King of German Mercenaries

After the successful trial, Marin began to arrange the installation of the artillery. After all, the sea in this era is still relatively dangerous. Equipped with artillery, is also a security guarantee.

This time, Marin had plenty of artillery in his hands. Because, for more than two years, Old John and his relatives and disciples have not stopped casting 12-pound cast iron guns. Therefore, in addition to the dozens of 12-pound cast-iron guns armed with Texel Island, Thorencher and Odesschild, Emden was also armed with a dozen or so for coastal defense. Even so, 55 12-pound cast iron guns were kept in the warehouse. Moreover, Old John's cannon casting work, although the production of 12-pound cast iron guns was suspended because of the need to recast three-pound bronze cannons, but the craftsmen who kneaded the clay molds did not stop making clay molds for 12-pound cast iron guns. That is to say, when old John is free, as long as there are enough air-dried clay molds, he can continue to cast 12-pound cast iron guns.

Marin removed all the cast-iron guns from the warehouse and began placing guns on the ship. However, Portuguese designers only designed merchant ships before, so the design of the artillery positions on board is very unreasonable. For both ships, only the stern poop and the bow section can be fitted with guns. Moreover, when it was originally designed, it was prepared to place those small-caliber bronze cannons. Big guys like 12 pound cast iron guns, didn't get a few in the end...

In the end, everyone tried their best to equip each ship with 16 artillery pieces. Among them, there are 4 on the bow and 12 on the stern... The original plan of the Portuguese designer was to place 40 small-caliber bronze guns of the "Fron Machine".

But Marin knew that the small-caliber bronze gun behind the "Fran machine" could only be used to kill and injure the personnel on the deck of the enemy ship, and could not sink the opponent's ship at all. Therefore, on the ship, Marin didn't use a single bronze gun, and all used 12-pound cast iron guns.

However, the cast iron guns cast by Old John were obviously 12-pounders, but they weighed as much as 18-pounders, and each gun weighed as much as 2 tons. In those cases, the rear-mounted bronze guns weighed only a few hundred pounds each.

However, although the number of artillery pieces has been reduced, the power has not decreased at all. Because the 12-pound iron ball is more powerful than the 3-pound and 6-pound iron balls of the bronze gun.

Moreover, those bronze cannons are a little leaky because they are rear-mounted. In terms of range and power, it can't match Marin's 12-pound cast iron gun.

After the artillery was installed, the two ships tried it out at sea and found that the effect was very good, and there was no situation where the hull swayed violently due to the firing of the artillery. After all, the length-to-width ratio of the hull is only 3.5:1, which is much wider and more stable than those 4:1 Galen boats. Moreover, there are very few artillery pieces on board, and even a salvo will not bring so much recoil.

However, the investment of these large-caliber cast iron guns made Marin face a new problem - that is, there is not enough gunpowder!

A 12-pound cast iron gun requires three or four pounds of gunpowder to be fired each time it is fired. Dozens of doors are used together, and the gunpowder is flowing...

What's more, after Marin formed a regular army of 10,000 people, there were about 2,500 musketeers alone. 2500 muskets are used together, the amount of gunpowder is not mentioned, and the consumption of lead is also huge.

Demand determines the market supply. Others do not popularize the use of muskets, although Marin has the upper hand. But at the same time, because firearms are not very popular, the market supply of gunpowder is also low. The most important thing is that the supply of saltpeter is very small. There are no saltpeter mines in Europe. In this era, Europeans wanted to obtain saltpeter only from the pits.

However, because gunpowder is not widely used at present, there are few people looking for saltpeter from Maokeng. Therefore, the supply of gunpowder on the market is very limited. In order to maintain the needs of the previous 5,000 army, Marin has already wiped out the gunpowder reserves of several nearby countries and regions, but it is still not enough.

Because Marin has high training requirements for musketeers, he often exercises live ammunition. Therefore, the gunpowder consumption of daily training is very large.

Moreover, now the number of musketeers has reached 2,500,

50 bronze three-pounders will also be mounted. In normal training, the amount of gunpowder used is also very scary.

Therefore, Marin urgently needs a lot of gunpowder or saltpeter. And the gunpowder in Northwest Europe, Marin can't buy much. The gunpowder that can be bought in northern Germany and the United Kingdom and the Netherlands was basically bought by Marin. In France, although gunpowder is abundant, there are already a lot of artillery, and they are used in a large amount. In addition, the relationship between Marin and France has never been good, so the possibility of Marin going to France to buy gunpowder is very small.

Then, Marin thinks about it, only Spain has enough gunpowder...

In fact, the Spanish army has also begun to try to equip the local Mushkert muskets. By 1503, Gonzalo de Córdoba was able to make the Spanish army use muskets on a large scale, and it was by no means sudden that they had so many muskets. It can be seen that before this, Spanish muskets should also be more popular. The popularity of muskets must be accompanied by the production of gunpowder and lead bullets. Therefore, Marin estimated that there should be a lot of gunpowder available in Spain.

Not only that, but in southern European regions like Spain and Italy, there seems to be no shortage of lead ore. When a musket is used, the consumption of lead is greater than that of gunpowder. Therefore, Marin planned to send these two ships to southern Europe to buy gunpowder and lead.

But in the end, after thinking about it, Marin decided - just go south with the boat and go directly to Spain...

Because, he wants to talk to the Spanish king and his wife about the problem of dumping the pot. Right now, Marin has already provoked a powerful land-based enemy like Saxony. That's all. After all, although Saxony is strong, Marin is not afraid.

But it would not be very good if it provokes a powerful maritime enemy like Portugal again. Having messed with Saxony, Marin has the confidence to fight it back. But when it comes to Portugal, Marin has no confidence. Because the power at sea requires enough warships and artillery. Maybe Marin can defeat the Portuguese at sea in the future, but in the current situation, Marin is simply unable to parry the Portuguese's blow at sea. After all, the Portuguese have been at sea for decades, from the time when Prince Enrique launched the great voyage to the present. And Marin, who is just starting out, facing Portugal is like a baby facing a strong man. More importantly, Marin's current financial source is very dependent on maritime trade. Even if the Portuguese can't get into Aurich and hurt Marin, if Portugal blocks the waters of Marin's territory and prevents his salt boat from getting out, it will cost Marin's life. The reason why Marin lived so unrestrainedly, doing this and that, was purely supported by strong economic power. But if the sea is blocked by the Portuguese, his economic system will collapse. At that time, he can't support his army, and a strong enemy like Saxony can easily take care of him.

Therefore, Marin needs to keep a low profile now. To this end, he resolutely chose to cede the huge profits of the Indian route to Spain. But at the same time, throw the pot to Spain and let Spain and Portugal bite each other.

And the Spaniards, even if they know that Marin wants to throw the blame, but in the face of the abnormal super profit, it is difficult not to kneel...

Spain may not be a match for Portugal at sea, but so what? Who called Portugal next to Spain? Moreover, in terms of land power, Portugal is far worse than Spain.

If they can't beat Portugal at sea, then there is no problem. Spain can completely cheat and drive the army to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, surround Lisbon, and force Portugal to bow its head. What if you take it at sea? My hometown is right in front of me, and I can send troops to take over your home at any time...

Spain has come forward, and Portugal is still in the mood to find trouble with Marin? In the face of a stronger Spain, Portugal must be tired of dealing with it, busy with Spain, and simply can't find time to do anything else.

As it happens, the recruitment work is basically completed. All recruits were organized into teams with their own instructors. Schwartz's training ability is already very good. Therefore, Marin can leave with confidence to go to Spain.

Besides, when Marin went to Spain this time, he was also tasked with purchasing gunpowder and lead. If Columbus's fleet is received, maybe Columbus will bring enough saltpeter. Then, there is no shortage of gunpowder for Marin. After all, charcoal and sulphur are more abundant in Europe...