After solving the fertilizer problem, Marin suddenly remembered another very important problem-the plow problem...
Although under the promotion of Marin, the Wadden Islands all used more efficient curved plows. However, there are no other places. All over Europe, namely the Wadden Islands and Hoffman Park, used the curved shaft plow, and used the nose ring to control the cattle.
If the East Frisian region is allowed to use the old-fashioned light plow or the heavy Saxon plow, the effect of cultivating land will be greatly reduced. Because light plowing has shallow land, which is not conducive to the development of crop roots. However, heavy plows are too wasteful of animal power, and it is too inefficient to use only one plow for a few horses or a few oxen. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the use of Quyuanli.
As for Qu Yuanli's secrecy, even if Marin wanted to, he couldn't do it. Because the cultivation effect of Quyuanli can be seen at a glance, and it is easy to imitate. Therefore, Marin simply and generously took out Qu Yuanli and promoted it nationwide. Then, put part of the credit for the fertilizer on Quyuanli, and fool others...
Thinking of this, Marin immediately signed the sheepskin document, ordering the blacksmiths and carpenters in the uncle country to concentrate on building Quyuan plows in accordance with the official drawings for spring plowing.
Marin's own newly added 60,000 Ugrams of arable land is naturally no problem, and he just ordered it to be used. As landowners and rulers of the country, how dare the serfs oppose it? Anyway, you will know the effect when you use it. Once the effect comes out, everyone has to support it.
As for other people, such as Marin's men, they have seen the benefits of Quyuanli as early as in the Wadden Islands. So, it goes without saying.
Only the remaining serf owners had never seen Qu Yuanli, so they might still have doubts. Although, when Quyuanli is used, the effect will appear immediately. However, Marin didn't want to wait until the problem came out before changing Qu Yuanli for them. Because, there is not enough time.
Although it is said that these serf owners did not have to pay taxes for the past three years. However, Marin hopes to increase his prestige and ability to make overall arrangements through the promotion of Qu Yuanli. And let these little nobles form the habit of obeying themselves. Therefore, Marin also sent them an official letter requesting the compulsory promotion of Quyuanli.
Sure enough, at the beginning, many small nobles were very disgusted with Marin's interference with the plow they used. Moreover, they did not believe what Marin said, that a plow that could be pulled by a cow/horse was almost as effective as a heavy Saxon plow.
Marin didn't talk nonsense. After the first batch of Quyuanli was built, before the spring plowing arrived, Marin gathered all the local nobles together, and displayed Quyuanli and Saxony heavyweights on the spot on a test field. The effect of the plow and plow on plowing...
After watching it for a day, these little nobles were finally convinced and agreed to use Quyuanli in their own manor. And Marin didn't make money from them, but provided them with Quyuanli at cost price.
Then, Marin began to think about replacing half of the horses with cattle...
This method is mainly implemented on their own land. The reason why Marin did this was mainly to save feeding costs. At the same time, free up half of the draft horses and use them all for transportation.
For example, Marin decided to promote a developed postal system across the country. In this day and age, apparently, there are no locomotives for the transport of mail and goods. Therefore, we can only use horse-drawn carriages.
In his manor, 60,000 Ugrams of land, there are at least five or six thousand draft horses, and if half of them are taken out, there are two or three thousand horses.
For these horses, Marin decided to eliminate the old, weak, sick and disabled, leaving only 2,000 horses. After that, take out 500 horses and use them in the national postal system and station system to facilitate message delivery.
In addition, between towns and towns, Marin also intends to promote "buses and carriages". Considering the income of the residents, Marin decided to set the price of the bus carriage at 0.2 Finney. Passengers can take out one Finney, go to the bus company, and exchange for 5 bus tickets. Then, use one for each carriage ride. Of course, within a small town, or within an urban area, one ticket is for one stop. If you go out of the town, you need to add one ticket for each road sign (5 kilometers).
This price is relatively expensive. Because people of later generations earn more than 100 yuan a day, but it only costs one or two yuan to take the bus, which is less than one-fiftieth of the income.
However, that is the case of later generations. In addition to the great increase in people's income, lower transportation costs are also one of the important reasons. After all, the cost of using horse-drawn carriages for transportation is actually higher. Firstly, the cost of raising horses is high; secondly, the number of people carried by horses is also limited, so the cost cannot be reduced.
You know, in the Victorian era, the price of renting a carriage was as high as 1 shilling per mile, which was extremely expensive. However, considering that it is a bus, if you squeeze it, it can carry five or six people at a time. If you run a few more times a day, the cost will definitely be recovered, and there will be a lot of surplus.
More than that, considering that the price of grain in East Frisia must have dropped after the use of fertilizers. At that time, the cost of raising horses will be greatly reduced, so it is even more impossible to lose money. It's just that if you talk about making money, you won't make much. The most important thing is to consider the convenience of the people.
Moreover, Marin also considered picking out some bad horses, crossbreeding with donkeys, and breeding mules in large numbers. Mules eat less than horses, but have greater strength and endurance, making them more suitable for pulling carts.
In the future, Marin decided to replace most of the buses with mule carts. And those bad horses are specially used for crossbreeding with donkeys to breed mules. Then, the mules are put into public transportation or sold to the common people.
Mules eat less, are less likely to get sick, and are much easier to take care of than horses. It can be said that mules are the most cost-effective transportation force in the age of animal power. However, the success rate of mules is low. Even if a horse and a donkey are bred together, they may not be born. Therefore, Marin decided to set up a large-scale breeding center to breed mules for civilian use.
According to Marin's plan, all the horses that were eliminated and were not suitable for a good breed were used to breed with donkeys, and a lot of mules were born for civilian use.
And those excellent horses are used for war horses, or specially used for breeding. In this way, the horse breed was improved. However, those horses that were eliminated did not lose their value. After all, they also have mule duties.
It's just that, letting these horses breed with mules that are obviously not of the same race, Marin is also full of guilt, and it always feels very disharmonious... They are just not good enough, but Marin forces them to do something with a different race. so bad…
It's just that Marin plans to replace his ordinary draft horse with a cow, and there must be enough cows for him to buy. As far as Germany is concerned, it is really not a simple matter for Marin to buy two or three thousand heads.
However, this problem is actually not a big problem. Because although it is difficult to buy large herds of cattle in Western Europe, you can buy them in Eastern Europe...
In Eastern Europe, the grasslands are vast and the animal husbandry is very developed. Countries like Poland and Lithuania export about 50,000 cattle to Germany and Italy every year by land from Silesia (see Wikipedia "Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth")...
And some of these cattle were bought as farming cattle, and some were directly bought by the Germans to kill and eat beef...
Poland exports so many cattle every year, and Marin is obviously very jealous. Because Europeans don't know how to use nose rings, they can't control the stubborn bulls, but Marin can deal with these stubborn bulls... As long as they are not mad cows or particularly aggressive bulls, they can be tamed with a nose ring .
And, there are 5,000 cattle. As long as Marin chooses in advance, he can choose the right cattle.
In fact, when these cattle were first transported from Poland to the German region, they would be selected by people in the Silesia region to select suitable cattle for farming. However, the standard for European Aoxuan cattle in this era is not strong, but gentle. A cow with a bad temper is not suitable for use as a farming cattle in Europe in this era, even if it is a little bit bigger. Because Europeans don't use nose rings.
For Marin, it's completely different. When he chooses cattle, he can choose according to the standard of strength, not gentleness. Because, a cow with a little temper can be restrained with a nose ring. Poles would not sell cows that are too irritable. Because it is very inconvenient to drive a cow with too much temper, and there is no way to drive it for a long distance from far away Poland. The Poles usually slaughter the cows that are too tempered locally and sell them in the form of beef. A cow that can be driven for thousands of miles, even if it has a little temper, can be subdued with a nose ring. Therefore, Marin can safely and boldly choose the strongest cattle as farming cattle.
It's just that Marin has no time to buy Polish cattle this year. Because the Poles usually sell cattle after the autumn harvest. At this time, after feeding with fat grass in spring, summer and early autumn, the cattle are fattened. Coincidentally, overwintering feed is also difficult to supply. Therefore, the Poles generally choose to drive cattle to Germany and Italy for sale in October.
At this time, people in the agricultural area happened to have just harvested grain and had a lot of money in their hands. Just in time, when I saw a large herd of cattle driven by the Poles coming, I bought one. Commoners buy cattle for farming purposes, and nobles buy cattle to kill and eat beef...
Therefore, if Marin wants to buy cattle, he has to wait until autumn. At that time, the Poles would drive a large herd of 50,000 cattle across the border of Poland and Germany for centralized sales. This spring plowing, Marin still has to mainly rely on the horse to plow the land...