Chapter 19 Trade and Shipyards

In addition to enfeoffment and ownership by rulers, land relations in Wallachia are also partly based on the village community system passed down from the Slavic peoples, consisting of one or several small villages that originally shared agricultural land. The village commune is the land controller and regularly redistributes land among farmers.

Without the permission of the village community, farmers have no right to sell or transfer their land, and have no right to leave the village community without permission. Village communes collect state taxes from farmers in accordance with the principle of environmental protection and ensure the state's tax revenue. The landlord is the "protector" of the village community and has the right to supervise and maintain order and security within the scope of his land, to replace the village chief or other public officials, and to propose to the village community the dismissal of farmers until they are expelled from the village community . Village communities are not allowed to change the form of crop rotation and reclaim idle land without the permission of the landowner.

This kind of land system was also the target of Peter's breakthrough, because the village community system restricted the mobility of farmers and invisibly enhanced the power of the landed aristocracy.

Grand Duke Mircea began to inventory the land and divided the country's land into four types: noble land, private land, church land and palace land. He also ordered that from now on, only the Grand Duke himself could give land to the church, and the land dedicated to the church by others was invalid.

This approach was to prevent the church from becoming dominant, and Archbishop Carroll didn't say anything. Because the land output of monasteries and churches was rounded up by the Chamber of Commerce, the church also had enough money to carry out commercial activities, and the church was also obedient to the rulers. This was one of the reasons why the reform was so peaceful.

And Mircea and Peter's policy of cultivating citizens has begun to bear fruit. The number of people living in Wallachia's towns reached 50,000, and the capital reached 10,000. This was a huge breakthrough in Wallachia, which had a population of only 500,000.

In addition to Kemplonga and Constanta, towns such as Fokšani, Gyurgiu, and Galati also developed. The textile industry was the most important industry in the town, with more than fifty thousand ducats worth of textiles shipped abroad every year. The expanding textile industry was accompanied by expansions in sheep farming and flax cultivation.

Wallachia also has trade relations with Trebizond, Georgia and other Black Sea countries. The main items of trade were grain and salt, which were necessities. And the quality of Wallachia's production is good, so they also buy in large quantities.

Through Constanta, countries along the Black Sea began to trade with it. Wallachia's trade volume is also increasing, and the scale of industry and commerce continues to expand. Everything is going in the right direction.

----Dividing line----

Krakow, the capital of Poland.

The city is an example of a medieval European capital, growing from a single castle into two vibrant emerging cities, a characteristic of Krakow's unique urban development. Including commerce.

Due to its location on the upper reaches of the Vistula River, Krakow also joined the Hanseatic League. Since then, it has caught a ride on economic development, and now Krakow has become the trade center of Eastern Europe.

The Wallachian Chamber of Commerce also has a trading station here, and their grains and salt are best-sellers. Especially table salt, which is extremely high-end. Princes, nobles, wealthy merchants, gentry and ordinary people all like to use Wallachia's table salt. The consequence of this is that the salt imported from England and other places has decreased, and the income of some members of the Hanseatic League has been reduced. reduce.

The arrival of the Wallachian Chamber of Commerce in this city has increased Krakow's income a lot, and the King of Poland is also willing to see more businessmen come here.

In addition to salt, the Chamber of Commerce also brought something different this time. Some bottles and jars.

They placed one of the cans on the stand, opened the seal, and its sweet smell spread along the wind to many places.

Many businessmen came over after smelling the smell and saw the golden things on the booth. It's the scent he gives off.

These maltose were all commissioned by Peter for sale in order to sell them quickly. Peter also started marketing. After all, sugar is a hot commodity. No matter what kind of sugar it is, those merchants will buy it.

Sure enough, under the temptation of sweetness. A businessman spent money to buy a small jar and couldn't wait to open it.

"It's so sweet, it's a different kind of candy."

With this businessman's beginning, many people took money to buy. For fear that these delicious foods will be snatched away by others. And what they thought about after getting it was not to eat it, but to sell it to other people. Those nobles must like it very much.

Maltose is very popular not only in Krakow, but also in Buda, Galata and other places. Especially in Galata, the price is getting higher and higher in order to grab a bit. The trade income of Galata is seven times the annual income of the entire Roman Empire. It can be said that the merchants who come here to do business are all wealthy.

The maltose was sold out quickly, and then they brought out another type of sugar, sugar made from beets. However, the production of this sugar is rare, only a little bit. So it will only be exported to Galata.

Beet sugar is inferior to cane sugar, but some people still like to buy it. Who would want too little?

Peter also began to pay attention to the issue of shipbuilding. Both the navy and ocean-going trade are inseparable from shipbuilding, so he planned to build a shipyard in Constanta.

The ships currently used by various countries are Clark sailing ships, which can achieve ocean voyages. The four masts on the ship are hung with jibs and square sails, which are enough to provide power to increase the ship's sailing speed, even when the wind is against it.

However, when encountering strong winds, its huge size will easily cause the center of gravity to tilt, causing the ship to collapse.

Therefore, Peter decided to let the successor of Clark's sail, Galen's sail, appear in advance.

Galleons are powered by sails, and most galleons are equipped with three to five masts. Except for the last mast, which uses a triangular sail, most of them are equipped with a cross sail as a sail. Galleons are widely used and can be easily converted into commercial and military sailboats.

However, galleons generally use oak (as keels), pine (as masts) and some hardwood as hulls and decks. However, the cost of making a galleon is not cheap, and it takes dozens of carpenters, blacksmiths, and shipbuilders to spend several months to complete it.

Although it is expensive, the quality is also good. Let's make a few first.

Speaking of expenses, Peter has more than 200,000 gold coins to buy besides training and construction.

So Peter started buying land again. This time, he set his sights on the Principality of Theodore.

In fact, in order to do better business, the Chamber of Commerce bought a piece of land in the southwest coastal area of ​​the Principality of Theodore for 1,000 gold coins to be used as a warehouse for the trade hall. Using this place, Peter spent some money to buy all the nearby places. This place was later called Sevastopol.