The Rise of the European Emperor

On the island of Ireland, after Earl Edward took control of the territory directly under the King of England and the Earl of Kildare, he suspended expansion and instead strengthened the city defenses, waiting for the British to counterattack.

And Van Goole, the representative of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce who had been with Earl Edward, also used the reason of going back to ask for reinforcements. He obtained a passage permit, boarded the ship and crossed the defense line of the French fleet and returned to his headquarters - Den Helder, opposite Texel Island. .

The North Sea Chamber of Commerce is a chamber of commerce with Dutch characteristics established by Marin Jean Kohler, and it also claims to be a Dutch Chamber of Commerce. Therefore, Collette built a branch in Den Helder, a fishing village opposite Texel Island. Fan Gaolei is one of the leaders of this branch.

After landing in Den Helder, Van Gore changed into night clothes, left behind the branch, and boarded a small fishing boat overnight, went to the opposite port of Tholencher, and then boarded the boat to Emden...

After arriving at the East Frisian port of Emden, Van Gore hurried to Aurich to report the situation to Kohler. Kohler did not dare to neglect, knowing that this was a major concern of Marin, and brought Van Goole directly to Marin.

"What? You mean that Tara Mountain has been won?" Marin was very happy. It was the first lead-zinc mine in Europe. With that mine, there is no need to worry about the source of lead bullets in the army in the future. Moreover, the anti-corrosion galvanized tinplate can also be vigorously promoted in the future.

"Yes, my lord, along with about 100 square kilometers of land around Tara Mountain." Under the influence of Marin, East Frisians are accustomed to using modern weights and measures such as kilometers and square kilometers.

"That's great!"

"But, my lord, Tara Mountain is just a small earth mountain, and it doesn't seem to have any mines..." Fan Gaolei was very puzzled.

"Of course, if you could easily see it, it would have been mined long ago." The lead-zinc mine in Tara Mountain is indeed very strange. He is not a mine on the surface. The mines on the surface have long been discovered and mined by craftsmen.

The mines in Tara Mountain are underground mines, and the lead-zinc mines can only be discovered by excavating a thick layer of soil. This is why the Tara lead-zinc mine was not discovered until 1970. It seems that the thickness of the soil layer, as high as 50 meters, is also quite difficult to dig.

"Then, my lord, how should I explore this lead mine?"

"This is easy, I'll give you a sum of money, you hire local civilians, and dig underground along the Tara Mountain. At the same time, you go with a group of craftsmen who have experience in mining lead ore. As long as the soil layer is dug, If you see lead-zinc mines, that's fine."

A mine as big as the Tara lead-zinc mine is easy to find as long as the surface soil is dug. When the stone part was dug, let the veteran lead smelting craftsman go to identify the stone,

That's it.

"How many people are employed?"

"The more the better, it's okay to hire local people. Remember to ask the steel factory to order a batch of oriental-style shovels, which are specially used for digging and digging, so that it is convenient for local people to dig soil! Note that the depth of digging is estimated to be 50 meters. !"

"Ah? It's so deep? What if the water accumulates?" Fan Gaolei was not someone who didn't understand anything. He knew that when mining in deep mines, he was most afraid of encountering stagnant water. Once the water accumulates, mining becomes difficult.

"It doesn't matter, I'll figure this out!" Marin didn't care about it. Because, he recently learned that the steam engine that Da Vinci helped him develop seems to be about to be put into use.

The first batch of steam engines in the world were used to pump water for coal mines in England. As it happens, the single-cylinder steam engine developed by Ada has some flaws. However, it is not a problem to use it to pump water down well.

Besides, it may not be so unlucky, and there will be water seepage in the well. After all, groundwater also has underground passages, and water will not seep everywhere. Only unlucky, encountered an underground river, will seepage a lot of water.

Also, lead-zinc mines are not coal mines. The coal mine is deeply dug, it is very dangerous, and it is easy to have a gas explosion. However, the ore of lead-zinc mine is not fuel at all, and it will not overflow gas. Therefore, there is no danger other than underground water seepage. As long as there is a water pump, everything is not a problem.

After the Talashan lead-zinc mine was properly arranged, Fan Gaolei said to Malin:

"Sir, there is one more thing, please decide!"

"What's the matter?"

"It's like this. After my subordinates followed Earl Edward to capture Dublin and the Earl of Kildare, they found that there were a lot of British fine wool sheep there, and there must be seventy or eighty thousand..."

"Huh? So much?" Marin was taken aback.

"Yes, my lord. The subordinates have inquired about it locally. It is said that Henry VII ordered it to be imported from England, and it was specially used for grazing in the direct territory of the British king near Dublin. Because British wool is expensive, breeding this kind of British fine-wool sheep, It's very profitable. In addition, the Earl of Kildare, who is in power, also introduced 20,000 to 30,000 heads to his country of Kildare. However, this time, it's all cheaper for Earl Edward."

"This... Van Gore, I need to import a large number of British fine wool sheep from there..."

"My lord, this subordinate has already discussed with Earl Edward, and intends to buy 10,000 British fine wool sheep from him!"

"Oh? Edward agreed?"

"Yes, he agreed. After all, we sent Cork, his site in Ireland. We also sent the artillery. Without our support, where would he be today? Ask him to buy 10,000 sheep, Can we not give face? Besides, we also give money!"

"10,000 British fine wool sheep? Van Goole, this is a good job!" Marin jumped up excitedly.

A few years ago, Marin smuggled sheep from England, which was a tough one. After a few years, only one or two thousand were smuggled. Moreover, the cost of spending is extremely high, almost ten times more than the normal price.

However, now that he helped Edward conquer Dublin, he could easily buy 10,000 British fine wool sheep, which was still the market price, and Marin felt that he had made a lot of money.

"Khloe, go to the Neku and get 5,000 gold coins and reward Fan Gaolei!" Marin was never stingy with rewards when his subordinates got things done.

"Thank you sir!" Fan Gaolei was also very surprised. 5000 gold coins is definitely a huge sum of money.

"By the way, Fan Gaolei, when you go to buy those 10,000 sheep, you bring a group of professional herders to choose!"

"Choose?" Fan Gaolei was a little puzzled.

"Yes, pick! Your task is to select young, healthy British fine-wool sheep. In addition, the ratio of rams to ewes, listen carefully - 1,000 rams, 9,000 ewes!"

"The proportion of ewes is so high?" Fan Gaolei was taken aback.

"Of course, I plan to breed British fine-wool sheep in large numbers, and naturally I need a higher proportion of ewes. Moreover, younger ewes can also have more litters, which will help expand the population! Remember, old sheep don't!"

"Yes, this subordinate understands!"

"Okay, let's go!"

Fan Gaolei saluted and left.

In fact, Marin's definition of British sheep as fine-wool is inaccurate. According to later definitions, British sheep are mainly semi-fine wool sheep. True fine-wool sheep, currently there is only one kind of Merino sheep. British sheep are mostly semi-fine wool sheep.

But even so, the quality of wool of semi-fine wool sheep in England surpasses that of coarse wool sheep in continental Europe, and is a precious raw material for wool spinning in this era.

As for the merino sheep in Spain, it is difficult to spread to other parts of Europe because they are only adapted to the climate of southern Europe and the official strictly restricts their export.

But Marin knew that the Merino sheep of later generations were actually selected from the finest woolen ewes in various countries and crossed with Merino rams. The wool quality of this hybrid sheep is slightly lower than that of pure Merino sheep, but the quality is also very high, and it can barely be regarded as fine wool.

Marlin, on the other hand, bred semi-fine-wool English sheep with Merino rams in order to obtain a fine-wool breed adapted to humid climates.

After thinking about it, Marin sent someone to call Fan Gaolei back and instructed him to buy all ewes instead of 1,000 rams and 9,000 ewes. These ewes are then sent to Western Sahara to be bred with Merino rams there.

Only, in this way, the merino sheep and rams are suffering. I hope they don't die from overwork...

You know, in Western Sahara, there were originally only 100 pairs of Merino sheep and only 100 rams. Although the population has expanded in the past two years, there are only more than 300 rams. More than 300 rams have to deal with 10,000 British ewes. On average, a ram has more than 30 girlfriends. Marin has already imagined the picture of them dying of sex...