In the end, the younger Count Don agreed to the proposal of the knights of Alcobar and stormed the monastery. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

If there's one reason for that, it's money.

It's money, money, that's money!

If Count Tang Jr. wants to do things, to do big things, then he needs money. It takes money to dig ditches, it takes money to make paper, it takes money to hand bread to peasants, and even the knights in the realm have to pay their salaries in addition to the fixed fiefdom of a village!

If they don't have money, they will dare to rebel, believe it or not!

In addition, Count Tang also wanted to build roads, experiment with fertilizers, make steel, improve breeding, and ....... In short, Count Don has a lot to think about, but he needs money for everything! The territory is so big, where there is no shortage of money!

Take the county of Desmond as an example - as we have already said, when the Earl of Don was first in office, Desmond was a rather poor place, and how much did the lord pay in taxes a month?

Almost 125 gold coins.

Don't think that this number is small, in fact, gold coins have been used in the Middle Ages as a bulk trade for goods, and they are not seen in everyday life at all. In some novels, the protagonist casually shoots hundreds of thousands of millions of gold coins, what crystal coins are on the gold coins, there are purple gold coins on the crystal coins, and there are sacred coins on the purple gold coins, and the road to upgrading is as long as the QQ level. And it is a miracle that a civilian only needs one copper plate a day to live, and that the financial system of that world has not collapsed.

Here we can analyze the purchasing power of gold coins, first of all, to determine the first point, which is the value of the general equivalent, and then use the general equivalent as a comparison. Because the analysis of anything cannot be separated from the era to which it belongs, otherwise it will be a wrong analysis, a false analysis, and it will be used to fool people.

Generally speaking, when analyzing the purchasing power of silver in each dynasty in ancient China, rice was used as a general equivalent. Because a person lives, he can not shop, not consume, not wear clothes and buy shoes, but he cannot go without eating. However, there is no rice in Europe, so we use wheat as a general equivalent.

Wheat was the main food in the Middle Ages and was used for bread. And how big is this bread, which usually weighs more than 10 pounds (4. 5 kilograms), a family of five lives on this bread for three meals a day in the morning, noon and evening.

At that time, the price of this loaf of bread was about 5 copper plates (Note 1), and if it were put to the present day, if there was a family of five, no matter how much it was saved, according to the standard of 20 yuan per day for adults and 10 yuan per day for children, two adults with three children would cost 70 yuan per day without any other expenses.

And the currency of this world is rounded up to ten coppers and one silver, and ten silver and one gold. 5 copper plates are worth 70 yuan, then ten copper plates, that is, one silver coin is 140 yuan, and one gold coin is 1400 yuan, and the lord's monthly income is 125 gold coins, which is 125×1400 = 175000 yuan. Here we ignore all other variables, and assume that the harvest is the same every month, so that 12 months in a year is 2.1 million yuan.

$2,100,000.

This number seems to be a lot, but in fact it is indeed a lot, if just one person can earn so much money every year, then he can be called a successful person, a big businessman. But if it's a county, then it'......

No matter how inconspicuous Desmond is, it is also an earldom, more than 1,000 square kilometers, 50,000 or 60,000 peasants, and the land area is at least a city now, and the annual income of a city is only 2.1 million, what do you think of this city?

What's more, this little bit of income Count Xiao Tang can't hold all of it in his hands, he has to pay knights, repair castles, buy livestock, train soldiers, plus some of his personal expenses, 2.1 million can leave 1.5 million in the end.

Relying on this 1.5 million expenses, let alone establishing any industrial system, even maintaining the normal operation of the entire county is a big problem! -- Fortunately, God has a will, and it is natural for the peasants to work for their lords, otherwise they would not have been able to dig ditches.

So Count Don Jr. needs money, very, very, very much money.

And it just so happened that the knight of Alcobar chose the best goal for him: a monastery.

God, that's a big fat sheep...... Well, the Great Treasure Trove.

How rich the monasteries were, we can refer to the data of "Medieval Life in Europe", and I will only briefly describe it here: on Sundays the priest's table often served 8 meals, including lamb, pork, chicken and bacon; Side dishes include eggs, fruit, cheese and fish; The wine is often paired with wine or medicinal wine, and each person can drink a quarter of a pint (150 ml); Each clergyman should have two suits of clothing, including full sleeves, undershirt, bottoms, and hem; Plus a robe and a coat, in addition to matching shoes, stockings and a belt. Each priest also had a knife, a stone pen and a writing board for daily copying.

8 meals! Lamb, pork, chicken, and bacon!

Little Count Don still nibbles on black bread once in a while!

Not to mention the tithes collected in the monastery over the years!

Big family, local tyrants have no humanity, why don't you share a little bit of me when you say you're so rich? In this world, people are compared to death! Count Xiao Tang felt deeply that his eyes were red.

What's more, the money in the monastery, it's all put on it and moldy! What gods of gold are like candlesticks of silver, and what are they used for birds? Will that god personally descend to the mortal realm to purify all sentient beings, or will he bless the wind and rain to smooth the country and the people?

Nothing can be done! Then this god has an egg!

Not to mention that this money is in the hands of Count Xiao Tang, he can build roads, dig ditches, and ......, in short, it is better than leaving it moldy!

"That's right! I call it taking from the people and giving to the people! Robbing the rich and helping the poor, beating the local tyrants and dividing the land! Little Count Tang's mind was spinning, and he immediately came up with countless justified or improper reasons, silently praising the actions he was about to perform.

However, the timid Count apparently still has a lingering fear of the evil, the legendary big boss, so he asks such a question to the knight of Olcoba.

"If this thing is exposed...... I mean, what are we going to do if our robbery of a monastery is known to the clergy or the nobility elsewhere? ”

The knight, who smiled very honestly, shook his hair and showed a rather confident smile: "Then disguise yourself as a heretic from the north, don't worry, I have dealt with those heretics for decades, I am familiar with this kind of thing!" ”

Yes, you know, Knights of Alcoba, you know, even if you tell me one day that you are really a bandit in disguise, I will not be the slightest surprised.

Note 1: All the currencies in this article are all gold, silver and copper, please forgive me for not being able to find the currency information one by one, because there are four gold coins in the United Kingdom, three in France, seven in Spain, and even more than a dozen in Germany! And the gold content of gold coins in each region is different, and I don't know how merchants did business in the Middle Ages......

Note 2: Most of the information in this chapter comes from European Medieval Life, Oriental Publishing House, 2002 edition, and a small part refers to European Medieval History, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2007 edition.