After clearing his throat, John asked Louis XII:

"Your Majesty must have heard of the legend of the Golden Basin of Sicily, right?"

Louis XII nodded:

"Yes, of course I do. The Golden Basin is fertile and has a warm climate, rich in wheat and olive. It is said that the yield of wheat per mu in the Golden Basin can reach a staggering 3,000 pounds per Bonniers (a unit of land area in medieval France, about 1 hectare, or 15 acres) (the French pound, more than 489.5 grams), which is twice the yield of wheat per mu in other regions! But what does this have to do with the secret you're telling? ”

John smiled and said:

"Of course there is a relationship, and it is a big relationship! Because, the former Grand Duke of Beihai Kingdom, Ma Lin, discovered this secret and applied it to the agricultural production of Beihai Kingdom. In his 100,000 bonnier's arable land (actually more), he basically applied the method he learned from the Sicilian Golden Basin, so that each bonnier's arable land yielded more than 3,000 pounds of rye. Each pound of rye is worth 1 pfennig, and 3,000 pounds of rye is 3,000 pfennig, which is equivalent to 50 gold coins. 100,000 bonnies is 5,000,000 gold coins......"

"What?" Louis XII was so frightened that his glass fell to the ground. However, the glass is made of gold, and it will not be broken.

"5,000,000 gold coins...... 5,000,000 gold coins...... No wonder, he was able to pull up a standing army of 60,000 people! I can't do this with this financial resources......"

In those years, the most financially powerful country in Europe was Venice, with an annual revenue of about 1.65 million ducats. France is the second, with an annual revenue of about 1.2 million gold coins.

Venice, however, relied on taxes from seafaring trade, while France relied purely on the king's fiefdoms and modest commercial taxes and duties on import and export trade.

But what did Louis XII hear? Just a Grand Duchy of the North Sea, the output of Marin's fiefdom reached an astonishing annual income of 5 million gold coins...... No, I'll have to take a sip of wine to suppress the ......

So Louis XII picked up his glass, poured a glass of burgundy, and drank it in large gulps......

"Your Majesty, 5 million gold coins is only the total output, but only half of it can be reached in your hand...... John reminded.

Actually, that's not the case at all. John's statement is the standard of counterparts in other European countries. Because, the royal territories of various countries are managed by nobles who are loyal to the royal family or nobles who are branches of the royal family. These aristocrats naturally want to pluck their feathers and fill their pockets in a big way. So, it would be nice to have half of the output in the hands of the king.

The Beihai Kingdom is different, the predecessor of the Beihai Kingdom, East Friesland, was built on the premise that Marin washed the old aristocracy with blood. In the North Sea Kingdom, there are not many nobles. Therefore, Marin generally appointed a large number of civilians as stewards of the estate. However, Marin did not fully trust them, and at the same time sent Kohler's spies to spy on them to avoid corruption. Therefore, most of Marin's fiefdom can be safely stored in the warehouse, avoiding corruption by his subordinates. Although corruption cannot be eradicated, at least it is not a major problem overall. Unlike those old countries, the personnel relations in the territory are complicated, and there are many people who are greedy for ink. In the end, half of the part that goes into the hands of the monarch is considered good.

Louis XII, whose mood had calmed down a little, exclaimed:

"Even if it's only half, that's 2.5 million gold coins, more than twice the income of the French royal court! It is no wonder that a mere Beihai country dares to raise an army of 60,000 and make waves everywhere. Those who have food and grass are willful! ”

"Now that I dedicate this secret to Your Majesty, does Your Majesty still think that a baron is too much?" John asked with a smile.

"Not much! However, I really can't give you a viscount, otherwise, those nobles will make a mess! Louis XII said earnestly.

John nodded and said:

"I understand, so I hope Your Majesty will take care of my winery business more in the future. Also, it can give his subordinates more opportunities to enter the palace and make friends with big people! ”

"It's nature!" Louis XII nodded, then said:

"Now, you can tell the specific secret, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" John saluted, then continued:

"That's right, the late Grand Duke of the North Sea Kingdom, Marin, was chatting with a mercenary from Sicily while leading his troops to fight in Italy, and accidentally learned a secret - the volcanic soil on the island of Sicily is very fertile. Farming on it is very productive! ”

So, he came up with a whim: since the soil is fertile, why not dig up the ash back and use it as fertilizer to fertilize the farmland? Then, he sent his subordinate Kohler to buy a volcano in Naples, Italy, where he dug up ash and brought it back to be used as fertilizer to sprinkle in the fields. Later, it was a high-yielding ......."

"Volcanic ash? When fertilizer? Louis XII was stunned......

"It's as simple as that?"

John nodded:

"yes, it's as simple as that......"

Louis XII suddenly had a feeling that he had been fooled and wanted to refund his ticket:

"I feel like I've been deceived into a baron and ......"

"Your Majesty, the minister didn't lie to you. You think, it's easy to say, but for thousands of years, who would have thought of this? Only a genius like the former Grand Duke of the North Sea Kingdom, Marin, would make such a strange attempt. In the end, he succeeded! Moreover, if the minister does not come to tell His Majesty, His Majesty will never know! ”

When Louis XII heard this, it was true that if John had not come to tell him, he would not have thought of it even if he wanted to break his head.

Suddenly, Louis XII raised his head and asked suspiciously:

"So, how did you know about this secret? As far as I know, you are a vintner in the city of Münster, and the city of South Münster is not under the jurisdiction of the North Sea State. It stands to reason that you shouldn't know this secret......"

John had anticipated this question, and replied unhurriedly:

"Your Majesty doesn't know that this time the seven princes jointly sent troops to the Beihai Kingdom to seize this secret. Later, John, Count of Rietberg, was introduced by his younger brother, Bishop Conrad. The minister had a very good relationship with Bishop Conrad, who was fond of red wine, and overheard the princes discussing this secret. The eight princes shared this robbed secret, and the minister was fortunate enough to hear ......"

"And then you're going to come and tell me?"

"Naturally, who could be more powerful in Europe than the Kingdom of France? Moreover, France has a lot of arable land, and with this secret, it is natural to have the wings of a tiger. If there is enough food, the French iron cavalry can be dispatched without restrictions. Just ask, who in the world can stop it? John patted his ass.

"You can see it......" Louis XII said triumphantly.

Because, John was right. If there is enough food to feed those war horses, the plates and heavy horsemen that France can touch are not 10,000, but more than 20,000. Because, the total number of French plate knights is definitely more than twenty thousand. However, because once the plate armor heavy cavalry is dispatched, the food consumption is huge, especially the war horse can be eaten. And food is so expensive, His Holiness can't afford to consume it. Therefore, France would rather recruit Swiss mercenaries to fight than easily use the plate-armored heavy cavalry of the whole country. Because, even if the Swiss were given double commission, the cost would be much smaller than that of the heavy cavalry. After all, Swiss mercenaries are primarily infantry. And the heavy cavalry two horses can eat the food of 10 people in a day......

With this in mind, Louis XII was already looking forward to a bright future for the European continent. However, it suddenly occurred to him that no, the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which seemed to have many volcanoes, were in the hands of the Spaniards......

So, he asked his own questions......

John had a solution:

"This is simple, Your Majesty can arrange for his merchants to go to the Kingdom of Naples to buy a volcano, and then send someone to dig up volcanic ash and send it back to China as fertilizer! It is said that this is what the North Sea Kingdom did. ”

"That's a good idea, do you have any recommendations for buying volcanoes? Also, will the locals oppose us digging volcanoes? After all, you also said that volcanic ash is fertile soil, and they can let you dig up fertile soil? ”

John replied:

"It's true that volcanic ash is fertile soil, but it has to be sprinkled on the plains to become fertile soil. And in those mountainous areas with rugged terrain, even if there is volcanic ash, you can't farm. You can't farm in the mountains, can you? We are not digging up the volcanic ash in the plains, but we are sending people to dig up the volcanic ash in the mountains, which no one cares about. ”

"That makes sense, do you have any recommendations for which volcano I should buy?" Louis XII was satisfied.

John directly spread out the map and pointed to a volcanic road on the coast of the Bay of Naples in the Kingdom of Naples:

"Your Majesty, this is Vesuvius, have you heard?"

"I've really heard that it is said that in Roman times, this volcano erupted and buried several cities."

Pompeii has long been forgotten by Europeans, and it wasn't until 1594 that anyone dug up a stone with the inscription "Pompeii". And in the 18th century, archaeologists dug up the ancient city of Pompeii, and then it became a sensation all over the world. Before the excavation of Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius was not so famous. Louis XII could have known, and he could have been considered erudite.

John nodded and said:

"I went to Italy on business, and I heard from an Italian scholar that the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD buried three ancient Roman cities—Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia. It is said that before being buried by volcanic ash, Pompeii was the second largest city in the Roman Empire, after Rome, with a population of 25,000 people...... "Actually, this is what Marin told John. Of course, these are all common sense in later history.

"What? And such a city? Louis XII was taken aback. You know, with a population of 25,000, in 1512, it was also a big city. You know, Vienna, the capital of Austria, is only 20,000 people.

"Yes, I suppose that if the area under Vesuvius were excavated in the name of archaeology, wouldn't it be unremarkable to dig up volcanic ash? Moreover, if the ancient city of Pompeii is excavated...... It's a bustling city from ancient Roman times, and there may be a lot of treasures......"

"Okay, that's it! I'm going to dig up the ancient city of Pompeii! "Louis XII already had a lot of antiques from the Roman era in his eyes......

But he didn't know that this was the big hole that Marin left for him......

The ancient city of Pompeii naturally exists, and the antiques inside are also priceless. But here's the thing – that's Spanish territory......

If the Spaniards knew that the French were digging Pompeii on their territory...... If you don't say it, let's fight first......

Once the war begins, the French's plan to fertilize the fields with volcanic ash will be frustrated. In order to capture enough ash, the French had to send troops again to rob the Kingdom of Naples. And Spain is not going to show weakness...... Let's let the two countries play out the dog's brains......

Of course, Marin will not intervene in the early stage, and always let the French taste some sweetness. When they have enjoyed a wave of benefits, they will bring the Spaniards to scare them......

In order to trigger a full-scale war between France and Spain, Marin also let go and sold the news of Pompeii to the French. You know, he was originally going to secretly dig out the ancient city of Pompeii and swallow those antiques. But keeping the two strong rivals, France and Spain, at war with each other, is more important than the misappropriation of the antiques. So, Marin reluctantly asked the French to buy Vesuvius and dig up the ancient city of Pompeii......