With the arrival of the new year in Europe, the plague is gradually dissipating.
Thanks to the good example set by the Ming Empire and the cheap food from the Ming Empire, Europe was able to control the Black Death this time. The number of deaths was not very large. Generally speaking
The loss is not big.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that Europeans have figured out some ways to deal with the Black Death. Since the Black Death appeared in Europe and caused large-scale population deaths, the Black Death has appeared in Europe from time to time.
Europeans have also gained some experience and lessons.
The plague has dissipated, spring has returned to the earth, and Europe has begun a busy new year.
The farmers who originally fled in all directions returned to their hometowns one after another, preparing to start farming.
In a rural area of Spain, farmers are preparing tools. At this time, European agriculture was still in a relatively primitive and backward state, unlike the Ming Empire, which had begun to popularize mechanized farming methods.
They still followed the farming methods passed down from the Middle Ages, cultivating the land by cultivating it, and then reclaiming new land after the fertility of the land declined, and so on.
The Orientals have mastered the fertilizing technology for a long time, but they have not mastered it at all and do not know how to maintain the fertility of the land.
This is also an important reason why European cities are very dirty, because they don't know that those things can actually be used to fertilize, add fertilizer to crops, and water vegetables and fruits.
It's different here in the East. Our ancestors discovered this very early on, so they were able to make full use of it.
For example, putting hay in a cowshed can not only keep the cows warm and feed them, but also transporting the cow dung and the like to the fields in the coming spring can greatly increase the fertility of the fields. Mixed with rotten hay, these things
, very fertile and very helpful for the growth of crops.
Since ancient times, we have not only been farming, but also raising the fields. Therefore, even the terraced fields on high mountains can slowly become more fertile.
This is not the case in Europe. They have never mastered this technology, so they often continue to cultivate new land.
Fortunately, the population in Europe has never been too large, and there are still large areas of plains and land, so they can be so willful.
"I hope this year will be a good one. If there is another famine, how will we survive?"
Paco organizes his farming tools. As a Spanish farmer in this period, he has always been under a heavy burden. The nobles have always been under heavy tax pressure.
Speaking of which, I have to talk about the tax situation in Europe.
One big difference in taxation between Europe and the East is that European taxes are often based on a tax package system, which can also be called a tax-sharing system.
To put it simply, the king will package the entire tax of a region to someone. For example, a region can collect about 10,000 taels of silver a year. The king will give this to a certain noble or businessman. The noble or businessman only needs to pay 1
If you give ten thousand taels of silver to the king, you can obtain the taxing rights in this area.
As for how much you can collect, that depends on your ability. If you have the ability to collect 20,000 taels of silver, you can earn 10,000 taels of silver.
The Jews in ancient Europe often did this job, making money by doing this, and by the way, they also engaged in loan sharking.
Because there are always people who cannot pay the tax when tax is collected, the Jews can lend you a sum of money to complete the tax payment this time, but the interest on this money will definitely be very high.
In the end, they will make you bankrupt or sell your children to repay their money. This is one of the reasons why Europeans particularly hate Jews. There are many reasons for anti-Semitism, and one of the important reasons is that they are indeed
He did a lot, a lot of bad things.
Under such a system, the nobles and merchants who have obtained the right to tax will naturally not engage in loss-making transactions and will inevitably levy various taxes on farmers.
According to statistics, there were hundreds of types of taxes in Europe during the Middle Ages. You had to pay taxes on killing chickens, you had to pay wine taxes when buying wine, and you had to pay user fees when using mills.
There are many kinds of taxes, desperately squeezing the peasants at the bottom. The peasants in the European Middle Ages were very miserable, even more miserable than the peasants in the East. This is not an exaggeration, it is true.
In addition to taxes, the church is also trying to find ways to squeeze these farmers, such as tithes, indulgences, etc., and there are also all kinds of things with many names to squeeze you.
In comparison, the farmers in the ancient East were better off. At least there were no churches and they did not have to pay taxes to the churches. In addition, most of the emperors in the past dynasties paid attention to frivolous corvee and small taxes, and tried to increase the peasants as little as possible.
Burdens and pressures, unlike in Europe, monarchs don't care about these. They only care about whether their tax revenue will affect their luxurious life.
Of course, this is also related to a characteristic of Eastern people.
Once the Orientals can no longer survive, they will immediately start a peasant uprising with you, and this can often greatly shake the foundation of a dynasty's rule.
This forced the rulers to pay attention to this aspect of matters, and it was basic operations such as frivolous corvee and low taxes, and relief to the victims.
In Europe, although people of later generations generally boast that Europeans have a more rebellious spirit, it is actually all nonsense. They have just been squeezed too miserably in the long history, so they slowly developed.
It became a habit to negotiate taxes with nobles and monarchs, and to cause trouble.
We Orientals are different. Either I won't make a fuss, or if you want to make a fuss, I will make a big fuss for you. Making small fuss is not in line with the character and habits of the Orientals. After all, things should be done in a grand manner. If you want to do something, just do it big.
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As a low-level farmer, Paco experienced almost no harvest due to drought the year before last for two consecutive years, and continued rainfall last year coupled with the subsequent Black Death.
Paco, who was already extremely poor, was almost forced to die. In the end, Paco had no choice but to sell his daughter in exchange for some grain. Coupled with the cheap grain later from the Ming Empire, the Paco family
This is how I persist until now.
He now only hopes that this year will be a good year with good weather and a bumper harvest.
"Dang~dang~"
"Come here all, come here all!"
At this time, someone was beating gongs and drums and shouting, and immediately people in the village came out one after another. When they came out, they found that the nobles from the territory were coming here on tall horses.
"Respected sir!"
When many farmers saw the nobles, they also saluted respectfully.
The land lords and nobles here in Europe have very great power, but the royal power is relatively weak. The nobles and lords have an almost exclusive existence on their own land. They can not only collect taxes, but also recruit troops, and everything in their own territory.
All belong to the nobility.
Land, forests, minerals, etc., even the bottom peasants, tenants and the like belong to the nobility. It is a bit similar to serfdom, but it is much better than serfdom. At least most of the peasants are not slaves and have human rights.
Free, nobles could not buy and sell them directly.
But there is no doubt that when facing the nobles in their own territory, all farmers are respectful.
"I am now officially informing you that growing food will not be allowed from this year. All land must be used for grazing cattle and sheep and growing cotton. From now on, you will all herd sheep, shear sheep, and grow cotton for me."
Yin Ge looked at the dirty farmers in front of him and said with great disgust.
Now that grain prices have plummeted, cheap grain from the Ming Dynasty has been imported on a large scale. Grain cultivation is obviously unable to meet the luxurious expenses of the nobles, so a large number of nobles have begun to enclosure their land to raise sheep and shear their sheep for sale.
The price of wool has always been very stable. The demand of the Ming Dynasty people is very strong. It can be sold directly to the Ming Dynasty people in exchange for the Ming Dynasty silver coins.
This can directly increase the income of the nobles by a large amount. You must know that the food grown in the past is almost worthless, especially it cannot be sold to the people of the Ming Dynasty.
The people of Ming Dynasty have plenty of food, so they will not accept your food.
Therefore, the income growth of these nobles is limited. If they want to buy luxury goods from the East, they can only think of other ways, but the results are very average.
Some nobles had more contact with the people of the Ming Dynasty. They knew that the people of the Ming Dynasty needed wool and cotton, so they also tried to raise some sheep and shear them.
As a result, the income is quite good. The wool of sheep is always growing. When it grows, it is sheared, just like cutting leeks, one crop after another. You can shear it several times a year.
In addition, there are also many nobles growing cotton in the Mediterranean coastal areas and the colonies in North Africa. The price of cotton has always been very good, it is also resistant to drought, and it is a very good cash crop.
The income of these nobles has greatly increased, which also stimulated other nobles to follow suit.
Originally, Europe had the habit of enclosing land. Since the Middle Ages, nobles have liked to enclose land, enclosing some unowned land and farmers' land and making it their own.
Now with external economic stimulation, these nobles have begun to enclose sheep on a large scale.
"Don't grow food?"
"Herding sheep? Growing cotton?"
When many farmers heard this, they were all dumbfounded. If we don't farm, what will we eat?
Do they live like nomads by eating sheep?
How many sheep would have to be eaten, and how much land would be needed to raise enough sheep?
Besides, wool and cotton are inedible, how do you expect everyone to survive?
Thinking of this, many farmers became anxious. This would not allow anyone to survive!