In fact, if you promise to give 100,000 British sheep in the Netherlands, you will definitely offend King Edward of the British. After all, the British would definitely not want to see the Flanders get enough wool.
100,000 British sheep should be bred well, one or two births a year, and it will be several times larger in a few years. In this way, the British wool industry will be affected.
But Marin didn't care about this impact. In fact, he could get all 500,000 British sheep. Because Northumberland, under his name, is now an important sheep-raising area. Northumberland is not flat, only the eastern coastal areas are mainly plains. The western areas are mainly hills and swamps. Moreover, the local temperature is low, so it is only suitable for planting cold-resistant crops such as rye. Wheat, don't even think about it.
Therefore, after taking control of Northumberland, Marin only developed rye cultivation in the eastern plains. As for the hilly areas in the west, sheep farming was vigorously developed. At present, the total number of hairy sheep produced in England under the name of Northumberland Marin has exceeded 500,000. Although it is not much compared to the total number of more than 13 million in England, it is not a lot.
But England has long ordered a ban on the export of live sheep, which is to prevent competitors from obtaining British sheep breeds and reduce the demand for English wool. At the same time, it has surpassed the English wool industry.
Therefore, Marin promised to give 100,000 British sheep, which was definitely a great favor. If a British man had dared to do this, he would have been torn to pieces by Edward long ago. Only Marin, who has a 20,000 army in the UK, was not afraid that Edward would have settled the score with him.
...
Sure enough, after Philip returned to Ghent, he discussed with the Dutch nobles, and the local nobles were all moved...
If you raise British sheep with high-quality wool on your own land, you will definitely save a lot of money! The great nobles of the Netherlands, especially the great nobles in the Flanders, almost every family has a group of wool workshops, which are closely related to the wool industry. The prosperous wool industry in the Flanders makes more money. On the contrary, they make less money.
For a simple truth, it is said that in England, it is only 4 pounds per bag for purchasing wool from farms where wool is produced. Including the king's taxes and high profits, it is only 8 pounds per bag. The import price of this Flander Wool Workshop is much cheaper.
Moreover, the purchase price of 4 pounds per bag also makes the sheep-raising nobles make a lot of money. In other words, if they raise British sheep at home, the cost per bag is only about 4 pounds, which will not exceed 5 pounds. This cost is supplied to a wool workshop, and the cost is reduced by more than half. How attractive is it?
So, after some discussion, Philip brought several Dutland nobles to Orich and asked Marin to discuss further...
The Dutch nobles obviously wanted more, and they proposed that they needed more British sheep. But Marin refused without hesitation. He hypocritically told Philip and several Dutch nobles that providing 100,000 British sheep was enough to anger King Edward. If there were more, his title of Earl of Newcastle would definitely be deprived of the other party...
Speaking of this, there is nothing to say about Philip and a few Dutland nobles. After all, under normal circumstances, this is indeed the case.
But they didn't know that Edward dared not offend Marin now. Because, whether he conquered Scotland or controlled Ireland, he had to rely on Marin's army. So, even if he was angry, Edward had to endure this tone now. Even if he wanted to take revenge, he had to wait until the domestic situation stabilized...
However, Marin would not give Edward a chance to revenge. Because, once the situation in the British Isles stabilizes, Marin will let Edward "receive a lunch box". Therefore, he doesn't care about Edward's return to old accounts in the future.
But Prince Philip and the Dutland nobles didn't know that according to normal circumstances, Marin was willing to give them 100,000 British sheep, which was indeed a great risk. Therefore, they didn't want to ask for more.
Then, after some negotiations, the two sides finally decided to have 100,000 British sheep, with the ratio of rams and ewes being 1 to 9. Moreover, ewes must be young. In this way, several more babies can be given to expand the total number.
Marin naturally had no objection to this, because he looked down on such an ordinary British sheep at all...
In fact, Marin had long been breeding with British ewes and Spanish merino rams, and obtained excellent wool-producing sheep with stable production of soft fine wool.
This wool-producing sheep, known as the "North Sea Sheep", not only has the wool thinner than the British wool, but also retains the advantages of softness of the British wool. Although the quality is slightly worse than the authentic merino wool, it is much better than the British wool.
With better wool-producing sheep like the North Sea Sheep, Marin naturally looked down on the genuine British sheep. Therefore, he gave the other party 100,000 sheep so generously. Because when the Beihai sheep scales, the wool produced will definitely exceed the genuine British wool.
Nowadays, the total number of Beihai sheep whose wool production performance has stabilized has exceeded 30,000. As long as you are nurturing it quickly, there will be 100,000, or even more than one million. At that time, the wool textile industry in Beihai will mainly focus on this high-quality wool. The woolen wool produced will definitely be better than the woolen made of British wool.
British wool is actually relatively thick, but it is very popular in the market because it is soft and comfortable. Although merino wool is thin and soft, merino sheep is only suitable for arid areas. If it is humid, it is easy to get sick and die.
Why did Australia become the main producer of merino sheep in later generations? Isn’t it because Australia is a drought continent? The United States also introduced merino sheep, but unfortunately it could not be raised. Otherwise, with the United States’ unique agricultural and pastoral conditions, it would have become a major producer of merino sheep.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Therefore, Marin took the route that people in later generations took at the beginning - using merino rams and local ewes to cultivate varieties suitable for locality.
Just like the North Sea sheep bred by Marin using this method, not only has the quality of the wool that is greater than the original British sheep, but also has good climate adaptability. Marin once sent dozens of North Sea sheep to New York, and this batch of sheep lives well in the local area and is more adaptable to the local climate.
Therefore, with a better breed of sheep, Marin naturally had no feeling about giving 100,000 British sheep to the Netherlands. However, if you want to give more of it yourself, Marin was not happy. After all, giving 100,000 for free is considered a heavy bleeding. If you still make yourself bleeding, wouldn't it be a waste of people?
However, if Prince Philip and several Dutland nobles return so ineffectively, the other party will definitely be unhappy. If they are unhappy, it will be bad to stop themselves from recruiting refugees in the Netherlands in the future.
So, Marin found a way to make them happy. Of course, while making the other party happy, he could not suffer too much.
Then, Marin sacrificed the sheep-raising artifact - the sheepdog!
...
At present, Marin has two main famous shepherd breeds - German Shepherd and Border Collar. Among them, German Shepherd is bred with Alsace wolf dogs. Border Collar is selected and bred from local shepherds in the border county in southern Scotland, which has become the Marin fief, and is known as the smartest dog in the world.
Marin hesitated for a while and finally decided to send Prince Philip a batch of border collies instead of German shepherds. Why? Because German shepherds can be used as military dogs and have greater strategic value. However, border shepherds are small in size and not very brave, so they are only suitable for shepherds.
Of course, as the world's smartest dog, Border Shepherd has absolutely great shepherding ability. Moreover, Marin also needs their shepherding ability.
Why do you say so? Because, with the help of border herders, the Dutch ranch needs even less staff. With dogs, people will be eliminated. The eliminated farmers will naturally enter Marin's hands...
After all, Marin sent a border collie to disguisely not giving farmers a way to survive in the Netherlands, deliberately forcing them to accept their solicitation.
In order to reassure Prince Philip and several Dutland nobles, Marin took them to a ranch outside Orich, which specializes in raising sheep from East Fri (milk-producing sheep), and let them watch the lively and intelligent border herding flocks of sheep, which deeply shocked the guys.
At present, there are actually shepherds in the Netherlands. However, there are still no smart and capable shepherds like Border Collar. Marin sent a group of young Border Collars to Prince Philip and several Dutch nobles, and also sent special dog trainers to the Netherlands to help them train, which made them extremely happy.
But they didn't know that Marin did this to seize the population of the Netherlands. When raising sheep is entirely due to dogs, what's the use of farmers? Naturally, he was packed and taken away by Marin...
Chapter completed!