King of German Mercenaries

Since muskets are to be used in large quantities, another item, gunpowder, must be prepared. Because, every time they fight, the musketeers will consume a lot of gunpowder.

In the old Spanish phalanx, the ratio of spearmen to musketeers was about 3:1. That is to say, in a phalanx of 1,200 people, the musketeers account for about 1/4, or about 300 people.

According to the information seen on the Internet in the previous life, Marin knew that in each battle, each musketeer would generally issue 1 pound of lead and less than 1 pound of gunpowder. This is the data of the British. For the brown bass flintlock gun used by the British, a pound of lead is made into 15 lead bullets, which is 30 grams. The charge, on the other hand, is 3/4 of an ounce, or 21 grams.

That is to say, in a battle, the musketeers can fire up to 15 shots, and then enter the stage of fighting the bayonet... Of course, that was the tactics of the British Red Shirts later. These days, the bayonet has not yet appeared. Musketeers generally fought with one-handed swords or short spears when the enemy approached.

However, the Spanish Musquette is different from the Brown Bass flintlock. The bullets of the Mushkert muskets weigh 50 grams each, and the charge is also as high as 35 grams. So, ammo costs more.

The larger the ammo consumption, the more gunpowder consumption is required. Unfortunately, there are no saltpeter mines in Europe, and the trade routes of India and the Middle East rich in saltpeter are also blocked by Turkey. Therefore, Europeans can only find nitrate in the cesspool now. The quantity is small and the collection is difficult.

At present, Europe has not fully entered the age of guns, and the demand for gunpowder is not large. When Europe entered the era of queuing and shooting, the consumption of gunpowder was very staggering. If it wasn't for the British who opened up the saltpeter trade in India, God knows whether so many British naval guns have enough gunpowder to fire.

In order to collect enough saltpeter to use in the war, King Charles I of England, the one who had his head beheaded, specially dispatched nitrate collectors to break into people's homes at any time throughout the UK and dig up the saltpetre in toilets and stables. Go, refine the soil nitrate. In order to obtain enough soil nitrate, Charles I also ordered that the floors of toilets and stables in the whole country are not allowed to lay slate or wooden boards, so as not to affect the collection of nitrate...

Charles I's approach, although it seems a little crazy, is actually helpless. Why would he do this if there was enough saltpeter? It wasn't until the British got a firm foothold in India and had a steady access to a large source of cheap Indian saltpeter that the British abolished the saltpeter.

On Marin's side, just as he was about to form the Spanish phalanx, he needed a lot of saltpeter to configure the gunpowder. And saltpeter is not only expensive but also scarce in Europe. Due to the low demand, there are not many people producing. Hoffman Manor once engaged in soil nitrate research, but after the operation of the coal mine, the collection of soil nitrate became dispensable. Old Hoffman directly sent the workers who collected soil nitrate to the coal mine to help...

In order to reduce the cost of gunpowder, Marin decided to set up a nitrate collection officer on Texel Island...

At the same time, in order to obtain nitrate, Marin learned from Charles I and ordered that all toilets and stables on the island should be prohibited from laying slate and wooden boards, so as not to affect the collection of nitrate...

Marin estimated that the original population of the island was more than 800 people, and later more than 400 people (Marin and the soldiers), plus the family members of the soldiers, reached 1,500 people; then, because of boiling salt, they recruited again. More than 3,000 people; then, more than 600 Frisian fishermen were recruited...

In other words, there are now 6,000 people on the island, plus more than 1,000 horses and cattle, and a total of more than 7,000 animals are producing feces every day...

It can be said that the amount of nitrate produced in this way is still considerable...

Of course, things didn't go so well. Collecting nitrates is a very dirty job, and absolutely no aristocratic children and cultural people are willing to do it.

So, Marin had to pick from the commoners and pay high salaries. After training, about 20 collecting officers,

Start patrolling around the island every day. The toilets of every household must be unconditionally open to the collectors...

At the same time, Marin also dug in two craftsmen from the mainland to make soil nitrate, and asked them to be responsible for brewing the nitrate soil dug back by the nitrate collectors into soil nitrate. Then, it is mixed with plant ash, etc., and further boiled into potassium saltpeter that can be used for gunpowder preparation...

Every day, every niter collecting officer pushes a wheelbarrow, knocks on the door from house to house, and then holds a flag issued by Marin, ordering the residents to take them to the dung to find shit...

All the islanders felt very strange about the Lord's order. However, the nobles can play, and there is nothing they can do. After all, the only noble on this island is Marin. As for the knight Schwartz, he was only a vassal of Marin. So, Marin is on Texel, that's one thing and no one objected.

Marin had read online articles in his previous life and knew that it would take about twenty days for feces and urine to be turned into nitrate soil. The 6,000 residents on the island, only the original toilets of more than 800 people are old and the salt is very thick. As for the newly arrived immigrants, the nitrate produced by the excrement and urine is not enough, but it is still being produced. After all, there are so many people.

But what makes Marin angry is that many fishermen by the sea directly pour their feces and urine into the sea, which is a serious waste, a crime, and pollutes the sea...

So, Marin ordered to build a centralized public toilet at the downwind of the fishing village. In all fishermen's families, excrement shall not be poured into the sea at will. Of course, exceptions can be made when fishing at sea.

In this way, Marin established a complete nitrate collection mechanism on the island. At the beginning of the period, the nitrate collectors on the island swept up the nitrates in the toilets of the original more than 800 residents on the island. Then, Marin ordered them to go out once a month to collect nitrate. Because the nitrate formation period is about twenty days.

Of course, on the island, Marin didn't stick to his word. For example, in several churches on the island, the toilets are paved with slate. As for the church, Marin did not dare to send someone to remove the slate in their toilet. Because, the church, Marin can't afford to mess with it now.

However, Marin also thought of another way. For example, he dug a dirt pit away from the church. Then, he sent someone to the church, used a dung truck to remove all the excrement from the church toilet, and then poured it into the dirt pit, waiting for the formation of nitrate...

The fact that Marin set up a nitrate collector on Texel Island was quickly spread by businessmen who came to do business on the island. This news was regarded as a joke after dinner. But there are also shrewd businessmen who came to Texel Island and asked to buy saltpeter. However, Marin knew that in future wars, he might not have enough saltpeter, so where would he sell it?

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