The trona bought from Venice was quickly exhausted by the mass manufacture of large sheets of plate glass. So, Romeni turned to Marin for help, hoping to get more natural soda.
Originally, Marin planned to continue sending people to Venice to purchase. However, the words of a Jewish businessman who had helped Marin buy Arabian horses changed Marin's mind. It turned out that the businessman told Marin that Egypt under the rule of the Mamluk dynasty not only had abundant natural soda, but also many Arabian horses. In addition, there is a lot of bitter Glauber's salt, which is sodium sulfate. The Alkali Dry Valley near Cairo, Egypt, is a world-famous trona producing area. At this time, Marin remembered that before the emergence of the Lublin Law during the war, one of the important sources of trona in Europe was the Alkali Dry Valley in Egypt, and it was the most important source.
Moreover, Marin plans to go to North America to make paper, and he also needs a lot of Glauber's salt to boil the pulp with logs. Because there are many deserts in Egypt, there are also many saline-alkali lakes in the desert, so the bitter-tasting sodium sulfate hydrate crystals can be picked up at the lakeside, which is very cheap.
Not only that, but Marin also didn't want the shrewd Venetian businessman to know that he bought a large amount of thenardite, so as not to be stuck by the other party. Therefore, Marin decided to organize his own fleet and go to Egypt to buy trona and Glauber's salt in large quantities. Of course, you can also buy some excellent Arabian horses by the way.
Of course, there is another kind of treasure in Egypt, that is - castor oil. Castor oil is a very good lubricating oil. In later generations, it will be a high-grade aviation lubricating oil. Castor oil is not easily oxidized in the air, has high viscosity and low friction coefficient of only 0.1, making it an excellent mechanical lubricant.
Marin now does not have the technical ability to extract oil and cannot manufacture cheap mineral lubricants. The best lubricating oil he could choose, then, was castor oil. Egypt is one of the origins of castor.
As long as Marin places an order, the Egyptians are encouraged to grow castor in large quantities. He then supplied the screw press, and it was not difficult to obtain large quantities of castor oil. You know, the Nile River has a lot of water, making the Nile River Basin in Egypt a very suitable area for agricultural cultivation.
As for Egyptian long-staple cotton, although Marin wanted it, he had read history and knew that Egyptian long-staple cotton was introduced by Muhammad Ali, the founder of the Ali Dynasty in Egypt in the early 19th century. Therefore, at this moment, Egypt does not have the famous Egyptian long-staple cotton, nor does it grow rice.
But even so, natural soda, natural sodium sulfate, castor oil and Arabian horses are worth Marin's independent opening of an Egyptian route.
However, according to the opinions of Italian shipbuilders, in the Mediterranean region, because the wind is weak and often stops, it is better to use galleys than to use pure sailing ships.
Therefore, Marin finally decided to launch a few galleys for sailing in the Mediterranean Sea...
However, for the sake of safety, Marin asked the Venetian shipbuilders with rich experience in making galleys to make some improvements to the galleys and increase the position of the artillery to adapt to naval battles.
In this era, Venetian galleys were still under the guiding ideology of "jumping through the window and cutting against each other", and the hull structure did not leave any artillery positions. Therefore, Marin asked the Venetian shipbuilders to arrange as many artillery positions as possible to facilitate naval battles.
For Marin's request, these shipbuilders from Venice are gearing up. Because they are too proficient in making galleys. Even if some changes are needed to leave some artillery positions, it will not affect their ability to play. After all, they've been building galleys for years. Even some craftsmen have participated in the manufacture of 500-ton Venetian galleys, which are very technically strong.
Then, Marin selected 100 people from the 200 Venetian shipbuilders, and led a group of carpenters to start building a 500-ton galley with gun positions.
In order to facilitate shipbuilding, Marin asked those experienced Venetian shipbuilders to draw the data of the ship's ribs, and then handed it over to Emden Shipyard's most secret department that uses steam boxes to bend the ship's ribs, and prepares the same specifications. Fixing frames and stone channels, ship ribs required for mass production. In this way, after the keel is laid, batches of standard ship ribs can be directly nailed to the main keel, which greatly shortens the shipbuilding time.
In fact, with the opening of the Egyptian trade route, Marin can not only import cheap natural soda, Glauber's salt, castor oil and Arabian horses from Egypt, but also buy cheap wool from Egypt in large quantities.
Because, in the Arab region, raising sheep is popular everywhere. Mutton is also the main meat of the Arabs. Therefore, there is a lot of wool over there, and it is also very cheap. Although the Arabs did not specifically breed wool-producing sheep breeds, resulting in mediocre wool quality. However, because the quantity is large and cheap, it can also make up for the defects of general quality. After all, British wool is too expensive. Even if the Egyptian wool is shipped back from a large circle around Europe, the cost is much lower than that of buying British wool.
In fact, the best wool in Marin's mind is the wool of Spanish Merino sheep. Merino sheep not only has fine enough wool, but also has good quality mutton, which is a good breed for both wool and meat.
However, Spain regards Merino sheep as treasures and is not allowed to export live Merino sheep easily. But this is no obstacle to Marin, because he still has the title of a Spanish wild count on his head, and he is still eligible to buy this kind of sheep.
However, Marin knew that Merino sheep like drier climates, such as Australia. In North America, because it is relatively humid, Merino sheep are prone to foot rot when they arrive on the east coast of North America. Therefore, even if Merino sheep can be introduced, Marin cannot have suitable grazing land. Unless, he now sends people to occupy Australia. But that's meaningless, because even though Marin grazes a large number of Merino sheep in Australia, the cost of transporting Merino sheep wool from Australia back to Europe is very high because of the distance. wool...
Therefore, at the moment, Marin might as well give up high-grade wool and import the average-quality but cheap Arabian sheep wool directly from Egypt for the wool spinning industry, specializing in the production of low- and medium-grade wool fabrics.
Marin calculated, because the ship's ribs can be mass-produced quickly with advanced technology, which not only saves costs, but also saves shipbuilding time.
As long as the processing of the ship's ribs is separated, and the manufacturing of other parts is also carried out in a division of labor, he can save the shipbuilding time to a short period of three to four months, instead of more than half a year or even a year for general shipbuilding. over a year...
Moreover, ship ribs can be mass-produced quickly. Therefore, curved ship ribs required for many ships can be processed in a short time. Therefore, Marin's shipyard can build several ships together. As long as the same specifications are used, several ships can be started together. At that time, instead of building one ship in a few months, several ships will be built simultaneously in a few months.
Of course, the first ship may be built more slowly. But as long as the first ship is completed, the shipbuilders record the specific data of the ship's ribs, and make the molds needed to accurately bend the ship's ribs, and then manufacture the same type of ship in the future, so that mass production can be easily and quickly achieved.
According to the principle of division of labor and cooperation, each shipbuilder only needs to repeat the same work continuously to manufacture a certain part of the ship. Once built, measure with a precise ruler. Then, after everyone builds the various parts of the ship, it only needs to be assembled and connected, then oiled and waited to dry. In doing so, the time required for shipbuilding can be greatly reduced, and Marin can quickly own more ships. As long as there are enough ships, and enough sailors are recruited and trained, Marin can quickly become the overlord of the ocean and occupy enough colonies to obtain huge benefits. Otherwise, without enough sea power, all of Marin's "discoveries" are easy to make wedding clothes for others...
The galleys required for the voyage to Egypt have begun to be manufactured in full swing. Relevant craftsmen are also constantly recording relevant data to facilitate future mass production.
In fact, the first ship of the same class was basically "follow the feeling" of the shipbuilders. After it is built, it needs to be adjusted and replaced frequently. Not only that, the shipbuilders of this era, when manufacturing each ship, "follow the feeling" and then make constant adjustments.
Therefore, it is not uncommon for shipbuilding in this era to take more than half a year, and it takes one or two years...
However, Marin's method of data recording and mass production with unified specifications can greatly reduce the time of shipbuilding, and all of them are very standard. As long as the first ship is successfully built, the subsequent ships will be built smoothly.
While building the ship, Marin could also find Jewish businessmen familiar with Egyptian routes to deal with the Egyptians. At the same time, it also helps Marin cultivate business talents. As long as the galley is built, it can be taken directly to Egypt for trade.
As for the shortage of Romeni's natural soda, Marin thought about it, and sent a Kirk sailboat directly to Venice to purchase goods to meet temporary needs. When your own route to Egypt is officially opened, you can kick off the Venetian and operate related routes yourself.