King of German Mercenaries

In fact, only cement bricks and so on can't build a reservoir. With the combination of cement and bricks, at most, only houses can be built. Speaking of building a reservoir wall or something, you still need to add steel bars to the cement. Otherwise, the strength of the dam is not enough, and it is easy to burst.

If you are building a small reservoir with low water pressure, in fact, bamboo can also be used to replace steel bars as bones. But sadly, Marin has hardly seen bamboo in Europe...

Yes, there is no bamboo in Europe...

To be more precise, at least so far, there is no bamboo in Europe. Bamboo was introduced as an ornamental plant only after the European powers opened the door to China.

The toughness of bamboo is still good, and as the bones of concrete, this is also very important. Reeds with the same shape are too brittle and easy to break, so they are not suitable for concrete bones. Unless, it is tofu dregs project.

In fact, in addition to steel bars and bamboo, asbestos can also be used as the bones of concrete. However, Marin doesn't know how to use asbestos as concrete bones... Moreover, asbestos is also quite expensive in Europe at the moment...

In desperation, Marin found that the steel problem still had to be solved...

Not to mention the use of steel bars as bones, at least, iron bars should be used as bones, right? Otherwise, this reservoir would have really become a tofu dregs project. If the high-level reservoir bursts its banks, the surrounding area will be bad luck.

Therefore, Marin had to find a way to solve the steel bar problem. Therefore, an iron-smelting blast furnace cannot escape...

To develop an iron-making blast furnace, it is necessary to solve the problem of refractory materials. Refractory materials are mainly divided into three categories - aluminum series, magnesium calcium series and pure quartz sand series.

However, there is a lack of bauxite in Europe, and it is difficult to obtain aluminum-containing series of refractory bricks. Only calcium-magnesium series and pure quartz sand series can be selected. Among them, in the calcium-magnesium series, dolomite is a natural refractory material.

However, whether it is high-purity quartz sand or dolomite, the price is not cheap. Even speaking, dolomite is more expensive. However, the use of pure quartz sand refractory bricks has many problems, it is better to use the more expensive dolomite. After all, when Marin later visited a steel factory, the engineers in the factory introduced that their steelmaking furnace was lined with dolomite.

In the end, Marin decided to use dolomite as the refractory material for the blast furnace, and then sent someone to buy...

Because dolomite is expensive, and considering that the demand for steel is not so large. Then there is the difficulty of source of iron ore... In the end, Marin only intends to build a small blast furnace that produces 5 tons of iron per day.

The next step is to consider where to buy iron ore. For now, the most famous iron ore mine in Germany is the Lorraine Iron Mine. However, although the Lorraine iron ore is large, there are many problems. For example, the Lorraine iron ore is of low grade, with an average iron content of only 30 percent. Moreover, the content of sulfur and phosphorus exceeded the standard.

Therefore, when the French stabbed the British to compete for hegemony at sea in later generations, because of the high sulfur and phosphorus content of Lorraine iron ore, and they did not know how to use reverberatory furnaces, French heavy artillery often exploded in the early days. So, in the naval battle, the French lost to the British. Even, at that time, gunners on French warships were a high-risk occupation. Because no one knows when the gunner will be killed by the blast of his own artillery...

Until the middle and late 19th century, with the development of steel technology, the French began to use slag-forming agents such as quicklime to remove sulfur and phosphorus from steel, and used modern steel-making furnaces, which greatly improved the performance of artillery. France then rose to become the world's second colonial empire after Great Britain. Of course, it was still a bit late at that time. Many good colonies in the world were almost robbed by Britain at that time. The French had no choice but to go to Africa and the South Pacific to grab some not-so-good colonies.

...

Of course, what Marin wants to do now is just steel reinforcement for construction, and neither sulfur nor phosphorus is a big problem.

But the biggest problem is not the quality of iron ore, but the political problem...

Speaking of which, the current Duke of Lorraine, René II, was actually the enemy of Maximilian I. Because it was Rene II who, in 1477, led the Swiss mercenaries to kill Charles the Bold, the father-in-law of Maximilian I, at the Battle of Nancy.

Therefore, trading with the Principality of Lorraine does not give the emperor face. Therefore, Marin can only rule out the possibility of buying iron ore from the Principality of Lorraine.

Originally, Marin was planning to buy iron ore from Britain. After all, although British iron ore is of average grade, it contains relatively low levels of sulfur and phosphorus. This is also an important reason why British artillery has long outperformed France.

However, if Marin buys British iron ore, he is sending money to King Henry VII to support Henry VII. And Marin is currently seeking to mess up England, how can he send money to Henry VII? Therefore, buying iron ore from the UK was also rejected.

In fact, the best iron ore in Europe is iron ore from northern Sweden. Swedish iron ore has large reserves, high grade and high quality, which is an excellent raw material for making artillery.

However, Swedish iron ore is located in the northern part of Sweden, all near the Arctic Circle, and there are no people living there now, let alone the development of iron ore. Therefore, Swedish iron ore should also be excluded.

Then, in the end, only the iron ore in the Principality of Luxembourg is left. The laterite area on the Gutland Plain in the southern part of the Principality of Luxembourg is a famous iron ore area with reserves of several hundred million tons.

Although it is said that the grade of Luxembourg iron ore is not high, it is only a little higher than that of Lorraine iron ore, and its sulfur and phosphorus content are also relatively high. But that wasn't a problem, because Marin knew how to use limestone to remove sulfur and phosphorus.

Moreover, Marin also made up his mind - in the future, he would import British iron ingots with relatively low sulfur and phosphorus content as raw materials for casting guns. Elsewhere, steel produced from Luxembourg iron ore is used.

Moreover, the current Duke of Luxembourg is the handsome King Philippe, the son of Maximilian I. Buying Luxembourg iron ore is tantamount to sending money to Prince Philip. And sending money to Prince Philip is also equivalent to sending money to Maximilian I in disguise. This is very "politically correct".

As for the coke needed for the blast furnace, it's not a problem either. Coincidentally, the Hamler coal mine of Adler's father-in-law's family is the bituminous coal mine. At that time, a few boats of bituminous coal from the Hamler coal mine will come over, coke in a sealed furnace, and heat it to about 1,000 degrees in isolation from the air to obtain coke, coke oven gas and other chemical products (kerosene can be extracted, and even phenol can be extracted. and other chemical products). The coke oven gas produced in the coking process is also a high-quality fuel for steelmaking open hearth...

After all the problems were solved, Marin officially started to build the steel plant. Among them, a 5-ton small blast furnace; a 2-ton open-hearth furnace; a coke oven, and other supporting equipment and pipelines...

Among them, the coke oven will collect coke oven gas through pipes and valves, and then lead to the open hearth as an important fuel for the regenerator to increase the temperature of the open hearth.

Then, in order to successfully build these equipment, especially to ensure that the coke oven gas does not leak out of the pipeline, Marin and Da Vinci and other master craftsmen of this era discussed and revised the plan together on the spot, so that the steel plant can be successfully built and put into production...

In addition, Marin also sent to Ghent, made a request to Prince Philip to buy a large amount of Luxembourg iron ore. In the face of Marin's move to send money, Prince Philip is naturally very willing.

Moreover, the iron ore in Luxembourg is very easy to mine. Because many of the iron mines in Luxembourg are on the plains, it is much easier to dig the red soil directly with a pickaxe than to dig stones in the mountains.

After the red soil is dug, it is washed to remove rot impurities and soluble substances, and then dried in the sun. It can be loaded into a ship. It will pass through the Moselle River, a tributary of the Rhine River flowing through Luxembourg, and enter the main road of the Rhine River first to the northeast. It is very convenient to transport to the estuary of the Rhine and then transfer to East Friesland...