By the end of April 1496, agricultural activities on Texel Island basically stopped, and spring plowing was basically over, with only sporadic land reclamation. But even when the land is cleared, it's not planting season. Therefore, the reclamation of new land is not urgent.
After developing boiled salt and innovating agriculture, Marin intends to visit the two fishing ports of Thorenche and Odesshild to see how the fishery development on Texel Island is.
Marin attaches great importance to fishery, not that he attaches great importance to fishery production. Instead, Marin pays special attention to the young fishermen who have grown up in fishing activities—these people are the best reserve sailors...
As a sailor, in addition to being able to manipulate the sails, one must also adapt to life at sea for a long time. On ocean-going ships, sailors often don't go ashore for months at a time. It's really unbearable for someone who is used to living on land. Only these fishermen who fish at sea every day can adapt to long-term sea life, and they are less likely to get sick during long-distance voyages.
Seeing that the era of great voyages has begun, Marin said that he does not want to take a share of it, which is definitely a lie. Spain and Portugal are not yet in the limelight at this time, if you join earlier, you can also rise to the top.
You know, it is not difficult to conquer the New World and open up routes to India. The Spaniards conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico with less than 1,000 men. And Pizarro conquered Peru with only 180 people...
Maybe, Pizarro didn't have the good luck to meet the brain-dead Inca king, but Marin could easily do it with thousands of people. Moreover, Marin had studied in his previous life that the success of Cortez and Pizarro was due to the knights and muskets.
Plate armor knights were swept into the garbage by muskets in Europe. But in front of the American Indians, this group of soil turtles, it is very easy to use.
The Incas had never seen a horse and did not know what cavalry was. The Aztecs killed themselves, and the myth of the "White God" spread. Plus cavalry and muskets terrified the Indians. Therefore, it was easy and pleasant to conquer this group of uncivilized Indians.
The point is that people in this era don't know the depth of the Indians. Cortez's attack on the Aztec Empire was purely greedy for success, but he did not expect to succeed. Pizarro is a desperate gambler, but in the end he won the bet...
Marin doesn't need to gamble, he is fully aware of the Indians' weaknesses. At that time, just send out a group of knights to crush the group of Indians. You know, Pizarro only relied on dozens of plate armored cavalry to overwhelm the thousands of troops brought by the Inca king. Obviously, the Incas were scared and collapsed by the cavalry, not really unable to fight...
Therefore, Marin has no shortage of information and knows that many opportunities are in front of him. But first, he must have a ship, and skilled and faithful sailors.
Although Marin could hire sailors from other countries, he didn't plan to do that. Because, hiring sailors from other countries is prone to the danger of leaking secrets. If other powerful countries knew that they had conquered a rich country by dispatching hundreds of people, wouldn't they send a large army to grab business
Therefore, in the early colonization, it is best to use trustworthy sailors and soldiers. In the later stage, when I become stronger, I am no longer afraid of the covetousness of other countries, and it will be no problem to recruit sailors from other countries.
And trustworthy sailors, who are more reliable than the fishermen under his own rule? The family is begging for life under their own hands, who dares to betray at will? If you dare to betray, the whole family will be hanged...
Thinking about the source of the sailors, Marin led his men to "kindly condolence" the fishermen of the two fishing villages of Thorenche and Odesshild...
The two fishing villages are very small, with only a hundred people in each village. The two villages add up to about 200 people. While available youth fishermen, no more than 30…
What makes Marin happy is that many of these fishermen are Frisians. There are many Frisians along the coast of the Netherlands, and many of them are engaged in fishing. In both villages, more than half of the fishermen are Frisian. Frisians all speak Frisian, and Marin happens to know it. Therefore, communicating with fishermen is more convenient than communicating with townspeople and farmers on the original island. Marin couldn't understand the language of the Dutch on the island, so he often took the priest on the island as an interpreter. The priests can speak German and Latin, otherwise, Marin would not be able to communicate with the local Dutch.
Using the fluent Frisian learned from Mrs. Mary (actually similar to English, of course, it is medieval English, not the modern English learned by Marin), Marin had a cordial conversation with the fishermen...
"Aben (a Frisian fisherman), is fishing hard?" Marin asked affectionately, patting the shoulder of a young bald fisherman who resembled Robben.
Aben, who was only 20 years old but had lost all his hair, said shyly:
"Back to Lord Baron, fishing is hard work, but if you don't go, you will be hungry..."
"How many fish can you catch at one time?"
"After going out to sea every time, after sorting, there are probably hundreds of pounds of fish..."
"Sorting?"
"It is to keep the edible fish and throw away the inedible fish... Not all fish in the sea can be eaten, some are poisonous..."
Marin nodded. This is like a puffer fish, a poisonous fish that cannot be eaten.
"There are other fish, although they are not poisonous, but they are unpalatable, and no one will buy them..."
"Oh... By the way, why do you only harvest a few hundred pounds per boat? As far as I know, you go down a net and exclude the inedible fish that need to be sorted, at least one or two hundred pounds? You guys Catching two or three nets a day?"
"Hehe, my lord, it's not that we can't fish more, nor that we don't want to fish more. It's just..."
"What is it? Let's hear it..."
"We don't have enough salt!" The young Aben touched his bald head and sighed...
"Salt?" Speaking of salt, Marin laughed. However, he suddenly remembered that the salt produced by his salt cooking base was basically sold to the Wiggins Chamber of Commerce, and only a part was reserved for himself and the army. It seems that there is no preparation for the residents of the island... Thinking of this, Marin smiled awkwardly...
"Yes, salt! Salt is expensive now, my lord baron. A quart of salt costs five or six shillings. We fishermen are very poor. Where can we buy much salt? It is useless even if we catch a lot of fish. Because, there is no With enough salt to pickle, the excess fish will rot and stink..."
"Selling salted fish is also profitable, right? Why don't you use the money you earn to buy more salt?" Because of the Catholic fast, Europeans are not allowed to eat meat for a long time. Therefore, salted fish has become an important food during fasting.
"My lord, the profit of salted fish is very low. Don't look at the price of salted fish. However, because the price of salt is high, the cost of salting salted fish is also high. In addition to the transportation cost of salted fish, selling salted fish Fish, you don't make much money at all. But if the price of salt drops a shilling or two, we'll still make a decent profit."
"That is to say, if the price of salt drops to 4 shillings, your profits will increase a lot?"
"Yes, if the price of salt drops to four shillings, life will be much easier for all fishermen!"
"Then how about this, I have opened a new cooking salt base, I asked them to expand production, and retail sea salt to you at a price of 4 shillings per quarter in the future, you should be able to live a lot better, right?"
"Of course, thank you Lord Lord! However, the benefits will not be reflected in a short time. Because we don't have much money to buy salt for the time being." The bald Aben said honestly.
"It's okay, I can lend you the salt. You sell the salted fish, and then return the equivalent coins!"
"Thank you, my lord!" Aben quickly bowed and thanked him.
"Don't be too busy, thank you, by the way, is there any problem with your fishing boat?"
"Yes, my lord, many poor fishermen can't afford fishing boats. Even those who can afford fishing boats, like our family, can only use small boats to fish in shallow waters like the Wadden Sea, where the wind and waves are relatively small. If you have a big boat , we can go to the big fishing ground in the North Sea. There, a big ship can go there once and come back with a full warehouse of fish... "
"Full warehouse?" Marin also looked forward to it...
"Yes, there are more fish in the North Sea fishing ground than in the Wadden Sea, but the wind and waves are relatively strong, and large boats are needed..."
"Okay, I can set up a fund and lend you a loan. You can join forces to buy a medium-sized fishing boat and go fishing! What's the point of a few hundred pounds of fish? Return with a full load!"
"That's really thankful, sir!" Aben and the Frisian fishermen thanked each other.
"You're welcome!" Marin responded modestly, but he was thinking in his heart-selling a quart of salt to you for 4 shillings, I will not lose money, and the profit is still huge. Moreover, without supporting the development of fishermen, where will the reserve of sailors come from