King of German Mercenaries

After leaving the Royal Palace of Milan, Marin went to live in the reception villa arranged for him by Ludovico Sforza. As for Marin's 300 men, they were placed in the barracks outside the city. After all, the Duke of Milan is definitely not at ease with the foreign army. Therefore, he only asked Marin to bring a few bodyguards into the city, and the others were arranged to live in military camps outside the city.

After settling in, Marin sent one of the bodyguards to find the manpower who had previously been sent to Milan for high-paying clockwork digging craftsmen. The way to recruit people is very simple. The bodyguard first hired a translator who knew German, and then went to several of the most famous clockmakers in Milan who were good at making clockwork. Then, through these people, the whereabouts of the people sent before were known.

That night, several of the men who had been sent before were taken to the villa where Marin lived. Marin asked:

"What's the result of the solicitation?"

"Not very good, Lord Count, these craftsmen seem to be nostalgic for the prosperity of Milan, and are not willing to go to the relatively remote East Frisian. Even if they pay a high salary of 1 shilling a day, they are not very happy."

The 1 shilling a day offered by Marin is definitely a high salary in this day and age. You must know that these days, because gold and silver in America have not yet been discovered, and the "price revolution" has not yet begun, prices in Europe are still low. Of course, this is compared to the high prices in Europe after the price revolution, compared with the Ming Dynasty and India in the same period. But even so, 1 shilling a day is definitely a high salary. You know, in this era, the average person's daily income is generally only one or two pence or pfennig. The salary of an ordinary craftsman is 3 pfennig per day. A skilled craftsman might have five or six pfennigs a day. The daily treatment of 1 shilling (12 pfennig) is definitely the treatment of a master craftsman.

Marin thought about it for a while. He urgently needed to form a certain number of black knights, and there was a great demand for clockwork muskets. If there are not enough craftsmen to make the clockwork, it may affect the supply of muskets and affect the combat effectiveness. So, he decided to make some capital:

"Well, you can promise 1 shilling and 6 pfennig a day, be quick. And if they don't want to go, tell them that the French army is coming. They're about to attack the Duchy of Milan, and then Milan The city will be in ruins and their property will be taken by French soldiers. Let them think about what happened to the Neapolitans a few years ago..."

A few years ago, when the French army occupied Naples, they burned, killed, and looted the local area, causing great damage to the local area of ​​Naples. This point, the whole of Italy is very clear. Marin said this, although there is an element of intimidation, but it is not nonsense.

Ludovico Sforza is not liked by the Milanese now, and the citizens of Milan think he is abusive. However, when the French occupied Milan, they learned what a real tyranny was. Therefore, when Ludovico Sforza came back with the army, they took the initiative to occupy the city gate and welcomed Ludovico Sforza into the city. It can be seen that what the French army did after entering the city was unpopular, causing the Milanese citizens who originally hated Ludovico Sforza to change their positions and welcome him back.

After arranging all this, Marin rested first...

The next day, Marin, accompanied by an interpreter sent by Ludovico Sforza, went on a high-paying job "to dig talents". With the Duke of Milan watching, Marin didn't want to reveal his true purpose. So, he simply went to the workshop for making plate armor in Milan, wielding a hoe to dig people...

It's just that Marin used to send people to poach people, and he didn't know the specific process of poaching people. Generally speaking, the act of digging people is done at the craftsman's house after work at night.

But Comrade Marin didn't understand, he went straight to digging people in other people's workshops during the day...

If it weren't for the face of the Duke of Milan who accompanied him, Marin was almost beaten by the workshop owner...

even,

In a plate armor manufacturing workshop, Marin's behavior of digging people in front of his face angered the workshop owner, and he directly hit Marin with a stick. If Kahn hadn't seen the opportunity and blocked it with a simple mace, Marin's arm might have been smashed...

Then, Marin finally understood - there is a specialization in the surgery industry, and he just uses his brain to direct others to do things. If he really does it himself, what he does is not as good as those below. After all, people are professionals.

In the evening, Ludovico Sforza burst into tears after listening to the report of the translator who followed Marin:

"This Marin is really young, it's really funny. Yesterday, I saw him being so witty and giving advice. But today, his immature side is exposed, and he is still young..." However, Ludovico Sfall Zha did not look down on Marin. After all, Marin has become an earl from a wandering knight in just a few years. He has no ability, how can he be so good?

The next day, Marin stopped going to those plate armor workshops. In Europe now, because of the frequent wars, the famous Milan plate armor is also very popular. Therefore, the bosses of those plate armor workshops are very careful about skilled craftsmen. It's not easy for Marin to dig people. And like his subordinates to dig people at night, Marin is too lazy to do it. Anyway, the work of excavating the clockwork craftsman is already done by his subordinates. So, under the guise of digging people, Marin began to visit his workshops in Milan from all walks of life...

Milan is worthy of being the largest city in the empire, with a complete range of handicrafts. Not only the developed plate armor manufacturing industry, but also the silk textile and wool spinning industries are also very developed. In addition, workshops such as tanning, printing and dyeing, winemaking, oil extraction, flour milling, and bread baking can be seen everywhere. On the street, there are also many masons and masons, etc., gathered together, waiting for the employment of employers...

In short, Milan is too prosperous. Of course, this is compared to other German cities of this era. If we put it into the modern age of Marin's previous life, Milan's prosperity would be equivalent to that of a county...

Anyway, Marin knew that he had no talent for digging people, so he simply began to visit various workshops. And because of the name of the Duke of Milan, those workshop owners did not dare to drive people away. As long as Marin doesn't open his mouth to dig people and anger the workshop owner...

When Marin, accompanied by an interpreter, visited an oil-pressing workshop, his eyes widened when he saw the oil-pressing machine...

What did he see? A screw press!

Although it is manual, it is considered a very advanced machine...

The reason why Marin was excited was that he had read European history and knew that the first mechanical gold coin in human history used a screw press, also known as a screw coinage.

This spiral coinage machine, which first appeared in Rome around 1530, was designed by an Italian craftsman to suppress gold coins with complete patterns and texts for the Pope.

Since then, Italy began to popularize this spiral minting machine. The Dutch also introduced this coinage around 1580.

Then, the use of spiral minting machines became popular throughout Europe to press gold, silver and copper coins with exquisite patterns. Until the early 19th century, it was replaced by the more advanced toggle-type mints.

Before the emergence of the spiral coinage, European coins were first cast out of equal-weight billets, and then craftsmen, using manpower, hammered and stamped out the shape of the coins with molds. However, this method of coinage is very backward, unable to produce clear and exquisite patterns and words, and there are still big errors. The coins produced in this way are sometimes irregular and labor-intensive.

Often, in a mint, hundreds of thousands of craftsmen are needed, some are responsible for casting and cutting billets, while more people are responsible for making bills into coins with patterns and characters. In this way, it is not only very labor-intensive, but also requires a lot of man-hours.

If it weren't for the fact that the European royal family often adulterated gold and silver coins for huge profits when they minted coins, the mint might have lost money. But after the advent of the spiral minting machine, the situation of coinage changed dramatically.

After this kind of machine appeared, the mint only needed to arrange for skilled craftsmen to make money molds and put them into the spiral minting machine. After ordinary craftsmen have made the billet of equal weight, the relevant craftsmen only need to put the billet into the screw press with the molds engraved on the top and bottom. Then, start turning the lever and push the screw down. The pressure of the screw press is very large, and the direction of force is very stable. The billet is squeezed desperately in the money mold clamped up and down, and it becomes convex and concave. Then, a machine-minted coin with beautiful patterns and clear text appeared...

Because gold and silver are relatively soft, the suppression of gold and silver coins is very simple, and it is more efficient than hand-made. Not only that, the appearance of the mechanism gold and silver coins is also very beautiful, and it can also suppress lace.

As for copper coins, it can also be suppressed, but copper is much harder than gold and silver, and it is more difficult to suppress. However, copper has a characteristic that it becomes softer at high temperature. Therefore, when pressing copper coins, the copper billets can also be heated to a certain temperature in a furnace and then softened, put into a spiral minting machine, and then pressed into exquisite copper coins.

Seeing the screw press in front of him, Marin remembered this history. He suddenly saw a bright future...

What is the future? Marin wickedly remembered that if he had created a spiral coinage first, not only would he be able to mint exquisite coins that were difficult to imitate. Moreover, he can also use the more efficient and low-cost spiral coinage to imitate the coins of other countries and make huge profits.

For example, in France, it is not very good to deal with Marin. Marin can use the spiral minting machine to mint French currency and compete with the French royal family for the huge profits of minting coins.

With a spiral minting machine, Marin could mass produce fine coins with fewer artisans. After all, making a billet is so simple that ordinary craftsmen can do it. The craftsmen who make coins need skilled craftsmen to be competent, and the salary is not low.

But if Marin was using a screw-type minting machine, he could replace the craftsman with a machine. Generally speaking, it takes a long time for a craftsman to make a gold coin, and it also needs to be repeatedly compared and trimmed. With the screw-type minting machine, just put the coin skin into the mold, let two strong men turn the lever of the screw rod, and after a while, a beautiful coin can be pressed out. Not only the quality is better, but it also saves the labor of artisans and saves a lot of salary expenses. At the same time, coins are produced faster.

If Marin wanted to, he could even use a spiral minting machine and fight economic warfare...  

The specific method is to create bad money in other countries, use bad money to attack good money, and disrupt the economic order of that country.

For example, French silver coins now contain less than 25% silver. But Marin can be more immoral, reduce the silver content to 20%, and then suppress it in batches, and then put fake and inferior French silver coins into the French market, causing the French economy to fall into chaos, and causing the value of French coins to decrease in international trade, hitting France. The reputation of the coin...

Such tactics will only be regarded as paediatrics in later generations, and governments around the world also have various anti-counterfeiting measures to deal with them. But in this day and age, such wicked tricks can kill people...

Thinking of this, Marin laughed slyly, seeing the people around him inexplicably...

After regaining consciousness, Marin immediately caught the owner of the oil press and asked him who built the screw press type oil press. Because, he wants to dig this man to East Frisland, make him a spiral minting machine, and start the coinage mode of huge profits...