In February, news suddenly came from Criver City—John II wanted to confer Adler as an official knight...
The whole family was very pleasantly surprised. In fact, it is not easy for the son of a territorial knight to conquer the knight. Generally speaking, a new knight will not be conferred until the previous knight is old. And the old Hoffman is only in his 40s now, less than 50, and has not yet reached the time to retire. Therefore, if Adler wants to seize the title, he usually has to wait a few more years.
However, Marin helped the Lamarck family a lot this time. Because the younger brother became the head of the Teutonic Knights, the prestige of the Lamarck family has recently increased greatly, which made John II feel more face when he went out. Moreover, the Lamarck family can also obtain tangible benefits.
Although the Principality of Cliff and the Earl of Mark are underdeveloped in commerce, the Lamarck family still has several caravans. The Teutonic country is an area with developed commerce. Moreover, grain, wood and fur in Eastern Europe are very cheap in the Teutonic country, and there is still a lot of profit in transporting them back to the Rhine region.
Forget about food, after all, the area near the Rhine River is also a food-producing area, and there is no shortage of food here. However, wood and furs are in tight demand.
Although there are some forests along the Rhine, there are not many woods. However, the local timber is not what the market needs, and they are all unmarketable timber.
In Europe, the real marketed woods are oak and pine. Needless to say, oak has always been the main material for building ships and houses. Not only that, Europeans are also accustomed to using oak to make wine barrels for loading wine and beer. Therefore, oak is in great demand. In Western Europe, due to extensive logging and utilization, there are relatively few oak trees. Therefore, the price of local oak has increased a lot.
According to the news brought by the merchants, John II knew that there were still a lot of oak in Eastern Europe, where the degree of development was not high.
In addition to the low degree of development in Eastern Europe, there is also a reason why local people in Eastern Europe use less oak. Because Eastern Europeans don't engage in great voyages. Therefore, not many people in Eastern Europe use oak to build ships. And shipbuilding consumes a lot of oak.
It is said that in the Teutonic country, the price of oak is less than half of the price on the Rhine. It is absolutely profitable to sell oak wood from the Teutonic state.
As for pine, it is also very popular because of its unique aroma. However, because the use value is far less than that of oak, the demand is not very large.
As for fur, this kind of thing is also very cheap in Eastern Europe. Because, further east of the Baltic Sea region is the vast Eastern European prairie. On the prairie, there are too many animals. If you go to a few hunters, you can hunt a lot of prey. However, the preservation technology is backward these days, and there are only animal furs, which are relatively easy to preserve and can be sold over long distances.
In Western Europe, apart from sparsely populated areas such as the Black Forest, there are still many animal resources, and there are very few wild animals in other areas. Marin was able to hunt a lot of prey in the Black Forest before because he rode a horse deep into the forest. If it is on the periphery, there will be no prey at all. Because most of the hunters couldn't afford horses and couldn't go deep into the forest, but they cleared the forest outskirts.
Therefore, the price of animal fur in Western Europe is also much more expensive than that in Eastern Europe, and the price is also more than twice that of Eastern Europe.
Therefore, whether it is to sell oak or fur from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, it is quite profitable. As for the trade license to enter the Teutonic Knights, will there be any problems with the Lamarck family, where the new grand master belongs
If it weren't for the fact that both the Principality of Cliff and the Earl of Mark were inland vassal states, and there were no salt mines, so they couldn't get involved in the most lucrative salt trade, John II would have wanted to get involved in the salt trade. However, in this era, salt was originally a strategic material, and it was difficult for ordinary people to get it. Therefore, the Lamarck family had no choice but to give up this fat piece of meat without a source of supply. However, the salt trade on Marin's side also promised to give 40% of the benefits to Philip's head (after paying off the loan), which is pretty good.
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With the huge benefits of fame and fortune, John II decided to thank the Hoffmann family. However, as a moderate lord, Marin was still very rich, and John II didn't have anything good to offer as a reward. However, John II, who wants to reward Marin's relatives and who is also Earl Mark, has a great way...
For example, he can confer Adler as an official knight of Earl Mark in advance...
It is not difficult for John II to canonize a knight. However, for a young man like Adler without a title, it is a qualitative leap. After canonization, Adler will become a real nobleman from a preliminary nobleman, and his identity will undergo a huge change.
Moreover, John II also stated that this time he will take out an extra piece of land and reward it to the Hoffman family. As for which piece of land, John II even allowed the Hoffman family to choose, as long as it is near the Hoffman estate.
Therefore, when John II sent someone to Tenburg to send a letter saying that Adler would be canonized as an official knight and promised to add land, everyone except Marin felt nothing, and everyone else was very happy. It is relatively rare for both father and son to be active knights. In general knight families, the next generation will take over after the old one retires, and they have to pass strict assessments.
But this time, John II is equivalent to returning Marin's favor, so it is explained, just let Adler go to the scene...
It is a very solemn matter for the eldest son to be a knight for Hoffman Manor. Therefore, the old Hoffman decided to take the whole family together.
In fact, the old Hoffman has been complaining, saying that the emperor conferred Marin as a baron too casually, did not hold a very solemn ceremony, and did not invite his father to the scene to be honored...
Therefore, for being able to witness the eldest son's promotion to the knight this time, although the gold content is far less than that of the second son, but he was able to show his face, which made the old Hoffman very happy.
Marin was also thinking about whether to go, after all, he had a lot of things to do. However, Yancheng came to report that the newly added cauldron for boiling salt lacked coal as fuel. Marin thought about it, so he decided to go back to Mark's country, attend Adler's promotion ceremony by the way, and then talk about the issue of coal supply.
Not only that, but when selecting newly added fiefdoms, Marin would also suggest finding a new coal mine. Because Marin has promised to give Adler a large piece of arable land in East Frisia in the future. So, this time, Adler didn't need to pick much arable land. Moreover, for an Earl country knight, his fief area is also limited, no more than 500 Ugrams. Therefore, choosing arable land is not as good as choosing coal mines. Anyway, as a big customer, I can still buy a large amount of coal stably for a long time, which can make the economic benefits of coal mines higher than that of cultivated land.
For this reason, Marin also plans to find a few great artisans who explore coal mines, and follow them together to pick a new coal mine as Adler's new fief for this reward...
Of course, the family members will also understand why John II conferred the title of Adler in advance and gave him an extra piece of land. Therefore, they will also respect Marin's opinion.
So, Hoffman's family, including Angela who followed to watch the fun, and under the escort of hundreds of guards, rushed to Markburg, the capital of Earl Mark, to attend Adler's promotion ceremony...