Chapter 11 Peter's Manor

As the foundation of the economy, agriculture is the top priority of Dobruja. Peter himself has a large amount of manor land, some of which are cultivated by serfs and some are rented to tenants.

Before Peter, the economic benefits of northern Dobruja have not been good. Since the Roman Empire, southern Dobruja has always been the main land for reclamation, and the same was true for the Eastern Roman Empire and the Bulgarian Empire; until Peter came.

Peter bought a lot of slaves from Crimea to be responsible for reclamation, and because he bought a lot, he was given some discounts.

For Eastern Europeans from the 15th to the 18th century, the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate were their nightmare, because the army of this country was plundering, brutal and cruel, and captured and enslaved Christians as the main source of income for the country, calling it "the harvest of the steppe people."

In addition to self-use and 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 coast. At that time, the price of an adult Slavic slave was between 20 and 50 gold coins, while a horse was only worth 15 gold coins and a sheep was only sold for 2 gold coins. Selling a slave was 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 was very popular among the Tatars.

Peter also imported some, some of them worked as serfs, and the other part was bound as construction workers. At the same time, he sent the Chamber of Commerce to train a group of smart people as spies. But the number was not large, about 500 people.

Among these people, there were many craftsmen such as blacksmiths and carpenters. Peter reorganized them and promised that as long as they worked for him, their children would not become slaves and they could also be free.

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

Most of Peter's land was cultivated by the original manor owners here. They either died or escaped in the previous war, so these lands became Peter's private property. It is about 2,000 acres.

However, he couldn't handle such a large piece of land. So he asked the butler to manage this large piece of land. In addition to crops, there are also some processed products.

After ensuring the safety of food, Peter set his sights on cash crops. Grapes, vegetables, fruits, honey, he knew very well that these were very common crops in Europe. If you want to open up sales, you must take something different.

Grapes can be used to make wine, vegetables are a little more expensive than grains, and honey and fruits can be processed. Although there is refined salt, you still need something else.

The serfs working in the fields saw the master coming and knelt down one after another. Peter waved his hand and they started farming again.

Peter made some changes to the manor. In addition to planting, some small workshops were also moved here for processing, which could also save transportation costs.

"Sir" Peter's manor butler came to him. When Peter was in Constanta, he was responsible for everything in the manor.

"How is the income during this period?"

Peter asked this because the income of the manor and the income of the territory are separate. Although all the money that flowed into Peter's wallet in the end, it was still best to separate the income. Because most of the territory income had to be used to rebuild the territory and recruit soldiers, and the manor income was used as private money when necessary.

(Do you feel dizzy? If you substitute the Ministry of Households and the Imperial Manor 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 sources of income. In addition, flax planting and sheep breeding have also increased. These are all important raw materials for the textile industry.

"My lord, most of the products will be purchased by merchants, and the rest will be sold in the market in Constanta."

"And the things you asked us to plant have been planted and will be harvested soon."

What Peter asked the manor to plant was one of the raw materials for sugar, beets.

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

Beet likes warmth but is relatively cold-resistant. It is also a suitable economic crop for Wallachia. Peter asked people to cut these mature beets into strips and put them into a big pot to cook. Then filter, precipitate and dry them to get sugar. Of course, the color is not so good.

"Okay, what about the other one?"

At this point, the butler hurriedly brought a jar with a golden thick liquid and an attractive sweet smell.

This is maltose made from wheat seeds. Soak the wheat seeds for one night, drain the water, put them in a dark and ventilated place for a week, wait for the wheat seeds to germinate, and then go through a series of complicated processes to finally get maltose.

In medieval Europe, sugar was a hard currency. It was not only a condiment, but also a symbol of status. Even in the 17th century, King Louis XIV of France once held a luxurious royal banquet at the Palace of Versailles, preparing a large number of sweet desserts for the guests all night long. This banquet consumed hundreds of pounds of sugar and honey. At that time, only the royal family's financial resources could support such a large amount of sugar consumption.

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

Of course, in addition to white sugar, they didn't know about maltose. After all, this requires millet and malt, and millet, which should be called millet, is only available in Eastern Europe, not in other places.

For these two, Peter was unsure, after all, Europeans like white sugar, and I don't know if they will like this kind of sugar.

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

"Your Excellency is too kind, I just did a little insignificant work."

Peter took so much effort 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 dominated. And self-employed farmers are also the main providers of soldiers.

Especially Wallachia and Ukraine, whose fertile land is very suitable for large-scale production. What Peter has to do is to expand productivity and cultivate emerging forces in his country. That is, merchants and citizens. This is the best way to suppress the land aristocracy without a big rebound.

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

However, Eastern Europe is geographically closer to Islam and nomadic peoples. There is no stable social environment, and there is a lack of seaports. This has led to Eastern Europe lagging behind Western Europe.

Don't believe it. In 1911, the Russian Empire counted the agricultural tools of the entire empire, and there were 25 million wooden plows and 4 million metal plows. It's the 20th century, and wooden tools in Eastern Europe are still the mainstream. There is no one else.

After all, what Eastern Europe lacks the least 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 and looked at the working serfs and tenants. He always felt that some emotion was sprouting in his heart, but he couldn't say it.

He was not Song Renzong or Draco. He was just a person who wanted more benefits, nothing more.