are left in the last bit of salt brine. The salt fished out, although it is not up to the level of refined salt in later generations, is definitely much better than coarse salt.

And the English people of this era did not understand this, only knew that boiling the sea water dry, and the result was naturally bitter coarse salt. It can be used to pickle pickles and meat and fish, but it is still a little worse for people to eat.

However, this is also Marin's hypocrisy. To be honest, the coarse salt obtained by boiling the seawater dry tastes not very good, but it is better than most mineral salts. The residual magnesium ions in the seawater are already small, like the salt dug up from the salt mine, and the impurities are called more. Even, some mineral salts have toxic ingredients in them, and eating too much will cause cancer.

In general, the coarse salt cooked by the English people from coal is already considered to be the middle and upper grade of salt. Generally speaking, the finest salt is produced in some scarce high-quality salt mines. Some salt mines are of high quality and have no impurities. Then, this salt became the finest table salt, which was exclusively supplied to the aristocracy and had a higher price.

The medium salt is the coarse salt boiled in seawater. Although this salt tastes average, at least it has no strange taste or toxicity, and it is safe to eat. This salt was generally supplied to the petty aristocracy and the merchant class, that is, those who had a little money in the middle class.

And the inferior salt is the salt produced by the inferior salt mines. Most of this salt is dull in color and has a lot of impurities. As for the bitter taste or something, that's normal, and it's not strange to have a little toxic substance...... In this way, it is difficult for ordinary people to eat such mineral salt often......

For example, the famous Duchy of Lüneburg in Germany was developed on the salt mines of Lüneburg. In the Middle Ages, the salt of Lüneburg made the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg a wealthy country. Even the capital of the principality was moved to Lüneburg...... Moreover, the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, which connects Lübeck and the Elbe, was originally used to transport Lüneburg's mineral salt to the Baltic Sea region and sell it at a high price......

However, the appearance of the refined salt of Marin, which was de-brinned, made the mineral salt of the Duchy of Lüneburg unsalable in the Baltic region. After all, other people's salt is not bitter, your salt tastes bitter, and if the price difference is not big, fools know how to choose......

……

Of course, none of these old Masons are clear. After all, Old Mason had just joined Marlin's camp, and he didn't know the secret of Marlin's boiling salt to make a fortune.

However, he was in Newcastle and saw locals using coal lumps to cook salt in cauldrons on the seashore, seemingly at a low cost. At least, it is much cheaper than the Germans who boiled salt with firewood. So the shrewd old prime minister asked - should Newcastle's abundant local coal resources be used to build a large-scale salt boiling center by the sea?

……

Marin admired Mason Sr's sharp instincts. In fact, Marin had planned to do so before. After all, it costs less to set up a local boiling salt centre in Newcastle.

However, Marin had been planning the Ruhr area before, and he had not yet succeeded. Moreover, Marin's control over Newcastle at that time was not high enough, and he was worried that the news of the establishment of a salt base in Newcastle would leak out, affecting his plan to seize the Ruhr area. So, he put the plan on hold for the time being.

Now that the Ruhr area has been reached, there are not so many scruples......

However, considering that Old Mason was born in the Duchy of Cleaver, Marin also specifically ordered the old Mason's family not to send the news back to the Duchy of Cleaver.

Obviously, Marin did not want to irritate his ally, John II, Duke of Cliffor. If he had known that the coal he had exchanged for Marin's Mark Burgh had a great ability to boil salt, he would have regretted it.

Of course, even if John II knew, it wouldn't be of much use. Because, John II didn't have a coastal territory. Coal alone, but no seawater, is also in vain. However, it is best not to irritate him.

In this way, Marin approved Mason Sr. to set up a salt boiling center by the sea in Newcastle, and put it in the hands of Mason Sr. However, Marin did not hand over the technology of removing the refined salt and saving the wood stove to the old Mason. In this way, the salt cooked in Newcastle is a bitter coarse salt. However, such coarse salt is also very popular in the European market. At least, it is more popular than low-grade mineral salts. Therefore, it can also be sold for a lot of money.

The reason for this is that Marlin wants to create a quality difference. With Newcastle's coarse salt as a backdrop, it also shows the excellent quality of the dehalogenated refined salt from Cape Breton Island...... The effect is better when sold with two types of salt......