King of German Mercenaries

There is no rush to organize an army south to Italy, because, according to Archbishop Rovere, it is difficult and takes time to install spies in the Borgia family, who are good at conspiracy. After all, the Borgia family is the most conspiratorial family. To install spies in such a family really needs to be careful and careful.

Therefore, Archbishop Rovere estimates that it will take one to two years before he can send his spies to the father and son of Alexander VI and get the opportunity to poison them. So, Marin has time.

However, in the industrial sector, the development of the forging industry has been limited because the artificial high-level reservoir has been unable to start construction. Whether it was Old John and others who cast guns, craftsmen who made muskets, and those who forged plate armor, they all urged Marin to hurry up and build an artificial high-level reservoir.

Therefore, Marin sent his cronies to the secret base where cement was fired to urge the craftsmen. These cement-firing artisans were not experts and scholars, but only serf artisans under the control of Marin. Originally, these people only fired bricks and had rich experience in firing kilns.

In fact, these people are doing just fine as they are told. But asking them to invent and create is really overestimating them. The reason why Marin entrusted them with the task of burning cement was that they valued their serf status and were not easy to leak.

However, these serf artisans were also slow in researching cement formulations due to their limited talents. In fact, Marin has clearly given the ingredients and range of ingredients, and they just use it and try to use it, and it is not troublesome at all.

This is indeed the case. According to the ingredients given by Marin, they quickly fired qualified cement according to different ratios.

If only ordinary Portland cement, which is not waterproof, was needed, they would have been able to cross over. However, Marin asked for a waterproof fly ash cement that could be used to build the reservoir.

Therefore, according to the ratio range given by Marin, they fired more than a dozen different ratios of fly ash cement. They then built a wharf by the sea using more than a dozen different types of fly ash cement. Next, just wait...

After all, it takes time to test the waterproof effect of cement. In this day and age, there is no time-saving test method for corrosion resistance, only waiting.

When Marin sent someone to urge them, the craftsmen went to the beach and observed the cement piers carefully. After all, these docks have been under construction for several months, and the corrosion resistance can be seen by comparison.

After a day of careful observation, the craftsmen finally selected the best proportion of fly ash cement with the best waterproof and anti-corrosion capabilities.

Then, the result was sent to Marin's desk...

"Phew - it's finally successful, it's not easy!" Marin was also relieved. During this time, the craftsmen who were in urgent need of using the hydraulic hammer kept sending representatives to apply for urging, causing Marin to have some headaches.

Whether it is a medieval craftsman or a scientific researcher of later generations, there is a bit of a stick. Those scientists who are immersed in the ocean of science and the great craftsmen who are immersed in craftsmanship only have career in their eyes, and they don't pay much attention to the big earl of Marin. But Marin can't do anything about these technical giants. After all, Marin still expects them to serve him. Changed to an ordinary little craftsman who dared to bark in front of Marin, he was dragged out and beaten heavily. Moreover, the reason people came to make trouble was for Marin's own industrial needs, not for his own treatment. Marin didn't make a fuss at all, so he could only coax him well.

Now that the cement has finally been fired successfully, it is natural to start the plan to build an artificial high-level reservoir...

But Marin hesitated for a long time as to where the cement plant should be built...

Built near the city of Aurich, Marin is sure to fend off coveted by others and prevent enemies from getting the recipe. However, this also explained to the world the secret of "you have the cement formula yourself".

You know, the role of cement,

is very strategic. If steel bars are used, reinforced concrete buildings can completely withstand any shelling in this era, and are stronger than stone city walls.

Such an important technology, other people know, still not desperate to snatch the technology? At that time, it is absolutely impossible to prevent.

Therefore, Marin finally decided to build a cement factory on the island, so that outsiders would not see it...

Moreover, Marin had already thought about it. When the cement was exposed to the world, it was directly called volcanic ash, and it was falsely claimed that it was shipped from Italy.

In fact, some pozzolans do act as cement. In ancient Roman times, the Romans did use volcanic ash to make Roman cement.

The reason for this is that the amount of pozzolan that can be used as cement contains limestone and ordinary soil just in line with the ratio of cement. In addition, the temperature under the crater is extremely high, and the environmental effect is similar to that of the cement kiln, which naturally creates a unique cement pozzolan.

In fact, many buildings in ancient Rome used hydraulic pozzolanic cement structures. Therefore, this reason is very reasonable. Moreover, in Italy, where there are many volcanoes, you can indeed find a lot of volcanic ash suitable for cement. Of course, because the ratio is too arbitrary, the quality cannot be guaranteed.

Exactly, the fly ash cement that Marin needs requires a large amount of fly ash produced by boiling salt. In addition to limestone and fluorite, it is necessary to send ships to Hamburg, Bremen and other regions to purchase, and to build cement kilns on the island, which is convenient and hidden.

Moreover, a cement kiln is built on the island. After the cement is successfully fired, it can be shipped to Emden, and then lied as volcanic ash shipped from Italy...

As for which island the cement plant would be built on, Marin quickly made a choice - or Baltrum Island...

Before, Marin had built the new Yancheng on the southwest corner of Baltrum Island, built a fort there, and stationed a reliable defense force.

However, the area required to cook the salt base is actually not that large. The entire salt-boiled base only occupies the southwest corner of the entire 6-square-kilometer island.

Therefore, there is a lot of open space on the island, which can be used to build a cement factory. In order to facilitate the living needs of the workers, the final cement plant was naturally built on the south bank with fresh water resources, east of the new Yancheng in the southwest corner...

Marin selected a group of serfs who were good at burning bricks and sent them to Baltrum Island together with their families to start building shaft kilns for burning cement and housing for workers. After the first batch of cement is successfully fired, build a large fence and put cement on it...

Then, the cement road from the cement factory to the salt-boiled center is also laid. Because, there is only an excellent deep-water pier on the island of the boiled salt center.

In the future, the coal required by the cement plant will be obtained directly from the salt boiling center, which is imported from Newcastle. Stone, although shipped from Hamburg and Bremen, Marin does not intend to ship the material directly to the new Yancheng terminal on Baltrum Island, but to the Norden terminal for transfer, and then send a trusted ship Ship it to the new Yancheng terminal. Similarly, after the cement is produced, it is first transported to Norden Port by confidential ships for transit, and then transported to Emden... In this way, the risk of the base on Baltrum Island being discovered can be greatly reduced.

At the same time, Marin will build a fleet in the future to cruise around Baltrum Island, sinking any ships that try to get close to Baltrum Island, in order to protect the secrets of the island's salt boiling center and cement factory.

After making arrangements for the cement plant and building an artificial high-level reservoir, it can naturally be put on the agenda. Marin let the craftsmen choose the location of the reservoir and arranged for a large number of laborers to start laying the foundation. As for the bricks and gravel needed to build the reservoir, Marin also began to send people to place orders. As long as the foundation is laid and the cement from the cement factory starts mass production and is delivered to the construction site, the construction of the reservoir can officially begin...