At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

Not only is the current population of Oupolite small, but many of them are aliens living in the forest. The two sides do not interfere with each other. Except for transactions, there is very little contact.

But in any case, this population, as a transit point for North Sea trade, is already enough. Feng Sen has never forgotten the purpose of this trip - North Sea trade.

But to restart North Sea trade, one thing must be confirmed, that is, the political situation in Eupolit and Southern Denmark must be stable, and it is best to build a solid road for the two important nodes of Lübeck and Hamburg.

In order to ensure that the political situation in Opolit would not be troublesome, Feng Sen first started to split the Borabiya tribe. Compared with the other two tribes, the Borabiya tribe still had too many people.

Using overt and covert means, in the first ten days of March, Feng Sen divided part of the land and population that originally belonged to the Porabiya tribe to the Wakyri tribe in Mesislaw.

The duel between Messislaw and Latimer that day made Feng Sen very happy.

At the same time, Feng Sen sent people to use woolen cloth and wine to find the Vileti people to redeem the original chief and nobles of Eupolit, and also bought back many slaves of Eupolit, so as to stabilize Lyudmila's position.

This was still not enough, so, in the name of Arvo, Earl of Lübeck and Lord of the Danes, Feng Sen established a 100-man Varangian guard for Lyudmila.

These Varangian guards need to be stationed in Mecklenburg for two and a half years, and then stationed in Hamburg for a year before they can become ordinary bannermen and enter the Eight Banners system. Compared with fighting to the death on the battlefield, this kind of stationing task is much safer.

Once the internal security is determined, the external security must also be taken care of.

In order to buy off the local chiefs, Feng Sen threw out a large number of scattered officials from the shogunate, such as the accompanying captain, the accompanying deputy captain, Wen Linlang, and all the tribal leaders of Shilang and other tribes.

In fact, these casual officials are not worth much, and their names sound good. If you get some cloth and wine for a year, you are done. Overall, but the annual expenditure of three to four hundred cloth and wine is not a piece of cake with Feng Sen's current financial resources. It can only be said to be moderate.

With this combination of punches, the political situation on Opalite's side has basically stabilized, and the rest is the implementation of the North Sea trade.

Warehouses and commercial warehouses were established in Mecklenburg, responsible for the collection, sale and transshipment of goods, while the abandoned port in Wismar Bay was partly rebuilt by Feng Sen's construction department.

Sometimes Feng Sen stopped to watch in front of the rebuilt port of Wismar Bay. It seemed that countless sailboats were moving forward in the waterway. Slaves, fish, salt, wine, gems, and ships full of cargo would sail furiously on the waters of the Baltic Sea.

The predecessor of the later Hanseatic League, the Tri-City Alliance was composed of Wismar Bay, Lübeck and Rostock.

Now Feng Sen already has two in his hands, plus Hamburg, Lüneburg, and Magdeburg, the distance to reproduce the glory of the Hanseatic League is close at hand.

You must know that the average annual import and export transaction volume of the Hanseatic League in Britain at its peak could reach 2.3 pounds, which is converted into solids, which is about 47 solids.

Feng Sen doesn't even know if he has 47 solidars in all his net worth.

At the end of March, after everything was on track, Feng Sen patted his butt and bid farewell to Lyudmila, and returned to Hamburg with the last batch of evacuated soldiers.

Hard horseshoes crushed the flowers on the ground. After a whole winter, the bright sun finally shone on Feng Sen's head. The grass, sky, and woods were all colored by the sun, and they were no longer as gloomy and pale as winter .

The water of the Elbe River is rushing around, the perch is swimming freely in the water, the gilded cross on the Father Tower in Hamburg in the distance is shining in the sun, and the wind chimes hanging on the eaves of the Tower of the Father are ringing in the wind.

Riding slowly on the horse, Feng Sen squinted his eyes as if he was dozing off, but in fact, he was checking the new prompt from the Clausewitz engine at the moment.

There is nothing to say about the first item. It is still the post-war summary of the previous battle. Except for +0.5 prestige, nothing is given. It is actually the second item that caught Feng Sen's attention.

[Complete achievement: Take it, Habsburg! (1/3)]

[Requirement: Establish a joint rule with two independent rulers of the same level. 】

[Reward: Acquire the trait "Beautiful Eyebrows". 】

[Beautiful features: +10 attractiveness, +10% fertility, aging slightly slower]

No wonder I always feel itchy recently, thinking that my face is going to grow out, but I didn't expect to get a trait, and the +10 favorability degree should probably be on it.

But the most important thing about this trait is the second +10% fertility. You must know that Feng Sen is a hard-working person. He currently has about ten wives and concubines. nothing.

And Feng Sen's father was also the only fat boy named Feng Sen who had worked hard for most of his life. It was hard to say whether Feng Sen would inherit his father's inheritance. It was always good to supplement his fertility.

It's good to slow down aging a little, but Feng Sen doesn't rely on his face for food, so this effect is secondary.

Just as he was about to shut down the Clausewitz engine, a new reminder suddenly popped up.

Is this a new achievement?Feng Sen continued to turn his attention back to the Clausewitz engine.

[Reminder: You have built the first trading post connected to the Silk Road, +1 Emperor's Grace every day. 】

[When you have built the tenth storehouse, you will get +2 Emperor's Grace every day.When a trading post is built, +1 Emperor's Grace per day.Each trade post has the potential to bring you additional psionic power, prestige, or monetary income. 】

This is?Feng Sen's pupils suddenly dilated, okay, okay, with these emperor's favors, at least at this time next year, they will be able to recruit new Han people or soldiers. Road Market] appears, what kind of situation will it be?

I'm really looking forward to it, isn't this group of jewish workers just building a trading post?It actually took nearly a year. Thinking of this, Feng Sen suddenly pulled the reins.

"There is nothing to do today, let's go, let's go to Badovic first, and meet our Jewish friend Ruben Abbey."

Leading two teams of cavalry, Feng Sen ran forward recklessly in the sun, his high-pitched voice also echoed in the horse's hooves: "I, Luoshan Feng, the heads piled up under the hooves. Knowing the roar of golden scales, it should be the late worms in the deep pool."

Looking at the back of Feng Sen's driving horse, Zhang Shicheng asked Han Shizhong: "Han Bo, look at the handsome face, can you be the emperor?"

Han Shizhong was taken aback for a moment, and then he burst out laughing.

Chapter 266 Have a Glass of 782 Lafite

The sun shone on the red and white sails, and the flag with the Alderaan family logo on it undulated and fluttered on the mast. The warm wind from the Atlantic was mixed with the smell of birds and fish, and turned into a group of distant whale calls.

The brown-black bottom of the boat is covered with moss, and more than 20 long oars on the left and right are flying and dancing, bypassing layers of reefs, and heading towards the port of Bordeaux.

This is the Duchy of Gascony, and the place where the boat goes upstream is called the Garonne.

Although it is the same title as Feng Sen's Duke of Saxony, in terms of status, Feng Sen's duchy belongs to the vassal of the inner vassal, while Gascony belongs to the vassal of the outer vassal.

Frasen stood at the bow of the boat, holding a big iron horn purchased from Feng Sen, and frantically knocked on the golden gong in his hand: "Go to death, you leprosy (harmony) dogs! Go away, go away! Our big ship is about to enter."

"Oh, Father, but we have to go to Hong Kong too."

"The big boat is huge, bear with it."

Seeing the small boat in front of him get out of the way a little bit, Frasen said vigorously to the bow of the boat: "Let the boys paddle up, we will be there soon."

The destination of Frasen's trip was Bordeaux in Gascony, a territory mixed with Basques and a major producer of Frankish wine.

Yes, Frasen from Frisia has no intention of selling Feng Sen's goods to his hometown. As for the reason, it is very simple.

In the northern industry, there are two existing woolen centers, one in the south of England and one in the north-east of the Franks—specifically, Friesland.

Friesland has firmly controlled the high-end industry of woolen products. Due to the excellent quality of wool, at the end of the 8th century, Friesland almost monopolized most of the high-end woolen industry. At that time, the famous Friesland cloak came from here. Sold out in the area.

This kind of cloak, Charlie said it was good to wear it. This is not an advertisement, he really wears it.

Selling Feng Sen's woolen cloth to Friesland, what is the difference between selling coal in Sanjin?

Can Feng Sen overwhelm the Frisian market with high-quality and cheap woolen cloth?The answer is yes, but Feng Sen can't do it, at least not for the next ten years.

The reason is equally simple.

First, the quality of Friesian woolen fabrics is due to the quality of raw materials. Where do the raw materials come from?The aristocratic manor from Austrasia, that is, the land of dragon prosperity of the Carolingian dynasty.

In Charles’ imperial decree, it was clearly stipulated that managers of country estates must ensure that the women’s workshops in the estate have sufficient wool, flax, indigo, madder, cinnabar, wool combs, fleece grass and other necessities.

It is conceivable whose interests are guaranteed.

Second, although the production efficiency of large workshops is higher than that of family workshops, the current scale of the other party is too large, just like during the Industrial Revolution, the cloth woven by the Daiying steam engine was not as good as the Songjiang cloth woven by the Daiqing hand workshop.

Based on the current output, Feng Sen's woolen workshop still has a long time to go.

In fact, this can be regarded as a major trend. When agricultural technology enables rich agricultural surplus to supply cities and towns, urbanization is almost inevitable.

At present, the wool spinning handicraft industry on the Frankish land is still in the form of a large family workshop, that is, a manor or a free family village is assigned to a small piece of land. During the rainy season or when the agriculture is slack, the wool spinning industry is carried out part-time, shearing sheep, weaving , printing and dyeing, tailoring integration.

Feng Sen's wool spinning industry is just the opposite. Instead, he built a large wool spinning workshop relying on blood transfusion. Professional wool spinning workers start spinning continuously throughout the year. The production method is also in the form of an assembly line, and each link is dedicated to research.

Even without the advantages brought by the Central Plains improved loom, its production efficiency is far superior to that of a casual family workshop. In Flanders in the future, the only industry in the Middle Ages—the wool spinning industry—is developed in this way.

In the future, if many bannerman Yu Ding could not inherit the title, he would at least have attended a county school and could read a lot of characters. When this group of bannerman Yu Ding who had undergone military training and a certain degree of culture joined, Feng Sen believed that Saxony's textile production would usher in a second leap.

When the cities and towns slowly rise, the wool spinning industry will gradually concentrate in the cities. After 200 years, this situation will be very common, and Feng Sen only accelerated the process with micro-manipulation.

"Kulizatus! My good friend!" After getting off the boat at the port, Frasen looked around for a while and quickly found a tall, strong and fat man with a black face in the crowd.

The tall, fat man also pushed away from the crowd, walked up to Frasen, and gave him a big hug: "Long time no see, my friend, what did you bring me today?"

"Hahahaha, why don't we go to your hotel to talk later, I need to unload the goods to the back of your hotel first." Frasen patted the fat on Curizatus's waist trembling.

Curizatus replied: "Okay, I'll wait for you at the hotel. I've asked someone to prepare the wine. It's so fragrant that it can take away people's souls."

A few carriages were rented, and piles of woolen cloth, soy sauce, butter, cheese, paper and furs were transported from the ship, making the hooligans in the streets and alleys salivate, but the seven or eight guards wearing shiny chain mail around the goods , or keep them away.

Damn it, how come even caravans can afford elite soldiers in chain mail these days.

After the counting of the goods was completed, Feng Erbaiwu held the scroll and handed it to Frasen for signature.

"That shopkeeper just now is your friend? Is he trustworthy? Why did you put the goods in his backyard?" Feng Erbaiwu asked in a thick nasal voice that didn't match his age.

After signing the scroll, Frasen patted Feng Erbaiwu on the shoulder and said: "Doing business is the most likely to be rejected by the locals, and we merchants need a residence that can protect ourselves and our goods.

Therefore, we need a homeowner who can protect our interests, and Curizatus is such a homeowner who can provide us with a storage location for the goods and at the same time find a suitable source and seller for us, which is much more convenient than selling by ourselves.

And the price is that we need to give him a part of the benefits. Don't underestimate this fat man. He has all-hands and eyes, and he can even talk to the Duke of Gascony.

If it wasn't for him today, if only us strangers came, believe it or not, before we find a place to live, at least half of the goods on the car would be taken away by various people. "

Feng Erbaiwu touched his short and thick hair and said, "They are the middlemen you usually talk about?"

"Yes." Frasen likes this smart kid very much. I don't know how Feng Sen taught him. If my buddy can be half as smart and self-disciplined as him, I won't be so tired. "Or, we can follow what Your Excellency the Duke said—he is our comprador."

Feng Erbaiwu nodded silently, and followed Frasen towards the hotel.

Chapter 267

The hotel in Curizatus is a small two-story building with a yard. It is located on the edge of the city, next to the grassy fields outside the city. It can even be regarded as a country house.

This country house not only has tall wooden walls, but also barn-like warehouses for storing goods, and even guards.

The hotel is on the side of the road from the port to the town, the door is open, but the backyard is not a place for ordinary residents to go.

At this moment, beside the flower beds and the stables, there was a utility room dedicated to discussing matters. Frasen patted the dust on the stool and sat down facing Curizatus.

The black-faced fat man wiped off the dust on the table with his greasy sleeves indifferently, and put two plates of dried fruit and two glasses of wine on the table.

"Kurizatus, I have brought 170 pieces of tweed cloth, 40 pieces of Frisian cloaks, 100 rolls of ceris paper, 20 bottles of soy sauce, more than 30 pieces of animal skins, and of course some ballast goods such as butter cheese and grains." Throwing a nut that he didn't know what it was into his mouth, Frasen narrated vaguely.

"Grain can be pressed for a few more days." Curizatus reminded, "Recently, the Gauls in Paris have suddenly become rich, and they are all buying wine. Many manor owners have changed wheat to grape, and the prices of grain and cheese are rising."

"The grain comes second. What do you think of this batch of dungarees?"

"A batch of tweed cloth? Well, the quantity is quite a lot, but it is estimated that only the manor owner and the little nobles can afford it. I will ask after a while... How long is the horse? Don't tell me ten horses are one yard."

"A bolt of woolen cloth is about thirty-six yards."

"Heavenly Father, I have to do the math. In the past, a piece of woolen cloth was 26 yards, and a piece of coarse woolen cloth was about 2 to 3 solidas. You can at least pay a [-]% premium for this. This year's harvest is good, and the wine is also selling well..."

Curizatus rubbed his chin, "I'll help you find some good ones, one horse, I can sell you 4 Solidas, good guy, just these woolen cloths are worth more than 700 Solidas.

Where did you get so much dungaree?Hasn't your family been ostracized by Layton's family all the time?They will bring out these woolen cloths for you? "

Frasen paused for a full second before showing a smile: "Haha, I dug up a treasure in Saxony."

"What treasure, don't tease me, did you dig the tomb of the Roman emperor? I need to ensure that these goods come from a reliable source, not that I don't sell stolen goods, but the share is different." Curizatus walked The gate was closed by the door, and the window was closed again, "Now can you tell me the truth?"

Carefully took out two documents from the package he was carrying, Frasen handed the documents to Kurizatus with a mysterious smile.

Curizatus, who was full of doubts, glanced at the document carefully, and his eyes straightened instantly: "Damn, damn, how did you get the title of knighthood, you bastard? What's going on with this West Britain company?"

"It's just an honorary title." Frasen smiled, but just one honorary title brought him more than a thousand solidars of convenience. At least when he checked the tax card, taking out this document would not only get him courtesy, but also save him a lot of bribes.

Putting away the two documents, Frasen elaborated on the vision of the West Britain Company to Curizatus.

Use woolen cloth instead of money?Wool ticket? 17-member council?

"You mean, the people here are poor because of the shortage of money, they can't buy things they want to buy, and they can't sell things they want to sell?"

"Yes." Frasen recalled what Feng Erbaiwu and Feng Sen once said, "To be precise, it is not a shortage of money, but a shortage of precious metals.

If the heavenly father shows up and ten gold mines are born on the land of Frank, then all problems will be solved, or we can solve the pirate problem in the Mediterranean Sea or we can drive away the Saracens. "

"I have two questions." Curizatus knocked on the table, "First, can you guarantee the value of the woolen cloth? You must know that the price of gold is relatively stable. What if there are a lot of them in the market one day?" Flannel, then everyone's property will plummet, so what is the difference between turning wool into money and food?

Second, can our Highness Charles agree? "

"First, the price of gold is stable because it will not rot over time, can be stored for a long time, and has certain practical value, such as making jewelry, which has been unanimously recognized by everyone.

Clothes can also be stored for a long time. If the storage method is correct, it can even be stored for 20 or 30 years without falling too much in value. Can grain do it?

Moreover, the unit price of grain is too low to be convenient for trading. Although the unit price of cloth is not particularly high, it is relatively easy to carry and it is more convenient to trade.

In addition, woolen cloth can be used to make clothes and has certain practical value. People always wear clothes, and this kind of woolen cloth can be regarded as a hard currency.

If there is indeed a large amount of hard currency in the market one day, we can buy it at a low price and reduce production. The production of woolen cloth is not grain and cannot be controlled. "

Yes, it is not Feng Sen’s original idea to use woolen cloth to temporarily replace currency. The Central Plains also encountered a lot of money shortages, and there are many solutions. , and even things like iron money and straight five hundred coins.

To make an imprecise equivalent substitution, the linen in Western Europe is equivalent to the Gebu and linen in the Central Plains, and the woolen cloth is equivalent to the silk in the Central Plains. As far as Feng Sen can think of, it is estimated that only cotton cloth can be compared with the silk in the Central Plains.