For coastal residents, fish meat is probably the easiest to get. After all, fishing costs are very low, just one boat, a net, and the work of fishermen is enough. Unlike meat, even the sheep that eats grass, lambs have to be bought with money.
Moreover, it takes a long time to raise the sheep. Moreover, people need to be sent to take care of the sheep in the middle to prevent the sheep from being eaten by wild animals or stolen by others. It is very laborious. Fishermen usually don’t have to care about the growth of fish at all. Their task is to run to the fishing area to cast a net.
Of course, fishing is also risky. For example, you are afraid of encountering storms at the sea. However, the North Sea in Europe is relatively calm. Unlike the South China Sea in China, where typhoons are blowing in summer. Therefore, as long as the ship is larger, it is safe to fish in the North Sea.
Fish is rich in nutrients, and some of the meat are basically nutritious. The only thing that is lacking in meat is probably fat. But Marin has promoted soybean cultivation in North America. When soybean oil starts mass production, fat is not something people need in particular.
In general, salted fish is not only resistant to preservation, but also has sufficient nutrition. Moreover, because salted fish is marinated with salt, eating salted fish is also equivalent to supplementing salt.
Therefore, for Europeans, salted fish is a god-level food that can provide sufficient nutrition, supplement salt, and is also resistant to preservation.
Not only coastal fishermen regard salted fish as important food, but inland Europeans also regard salted fish as important food. After all, salted fish are resistant to preservation and easy to transport.
But the price of salt is too expensive, so the Swedes invented the infamous canned herring. The reason why it smells stinky is that the area of ​​Sweden is in the Baltic Sea, which does not produce salt and the salt price is too expensive. Therefore, in order to save salt, Swedish fishermen directly cooked the fish in concentrated salt water and then packaged it directly. Because of insufficient salt content, the herring fermented in the container and became odorous, resulting in the infamous canned Swedish herring. If the cost of salt is not considered, the correct method of marinating should be to rub salt hard on the inside and outside of the fish until the salt penetrates deep into the fish. Then, it will be air-dried and dried. In this way, it will not be too odorous. If you want to save salt, you will make a product like the canned Swedish herring that is odorous in the wind.
Fortunately, the people of Lubeck are not short of salt, and there is sufficient supply of mineral salt in Lüneburg. The salted fish made by Lubeck is sufficient for salt, which is very popular among consumers everywhere.
However, Marin knew in his heart that Lubeck's good days were not much. By the time the herring production area was transferred to the North Sea coast in 1560, Lubeck was destined to decline.
Marin used to wonder why the Hanseatic League declined in the late 16th century. It turned out that it was Lubeck, the leader, who declined. The "queen" in the Hanseatic League, failed to shoulder the heavy responsibility of revitalizing the Hanseatic League. Then, the Dutch took advantage of the situation and took over the position of Lubeck. Later, the trade of salt and salted fish in the Baltic region seemed to have been stolen by the Dutch...
...
Hector and other Bremen representatives were satisfied with the salt induction, but Hector thought of a serious problem:
"Marin, is there a date for this salt invoice to be cashed? 1 million gold coins is not a small number. I heard that the annual salt output of the Lüneburg Salt Mine is only worth 600,000 to 700,000 gold coins. Even if you get half of the shares, the annual salt production is only worth more than 300,000 gold coins, which is not enough to pay the bill. Moreover, if you delay delivery for one year, we will suffer a lot."
Marin thought about it and it was true that he could not change the salt worth millions of gold coins at once. So he decided to say:
"If the delivery is delayed, I will pay the interest, and I will pay the bill with salt. The old rule is that the annual interest is 10%, 5% in half a year, and there is no interest below half a year! In addition, I promise to collect enough salt within a year. But if you don't come to raise salt in a year, I won't give more interest, and the maximum is 10%!" Marin was afraid that these people would hold the salt in their hands as stocks waiting for the rise. Therefore, he gave the latest cashing time. If it exceeds the time, it will be useless to hold it for a long time.
Hector thought about it and agreed to Marin's solution.
But in fact, Hector and other Hanseatic merchants would not be able to pay attention to the 10% interest rate for a year. Because if the money can be cashed in for business, the profits will be much higher than the interest rate. Therefore, Hector and several other representatives asked for priority cashing in their housing costs.
Marin pretended not to be happy, and Marin deliberately proposed to depreciate the house of the Hanseatic merchants worth more than one million, and only give half the price.
Several Bremen representatives were anxious. They were all big Bremen households and their property value was very high. If they were depreciated half, the loss would be great. For example, if the Hector's villa was depreciated half, it would be equivalent to losing 2,500 gold coins.
So, several people began to argue. But Marin believed that the house became older and older, and it would definitely be depreciated. So the two sides became stalemate.
Finally, the next morning, Hector and his friends proposed a new plan-
"Sir Marin, why don't we take a new plan..."
"What new plan? It's unlikely to not depreciate!"
Hector exhaled and told the solution that several Bremen representatives discussed last night...
...
"What? You said you would like to convince other Hanseatic merchants to sell the house to me at half price?" Marin was a little stunned. He proposed to depreciate half, but just asking for a price everywhere, waiting for the other party to bargain. His bottom line was actually a 30% discount. As a result, the opponent directly agreed to the outrageous price...
"Yes, if Lord Marin you agree to acquire the properties of 23 members of our Bremen Parliament and 30 major households without depreciation, we are willing to cooperate with you and convince other Hanseatic merchants to accept a 50% discount on the purchase price!"
Marin thought for a while and asked:
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content behind! "So, what is the total value of your 53 properties?"
"It's about 200,000 gold coins. If the remaining 800,000 real estate is calculated based on half of the depreciation, it can save you 400,000 gold coins!"
"Okay, I've done it!" Marin accepted decisively.
After thinking about it, Marin asked again:
"How do you cooperate with me to convince those little Hanseatic merchants?"
"Even coaxing and scaring!"
"Even coaxing and scaring? How to do it specifically?" Marin became interested.
Hector replied:
"This is simple. Just say that you threatened us with a knife on your neck during the negotiations, and you had to agree to depreciate half of the time..."
"Wait..." Marin interrupted him and said angrily:
"What if the ordinary Hanseatic merchants are completely angered? What if they resist with the citizens of Bremen?"
Hector shook his head and said:
"No, because the food in the city can't last for many days. In addition, we councillors and big families plan to pretend to take the lead in escaping and spread the news that you are going to send troops to loot the Hanseatic merchants in the city..."
"You might as well say I want to massacre the city!" Marin said angrily.
Hector shook his head and said:
"It is useless to say that the massacre of the city is useless. For us merchants, the loss of money will hurt. As for the massacre of the city, it may not be more deterrent to steal all their property."
"Haha...the businessman..." Marin didn't know what to say.
Hector continued:
"You don't have to worry that those small businessmen will encourage the citizens of Bremen to resist. Because in Bremen, there are only more than fifty people who really have the right to speak. As for other Hanseatic merchants, there is basically no chance to speak, so there is no need to worry that they will lead the people to fight you. As long as more than fifty people take the lead in escaping, other Hanseatic merchants will be scared and run away with no heads..."
Chapter completed!