Now that Prince Philip has achieved success in the election, it is time for Marin to reap the fruits of victory. First of all, Marin took out the IOU of more than 80,000 gold coins that he signed with Marin before, and began to change the sign.
Marin is a person who is very particular about contracts. He believes that verbal promises are false, especially for politicians, there is not much difference between verbal promises and letting go. Therefore, signing an agreement in black and white is guaranteed.
After the reception of Prince Philip's successful election, Marin waited for Prince Philip to sober up the next day, and began to re-sign the specific treaty with him.
First, there is the commercial treaty. Marin spent more than 8 gold coins to help Prince Philip win the position of head of the regiment. It was not for nothing, but for rewards.
Of course, Prince Philip has no money himself, but after becoming the head of the group, he can provide escort services for Marin to make money in the Teutonic country. After all, the grand master is the supreme leader of the Teutonic state.
To this end, Marin and Philip signed an agreement, stipulating that the two parties jointly establish a chamber of commerce in the name of Prince Philip. This chamber of commerce is under the name of Prince Philip, but the management right belongs to Marin. The investment of the Chamber of Commerce is also fully borne by Marin. The final income is divided into 82%, 80% for Marin, and 20% for Prince Philip. Of course, this is the previous share. After Marin earned enough 90,000 gold coins, the agreement was automatically revised, changing to 60% for Marin and 40% for the prince.
This chamber of commerce mainly engaged in salt trade in the early stage. For this reason, Marin plans to add a batch of salt cooking pots in Yancheng, and asks the Hoffman Manor to increase coal production. He also plans to hand over part of the order to the family's in-laws, the Hamler Manor, to supply the needs of boiling salt. Although the bituminous coal produced by the Knights of Hamle is relatively smoky and pollutes the environment, but who cares. Anyway, the downwind of Yancheng is Te Horenche, not Den Burg...
Selling salt in the Teutonic Knights and selling salt in Germany are two completely different concepts. Marin sells salt in the German region at a wholesale price of only 4 shillings per quarter. This is because Marin's salt has no bitter taste and is a high-quality salt.
This kind of salt can be sold at the wholesale price of more than 10 shillings per quarter when it is brought to the Teutonic Knights who are short of salt, and even the whole Baltic region. Its profit is more than double that of sales in Germany.
The state of the Teutonic Knights is about 36,000 square kilometers in size, which is nearly a hundred times the size of all the islands of Marin combined, and the population is also very large, with a population of about 300,000. In addition to the Prussians and Poles who originally lived there, there are also many wandering knights who flock from the German region every year.
Fortunately, the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, that is, the region of the three Baltic Sea countries in later generations, has a relatively high proportion of women (people here probably have more girls because of climate problems), so there is no imbalance between men and women. Basically, all the wandering knights who came to the Teutonic country, as long as they can't find a job, most of them can find a wife.
Of course, selling salt here does not mean that it must only be sold to people in the Teutonic country. Instead, the Hanseatic merchants in the Teutonic state could also sell the salt to nearby Poland, Lithuania, and even Novgorod in Russia...
Although the Teutonic Knights are in a state of hostility with Poland and Lithuania, it does not prevent people from both sides from doing business. In addition, salt is a scarce commodity in the Baltic Sea region. Therefore, merchants from the two countries also often buy salt from Hanseatic merchants in the Teutonic Knights and ship it back to China for sale.
The situation in Poland is okay, because they are close to the German region in the west, and they can import (relatively) low-cost table salt from the German region. But Lithuania was not so lucky, and could only rely on the salt that was re-exported from the Teutonic Knights. It is not that there are no Polish merchants who can transport salt. However, land transportation costs far more than sea transportation. The salt of the Teutonic Knights was transported directly to Königsberg by Hanseatic merchants through the Kattegat Strait between Denmark and Sweden, and the transportation cost was relatively low.
If a Polish businessman takes 5 shillings per quarter of table salt imported from eastern Germany across the whole of Poland and delivers it to Lithuania, the cost will definitely be more than 10 shillings per quarter.
Because, in addition to the high cost and small volume of land transportation, the numerous tax collection gates on the land are also an important reason for the high cost of land transportation.
Therefore, to buy salt on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, you still have to find the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Knights. Because the salt in these two places was transported by Hanseatic merchants on merchant ships. On the way, merchant ships only need to collect taxes once in the Danish waters, and do not need to pass through the tax collection checkpoints on land.
However, not everyone can sell salt in the Teutonic Knights. Strategic materials such as salt have operating licenses in the Teutonic Knights. Those without permission are not allowed to operate table salt.
But who is Prince Philip? After the coronation, he is the head of the Teutonic Knights. Can't he grant himself a salt trading license? Therefore, at this moment, Marin has entered the Teutonic salt trade system. In the future, profits will roll in.
The port of Konigsberg can basically be said to be a large salt trade entrepot on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. As the head of the group, it is extremely simple to manage salt here.
Of course, this simple means that Prince Philip, as the head of the group, can easily obtain permission. However, it does not mean that once you have a license, you can easily engage in this business.
You know, if you have a license, you have to be able to import table salt. In this era, the production of table salt in Europe was low, so the price was high. In the UK, because of the extensive use of coal to boil salt, the salt output is quite high. However, British salt was not only supplied to Eastern Europe, but also to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Lowlands, and northern Germany. In short, there are many salt buyers in the UK, so there is no need to worry about sales.
Moreover, because of the licensing system set up by the Hanseatic merchants to suppress competitors, it blocked the possibility of others intervening. Although, it is very profitable to transport salt to the east coast of the Baltic Sea for sale. However, without a license, the British cannot intervene in the salt trade here.
Marin had also thought about selling salt to the Baltic Sea region where the price was high, but when he inquired, a license was needed there, so he gave up.
But it's different now. Marin spent a lot of money to promote Prince Philip as the head of the Teutonic regiment. With the status of Prince Philip, Marin can be given a license to sell salt. So, now, Marin can finally intervene in the lucrative salt trade in the Baltic Sea region.
Although, the former Hanseatic merchants set up trading posts in England and monopolized the import of British salt. However, Marin's Yancheng is an emerging salt production base and is not under the jurisdiction of those old Hanseatic merchants. Therefore, Marin can safely transport the salt to the Teutonic Knights for sale, and is also protected by the new Grand Master.
Of course, Marin also needs to guard against those competitors who hijack his salt boat. Therefore, Marin needs to use armed merchant ships with self-protection capabilities to protect their own interests when transporting salt.
For this reason, Marin intends to order several armed merchant ships and collectively dispatch salt to ensure the safety of the ships...
Of course, salt is not the only commodity in the Teutonic Knights. For example, when the ship returns, Marin can also let the merchant ship carry some specialties such as grain, fur, wood, linen and other specialties of Eastern Europe, and bring them back to Western Europe for sale. These products are very cheap in Eastern Europe, but in Western Europe, the price is much higher. Although the profit is not as high as selling salt, the cargo in the voltage cabin always comes when the ship returns to the voyage. After all, regardless of whether you have cargo or not, you have to pay taxes in the Kattegat Strait if you return empty. Moreover, the way the Danes levy taxes is very special, not depending on the quantity and value of your goods, but on your deck area...
Even if it is an empty ship, they still measure the deck and tax you solemnly... If you dare not pay, the powerful Danish Navy will teach you how to be a man in minutes...
After Marin and Prince Philip signed a mutual trade assistance treaty, they talked about Marin's uncle Yule. Originally, Marin wanted to take Yule to the Wadden Islands. After all, Yule has more than ten years of experience as a civil servant and can help with government affairs.
However, considering that the interests of the Teutonic Knights are too great, Marin is also afraid that Prince Philip will cheat him in the future. Therefore, Marin decided to keep this honest and capable uncle in the Teutonic Knights, helping Prince Philip handle government affairs while helping himself to watch the trade situation.
Moreover, Prince Philip is also very short of manpower now, and putting Yule under him can also be reused. A few years later, maybe Yule will also become a minister of the Teutonic Knights, which will help him even more...
Thinking of this, when exchanging the contract, Marin also included Yule's arrangement in the contract, asking Prince Philip to use it again. In this regard, Prince Philip also agreed. Because Prince Philip is very relieved of honest people like Yule. Prince Philip himself would not be at ease if he changed to a cunning one.
However, although the treaty was signed, Marin was not ready yet. First of all, the pot for boiling salt in Yancheng has not been filled yet. The ships and manpower engaged in trade and transportation are also not in place.
However, with the support of the new Teutonic Grand Commander, this trade route has been opened up. The other specific steps will be completed sooner or later...