King of German Mercenaries

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The trona bought from Venice quickly ran out because of the mass production of large flat glass. So Romaine turned to Marin for help, hoping to get more natural soda.

Originally, Marin planned to continue sending people to Venice to purchase. But Marin changed his mind after the words of a Jewish businessman who had helped Marin buy Arabian horses. It turned out that the businessman told Marin that Egypt under the Mamluk dynasty not only had abundant natural soda, but also numerous Arabian horses. In addition, there is a lot of bitter thenardite, which is sodium sulfate. The alkali wadi near Cairo, Egypt, is a world-renowned source of trona. Marin recalled at this time that before the appearance of Lubranfa during the Naga War, one of the important sources of trona in Europe was the alkali wadi in Egypt, and it was the first important source.

Moreover, Marin intends to go to North America to make paper, and also needs a lot of thenardite to cook pulp together with logs. Because Egypt has many deserts and there are many saline-alkali lakes in the desert, the bitter sodium sulfate hydrate crystals can be picked up by the lake, which is very cheap.

Not only that, but Marin didn't want the shrewd Venetian merchant to know that he was buying a lot of thenardite, so as not to be caught in the neck by the other party. Therefore, Marin decided to organize his own fleet and go to Egypt to buy a large amount of trona and thenardite. Of course, you can also buy some excellent Arabian horses by the way.

Of course, Egypt also has a treasure, that is - castor oil. Castor oil is a very good lubricating oil, but in later generations, it is a high-grade aviation lubricating oil. Castor oil is not easy to be oxidized in the air, has high viscosity, and has a very low friction coefficient, only 0.1. It is an excellent mechanical lubricating oil.

Marin does not currently have the technical ability to extract oil and make cheap mineral lubricants. The best lube he could choose, then, was castor oil. Egypt is one of the origins of castor bean.

As soon as Marin placed an order, the Egyptians were encouraged to plant castor in large quantities. Then he offers a screw press, and it's not difficult to get a lot of castor oil. You know, the Nile River is full of water, making the Nile River Basin in Egypt a very suitable area for agricultural cultivation.

As for Egyptian long-staple cotton, although Marin wanted it, he had read history and knew that Egyptian long-staple cotton was introduced by Muhammad Ali, the founder of the Ali Dynasty in Egypt in the early 19th century. Therefore, at this moment, Egypt does not have the famous Egyptian long-staple cotton, nor does it grow rice.

But even so, natural soda, natural sodium sulfate, castor oil, and Arabian horses deserved Marin to open up a separate route to Egypt.

However, according to the opinion of Italian boat builders, in the Mediterranean region, because the wind is weak and the wind is often stopped, it is better to use a galley than a pure sail.

Therefore, Marin finally decided to set up a few galleys for sailing in the Mediterranean Sea...

However, in order to be safe, Marin asked Venetian shipbuilders with rich experience in making galleys to make some improvements to the galleys and increase the position of the artillery to suit the naval battle.

In this era, the galleys of Venice were still under the guiding ideology of "jumping out of the window and slashing each other", and the hull structure did not leave any artillery positions. Therefore, Marin asked the Venetian shipbuilders to arrange as many artillery positions as possible to facilitate naval battles.

For Marin's request, these shipbuilders from Venice are gearing up. Because they are so skilled at making galleys. Even if some changes are needed, some artillery positions are reserved, it will not affect their ability to play. After all, they've been building galleys for years. Even some craftsmen have participated in the manufacture of 500-ton Venetian galleys, which are technically very strong.

Then, Marin selected 100 people from the 200 Venetian shipbuilders,

He led a group of carpenters and began to manufacture 500-ton galleys with gun emplacements.

In order to facilitate shipbuilding, Marin asked the experienced Venetian shipbuilders to draw the data of the ship's ribs, and then hand it over to the most secret department of the Emden Shipyard that uses steam boxes to bend the ship's ribs, and prepare the same specifications. Fixtures and stone troughs, boat ribs required for mass production. In this way, after the keel is laid, batches of standard ship frames can be directly nailed to the main keel, which greatly shortens the shipbuilding time.

In fact, by opening the Egyptian trade route, Marin could not only import cheap natural soda, thenardite, castor oil and Arabian horses from Egypt, but also buy cheap wool in large quantities from Egypt.

Because, in the Arab region, sheep raising is popular everywhere. Lamb is also the main meat of the Arabs. Therefore, there is a lot of wool over there, and it is also very cheap. Although the Arabs did not specifically breed wool-producing sheep breeds, resulting in average wool quality. However, because the quantity is large and cheap, it can make up for the defects of general quality. After all, British wool is too expensive. Even shipping Egyptian wool back a long way around Europe would cost far less than buying British wool.

In fact, the best wool in Marin's mind is Spanish Merino wool. Merino sheep not only have fine wool and good quality mutton, they are also a good breed for both wool and meat.

However, Spain regards Merino sheep as treasures and is not allowed to easily export live Merino sheep. But this is no obstacle to Marin, because he still has the title of a barbarian count of Spain on his head, and he is still eligible to buy this kind of sheep.

However, Marin knew that Merinos liked drier climates, such as those in Australia. In North America, because it is relatively humid, Merino sheep are prone to rot hoof disease when they arrive on the east coast of North America. So, even if merino sheep could be introduced, Marin would not be able to have suitable grazing land. Unless, he is now sending people to occupy Australia. But that doesn't make much sense, because even though Marin herds a lot of merino sheep in Australia, the cost of shipping merino sheep wool from Australia back to Europe is very high because of the distance. It is better to import the high price directly from the UK. wool...

Therefore, at present, Marin might as well give up high-grade wool and directly import low-quality but cheap Arabian sheep wool from Egypt, which is used in the wool spinning industry, specializing in the production of medium and low-grade wool fabrics.

Marin calculated, because the frame of the ship can be mass-produced quickly with advanced technology, which not only saves the cost, but also saves the shipbuilding time.

As long as the processing of the frame of the ship is independent, and the manufacturing of other components is also based on division of labor, he can save the time of shipbuilding to a short time of three or four months, instead of more than half a year or even one time required for general shipbuilding. more than a year...

Moreover, boat ribs can be mass-produced quickly. Therefore, the curved ship frames required for many ships can be processed in a short time. Therefore, Marin's shipyard can build several ships together. As long as the same specifications are used, several ships can work together. At that time, instead of building one ship in a few months, several ships will be built at the same time in a few months.

Of course, the first ships may be built more slowly. But as soon as the first ship is completed, the shipbuilders record the specific data of the ship's frame and create the mold needed to bend the ship's frame with precision. Later, the same type of ship can be easily and quickly mass-produced.

According to the principle of division of labor and cooperation, each shipbuilder only needs to repeat the same work continuously to manufacture a certain part of the ship. Once built, use an accurate ruler to measure. Then, after everyone has built the various parts of the boat, they only need to assemble and connect, and then oil it and wait for it to dry. Doing so can greatly reduce the time it takes to build ships and allow Marin to have more ships quickly. With enough ships, and enough sailors recruited and trained, Marin can quickly become a sea lord and take over enough colonies to reap huge benefits. Otherwise, without enough sea power, all of Marin's "discoveries" can easily make wedding clothes for others...

The galleys needed for the voyage to Egypt have already begun to be manufactured in full swing. Relevant craftsmen also keep recording relevant data to facilitate mass production in the future.

In fact, the first ships of its class were basically shipbuilders "following their guts". Once built, the wood also needs to be adjusted and replaced frequently. Not only that, the shipbuilders of this era, when building each ship, "follow the feeling", and then constantly adjust.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for shipbuilding in this era to take more than half a year, and it takes a year or two...

However, Marin's method of data logging and mass production of uniform specifications can greatly reduce shipbuilding time, and all of them are very standard. As long as the first ship is built successfully, the subsequent ships will be built very smoothly.

While building ships, Marin could also find Jewish merchants who were familiar with Egyptian shipping routes to deal with the Egyptians. At the same time, it also helps Marin cultivate business talents. As long as the galley is built, it can be taken directly to Egypt for trade.

As for the shortage of natural soda in Romeni, Marin thought about it and sent a Kirk sailboat directly to Venice to purchase goods to meet the temporary demand. When your Egypt route is officially opened, you can kick the Venetian away and operate the relevant route yourself.