The Rise of the European Emperor

After more than two years of long-term construction, a high-level reservoir with an area of ​​up to 0.1 square kilometers was finally built on the north bank of the Leda River, 15 kilometers east of Lier County. (For the cause, please refer to Chapter 308 of The King of German Mercenaries)

This high-level reservoir is 20 meters high and consumes a lot of bricks, cement and steel bars. Among them, the bottom of the reservoir, after laying bricks, is coated with cement as a guarantee of no leakage. The surrounding area is made of reinforced concrete. Of course, it's not pure reinforced concrete, otherwise, Marin doesn't have that much steel. The surrounding walls are still made of bricks first, and then reinforced concrete. Although it is not comparable to the firmness of those large reservoirs in later generations, this itself is also a small reservoir, and the strength around it is sufficient.

The water for the reservoir comes from the Leda River, and the craftsmen have arranged dozens of Dutch windmills to deliver water to the high-level reservoir day and night. The water in the reservoir has a discharge channel on the north side. But in this discharge channel, there is a row of hydraulic hammers working continuously.

Because the water level of the reservoir was too high, the craftsmen built intermediate indirect water pools, which were also cement pools, for fear that the Dutch windmills would not be able to reach them. Through relay pumping, the ability to pump water into a 20-meter-high reservoir is realized.

However, such a huge siege cost Marin 200,000 gold coins and a construction period of more than two years. But Marin can't do anything about it, because the northwestern part of Germany is a plain area, and you can't find a place with a high water level difference. Unlike England, there are many high-drop rivers in the mountains that are suitable for driving hydraulic machinery.

Really helpless, Marin wanted to use hydraulic machinery again, and he just built a man-made high-level reservoir. However, I did not expect the cost to be so high. Originally, Marin planned to build a 1-square-kilometer high-level reservoir, but the estimated cost at that time was 1 million gold coins, which frightened Marin. Therefore, it was later revised to 0.2 square kilometers. However, after repairing and repairing, I found that the cost may be higher than expected. Therefore, it was changed to 0.1 square kilometers. However, it still cost as much as 200,000 gold coins. Mainly, steel is too expensive. If Marin hadn't built an iron-making blast furnace and a steel-making open-hearth furnace himself, and used the high-priced steel of the same era to make steel bars, the cost is estimated to have steadily broken through one million.

Although the water storage is insufficient, there is no need to worry about the shortage of water because there are dozens of Dutch waterwheels pumping water constantly. Therefore, the row of hydraulic forging hammers is quite sufficient.

When Marin inspected the reservoir and the supporting forging base, the craftsmen expressed confidence. In the future, plate armor forging will become a pediatric department, and it can be mass-produced quickly...

Marin is very happy, although the plate armor will eventually be eliminated by the musket. However, in the case that European muskets are not very popular, plate armor is still very popular in Europe for the time being. Because of this group of hydraulic forging hammers, the production speed of plate armor in the forging base will not only be accelerated, but the cost will also be greatly reduced.

Moreover, the hydraulic forging hammer can not only be used to make plate armor, but also can be used to forge weapons such as swords. Plate armor will be obsolete in a few decades, but swords can last longer than plate armor. At least, the cavalry persisted until the first half of the 20th century when the machine gun became popular. Accompanying the cavalry is naturally the cavalry sword.

Looking at the large row of hydraulic forging hammers, Marin was also eager to try - he was ready to become an international weapons supplier. Of course, it is not selling high-end weapons such as missiles and aircraft, but low-end weapons such as plate armor and swords. Moreover, selling this kind of weapon also makes a lot of profit.

Feeling the tall walls around the high-level reservoir, Marin felt firm and firm. So, Marin wanted to use reinforced concrete for his Aurich city...

Over the past two years, the steel bars in Marin's steel plant have been basically used to build reservoirs, as is the cement. Today, the high-level reservoir has been repaired, which means that the products of the steel plant and cement production base do not know where to sell. Therefore, Marin decided to add reinforced concrete to the outside of the city wall of Aurich, making Aurich city a fortified city that cannot be bombarded by artillery.

To know,

Aurich is the lifeblood of Marin, including his wife and children. If he was fighting outside, Aurich was breached, and his wife and children were killed, then he simply didn't know how to deal with it. If his wife and children are dead, what is the point of him laying down a big country? It is estimated that like the Alexander Empire, it will fall apart in a blink of an eye...

Therefore, the solidity and safety of the city of Aurich is also very important.

However, once cement was used to build the capital. Then, things like cement will be publicly displayed in front of the world. After all, Aurich is the capital, and there are many foreign envoys, so it is impossible to keep secrets.

Therefore, Marin decided to study the plot of some novels and called it to the public - this is Roman volcanic ash...

However, what's so special, I don't have a territory in Italy. Therefore, a reason needs to be found. For example, my er colony discovered a volcano that produced ash suitable for construction...

Pozzolanic cement is actually a very good building material. Marin studied history. When he was studying in his previous life, his teacher introduced it—Roman pozzolanic cement is a mixture of pozzolan and quicklime to form a mortar, which is then mixed with volcanic tuff of different particle sizes. Mixing to form a wood-like structure, seawater is added to trigger a process of thermochemical reactions.

Although this kind of pozzolan cement is of average firmness, it has a very powerful characteristic - it can withstand the erosion of wind and rain. The ancient Roman cement buildings of the city of Rome, even in the 21st century, are still standing. Unlike the teaching building of the university where Marin studied in the previous life, it was built in 1996, and the walls were cracked... Fortunately, it is in the eastern plain area, and there is no earthquake. If the western crustal unstable area is replaced, this kind of building quality can be shaken. College students who died a whole building...

Of course, this is because some black-hearted merchants use substandard materials. However, it is true that ordinary Portland cement is not as weather-resistant as Roman pozzolan cement.

Of course, that means regular Portland cement. The cement prepared by Marin using the fly ash left after coal combustion has good crack resistance and corrosion resistance, and the quality is no worse than that of Roman cement.

The only problem is that it requires a lot of fly ash. It just so happens that Marin uses a lot of coal to cook salt, so there is a lot of fly ash, which makes the raw material of fly ash cement very sufficient. For other people, it may not be possible to get so much fly ash.

Moreover, Western Europe, also the German Ruhr area and the United Kingdom are rich in coal. And this is also the main reason why Britain and Germany can become industrial powers. The French want to become an industrial power, but they are short of coal. So, they later became a usury empire...

As for Spain and Italy, they couldn't develop in the 19th century, and I can't blame the idiots, but the two countries really don't have much coal... You said that the steam engine burns coal, there is no coal, and they develop a ghostly modern industry...

Even the rise of China is inseparable from the massive coal reserves. Without that dust in the sky, how can it develop? Can everyone become a developed country by writing poetry and bragging?

For the cement formula, Marin must be kept secret. Even the method of making Roman pozzolanic cement was kept secret by Marin. As for other people's questions, Marin said that this is a special kind of volcanic ash that was mined overseas. This kind of thing, Rome also has, um, you go to the city of Rome to see... Now, there should be this kind of volcanic ash on the Italian peninsula... After all, Pompeii was buried by volcanic ash... Or, you go to excavate Pompeii go? Not only volcanic ash, but also valuable antiques...

As for other countries, such as Britain and France - I'm sorry, your country doesn't have volcanoes, so I can't do anything about it. Otherwise, the magic demon, you continue to rob Italy?

As for the issue of technical leaks, this era is unlikely. why? Because there is very little movement of people in this era. Because it was still in the age of serfs, the freedom of serfs was restricted and they could not leave the manor at will. Therefore, there are very few foreigners everywhere. Confidentiality can be guaranteed as long as the base is located in the countryside, rather than a crowded city. Want to catch a spy? Find out who is a foreigner, just arrest them and torture them... As long as the craftsmen are controlled well, the possibility of leaking secrets is very low... Therefore, Marin has always chosen serf craftsmen, which is easy to control. If those uncle-like citizen craftsmen are, it will be difficult to control, and it is very easy to leak secrets...

With ancient Roman volcanic ash in front, and Marin's strong military power, it is not easy to mess with. Many people are expected to choose to look up ancient Roman books to find out how to make volcanic ash cement. Of course, even if they figure out how to make ancient Roman cement, Marin isn't worried. Because others don't know reinforced concrete technology. This is the technology with the most military strategic value of cement...