The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin was overjoyed, with ferrochrome, then stainless steel can come out. Unlike nickel steel and ferrochromium, stainless steel is the steel that can really withstand seawater corrosion. Nickel steel and ferrochromium are also very resistant to corrosion, but they are only corroded very slowly rather than completely resistant to corrosion.

The stainless steel with chromium and nickel added at the same time can ignore the corrosion of seawater to the greatest extent, so that the iron sheet covering the bottom of the ship can be used for a long time.

But finding ferrochromium is difficult, because Marin doesn't know exactly what ferrochromium looks like. Laterite nickel ore is easy to find. After all, laterite nickel ore is red, very conspicuous, and relatively easy to find. The appearance difference between chromite and ordinary stone is not very big, and now the prospectors don't know what chromite looks like. So, it took Wiltz several years to find a chromite ore with great difficulty. After smelting out, after a long period of corrosion resistance test, it was determined that it was ferrochromium according to the performance reference given by Marin...

However, the chromite mines in Cuba are relatively small. Like the chromite ore found by Welts, the total amount of ore is only 200,000 tons. According to the smelted finished product, the content of chromium trioxide is less than 40%. Compared with those large mines with hundreds of millions of tons of ore, this chromite ore looks unremarkable. But, that's not bad either. Because, chromite itself is a rare thing. Marin remembered that a document he had read in his previous life showed that the reserves of chromite in Tibet and Western Tibet were 4.25 million tons, accounting for 39.4% of the national reserves... That is to say, the reserves of chromite in China are only more than ten million tons... …

But this is no wonder, because China is a chromium-deficient country. For example, the barrel of 56 and a half uses 50ba carbon steel because of the lack of special metals such as chromium and nickel in China. Therefore, the 56 half barrel has a lifespan of only 10,000 rounds. The Soviet barrel, chrome-plated on the inner wall, greatly improves the corrosion resistance of the refractory, and the barrel life of the AK can reach 100,000 rounds.

Moreover, the distribution of chromium reserves in the world is extremely uneven. Of these, the vast majority (about 72%) of the chrome ore is in the Republic of South Africa. Then, Zimbabwe also accounted for 12%. The former Soviet Union's Kazakh stands at 5%, Turkey accounts for 0.9%, and Huaxia is not ranked... Moreover, Turkey, which only accounts for 0.9%, is an important import source of ferrochrome for China. Otherwise, Huaxia would not be eager to win over Turkey and sell Red Flag missiles to the other party. You know, Turkey is a member of NATO...

Similar to chrome ore resources, nickel ore is also very unevenly distributed. For example, later reports said that of the world's 81 million tons of nickel resources, Australia accounted for 19 million tons, and the French colony of New Caledonia 12 million tons (this is also an important reason why France is stubbornly holding on to this land and refuses to let go, The earliest warship Harvey armor at the end of the 19th century was obtained by Americans after surface carburizing nickel steel in France), Brazil 9.1 million tons, Russia 7.9 million tons, Cuba 5.5 million tons... The remaining countries are only It's a fraction... China is so big, and nickel ore resources account for less than 4% of the world...

...

As a history and geography master of the previous life, Marin knew that chromite was mainly distributed in the interior of South Africa.

However, there is currently Portuguese territory. Without sufficient certainty, Marin does not intend to take it now. When the time is ripe in the future, I will seize it together with the South African gold mine. Anyway, South Africa's chromite mines and the current situation are all located in the northern inland areas, and it is also convenient to work together.

But first of all, Marin didn't really remember what chromite looked like. He only remembered that it looked like a gray one, very similar to ordinary stone. He didn't graduate from prospecting, so he didn't really understand the difference between stones. Only the brightly colored laterite nickel ore can be easily identified by Marin.

Because of this, Wiltz, the governor who was originally a prospecting engineer, spent several years walking around various areas near Moa, climbing many mountains, and finally found this ferrochrome which is not a small reserve, but not a small one. mine...

Moreover, the most important significance of finding this chromite is that if you look for chromite in the future, you can just compare the ore of this chromite, which is countless times simpler. Unlike the first time he was looking for this kind of mine, Wiltz had no reference, and it took a few years to find it... It was really Marin who moved his mouth, and Wiltz broke his leg...

However, Marin doesn't really need much stainless steel. The main thing is to wrap the bottom of the warship, using a very thin iron sheet, and the amount is very limited. At most, make some more weapons or decorations or something. After all, this is not the industrial age, and the consumption of metal is very limited.

Therefore, this 200,000-ton reserve of small chromite is definitely enough for Marin to squander, even if he uses stainless steel for his guns.

As for the future, Marin has already made arrangements - South Africa, the world's largest chromite power and gold power, must be included in the colonial system. Cuba is also inevitable, because Cuba has a lot of nickel mines. As long as there are Cuba and South Africa, stainless steel can be made vigorously in the future. In addition, South Africa's gold reserves are also huge, and they must be held in hand.

You know, South Africa in later generations made the country a mess after the blacks came to power, but it was able to infiltrate the "BRICS" team and be in the company of Boss Xi and other bigwigs, didn't it rely on the amazing reserves of gold? Moreover, other countries in the BRICS countries are called "BRICS countries" because the initials of the country names are linked together, while South Africa is an authentic "BRICS country" because they have gold...

God knows why the British gave up South Africa. Even if the old Americans forced them to give up their colonies, they shouldn't throw away such a high-quality colony in South Africa. Like France, it refuses to give up New Caledonia, and clearly understands the strategic value of New Caledonia's nickel mine.

However, this is also a mistake that the UK did at the beginning and did not pay attention to the population issue. Most of South Africa is still old black, how can they be willing to let the British rule? Unlike Australia and Canada, because they are basically British, they were later horses and younger brothers in the United Kingdom, and the head of state was the Queen of England.

So, in the end, if you want to completely occupy a colony, you have to rely on your own people to control that place. As for why the United States is independent, that is, the population composition of the United States is different from that of Australia and Canada. Although the United States was first developed by the British, it has since introduced many immigrants from various countries, such as Germans, French, Hispanics, etc., as well as many Irish. Even Germans outnumbered British. Therefore, of course, the people there are not interested in the suzerainty country, the United Kingdom. Unlike Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, which are mainly of British descent, they are not willing to be completely independent, and they have to let the King of England be the head of state...

With the lessons of his previous life, Marin certainly won't make the mistakes of the British again. In the future, in the core areas of his colonies (such as North America, South Africa, Cuba, etc.), he must ensure the absolute superiority of the Germans and the English, so as to avoid mixing with the descendants of other countries, leading to discord and rebellion.

Just like South Africa, it will definitely not have a population of more than 50 million people, at most a few million people, as in later generations. Marin intends to drive away the locals and drive towards Mozambique or Botswana. Or, catch some immigrants to Japan and bring down the level of Japanese civilization. When Japan is "blackened", there will be no threat in the future...

All in all, a core region like South Africa must ensure a homogenous future demographic and ethnicity. Only if they are all their own people, they will not be distracted...