According to the previous agreement with several lords of the Breishgaard region, half of the 103,500 Gulden gold coins paid by Marin this time should be offset by food and other materials. For example, cane sugar from Cuba and dried ginger from Grenada.

Whether it is cane sugar or ginger, it is a luxury that is popular with the aristocracy. Ginger, in particular, is still classified as a spice and is mostly imported.

In fact, Europeans don't know that ginger can be grown in southern Europe. Because, ginger can also survive in subtropical climates. Only the northern region has high latitudes, and the temperature is not enough to meet the requirements for ginger growth.

It's just that the lifts they imported before were basically dried ginger, so they naturally didn't know how to breed and cultivate, and they thought that they were the same as pepper and other spices, which belonged to tropical specialties. Only Ma Lin, a traverser, knows that ginger can be grown in the Yellow River Basin. For example, Shandong in later generations was an important production area of ginger.

Of course, it seems that in the 16th century, Europeans also mastered the cultivation of ginger. No, in the late 16th century, when Queen Elizabeth I was the queen, the queen invited her ministers to eat ginger cake, and the price of ginger had been reduced to 2 shillings per pound, which was a little more expensive than cane sugar. Pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc., are still expensive because they cannot be cultivated locally in Europe.

And now, it has not been a few years since the Europeans found the Indian route. Therefore, ginger has not been found to be cultivated in southern Europe. As a result, ginger prices remain high at 8 shillings per pound. In particular, after Marin saved Juan III with ginger syrup, ginger became popular. In Spain in particular, the price rose to 12 shillings per pound at one point. But as Spain took over the Indian route from Marin, large quantities of dried ginger flowed into Europe, and the price returned to 8 shillings per pound. It's just that because of the domineering effect of ginger syrup, although the purchase of ginger has increased, the price has not fallen. Therefore, Marin is still very popular to use dried ginger to offset some of the cash.

Since Juan III was infected with wind cold and was revived by ginger syrup, the current European aristocracy often comes to a bowl of ginger syrup when they are not feeling well, resulting in ginger and sucrose being more popular.

Moreover, after Marin introduced sugar boiling workers from Daming, he not only made the frosted sugar of the yellow mud method, but also made a higher grade of brown sugar than the popular brown sugar in Europe. This time, all Kohler brought was brown sugar. Brown sugar with dried ginger slices, a bowl when you get cold, many times you can avoid colds. The cold, on the other hand, is a serious illness in Europe, and it will kill people if it is not done well. In ancient China, probably because of the popularity of ginger syrup, people were not prone to accidents.

In addition to dried ginger slices and brown sugar, Marlin also had people bring sugar ginger slices marinated in sucrose. This thing had already been popularized by Marin in the army during the attack on the Republic of Siena, and it was very popular. This sweet and spicy flavor seems to be very suitable for the taste of Europeans in this era. After all, Europeans in this era ate bread dipped in pepper, and the spicy taste of ginger was completely suitable for their taste.

Nowadays, the high-ranking officers and nobles of the Beihai Kingdom have fallen in love with this kind of sugar ginger slices, and they have nothing to do as a snack to have a few slices. Seeing that sugar ginger slices are so popular, Marin naturally wants to open up foreign markets. Therefore, he asked Kohler to carry 1,000 packets of sugar and ginger slices sealed in oiled paper bags this time to test the waters.

At present, the North Sea Country only has ginger cultivation areas on the island of Grenada, with only 1,000 acres of cultivation area. However, because of the use of modern fertilizers, the yield of ginger per mu is as high as three to four thousand pounds. Although it is only less than half of the yield of 8,000 catties per mu in later generations (mainly because of the variety), the total output is also very scary. 1,000 acres is 6,000 acres, and the average yield per acre is 18 million pounds, even if the lowest yield is 3,000 pounds per acre. With such a high output, the North Sea Country simply can't consume it. Therefore, it is the best choice to sell it.

However, in order to avoid provoking Spain and Portugal, which had a monopoly on the spice trade, including ginger, Marin endured for 10 years before opening up the European market. After all, another 10 years of buffer, opening up a raw ginger planting base in the Americas by yourself, sounds reasonable.

Moreover, the Portuguese seem to have cultivated ginger on the African island of São Tomé (the Portuguese did not know that it could be cultivated locally, but thought it could only be grown in the tropics). However, Marin's spies in Portugal inquired that the Portuguese planted technical garbage, did not know how to fertilize, and the yield per mu was only 500 pounds.

But with Portugal's own cultivation in the past, Marin's ginger cultivation is inconspicuous. The only question is whether so many goods can be sold. After all, the price of ginger hasn't fallen yet. But with the success of the Portuguese planting, ginger will definitely fall in the future.

Marin's plan is to make a fortune before the price of ginger falls. For this reason, he plans to control sales and ship slowly, so as not to affect the price. After all, if 18 million pounds of ginger were to flood Europe all at once, it would be difficult for prices not to plummet. But even if it fell to 2 shillings per pound under Elizabeth I, Marin was a wild earner. After all, it doesn't cost much.

However, the current popularity in Europe is dried ginger, not fresh ginger (mainly a matter of preservation). And when fresh ginger is dried, it tends to lose most of its weight. For example, 18 million pounds of ginger are only a few million pounds left after drying. But even if 1 million pounds of dried ginger are sold, the total price is as high as 1.6 million gold coins. It's just that in order to prevent the price of ginger slices from plummeting, Marin only planned to take out 100,000 pounds of dried ginger to test the water at first. No, the lords of Bryschgaard were the first subjects of his test of the waters in Germany......

……

After arriving in Freissach on the Rhine in the west of Freiburg with a fleet full of grain, Kohler arrived in Freiburg with 1,000 bags of sugar and ginger slices and met with several local lords.

Although Freiburg was not the domain of a few lords, Freiburg was a city that could be taken over because of the Breischgau region. Therefore, this meeting and negotiations were arranged here. After all, the lords also have to talk about pomp and circumstance. The manor from their hometown was a bit low, so they chose to negotiate in Freiburg.

Before the negotiation, Kohler smiled and gave each lord two hundred packets of sugar ginger slices. Several lords were a little puzzled, so De Trich, the Baron of Emmendingen, who took the lead, was puzzled and asked:

"Lord Kohler, what is this?"

"Sugar ginger slices, ginger slices marinated in sucrose!" Kohler was succinct and to the point.

Several country lords were amazed - how extravagant it was to marinate ginger slices in cane sugar......

For the few country lords who only relied on farming to obtain taxes, whether it was sugar or ginger, they could only squander it, and they could only eat it occasionally.

It's just that when they thought of the upcoming transaction, several people had confidence again - after this transaction, Lao Tzu could eat ginger for a long time......

Baron Detrich, following Kohler's instructions, tore open the package of the oiled paper bag and saw the golden slices of sugar ginger inside. Then, he hesitated......

"Is this really edible?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kohler took two slices, threw them in his mouth, and chewed them. While eating, he was still vague (with ginger slices in his mouth) and said:

"Of course you can eat it, it's delicious. I'll tell you, it's very popular in the North Sea Country......"

Seeing Kohler "test the poison himself", several lords no longer hesitated and began to eat as well. As a result, they all fell in love with this sweet and slightly spicy food and began to chew on it......

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