Although he has decided to marry Angela, Marin doesn't plan to get married immediately because it would be too hasty. After all, as the lord of a country, even a lord of a small vassal state, the wedding must be held grandly. At least, a foreign guest must be invited to participate, right
However, with Marin's current diplomatic situation, at most he can only invite guests from the Principality of Cliff and the Teutonic Knights. Moreover, it takes a long time to go to Teutonic to invite people to attend the wedding. In addition, it will be March in two months, and we will be busy with spring plowing. Simply, Marin decided to schedule the wedding after the end of spring plowing in April.
In late April, spring plowing is over, and everyone is free to attend the wedding. Moreover, the flowers are in full bloom at that time, which is the most beautiful time in spring.
Marin carefully asked Angela's opinion, and Angela blushed and agreed without any hesitation. Angela was willing to marry Marin, and the private letter of Archbishop Rovere after Marin's tampering also agreed. So, in the face of Marin's informal proposal, he immediately agreed...
"That's great, Angela, I'm so lucky to marry you! I'm going to send someone to Portugal, order a large diamond, and make a big diamond ring..."
In Europe in this era, diamonds were considered a symbol of imperial power for generations. Before the 15th century, generally only the royal family and the royal family were eligible to wear diamonds. However, after entering the 15th century, many nobles also began to wear diamonds. At least, among those princes and nobles, it became very popular to wear diamonds.
In this era, the Portuguese often went to the west coast of Africa to exchange gold and diamonds with African black uncles with worthless gadgets. Therefore, there are still more diamonds on their side. After all, Africa is an important region for producing diamonds.
It just so happened that Marin scheduled the wedding at the end of April, and there are still more than 3 months before now. It is still enough time to buy diamonds and ask the master to process them into diamond rings.
In addition, Marin also sent people to Lyon, the center of the European silk industry, to order a white wedding dress made of pure silk. At the same time, a luxury four-wheeled carriage inlaid with gold also began to be built...
In this era, silk was also available in Europe. It's just that the level of silkworm rearing and silk weaving of Europeans is relatively backward and can't keep up with that of the East, so they are obsessed with oriental silk. But despite this, being able to wear silk clothes produced in Lyon is also one of the pursuits of nobles.
Normally, the great nobles would wear silk robes to show their illustrious status. Only Marin, who had seen a lot of silk in his previous life and raised silkworms at home, was not interested in silk.
Therefore, Marin usually wears woolen clothes, and he doesn't like to wear robes, but likes to wear lace short and convenient clothes worn by nobles in the 19th century.
It was precisely because in the 18th and 19th centuries that Europeans began to abandon inconvenient robes and wear short clothes, the silk trade declined and was replaced by tea trade and sugar trade. After all, people usually use silk to make robes. Of course, the silk trade was not bad later. Because, after all, men don't wear silk anymore, but women still need silk for their skirts. It's just that later aristocratic men no longer wore silk robes.
Angela was very happy with these arrangements of Marin. After all, women are a little bit vanity. They like to be the protagonist of a grand wedding, making others envious and jealous...
…
While preparing for the wedding, on the other hand, Marin is about to arrange spring plowing. From the hands of the original nobles, 70,000 Ugrams of arable land were snatched by bloody means, not for display...
Although, Marin rewarded a lot of land to his men out of need. However, there are still 60,000 Ugrams of arable land in his hands. This time, Marin rewarded his subordinates with a lot of money, but he was very stingy about the land and didn't reward much.
At this time, in East Frisia, there were only more than 80,000 Ugrams of arable land, of which 60,000 were in the hands of Marin and 10,000 were in the hands of Marin's men. There are still 10,000 in the hands of the original local nobles who surrendered to Marin.
Although it will be tax-free for three years, Marin doesn't care. He shamelessly snatched most of the arable land in East Frisia. Does he still care about the tax? As long as the fields are planted well, the benefits will be greatly increased.
If you want to grow a field well, you need fertilizer...
Therefore, Marin is very worried about the fertilizer issue now.
Marin's fertilizer is naturally mixed with manure, plant ash, leftovers from killing fish, and some potassium salts. However, Marin was unwilling to disclose this technology to others.
After all, if others also know the secret of the fertilizer, Marin will not be able to form a technological monopoly, and the income will be greatly reduced.
Before, he was on the Wadden Islands, isolated from the mainland, and the possibility of leaking the secret was extremely small. Moreover, serfs could not leave the land casually. Therefore, Marin can legitimately promote the application of manure and plant ash on the archipelago.
But now that East Frisia is on the mainland, if it vigorously promotes manure, it is tantamount to telling others. Especially in Lyle County, the south is bordered by the Bishop of Münster, and the west is also connected with the Archbishop of Utrecht and West Frisia. It is impossible to promote the use of manure without being discovered.
Therefore, Marin decided to change the method...
For example, the excrement was collected, processed into a dry and hard solid, and then crushed into powder before being distributed to serfs. After the feces are dried and air-dried, they are different from the original appearance. At least, the stink has lessened.
The feces are very smelly at first, but as long as they are exposed to the sun and air-dried for a long time, the smell will become lighter and lighter. When the dried dung is put in front of you, you can't be sure whether it is a dung or not. Because, in people's common sense, feces should be smelly...
In his previous life, Marin was a rural person, so he had naturally seen the scenes of adults processing manure into manure. Often, farmers first sort out a large piece of open space, mix manure, plant ash, and even some hay and river mud, and put them on the open space to expose to the sun and air dry.
Plant ash is a weak natural potassium fertilizer. As for river mud, because fish often poop on river mud, it is actually rich in nutrients and contains a certain amount of phosphorus. As for hay, it goes without saying that its composition is not much different from plant ash. After all, plant ash is what happens when dry grass is burned...
After mixing these things well, the color changes. Because of the addition of river mud and plant ash, the original dark yellow color of the excrement became a bit black. After the final air-drying, most of the odor will dissipate, and most people cannot confirm that it is feces. In addition to the smell becoming very light, the color is also blackened by plant ash and river mud, making it unrecognizable...
Moreover, manure cannot be directly applied to the field, because it will burn the seedlings. Before, Marin was on Texel Island, using a pond to pile manure was also a way, but it took into account the extraction of nitrate. In fact, that method is not as effective at turning feces into dry clumps. Of course, manure from Texel can also be processed into dry blocks with just as good results.
It's just that Marin didn't bother to do it at the beginning. After all, when he was on the island, his mind was full of expansion and expansion...
Now that East Frisia has been taken, Marin began to think about concentrating on farming. After all, he has 60,000 Ugrams of arable land in his hands. Including the 10,000 Ugrams on the Wadden Islands, he is now a super landowner with 70,000 Ugrams of land. If converted into mu, there are a full 840,000 mu, or 8,400 hectares. Although it is not as good as the 20,000 hectares of Zhu Changxun's land owned by the famous rich prince Fu Wang, he is still considered a super landlord. After all, in the Ming Dynasty, there were very few princes who owned 20,000 hectares of land like Zhu Changxun. Many ministers were rewarded with land, and they were granted hundreds or thousands of acres at a time, which is considered a great grace.
The 10,000 mu of fertile land of the big landlord Liu Wencai is really nothing in front of Marin's 840,000 mu...
In fact, in his previous life, Marin had actually seen the processing of dung blocks once. Moreover, when he was very young, he saw his great uncle doing it. Uncle Tai is an old-fashioned farmer, so he naturally likes to use natural fertilizers. It's just that the great uncle passed away early, so Marin wasn't too impressed with it. However, this time, thinking of keeping it a secret, I happened to remember when I was a few years old, I saw the process of my great uncle who was still alive at that time processing dung.
After the death of the great uncle, almost no farmers in the village were willing to process manure. Because, at that time, the use of chemical fertilizers had been promoted. Chemical fertilizers are more effective than manure blocks, and processed manure blocks are very smelly. Therefore, farmers who are younger than the uncle are unwilling to do it, and are willing to use clean chemical fertilizers, and the effect is even better.
But in Marin's era, it is unrealistic to make fertilizers. Synthetic ammonia requires a strong industrial base and requires high equipment. Therefore, Marin can only continue to rely on manure.
And what is stronger than directly applying manure to the ground is the processed manure. Moreover, Marin will also mix a lot of leftovers from killing fish, fish bones, and some potassium salts when processing dung blocks. This kind of fertilizer is basically equivalent to a weak compound fertilizer.
What's more, no one else can see what the fertilizer lumps are...
After all, the longer the dung is left, the less the smell. In addition, the color has changed and the material has been added. If ordinary people can see it, it will be really amazing.
You know, the Mongolians on the grassland, because there are no trees to cut down. Therefore, they cook without firewood or coal, but with dry sheep dung.
Sheep manure is flammable, and the smell is relatively mild. On the grassland, the climate is dry and windy, so it is easier to expose and dry sheep dung and eggs. The dried sheep dung has a very small smell, and it is very good to use as fuel. Similarly, cow dung, which grazes like sheep, can also be used as fuel for burning. And if it stinks, no one wants their kitchen to be full of stink...
Therefore, the dung after air drying has no smell. The longer it dries, the less the smell...
However, Marin is relatively short of time now, and has no time to air-dry the feces for several months. Because spring plowing is coming, he has at most a month to dry the excrement.
Therefore, he immediately ordered that a large number of serfs be dispatched to collect manure uniformly throughout the county of East Frisia for the processing of manure.
In order to facilitate collection, Marin divided the land of about 3,200 square kilometers across the country (excluding the Wadden Islands, where there is no need to process dung because of the convenience of confidentiality) into 60 divisions, and arranged dozens of serfs in each division. Wearing face masks, using carts and buckets, went door-to-door to collect feces.
As for the reason for collecting feces, the first is naturally for the sake of sanitation and convenience for people's lives. This is especially important for urban residents. Because there are so many people in the city, if the excrement is not collected, it will stink to death. Whether it's Emden or Aurich, Marin can always smell a faint smell when he walks into the alleys of residential areas. This is still in winter, and the smell is not strong. If it is changed to summer, it will be smoky...
Marin proposed to collect feces uniformly, and it was free, which really helped the citizens a lot. Everyone wholeheartedly supports this move.
Another reason is also very high-sounding-Earl Marin wants to extract saltpeter from feces for national security...
This reason is also very tenable, because, with the gradual popularization of artillery and muskets, the demand for saltpeter is indeed increasing. It is indeed reasonable for Earl Marin to collect a large amount of saltpeter. The common people have all seen that there are dozens of cast iron cannons erected on the city walls of Aurich and Emden. The caliber of these guns is so large (12 pounds), and it is amazing to consume saltpeter...
In fact, Marin originally planned to collect saltpeter first and then process the manure. However, time is tight, and spring plowing is about to begin. Therefore, this time, Marin gave up the extraction of nitrate and directly used it for fertilizer processing...
As for the processing of dung blocks, Marin has set up 6 processing points across the country, all of which are very hidden places. For the feces collected at 60 feces collection points across the country, a hidden processing plant is set up at every 10 points. The workers in the processing plant are all serfs under the control of Marin, and there is no foreign hired labor. In this way, it is difficult to reveal the secret of dung block processing.
At the same time, Marin also asked the serfs who collected dung to take care of collecting plant ash. But the plant ash marlin is given money, the reason is that it is used to extract alkali and make soap or something. Of course, how much is the plant ash worth? A large cart of plant ashes, give a small silver Finney coin, even if it is sent away...
The plant ash was transported to the processing plant, together with the fish offals that Marin brought from the Wadden Islands, and the potassium salt from the bitter salt mine that Marin bought from Kohler, they were made into a very powerful compound fertilizer block . This kind of powerful compound fertilizer block can not only be used as base fertilizer, but also can be used as top dressing in the middle. It is very powerful...