The Rise of the European Emperor

Just when Marin selected a thousand elite soldiers and started training, the Governor of Cape Breton Island, Garland, suddenly sent a boat back to report to Marlin that they had come into contact with the Indians on Newfoundland... …

It turned out that because the two sides have been fishing together in the Newfoundland fishing grounds for a long time, mutual contact is inevitable. However, fishing boats on Cape Breton Island are generally kept away from the coast for fear of being hurt by the Indians.

However, two months ago, a fishing boat on Cape Breton Island had to dock to replenish fresh water because it forgot to bring fresh water. Then, while refilling the fresh water, the boat was mobbed by local Indians.

The fishermen were terrified, thinking the Indians were going to hurt them. However, the local Indians did not mean to harm them. Communicating by hand gestures, these Indians call themselves Beothuks, and they admire the tools used by Cape Breton fishermen, even the glass beads used to adorn their boats. So the Beotuks demanded a deal.

In the beginning, however, the Beotuks brought out fish. But Cape Breton Island's fishermen are not short of fish, because they are fishermen. So, the Beotuk people thought about it, and took out the beaver skin in exchange...

Looking at the attitude of the Beotuk people not to trade and not to let go, the fishermen had to use the knife, harpoon, fishing net, glass beads...even the pots and black bread used by the fishermen on the boat, and the fishermen on the boat. Ottok people, changed hundreds of beaver skins...

Then, the fishermen, who had no tools, had to return first...

Originally, those fishermen were very complaining, and even felt disadvantaged. After all, they are low-level people and don't know the preciousness of those beaver skins.

However, as a newly promoted nobleman, Garland also has a lot of research on luxury goods. When I heard that the fishermen returned with hundreds of beaver skins from the daily necessities on the boat, I was immediately shocked...

You know, before the Siberian mink appeared in Europe, beaver skin has always been one of the most valuable furs in Europe. A complete beaver hide can be sold for 20 gold coins. Hundreds of beaver skins, but worth thousands of gold coins.

And the fishermen's boats are full of things, and the total price in the market does not exceed 20 gold coins...

In other words, in this peculiar trade, the fishermen made hundreds of times. Of course, the profits must have been confiscated by Garand. In any case, these fishermen do not know the price of the precious fur, beaver hides.

However, looking at the appearance of those Indians, it seems that there are more beaver skins there...

In fact, there are also many beavers on Cape Breton Island controlled by Garland. However, Garland and the colonists were careful not to go deep into the jungle easily to avoid being hurt by grizzly bears before cutting down the trees. So Garland didn't get much beaver skins either.

However, the trade with the Beotuks this time inspired Garland - we dare not go deep into the jungle, and we lack manpower, but those Indians can...

Those Indians have lived here for generations and have a lot of experience catching beavers. That being the case, why not trade cheap beaver skins with them?

So, Garand sent a boat back to Europe to report the situation to Marin...

"Beaver skin..." Marin was stunned.

Suddenly, he remembered—in the original history, didn't the French make their fortune by trading in beaver skins?

Originally, in the seventeenth century, although the French had a weak navy, they did not dare to send troops to occupy the North American colonies, so as not to stimulate Spain, which had a strong navy. However, there are still many French fur traders who secretly went to places such as Newfoundland and Quebec, relying on the beaver skin trade to make a fortune.

At that time, French fur merchants sold the intact beaver skins back to Europe for 200 times the profits. Later, although the profits were not so high, there were still dozens of times the profits.

The French used some common iron pans, axes, swords and glass beads and other worthless goods, from the Indians,

In exchange for a lot of valuable beaver skins, a lot of wealth was accumulated.

"It seems that I can also make money using this kind of trade..." Marin thought.

You know, there are at least tens of millions of beavers in North America these days. Especially in the rivers and lakes of the Canadian jungle, beavers are everywhere. Until the 21st century, the beaver was Canada's national animal.

"Wait...I really want to forget something..." Marin suddenly stood up from his office chair and started walking around the room, thinking about what he forgot...

After half a day, Marin finally remembered:

"Yeah, Beaver, how did I forget this?" Marin slapped his head sharply.

Before, when a group of perfumers were brought in from Rome, the perfume masters told Marin that to make high-end perfumes, especially those with a long shelf life, you need to use a fixative. For example, musk, castoreum, and ambergris.

However, ambergris is too expensive and musk is scarcer than castoreum. Therefore, the most used is actually beaver incense. However, in Europe, beavers are hunted in large numbers and are becoming rare. Beaver skin has also become a precious fur.

With the scarcity of beavers, castoreum has also become an expensive luxury. Therefore, high-end perfume, the output is also small. However, North America is different. There are so many beavers in Canada, as long as the Indians are taught to cut the piriform gland sacs that secrete castoreum from female beavers, and then hand them over to Marin after drying, and use alcohol to extract castoreum...

In that case, Marin will make high-end perfumes in the future, and the sources of fixatives will be very wide. After all, there are tens of millions of beavers in Canada. Moreover, beavers breed every year. Europeans in Canada lured the Indians to kill the beavers for hundreds of years. It can be seen that the reproductive ability of beavers is still quite strong.

Once the bulk purchases are made from the Indians, the beaver hides and the beaver glands of the female beavers are purchased in large quantities. By then, not only can a lot of money be made on beaver skins, but perfume fixatives will be abundant. In this way, Marin is fully qualified to produce high-end perfumes in large quantities. With a large number of high-end perfumes, the trade with Daming can also proceed smoothly. Otherwise, how stupid would it be to just spend money or exchange glass?

Even in Europe, luxury fragrances are in short supply. Because ambergris is extremely rare, and musk and castoreum are scarce, high-end perfumes are often rare and expensive.

If the opportunity to acquire beaver skin followed, and a large number of beaver glands were acquired, then beaver would become a low-cost thing in Marin. The cost of manufacturing high-end perfumes will be much lower than others, with unparalleled cost advantages and higher competitiveness...