eastern european eagle

Chapter 11 Peter's Manor

As the foundation of the economy, agriculture is a top priority for Dobroja.Peter has a large amount of manor land under his own name, some of which are cultivated by serfs, and some are leased to tenant farmers.

Before Peter, the economic benefits of North Dobroga had been bad. From the beginning of the Roman Empire, South Dobroja had been the main land for reclamation, and so did the Eastern Roman and Bulgarian Empires; until the arrival of Peter.

Peter bought a lot of slaves from Crimea to take charge of the land reclamation, and because he bought a lot, he was given some discounts.

For Eastern Europeans from the 15th century to the 18th century, the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate were their nightmare, because the country's army was plundering, brutal and cruel, and it was the country's goal to capture and enslave Christians. The main source of income is called "the harvest of the steppe peoples".

Except for their own use and extortion of ransom, most of the slaves captured by the Tatars were exported to the Ottoman Empire, Middle Eastern countries, and even Christian countries or cities along the Mediterranean Sea.At that time, the price of an adult Slavic slave was between 20 and 50 gold coins, while at that time a horse was only worth 15 gold coins, and a sheep was only sold for 2 gold coins.Selling a slave is enough for the slave owner to buy a small piece of high-quality land with houses, fruit trees, farmland and woods, so the slave trade is very popular among the Tatars.

Peter also imported some, some were worked as serfs, and the other were bound as construction workers. At the same time, he also sent the chamber of commerce to train a group of clever spies.But the number is not large, about 500 people.

Among these people, there are many craftsmen such as blacksmiths and carpenters. Peter organized them and promised that as long as they work for him, their children will not become slaves, and they can also be free.

Slaves, serfs, free people, and the army together constitute the objects of Peter's rule. For the ambition of the lord, and for more wealth and freedom, they challenged the uncultivated land.

Most of Peter's land was reclaimed by the original manor owners here. They either sacrificed or fled in previous wars, so these lands became Peter's private property.There are about 2000 mu.

However, it is impossible for him to be busy with such a large land.So he asked the steward to manage this large piece of land, in addition to crops, there are also some processed products.

After ensuring food security, Peter set his sights on cash crops.Grapes, vegetables, fruits, honey, he knows very well that these are very common crops in Europe, and if they want to open up the market, they must get something different.

Grapes can be used to make wine, the price of vegetables is a little higher than that of grain, and honey and fruits can be processed.Although we have refined salt, we still need something else.

The serfs working in the fields knelt down when they saw the master coming.Peter waved his hand, and they started plowing again.

Peter has made some improvements to the manor. In addition to planting, some small workshops have also moved here for processing, which can save transportation costs.

The steward of the manor came to Peter "my lord", who was in charge of everything in the manor when Peter was in Constanta.

"What's the benefit during this time?"

Peter asked this because the income from the manor and the land were separate.Although it was Peter's wallet that flowed into it in the end, it is best to separate the income.Because most of the income from the territory has to be rebuilt and recruited, the income from the manor is used as private money when necessary.

(Do you feel dizzy? If you substitute the household department and Huangzhuang of the Ming Dynasty, it should be very clear.)
The butler introduced the income of the manor in the past six months. Wine, cloth and beeswax are the main income. In addition, flax planting and sheep breeding have also increased.These are important raw materials for the textile industry.

"My lord, most of the things produced will be bought by merchants, and the rest will be sold in the market in Constanta."

"And what you want us to plant has already been planted, and we can harvest it soon."

One of the raw materials for sugar is what Peter asked the manor to grow, beets.

In the 4th century AD, white and red beets appeared.From the 8th to the 12th century A.D., sugar beet was widely cultivated in Persia and ancient Arabia, and its cultivars were later introduced to the Caucasus, Asia, Eastern Siberia, India, China and Japan from the center of origin.

Beet likes temperature, but is cold-tolerant.It is also a commercial crop suitable for growing in Wallachia.Peter had these ripe beets cut into strips and boiled in a large pot.Then carry out actions such as filtering, sedimentation and drying to obtain sugar.Of course the color is almost.

"Okay, what about the other one?"

Speaking of which, the butler quickly brought a jar, which contained a golden yellow thick liquid, and exuded an attractive sweet smell.

This is maltose made from wheat seeds. First soak the wheat seeds overnight, then drain the water, and wait for a week in a dark and ventilated place. Wait until the wheat seeds germinate, and then go through a series of complicated processes to finally get maltose.

In medieval Europe, sugar was a hard currency.It is not only a condiment, but also a status symbol.Even in the 17th century, King Louis XIV of France once held an extravagant royal feast at the Palace of Versailles, preparing a large amount of sweets for the banquet guests all night long.This banquet consumed hundreds of pounds of sucrose and honey. At that time, only the royal family had the financial resources to support such a large amount of sugar consumption.

And this custom was very popular at that time, and even many French court nobles were proud of having a mouthful of rotten teeth, which was a symbol of aristocratic status.So much so that Europeans called it gold at that time, and it could even be used as currency for circulation and exchange, which is similar to the meaning of salt in China.

Of course, apart from white sugar, they didn't know about maltose.After all, this needs millet and malt to make, and millet, which should be called millet, is only available in Eastern Europe and not elsewhere.

Regarding these two, Peter has no idea. After all, Europe likes white sugar. I don't know if they will like this kind of sugar.

"You did a good job, I am very satisfied."

"My lord praised me, I just did a little work."

Peter worked so hard just to earn more money.By the way, see if it can promote the upgrading of agricultural production.

For Wallachia, which is still in a semi-developed state, cultivating small farmers is the best choice.In the 18th and 19th centuries, the small peasant economy in France has always been dominant.And self-cultivating farmers are also the main provider of soldiers.

The fertile lands of Wallachia and Ukraine, in particular, were ideal for large-scale production.And what Peter has to do is to expand productivity and at the same time cultivate emerging forces in his country.That is, the merchants and the burghers, this is the best way to suppress the land aristocracy without a big backlash.

Compared with Western Europe, Eastern Europe has better natural conditions. Not only is the terrain flat and vast, but it is also rich in various resources. Agriculture has been developed since ancient times, and animal husbandry has also developed well. Therefore, from the perspective of objective conditions, Eastern Europe has more development advantages than Western Europe.

However, Eastern Europe is geographically closer to Islam and nomads.There is no stable social environment, coupled with the lack of an outlet to the sea.This caused Eastern Europe to lag behind Western Europe.

Believe it or not, in 1911, Tsarist Russia counted 2500 million wooden plows and 400 million metal plows for agricultural tools throughout the empire.It's already the twentieth century, and woodware from Eastern Europe is still the mainstream, and that's no longer the case.

After all, the most indispensable thing in Eastern Europe is wood and grassland.As for those Eastern European minerals, they are still buried underground.

But now, everything is different.

After that, Peter rode around the manor, looking at the laboring serfs and tenant farmers, he always felt some kind of emotion sprouting in his heart, but he couldn't express it.

He is not Song Renzong, nor Dragu.He's just a guy who wants more benefits, nothing more.

(End of this chapter)