The Rise of the European Emperor

The manpower and material resources needed to build the Great Wall are obviously huge, but Hadrian's Great Wall is an exception. To build Hadrian's Great Wall, the Roman Empire did not conscript civilians, but it took more than 15,000 people from three Roman legions to build it in 6 years.

Moreover, stone, the building material that accounts for most of the cost, did not spend money when building Hadrian's Great Wall. Because the local stone resources are extremely rich, as long as the local soldiers have tools, they can mine enough stones to build Hadrian's Great Wall.

But building the Great Wall near the Calais Fortress is different, because the Calais Fortress is located on the coastal plain by the sea, and there is no local source of stone at all. If you want to build the Great Wall, you can only import bricks or stones from other places.

At the beginning, Marin only built a high-level reservoir using hydraulic power near the city of Lyle, which cost more than 200,000 gold coins for only 0.1 square kilometers. Of course, that reservoir used a lot of steel, so the cost was high. But the Great Wall that surrounds the fortress of Calais is tens of kilometers long at least. Moreover, at least it is taller than Hadrian's Great Wall, which is similar to the fence. Therefore, the cost is definitely not small, at least hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

However, when John Lafite stated his proposal, he deliberately ignored this point, and instead used the fact that the construction of Hadrian's Great Wall didn't cost much. Then, the French monarchs and ministers who didn't know much about these professional knowledge were fooled, thinking that they would spend more money than Hadrian's Great Wall at most, just like Hadrian's Great Wall. However, they did not expect that the construction of such a Great Wall of tens of kilometers would be able to empty the French treasury...

These guys obviously don't understand construction cost budgeting. However, they can still imagine the scene described by John Laffey using the Great Wall to block the Britons from invading northern France. After all, the effect of the Great Wall is indeed relatively large.

Some people may say that the Great Wall could not 100% prevent the nomads in the north in ancient times. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall of the North was repeatedly breached.

However, you have to take into account that those are special cases. Moreover, even if those northern nomads broke through the Great Wall, they would come in from some passes. I didn't see that they could fly over the Great Wall, but they had to attack some important passes.

Moreover, the Great Wall is too long, and it is inevitable that there will be omissions, and it must be difficult to guard against. But if it is a small Great Wall defending the fortress of Calais, it is easier to defend. After all, this is a large encirclement, and the situation of Calais Fortress can be seen clearly, so it is impossible to be attacked by the opponent.

In addition, John Laffey suggested building multiple wall structures like beacon towers that could prevent rain on the Great Wall. Then, deploy matchlock gunners in the pavilions on the city walls. In this way, even if it rains, you can use the matchlock gun to repel the enemy's attack...

This method of building pavilions on the Great Wall does seem to have enhanced the defense, allowing arquebus shooters room to play. However, what is hidden behind is a huge increase in cost. If you really want to build the Great Wall according to the high-quality plan, let alone hundreds of thousands of gold coins, two million won't be enough...

But Francois I and the ministers here don't understand,

Listening to John Lafite bragging, they all thought it was pretty good. As for the cost, this is not something the nobles can estimate...

...

The elated Francois I adopted John Lafite's suggestion on the spot and ordered the construction of the Great Wall surrounding the Calais Fortress, which was about 50 to 60 kilometers long. Moreover, France intends to mobilize 15,000 troops and 20,000 people to build the Great Wall. The people who built the Great Wall were naturally the strong people, and the 15,000 troops were to prevent the British army from Calais from going out of the city to counterattack. After all, building this city wall will definitely cut off the possibility of the British leaving the Calais fortress to harass France.

Sure enough, when the news came back to London, Edward's face turned dark. Because, he found that it was not so meaningful to take back the Calais Fortress.

However, he also has his own way - don't you want to build the Great Wall and surround the Calais Fortress? Both ends of your Great Wall must be close to the sea, right? OK, as long as it's by the sea. When you build on the seaside, I will row the warships to bombard and see how you build the seaside part!

After all, the sea belongs to England. The French can build most of the Great Wall, but if they want to build the end near the sea, it depends on whether the English agree or not...

In short, this is a desperate contest where I overwhelm you, or you overwhelm me...

Information from London was sent back to Paris, and François I was relieved when he learned that Edward was very angry about the construction of the Great Wall. He was worried that the British didn't care about this little Great Wall. But he didn't know that the British decided to interfere with the construction of the coastal part of the Great Wall...

For this reason, Edward specially ordered 30 Hongyi cannons from Marin, and warships loaded with Hongyi cannons, which were specially used to bombard the construction sites along the coast.

The effective range of the Hongyi cannon is more than 500 meters. If it is added to the upper deck of the warship, the range is even longer. It can completely prevent the French coastal construction sites from starting work. The French's small copper cannon has a range of only more than two hundred meters, which cannot compete with the Hongyi cannon.

Marin also quickly took the order, 30 Hongyi cannons, so he can take them out immediately. But it was a bit difficult for Marin to take out the warship carrying the Hongyi cannon.

If the 500-ton warship was sold directly to England, the French would know at a glance that it was sold by the North Sea country. In that case, it is inevitable to face the anger of the French. Marin didn't want to provoke the French for the time being, so he thought of the Spanish carrack sailboat...

Carrack sailing ships are tall and strong, suitable for carrying heavy artillery. Moreover, the Karak sailboat has tall warships at the bow and stern, which are very suitable for installing artillery. The higher the ship tower, the farther the artillery can fire.

Although the current Karak sailboats are generally small, only two to three hundred tons, a ship can be equipped with at most two or three Hongyi cannons, otherwise the hull will not be able to bear it.

But in Marin's hands, there happened to be a dozen Carrack sailboats, which were originally used to pretend to be Spaniards, but now they seem useless. Therefore, Marin decided to refit a dozen of the 200-300-ton Karak sailboats in his hand, and put some painted white iron on the hulls to resist the French artillery shells, and then put these The carrack sailboat was handed over to Edward along with 30 18-pound Kouflin cannons (Red Barrel Cannons), and let them destroy the French's construction of the coastal section of the Great Wall.

...

At this time, John Lafite was ordered to investigate the cause of the fall of the Calais fortress, and also found out that the British army had used muskets that could be used in rainy days, targeting the North Sea country. After all, these days, the only country that can install clockwork pistols is Beihai.

So, the angry Francois I sent envoys to the North Sea to question Marin. Because, Francois I felt that those musketeers were probably sent by the North Sea country. Is this worth it? To slap the Kingdom of France in the face? At this moment, if Francois I was not still rational, he probably wanted to send troops to attack the North Sea country... But because Spain and England were two powerful enemies, Francois I held back his anger and did not send troops ...

Marin also knew this, but he knew that France should not be stimulated too much at this time. Otherwise, the young and vigorous Francois I might really ignore the overall situation and send heavy troops to attack him.

Therefore, Marin directly dumped the pot and said:

"The North Sea Kingdom did not send troops to participate in the attack on Calais, absolutely not! However, a few days ago, King Edward of England did order a batch of flintlocks from me..."

After finishing speaking, he also took out an order contract, proving that England had indeed purchased clockwork pistols from him...

This document was signed by Edward on the spot when Marin visited London. Its purpose is to confuse the French people's sight in order to achieve the purpose of dumping the pot. After all, Marin doesn't want to fight France yet.

Therefore, when discussing the attack on Calais with Edward in London last time, Marin took precautions and prepared the order contract, and asked Edward to use the king's seal and sign it...