Before leaving Prague, Marin had heard from Vladislas II that a large silver mine was being developed on a large scale in Saxony, seemingly north of the Kingdom of Bohemia......

Marin immediately understood, after all, what he had seen showed that from 1526 to 1535, each of the Tyrolean silver mines and Saxony silver mines produced a terrifying 70,000 kilograms of silver per year. And 1526 is only 12 years away, so it makes sense that Saxony would start to expand its silver production from now on.

Thinking of the huge silver production here in the future, Marin was moved. So, after leaving Prague, instead of returning the way he came, he went north to Saxony......

The silver mines of Saxony are not in the Elector of Saxony, but in Freiberg, in the south of the Duchy of Saxony. The great silver mine in Freiberg was discovered and mined in 1165. However, its mining scale has not been large. It seems that its surface silver reserves are not very obvious. Otherwise, when Saxony split in 1485, the Elector of Ernst would not have ceded the long branch to his younger brother, Duke Albrecht. It was precisely because he did not see the great prospect of the silver mine in Freiberg that the Elector of Changzhi Ernst easily ceded the silver mine to his younger brother.

However, it seems that in the past two years, prospectors under Duke George have discovered large veins deep in the Freiberg silver mine. So, Duke George is now organizing people to carry out large-scale development.

However, according to Vladislas II, Duke George had the intention of developing this large silver mine, but he did not have enough funds in his hands, and was seeking a loan to expand the production of the silver mine.

How could Marin let go of this opportunity? Anyway, even if Marin didn't get involved, Duke George would be able to find an investment. So, it's better to let him get in and get a piece of the pie.

Although it is said that Marin fought with the Duchy of Saxony and captured George. However, in order to divide the Saxon aristocracy, Marin later repaired relations with George, and spent a lot of money to buy the ruling power of West Friesland, which he had actually lost control.

However, the 1,000,000 gold he spent on West Frisland from George was transferred to Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, who was also defeated by Marin. Because, after Frederick III lost to Marin, he needed to pay millions of gold coins to Marin.

But this was a big hole for Duke George, who was cousin of Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, and could not urge each other to give money. Therefore, the 1 million gold coins have only received 200,000 by Duke George until now. Otherwise, the Duchy of Saxony would not be short of funds for the development of the Great Silver Mine in Freiberg. And because of the debt problem of this million gold coins, Marin succeeded in separating the relationship between the two branches of Saxony. Sometimes, in the Imperial Diet, George would even pull Frederick III's back legs......

Of course, even if Duke George and Elector Frederick III did not deal with each other, he would not have much affection for Marin. After all, he had also been defeated and captured by Marin. In other words, his relationship with Marin is not bad, but it is definitely not good.

But Marin believed that if he was willing to provide the funds, even the technology and equipment, Duke George would certainly welcome it. After all, a better development of the Freiberg silver mine would be of great benefit to Duke George.

……

Sure enough, when Marin arrived in Dresden, the capital of the Duchy of Saxony, he met with the Duke of George, and expressed his willingness to help him develop the Freiberg silver mines, and was welcomed by the Duke of George.

George, Duke of Saxony, was not a fool, and he could not have agreed to Marin's stake in the Freiberg silver mines. But Marin did not make such an unrealistic demand, he only demanded that he be given the right of first refusal to purchase silver minerals.

After all, after silver ore produces silver, there must be a part of it to be exported, and not all of it will be digested by itself. Saxony has a well-developed handicraft industry, a thriving business and a large population. However, like other vassal states in southern Germany, it was populated, plains were few, and food was somewhat scarce.

The Duchy of Saxony has a large population, and the development of silver mines does not even require the introduction of miners from outside, it is enough to recruit them from the country. However, because there are more mountains and fewer plains in the country, there has always been a shortage of food. And in Marin's hands, the last thing he lacks is food. Moreover, it was not difficult to transport grain from the North Sea States to the Duchy of Saxony – as long as it was transported via the Elbe. This is because Dresden is located on the banks of the Elbe and is a navigable river. It was thanks to the existence of the Elbe, a golden waterway, that both the Electorate of Saxony and the Duchy of Saxony became prosperous countries in commerce. The Saxon business district is also the second largest of the four major business districts of the Hanseatic League.

In order to win over George, Duke of Saxony, Marin agreed to supply Rye to George, Duke of Saxony, in large quantities at a discount of the market price, which is a wholesale price of 0.8 pfennigh per pound. In the grain-starved southern part of Germany, rye prices are actually more than 1 pennyl per pound. At least, in the Duchy of Saxony, the price of rye is 1.1~1.2 pfennig per pound. Marin provided grain to Duke George at a wholesale price of 0.8 pfennig per pound, and he made a lot of money by reselling it.

It seems that Marin lost money and made a lot of money, but in fact, Marin knew that if he refused to give up the profits, the grain of the North Sea Kingdom would not be able to enter the market of the Duchy of Saxony. And after giving up a large amount of profits, the grain accumulated in the North Sea Country can be sold.

And, most importantly, by selling grain, Marin could cash in on the hands of George, Duke of Saxony, for a large amount of silver......

In this era when there is a serious shortage of gold and silver in all of Europe, whoever has enough gold and silver in his hands is the master!

The development of the Freiberg silver mine in Saxony is on a very good basis, after all, it is not a new mine, but a centuries-old mine. The transportation facilities and mining equipment here are very complete. With enough manpower and some good equipment, you can immediately and dramatically increase production, which is not comparable to the newly discovered mines.

To this end, Marin intended to provide Duke George with ten sets of steel mills made of high-manganese steel for the crushing and grinding of silver ore to facilitate the selection of silver ore.

In addition, the technology of rails and rail minecarts, Marlin also intended to provide to Duke George. But blast furnace technology, Marlin did not intend to provide. After all, Duke George and himself can only be regarded as business partners at best, and the relationship cannot go further due to historical reasons. Besides, the Freiberg silver mine was not as easy to find a place for damming a river and building a hydroelectric blower as the Tyrolean silver mine in the foothills of the Alps. There is a river in the local area, but it is a large river suitable for navigation, and it is not suitable for barrage and damming and hydraulic blowers.

Therefore, Marin only provided high-manganese steel mills and rail minecart technology. However, even these two technologies alone could significantly increase the productivity of the Freiberg silver mine.

In addition, Marin also promised to help match, as a guarantor, to help Duke George get a loan of hundreds of thousands of gold coins to expand production. In return, Duke George signed an agreement with Marlin that he would be given priority in selling the silver ingots from the mines to Marin, and that the price would not be increased arbitrarily......