living in 16th century england

Chapter 59 Arrows Are Expensive?
Shipbuilding requires tar.In addition to leak prevention, it is used as a coating to prevent parasites and shipworms.

The so-called letting time work is because "the paint is wet".After brushing these sticky things, it can be called a black boat.

I used to spend money to buy it, but now I save a lot of money.

In addition to adding copper to the bottom of the boat.In fact, there is an easier way to prevent marine life, that is, take the boat into the freshwater river for a dip.There is also a more effective method... driving into a heavily polluted river and turning around, the bottom of the boat can basically be clean.However, there may not be such a poisonous water river in this era, anyway, Matthew doesn't know.

Coal tar is also an important chemical raw material, but unfortunately he does not understand this.Another by-product of making coke is carbon black, which can be made into ink, which can be seen by individuals.Others include gas.However, in this era, even human beings don't have a clear understanding of the air, and Matthew has no conditions to collect such things.Knowing to light the gas on the spot is good enough.

Matthew suddenly discovered another item: "Is England selling rope now?"

Accountant: "Yes, we just found out. I heard that the king ordered the cultivation of marijuana in some royal territories at the beginning of the year to develop the canvas manufacturing industry. But there is no canvas yet, and there are quite a lot of ropes."

Matthew thought to himself, this kid is still very organized.

Accountant: "One of our guys said the quality is good, but the price is not ideal."

Matthew: "...There should be no import tax, right?"

Accountant: "Yes."

Matthew: "..."

Accounting:"……"

Matthew pinched a little gap with his index finger and thumb: "...buy some in small batches first, let the captains try it out, and leave the final decision to the sailors."

The accountant took notes immediately.

In all kinds of movies, the rope will not break unless it is needed.In fact, this is a common problem on board, and one of the jobs of carpenters is to repair broken ropes.

Knots can be used, but if they are all knotted, it will be finished.This is a technical job.

Matthew was thinking, marijuana?
Cannabis has a long history and has been cultivated in Europe for a long time.However, it did not become widespread until the 16th century.And farmers are not willing to grow this kind of thing ~ it consumes the fertility of the land very much.Therefore, both the United Kingdom and the United States later used state power to ensure the production of this strategic plant.That's right, the rope was a strategic material in the Age of Discovery.

In a large oriental country, hemp has been deeply rooted in the culture.You must have heard the word "Sang Ma".

It's a pity that nothing that consumes fat is simple. This is a drug in the full sense.Consume land force to make this effect?It might as well grow flax. Although it is labor-intensive, besides rope, it can also be used to make linen, and flaxseed is also edible oil.

Many people may think that linen is cheap, so it must be bad.On the contrary, linen is an excellent material, strong and soft, smooth and cool, very suitable for clothing.Whether it is good or not depends only on the processing technology.

Most of Matthew's shirts are made of linen, not much cotton, because cotton absorbs water in the air.It happens that it rains a lot in England.

The annual rainfall is about 600-1000mm except for the mountainous areas.

But Matthew never asked to grow flax, he only valued grain.Anyway, the tenant farms will grow a small amount by themselves, so it is impossible for the farmers to buy rope, right?

Accountants love to toss linen.In other words, they like all kinds of textiles, such as velvet, lace, velvet, printed cotton, taffeta, silk.Profits are much higher than food.The disadvantage is that the quantity is usually not enough, and some depends on luck.

There is another kind of business that Matthew didn't expect, that is entrusted purchase or even entrusted sale.

There are always some merchants who are eager to sell their products, or some raw materials are in short supply, or they want to buy certain commodities.When you are in a hurry, you will use this method to ask people to look for the merchant ships of the Plymouth Shipping Company.This led Ana to discover many rare but lucrative items.

For example, dyes related to the textile industry, especially blue.

Another example is the wine produced on the Portuguese island of Madeira, which is actually very popular in the UK.

If someone hadn't asked for these things by name, Matthew wouldn't have thought of doing this business even if he was killed.All in all.

This is the advantage of port trade ~ the surrounding demand will be gathered at the center of material flow.

Far away... Apparently, without enough profit and incentive, no one would haul grain to port.Buying out the grain from the French coastal ports will not make the grain farmers short of food, but it will only make it difficult for the army to raise money~ There is also a lot of surplus food in the inland~ The cost of transporting to the port is very high. If the distance is long, the transporter may be able to eat it half.

In Matthew's mind, this plan was likely to be cut off by the French halfway through its implementation.However, the fact is just the opposite - because the price was a little higher, the landowners all over the coast of France cooperated all the way.Because people in this era understand wealth as precious metals are wealth.

There's a foolish Englishman rushing to send them gold and silver, before it's too late to welcome! ...clean up the Brit's "wealth" and beat him up.

However, due to seasonal problems and the lack of food in France in the first half of the year, the price of food was not normal until the harvest of new grain in August, so this plan continued until September 8.

Not just food.In fact, the list drawn up by the accountants includes all the materials that may increase in price, and then selects a part of them to hoard.Even if some of them didn't make any money, they made a lot of money overall.

Back in Plymouth, Matthew was surprised to find that Robert had returned and had been in the tavern for two days.

This time his route was first to Newfoundland and then south along the coast of North America.There was basically no detour, and it took only more than two months to go back and forth.In the middle, I rested there for more than a week.This is due to the fact that four of his five first officers have been to Newfoundland.

Matthew felt that it should be in the future border area between Canada and the United States.

"They defeated their enemies who had been oppressing them, and said they needed more weapons and more iron farm implements."

Matthew: "...are you wearing a local headdress?"

"Yes, I think it's pretty nice...I didn't encounter a storm this time, and I've been taking the Newfoundland route. It's just a bit cold...There are 10 tons of fur. There are also some handicrafts from the local people, and the rest are packed. There is less food. But I am not full, and the speed is too slow when it is full."

Matthew: "...do they have something?... like someone is sick?"

Robert: "...?"

Matthew: "...I mean, the plague."

Robert was inexplicable: "No, everything seems to be fine. We did not go deep into the inland according to your request."

Matthew took off his hat and scratched his scalp. Could it be that I was deceived again?

In fact, the large-scale extinction of the Indian plague occurred in 1521, and the virus was deliberately spread by humans.Set in future Mexico.

This plague lasted for more than 100 years in the Americas, and it is said that 2 to 3 million people were killed.Directly regress American civilization to the level of primitive tribes.The later Indians were not exactly the same as the Indians of the early sixteenth century.

Matthew: "Aren't they furless?"

Robert shrugged: "I thought so last time, but obviously, they are very good at hunting, and a lot of their fur is new, such as this... I said, why are you covering your nose? I have taken a bath."

Matthew: "Just in case. You'd better throw these things away."

Robert: "Hi... my Baron... this is a token of friendship."

"And these beautiful shells... are their currency. You must not believe it. This string is equivalent to a florin."

Matthew raised his hand and refused: "Keep it for yourself. Also, go to the shipyard... You can choose a little donkey first. Aiden, tell him why."

Robert was overjoyed when he learned everything.Satisfied, he drank with his first mates.He only went to sea twice as a captain, but each time he crossed the Atlantic Ocean.I have to say, this guy is very lucky.

Matthew didn't look at the furs and corn in the yard.In his opinion, one continent away, who knows if there are any rare bacterial viruses, even if he has a plague physique, wouldn't he still have to suffer?
In the harbour, some fishing boats are sailing with the wind.Without exception, they were all sloops from his shipyard.This is also Plymouth's standard fishing boat.

He was not very interested in recruiting 250 soldiers.This matter is not too difficult, Plymouth can play a lot of longbows.In fact, Andrew has a longbow.

Regarding the longbow, there are some records like this... The quality of the source of soldiers has declined. In the past, there was one expert among the three longbowmen, but now there is one among the four...

Matthew thinks... Isn't this in Versailles?

So, what degree is considered a master?
Andrew used to answer like this~ You must at least be able to shoot hares, right?

That's what the magistrate said-an hourglass time, starting from winding up, and then hitting 6 arrows accurately is considered "qualified".If the situation is urgent, roughly shoot 12 arrows.

Matthew estimated that it should be 1 minute.

Unlike in the movie, longbowmen also have a social status bonus in England.Of course, someone will brainwash you ~ arrows are expensive.The king will deliberately let people play melee.

But there is a common sense~ Soldiers in this era are equipped with their own weapons.Bow and arrow masters cannot easily change bows and arrows.Whoever believes it has a bad brain.

In fact, the British kings of all dynasties encouraged the people to practice the longbow precisely for the purpose of reducing casualties and making it easier to use. The population cannot be compared with the French, and it can only make them sweat more.

The effect is estimated that everyone knows that England often wins more with less.This "often" can actually be described as "against the sky" in military terms.

1415年，英格兰以5千对5万。以战死公爵一位、骑士十余名、长弓手百余人的代价，换了法国近2万人：法军元帅被俘，大小5000多名贵族阵亡。其中包括3位公爵，5位伯爵和90位男爵。

After the emergence of a large number of self-cultivating farmers, the whole people practiced longbows ~ the enthusiasm was so high that the practice would not turn against you.The arms of many longbow masters are deformed.

In the medieval lord's territory, everything belonged to the lord, so hunting without permission was a crime.But the constant change in land ownership in England has practically ceased to exist.You can hunt game if you have nothing to do, which is also the practicality of the longbow in the 15th and 16th centuries.

However, Matthew didn't want to recruit those laborers with families and mouths, which would cause Plymouth a lot of losses.Maybe there will be complaints.

He figured there was a ready source of soldiers, those... vagrants just out of vagrant status.

(End of this chapter)