King of German Mercenaries

Standing on a high hill by the seaside of the fishing village of Thorunche, looking at the busy Mars Waterway in the south, Marin suddenly felt that building a trading port in Thorunche would be a good choice.

"Master Baron, the Mars Waterway in the south is the main entry and exit waterway for merchant ships in Amsterdam..." On the side, Dalian, the auxiliary bishop of Texel Island, who accompanied the inspection, introduced.

"Amsterdam merchant ships mainly go out to sea here? I have seen the map, it seems that the gap between the other islands of the West Frisian Islands, the distance between Bitsel Island and Den Helder is large. A wider waterway is not more suitable for going to sea. Is it?" Marlin asked in confusion.

"Lord Baron, you don't know. Although, the distance between the other islands is wider than the Mars channel. However, to pass through those channels, you must pass through a very shallow sea - the Wadden Sea. The Wadden Sea is very shallow, and there are A lot of shallows. If you don't follow a specific route, a large ship with a deep draft is easy to run aground in the Wadden Sea. It is not easy to run aground in the Mars channel, and the water depth here is deeper than most parts of the Wadden Sea..."

"I see, then, is the Mars Waterway the main passage for the merchant ships of Amsterdam to go out to sea?"

"It should be said that it is the only way for the large merchant ships of Amsterdam to go to sea. Those small merchant ships have shallow drafts, and like those small fishing boats, they can still easily enter and leave the Wadden Sea."

"How is the size of the boat assessed?"

"It's bigger than the flagship 'Santa Maria' led by the Italian Columbus on the Spanish side. It's basically a big ship..." Assistant Bishop Dalyan said uncertainly.

There was no tonnage in the Middle Ages, so we can only look for reference. Dalyan once went to Spain to visit old friends in the religious world, and happened to see the flagship of Columbus when he set off. And Columbus's "discovery of India" is very famous, so Dalyan used it for comparison.

"'Santa Maria'? That's a displacement of one hundred and dozens of tons..." Marin had never heard of Columbus's specific deeds in this life. But, he knew it in his previous life.

"Anyway, a ship larger than the 'Santa Maria' can easily run aground in the Wadden Sea. A ship smaller than it is fine in the Wadden Sea," Dalyan said. He's been on Texel for many years, he's almost 50 years old, and he's naturally well-informed.

Marlin nodded, indicating that he understood. The draught of the "Santa Maria" is only 1.98 meters, which is incomparable with those later sailboats with a draught of several meters. That is to say, in the Wadden Sea, the safe draft is more than 2 meters. Of course, that was without a survey route. If a specific shoal is surveyed, navigation marks and lighthouses are set up, and a suitable route is selected, the big ship will actually go the same way.

"Bishop Dalyan, why isn't a lighthouse set up here?" Marin asked curiously.

"Lord Baron, lighthouses are generally only set up in large ports..."

"Why?"

"Only a large port has a large number of ships entering and leaving, and there is a need for a lighthouse. For example, Thorencher and the opposite Den Helder are small fishing villages. Is it necessary to set up a lighthouse?"

"We don't need it, but don't the people of Amsterdam need it?"

"My lord, the people of Amsterdam have no control over the land here. Only the local lord can decide whether to set up a lighthouse. Moreover, the construction cost of the lighthouse is high, and the maintenance cost is also high. Every night, the raging fire must be maintained, will It takes a lot of firewood..." A lighthouse needs a very large flame to produce enough light. The firewood has a high flame and high brightness, which is just right. Coal, on the other hand, has a low flame, and many are still unremarkable blue fires, which are not suitable for burning on lighthouses.

"What about the profit?"

"If Thorencher built a lighthouse, many ships would definitely choose to dock here. However, Lord Baron, Thorencher is a fishing boat dock. If you want to become a commercial port, you must build more long bridges deep into the sea. Dock." Having spent a long time at the seaside, Dalyan has also gained a lot of experience.

"It makes sense. How much does it cost to build the lighthouse? What about the pier?" Marin had no experience with this.

"Building an ordinary stone lighthouse with a height of 10 floors will cost about 800 gold coins. In the future, the fuel consumption per night is estimated to cost 10 gold coins... And if you build a pier, the three long stone bridge piers will cost 1,000 gold coins. That's about it. The main cost is the import of stone from outside, and the wages of masons and masons..."

"It's only less than two thousand gold coins? It's cheap..." Marin pouted, expressing no pressure.

"Uh..." Assistant Bishop Dalyan stopped talking. Facing a local tyrant, what could he say...

Marin took a look and found that Thoruncher was indeed a good haven, deep enough and facing southeast, so it was not easily threatened by the westerly winds in the North Sea.

Therefore, Marin decided on the spot to build a lighthouse and a dock. The lighthouse was built at the end of the hilly peninsula that plunged into the sea on the south side of Te Horunche Bay. Under the guidance of the lighthouse, ships can enter the port of Thorenche smoothly at night. At the same time, the lighthouse can also provide certain direction guidance for ships sailing on the Mars waterway.

But Kohler, his treasurer, is busy looking for the families of the 400 troopers and doesn't have time to do it right now. Schwartz, on the other hand, is a standard military officer and does not understand civil affairs.

As for Marin himself, he didn't have the time to personally supervise the construction of the lighthouse and the wharf...

Marin suddenly felt that it was time to recruit more talents...

Most of the original officials on the island were actually evacuated after Marin took over. Because, those people, especially the literate ones, are all subordinates of other nobles, and it is impossible for Marin to serve. As for the few local officials left behind, it's okay to be a village chief, but for specific tasks, they have to find cultural people. First of all, several local so-called "officials" are illiterate. In fact, at the beginning, they were all entourages of officials sent from the mainland, and they were professionally responsible for running errands.

In the Middle Ages, only children of nobles, priests and wealthy families had the opportunity to receive education. The servants of the nobles also have some opportunities for education out of work needs. For those civilians, most of their families are in poor financial condition, and eating is a problem. Where can they have the conditions for their children to study?

Therefore, even if it is to select talents, you must select among the children of nobles and children of rich families. As for the clergy, they were the Pope's subordinates, and they could not return to the secular world and could not serve the secular lords.

This made Marin begin to consider - is it to promote compulsory education on the island? However, among his subordinates, only Schwartz has read books, and Kohler can recognize a few words. But to find a suitable person to be a teacher, there really is no one. I can be a teacher myself, but I am too talented. Moreover, in the future, I will have to fight wars and build territories. There are many things to do, and I don't have much time to teach...

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