The Rise of the European Emperor

After sending away the confused messenger of the Principality of Gede, Marin suddenly heard the report from his hand-the steel plant was put into operation...

Before, in order to build a high-level reservoir, Malin specially engaged in fly ash cement, and then engaged in a steel factory, intending to produce steel bars, so that the strongest reinforced concrete can be used in the construction of the reservoir.

In order to produce steel bars, Malin specially collected materials and built a 5-ton blast furnace (with a daily output of 5 tons) for iron smelting, a 2-ton open hearth, and a coke oven for coking coal into coke.

Of course, it is not difficult to build a small blast furnace, nor is it difficult to build an open hearth. The real trouble is how to collect the coke oven gas, the by-product in the coke oven, and pass it to the open hearth combustion chamber for steelmaking in the open hearth.

For this reason, the craftsmen worked hard for several months, relying on labor and using expensive bronze to manufacture copper pipes that can resist rust for a long time to guide the coke oven gas to the steel-making open hearth.

After several months of trying, finally, at the end of April 1501, the commissioning was completed and the formal iron smelting and steel making began...

Although it is said that the daily output of 5 tons of iron and 2 tons of steel may be a joke in later generations, the output of a village-run steel mill is also much larger than that of a small steel mill in Marin. However, this also takes into account the historical circumstances.

In later generations, because of the extremely developed industry, iron and steel are produced, and there is no need to worry about it. Like the real estate that Huaxia is doing, each building needs to use a lot of steel bars. In addition, the consumption of steel in machine manufacturing is also very staggering. Therefore, steel production often becomes an important industrial indicator of a country.

However, in this age, because the machine industry has not yet appeared, the use of steel is very narrow. Steel is produced, either for the production of agricultural tools, kitchen knives, iron pots and other daily necessities, or for the production of weapons and armor.

Therefore, the use of steel in this era is very limited, and the consumption of the whole society is not large. If you really moved the steel mills of later generations, and produced so much steel, it is estimated that no one would buy it.

The daily output of 5 tons of pig iron sounds small, but after a year, there are also 1825 tons. What is the concept of 1825 tons? Maybe the boss of a township steel factory would despise him, but in ancient times, it was definitely a lot. You know, according to the data, in 1670, Russia's annual steel output was only 2,400 tons.

And what era was 1670? It was the eve of Peter the Great's ascension to the throne. At that time, Russia was already a European power with a population of at least several million.

1,825 tons of iron, counted as jin, is 365,000 jin. To build a Type 65 cavalry saber, only 1.85 kg of steel is needed. Converted down, 1825 tons of iron can be made nearly 100,000. And a pair of Gothic plate armor only weighs 50 pounds. With these steels, 7,300 sets can be made...

In short, let East Friesland digest itself, 1825 tons of iron will never be used up...

Therefore, just after the start of production, Marin will have a headache for the sales of steel...

"Oh, why did you forget Saxony and Gerdes who were fighting?" Marin patted his head suddenly.

In the future, what business is the most profitable? Naturally, it is a combination of arms and drugs. However, the manufacture of weapons and equipment in later generations is very technical, and most people can't handle it. For example, African black uncles can't do it by themselves and have to buy them. So, arms dealers can raise prices and squeeze buyers.

But in this era, whether it is swords or armor, the technical content is not high, and everyone can hire a few blacksmiths to produce them. Therefore, it is difficult for weapons and armor to sell at a high price.

However, in this era, European iron smelting technology was too rubbish, and the "block smelting method", a low-level iron smelting technology, was always used in the early days. The iron smelted by such iron smelting technology is relatively soft. Even, some soldiers turned their swords bent after being stabbed, and the soldiers needed to step on the sword straight again on the ground before using it.

However, with the development of the Renaissance,

The Europeans gradually got out of the early religious shackles, and science began to develop. The French first produced large cast iron ingots in the mid-15th century, and then, during this time period, the British iron smelting industry should also begin to develop greatly. In the early 16th century, the British developed the red barbarian cannon.

But in 1501, the British estimated that they had not yet produced an excellent red barbarian cannon. Also, European steel, for some reason, has been on the soft side. Therefore, their plate armor is not very useful in the early days. This also led to the fact that French knights in plate armor were always broken by the English longbow at the beginning of the Hundred Years War between England and France...

However, after the French made cast iron in the 15th century, the hardness of the plate armor was greatly increased, and they were no longer afraid of the English longbow. Therefore, plate knights were very prominent for a while in the 15th century. It is a pity that after entering the 16th century, the musket rose again. The musket doesn't care how hard your plate armor is, and then the plate knight is sent to the trash heap of history by the musketeer.

However, at this stage, plate armor is still useful. Because there are very few armies in Europe that use muskets. And Marin made the pig iron produced by the small blast furnace, which is very suitable for making armor and swords. And the steel produced in the open hearth, let alone.

Since Saxony and Geddes are at war, a lot of swords and armor must be needed. Well, Marin is worried about the sales of steel. So, Marin planned to use some of the steel to make weapons and armor, and then sell them to the warring parties...

You must know that in this era, iron swords and plate armor were still very expensive because of the backward iron smelting technology. A set of Maximilian armor produced in Innsbruck, Austria, sells for more than 200 gold coins. Of course, that's fine. Ordinary quality plate armor also has thirty or fifty gold coins. And a two-handed sword, the price is as high as 5 to 10 gold coins.

Generally speaking, the two-handed swords used by knights are forged repeatedly, which takes a long time. But in fact, the forging of the blacksmiths is mainly to squeeze out the impurities in the sword under high temperature.

However, the steel smelted in Marin's open hearth furnace is of excellent quality without forging. However, Marin did not intend to give the steel weapons and armor to others. Moreover, both Saxony and Geddes are potential enemies of Marin.

So Marin decided to use pig iron to make weapons and armor and sell them to Saxons and Geddes...

Moreover, Marin is not a trick to them. Because, the current mainstream weapons and armor in Europe, that is, the quality of pig iron.

At most, Marin will add some quicklime to the pig iron to remove sulfur and phosphorus to improve the quality of the pig iron. Anyway, the quality will not be worse than others used. As for the steel smelted in the open hearth, it is naturally used by its own weapons and armor...

So, Marin ordered to relocate to a weapons workshop near Aurich, and began to manufacture swords and armor from pig iron on a large scale, intending to sell them to the warring parties.

Then, Marin also sent messengers to Saxony and Geddes respectively, and sold their own swords and armors...

When Duke George and Duke Charles II received the messengers of Marin and learned that Marin wanted to sell weapons and armor, they were confused...

However, if you think about it carefully, as the war continues, they really need to replenish swords and armor. After all, swords and armor wear out due to battle. Even the weapons and armor used by the honor guards are still worn out, not to mention the two armies in the fierce battle?

Moreover, the samples of weapons and armor made of pig iron brought by the envoys sent by Marin are not inferior to others, and the price is cheaper (the blast furnace iron smelting is much cheaper than the small furnaces of the European blacksmiths in this era, and the efficiency is also lower. higher), they have no reason to refuse.

But in fact, because of the high iron smelting efficiency of the blast furnace using coke, the cost has dropped sharply. A cast iron two-handed sword, even if Marin sells it for only 1 gold coin, it is still profitable. Now, he sells 4 gold coins, which is actually a double profit. But this, Saxony and Geddes, who are buyers, don't know, they are still happy because the price Marin gave them is lower than the market price...

Both buyers and sellers thought that they had taken advantage of them. Charles II, Duke of Guedes, thought—“Marin is really a good ally. Sell me weapons and armor at a low price!”

And George thought - "The emperor's face is really big enough, the bad guy Marin is willing to sell him high-quality weapons and armor at a cheap price..."

But in fact, Marin has made a profit. Relying on the iron smelting cost several times lower than the average blacksmith shop, even if it is lower than the market price, Marin earns much more profit than other weapons suppliers...