At 105,000 square kilometres, Cuba is the largest island in the West Indies. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoWhat's more, most of it is plain, which is very suitable for planting.

The islands of Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica near Cuba Island are not small in area, but the terrain is rugged and not as large as the plains on Cuba Island.

Therefore, the Spaniards colonized the Americas and chose the island of Cuba as the most important farming base. And places such as Mexico and Peru on the plateau are just places used by the Spaniards for mining.

Of course, the island of Cuba did not live up to the expectations of the Spaniards. After many years of operation, the island of Cuba later became the largest sugarcane plantation in Spain, as well as the largest sugar production base. When Spain lost most of its American colonies, it still controlled Cuba and the Philippines for Cuba's sugar and Philippine trade with China. It's a pity that the emerging old United States saw the weakness of Spain and took the opportunity to rob Cuba and the Philippines......

Moreover, the world-famous rum was invented by the Cubans. They used Cuba's abundant sugar cane to make rum, a spirit with a sweet aroma. Since then, rum has become an important commodity in Cuba and a favorite drink of sailors and pirates during the Age of Discovery. Before the popularization of citric acid insurance technology, sailors and pirates on the sea also carried a lot of rum to the sea as water. Because, if there are no special measures, the shelf life of fresh water does not exceed 7 days. Rum, on the other hand, can be stored for a long time.

With so many large plains, abundant rainfall and numerous rivers, Cuba is a great place to farm. In later generations, the island of Cuba was not as big as a province in China, but it became a major sugar producer in the world, and its sugar exports ranked among the top three in the world, becoming the pillar of Cuba's economy.

Another pillar of Cuba's economy is nickel mines. In the 21st century, Cuba's exports of nickel ore and nickel metal have reached nearly $1 billion per year, becoming another pillar of Cuba's economy.

The importance of nickel, needless to say, stainless steel cannot be made without nickel. The use of stainless steel, needless to say, is absolutely universal and practical. In addition, the alloy of nickel and copper is the famous cupronickel. In ancient times, however, some people passed it off as silver.

Moreover, European silver coins, because of their high copper content, have approached copper coins. If it weren't for the fact that it still contained a little silver, the "silver coin" would probably not be in vain.

Previously, the bad coins minted by Marin were all lead-tin alloys, that is, the composition of solder wire. Although copper is added to it, its hardness increases. However, it has a fatal drawback - it is afraid of high temperatures. If you put it on the fire and burn it, or if you touch a red-hot piece of iron, it will melt into a liquid state, which is easy to distinguish.

But if it's a copper-nickel alloy of cupro, then there is no way. Because, nickel and copper, are both metals with a melting point of more than 1,000 degrees. Their alloys cannot be detected even at high temperatures.

It can be said that Marin has set his sights on nickel mines in the coastal mountains southwest of the island of Cuba. Once nickel is extracted, the copper counterfeit will hit Europe......

And the reserves of nickel ore in the coastal mountains of southern ancient Brazil are very large, with millions of tons. Unlike those silver mines, which can have a silver content of hundreds or thousands of tons, they are considered large mines. It's always much easier to get nickel than silver.

So, for Marin, the obscene counterfeit money issuer, nickel ore is very important. Even if you don't want the vast plains of the west, you still have to live in the nickel mines of the mountains in the southwest of the island of Cuba.

In the future, after having a large amount of nickel, Marin plans to use white copper to make French coins, impact the French market, and rob the French official minting profits. You're making a lot of money by reducing the silver content, aren't you? I don't use silver directly, I use nickel and copper, see who has the lowest cost? What about how big is France, there is a kind of you can detect the real or fake? The properties of white copper are very similar to those of French bad coins with more copper and less silver......

Thinking that he would use the fake money minted in white copper in the future to impact the markets of European countries, and make it difficult for them to distinguish, Ma Lin was excited just thinking about it......

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While Marin was hilarious, people in most of Germany, and in the north of France, were worried. The autumn rains, which broke out in the second half of the autumn harvest, have been going on for a long time. To be sure, more than half of the rye has rotted in the fields. Nearly half of the rye harvested before was also moldy because there was not enough time to dry it.

In short, it was a catastrophe that swept over most of Germany and half of France, and a widespread famine was inevitable.

In the whole northern part of Germany, probably only the East Friesian Lamberan country was able to avoid a catastrophe because of the early end of spring ploughing and the early autumn harvest.

Marin now has a total arable land of 100,000 yugrams, together with the newly cultivated land reclaimed from the marshes. And the nobles under their command also have a total of 35,000 yugrams.

This year, as usual, everyone's yield per mu is about 500 pounds. In other words, the total grain production of those nobles reached 210 million pounds. Marin is more productive because he grows rye on 95,000 yugrams, and 5,000 yugrams on oats for horses.

Normally, the price of rye in Germany was 1 pfennig per pound. However, if you sell the grain to a buyer, you can get 0.7 pfennig per pound. Unless, Marlin helps to sell to Southern Europe or England, to reach the high price of 1 pfennig per pound. This is because the price of food in these areas is higher.

However, this year is different, because of the massive rains that broke out during the autumn harvest, the price of food in Germany and France will inevitably rise this year, and it will rise sharply.

So, in anticipation of this situation, all the East Frisian nobles were in no hurry to sell grain. Only when the rye harvested in the first half of the autumn harvest is exhausted will the grain rise sharply. Moreover, it is estimated that the price of food will rise at least twice as much as usual. That is, it will reach more than 2 pfennig per pound......

At that time, even the purchase price of grain merchants will steadily exceed 1.5 pfennig per pound. Then, 6 million pounds of grain from the baron's house, which has 1,000 yugram rye fields, can be sold for a sky-high price of 9 million fennig. That's a lot of 150,000 gold coins. As for keeping rations at home and keeping seeds? I had already left enough for last year. Of course, when selling grain, priority must be given to selling the old grain of the year before and last year. This year's new grain will be used to ballast.

Like the nobles of East Friesian Lamber, the nobles of southern Germany were also mad with joy. In the southern part of Germany, deep inland, there has been little precipitation, and this time the precipitation that swept over most of Germany allowed them to escape. Therefore, the aristocratic landlords in the south can also be sure that the price of grain will definitely rise sharply this year.

For example, Austria under Maximilian I avoided the widespread rains of the autumn harvest this year and enjoyed a bumper harvest. The emperor, who has always been financially tight, will also make a fortune.

However, the Dutch region under the control of Maximilian I's son was also affected. So, for the Habsburgs, there was a profit and a loss. But overall, it's still a little bit earned.

"Food prices will definitely rise sharply this year and next year!" Looking at the heavy rain outside the door, Marin raised his glass and said to Columbus, who was drinking with him.

"yes, everyone is going to get rich this year!" Thinking of the 6 million pounds of new grain in his family's warehouse, Columbus's old face was about to turn into a chrysanthemum with laughter......

In particular, Marin promised that if he made the voyage, got the rubber tree seeds, and applied to the Spanish crown for the island of Cuba as his own territory, Marin would exchange 1,000 fertile arable land in Yugram Lerle County for him......

Thinking of this, Columbus's eyes were full of gold coins......

1000 yugrams! Even if the price of grain does not rise much, the annual income is tens of thousands of gold coins. Anyway, his second son, Fernando, will also become a wealthy nobleman in the future......

It's just that he doesn't know how big a treasure the island of Cuba is. If he had known that the island of Cuba, which he had sold to Marin, was such a rich place, he would not have agreed to exchange it for 1,000 yugrams......

Later, on his deathbed, Christopher Columbus wrote in his diary that "the most wrong and loss-making decision I have ever made in my life was to exchange the island of Cuba and His Majesty Marin for a mere 1,000 yugrams......