If someone looks at the enlarged satellite map carefully, he will find a phenomenon - that is, areas with developed agriculture generally have ditches and are very regular.
Those rivers cut areas with developed agricultural areas into small squares, which are very neat. To describe them in one word, it is "gridization".
In the present East Friesland, under the leadership of Marin, uses a large amount of labor to dig irrigate rivers during the slack season, and has initially achieved the "grid" of the ditches. Therefore, the agriculture in East Friesland is now very developed.
However, this is difficult to replicate. It is not that there are no merchants from other vassal states who have discovered the secret of East Friesland digging a lot of irrigation rivers. But it is useless to find it...
You should know that digging irrigation rivers is a huge project, and usually requires thousands or even tens of thousands of strong men to participate. There is no big deal of people, but the food consumption when digging rivers is several times that of usual, so this problem is very big...
Food in Europe is so expensive now. Even if the strong men who dig rivers don’t need wages, the consumption of food is really painful. For example, if a strong men don’t work much, it is enough to eat more than one pound of food a day. Eating more than two pounds is considered a big stomach because it doesn’t consume much.
But if you come to an occasion like digging a river, the appetite of those strong men will increase sharply. Generally, strong men can eat more than 3 pounds of food, which consumes a lot. In this way, ten thousand strong men will consume more than 30,000 pounds of food every day when digging a river. If you convert it into rye, it will cost 30,000 finneys, equivalent to 500 gold coins! If you dig for a month, the consumption of food will cost 15,000 gold coins... It's too exaggerated...
Of course, the food for the farmers who dig the river cannot be whole wheat. If it were ordinary nobles, they might be mixed with a lot of soil, wild vegetables, wood chips and even stones... They could make their teeth sucked after eating stones... That kind of bread, because it is too much soil mixed, is very hard, and can be used as a brick to smash people...
The bread given by Marin is better, soft, but it is mixed with about 30% of the grass bran of ryegrass. At the beginning, Kohler strongly demanded to promote this "Korel bread" mixed with grass bran was because he felt sorry for the huge consumption of food. If 30% of the three pounds of food per day were grass bran, then he could save 0.9 pounds of rye. If 10,000 strong men, he could save 9,000 pounds of rye a day, which was to save 9,000 Finney or 150 gold coins... So Marin agreed to Kohler to use this kind of unethical bread.
However, then again, this "Kolle bread" mixed with 30% grass bran is considered a conscientious food for the poor. After all, it does not chew teeth and is easy to digest. Moreover, coarse grains are nutritious, at least much better than mixing with soil and stones...
Although those black-hearted nobles mixed a lot of messy things in the bread can save a lot of food. However, no matter what, it takes tens of thousands of people to dig rivers for a month, and the food cost invested is worth thousands of gold coins.
But the problem is that most German nobles could not afford such consumption. After all, most nobles were in debt, so where could they organize the strong men to dig a large scale?
Marin is different because he has mastered the secret of high grain yield. Marin has very sufficient food, which is available for the strong men to dig rivers. Therefore, the construction of water conservancy in East Friesland was very smooth. Now, many rivers have been dug in Oldenburg, Schleswig and Northmunster, and used for irrigation. Even if other nobles want to imitate, they must have the financial and courage.
Because of the tight time, starting from March, spring farming in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Peking University can only be given priority to East Friesland, Oldenburg, Schleswig and Normmunster. As for the newly joined West Friesland, Bremen and Jutland, as well as South Münster, which are not under Marin's control, Marin can only give up for the time being and let it be done according to the original extensive farming method. It is not necessary to ask these places to have high grain yields, as long as they do not need Marin's support.
...
Just as Marin was busy with spring plowing, information suddenly came from England - Henry VII was planning to send troops north and re-occupate several northern counties. Even the military camps were built and food and supplies began to gather. When the spring plowing was over, civilians could be recruited to follow the army, and Henry VII would immediately lead his troops north and re-occupate the north...
The information was reported by the Earl of Salisbury, who is Edward's sister Princess Margaret. Princess Margaret had not noticed this situation before. After all, Henry VII had not made any preparations before, and had just discussed it with several important officials under him.
In fact, Sir Richard Boer, the husband of Princess Margaret, knew the plan to send troops as a confidant of Henry VII. Unfortunately, Richard Boer and his wife Margaret were not in the same mind, and they were also guarding against their own wife. Therefore, Princess Margaret had no idea about Henry VII's plan to send troops to the Northern Expedition.
However, after the beginning of spring, Henry VII began to gather troops and food. The noise was too great, so it was difficult to hide it. Princess Margaret felt the abnormality and sent someone to inquire and spent a huge price. Finally, she learned about Henry VII's upcoming Northern Expedition.
According to Henry VII's plan, the British army would dispatch 15,000 troops to head north, bypassing Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, which were messed up by thieves and refugees, and head directly from the counties west of England to avoid delaying the opportunity to fight.
As for the place where the army gathered, it was Warwickshire, southwest of Leicestershire. Ironically, Warwickshire, according to law, should have been the fief of Edward of Edward, Earl of Warwick...
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! And that Edward of Warwick is Edward who is now preparing to kill Henry VII...
Henry VII detained Edward for more than ten years, and naturally deprived Edward of his fiefdom and sent his confidants to take over. Therefore, although Warwick County was Edward's fiefdom, it is now the territory of Henry VII and the location of the rear camp where Henry VII's army headed north.
Although English soldiers and civilians were unable to be mobilized due to spring plowing, Henry VII mobilized a group of non-farmers (such as herders who grazed sheep) to start building camps in Warwickshire and transporting food and grass.
When the spring plowing ends, the British soldiers and civilians who were recruited from all over the country can be directly occupied by the camps that have been trained, and the food can also be directly prepared by Henry VII.
According to Princess Margaret's estimate, the Warwick County camp will be repaired by the end of March. In addition, according to secret information, the food and grass required by the British army will be basically in place by the end of March, waiting for the British army to come and use it.
Princess Margaret knew that the Robin Hood Robbers had a relationship with Marlin, and also knew that Marlin and Edward's army would also launch an attack in early May. However, in order for Edward's military operations to go smoother, Princess Margaret believed that before the British army assembled, the Robin Hood Robbers should be sent to attack the British camp in Warwickshire and burn the food and grass. Moreover, it is best to be in late April, on the eve of the British army's assembly.
In this way, the British army had to raise food and grass again, and military operations would be greatly delayed. However, Edward's army would go south as scheduled. One was well prepared and the other was not well prepared, and the fool knew who would win...
Marin was surprised by Princess Margaret's information. Of course, what surprised him even more was Princess Margaret's suggestion - this was clearly a capable female politician! He actually knew that destroying the food and grass prepared by Henry VII was the vision that only ancient Chinese advisers had...
The Robin Hood Robber Group now has an estimated official member of seven or eight thousand people, all young and strong men. Moreover, there is a 900-person horse team. If you just burn food and grass before the British army gathers, it is the best choice to dispatch the 900-person horse team...
Therefore, Marin gave a positive answer to Princess Margaret's suggestion and sent someone to order the Robin Hood Robbers to start exploring the way and prepare for the British camp in Warwickshire, Ben Creek. At the same time, Marin will prepare them the oil barrels needed to burn the food and grass - pour the oil on the food and grass, and burn it faster...
However, through this suggestion, Marin became even more afraid of Princess Margaret. It is certain that when Edward becomes in power in the future, Princess Margaret, Edward's elder sister, will become a super big shot in the English court. This is not a good thing for Marin to control England in the future. Therefore, Marin had the intention to kill Princess Margaret, a smart woman...
Chapter completed!