At this time, Draka, who was in charge of trade with the fleet, also rushed to Marin's temporary residence with the ledger to report to work...
"My lord!" Draka didn't have the confidence to hug Marin, but saluted directly.
"Well, well done, Draka, how's the situation?"
"My lord, this time we bought a total of 400,000 pounds of spices, equivalent to 181 tons; in addition, there are 35 tons of copper, 30 tons of saltpeter, and several large boxes of rare items such as rubies that are relatively popular..."
"Wait, Draka, did you buy soybeans?" Marin interrupted. Marin has long known about spices and so on, but he still values soybeans very much. Because soybean is an excellent feed for war horses, and it is also an important oil-producing crop.
"Yes, my subordinate bought ten sacks of soybeans. By the way, my lord, are soybeans the kind of yellow beans?"
"Yes, that's it!" Soybeans are also called soybeans.
"That's good, that's good..." Draka breathed a sigh of relief, he was very afraid of doing something wrong. He is Kohler's apprentice, although he is about the same age as Kohler. It was Kohler who taught him how to calculate accounts. Of course, he was also literate and had studied in a church school for two years. Marin was also short of manpower, so he used all of Kohler's apprentices. There is no way, the low-level nobles just have no one willing to take refuge. Even if you become an earl now, you have to wait until you defeat the Saxons and stabilize your status before anyone will come to join you. As a civilian, Draka also attached great importance to the opportunity given by Marin this time. Because, these days, it is too difficult for common people to get ahead. Therefore, he must seize every opportunity. Just one failure is enough for him to be beaten back to his original form.
"Well, Draka, send someone to show me a small bag of soybeans." Marin still decided to inspect the goods with his own eyes, lest there be some strange soybean-like species on Ah San's side.
Soon, Draka asked someone to fetch a handful of soybeans from the boat, and Marin took it to his eyes and took a look, thinking it was right. Take it to your mouth and chew it, the familiar taste stimulates the taste buds...
"Draka, you have done a good job. When I go back, I will confer you a knight!" Marin patted Draka on the shoulder with satisfaction.
"Thank you... Thank you, Lord Baron..." Draka became incoherent with excitement. Being promoted from a commoner to a noble is no less than a mortal becoming a fairy in a fantasy novel...
"Ahem, my lord is now an earl..." Garland, the head of the guard who had been sipping on soy sauce for a long time, reminded him.
"Count?" Draka was confused.
Garland immediately turned on the manual mode, and told Draka about Marin's great achievements in the past two years, and Draka was stunned for a while. After being stunned for a long time, Draka didn't know how to evaluate Marin's miraculous deeds, so he just gave a thumbs up:
"My lord, you are really tall..."
Columbus, who was sitting by the side, also woke up from his head full of gold coins. He couldn't understand the German conversation between Marin and Draka, but he happily said to Marin in Latin:
"Lord Earl, this voyage is really amazing. We insisted on drinking the medicine you asked to soak in water, and only 3 people died in the whole process!"
"Why are you still dead?" Marin frowned.
"Didn't die of scurvy, but some kind of fever (maybe malaria or something). You know, India is hotter... Those 3 people, the doctor bled them many times, but they didn't get better, and then they were weak. Sick and dead..."
Marin's mind was suddenly full of black lines-good people let you do bloodletting many times and you will lose too much blood and die, let alone the patient... It seems that Mo Zhigen and Battelle must train more apprentices next. Until the next voyage, several doctors on board must be prepared. Lest like this time, the quack doctor on board only knows bloodletting, bloodletting...
While talking, Prince John came running over there. These days, Marin and Prince John are having a hot fight, and the relationship is very close, so they almost got married...
"Marin, why are you leaving in such a hurry? My Royal Toledo team is still waiting to tie the score. How could you run away suddenly..." Prince John yelled dissatisfied. These days, his Royal Toledo team has not been able to beat Marin's Earl of Friesland team once. Even, they didn't even get a draw, and they all lost. But Prince John refused to admit defeat, so he came to challenge every day. Not to mention, since he learned a few hands with Marin, Prince John paid attention to letting the team's defenders delay the defense, and conceded a lot less goals. Halfway through today's game, Real Toledo only lost one goal. There is great hope of an equalizer...
"Oh, the sailing fleet I'm waiting for is back, of course I have to come back and take a look..." Marin said indifferently.
"His Royal Highness Prince Juan..." Columbus was taken aback when he saw Prince John. Columbus, who had been in the Spanish court for several years, naturally knew the most honorable heir to the throne in Spain. So, after seeing Prince John, it was a shock. And Juan is also the Spanish pronunciation of John. Like the name Charlie, in Spanish, it's pronounced Carlos...
"Why, you know me? Hey, why are you wearing a mask? Who are you?" Prince John saw Columbus sitting next to him.
"I..." Columbus didn't know how to answer at this time. Because, he is now aliased as Captain Zorro. As for whether to reveal his identity, he looked at Marin.
Marin coughed and said to Prince John:
"John, he is Columbus..."
"What? He's Columbus? The navigator? You recruited him? And why is he wearing a mask?"
"Well, when I was passing through Italy, I met Columbus who had a difficult life, so I recruited him to do things for me..." Marin explained to Prince John, and also reminded Columbus in a circumstantial way—I helped you when you were most unlucky, Don't have any thoughts of betrayal...
Sure enough, when Columbus heard Marin's words, his complexion changed. Of course, under the protection of the mask, no one could see the change in his face. He remembered the miserable time when he was hiding in the Italian countryside, when he could hardly drink alcohol, and his wife was always clamoring to leave him...
"As for why he's wearing a mask, it's because his face was scratched by an angry prostitute and disfigured, so he had to wear a mask..."
"Pfft—ah ha ha ha..." Prince John laughed. He remembered that it seemed that because the sailors of Columbus brought back syphilis, the Pope issued an edict prohibiting whoring, which caused the prostitutes to cut off their business and lose their source of income. Then, a group of angry prostitutes beat the disowned Columbus in the street. Unexpectedly, Columbus's face was scratched and disfigured by those angry prostitutes...
Columbus' face turned black. He didn't want to mention this history, and he didn't like others to laugh at him. However, it was the powerful Spanish crown prince who laughed at him at this time, and he was helpless.
After laughing enough, Prince John asked curiously again:
"Marin, what did you hire him for? Could it be to explore the colony of the Wild Continent?" Thinking of the original agreement that allowed Marin to open up several colonies in the Wild Continent, Prince John made such a guess.
But Marin shook his head:
"Your Highness, I asked him to find the real India..."
"The real India?" Prince John was a little dazed, and then asked:
"Didn't you say that the area to the west he discovered was a wild continent, not India?"
"That's right, you can't find India if you go to the west. Therefore, I asked him to explore the east, and found India?"
"East? Are you looking for India through the Portuguese territory?" Prince John's expression changed. At sea, even the mighty Spain was no match for the Portuguese.
"Yes, Your Highness, I once purchased the right to trade in India for 5 years from His Majesty the Pope..."
"Oh, I remembered. Two years ago, His Excellency the Pope wanted to exchange the title and territory with the father and mother with India's trade rights. Because it was too illusory, the father and mother refused..."
After Alexander VI sold the trading rights to Marin for 5 years, he did reveal to the Spanish king and his wife that he wanted to authorize Spain to trade in India. However, the Spanish kings considered that the route to India is still unclear, and doing so may cause antagonism with Portugal. In addition, Alexander VI opened his mouth and asked for two earl titles and related territories. Therefore, the Spanish double kings declined the Pope's kindness.
"Really? However, Your Highness, Columbus has successfully discovered the real India and returned with a full load of spices..." After finishing speaking, Marin immediately stared closely at Prince John's expression... If Prince John showed a greedy expression, Ma Lin will let Columbus board the ship and leave immediately, so that the Spaniards will not have the opportunity to eat black...
What made Marin relieved was that Prince John did not show a greedy look. However, it was shocking:
"Spices...full load?" Prince John stuttered in surprise. He knew that Columbus brought 4 ships. Although they were not big, it was still very scary to use "full load".
You know, holding a grand palace banquet only costs a few hundred pounds of spices. And the four ships are fully loaded, how many banquets will be held...
The innocent prince doesn't seem to be very sensitive to money, otherwise, he must have eyes full of gold coins. However, he also knows that spices are very rare things. Even in the palace, only members of the royal family can often be late for spices. Many nobles are not often able to eat spices. The fearful way of eating grilled meat dipped in pepper is very popular among nobles, and it is a symbol of status and status...
So, he was shocked that Columbus brought back four shipments of spices...