Marin looked left and right, and found that there was no rope to tie the red deer. In desperation, he had no choice but to pull out the grass on the side, and began to weave straw ropes on the spot. Speaking of which, even in the rural areas of later generations, not many young people know how to weave straw ropes. Because the commerce of the later generations is too developed, a variety of ropes made of nylon fiber and other materials are sold in large quantities in shops, which are not only cheaper, but also better in quality than straw ropes. So, everyone went directly to buy chemical fiber rope.
Marin was also bored in his previous life. When he was a child, he learned how to weave straw rope and straw sandals with a lonely old man in the village who loved to weave straw rope and straw sandals when he was bored. Then, it just so happened to come in handy today...
Marin used the braided straw rope to tie the red deer's neck, then grabbed the red deer's front legs and pulled the red deer out of the trap. Then, Marin held the horse with his left hand and the red deer with his right hand, constantly wrestled with the red deer that wanted to escape, and dragged the red deer to the nearest city...
At this time, the closest city to Marin is the city of Bonn under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Cologne, which is the Bonn in the capital of West Germany. It took Marin a long time to lead the red deer outside the city of Bonn. But at the gate of the city, he was stopped...
It turns out that in ancient Europe, people who entered the city had to pay a city tax. The city entry tax is not high, as long as two Imperial Finneys (theoretically, Finneys and pennies are equivalent). But the problem is, now Marin is penniless!
In desperation, Marin had no choice but to inquire about the trading market outside the city, and then walked to a market outside the city. You know, these days, two Finneys are quite a lot for the poor, almost equivalent to a day's wages. In order to save city entry tax, some people simply set up stalls somewhere outside the city.
Of course, local officials are not stupid. You set up a stall outside the city, right? OK, I can designate a market for you. However, those who set up a stall in the market must pay a stall tax, the same as in the city.
As for the buyers, they do not have to pay taxes. However, this is also conditional. That is, those who set up stalls outside the city must be small businesses. If your business gets bigger and you want to set up a stall outside the city to save city entry tax, the tax officer will bring the magistrate to trouble you.
Generally speaking, those who set up stalls outside the city sell some cheap supplies needed by the country people. Such as farm tools, coarse cloth, needlework and so on. As for high-priced and in short-supply supplies like salt, although the country people also need it, the officials absolutely do not allow them to be sold at markets outside the city. Because this will affect their tax collection. Of course, in places that are too far away from the city, ordinary people can also buy it at the market every five days. But there are also tax officials in the market, who keep a close eye on the merchants.
Marin came to the simple market outside the city, and naturally he didn't come to sell red deer. Because it is impossible to have a big buyer outside the city. He came here to get the city tax.
After thinking about it, Marin felt that the horses, weapons and armor on his body must not be sold. But in order to collect the city tax, one thing must be provided.
After much deliberation, only the short knife on his body can be sold. This short knife is used by Marin for survival in the wild, and it can also be used as a dagger for self-defense. The quality seems to be very good. But Marin is hungry now. After eating grass roots for two days, he started to drool when he saw someone selling black stick bread in the market that could be used as a brick to hit people. So, he decided to get the city tax quickly and sell the red deer so that he could have a normal meal.
In all fairness, Marin's short knives are of good quality. After all, this is for knights. When knights lose their lances, they may draw out their short knives and fight people desperately. Therefore, the quality of this short knife is generally good.
But now Marin can't control so much, and he doesn't care about selling it at a good price. So, this excellent short knife worth 20 Finneys was sold to a butcher by Marin for 8 Finneys.
With the fee for entering the city, Marin happily led the horse and red deer to the city. But to his dismay, his entry tax was 4 pfennigs. The reason is that the red deer he is leading are "bulk goods" and they need to be taxed...
In fact, if it weren't for Marin's face as a knight with martial arts, the defenders might have asked for 20 pfennigs or even exorbitant prices.
Moreover, ordinary people even need the lord's permission to hunt. If a commoner hunted and killed large animals in the territory without a license, he might be executed by the lord.
Only wandering knights like Marin, the lord is not very good at it. Because, wandering knights are a group of masters who dare to kill for their lives. They are so skilled in martial arts that ordinary lords dare not provoke them. Moreover, many wandering knights have relatives and old friends, and there is no good fruit to provoke them. The soldiers guarding the city are just lowly infantry, how dare they offend the knights
Legend has it that a few years ago, a certain baron killed a wandering knight who was hunting in his territory without authorization. Then, two months later, a group of knights came from the family of the wandering knight and killed the baron. Also ransacked the Baron's estate. The baron's family took the matter to the Imperial Court, but it was not resolved. Although the status of the baron was higher than that of the feudal knight (the deceased's father) who took revenge, he really couldn't be blamed for avenging his son. Moreover, it was indeed too much for the baron to kill a knight for mere prey. So, let's leave it at that, and in the end it was just the retaliator who returned the stolen property.
Afterwards, the general lords, as a warning, are not very willing to provoke wandering knights. As long as you don't spend a long time hunting in your own territory, you generally don't care too much about it. Even if they are found, they will only send people to drive them away, and they will not be as vicious as they are for civilians. Because, these wandering knights themselves, or their families, may be thugs with high martial arts skills...
Of course, if the local lord finds out about hunting large wild animals like Marin, he might send his knights over to ask for them back. However, the dissemination of news in the Middle Ages was extremely backward, and communication basically relied on shouting. When the local lord gets the news and sends someone over to pursue it, maybe three or two days have passed. And Marin himself is passing by in a hurry, where can he find it then? Even if you find it, it's useless. After all, if you catch a thief, you have to catch the stolen goods. If you don't catch them on the spot, they will sell all the prey. Who the hell will admit it? Unless, Marin is greedy and stays here for a long time to hunt, giving people a chance to catch thieves...
After finally entering the city, Marin hurried into the city, and after a long time, he finally found a restaurant that was willing to buy the red deer. But the price made Marin so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood...
why? The owner of the restaurant only paid 4 pence for a pound of venison to buy the red deer. Moreover, it is based on a 50% meat yield. In other words, the boss is only willing to pay 800 pfennigs for this body of venison. In addition, deer bones can also be used to make soup because of the availability of complete deerskin and by-products such as antlers for decoration. So, the boss agrees to pay another 300 pfennigs. In other words, such a large red deer can only be sold for 1100 pfennigs...
According to Marin Hoffman's memory, each pound of wheat is currently worth 5 pfennigs (this price will soar after the "price revolution" begins in the 16th century, and by the 17th century, it will almost reach one or two cents per pound of wheat. shillings or even higher. However, meat prices seem to have been relatively stable). Even the less valuable rye is worth 1 pfennig per pound. In other words, the price of a pound of venison is not as expensive as a pound of wheat...
Marin, who traveled from later generations, is completely Sparta...
You know, in modern times, the price of a catty of wheat is only a little more than one yuan, while venison costs at least twenty or so per catty. This is still raised venison. If it was wild venison, it would cost dozens. In other words, the price of modern venison is at least ten times that of wheat. But in medieval Europe, the price of wheat was more expensive than venison, which shocked Marin extremely.
In fact, Marin is also short-sighted. You know, this is the Middle Ages. The current German region (not including Hungary and other regions, but including many regions of later Poland, as well as the Netherlands and some French regions, about 500,000 to 600,000 square kilometers), has a population of less than 10 million. In later generations of Germany, on a land of 350,000 square kilometers, the population was as high as 80 million.
Therefore, the current German region is considered to be sparsely populated. Like the Rhine and the southern mountains, there are currently a large number of forests. In the forest, there are wild deer, wild sheep, hares, and even bison... There are actually many such wild animals, and they are enough for people to hunt and eat.
Not only the German region, but the whole of Europe is currently sparsely populated and has many wild animals. As long as you have a musket, or are good at using a bow and crossbow, then you can definitely hunt prey frequently, not lacking in meat, and you can even sell it (provided you have the qualifications to hunt).
At the same time, the level of agriculture in Europe in the Middle Ages was so low that it was not worthy of carrying shoes for the Ming Dynasty at the same time. The wheat yield per mu is better in Europe except Italy, which can reach 150 to 200 catties per mu. In other areas, the yield of wheat per mu is generally around 100 jin. Of course, this is also related to the current climate. After all, this era is the "Little Ice Age", and the temperature is low. But the more reason is that the Europeans' farming skills are extremely low. They don't know how to fertilize, and the plows used to cultivate the land are also very backward.
For example, China began to use the very advanced and labor-saving curved plow in the Tang Dynasty. At this time, there were only two types of plows in Europe-the Saxon heavy plow and the ordinary light plow. The downside of the light plow is obvious—it works very shallowly and only scrapes the top soil, which is ineffective. The Saxon heavy plow, on the other hand, works very well. But it was so bulky that several horses were needed to pull it together.
(European horses are larger in size and stronger, so they are very suitable as draft horses. Therefore, horse farming has always been popular in Europe, and relatively few cattle are used. Many cattle are raised as dairy or beef cattle.)
However, in Europe, how many draft horses can ordinary people have? Obviously impossible. Therefore, only those nobles and wealthy households could afford the heavy plow in Saxony. Generally poor small landowners can't afford the heavy Saxon plow.
No manure is applied, and the tillage is shallow. This has resulted in generally low agricultural production in Europe, resulting in high food prices. On the contrary, because there are many wild animals in the wild, and Europeans themselves also graze extensively, so the source of meat is very rich, which also leads to the low price of meat in Europe in this era.
According to Marin Hoffman's memory, beef at this time was only 4 pfennigs a pound, while mutton and pork were only 3 pfennigs a pound. In other words, the cost of eating meat is lower than eating wheat bread...
Of course, rye was cheaper than meat. Therefore, poor families generally eat mixed "casting" of rye, soil, wood chips, stones and wild vegetables (why do you say casting? Because this kind of black bread can kill people and can be used directly as bricks, it can be called the "castle" of the Middle Ages. Nokia") extra-hard black baguettes.
Even the Hoffman family, which is a knight family, usually eats black bread. White bread made of wheat flour is eaten extravagantly only on major festivals. Of course, the brown bread eaten by the Hoffman family is not the same as that eaten by poor families. At least, the brown bread eaten by the Hoffman family is not so hard and not mixed with dirt, so it is considered normal brown bread.
Thinking of this, Marin burst into tears:
"I didn't expect that wheat was more expensive than meat in the Middle Ages! What the hell, I used to read time-travel novels and thought the author was bragging about it. I didn't expect that the reality is so!"
Before traveling, Marin had read a lot of novels traveling to ancient Europe. For example, a certain novel mentioned that after the 17th century in Europe, the price of wheat became extremely expensive, reaching the point of a few pounds per quarter (12.7 kilograms). For this reason, the protagonist specially uses modern agricultural technology to farm and make a fortune...
"Well, it seems that I have to find a way to grow wheat to make a fortune!" After all, Marin is a pure child from the countryside, and he is no stranger to farming.
But the problem is, farming must first have land! In this era when feudal lords owned land, even if you had money, you might not be able to buy good land. Even if you bought good land, if the real wheat made a fortune, maybe the lord would be jealous and come to rob... After all, in the Middle Ages, the world was dominated by lords. They were the emperors, and the land ownership was with the lords...
Therefore, after thinking about it, Marlin still felt that it would be better to seek refuge with Emperor Maximilian I first. Help the emperor fight first, and then strive to make military exploits and obtain a fief. Then, with the fiefdom, he became a lord, recruited serfs, used modern agricultural technology, mass-produced wheat, and became a local tyrant in the Middle Ages...