For coastal dwellers, fish is probably the most readily available meat. After all, the cost of fishing is very low, as long as a boat, a net, and the labor of the fishermen. Unlike meat, even if it is a grazing sheep, lambs cost money to buy.

Moreover, it takes a long time to raise sheep. Moreover, it is necessary to send someone to watch over the sheep on the way, so that the sheep will not be eaten by wild beasts or stolen by people, which is very laborious. And the fishermen usually don't care about the growth of the fish at all. Their task is to run to the fishing area and cast their nets.

Of course, fishing is also risky. For example, fear of storms at sea. However, the European North Sea is relatively calm. Unlike the South China Sea, typhoons blow in the summer. So, as long as the boat is larger, it is still relatively safe to fish in the North Sea.

Fish is rich in nutrients, and it basically has all the nutrients that meat has. The only thing that is lacking more than meat is probably fat. But Marlin has already promoted soybean cultivation in North America, and when soybean oil begins to be mass-produced, fat is not something that people particularly need.

All in all, salted fish is not only durable to preservation, but also nutritious and sufficient. Moreover, because it is salted, it is equivalent to replenishing salt while eating salted fish.

Therefore, for Europeans, salted fish is really a god-level food that can provide enough nutrients, replenish salt, and be preserved.

Salted fish is an important food not only for coastal fishermen, but also for Europeans in the interior. After all, salted fish is shelf-stable and easy to transport.

But the price of salt was too expensive, so, the Swedes invented the infamous canned stinky herring. The reason why it stinks is because Sweden is a Baltic Sea region, which does not produce salt, and the price of salt is too expensive. Therefore, in order to save salt, Swedish fishermen directly boiled the fish caught in concentrated salt water, and then packaged them directly. Because of the lack of salt, the herring fermented in the container and became stinky, resulting in the infamous Swedish canned herring. Instead of considering the cost of salt, the correct way to marinate is to rub the inside and outside of the fish with salt until the salt penetrates deep into the flesh. Then, it is air-dried and sun-dried. In this way, it is not easy to stink too much. If you try to save salt, you will make a stinky goods like canned Swedish herring.

Fortunately, the people of Lübeck are not short of salt, and there is an abundant supply of mineral salt from Lüneburg, and the salted fish made by Lübeck has enough salt, which is very popular with consumers everywhere.

It's just that Marin knows in his heart - Lübeck's good days are numbered. By 1560 the herring production area had shifted to the North Sea coast, and Lübeck was doomed to decline.

Marin wondered why the Hanseatic League had declined in the late 16th century, but it turned out that Lübeck had declined. Hamburg, the "queen" of the Hanseatic League, failed to take on the task of reviving the Hanseatic League, and then the Dutch took advantage of the situation and took Lübeck's place. Later, the trade in salt and salted fish in the Baltic Sea region seemed to have been robbed by the Dutch......

……

Hector and several other Bremen representatives were originally very satisfied with the salt introduction, but Hector thought of a serious problem

"Grand Duke Marin, is there a date for this salt to be cashed? 1,000,000 gold coins is not a small number. I have heard that the annual salt production of the Lüneburg salt mine is only worth six or seven hundred thousand gold coins. Even if you get half of the shares, the annual salt output is only worth more than 300,000 gold coins, which is not enough to pay the bill. Moreover, if the delivery is delayed for 1 year, we will also lose a lot. ”

Marin thought about it, really, he couldn't change out the salt worth millions of gold coins all of a sudden. So, he decided

"If the delivery is delayed, I will pay the interest, or I will pay the salt to pay the bill. The old rule, the annual interest is 10, half a year is 5, and there is no interest for less than half a year! Also, I'll make sure I'll have enough salt within a year. But if you don't come to pick up the salt after a year, I won't give you more interest, up to 10! "Marin is afraid that these people will pinch the salt in their hands and treat it as a stock to rise. So, he gave a cash out time at the latest. If you exceed the time, it is useless to hold it for a long time.

Hector thought about it and agreed to Marin's plan.

But in fact, Hector and other Hanseatic merchants would not look at this interest of 10 a year at all. Because, if you can cash out this money and use it for business, the profit you get is much higher than the interest. So, Hector and several other representatives, demanded that their housing expenses be honored first.

Marin pretended not to be happy, and Marin deliberately offered to depreciate the houses of the Hanseatic merchants, who were worth more than a million dollars, by half, and only at half price.

Several Bremen representatives were immediately anxious, they were all big Bremen households, and the property value was very high. If the depreciation is half, the loss is large. For example, if the Hector family's villa is depreciated by half, it is equivalent to a loss of 2,500 gold coins.

As a result, several people began to argue with reason. But Marin believes that the older the house gets, it will definitely depreciate. As a result, the two sides were at a stalemate.

Finally, the next morning, Hector and his men came up with a new plan—

"Marlin-sama, why don't we adopt a new plan......"

"What's new? No depreciation is unlikely! ”

Hector exhaled and said what he had come up with last night in the deliberations of several Bremen representatives......

……

"What? You said you would help me convince the other Hanseatic merchants to sell me the house at half price? Marin was a little stunned, he proposed to depreciate half, but he just asked for a sky-high price, waiting for the other party to counteroffer. His bottom line is actually a seven-fold price acquisition. As a result, the opponent directly agreed to this outrageous price......

"Yes, if Lord Marin agrees to acquire the properties of 23 members of our Bremen Parliament and 30 large families without depreciation, we are willing to cooperate with you, Your Excellency, to convince other Hanseatic merchants to accept the purchase price at 5% off!"

Marin thought for a moment and asked

"So, what is the total value of your 53 properties?"

"It's about 200,000 gold coins. The remaining 800,000 properties, if calculated according to half of the depreciation, can save you 400,000 gold coins! ”

"Okay, done!" Marin decisively accepted.

After thinking about it, Marin asked again

"How do you cooperate with me to convince those little Hanseatic merchants?"

"Even coax and scare!"

"Even coaxing? How? "Marin came interested.

Hector replied

"This is simple, let's just say that we were threatened by you with a knife on your neck during the negotiation, and we had to agree to depreciate by half......"

"Wait......" Marin interrupted him, not breathing

"What if you completely anger the ordinary Hanseatic merchants? What if they lead the citizens of Bremen to resist? ”

Hector shook his head and said

"No, because the food in the city won't last long. In addition, we, the councillors and the magnates, intend to pretend to take the lead in escaping, and to spread the word that you are about to send troops to sack the whole city of the Hanseatic merchants......"

"You might as well say I'm going to slaughter the city!" Marin didn't have a good airway.

Hector shook his head and said

"It's useless to say that the slaughter of the city is useless, for us merchants, the loss of money will be painful. As for the slaughter of the city, it may not be more deterrent than robbing them of their property. ”

"Huh...... The merchant ...... "Marin doesn't know what to say anymore."

Hector continued

"You are worried that the small businessmen will encourage the citizens of Bremen to resist, but you don't have to. Because, in Bremen, only more than 50 of us really have the right to speak. As for the other Hanseatic merchants, there is little chance to speak, and there is no need to worry about them leading the people against you. As long as more than 50 of us take the lead in escaping, the other Hanseatic merchants will be so frightened that they will flee with us......"

"Very well, that's it!" In order to save 400,000 gold coins in demolition compensation, Marin couldn't care about face. As for Hector and others, for their own interests, they did not hesitate to betray the little Hanseatic merchants in Bremen......