After the successful sea 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 guarantee of safety.
This time, Marin had more artillery in his hand. Because, for more than two years, Old John and his relatives and disciples have not stopped casting 12-pound cast iron cannons. Therefore, in addition to the dozens of 12-pound cast iron guns equipped with Thorenche and Odesschild on Texel, Emden also equipped a dozen for coastal defense. Even so, 55 12-pounder cast-iron guns were kept in storage. Moreover, although Old John's cannon casting work suspended the manufacture of 12-pound cast iron cannons because he wanted to cast three-pound bronze cannons, the craftsmen who made the clay molds did not stop making clay molds for 12-pound cast iron cannons. In other words, 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 moved out all the cast iron cannons in the warehouse, and began to place cannons on the ship. However, Portuguese designers used to only design merchant ships, so the design of the artillery positions on the ship was very unreasonable. Of the two ships, only the poop at the stern and the bow part can be fitted with guns. Moreover, when it was originally designed, it was prepared to place those small-caliber bronze cannons. As big as a 12-pounder cast iron gun, it ended up not being able to put a few...
In the end, everyone tried their best to equip each ship with 16 artillery pieces. Among them, there are 4 doors on the bow and 12 doors on the stern... The original plan of the Portuguese designer was to place 40 "Franji" small-caliber bronze guns.
But Marin knew that the small-caliber bronze cannon was installed in the rear of the "Franch Machine", which 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 cannon, and all used 12-pound cast iron cannons.
However, the cast iron guns cast by Old John are obviously of the 12-pound class, but they weigh as much as 18-pound guns, weighing as much as 2 tons each. And the breech-mounted bronze guns in those cases weigh only a few hundred pounds each.
However, although the number of artillery pieces has decreased, their power has not decreased at all. Because the 12-pound iron ball is much more powerful than the 3-pound and 6-pound iron balls of the bronze cannon.
Moreover, because those bronze cannons were installed in the rear, there was some air leakage. In terms of range and power, it is not as good as Marin's 12-pound cast iron gun.
After installing the cannons, the two ships went out to sea and tried, and found that the effect was very good, and there was no severe swaying of the hulls due to the firing of the cannons. After all, the length-to-width ratio of the hull is only 3.5 to 1, which is much wider and more stable than those 4 to 1 Galen ships. Moreover, there were very few artillery pieces on board, and even if they fired salvos, the recoil would not be that great.
However, the investment of these large-caliber cast iron guns made Marin have to face a new problem-that is, there was not enough gunpowder!
A 12-pound cast iron gun needs to be charged with three or four pounds of gunpowder every time it is fired. Dozens of gates are used together, and the gunpowder is flowing...
What's more, after Marin formed a regular army of 10,000, there were almost 2,500 musketeers alone. 2,500 muskets are used together, not to mention the amount of gunpowder, and the consumption of lead blocks is also huge.
Demand determines market supply, and others do not popularize the use of muskets, of course Marin has the upper hand. But at the same time, because muskets are not very popular, the market supply of gunpowder is also relatively small. The most important thing is that the supply of saltpeter is very small. There are no saltpeter mines in Europe. In this era, Europeans can only find saltpeter from latrines if they want to get it.
However, because gunpowder is not widely used at present, there are few people looking for saltpeter from Maokeng. Therefore, the supply of gunpowder in the market is very limited. In order to maintain the needs of the previous 5,000 army, Marin has wiped out the gunpowder reserves of several nearby countries and regions, but it is still not enough.
Because Marin has high requirements for the training of musketeers, and often conducts live ammunition shooting drills. Therefore, the consumption of gunpowder in daily training is very large.
Moreover, now that the number of musketeers has reached 2,500, 50 bronze three-pound guns will also be launched. In normal training, the amount of gunpowder used is also very scary.
Therefore, Marin urgently needs a lot of gunpowder or saltpeter. Marin can no longer buy much gunpowder in Northwest Europe. The gunpowder that can be bought in northern Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands has basically been bought by Marin. Although France has sufficient gunpowder, they already have a lot of artillery and use a lot of it. 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, after Marin thought about it, only Spain has enough gunpowder...
In fact, the Spanish army has also begun to try to equip the local musket firearms. By 1503, Gonzalo de Cordoba was able to make the Spanish army use muskets on a large scale, and it was by no means suddenly having so many muskets. It can be seen that before that, Spanish muskets should have been more popular. The popularity of muskets must have the production of supporting gunpowder and lead bullets. Therefore, Marin estimated that Spain should be able to buy a lot of gunpowder.
Not only that, but there seems to be no shortage of lead mines in southern European regions such as Spain and Italy. The use of muskets consumes more lead than gunpowder. Therefore, Marin planned to send these two ships to buy gunpowder and lead in southern Europe.
But after thinking about it in the end, Marin decided to just go south with the boat and go directly to Spain...
Because, he wants to talk to the Spanish king and his wife about throwing the pot away. Right now, Marin has provoked a strong land enemy like Saxony, and that's all. After all, although Saxony is strong, Marin is not afraid.
But if it provokes a powerful sea enemy like Portugal, it would be not good. After messing with Saxon, Marin has the confidence to fight it back. But when he got into trouble with Portugal, Marin didn't have much confidence. Because power at sea requires enough warships and artillery. Maybe Marin can beat the Portuguese at sea in the future, but in the current situation, Marin is simply unable to parry the Portuguese at sea. After all, from Prince Enrique's great voyage to the present, the Portuguese have developed at sea for decades. Marin, on the other hand, is just getting started. 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 break into Aurich and can't hurt Marin, if Portugal blocks the waters of Marin's territory and prevents his salt boat from getting out, it will kill Marin. The reason why Marin lives so chicly, doing this and that, is purely supported by strong economic power. But if the sea is blocked by the Portuguese, his economic system will collapse. When the time comes, he won't be able to support his army, and a strong enemy like Saxony will be able to deal with him easily.
Therefore, Marin needs to keep a low profile now. For this reason, he resolutely chose to give up the huge profits of the Indian route to Spain. But at the same time, throw the blame to Spain and let Spain and Portugal bite each other.
And the Spaniards, even if they knew that Marin wanted to throw the pot away, it was hard for them not to kneel in front of the perverted huge profits...
Spain may not be a match for Portugal at sea, but so what? Why is Portugal next to Spain? Moreover, in terms of land power, Portugal is far behind Spain.
If you can't beat Portugal at sea, that's okay. Spain can play tricks and send the army to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, to surround Lisbon and force Portugal to bow its head. So what if you pick it up at sea? My hometown is right in front of me, and I can send troops to take over your old nest at any time...
Spain has come forward, is Portugal still in the mood to trouble Marin? Facing a more powerful Spain, Portugal must be tired of coping, busy fighting with Spain, and simply have no time to do other things.
Coincidentally, the recruiting work has basically been completed. All recruits were organized into teams and had their own instructors. Schwartz's training ability is already very good. Therefore, Marin can leave for Spain with complete confidence.
Besides, when Marin went to Spain this time, he also had the important task of purchasing gunpowder and lead blocks by the way. If Columbus's fleet is received, maybe Columbus will bring enough saltpeter. Then, Marin had no shortage of gunpowder. After all, there are so many charcoal and sulfur in Europe...