The Rise of the European Emperor

As for Germany, another big coal country besides England, it was not unified until the late 19th century because of the long-term fragmentation. Unfortunately, the world had already been divided up at that time, and England's navy also gained an absolute advantage early on. In addition, England can block Germany's sea routes through the English Channel and the northern part of the North Sea, making Germany unable to participate in the division of the world despite its industrial development.

In addition to Germany, the Czech Republic and Ukraine are rich in coal and iron resources in Europe. But these two countries were useless. The Czech Republic was later under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s sea outlet was in the Adriatic Sea, which was very easy to be blocked. Even if it breaks out of the Adriatic Sea, it cannot break out of the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. As for Ukraine, it is even more tragic. Although it is rich in coal and iron resources, it has always been ruled by the barbaric Tsarist Russia. Then, even if it is close to the sea, the Black Sea is a standard inland sea, and the road to the sea has been blocked by Turkey. Even if it rushes out of the Turkish Strait, there are still blockades of the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar waiting.

So, after all, if you want to dominate the global ocean, you need not only rich coal and iron resources, but also a good location advantage. Just like France, in fact, domestic resources are very poor, and the quality of iron ore is also very poor. However, because of the geographical advantage of relying on the Atlantic Ocean, it is very convenient for France to participate in maritime hegemony.

In the 19th century, the Europeans carved up Africa, and France relied on its geographical advantages to eat the biggest piece of cake. If it weren't for the extremely high value of gold mines in South Africa, the African colonies swallowed by France might be stronger than Britain. After all, West Africa annexed by France is very close to mainland Europe and is easy to manage.

But France's poor coal and iron resources made the quality of French artillery very poor. It wasn't until the Frenchman Martin came up with the "Martin Furnace" that refined inferior pig iron and wrought iron into steel, smoothed the gap with British steel technology (reverberatory furnace technology), and even surpassed it, which made France's maritime power gradually Catch up with Britain and become the second naval power.

Of course, that was the time of the industrial age. At that time, France was already able to import coal easily from abroad, as well as obtain coal from the colonies.

However, in this era, the exchange of materials between countries is very poor. Therefore, England, which is rich in coal and iron resources, is more likely to rise first.

And France also has its advantages, that is, relying on its huge population base, it can compete for hegemony on land. As for the maritime hegemony... If you say too much, you will be in tears-England, France's neighbor to the north, and Spain, its neighbor to the southwest, are both maritime powers, and they are unwilling to see the development of French maritime power... Even because of Spain and Portugal, which has a good relationship with France, is not happy to see France, a behemoth, join the sea hegemony...

You know, France's human resources are too rich. In terms of population alone, France currently has 15 million people, while England has only 3.75 million after unifying Scotland and Ireland, and Portugal has only 3 million. The combined total of England and Portugal is only 6.75 million, which is not even half of that of France.

For the colonies,

Sufficient human resources mean that the troops are sufficient and easy to control. If the behemoth of France squeezed into the colonial field, what other countries would have to survive?

Just like the partition of Africa in the 19th century, France relied on its size and strength to almost monopolize West Africa, leaving Spain a barren land called Western Sahara. As strong as the United Kingdom, it can only get a few places such as Nigeria and the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea. The rest of West Africa was swallowed up by "fat" France. And Britain can only gain some territory in South Africa and Egypt.

Therefore, as long as you are not a fool, you will not allow a populous country like France to participate in the frenzy of carve-up the world. Unless, I can't stop it...

Just like in the 19th century, Britain was reluctant to let France share the world. After all, France is too close to West Africa, so it is easy to snatch it. After the era of ironclad battleships began, France did not lag behind, and sometimes even took the lead in technology, so Britain had to accept France to share the world with him.

However, the biggest problem in the 19th century was actually the difficulty of keeping secrets. For example, in the 18th century, the British were able to protect the secret of secondary refining of iron with reverberatory furnaces. However, in the 19th century, because exchanges between countries became more convenient and frequent, it became very difficult to keep it secret. Just like the French had just distributed Lebel 1886 rifles using smokeless gunpowder to the troops. As soon as they were installed in the troops, they were brought across the border to Germany by a soldier on the French border and sold to the Germans at a price of 20,000 marks.

Therefore, in the 19th century, it was difficult for European countries to keep secrets. As long as the asking price is high enough, some people with flexible minds will sell you secrets. Moreover, at that time Europe had completely entered the era of capitalism, and people had no respect for the country and royal power, nor morality and shame, and it was easier to sell state secrets.

But it’s okay now, because the European medieval chivalry has not been abandoned, and the kingship and theocracy are still strong, and the countries are relatively closed. Just don't know the details.

Of course, it was also Marin who was cunning. He secretly processed the potassium salt and apatite and kept them strictly confidential, so that users did not know what they were using. Even the excrement was deliberately air-dried for several months to dissipate the odor as much as possible, and then mixed and mixed so that people could not see what it was. Coupled with the backward transportation and people's awe in this era, the secrets were not leaked.

Moreover, an island country like England is actually easier to keep secrets. Because it is surrounded by the sea. Even if you steal the secret, it will be difficult to take it away.

But if you really come up with a shocking killer, it will be very difficult to keep it a secret. Just like the Minie rifle and Minie bullets, it's not that hard to make one. However, the Minie rifle was too ferocious to go unnoticed.

In addition, the structure of the Mini rifle is too simple and it is easy to be imitated. That's why Marin was reluctant to take out the Mini rifle, preferring to make more complicated slugs.

Slug rounds are more complex and costly to manufacture than Mini rounds. Moreover, in order to prevent the deformation of the air grille of the warhead, it is necessary to use a special box to store the warhead, which greatly increases the cost. But his benefits are also obvious, that is - after hitting the target, due to the impact force, the confidential air grille of the warhead will be squeezed into a lump of lead, making it impossible to see the original appearance at all. If you want to imitate, there is no way to talk about it.

So, while the slug is more expensive to manufacture and keep, the range of the slug is not as good as the Minie. However, considering the convenience of secrecy, Marin still chose to use slugs to equip his guards as the trump card of the Beihai army.

Although there are only thousands of guards now, the number is not large. However, because the slug has a straight trajectory within 200 meters, if it is fired in a row, it can guarantee that the enemy on the opposite side will be brought down in a row, just like cutting leeks. Unlike ordinary smoothbore guns that use spherical lead bullets today, if you stay away, only a small number of people in a row will be shot, and you will be hit if you are unlucky.

If during the battle, the guards suddenly appeared in an important area, and launched an attack on the part where the enemy's senior generals were located, killing many of the opponent's senior generals. Given the characteristics of the army in this era, the enemy would easily collapse. Morale takes a major hit, if not a crash.

...

On the mainland of the North Sea State, Marin was receiving a group of soldiers returning from the North American colonies. This group of people was previously sent by Marin to "clear up" the New York colony. The so-called "clearing the scene" is actually cleaning up the local aborigines, so that they will not come out to steal the spotlight when Kahn and the others are acting in the past.

Originally, this was an ordinary job. However, Nubi, the officer who led the team this time, tried his best to recommend Marin to the Ewenki falconer who was originally sent by Marin to North America to "play" with the army. Because the Ewenki falconers who accompanied the army performed really well in this battle to clean up the aborigines, which surprised Nubi, the leader of the phalanx, so he strongly recommended it to Marin.

So Marin met five Ewenki falconers who accompanied the army to North America to wipe out the native Indians. As soon as they saw Marin, several Ewenki falconers with black and red skin, not tall but strong, stroked their chests and saluted one after another. And the Chinese dialect (they know that Ma Lin understands Chinese) with the flavor of the Northeast said:

"Sauron Archer Baigeri (Suha, Barhu, Yadan, Muren) pay tribute to the Great Khan of Beihai!"

"Khan? Sauron?" Marin was taken aback, then laughed. Because these people regarded him as the great chief of the nomadic tribe, so they felt very funny. But then, Marin was surprised again:

"Warrior of Sauron?"