November at the beginning, Danube at the downstream.
The north wind roared in, and the withered yellow reeds on both sides of the river swayed with the wind. The river was filled with chill, and a medium-sized cargo ship loaded with cargo furled its sails and sailed slowly along the current.
Urban was sitting on the stern deck of the ship, chatting with several Hungary sailors wrapped in duffel cloaks to relieve their boredom.
He broke off a small piece of bread and threw it to the wild ducks on the left side of the river, while asking the sailors, "You often travel between the middle and lower reaches of Danube. What do you think of Vitus?"
When Vitus was mentioned, the sailors suddenly became interested and told a lot of battlefield rumors.
Some people believe that he is a favored person or descendant of the ancient Roman god Vertus, just like the connection between Heraclius and "Hercules".
"Back then, Battle of Sakarya led a team to attack Murad II's mountaintop camp, and reached Sultan's banner by himself. Unfortunately, Sultan ran away early.
There was also the early Battle of Bochak, who prayed to the gods to send down a fog to cover Skanderbeg's attack on the flanks of Ottoman's army, and turned defeat into victory despite inferior strength."
(Note: During the Rome period, it was popular to associate emperors with gods. Caesar claimed that the family originated from the god of love Venus. After Aurelian ascended the throne, according to legend, He often wears the golden mask of the Sun God, and Diocletian claims to be the son of Jupiter. Some monarchs also give themselves the title "Hera-cles" to show their strength and bravery.)
Putting aside these contradictory rumors, Urban perceived a key message:
This emperor did not like to hold tournaments and other extravagant ceremonies, and he did not make generous donations to the church. In this regard, he was not as good as Wladyslaw III, or even as good as the ruler of a medium-sized country.
Stingy and stingy.
Urban feels this is not a good quality.
"Venice is in decline and cannot afford to pay the salaries of craftsmen. Hungary's noble council is short-sighted and unwilling to expand the scale of Artillery. All they can think about are those broken light cavalry.
It is said that Mamluk and White Sheep are also recruiting senior craftsmen. If Vitus does not offer a high salary this time, I will try my luck at Egypt first, and then take a boat to Castile, France, and England. There will always be a place suitable for me."
After a long time, a vague outline of a city appeared on the river bank ahead, with Palaiologos Flag flying above the tower, and the captain shouted:
"Ruse is here!"
He pulled the rope under the ship's bell, and the sailors on the deck ended their chat and walked to their respective posts.
The first mate shouted slogans, the sailors paddled the oars rhythmically, and the cargo ship's bow turned to the south, diagonally cutting towards the dock.
After the cargo ship stopped, Urban carried a package and walked towards the soldiers near the dock. "I am good at forging cannons. Can you introduce me to officials in the city?"
The soldier replied, "Go straight along the street and pass two intersections. In front of you is the city lord's official residence. If City Official is not here, you can go to the Frontier Army headquarters..."
"Thank you."
Urban found the official residence according to the instructions and truthfully explained the origin to City Official:
"I am from Hungary. I have worked in Venice Arsenal for eight years. I am the highest level cannon casting craftsman."
City Official has no actual combat experience. He just read relevant information from the newspaper and knows that the cannon casting technology of Venice is at the same level as Rome.
After thinking for a moment, City Official recommended Urban to Balkans Frontier Army, allowing the military to judge the craftsman's cannon casting skills.
"You have worked at Venice Arsenal for eight years?"
In the command post hall, Constantine was sitting slightly leaning forward, looking at this middle-aged man in his forties.
The other person has black hair, black eyes, a broad square face, a pair of strong arms and rough hands, and looks like a senior craftsman.
After exchanging a few words, Constantine had complicated emotions. He recognized this person's ability, but he felt inexplicably wary.
On the right side of the hall, Giovanni Giustiniani was more vigilant, hating Urban from the bottom of his heart, and had a vague urge to draw a knife and kill people.
Finally, Constantine ignored those complicated thoughts.
"Maybe I'm overthinking."
He issued a letter to Urban and asked a team of cavalry to escort the other party to Eastern Thrace First Arsenal.
With the recommendation of Constantine, Urban successfully gained the attention of Arsenal. He spent half a month casting a heavy-duty Bronze Cannon. After the test was successful, he asked the director of Arsenal to report the good news to the emperor.
"How can the emperor have time to see you?"
The supervisor was annoyed several times and tentatively sent a report to the Blachernae Palace. Unexpectedly, three days later, the emperor actually came.
What Vitus cares about is not the parameters of the heavy artillery, but just the name "Urban".
Historically, this man came to Constantinople in 1452 and proposed to help cast cannons to defend the city.
The emperor Eastern Roman Empire at that time was Constantine. He recognized Urban's ability and barely squeezed out some funds.
However, Theodosian Walls could not withstand the recoil of heavy artillery. Urban was asked to cast some light artillery with small recoil, and gradually lost interest in this job.
Under the temptation of fame and fortune, Urban went to Adrian to meet Ottoman Sultan, and successfully gained Sultan's trust.
Ottoman had no shortage of manpower and funds. Urban successfully cast the famous "Urban's Great Bombard", and finally destroyed Theodosian Walls in May 1453...
At noon, Vitus came to the remote valley on the north side of Arsenal and observed this giant artillery with a barrel length of five meters and the ability to fire hundreds of kilograms of shells.
Based on this artillery alone, Vitus is convinced that the opponent is the "Urban" in history.
He walked to the bunker halfway up the mountain and observed the test firing process of the artillery.
When loading, Urban's assistant stuffed six powder packets, then used a crowbar and pulley block to lift an iron bullet and let it slowly slide into the chamber.
Out of personal stubbornness, Urban dismissed his assistants and stood at the rear to light the fuse himself.
After the fuse burned out, the heavy artillery sprayed out a thick orange-red flame. The shell penetrated the stone wall 200 steps away, and rushed into the pine forest further away with the remaining kinetic energy, knocking down a small pine tree.
"What a powerful force!"
Vitus's ears buzzed.
Not long after, Urban ran into the bunker excitedly, "Your Majesty, what do you think of this artillery? I can also forge a larger caliber artillery that can destroy any city wall in the world."
Hearing this, the officers laughed out loud, thinking that this man did not understand military affairs at all.
This artillery is too heavy and needs twenty Harness Horse horses to be towed. If it is a marching battle, its speed is very low in rugged terrain. It is possible that the frontline troops have captured the enemy's castle, and it is still moving at a slow speed in the rear.
Vitus has the same idea. He is good at decisive battles in the wild, and the most important thing is Artillery's mobility.
As long as he defeats the enemy in the field, he has plenty of ways to take down those fortresses.
The key to Trench Siege Method is not the caliber of the heavy artillery, but the layout of the trenches.
The commander needs to reasonably plan the trenches according to the structure of the fortress and the artillery firing range, so that the trenches gradually get closer to the city wall. After the innermost Parallel Trench is completed, use Mortar to bombard the city wall at close range to kill the defenders behind the bunker.
"The currently installed Siege Cannon is enough. Even if the caliber is larger, it will not have much effect."
Realizing that the emperor was about to leave, Urban quickly shouted, "I have a new idea."
He took out a thick notebook from his pocket, "At the end of the war, Venice Finance was nervous and mentioned using Cast-Iron Cannon instead of Bronze Cannon to reduce the cost of cannon casting to one to two percent of the original. This is the experimental process I recorded."
The response to Vitus was mediocre. The price of iron is indeed cheaper, but the ductility of iron is not as good as bronze, and the probability of the chamber exploding is too high.
Therefore, Eastern Roman Empire has been using Bronze Cannon, and Arsenal has a project to develop Brass Cannon, which is still in the technical verification stage.
Sensing the emperor's suspicion, Urban turned to a page in his notebook, showing a large hydraulic blast furnace:
Using the sufficient wind provided by the hydraulic bellows, the temperature in the furnace is extremely high, and then the liquid iron is injected into the mold and into the iron cannon.
Vitus: "Nothing special, Bronze Cannon is also cast in this way. Arsenal tried to use this process to cast iron cannons, but it was still easy to explode."
At this time, Urban showed a faint smile.
"That's a problem with the iron material itself. We have discussed privately that if the fracture surface of the iron material is white, it means it is brittle. If the fracture surface of the iron material is dark gray, it means it has better toughness. Therefore, the key to Cast-Iron Cannon is to obtain Gray Cast Iron in batches. I have a few good ideas, but they have not been verified yet."
Hearing this, Vitus became interested.
Eastern Roman Empire has a long border, which requires the construction of numerous fortifications and a huge demand for artillery. Because bronze is expensive, many fortresses are in short supply of artillery for a long time.
Assuming that Arsenal develops the practical Cast-Iron Cannon, the increase in the number of artillery will be more beneficial to border defense and resist the nomads of Central Asia and Northern Black Sea Coast.
Vitus intends to recruit Urban, but his loyalty is very low. If in a few years he comes to France with information, it will seriously damage the interests of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Vitus considered it for a while and offered the other party two options:
First, Urban sells the information he carries, Vitus gives him one thousand Florin, and then he can go wherever he wants.
Second, Urban has officially joined the R&D department of Arsenal. His personal freedom is restricted and he cannot leave Eastern Thrace without permission.
The R&D department adopts a project responsibility system, appointing a chief craftsman who is fully responsible for project management and resource coordination.
Urban can choose ordinary craftsmen and apprentices that he likes, or he can make cooperation requests to other Arsenal or universities. Once the project is successful, he will be allowed to serve as the supervisor of the new workshop and earn profits in proportion every year.
"You have been at Arsenal for half a month. You should be clear about the treatment and obligations of the chief craftsman. This regulation restricts personal freedom. This regulation is not for you alone, but for all chief craftsmen. You have two days to consider it."
After leaving the valley, Vitus led the guards back to Constantinople. The fallen leaves were colorful along the way, and the group could only slow down their horses to avoid the horses' hooves from slipping on the slippery foothills.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, they finally left the hilly areas in the northwest and arrived at the outskirts of the city.
On the south side of a mountain foothill ahead, there is a large courtyard of Eastern Thrace Second Arsenal. Although it is called Arsenal, its products tend to be for civilian use, such as telescopes, precision measuring instruments, etc.
Some time ago, Vitus wanted to promote Gas Streetlight, and the second Arsenal took over the project. Yesterday, the supervisor reported to the Blachernae Palace, claiming that they had created the relevant physical object.
He walked into Arsenal and followed the chief craftsman to a spacious and remote courtyard. There was a lot of coal piled open in the open space on the right side, and the experimental equipment was located under the work shed on the left side.
The main body of the device is a small iron can. The craftsman puts small pieces of coal into the iron can, then seals the iron can, ignites and heats it at the bottom of the can, and performs retort.
There is a hollow iron pipe at the top of the iron can. The craftsman unscrews the valve of the iron pipe and ignites the nozzle at the end. In an instant, a bright yellow-white flame is produced at the nozzle.
"Your Majesty, this is the Gas Streetlight you need. I followed the steps you told me to seal, heat, and ignite the gas. The lighting effect at night is very good, surpassing the common oil lamps on the market."
The craftsman asked his apprentice to get the drawings and excitedly introduced his Gas Streetlight plan:
Build multiple Gas Plants in urban areas, and the gas produced will be transported through underground pipelines and supplied to Streetlightss on both sides of the streets.
The lamp holder at the top of the lamp post has a sleeve-type structure, with a transparent glass lampshade outside. Every evening, a dedicated lamplighter is responsible for lighting the gas lamp...
The craftsman introduced it for a long time, and noticed that the emperor's interest had faded, and he had a bad feeling in his heart, "This is a plan we have been thinking about for a long time, is there any problem?"
"You're right, it's just too expensive."
Vitus pointed to the small iron tank where coal was being retorted, "The production of gas and the transportation of gas have high requirements on the sealing of the container. You can cast a small tank with good sealing, but how do you make a large retort tank and a sealed metal pipe that is tens of miles long? Forget it, Streetlights will put it aside for now, just pretend I didn't say anything."
The main cost of Gas Streetlight is the infrastructure, especially these sealed metal pipes.
The cost of a traditional oil lamp is the fuel.
If olive oil or fish oil is used, laying thousands of glass street lamps on the main roads in the city will consume about 600 to 800 kilograms of oil every night and cost 80 florins.
The Streetlights system also involves expenses such as labor, maintenance and equipment depreciation. After calculation, the annual operating cost exceeds 50,000 Florin.
Hearing that the project was about to be cancelled, the chief craftsman was in a low mood. At this time, the retort inside the iron can stopped, and the apprentice stepped forward to open the iron cover and pour out the residue and Coal Tar inside.
"Wait!"
Vitus walked over and picked up Coke after the carbonization of coal. Suddenly, he remembered that Coke is also a raw material for iron smelting, which can replace charcoal.
At this stage, charcoal is used to smelt iron, and smelting one kilogram of iron requires 8 to 10 kilograms of wood. It is said that some forests around Iron Mine have been cut down, and charcoal can only be imported at a high price from other places.
In the seventeenth century, England's overseas colonies continued to expand, and the demand for ironware increased. England's local iron production increased accordingly, causing the forest area to shrink and the cost of wood to soar.
In desperation, the England businessman tried to use Coke instead of charcoal.
After the relevant technology matured, England used coke on a large scale to smelt iron in the 18th century, which in turn increased the demand for coal and promoted the development of the coal mining industry...
Vitus proposed to the craftsman. "If Coke is used to smelt iron, Iron Mine's operating costs will drop, and the price of iron will be much cheaper. I want to try Coke to smelt iron. Are you interested in hosting this project?"
"Will this project be successful?"
Vitus smiled and shook his head, "How do I know? Maybe the research and development is successful, maybe it fails. Even if you develop a new process, it may not be implemented due to insufficient profits."
As a project investor, Vitus does not insist that every research and development project can be successful. As long as one out of ten projects is successful, he will not lose money.