The Rise of the European Emperor

Right now, the steel output of Beihai State is relatively low. The iron and steel plant in Crumhorne currently only has three 10-ton small iron-making blast furnaces, which produce about 30 tons of iron per day. Even if the work is continued throughout the year, the annual pig iron production is only 10,950 tons, which is just over 10,000 tons.

Of course, in this day and age, this output is already remarkable. Because this is already the top in Europe.

Other European countries have just evolved from block ironmaking technology to furnace ironmaking technology. The specific time was probably in the middle of the 15th century, and before the middle of the 15th century, most of the steel smelted in Europe was soft sponge iron obtained from iron smelting. Without carburizing, this iron is not as strong as bronze.

Moreover, even if there is a furnace for ironmaking now, it is still only a small furnace for ironmaking, and has not yet evolved into a blast furnace, let alone coke steelmaking. Steel production in various countries has always been very low. In a top power like France, the annual output of steel is only a few thousand tons, which is not as good as the only steel factory in Beihai...

What does steel mean? It means weapons and equipment, it means the innovation of farm tools...

Because of the emergence of relatively hard pig iron ingots, the French plate armor began to become extremely strong, and they were no longer afraid of the English longbow. The plate armor made of sponge iron was often shot through... Coupled with the application of artillery, France won the Hundred Years' War and established its hegemony in Europe.

But the iron and steel technology of Beihai State is even better. Because of the existence of Marin, the traverser, Beihai State directly skipped the age of pig iron and entered the age of steel. Quantified by Warcraft, France's technological level is still at the level of a base. The Beihai country has entered the era of steel armor in the second base.

The annual output of pig iron in Beihai is about 10,000 tons (with some error), and most of it is used to make farm tools and general tools.

For Europe, the backwardness of agriculture at this time is all-round. It's not just a problem of fertilization technology, and it's not just a problem of irrigation technology, but even iron farm tools are seriously insufficient.

When Marin just crossed over, even the serfs in the Hoffman family's manor couldn't have a piece of iron farm tool in hand. Many serfs use wooden pickaxes to plow the ground, the efficiency can be imagined...

But there is no way. Steel is a strategic material in Europe in this era, and most of it has been made into swords and plate armor. How can there be any surplus used to make farm tools?

The development of Beihai's agriculture is not only a technical development, but also a problem with equipment. In the North Sea country, basically every manor has enough iron farm tools. And this is the credit of the three small blast furnaces in the steel plant in Krumhorne...

Only a small amount of pig iron will be used for steelmaking. At present, the steelmaking technology of the North Sea country is actually a little behind.

There are two main types - one is crucible steelmaking, mainly for the production of weapons and armor. The other is the secondary refining of the reverberatory furnace, which is mainly used for casting cannons.

Crucible steelmaking steel products have a high carbon content and are mainly used to make swords and armor. And reverberatory furnace refining, after control, including adding high-purity graphite, etc., most of them will get low-carbon steel (if the carbon content is not controlled, you will get wrought iron for casting guns).

Of course, open hearth furnaces with heat storage are also used, but the technology is not yet mature and is being tested and improved, and has not yet been widely promoted.

Iron farm tools are so important to agriculture. Currently, farm tools made of pig iron in the Beihai country are not only supplied to the country, but also promoted to neighboring friendly countries. Of course, not cheap.

You know, the cost of making iron in small blast furnaces in Beihai is only a fraction of half that of ordinary small furnaces in blacksmith shops. However, because of the process of desulphurization and descaling of limestone, the quality of iron farm tools in Beihai is better than that of ordinary blacksmith shops.

In terms of price, the price of agricultural tools of Beihai National Railway is similar to that of ordinary blacksmith shops, but the profit is several times higher, and the quality is better.

As a result, many blacksmiths from other countries went bankrupt and hated Beihai. Of course, the North Sea country doesn't care about these. Some blacksmiths, because they lost their jobs, even went to hostile countries of Beihai and became mercenaries...

Of course, there are also smart blacksmiths who instead import pig iron ingots from Beihai, and then process them into tools needed by ordinary people, so as to continue to make money. In the end, the only unlucky ones are those blacksmiths who make their own iron...

Besides, there are smarter ones. They found that the quality of pig iron in Beihai was higher than that of French military pig iron. Then, they even imported pig iron farm tools from Beihai, and then melted them into weapons and armor, which turned out to be very popular...

But this is only limited to those countries that have poor relations with the North Sea country. Countries that have a good relationship with the North Sea country can directly import steel weapons and armor from the North Sea country. The quality is better, and it is much better...

...

The advancement of steel technology has greatly promoted agriculture. For example, the Prader plow truck launched last year has shined extremely brightly this year.

This year's spring plowing in Beihai is extremely extraordinary, because the Prader plow has been widely used.

The Prader plow cart has three plowshares with curved shafts, which are pulled by multiple animals, and the efficiency is more than three times higher than that of a single curved shaft plow.

If it is pulled by 12 horses, the daily arable land will reach 30 mu. Later, 6 cows pulled together, and the daily arable land reached 15 mu.

But later tests found that pulling the plow with several oxen seemed dangerous. Especially, when several bulls are together...

The tempers of bulls are very violent, and the breeding of hornless cattle in this era is not yet scaled, and most bulls are horned.

Bulls have a bad temper, and several bulls together are even worse. No other actions are needed, no need to pull the bull's nose ring, just tilt the head and stab with the bull's horn, and a bloody crime will happen.

Therefore, the final test shows that - the bulls cannot be put together to pull the plow cart. Then, people mainly choose good-natured cows to pull the plow carts together. Or, pull the wagon with a castrated and well-tempered bull...

The same is true for draft horses. Uncastrated stallions are used to pull carts together, and the stallions will kick each other with their hind legs, or bite each other with their mouths. Therefore, the horses that pull the plow cart together also need to be mares or castrated stallions...

And just a few years ago, Marin generously imported 20,000 ordinary draft horses from Crimea, making this year's spring plowing, the North Sea country could not run out of draft horses.

Although the Eastern European Mongolian horses in Crimea are not as powerful as the professional large-scale draft horses in Western Europe, the Eastern European Mongolian horses have better endurance. Insufficient strength, durability to make up.

After using 16 horse-drawn plow carts, the efficiency becomes almost the same as the 12 horses of ordinary Western European draft horses. Moreover, the 16 Eastern European Mongolian horses required much less feed than the 12 Western European draft horses, which was very economical. More importantly, apart from working, these Eastern European Mongolian horses usually only need to be fed grass, and do not need expensive food...

Normally, each farmer can only cultivate 4 to 6 mu of land (4 mu is for cattle farming, and 6 mu is one acre for horse farming). Now with the Prader plow truck and sufficient livestock, the North Sea country will be able to grow this year. Spring plowing is fast and efficient. It's only been half a month, and the usual amount of spring plowing for more than a month has been plowed...