Reformation of the manor continues, but when Malin goes into the barn to inspect it, he is enraged...
why? It turned out that a bunch of mice ran out of the barn...
The angry Marin ordered everyone to chase and kill the mouse, but how flexible is the mouse? Of the group of young men sent by Marin, only one hit an unlucky mouse. The rest of the mice all escaped.
During dinner, Marin became angry:
"Why are there so many mice? Don't we have cats?"
"Cat?" The whole family looked at Marin like a fool.
Marin also realized that something was wrong, and he asked everyone carefully:
"What's wrong? Is something wrong?"
"Marin, don't you know that cats are the embodiment of evil?"
"Cats are evil? Is there such a saying?" Marin was a little Spartan.
"Well, brother, I heard that the hateful big black cats are all caused by bad wizards. They are the embodiment of ominousness and disaster!" Sister Annie said seriously.
"Oh sweetie! Why do you have such an idea?" Marin also remembered at this time, there seems to be a saying in the Middle Ages that "cats are the embodiment of evil". Apparently, it was because the cat's meowing in the middle of the night was so shrill that it made people feel scared.
"The bishop said it!" At this point, even the smartest Mrs. Mary felt a little unconfident. Because, what the bishop said about not taking a bath has been overturned at Hoffman Estates.
"It's all nonsense. Cats are the natural enemies of mice. With cats, we are not afraid of mice stealing food. I checked, because there are no cats, mice are too rampant now, and they are eating too much food. That one The rats that were killed were too fat to run!"
"Pfft—haha—" the brothers and sisters were amused.
"Don't laugh, these nasty mice are grabbing bread with you, understand?"
"Oh..." The brothers and sisters seemed to understand, but they were suppressed by Marin's strong aura, so they had to pretend to understand.
"So, Marin, what are you going to do?" Old Hoffman asked.
"I want to have a cat!"
"Uh... But, brother, no one around here keeps cats. Since people in the church said that cats are evil creatures, almost no one keeps cats here. Where are you going to catch kittens?"
"Nobody has a cat?" Marin was a little dumbfounded. In his opinion, there should be a lot of people who keep cats, just go to any family with a mother cat and give birth to kittens and ask for one.
"Yes, under the preaching of the church, everyone gave up keeping cats. Of course, it also caused a flood of rats."
"No wonder the Black Death is raging..." Marin sighed.
"What? Marin, what do you mean? What does the Black Death have to do with cats?" Everyone was taken aback.
"It's like this. It was introduced in Eastern medical classics that the Black Death is also called the plague, which originated in the East. This disease is mainly spread by rats, so it is called the plague. It is said that the Black Death originated in Asia. Venetian merchant ships brought it from Asia. Also, it was mainly spread by rats on Venetian merchant ships...”
"Oh my god, is that so?"
"Yes, Europeans don't keep cats, so rats are flooding. And the Black Death is spread through rats. Now that there are so many rats in Europe, the spread is of course fast, and there will be more dead people!"
"So that's it, then, let's go get a cat!" The three children, Simon, Albert, and Annie, said hurriedly in fright.
"But, where are we going to catch the kitten?" Marin was also a little helpless.
"I do know where there are cats!" Mrs. Mary said after thinking for a while.
"Where?" Marin was also refreshed.
"My hometown, East Frisia!"
"East Frisia?"
"Yes, most of the Frisians by the sea are fishermen, and they are good at fishing in boats. Therefore, the Frisians who live by the sea have a lot of fish in their homes. Walking in the fishing villages by the Frisian sea, you can I saw a lot of dried salted fish drying outside every house... "
"That… "
"The Frisians don't keep cats either, but cats like to eat fish. Therefore, there are always many stray cats outside the Frisian fishing villages. Sometimes they steal the dried fish that the fishermen hang outside to dry. Time to go and eat the guts of the fish the Frisians kill and throw away... ”
"Woo—the kitten is so pitiful—" Annie couldn't bear it.
"In other words, there are many stray cats outside the Frisian fishing village?"
"Yes, a lot, and a lot."
"Okay, Adler, let's take a few followers to the Frisian seaside to catch some kittens!"
"Catch the cat?"
"right!"
The next day, Marin and Adler got on their horses, and they were accompanied by two of Adler's attendants on horseback. Kahn and Kohler wanted to follow. However, they only know how to ride oxen, and they are not proficient in horseback riding. Therefore, Marin asked Adler's two attendants who were familiar with riding horses to follow.
It is not far from Bochum to East Frisia, just over 400 miles. And Marin and the others did not wear heavy armor, they all went into battle lightly, with only swords and one person and two horses. So, on the third day, they went to the sea.
After arriving at the beach, Marin found that there were many stray cats in the grass near the fishing village by the sea. However, these stray cats are very cautious and hide in the dense grass when they see people coming, making it difficult to find them. Also, they are very agile and flexible.
However, this did not bother Marin. In the past, Marin used the method of catching sparrows learned in language books (supporting the basket with bamboo poles, and sprinkled some rice on the bottom), and slightly changed it to catch cats.
The specific method is to buy a few fish with a strong smell from the seaside fishing village, and then buy a few wooden baskets. Then, Marin tied a small wooden stick with a rope to support the wooden basket. Under the wooden basket, there were sea fish that gave off a strong smell...
The living conditions of stray cats in the grass are harsh, and many cats are often hungry. As a result, many cats couldn't bear the temptation and ran under the wooden frame to eat fish...
With Marin's order, several baskets were pulled down one after another. Then, a cat got caught...
Relying on this method, Marin and the others captured more than a dozen cats. But these cats are mostly greedy kittens. Most of those adult cats are very cautious and shrewd, and will not be easily fooled.
But what Marin wanted was a kitten. Because kittens can stay. And those old cats are easy to escape.
Among the dozen or so cats, Marin eliminated the adult cats and several black cats. Because, in Europe, black cats are considered an ominous symbol. Although Marin wanted to raise a cat, he didn't plan to raise a scary black cat.
In the end, Marin selected five kittens with good-looking coats and planned to take them away. However, considering that cats love to eat fish. Moreover, Hoffman Estate is close to the Ruhr River, so fishing can be considered. So, Marin recruited a few bankrupt fishermen in the fishing village.
It's ridiculous to say that although the Hoffman Manor is by the Ruhr River, it should be easy to say that there is no fish to eat. But in fact, because Europeans regard bathing as a taboo, people are reluctant to go into the water. Therefore, except for fishermen in the coastal areas who have to go fishing in order to survive, there are very few fishermen in the inland areas, and only a small number of people fish in their spare time. This is because in inland areas, if there is no land to grow, you can still choose to hunt or work. Therefore, there are actually very few inland Europeans fishing on the rivers. This also leads to a lot of freshwater fish in inland rivers.
Therefore, Marin can find out that Hoffman Manor is guarding Baoshan to live a poor life...
Marin plans to take these fishermen and settle down by the Ruhr River in Hoffman Manor. Then, they were authorized to fish up and down the river near the Hoffman Manor (in medieval Europe, hunting and fishing were authorized by nobles, and most of the catch needed to be handed over to the nobles). In this way, people in the manor can also eat fish from time to time.