After leaving the courtyard where Simon pretended to be sick and recuperated, Marin went to arrange for spies to go to France. After Kohler's screening, he finally chose a spy named John and asked him to go to France to offer a "certificate of nomination" in exchange for a knighthood.

John Ben was one of Kohler's spies in Münster, and his apparent profession was a perfect match for Marin, the city's great wine seller.

Because of his dealership and sale of high-end wines from Burgundy, John was favored by the church leaders of Münster and became a guest of the Bishop of Conrad. After all, in the Bishopric of Münster, the richest people are the bishops and other high-ranking ecclesiastical leaders. And these church bigwigs usually don't drink beer, but like to drink red wine. They call drinking red wine "drinking holy blood", which is very religious.

Moreover, these church leaders were wealthy and naturally pursued high-end wines. It just so happened that John was the agent and seller of high-end Burgundy wines. In order to open up sales and take advantage of the opportunity to get information from the top of the church, John would often give high-end vintage wine as gifts to the church leaders. Bishop Conrad, who was fond of high-end red wine, invited him as a guest of honour and often invited him to Münster Cathedral to chat and brag. And John is also very sensible, and every time he goes, he brings a bottle of high-end aged red wine, which naturally pleases Bishop Conrad. Before Bishop Conrad hiccuped, John had already crushed several other rivals with the support of Bishop Conrad to become the largest vintner in the city of Münster.

Although John did not hold an official position in the South Münster area, he often went in and out of Münster Cathedral to accompany Bishop Conrad to brag about it, which many people in Münster knew and could stand up to scrutiny.

Moreover, John's status as a wine merchant was also very helpful in his acquisition of Château Lafite. After all, it would be suspicious for someone who has nothing to do with the wine industry to suddenly buy a winery.

In addition, there is a very important reason why John was chosen - John speaks French because he often goes to the wineries in the Burgundy region to buy goods. And this is very beneficial for him to integrate into the French aristocracy.

"Is this guy reliable?" Before making a decision, Marin asked Kohler.

"Absolutely! He was one of my first spies, and he was loyal. Moreover, my family also gave me hostage. ”

"Then he can't go to France alone, right?"

"It's okay, the one pretending to be his wife and son is also a spy under me!" Kohler said confidently.

Marin suddenly accepted - Nima, his wife and children are all fake, and they are all spies, so he can't turn the sky upside down......

In this way, Brother John took his wife and children disguised as spies, and took advantage of the chaos in Münster after the death of Bishop Conrad, and quietly left Münster and went to Paris, France......

……

"What do you say? A vintner named John asked to see me? A businessman can meet me if he wants to? Missing! Louis XII waved his hand impatiently. He is the king of the strongest kingdom of France in Europe, who can see him whenever he wants?

But the guard continued:

"He said that he was from the city of Münster, knew the reason for the attack on the Grand Duchy of the North Sea by several princes, and was willing to give this secret in exchange for His Majesty's reward!"

"Confidential? Isn't it because of the civil strife in the army of the Beihai Kingdom, and several princes want to take advantage of the opportunity? Well, I'm suddenly interested, so let's call him in! ”

John was brought into the palace, while his nominal wife and children waited outside the palace.

"See Your Majesty!" After meeting King Louis XII of France, John came directly to kneel on one knee.

Louis XII looked at him with interest and said:

"You are not my vassal, why do you bow as I do?" In Europe, citizens did not have to kneel when they saw the king, but only took off their hats and bowed.

"Because I am here to serve Your Majesty!" John said in a very serious tone.

"Serve me? But I need knights with military roles, not merchants. Louis XII said dismissively. He is the king of France, and not everyone can accept it.

"I know, but this secret I want to talk about can make your majesty add a lot of money and food. In this way, does it count as having a military role? After all, it takes a lot of money to fight a war. ”

"As far as I know, France has a large population and is the first in Europe. If it weren't for the lack of money and food, His Majesty would have been able to use more than 100,000 troops. But because the food is not sufficient, every time there is a war, there are only 30,000 or 40,000 people at most! John said confidently.

When Louis XII heard this, he was silent for a while. He had to admit that John had a point.

With a population of 15 million, France is five times the size of the United Kingdom and twice as large as Spain. However, although there is a lot of arable land in France, food production is very low. Even King Louis XII did not have much food in his hands.

In particular, the French knights, whom the French were proud of, consumed more food. Because, the food consumption of war horses is five or six times that of people. And each plate knight had to take two horses with him. Therefore, a plate knight, including his two horses, consumes at least 11 people's food every day during the war (when there is no war in peacetime, the physical consumption of the war horse is less, and it does not consume so much food, and some forage can be added. But in wartime, horses had to carry knights in plate armor, and the physical exertion was great, and they could not hold on without food).

Then, France dispatched 10,000 plate knights, and the daily food consumption alone could reach the standard of 110,000 people......

Therefore, France has so many plate knights, but they cannot be dispatched often. Because, the consumption of food can make the Dharma King poor. After all, food prices in Europe are too expensive......

Marin chose to use Cossack cavalry and Eastern European Mongolian horses, which is also the reason. Mongolian horses are resistant to rough feeding, even if they charge with cavalry during wartime, and their physical strength is very large, they do not need to be fed with concentrate, but mainly eat grass, and then supplement nutrition with some fried soybeans or something. Therefore, during the Anti-Japanese War, even the poor Eighth Road, who couldn't afford to wear new clothes, could pull a lot of cavalry. After all, Mongolian horses are easy to feed. If it is like a delicate European horse, it can only be fed with concentrate, and the Eighth Route Army will definitely not be able to raise it.

But the French knights can't save food, and the tall horses of the French knights are big consumers of food. Without enough food, the cavalry could not be pulled out to fight. Like the 8,000 knights of King Charles VIII of France, the reason why the Northern Italian infantry stopped them in the Battle of Fornovo was because Charles VIII had sent troops to grab food separately and delayed time. Otherwise, how could the two legs of an Italian mercenary outrun the four legs of a French cavalry horse?

……

Louis XII was clearly not stupid, and he also knew the importance of food. If there was enough food, the French knights could cross Europe. So, he asked in a deep voice:

"Can you really make me increase my money? One-off or long-term? ”

"In the long term, grain production will be doubled!" John said calmly.

"Come on, clear the field, prohibit idle people and others from approaching!" Louis XII immediately stood up and ordered his cronies to clear the field. All non-cronies were expelled from the hall. Outside the hall, guards were also put in.

Then he said to John with a serious face:

"I hope you don't lie to me, otherwise you will die!"

John nodded and said:

"Of course, you are the king of the most powerful country in Europe. However, if I do offer a way to double the grain production, what will you reward me, Your Majesty? ”

Louis XII thought for a moment and asked:

"What do you want?"

"I want Château Lafite, and a large fief, I wonder what title Your Majesty can give me?"

Louis XII thought for a moment and said:

"Château Lafite? I remember it was a Bordeaux winery, right? I remember that the quality of the red wine produced there is good, but it is not as famous as Burgundy wine...... As for the knighthood...... I can only give you the baron. After all, if you are a foreign merchant and give you too high a title, the nobles will not accept it. ”

"Isn't the Viscount okay? After all, that's the secret to doubling grain production! John asked with a reluctant look on his face. By the way, France has viscounts.

"No, it's already the limit to be able to give a baron who can be hereditary. After all, you weren't even a nobleman before! However, I can give you more fiefdoms! I can also buy it for you at Château Lafite, and as for the baronial title, let's call it Baron Lafite! ”

……

"Your Majesty, however, the minister still has a request!"

"You say!"

"I hope Château Lafite can get a big order from the palace in the future, anyway, the consumption of palace wine is very large, and Lafite red wine is of good quality, why not give Lafite red wine a chance?"

Louis XII thought for a moment and said:

"Yes, I can give you a partial order! After all, I also have to take care of the emotions on the Burgundian side! "Burgundy was snatched from Maximilian I by the French crown. In order to appease that side, Louis XII had to take care of that side a little more. Moreover, Burgundy wines are indeed of excellent quality.

"At least a third!" John asked.

"No problem, can you say it now?"

Seeing that Louis XII agreed to his terms, John finally spoke about the so-called "secret......