Don't think it's ridiculous to use milk powder as a military drink, but in fact, this was the case in European society at that time. In the absence of other mass-produced beverages to replace it (milk tea is good, but now tea is too expensive and scarce to be used as a military material), milk powder is indeed a good special drink for officers.

Because, at this time, Europe was a hierarchical society. If officers and soldiers are treated the same, it is tantamount to breaking the rules. Not only will it be opposed by the nobility and the officer class, but it will also make ordinary non-commissioned officers lose their self-motivation.

If officers and soldiers were treated similarly, who would desperately strive to make meritorious contributions, seek promotions and become officer nobles? In the beginning, Marin and his first men shared weal and worn, eating and lodging together...... That was no problem, because Marin was just a knight at the time. His subordinates are also some new recruits, and they don't think there's anything wrong with them.

However, with the improvement of status, and a large number of noble children become officers under Marin's command, if Marin wants to pursue equality again, then the officers under him are not happy in the first place - we are desperately working to become officers, is it to get the same treatment as those mud-legged soldiers? And the role of the officer is important on the battlefield. Therefore, later Marin gradually changed the view of treating everyone equally in his previous life, and did not eat and live with the soldiers. Those officers are also treated differently from ordinary non-commissioned officers. For example, ordinary soldiers ate brown bread and occasionally salted fish and meat. But the officers basically ate meat, and they could drink wine when they were not in wartime. Marin was worried about the soldiers' opinions, but in the end, he found out that the soldiers took it for granted...... On the contrary, if the officers and soldiers are treated the same, everyone thinks it is strange......

Marin was unable to challenge the entire social system and eventually acquiesced to the existence of hierarchies. Besides, he is also a beneficiary of hierarchical existence, so why bother against it?

The lifestyle of the nobles and officers in this era, Ma Lin can only be described in the words of Concubine Hua - "Sluts are hypocritical". In order to show their status, nobles and officers would wear shinier armor and clothes to show off their differences from ordinary soldiers. In terms of food, they have meat or salted fish for a meal (they cannot eat meat during the fasting period, only fish). Even the drinks are very particular.

For example, even if the aristocratic officers drank beer, Germany's national drink, they would always drink a better beer made from hops, and would never touch the rancid civilian beer. Some of the more refined aristocratic officers even drank only wine and no beer to show their dignity.

However, in wartime, alcohol was not allowed in the Marin Army, which had strict military discipline. Moreover, it is not allowed to drink raw water, but to drink plain water.

This point once aroused strong protests from aristocratic officers. Because, in their opinion, it is undignified to drink boiled water like a mud-legged big-headed soldier. However, Marin could not find other non-alcoholic beverages (at that time, Europeans especially regarded wine and beer as daily drinks, and never drank plain water), so he had to do that first.

This time, Marin made this kind of milk powder that is very suitable for carrying and cutting and easy to keep, although it is a little incompatible, but the careful Schwartz immediately listed it as a military drink for officers, which can be regarded as meeting the needs of officers to ask for privileges.

Sure enough, after the introduction of the delicious milk powder, although those officers did not necessarily like the milk powder, they finally made them feel that they had face. At least, you don't have to drink plain water with the big-headed soldiers...... That's too shameful......

Although Marin muttered in his heart, he felt that those guys were too hypocritical, but he was not willing to fight the general trend alone, so he acquiesced to this situation. Anyway, as long as those officers are satisfied. Moreover, the cost of milk powder is not high. As for the big-headed soldiers, they didn't think anything of it, because, in their opinion, the officers should be treated well......

……

With the retirement of time, the time entered March. At this time, spring ploughing was also vigorously launched in the Grand Duchy of Beihai......

However, there were some problems with spring ploughing – East Friesland, Oldenburg, Schleswig, and North Münster, which were already under Marin's control, because they had been well prepared and had sufficient labor, so there was no problem with spring ploughing. The main problems lie in the provinces of West Friesland, Bremen and Jutland, which were brought under control at the end of last year......

Why? Because of these three new provinces, there is enough land, and there is no shortage of cattle, but there is a serious shortage of manpower. As a result, spring plowing in these three new provinces has been severely affected.

Without enough people, there is no way to control the ploughing cattle. In such a situation, no matter how much arable land Marin has, it will be in vain. After all, the plough does not pull the plough to plough the land by itself, but always requires someone to support the plough and control the direction, and it has to be a labor in the prime of life. Ordinary old people and women can't hold the plowshare, that's individual work. In this era when there is no agricultural machinery, agricultural production, labor determines everything......

So, even though the three new provinces of West Friesland, Bremen and Jutland, Marin received a lot of estates, and his men were given a lot of new land. However, this year's spring ploughing cannot be fully cultivated due to insufficient preparations......

In fact, in the South Münster region, where tens of thousands of prisoners of war were digging canals, Marin could have brought those tens of thousands of prisoners of war to spring plough if he wished.

The problem, however, was that these tens of thousands of prisoners of war, those soldiers, were to be returned to Switzerland, Brandenburg and Saxony after the canal was dug. It's no problem to bring them in for spring ploughing, but the secret of putting nose rings on the cattle and using the curved plough will definitely be taken away by these people. And this is not in line with Marin's principle of secrecy.

Therefore, Marin would rather endure the shortage of labor than transfer the tens of thousands of prisoners of war who were digging canals in the South Münster region to help with spring ploughing. Without him, it is to keep advanced agricultural technology secret......

Moreover, the canal in the South Münster region is also extremely important to Marin. Once the canal is dug up, Marin's hand can be extended back to his hometown, the Ruhr region...... Then it will be convenient to control the Ruhr zone. At the same time, it is much easier to transport coal out of the Ruhr area.

Therefore, neither for reasons of secrecy, nor for strategic reasons, Marin could not call on the tens of thousands of prisoners of war who were digging canals in the South Münster region. After all, those prisoners of war were to be returned......

In desperation, Marin and his noble officers could only endure the fact that some fiefdoms did not produce anything this year.

In this way, Marin and his nobles and officers could only focus on the present and first solve the problem of spring ploughing of the estates in East Friesland, Oldenburg and Schleswig provinces (Marin in North Münster was not given to his subordinates, and the development was not high because of the small population). Then, if the spring ploughing ends early, you can also send people to the fiefdoms of the three new provinces to see if you can crane the tail and catch up with the last wave of spring ploughing, and how much can be cultivated.

Moreover, in order to save costs, Marin decided to grant his nobles the right to recruit serfs on their own, and encouraged them to send their own people to the interior of Germany to recruit serfs and enrich their fiefdoms......

Anyway, those nobles' fiefs don't have to pay taxes. Those serfs were also raised by those nobles. Although Marin had recruited a large number of people from the interior before, he was divided among everyone. As a result, they didn't have enough manpower.

Since the three new provinces were taken into his hands, and Marin had many nobles' fiefs in Jutland. Today, all the nobles in East Friesland who had fiefs in the three new provinces, including Marin, were in dire need of labor.

Among them, Marin, as the largest landlord, has many estates that are simply empty, with few people, which is very wasteful. Therefore, Marin is the largest landlord of the North Sea Principality, which is the most lacking in labor.

However, going to the south to recruit labor, and when he came back, he had to divide it with his subordinates, which made Marin feel very tired. So, this time, at Kohler's suggestion, Marin decided to grant the nobles who had fiefs in the three new provinces the right to recruit serfs on their own.

After all, one person counts the short, and many people count the long...... It's better for everyone to mobilize than for Marin to work hard to recruit the population and share the ...... with these guys You know, Marin is the one who lacks serfs the most, why do you want to share people with everyone?

In this way, as soon as this policy came out, Marin was equivalent to getting rid of a burden. Later, Kohler was responsible for recruiting serfs, which belonged entirely to Marin's own estate. As for the other nobles, everyone "crossed the sea with eight immortals to show their magical powers". Anyway, no matter what means they use, Marin doesn't care. Everyone has their own means, and whoever can dig up enough people will be able to develop the newly sealed land of each family......

Marin, of course, drew a red line for them - it was forbidden to recruit private soldiers in the name of recruiting serfs...... For the rest, Marin doesn't care. Even if they were to deceive people from other vassal states, Marin would pretend not to know. As long as you don't know how to rob it, it's fine. Also, you can't poach people from other estates in China. After all, most of the manors in the country are owned by Marin. Digging people in China is tantamount to digging the corners of Marin......

What Marin didn't expect was that because of his policy, the nobles under his command were full of firepower and would do whatever it took to poach people from other vassal states. Even, a gray industrial chain has been created - human trafficking......

Unlike ordinary human trafficking, ordinary human trafficking generally targets women and children. And the human trafficking jointly carried out by Marin's subordinates is especially aimed at young and strong men, which is very strange...... However, who said that the Grand Duchy of the North Sea was too short of labor......

Later, Marin even turned to this underground organization that abducted and trafficked young men to get enough labor...... After all, this organization is very good at poaching people, and it can fool away the sturdy serfs who do a good job in other people's estates, and the means are very good. Previously, Marin could only recruit young Germans who had no work to do. However, there are limits to such people. And this organization that abducts and sells young and strong men can directly poach people from the estates of other countries, expanding the source of labor. At least, it was a much wider source of recruitment than Kohler's men...... For it was the serfs who had work to make up the bulk of the German population......