Chapter 78: Establishing Saltpeter Men

Chapter 78: Establishing Saltpeter Men

Since they were going to use firearms in great quantities, there was another item gunpowder, which they also needed to prepare. Because, in every battle, the gunners would use up a large amount of gunpowder.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Based on the traditional tercios formation, the ratio of spearmen to gunners were 3:1. Which also means in a phalanx of 1200 men, gunners would represent one quarter of that, which was 300 men.

Based on the information he had read in his past life, Marin knew that in each battle, each gunner would use up an average of 1 pound of lead balls, and less than 1 pound of gunpowder. With the Britishs data based on the British flintlock Brown Bess, one pound of lead could be made into 15 shots of buck and balls, which was about 30grams per. As for the gunpowder, they used 3/4 of an ounce, which was about 21 grams.

Which also means that in each battle, the musketeers would at most fire 15 shots, and then it would enter the bayonet phase Of course, this was based on the tactics of the British Red Coats, in this day and age, bayonets have yet to be discovered. When the enemies approach, the musketeers would usually use their one-handed sabres or shortspears to battle their enemies.

However, the Spanish musket was different than the Brown Bess flintlock. The bullets for the muskets weighed as much as 50 grams, and the propellant used reached 35 grams. Thats why it uses up more explosives.

The greater the usage, the more gunpowder they needed to consume. And sadly, there arent any saltpeter mines in Europe, while India and the Middle East which produces large quantities of saltpeter ore had their trading routes blocked by Turkey.

Thats why the Europeans could only seek saltpeter from cesspits. Not only was it found in small amounts, even its gathering was difficult.

From the looks of it, Europe has yet to completely march into the age of firearms, so their requirement for explosives wasnt that high. By the time Europe enters the age of death sentence by firing squads, their consumption of explosives would be extremely frightening. If it wasnt because the British had opened up saltpeter trade with India, who knows whether or not the British would have so much gunpowder to fuel their cannonfire.

In order to gather enough saltpeter for use in war, the King of England, Charles I, that dumbass who was decapitated, had specifically sent out saltpeter men, and within the borders of England, bareg into the homes of the commonfolk, to dig up all the saltpeter within the toilets and stables, to extract nitrite. In order to obtain sufficient amounts of nitrite, Charles I had also ordered all toilets and stables within the country are barred from paving the floor with slabs or wooden planks, to prevent them from affecting the collection of saltpeter

As to this order from their Lord Baron, all of the citizens of the island find it extraordinarily weird. However, Nobles knew how to party so they couldnt do anything about it.

After all, the only noble on this island was just Marin. As for the knight, Schwartz, he was just an attache of Marins. Thats why, on Texel island, Marins word was law and nobody would object.

Marin had once read a webnovel, so he knew that after feces and urine come into contact with the soil, it would need roughly two dozen days for it to become saltpeter. As for the 6000 citizens on the island, only the toilets of the native 800 and so were very old, so there was a very thick layer of saltpeter. As for the new arrivals, although the saltpeter was being produced from their feces, but it wasnt at sufficient amounts, but it was still in progress. After all, there was so many people.

What made Marin angry was, a lot of the fishermen living by the sea actually tossed their feces into the ocean, that was basically such a serious waste, and such a crime, as well as contaminating the ocean

As such, Marin ordered for a public toilet to be constructed downwind of the fishing villages. All of the fishermen families must not dump their feces into the ocean with legitimate reason.

Of course, same goes when they go fishing into the ocean.

And just like that, Marin had completed his entire supply chain of saltpeter on the island just like that. The saltpeter of the island, at the start of their service, had stripped all the saltpeter from the toilets of the original 800 natives. Afterwards, Marin ordered them to mobilize once a month to gather all the saltpeter. This is because the generation period for saltpeter takes about 20 or so days.

Of course, Marins words didnt mean everything on the island. For example, there were several churches on the island, which had slabs in their toilets. Against the church, Marin didnt dare send people to demolish their toilet slabs. Because Marin was not capable of offending the Church just yet.

However, Marin had also thought about another way. For example, he could dig up a pit from a place away from the church. Then, he can send people into the church, using wheelbarrows to wheel the feces from the church toilets away and into the pits, and wait for the saltpeter to form

News of Marin establishing saltpeter men on Texel island was quickly spread out by the merchants doing trade there. And that news was mostly used as jokes during meals. But there were shrewd merchants who came over to Texel and requested to purchase the saltpeter. But Marin knew that in the future wars, he might not even have enough saltpeter for himself, so how would he sell them?