After receiving Marin's instructions, Kohler personally rode south. After changing horses along the way, he arrived in the region of Breishgau in a few days, and negotiated with several local lords in Freiburg.

After some haggling, Kohler agreed to pay 30 gold to each family that included a strong man, and that it must include children under the age of 8. As for children over 8 years old, each boy has 10 gold coins and girls 5 gold coins. Of course, the price is higher for beautiful girls over the age of 10 than for boys......

The reason why the average boy is twice as expensive as a girl is because it was an agrarian society in this era. In an agrarian society, men are the pillars of the work. After all, many women in the fields can't do heavy work at all. Therefore, in rural areas where farming is the mainstay, it is normal to give preference to sons over women, and it is not normal for men and women to be equal. In the cities, because there is no heavy farm work, the status of women is much higher than that of rural women.

However, this is not the case for girls over the age of 10. In Europe in this era, girls at the age of 15 were generally married. Girls over the age of 10 can do whatever it takes to raise them for a few years. Therefore, the price of a beautiful little girl is much more expensive than that of a boy who can be a laborer after a few years. Especially those obscene aristocrats, they will not sell those beautiful little girls.

Of course, Kohler didn't want to buy those pretty little girls. Why? He is to increase the population of the North Sea Country, not to pimp the nobles of the North Sea Country. Therefore, Kohler bought only 1000 teenagers and 700 maidens. All in all, the North Sea Kingdom needs to pay a fee of 103,500 Gulden gold coins. Not all of these expenses are in cash, and more than half of them will be paid for by grain.

Moreover, Breissgau is on the edge of Alsace, close to the upper Rhine, but navigable. Therefore, the Beihai Congress used inland river galleys to transport grain worth more than 50,000 Gulden gold coins through inland waterways.

In addition, Kohler negotiated with several lords to offset some of the payments with cane sugar and ginger from the island of Grenada, as well as spirits from the North Sea Country. Several lords happened to have a demand for this, and then, more than 10,000 gold coins were offset by cane sugar, ginger, and spirits.

……

After the negotiations, Kohler did not return home immediately, but instead went to the Duchy of Württemberg, northeast of Breisgau, where he visited Duke Ulrich, an ally of the Habsburgs.

Kohler brought 100 bottles of the "Royal Salute" liquor, a specialty of the North Sea Kingdom, which is actually a two-pot head mixed with boiling water and maple syrup. However, because of the addition of maple syrup, the royal salute tasted good and was very popular with European aristocrats. Now, it's an expensive luxury in Europe, and a bottle is worth several gold coins. 100 bottles of royal salute, take it out to have more face, just like later generations raised 100 bottles of Moutai.

Sure enough, the Duke of Ulrich, who loved to enjoy, loved the gift. Nonsense, who in the future will carry 100 bottles of Moutai to the door and you don't like it? If you can take it......

Because of these 100 bottles of "Royal Salute", Kohler himself was courtesy from Duke Ulrich of Württemberg. Although Kohler was already the earl of the Grand Duchy of the North Sea, this was a title within the vassal states, not an imperial title recognized by all of Europe. As a result, Kohler was generally regarded as a baron of the Empire in other vassal states. Ulrich, as a princely duke, was the top tycoon in Germany. For an earl of a vassal state like Kohler, he generally only needs to send a palace minister to greet him. But this time, because Kohler's gift was very much to his heart, he personally received Kohler and had a cordial conversation with Kohler in the living room.

During the conversation, Kohler deliberately revealed the purpose of his trip, and explained to the Duke of Ulrich about the purchase of 3,000 captured peasant households from Bryschgau for more than 100,000 gold coins.

Then, Kohler found out that he hadn't finished his introduction, and Duke Ulrich's saliva fell......

"More than 100,000...... Gulden Gold Coins? The Duke was dumbfounded. He really didn't expect that those country mud legs could be exchanged for gold coins...... This is ...... This is ...... It's incredible......

Why is the Duke so sensitive to gold coins? Because what he lacks most is gold!

During his 15-year dukedom career, Ulrich owed a huge debt of 1 million Gulden gold coins. So, Ulrich was eager to get a way to get money. And the oppression of the peasants was also his last resort. After all, the Württemberg Mountains and the Black Forest are not a place rich in bounty.

However, when it comes to population, the population of the Duchy of Württemberg can rank among the top few in the whole of Germany, and there are many people in the right place......

Speaking of which, Württemberg is actually quite large, with more than 10,000 square kilometers, which is comparable to that of Israel in later generations. And Israel has a population of 8 million......

Of course, this cannot be compared. The yield of tomatoes per mu is 50 tons, which is a super agricultural power. And what about Württemberg? Although the area is not as large as Israel, there are many mountains, forests, and little arable land. Moreover, the yield per mu is only about 100 pounds, which cannot afford to support too many people.

Therefore, even Ulrich, the Duke of Württemberg, disliked the fact that there were too many people in the country......

In fact, Marin had recruited troops from the Duchy of Württemberg many times before, and recruited about 10,000 Württemberg mountain citizens as soldiers. Counting their families, it's enough for tens of thousands.

However, this did not do Duke Ulrich any good. Because, he couldn't receive much tax from those poor ghost mountain people in the first place. Moreover, Württemberg's most populous areas are those agricultural areas, not mountainous areas.

Therefore, Marin's previous recruitment of soldiers did not relieve the pressure on the Württemberg countryside. Even, because of the departure of the mountain people, the burden on the peasants has become heavier.

However, the Duke of Ulrich still felt that the population was too large......

Today, there are still more than 600,000 people in the Duchy of Württemberg. If you include the mountain people who were recruited by Marin before, the total population is estimated to exceed 700,000.

But Duke Ulrich felt that Württemberg had so little arable land and so much useless mountainous land, and that about 500,000 people were enough. Even, 500,000 is too much......

In recent years, many of Württemberg's surplus serfs have moved out to earn a living in the cities of other vassal states. He didn't care about that. Anyway, if these people can't go, they won't be able to bring him any benefits. If they don't leave, they won't have extra arable land for them to plant. If he leaves, he will not be able to receive taxes without leaving Württemberg......

But today, Kohler's words seemed to open a window for him......

"It turns out that those poor ghosts can also be sold for money...... "Duke Ulrich's eyes shone with gold coins......