Previously, in order to facilitate the Crimean Khanate to send troops to attack Ryazan, Marin promised to buy 10,000 cattle and 1,000 Eastern European Mongolian horses from the Crimean Khanate every year. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The Crimeans attacked Ryazan, according to the agreement, and frightened back the troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in Finland, which was considered to be the fulfillment of the agreement. And Marin, on his side, has no intention of breaking the contract. Moreover, it is indeed in its own interests to import cheap cattle and horses from the Crimean Khanate.

In the autumn, the Crimean Khanate really prepared 10,000 cattle and 1,000 war horses, and the total price was only 90,000 gold coins (7.5 gold coins for cattle and 15 gold coins for horses).

Marin was also ready to receive it, and sent a team of cavalry and some herdsmen, intending to drive this large army of cattle along the way.

With so many livestock, it is obvious that they can only be transported by land, and there are not so many boats to load. On the land route, though, something went wrong.

Poland and Lithuania, in order to be able to obtain the friendship of the powerful Crimean Khanate, naturally did not object to Marin's purchase of cattle and horses from the Crimea, nor to the transit of those cattle and horses. However, it is difficult to say about other countries......

Originally, the best way to bring 10,000 cattle and 1,000 horses back to East Friesland by land was through Lithuania and Poland, then into the Elector of Brandenburg or Saxony, and then through the Duchy of Lüneburg, to the Count of Oldenburg.

However, the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Electorate of Saxony are both in-laws of Denmark, and Marin beat Denmark so badly and cut so much land, how could the two countries let Marin get his wish?

As a result, the cattle and sheep bought by Marin were directly rejected through the request of the two countries, and there was no room for negotiation at all.

In desperation, Marin had no choice but to make a detour from the north of the Electorate of Brandenburg to the Duchy of Pomerania and Mecklenburg, then through the Duchy of Holstein under the control of Lübeck and Hamburg, then through the Archbishopric of Bremen, and finally to the Count of Oldenburg.

However, this is also more difficult to do. Lübeck and Hamburg naturally did not cause trouble for Marin, an ally, and the Archbishopric of Bremen was also very face-saving. But the Duchy of Mecklenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania are very faceless......

It turned out that the Duchy of Mecklenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania, as neighbors of the Elector of Brandenburg, were greatly influenced by the Electorate of Brandenburg. The Elector of Brandenburg, Joakim I, not only refused to allow the passage of the cattle and horses purchased by Marin himself, but also demanded that the Duchy of Mecklenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania also prohibit the transit of Marin's cattle and horses.

The two principalities could not offend their powerful neighbor Brandenburg for the sake of Marin. As a result, they all rejected Marin's request for cattle and horses to cross the border.

In desperation, Marin had no choice but to ask Lübeck, the leader of the Hanseatic League, to come forward and ask them to help put pressure on the two countries. Lübeck did come to the rescue, and the Duchy of Mecklenburg succumbed because it was more dependent on the Hanseatic League. But Pomerania is simply a wilderness rural country on the Baltic Sea, and does not care about the threat of Lübeck. So, things froze.

The Lübecks proposed that their cargo ships could load cattle and horses into ships in the northern coastal ports of Poland, and then unload them in the Duchy of Mecklenburg, or further west in the Duchy of Schleswig, and continue to catch them.

But Marin was reluctant to do so, because loading 10,000 cattle and 1,000 horses on a ship and unloading them would cost a lot of manpower and material resources. Also, shipping costs are expensive. The best option is to drive on land. Because, these cows and horses can live as long as they eat some weeds everywhere.

In desperation, Marin had to send someone to bribe the Duke of Pomerania. The Duke of Pomerania finally told Marin's men that it was pressure from the Electorate of Brandenburg and not money.

So, in the end, Marin came up with a solution, which was to send someone to register a chamber of commerce in Lübeck. Then, in the name of Lübeck's Chamber of Commerce, it was requested to pass with tens of thousands of cattle and thousands of horses. In this way, the cattle and horses that passed through the principality of Pomerania no longer belonged to Marin.

Then after arriving in Lübeck, the chamber of commerce, which originally belonged to Marin, "re-sold" the cattle and sheep to Marin. In this way, when these cows and horses pass, they are no longer Marin's thing. The demand of the Electorate of Brandenburg was not to allow the passage of Marin's cattle and horses, but it did not say that Lübeck's cattle and horses were not allowed to pass.

In this way, despite knowing that there was a problem, Marin and the Duchy of Pomerania, perfectly avoiding the difficulties of the Elector of Brandenburg, gave the cattle and horses of the Crimea the opportunity to pass by land.

But because of this toss, 10,000 cattle and 1,000 war horses, which were originally planned to be brought in from Crimea in the autumn, did not take place until winter.

Tens of thousands of cows and thousands of horses passed by, and the movement was enormous. Fortunately, these cattle and horses are livestock that can solve problems by eating grass. In particular, the 1,000 Eastern European Mongolian horses produced in Crimea can also graze along the way. If you change to European horses, a thousand war horses, you need a lot of oats every day, and the cost of raising is extremely high.

Driven by a herdsman, tens of thousands of cattle and horses passed through Lithuania and Poland to the Duchy of Pomerania, then through the Duchy of Mecklenburg, and then into the Duchy of Holstein. Then, continue west until you reach the native area of East Friesland.

Around New Year's Day 1504, the tens of thousands of cows and thousands of horses finally managed to reach the outside of the city of Aurich......

As soon as they arrived in Aurich, the treatment of these cattle and horses immediately changed dramatically. Those Eastern European Mongolian horses were immediately arranged into the official horse farm, were raised as treasures, and were fed a lot of oats and some soybeans shipped from the Americas.

And those cows, because there is no shortage of cattle in the country, Marin picked out 2,000 heads and killed them for meat......

These 10,000 Crimean cattle, after a long journey, although they lost a lot of weight, but because of long-term running, their muscles did not decrease, but their muscles were very strong and chewy.

These 2,000 cows and cattle had just completed the "Long March", and before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they were unlucky enough to be retreated into the slaughterhouse and turned into beef.

It just so happened that the weather was still very cold in January, and the beef that had been cut into thin slices was used by Marin to eat fat beef hot pot......

It's just that the fly in the ointment is that there is no chili pepper in the hot pot soup, which is not flavorful enough. Therefore, Marin can only use beef bone broth as the base soup, and add some other sauces to make a fat beef hot pot that is not spicy.

Marin's way of eating suddenly began to sweep the East Frisian aristocratic circle. Because of the high grain production, the nobles of East Friesland are now all rich and oily, and they are also very particular about eating and drinking. In the past, everyone was used to eating black bread, but rarely white bread. However, since following Marin to make a fortune, the nobles of East Friesland have been eating the "queen" white bread, which was very expensive in the early Middle Ages, and was not often eaten even by kings. After hearing that the great "God of Food" Marin invented a delicacy called "Fat Cow Hot Pot", they immediately followed suit. It just so happened that Marin sent people to kill two thousand head of cattle, and there was a lot of beef, so that everyone was very happy.

Moreover, the cattle in Crimea are only 7.5 gold coins per cattle, and the cost of each cow does not exceed 10 gold coins, on average, including the customs duties paid by the countries that pass along the way. In Germany, the price of a cow is around 20 gold coins. That is, the cost of buying cattle from the Crimea is half cheaper than buying it locally, which is very cost-effective.