The Rise of the European Emperor

Although Marin is not allowed to use force against Bremen, it limits Marin's play. However, to deal with a force in his own country, Marin should not have too many means.

After all, Bremen is just a river port city. Bremen's seaport, Bremerhaven, did not start construction until 1827 in the 19th century, and the first phase of the project was completed in 1830.

The reason why the port of Bremerhaven was built is because the Weser River was like the Yellow River in the 19th century. Because of siltation, the water depth became shallow, which affected the navigation of ships. In addition, the merchant ships of the 19th century were much larger than the merchant ships of this era, and the requirements for the waterway were different. In the 19th century, the displacement of maritime merchant ships was more than one thousand tons, or even several thousand tons. The Weser River can no longer meet the needs of the waterway. In addition to the siltation of the river, it is natural to trim a harbour.

But in this era, the mainstream merchant ships in Europe were only about 200 tons. As the second longest river in Germany in later generations (the Danube and the Rhine are transnational rivers, not in the ranking), the river is fully capable of sailing by merchant ships in this era.

Moreover, the advantages of inland ports in this era are even greater. If nothing else, the mere fact that berthing ships in inland ports do not worry about ship maggots is something that pure seaports cannot compare to. Most of the large ports in this era were inland river ports or ports at the mouth of the freshwater estuary. London, for example, is the river Thames port. Hamburg and Bremen are also river ports, of course, Hamburg has a Cuxhaven, but also at the mouth of the Elbe. Lubeck is also an inland port, and Seville, a famous Spanish port, is also an inland port...

The inland port is not afraid of ship maggots eroding the bottom of the ship, nor is it afraid of coastal storms ravaging the port. But if someone blocks the estuary...

That's what Marin did. You wouldn't let me attack Bremen, would you? No problem, I'll just block the mouth of the Weser River...

However, the direct blockade of the Weser seems too strong and overbearing. After all, it is important to pay attention to the famous teacher. Therefore, we have to find a way to make the people of Bremen suffer.

This question, for people of this age, may be a difficult problem. But for the traveler Marin, it was a piece of cake. It's just embarrassing a "resident" in his own country. The demolition office of later generations is an outstanding representative of embarrassing residents...

Nails, right? I don't beat you or scold you. I cut off the water and electricity, I cut your way out, in the name of maintenance... See if you collapse or not...

Marin did the same, didn't Bremen? River port, right? I'm sorry, because of the siltation of the Weser River, the wise leader of the North Sea Kingdom, Grand Duke Marin, decided to urgently need the people and organized the North Sea Kingdom to unite as one to carry out centralized dredging work on the silted Weser River...

During the dredging period, the Weser River channel was temporarily closed. Closing time...one year...

...

Marin solemnly sent someone to Bremen to post a notice,

Then, it really started to dredging in a serious way...

It wasn't a whim, or to deal with the city of Bremen, but Marin's intention to carry out a dredging.

The Weser River is highly developed because of the Hanseatic city of Bremen. The high degree of development naturally brings the problem of soil erosion. Vegetation along the river has been greatly destroyed due to frequent human activities. Without vegetation, soil erosion is naturally serious.

Of course, the problem with the Weser River is not very obvious at present, but there are certain signs. Marin intends to kill the signs in advance and clean up the Weser River in advance.

On the one hand, Marin intends to organize the population and excavate the silt at the bottom of the Weser River. On the other hand, Marin considered the introduction of weeping willows from the Ming Dynasty, which were planted on river banks to preserve soil and water.

The method of digging the silt is very simple, which is to use a long wooden stick attached to an iron bucket. People held long wooden sticks and stretched iron buckets to the bottom of the river to dig up the silt. Then, pile it up in the cabin first. After landing, they are transported ashore and sprinkled into the fields...

Silt is very fertile soil, because the bottom of the river generally grows some water algae crops. After the algae die, they are deposited on the bottom of the river and decay, making the river mud fertile. Moreover, there are not only algae in the river, but also many fish that feed on algae. After these fish die, the bodies naturally sink to the bottom. The fish are rich in phosphorus, and the carcass of the fish is mixed into the silt, making the silt contain phosphorus, which can be an important auxiliary fertilizer. Of course, there is also fish excrement, which contains both phosphorus and nitrogen.

In later generations, there was an agricultural technology called rice field fish farming. It relies on the feces and bones of fish in the rice fields as an important natural fertilizer for the rice fields.

Marin organized the dredging this time, in addition to clearing the waterway, it was actually an act of fertilizing fields. After all, silt is a natural fertilizer. In the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan people liked to scrape silt and fertile fields. In addition, because rice is often introduced into river water. The dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus components in the river water also fertilize the rice. Therefore, the high yield of rice in the south of the Yangtze River was the granary of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, not all silt can fertilize fields. Have you tried the sludge polluted by sewage discharged from chemical plants of later generations? Had to kill the seedlings. Also, the silt of the Yellow River is not very useful, most of it is sand...

As for planting willows and berms by the river, that is an important measure in ancient China and has a very long history. The earliest record of planting willows on river banks is in "Guanzi. Dudi" - "Plant with thorns to secure the ground; mixed with cypress poplars (willows) to prepare for water."

Therefore, since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ancient Chinese people knew how to plant willows to protect embankments. Therefore, under the deliberate influence of the government, there were many weeping willows by the ancient Huaxia River.

Why was there a custom of folding willows to send farewell in ancient times? As a gift to a friend, it is natural to send it outside the city. And there are weeping willows everywhere along the moat outside the city. It is natural to be unhappy to see friends off. When the baby is not happy, he will let out his anger. Huh? There was a weeping willow here, so I took it out of my anger... Then, the baby broke a willow branch and was in a better mood...

Friends are strange - good friends, why do you pinch other people's willow branches? Willow provokes you? This must not be true, otherwise it looks a bit low... So the baby moved and gave the willow branches to his friends... You see, this is the willow branches from my hometown, good friends, bring the willow branches from my hometown, see you Liu Zhiru sees his hometown, if he sees me - your good friend...

Then, this saying spread, and there was the custom of "breaking the willows to say goodbye"...

The reason why the willows were broken is because—the willow trees were planted by the government along the moat outside the city. If you want to fold anything else, you can't fold it. Also, the branches of other trees are too high. If you want to break the branches, you have to be light. You don't want to weep the willows, the willows will hang down for you to break...

...

Planting willow berms is not only related to the willow's roots to consolidate the soil, but also to the willow's tenacious vitality. In spring, a willow branch can be planted on the wet ground by the river, and a big tree can grow. Even when the spring breeze blows, the catkins fly away, and when they fly to a wet land, they can grow willow trees one by one... Unlike other trees, it is extremely difficult to cultivate, and trouble is dead. Therefore, the willow tree became the first tree in the berm in ancient China.

However, it seems that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the willows on the river embankments were destroyed on a large scale. The reason is speechless - making gunpowder... During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of the charcoal in the gunpowder formula was willow charcoal. So, the willow tree was destroyed on a large scale and used to burn willow charcoal...

Marin wants to use willow berms, and he also values ​​the advantages of willow trees that are very easy to survive and spread. Also, willow bark appears to contain salicylic acid. According to legend, aspirin, the magic drug later developed by Germany, was first extracted from willow bark transplanted by Europeans from Asia. Of course, it was later artificially synthesized. But the first discovery and research of aspirin started from willow bark.

I don't know how to synthesize salicylic acid into the magic drug aspirin and marin. After all, I am not a professional chemistry student. However, he can let those children who study chemistry, in the future, specialize in salicylic acid extracted from willow bark. In this way, from generation to generation, one day, aspirin can be produced.

...

The city of Bremen reacted violently to Marin's blockade of the Weser River. However, Marin didn't care how they reacted at all.

While deploying a group of troops around the city of Bremen, Marin set up artillery on both sides of the Weser. If the Bremen merchant ship dares to break through, it will be directly bombed and sank.

Bremen was outraged by Marin's almost rogue behavior. But they couldn't beat Beihai Kingdom, so they could only ask for help from abroad... But unfortunately, Bremen is not a sovereign city. Even if they want to appeal to the Imperial Parliament, they are not qualified. As for asking for help from the Hanseatic League, both Hanseatic leader Lübeck and deputy leader Hamburg kept silent...

And so the Bremen people understood - they were abandoned...