King of German Mercenaries

With the efforts of the old cannon-casting craftsman Old John and his assistants, the iron-mold cannon has finally made significant progress. Marin told Old John about Gong Zhenlin's iron-mold artillery technique in his memory, and Old John led people to try it out.

In fact, the specific method is simple to say, but some details still need to be paid attention to. For example, in the original iron mold casting method, the first layer of paint on the inner wall of the mold is a mixture of fine rice husk ash and fine sand mixed with water. After painting, it needs to be dried.

Except for southern Europe, the northern half of Europe has only wheat and no rice. So, Old John had to look for wheat husk ash instead. Moreover, the specific ratio, how to match the most convenient to peel off the gun barrel, also needs to be tested. As for the coal ash on the second layer, it's easy to find, just go to Texel Island and get some. Marin emphasized that after the two layers of paint are painted, they must be dried to ensure that there is no moisture. Otherwise, when the molten iron or copper liquid is poured, it is easy for the water vapor to evaporate, forming a honeycomb inside the gun body.

Old John led people to try many times, and finally mastered the method of casting iron cannons. Of course, when he mastered the art of iron mold casting, that is when he went to freedom. From then on, it is almost impossible for him to return to England. However, his treatment has improved a lot, and it can be regarded as compensation for freedom...

Old John's experiments have always used pig iron. Seeing that pig iron turned into a cannon so quickly, Old John proposed to use iron to forge a three-pounder cannon. However, Marin asked him to put a lot of gunpowder in the barrel. After the test explosion, he found that the gunpowder at the critical point of the original clay mold gun was used, but the gun barrel was easily burst. That is to say, iron cannons cast from iron die-cast cannons are relatively brittle.

However, there is no problem in casting bronze guns using the iron mold casting method. The detection effect of the bronze cannon cast by the iron mold casting method is similar to that of the bronze cannon cast by the mud mold casting method.

However, in the clay mold casting method, it takes at least a month for the clay mold to air dry, and it takes more than 3 months to air dry in rainy weather. Therefore, the mud mold casting gun is very inefficient. As for the cast iron cannon, a team of craftsmen can cast several guns in one day, which is very fast.

When the method of casting guns was determined, Old John and his apprentices began to "burst" and quickly produced three-pound bronze guns...

Moreover, under the guidance of Marin, these new rear-mounted three-pound bronze guns not only added the same cannon lugs as the French, but also left a place to install the suggested sight - Wangshan at the back. The so-called Wangshan, the knight is a very simple thing. It's a brass ruler perpendicular to the barrel. However, there is a round hole in the middle of the copper ruler, allowing the gunner's eyes to aim at the target through the round hole. The hole and the barrel are oriented parallel. Seeing the target through the round hole means that the barrel is facing the target.

In addition, Marin instructed the blacksmiths to build enough of the popular open-caster gun mounts of later generations. The gun mount is simple in structure, light in weight, convenient in transportation and equally convenient in use. In use, two metal "back feet" rest on the ground. Generally speaking, without modification, the muzzle is forward. And if you want to pursue the shooting angle, you can put the wheel higher, so that the rear foot can be lowered, which is convenient for the muzzle to be lifted. Moreover, there are "foot spikes" under the soles of the two metal "back feet". In this way, when the gun is fired, although the gun carriage retreats due to recoil, the "shoe spikes" under the "back feet" rub the ground, so that the gun carriage does not retreat too much, so as to facilitate the reset.

Seeing that the manufacture of the three-pounder gun was on track, Marin was naturally happy. But before he was happy for a long time, his hands came down to destroy the atmosphere:

"Lord Count, Texel Island is reporting that a shipment of briquettes has been detained by the Ged Company..."

"What? Why is this?" Marin was a little confused. Didn't Charles II form an alliance with him? Why detain his coal boat?

"It's because the tax officer of the Gerd company believes that we have passed too many coal ships on the Rhine, but we have not paid the transit tax to the company of the Gerd company once..."

"Isn't it done before? Why are you talking about this now?" Before,

Marin's colliers sailed directly in the middle of the Rhine, never pulled aside, paid no taxes to anyone, and no one intercepted the colliers.

The colliers mainly passed through the Earl of Mark, the Bishopric of Münster, the Duchy of Berg, the Duchy of Clifford, the Duchy of Geddes and the Earl of Zeeland at the mouth of the Rhine. Among them, the section passing through the Duchy of Berg is relatively short, and the section passing through the Bishopric of Munster is not very long. Moreover, these two countries are also relatively moderate, and have never blocked the road on the river.

And the country of Zeeland is actually an area controlled by the Habsburg family. Marin once sent someone to say hello, so naturally there will be no embarrassment there.

Only the duchy of Geddes, Charles II because of his ambition, required a lot of taxes. Therefore, Charles II, Duke of Guedes, tried his best to tax the ships passing through the river. However, the company of Gede is located in the most important part of the Rhine estuary. Therefore, if you want to use the Rhine to transport to the sea, the Principality of Gede can't be bypassed.

Although Marin formed an alliance with Charles II, he did not tell Charles II that he made a fortune by boiling salt with coal. Moreover, this matter can not be said, and others will imitate it.

In the past, the scale of boiling salt on Texel Island was not too dramatic. But since Marin opened up the salt trade route of the Teutonic Knights, the production of salt on Texel Island began to double.

If the salt production doubles, then the amount of coal needed will also double. Therefore, Marin increased its coal transportation efforts. In this way, many colliers belonging to Marin appeared on the Rhine.

After all, for inland water transportation, the vessel cannot be too large. If you want to transport that much coal, you can only increase the number of coal ships. Generally speaking, a river vessel can carry at most one or two hundred tons of coal, and more often, it is a small boat carrying ten or dozens of tons of coal...

But the number of ships suddenly increased, and the shapes were similar, which attracted the attention of the Principality of Gede. Previously, the company of Gede also levied taxes on ships that docked. But Marin's boats all go to the middle of the river and generally do not collect taxes. But this time, the tax officer of Gede's company patrolling the river specially organized several boats full of soldiers, intercepted one of the small boats loaded with dozens of tons of coal, and demanded to pay the tax...

In fact, the tax officer responsible for patrolling the river and collecting taxes did not know how much taxes the colliers owed. In fact, he doesn't care how much, he just came to extort... Even, the tax officer just wants to take the money...

After Marin learned about the situation, his brows furrowed. Before, he did not just evade taxes by letting the coal ships go down the middle of the river. Among them, there is a greater reason, in order not to attract attention.

Because once the tax is paid normally, it doesn't cost much. However, their business secrets will be revealed through taxation.

For example, if the coal ships passing through the company of Gede Company pay taxes, it will inevitably expose the amount of coal transported by Marin to Texel Island. This amount is very large, and when others understand this transportation volume, they will have questions - why does Texel need so much coal? Then, someone interested will investigate. Once the investigation, Marin made a fortune by cooking salt and selling salt, it will be exposed.

Once such a situation occurs, it is difficult for Marin to guarantee that other coastal countries will not imitate the handwriting. Not to mention, it is too easy for the Netherlands to imitate itself, and Maximilian I was also very interested in money. Moreover, knowing that he has become rich, and several vassal states along the way, it is inevitable that he will try to extort himself for a little toll...

So, Marin has a headache for what's in front of him...

Marin is obviously unwilling to reveal the secret of his fortune, and the profit will be maximized only when the family enjoys it alone. However, the only way to transport coal from the Ruhr area to Texel is the Rhine. If you go by land, it is better to go by water. Not to mention how expensive it is to travel by land, you must pass those tax cards by land, which is easier to expose than by water. Unless, not importing coal from the Ruhr area...

"Huh? Not importing coal from the Ruhr area?" Marin's eyes suddenly lit up...

Western Europe mainly consists of two coal-producing regions - the Ruhr area and the United Kingdom. There are also some coal mines in other regions, but none of them are large-scale.

The best way not to import coal from the Ruhr area is naturally to import coal from the UK...

British coal prices Marin also inquired about, in London, a charteron coal sells about 6 shillings. But at Newcastle, the port of export, it was only four shillings without a charterone. This is also due to the high price of goods in the United Kingdom. In the Ruhr area, the market price of coal export areas is only 3 shillings per charteron. Marin, on the other hand, bought coal from his own mines for only 2 shillings per charteron.

But even if he bought coal for cooking salt at four shillings a charteron, Marin was still very profitable. After all, cooking salt is a huge profit, and Marin also used a salt cooking tool such as a firewood-saving stove.

After thinking about it, Marin finally decided to reduce the amount of coal imported from his hometown to the previous level. This level does not seem too conspicuous. Moreover, Marin also decided to stop using small coal carriers and use large coal carriers. , in this way, the number of coal transportation can be reduced and become less noticeable.

Then, send people to Newcastle, the British coal export port, to order coal in large quantities. Newcastle is just northwest of Texel Island, across the sea. Although, the straight-line distance is definitely farther than Bochum. However, Newcastle is by the sea, a harbour. The coal ships leaving Newcastle must have been sea ships. Sea ships have a large loading capacity and can transport a lot of coal at one time, which is conducive to reducing transportation costs.

Moreover, shipping by sea can also be very convenient for Marin to keep secrets. Because the ship is going out of the harbour, and God knows where it will go...

Marin could have ordered large quantities of coal in Newcastle in the name of another country. Then, it was shipped to Texel, where it was used to cook salt. Even if Newcastle coal was a little more expensive, it was nothing compared to the huge profits of boiling salt and the importance of secrecy...

Thinking of this, Marin finally made up his mind. He came to Kohler:

"Khloe, you sent someone to bribe our coal carrier with money first..."

After listening to Marin's explanation, Kohler shook his head and said:

"Master, there's no need for me to go out for such a trivial matter, right?" Indeed, it's just a redemption, and any subordinate can do it.

"Of course it's not that simple. You know, our coal carrier was intercepted for the first time. As far as I know, this was the personal act of the tax officer who patrolled the river. No one else knew about it..."

"what do you mean?"

"Let the tax officer have an accident... In addition, wait for the redeemer to do it after a while, don't let people associate the two things together... In short, don't attract attention..." Marin didn't want to. The secret of making a fortune by cooking salt is revealed. If everyone knew that coal was used to cook salt and followed his example, the price of salt would definitely plummet immediately, which would seriously damage Marin's interests. So, the troublesome river patrol tax officer, Marin had to shut him up...

"Understood, I'll make arrangements now!" Kohler immediately left the palace and arranged for people to redeem and "create accidents"...