The Rise of the European Emperor

Whether it's a queue to be shot or a cannonball, that's not the most important thing. Right now, the most important thing for Marin is to prepare a generous dowry for Annie...

Yes, a generous dowry! Because she was going to be the queen, and Anne was the princess of the Grand Duchy of Beihai, this dowry must not be shabby. Not only must not be shabby, but must be extremely rich. Otherwise, it is shameful. A queen with no dowry will be despised by her subjects.

Back then, when the King of Denmark married his daughter Princess Margaret to King James III of Scotland, because he could not get a generous dowry, he finally gave the Shetland Islands, which originally belonged to the Kingdom of Norway, as a dowry to the Kingdom of Scotland. It can be seen that the cost of marrying a princess is quite high...

After all, the Hoffman family is the "upstart" family that rose later. Anne's name is the princess, but she is actually just the daughter of a poor knight. Now that the Hoffman family is developed, it is natural to decorate the door. Therefore, when the Hoffman family married a daughter, they had to pay more dowry than ordinary vassal states, otherwise, they would be despised by others.

Old Hoffman naturally couldn't afford this dowry, so he naturally put the burden of preparing the future queen's dowry on Malin...

"Nima, the cost of marrying a younger sister is so high. If you want to leave it in China in the 21st century, it would be a great gift for a daughter to marry you, so what dowry would you dare to ask for?" Marin said he was also very depressed...

However, he had no choice but to abide by such rules. Otherwise, the family will be embarrassed. In desperation, Marin had to do everything possible to prepare the dowry.

After careful consideration, Marin believed that the dowry was mainly used to show off the strength of her maiden family. Therefore, it must be high-end atmosphere on the grade. When the light comes out, the dog's eyes of the onlookers must be blinded...

Therefore, Marin's decision is to raise the most visually striking materials as props to blind the eyes of the Polish nobles...

First, silk is a must. Therefore, the first thing Marin prepared was a lot of silk to make silk clothes. There is no silk produced in the Ming Empire now, so now we can only buy large quantities of European silk produced in Lyon, France.

However, Nimad's native silk in Europe is so expensive now that a piece of silk clothes is calculated by gold coins. For a carload of silk, Nima actually asked for five thousand gold coins! However, in order to support the facade, I bought it! Moreover, one purchase is three big cars!

Seeing that 50,000 gold coins were spent so easily, Malin felt distressed. Nimad, the contemporary Ming Dynasty, only about 50 taels of raw silk per load. Even if a cart is loaded with 10 dans of raw silk, it is only 500 taels of silver, which is equivalent to 436 gold coins. However, the quality of Nimad silk from Lyon, France is not very good, and it dares to ask for 5,000 gold coins for a car, which is more than ten times the price of silk in the Ming Dynasty. Although the price of finished silk is higher, it is not so outrageous, right? It is no wonder that the silk trade in Daming was so prosperous later. It turned out that the price of silk from the French was too dark, and the quality was not good...

Next, it is natural to prepare some utensils for daily use. For example, golden bowls, golden plates, etc. for eating. I'm going to be a queen, and I'll definitely use it in the future.

Originally, Marin didn't have any luxuries like golden bowls or golden plates. Marin only likes silver tableware, because silver can test poison. But Anne was the one who was going to be queen, old Hoffman and Mrs. Mary agreed that she should be dowry with tableware made of gold...

Fortunately, when Marin sent troops to the United Kingdom, he led his troops to loot the mansions of several great aristocrats in London. Therefore, a lot of gold tableware and utensils are collected. In addition, Marin ordered several sets of gold chopsticks and knives and forks to be made for Annie. The chopsticks are naturally prepared for Annie, because Annie has been used to eating Chinese food over the years and can use chopsticks proficiently. However, Sigismund I certainly did not know how to use chopsticks. Therefore, Marin ordered a knife and fork, which was popular in Europe in later generations, made of gold, and the fork was four-pointed, unlike the current two-pointed fork.

Of course, it's easier to fork food with four pointed forks...

So, gold knives and forks, dinner plates, and wine glasses. In addition to a bunch of silver utensils, as well as some exquisite copper basins and other utensils, there are always a large cart... Fortunately, there are a lot of silver and copper utensils, otherwise the cost of this cart is amazing...

These are the big heads and the most expensive parts. The rest are not so expensive. However, it's not cheap either. In order to measure up, Marin also got a few cartloads of woolen fabrics to make up the number. However, these are not used to make clothes, but to make carpets. In addition, there are some wool coats and quilts, which are used to keep out the cold in winter.

In addition, Marin also ordered the tailors to process the beaver skins Garland bought from Newfoundland, and made several nautical fur coats for Anne to keep out the cold in winter.

And then there are the bottles and jars, of course, made of stained glass from Venice. As for the porcelain, Marin did not. After all, the Daming route has not yet been opened, and porcelain is a rare thing in Europe. Marin, a noble nouveau riche with no background, has no porcelain collection.

Coincidentally, the ship from Grenada just returned home and brought back a large amount of brown sugar. So, Marin simply asked people to pack a lot of brown sugar in oil paper bags, and packed three large cars as a dowry.

If in later generations, sucrose is used as a dowry, it is estimated that people will be sprayed to death - Nima is also on the table?

Even in the contemporary Ming Dynasty, sucrose was an ordinary commodity that was not allowed on the table. But this is in Europe. The sucrose here is still a rarity. The price of sucrose per pound is in shillings, not pfennigs. Therefore, the three big carts of brown sugar are definitely high-end stuff.

Moreover, the three large trucks of cane sugar, although there are more than three tons, are nothing to Ma Lin. Because, Grenada's sugar cane production is now very large. With the effect of fertilizer, the output of sugarcane per mu is more than one ton, and even can reach 2 tons per mu. At a sugar yield of 15%, there is also an output of one or two hundred pounds of sucrose. More than three tons of cane sugar is only the output of thirty or forty mu of sugarcane fields.

Of course, that's nothing for Marin. But for the current Europe, which lacks desserts, the three major carts of cane sugar are definitely a big deal.

Since even sucrose was used, Marin didn't care about shame. So he packed three carts of paper from the Cape Breton Island Paper Mill as a dowry. Euphemistically called - convenient for cultural dissemination...

However, because of the secrecy of papermaking technology, Anne did not know how cheap the Cape Breton Island paper mill was. Although she knew that it was definitely lower than other paper mills, Annie couldn't imagine the difference of dozens of times.

Anne didn't know it, so the rest of Europe didn't know it. These days, because the papermaking technology is extremely backward, Europeans still use hemp paper made from rags, fishing nets, and hemp skins, and the prices are extremely expensive. Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, the three major carts of paper are definitely very sincere...

Then, Marin thought about the Eastern Europeans' habit of drinking spirits. As a result, several carts of whiskey (Rye Erguotou) are also ready.

Then, there is an important material that Marin's men are not short of - salt. I didn't say it, let's put a few big cars on it...

In addition, it is the spice, which is a necessity for the European aristocratic family at present. As it happens, the Marin warehouse still has the remaining part of the 50,000-pound quota that was shipped back from India last time, and two trucks are also loaded, weighing about three or four thousand pounds. According to the European market price, it must be very expensive. But in India, the purchase price is no more than 2 pfennig per pound…

Finally, there are some sundries, including a lot of exquisite wooden furniture, and various supplies... In the end, Marin put together a dowry of fifty carts, which looks very large...

And, if you don't look at the actual cost of sugar, paper, whisky and salt, but at the European market price, the dowry is simply worth a lot. Take it out, it is definitely a symbol of local tyrants...

Looking at the 50 carts full of dowry, Marin swallowed and said bitterly:

"What's the matter, I must have more sons and fewer daughters in the future. Otherwise, the dowry alone will make me bankrupt!"