King of German Mercenaries

Because of the tight time, Da Gama is about to set off, so Marin also intends to speed up the progress and set off early.

In fact, Marin got some data on the West African coast from the Portuguese. For example, where there is a large freshwater estuary, which can replenish freshwater.

You know, in this era, fresh water storage is very troublesome. Generally, a bucket of fresh water will start to stink within a few days, making people unable to drink it. To combat the problem of fresh water stinks, later navigators invented ways to carry spirits like rum. Because spirits don't keep well.

However, after the invention of citric acid, freshwater preservation has been greatly developed. Under normal circumstances, fresh water with citric acid will take a long time to deteriorate. As for the method of dripping lemon juice, fresh lemons cannot be stored for a long time...

It is also possible to soak lemon leaves, but the extension time is not very long. Because, lemon leaves are somewhat low in citric acid.

For this reason, Marin thought about it and thought of the disposal method of canned food...

The earliest canning was actually putting canned raw materials into glass jars and plugging them with corks. Then, heat the can in a steamer to kill any bacteria in the can. In this way, the cans can be kept for more than 10 months. Of course, in order not to leak, the cork has to be waxed around.

Marin designed a cauldron for the fleet to heat freshwater casks. The freshwater barrels are all oak barrels, and they are all corks with air-tightness.

Marin's solution was to put the oak barrels in a large pot and boil them after the freshwater barrels were filled with fresh water and the corks were tightly corked. Cook until hot, then take it out to dry and air dry the outer wall of the wooden barrel.

As for corks, Marin doesn't have as much wax to seal. However, he can smear the outside of the cork with mud when the cork is wet...

This way, when the outside of the barrel and the cork are dry, the mud on the top of the cork is also dry. Hardened soil can also play a great role in closing the air. Of course, when storing the bucket, pay attention to drying. Because mud blocks soften when they meet water.

In this way, the fresh water stored in oak barrels is basically not much different from canned food. At most, a soil seal is not as good as a wax seal for airtightness. But in this way, at least the fresh water will not be bad for a few months.

However, considering the difficulty in obtaining fuel during the sailing process. Marin has "invented" the legendary solar cooker again, because there is no tinplate for reflection, and neither does tinplate. Although Marin could make tinplate, but time was too short, Marin made a solar cooker with copper. The reflectivity of the copper sheet is also good enough to heat the cauldron.

In this way, when sailing, you don't have to carry too much fuel when you put it on. Of course, you still need to bring some fuel. Because, in rainy weather, the solar cooker cannot be used, and it still has to rely on ordinary fuel. So, put on a batch of briquettes, too, for heating food in rainy weather.

In fact, Marin's treatment is much better than that of ordinary sailors. In the early big voyages, in order to save space, there was generally little fuel. Sailors, usually eat some foods that do not need to be heated, such as ham and bacon, where can you drink hot things? Only when you have just left a certain supply coast, will you put on a pile of firewood cut from the land mountain. During this time, sailors were able to eat hot food for a period of time. And in the middle of the sea, everyone eats ham and bacon to maintain...

Columbus was amazed at the solar cooker "invented" by Marin. And Da Vinci, who was kidnapped, was also very surprised by the big brain hole of Marin...

In addition, in order to prevent scurvy, Marin took out a dozen sacks of lemon leaves and gave them to Columbus. And, mandatory, everyone, including Columbus, must soak lemon leaf fragments in boiling water and drink three glasses a day.

Of course, because there are many people who are worried about Marin wearing it, such as the two hired Portuguese translators. So, Marin kept his hand.

To mask the smell of lemon leaves,

Marin mixed a lot of spices such as pepper powder and ginger powder in the lemon leaf pieces to mess up the smell of the lemon leaf pieces. Although it is put in less, the smell of spices is already heavy, and it can basically mess up the taste.

Moreover, Marin quietly told Columbus and the other three captains that drinking this "herbal" water every day could prevent scurvy...

The other three didn't feel anything about it, but Columbus was taken aback...

You know, on the voyage to discover America, a group of sailors died of scurvy. Therefore, Columbus has found that the risk of scurvy is high when sailing across the ocean. And Marin actually said that the herb would prevent scurvy, which made him a little skeptical.

"Captain Zorro, this is what my teacher Einstein taught me. My fighting skills are also passed down from my teacher..." Marin explained.

Although Columbus still had some doubts in his heart, he said nothing. And, if this herb really prevented scurvy, it would be fantastic for sailing.

Before the four captains left, Marin repeatedly told the sailors that they had to drink the water infused with this herbal medicine every day, and could not tell the secret that this herbal medicine could prevent scurvy. Otherwise, if Portugal and Spain knew that they had a way to deal with scurvy, they might have partnered to force themselves to hand over the secret recipe...

...

In addition, Marin secretly gave Columbus a pull-out telescope. This telescope is very unusual. The glass it uses is high-grade colorless glass made in Venice. Even, in Venice, this colorless glass industry is rare.

The last time Marin bought a batch of high-grade colorless glass, he commissioned different opticians to polish it into concave and convex lenses. After testing, this new telescope can fully see objects at the position of the horizon line on the sea in the distance. Of course, you can only see what it is, and can't see the specific details.

As for the specific distance, Marin has also personally tested...

In clear weather, standing at sea level, you can see about 7 kilometers away. This distance is exactly the distance from your own position to the horizontal line. However, if you stand on the building of the latest Karak sailboat, you can see more than 20 kilometers away from the captain's room a few meters high. Of course, in rainy weather, this distance should be shortened.

The reason why the telescope was given to Columbus was to facilitate him to track Da Gama's fleet...

Da Gama's fleet, still using human eyes to observe, cannot compete with telescopes. As long as Columbus and his fleet hung about 20 kilometers behind Da Gama's fleet, it was difficult for Da Gama's sailors to find it. Even if he finds it and wants to turn around and chase after it, it is enough for Columbus to react after being separated by 20 kilometers. Da Gama's Karak was no faster than the Karak ordered by Marin, and there was no way to chase it. Although the Caravel sailboat was faster, there was no way to catch up, and it couldn't beat the Karak sailboat at all. So, Columbus can safely follow Da Gama.

When Arrival Gamma stopped at Mombasa for the first time, according to Marin's plan, Columbus should not stop and go directly north to Malindi. And, to tell Chief Malindi that he is the enemy of Mombasa, and then deceive Majid as the navigator...

Before leaving, Marin secretly handed over to Columbus an outline map of the African continent and maps of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea that were cut from the standard world map of later generations...

"My lord, how did you get this map? Is it accurate?" Columbus was startled again. With this map, doesn't it mean that the sages have explored the route? Then he still has a hammer?

"Ahem, this is a route map made by my teacher by gathering information from Portugal and the nautical chart of the Ming Empire in the far east..."

"The Ming Empire?"

"Well, there was a navigator named Zheng He in that empire, who had been to India and the east coast of Africa... My teacher traveled all over the world and got this pattern in the east..." Marin It is true that Zheng He has been to East Africa. Even if someone asks for confirmation, they can know this fact, and they are not afraid of cheating.

Columbus now calls himself Captain Zorro, and can no longer call himself Columbus. Because, he has too many enemies... Those who died of syphilis put the blame on Columbus...

In order to win over Columbus, Malin named one of the two Karak sailboats "Columbus", which moved Columbus very much.

You know, exploring the real India is an absolute big event. The ships participating in this voyage will also be famous for the ages. Columbus can no longer show his true face, otherwise it is impossible to guarantee that he will not be killed. However, Marin named the ship the Columbus, and no one else would come to trouble Marin.

In this way, Columbus's name can also be remembered in history with the discovery of the real India... For a navigator, this is the best compliment...

You know, before Columbus explored the New World, and this year Da Gama explored India, the names of the ships were basically saints. For example, Columbus' flagship Santa Maria, and Da Gama's flagship San Gabriel. Columbus's name can become one of the four ships, which definitely gives Columbus a big face.

As for the other three ships, Marin also did not name them according to common sense. The flagship was named "Warden Warrior", and the other two Kirk sailing ships were named "Hoffmann Family" and "Mrs. Mary"...

When everything was ready, Columbus took 4 ships, 160 sailors, and a full ship of cargo and ammunition, left Tejorenche, and went to Portugal to chase da Gama...

Columbus wondered how Marin knew the date of Da Gama's departure, but Marin said it was from a Jewish merchant, so he was fooled.

Before leaving, Marin pulled the music master Leonardo da Vinci and several folk artists who could play musical instruments to play a shocking piece of music on the pier - "Conquering Paradise"... Of course, in this era of strong religious power , Marin didn't dare to use the name Conquer Paradise, but changed his name to "Conquer the Ocean"...

This was originally used by later generations to commemorate Columbus' discovery of the New World, but now, it was used by Marin to encourage Columbus to discover India...

In the shocking song "Conquering Paradise", Columbus and his sailors bid farewell to their relatives and embarked on a journey to conquer the Indian route...

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