The Rise of the European Emperor

Don't think it's ridiculous to use milk powder as a drink for the army, but in fact, this was the case in European society at that time. In the absence of other mass-produced beverages (although milk tea is good, but now tea is too expensive and too scarce, it is not suitable for military supplies), milk powder is indeed a good drink for military officers. .

Because, at this time, Europe was a society with strict hierarchies. If officers and soldiers were treated the same, it would be breaking the rules. Not only will it be opposed by the nobles and the officer class, but it will also make ordinary soldiers lose their motivation.

If officers and soldiers were treated the same way, who would go to great lengths to make meritorious deeds, seek promotion and become an officer aristocrat? At the very beginning, Marin and his first men shared weal and lodging together... That's no problem, because Marin was just a knight at the time. His subordinates were all new recruits, and he didn't feel anything wrong.

However, with the improvement of status and a large number of noble children becoming officers under Marin's command, if Marin wanted to pursue equality again, then the officers under his command would be unhappy at first - we became officers with all our life, is it because we have to fight with those mud-legged men? Do big bosses get the same treatment? The role of the officer on the battlefield is very important. Therefore, later on, Marin gradually changed his previous life's view of equal treatment, and stopped eating and living with the soldiers. Those officers were also treated differently from ordinary soldiers. For example, ordinary soldiers eat black bread, and occasionally can eat some salted fish and meat. But the officers basically continued to eat meat, and they could drink wine during non-war time. Ma Linben was worried that the soldiers had opinions, but in the end he found out that the soldiers took it for granted... On the contrary, if the officers and soldiers were treated the same, everyone would find it strange...

Marin was unable to challenge the entire social system and eventually acquiesced to the existence of hierarchy. Besides, he is also a beneficiary of hierarchical existence, why should he fight against him?

The way of life of the nobility and officers of this era can only be described by Marin in the words of Concubine Hua - "Bitch is hypocritical". To show their status, nobles and officers would wear brighter armor and clothes to show their difference from ordinary soldiers. In terms of food, they have meat or salted fish (you can't eat meat during the fasting period, you can only eat fish). Even the drink is very particular.

For example, even if aristocratic officers drink beer, the national drink of Germany, they will definitely drink better beer brewed with hops, and will never touch the stale civilian beer. Some of the more sophisticated noble officers even only drink wine instead of beer to show their dignity.

However, during the war, alcohol was not allowed in the strict military discipline of the Marin Army. Moreover, it is not allowed to drink raw water, but to drink boiled water uniformly.

This has sparked strong protests from noble officers. Because, in their opinion, drinking boiled water like a mud-legged soldier is a disgraceful behavior. However, Marin could not find other non-alcoholic beverages (in other words, Europeans regarded wine and beer as their daily beverages and never drank boiled water), so they could only do that first.

This time, Marin came up with this kind of milk powder that is very suitable for carrying, cutting and storing.

Although it is a little out of tune, the careful Schwartz immediately listed it as a military drink for officers, which can be regarded as meeting the needs of the officers for their privileges.

Sure enough, after the introduction of delicious milk powder, although those officers may not all like milk powder, it finally made them feel good. At least, you don't have to drink boiled water with the big head soldiers... that's too shameless...

Although Marin murmured in his heart that he thought those guys were too hypocritical, he didn't want to fight against the general trend alone, so he acquiesced to this situation. Anyway, as long as those officers are satisfied. Moreover, the cost of milk powder is not high. As for those big-headed soldiers, I don't think so, because, in their opinion, officers should be treated well...

...

As time retires, time enters March. At this time, spring ploughing has also started vigorously in the Grand Duchy of Beihai...

However, there are some problems with spring ploughing - East Friesland, Oldenburg, Schleswig and North Münster, which have long been controlled by Marin, have been well prepared and have sufficient labor force. , Spring ploughing is no problem. The problem is mainly in the provinces of West Friesland, Bremen and Jutland, which were only brought under control at the end of last year...

Why? Because of these three new provinces, there is enough land and no shortage of cattle, but there is a serious shortage of manpower. Therefore, spring farming in these three new provinces has been severely affected.

Without enough people, there is no way to control those cattle. Under such circumstances, no matter how much arable land Marin has, it is useless. After all, the oxen will not pull the plow to plough the land by themselves, and always have someone to help the plow and control the direction, and it must be a prime-age labor. Ordinary old people and women can't help the plowshare, it is a manual job. In this age without agricultural machinery, agricultural production and labor determine everything...

So, even though the three new regions of West Frisland, Bremen and Jutland, Marin, acquired a lot of estates, the men also got a lot of new land. However, this year's spring ploughing cannot be fully reclaimed due to insufficient preparation...

In fact, in the South Münster area, there were tens of thousands of prisoners of war digging canals at this time, and if Marin wanted to, he could pull all those tens of thousands of prisoners to spring ploughing.

However, the problem is that these tens of thousands of prisoners of war, those soldiers, after the canal is dug, will be returned to Switzerland, Brandenburg and Saxony. It's no problem to bring them here for spring ploughing, but the secrets of putting nose rings on cows and using curved ploughs will definitely be taken away by these people. And this is not in line with the principle of Marlin's secrecy.

Therefore, Marin would rather endure the problem of labor shortages than transfer the tens of thousands of prisoners of war who had dug canals in the South Münster area to help with spring farming. Without him, in order to keep the advanced agricultural technology secret...

Moreover, the canal in the South Münster area is also extremely important to Marin. Once the canal is dug through, Marin's hand can extend back to his hometown - the Ruhr area... Then, it is convenient to control the Ruhr area. At the same time, it is much easier to transport coal from the Ruhr area.

Therefore, regardless of secrecy and strategic considerations, Marin could not call the tens of thousands of prisoners of war who had dug the canal in the South Münster area. After all, those prisoners of war are to be returned...

In desperation, Marin and his noble officers could only endure the situation that some fiefs had nothing to produce this year.

As a result, Marin and his nobles and officers can only focus on the present, first of all the provinces located in East Frisian, Oldenburg and Schleswig (North Münster Province Marin did not give the My subordinates, the problem of spring ploughing of the manor over there due to its small population and not yet high degree of development) will be solved first. Then, if the spring ploughing ends early, you can also send people to the fiefs of the three new provinces to see if you can lift the tail of the truck and catch up with the last wave of spring ploughing.

Moreover, in order to save costs, Marin decided to grant his nobles the right to recruit serfs on their own, and encourage them to send people to the German interior to recruit serfs and enrich their fiefs...

Anyway, those noble fiefs do not need to pay taxes. Those serfs were also raised by those nobles. Although Marin recruited a large number of people from the inland before, he was divided up by everyone. As a result, their own manpower is not enough.

Since the three new provinces were brought into the hands, together with Malin, many noble fiefs were sealed off to Jutland. Today, all East Frisian nobles with fiefs in the three new provinces, including Marin, are in desperate need of labor.

Among them, Marin, as the largest landlord, has many estates that are simply empty, with few people, which is very wasteful. Therefore, Marin is the largest landowner in the North Sea Principality, which lacks the most labor.

However, going to the South to recruit labor, and then having to divide it up with his subordinates after returning, made Marin very tired. So, this time, at Kohler's suggestion, Marin decided to grant the nobles with fiefs in the three new provinces the right to recruit serfs on their own.

After all, one person counts shorts, and many people count...everyone is mobilized, it is better than Marin's hard work to recruit the population, and to share with these guys... You know, Marin is the one who lacks serfs the most. Why are you breaking up with everyone?

In this way, as soon as this policy came out, Marin was equivalent to throwing off a burden. Later, Kohler was responsible for recruiting serfs, which belonged to Marin's own estate. As for the other nobles, "the Eight Immortals cross the sea and show their magical powers". Anyway, no matter what means they use, Marin doesn't care. Everyone depends on their means, and whoever can dig enough people can develop the newly sealed land of each family...

Of course, Marin drew a red line for them - it is forbidden to recruit private soldiers in the name of recruiting serfs... The rest, Marin doesn't care. Even if they abducted and deceived people from other vassal states, Marin would pretend not to know. As long as you don't know how to grab it, that's fine. Also, you can't poach people from other manors in the country. After all, most of the manors in the country are owned by Marin. To dig people in China is to dig Marin's corner...

What Malin didn't expect was that because of his policy, the nobles under his command were full of firepower, unscrupulously poaching people from other vassal states. Even, a gray industrial chain has been created - human trafficking...

It is different from ordinary human trafficking, which usually targets women and children. And the human trafficking that Marin's subordinates jointly created is especially aimed at young and strong men, very strange... But who said that the Grand Duchy of Beihai is too short of labor...

Later, Marin even turned to this underground organization that abducted and sold young and strong men to obtain enough labor... After all, this organization is very good at poaching people, and it can fool the strong serfs who are doing well in the manor. Awesome. Before, Marin could only recruit young Germans who were not working. However, such people are limited after all. And this organization that abducts and sells young and strong men can directly poach people from manors in other countries, expanding the source of labor. At least, the source of the population recruited by Kohler's men is much wider...because the working serfs account for the main part of the German population...