"How much salt do you think you're worth as a nobleman?"

Faced with such a question, which he had never thought he would answer, the Earl of Charles sat in a prison cell of his own construction in Plymouth and thought for two hours.

All the captured nobles were thrown into prison, but the wounded and surrendered soldiers were treated better, and a prisoner of war camp was being built outside the city under the supervision of the Ming army, where the seriously wounded and untreated lightly wounded soldiers could be treated.

What bothered him was not the question of salt, but what was the cause of Earl Charles's deep self-doubt...... Let him be reduced to a prison built by himself in the big town of his fiefdom, thinking about how much salt he is worth.

The Earl was about to go back to the point, and he had already realized that when the plague came, he should not take his family and beautiful young lady out of the city to have fun, but should guard against these people in the city.

Or if there is a problem in the city, you can immediately run to London and take refuge, maybe the situation will be much better.

In the end, the Count did not understand how his troops had broken up, and he and the cavalry were still fighting, but instead of coming to their aid, they scattered and fled, and the soldiers failed him.

The Count's thoughts were interrupted by an argument outside the cell, and he heard the sound of men in armor walking, and then the young man speaking in a very fast, violent voice, but the stone walls of the cell made him unable to see anything but the tips of a pair of fat, black leather boots exposed.

Soon, he saw an Irish red-bearded man wearing only an armed suit with an axe stuck in his waist, and behind him was the owner of the black fat boots, a young man with not very fair skin, who could not see his expression in the swaying of the torches.

It only makes people feel strong and very tall, wearing a dark blue stand-up collar short robe that is not common to the Ming people, and the short robe is covered with a delicately made cuirass, and the shoulders and arms have folds pressed by the long-wearing armor.

He had a wide belt around his waist, a knife hanging from his waist, loose cotton pants inserted into his black leather boots, and the shafts of his leather boots were cut open by sharp weapons, and layers of iron armor could be seen inside the boots.

The Irishman who walked in front sighed through the wooden fence of the cell, raised his hand and patted the wooden fence, and said: "The general is very angry, saying that you have not calculated how much salt you are worth in half an hour, you have no time, and those who are not good at arithmetic will be killed." ”

Earl Charles: I'm going to kill me if I'm not good at math? To be reasonable, who has ever heard of such a reason since ancient times!

"I am the Earl of Plymouth, one of the most honorable men in all England, and even if I am taken prisoner, I should be treated as worthy of my status, and I should not be put in prison."

After two complaints, the Earl relented, and said, "All the land you can see around here is my fiefdom, how do I know how much salt I can buy with my ransom money, how much salt do you want, my wealth can buy all the salt produced in Chester Cheshire this year." ”

Although England is surrounded by the sea, salt can not be produced by the sea in this world, the climate here is humid and rainy, and salt drying is a matter of looking at the face, in fact, until 400 years later, drying salt is still a matter of looking at the face, and too much rain in India can make the international salt price rise.

England's main salt producer is Cheshire, which borders Wales, and the city of Liverpool is thriving as a salt mine.

The Irish translator didn't seem to like the Earl of Charles's self-proclaimed noble virtue, so he added some material to Ying Ming's translation, and after a while, he got Ying Ming's response, relaying to the earl: "Fuck you, after my general is Yao Shunyu, Ying's surname is from the Ji family, and it has been passed down for thousands of years, who knows what your bullshit Cheshire is!" ”

"Don't mention your fiefdom, Puli County has been under my Ming rule, and now the general is asking you how much ransom you can come up with."

Charles was blinded by the Irish translator's scolding and scolding that was not smooth according to their language habits, and only after blinking did he recover, and his heart was covered with a little cry without tears: If you don't let me mention the fief, then what will I give you a ransom?

No way, the earl is not very lucky, if an hour ago, even if the Irish translator added some material to his words, Ying Ming would not have spoken so impulsively, and now the commander Ying is thinking about the general comments of the three battalion commanders in the official letter to the military government, and he is really not in the mood to listen to the prisoners and waste time at the moment.

"Honorable General, the county town of Puli is your spoils, and in addition to this, I will give you one-third of the annual income of all my estates, and we have reached a contract that will last for seven years, during which you will give me freedom, and even if the queen makes a peace treaty with you, this contract between you and me will still be valid."

To tell the truth, Ying Ming looked down on the so-called income of a small lord on the border island, and Zhu Xiaoen, the king of Ailan, was not like this Charles before he defected to the Ming Dynasty, he was so poor that he died.

The Earl thought he had made a very tempting offer, but he heard a cold snort from the young general outside the prison, and then his Irish retinue translated: "How much income can you make in a year, and how much can you add up to a third or seven years?" Salt, how much salt can be bought. ”

Where did the dirt buns come from, looking down on people!

The Earl of Charles was emboldened, and took a silver coin out of the bird's pocket in the crotch of his trousers, and said, "This is a shilling, and it is worth twelve pence, and it will buy you the finest goose, and you can buy fifty pounds of salt in Cheshire." ”

"Twenty shillings for a pound, tell your master that my annual income is twelve thousand to fourteen thousand pounds." Charles said this to the Irish interpreter: "I can give him four thousand pounds a year as a ransom if two small requests are met." ”

Earl Charles was eager to see his shock in Ying Ming's eyes, but he didn't, in fact, Ying Ming was converting the price in his head.

Goose and salt are very good equivalents, goose this thing is very expensive, he left Tianjin the year, before going to sea Beiyang to prepare a big meal for each small flag, of course, this year is not called a big meal and a small meal, called a big meal, a small meal, there are standard dishes, the difference between training and eating a big is that there is a goose; The second class has no goose, and it is replaced by two fish; There is only one fish in the third class.

The price of the goose is eight cents of silver, and the price is ten catties of beef, which is still the reason why Beiyang has eaten Tianjin beef high, and there was no Beiyang when a fat goose topped beef twelve and a half catties.

As for the salt, it is better to calculate, Beiyang uses salt at the same price as Jingying, one catty is five cents of silver, and two hundred catties of silver are one tael.

Ying Ming calculated in his head, one tael of silver can buy two hundred catties of salt, four shillings can buy two hundred catties of salt, one pound can buy one thousand catties of salt, and five taels of silver, then this is four thousand pounds a year...... It's not a small amount.

This earl's annual income is 60,000 taels of silver?

Faced with 20,000 taels of silver a year at his fingertips, what will Ying Ming say?

He shook his head, left a message to the Irish translator, and left the underground prison without looking back.

In the midst of Earl Charles' consternation, he heard the interpreter say to him, "The general has said that your proposal is not suitable, so let me live in prison." ”