The Rise of the European Emperor

North America, later in Manhattan Island, New York, due to lack of experience, Albert's action to promote wheat cultivation in the spring was a failure. Because, the European wheat varieties of this era are too boring, and the growth period is close to one year. Plant wheat in spring and harvest it in winter. But is that possible? In the final mature stage of wheat, the temperature requirements are quite high.

Therefore, after Marin reminded that he failed, Albert also came to a painful conclusion. Before the autumn harvest, Albert harvested the tall green wheat stalks with all his heart. Then, to feed...

Previously, Marin had brought 10,000 English ewes to Laayoune, Western Sahara, to mate with Merino rams. Upon their return, the ewes gave birth to 50,000 lambs.

However, after optimization, only the wool of four thousand lambs was fine enough to meet the requirements of wool sheep. Therefore, the 4,000 fine-wool lambs were specially selected by the Marinites and further bred and bred to form new breeds.

Of course, the other 10,000 lambs were not abandoned either. After all, these sheep are of good pedigree. Even if the wool is not as fine as the 4,000 selected, it is finer than that of most sheep in Europe.

After careful consideration, Marin decided to select 5,000 hybrid lambs and send them to the North American colonies to breed and breed in North America. Moreover, these lambs were raised as meat sheep. After all, colonies also need meat.

As for domestic pigs, Marin did not provide swine to the North American colonies. why? Mainly because the domestic pig breeds in Europe are now too rubbish. It's just a small size and less meat, and the number of cubs is also small. Only five or six piglets are born in one litter, which is far worse than the Taihu pigs in Daming. You know, Taihu pigs in the southeast of Daming can give birth to more than a dozen piglets in one litter. Moreover, Taihu pigs also grow fast and eventually become larger. From the perspective of population expansion, it is obviously very good.

Although it is said that domestic pigs such as Taihu pigs belong to black pigs, the proportion of fat meat is relatively high, unlike the white pigs of later generations. But, don't forget what era it is now... In this era when people generally lack oil and water, fat meat is more popular than lean meat... Of course, no matter how good Taihu pigs are, they have to be imported first...

After the 5,000 hybrid lambs arrived in the North American colonies, they were sent to the North American Twin Islands. Albert attached great importance to these lambs and ordered them to be carefully cultivated. After all, although these lambs were eliminated, the wool was slightly thicker. However, it depends on who you are comparing with. Compared to the Merino sheep and the lambs that were picked before, their wool is indeed thicker. But compared with other sheep in Europe, they can be regarded as fine wool sheep, and they are better than the native sheep of England. What's more, they are adapted to the wetter climates of eastern North America. After all, their mothers are from the wet country of England…

And Albert ordered people to harvest those immature wheat stalks, not only to make room, but also to use those soon-to-ripe wheat stalks as feed.

To know,

After a plant matures, most of the nutrients are absorbed by the fruit, and then the whole plant begins to dry up... Therefore, after harvesting rye, most of the nutrients are in the rye grains, while the rye straw, the nutrients are only Not much left...

However, because none of these wheats have yet been heading to fruit, the nutrients from the stalks have not yet converged into the fruit kernels. In this way, this plant that has not yet produced fruit is still very rich in nutrients and is very suitable for feed. Therefore, Albert ordered all 5,000 acres of wheat stalks on Manhattan Island to be harvested and stored as fodder for new sheep. Even part of the wheat stalks are silaged as high-grade feed.

In addition, after large-scale development, the cultivated land on Manhattan Island has also reached 10,000 acres from the previous 5,000 acres, almost reaching the limit. You know, the total area of ​​Manhattan Island is just over 14,000 acres. In addition to the 10,000 acres of cultivated land, the rest are all necessary facilities such as castles, roads, ditches, and trade markets. After all, it is impossible to use all the land as arable land.

And Da Vinci, with a steam engine and a screw pump, came to Manhattan Island to test the pumping ability of the steam engine...

Originally, Da Vinci planned to test the ability of the steam engine to pump water in the spring ploughing after the beginning of spring next year. But Albert was not reconciled to the failure of planting wheat, so he encouraged Leonardo to plant wheat after the autumn harvest. After all, 10,000 acres of wheat yielding millions of pounds of wheat would be worth more than 20 million pounds of rye.

Da Vinci felt that it didn't matter. Anyway, he was here to test the irrigation ability of the steam engine. It didn't matter whether it was earlier or later.

To this end, Albert specifically stopped using the waterwheel to pump water, and instead let the steam engine drive the screw pump to pump water. The steam engines and screw-type water pumps brought by Leonardo lived up to expectations, and quickly irrigated the 10,000 acres of arable land on the island with an efficiency that surpassed that of a waterwheel.

In fact, because the speed of the steam engine is only a few dozen revolutions per minute, its pumping speed is not fast, at least, it is much slower than the single-cylinder diesel engine-driven water pump that was popular in rural areas in later generations.

To this end, Da Vinci asked craftsmen to create a screw pump with a relatively thick diameter to win by quantity. In addition, he also used a transmission system of large and small gears, so that the large gear of the steam engine drives the pinion of the screw pump. In this way, the speed of the pump can also be faster.

After these changes, the pumping efficiency of the steam engine pumping system has indeed improved a lot. However, it is still not as efficient as the single-cylinder diesel engine of later generations. However, it is better than the waterwheel. Because the speed of the waterwheel is slower, and it changes according to the speed of the water flow. The rotation of the steam engine is relatively stable, so the efficiency is much stronger than that of the water wheel. Of course, it's more coal-intensive...

Albert's autumn ploughing on Manhattan Island aroused great interest among the Delaware. The Delaware were very envious of the colonists' use of cattle to cultivate the land. Because they are still in the backward agricultural era of slash-and-burn cultivation and the use of manpower to dig the land.

To this end, several female chiefs of the Delaware jointly found Albert, hoping to buy oxen and plows from Albert, as well as iron agricultural tools such as shovels and iron sickles.

For this, Albert thought about it and agreed. However, it is not free. He promised to provide long-term cattle and iron farm implements to several Delaware tribes in the future, but he wanted land—fertile land at the mouth of the Hudson River near Manhattan Island. In addition, he also wanted to hire a group of Indian archers as auxiliary forces for the army against the Iroquois. After all, in terms of familiarity with the North American jungle, those old hunters from the Black Forest are far inferior. With these people acting as the leading party, the action will be smoother and safer...

After discussion, the Delaware tribes finally agreed to give Albert the western half of the Long Island area across the river on the east side of Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River in order to improve their agricultural level. For Albert, they need to provide them with 500 cattle and corresponding ploughs. Of course, other various iron farm implements need to be provided...

Albert estimated that the western half of Long Island is estimated to be one or two thousand square kilometers, which is dozens of times larger than Manhattan Island. To this end, he agreed without hesitation. In any case, farming cattle is really nothing to the Grand Duchy of Beihai. Every year, the Grand Duchy of the North Sea imports tens of thousands of cattle from the Crimean Khanate. Among them, many cows were directly killed for meat... Therefore, there is no pressure to send 500 cows to the Delaware. Of course, Albert also kept in mind Marin's exhortation-never send horses to the Indians, lest the Indians, who are already good at fighting, would come out with ferocious cavalry...

When the winter wheat was planted, Albert immediately organized thousands of farmers to arrive in the western part of Long Island across the river by boat, and began to cut down forests in preparation for converting it into farmland. And the 5,000 sheep were also brought to the Long Island area for grazing. After all, there's more space here than Manhattan Island. There are a lot of weeds in the forest, enough for those sheep to eat...

In addition, the Long Island region is also relatively independent from the North American continent, separated from the land by the East River, and the probability of being invaded by Indians is very small. There is an Indian fishing village on the eastern side of Long Island, but it belongs to the Delaware allies.

Therefore, Albert believes that agriculture and animal husbandry can be vigorously developed in the western region of Long Island. At the very least, 100,000 acres of arable land could be reclaimed in western Long Island. Of course, this requires sufficient labor. Therefore, Albert intends to ask Garland, who is in charge of Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland, to immigrate from England to more than 10,000 people, so as to reclaim the western part of Long Island. Moreover, the tens of thousands of immigrants on Cape Breton Island actually overflowed. Because of the low temperature there, only rye and sheep can be grown, which is a waste of human resources.

And if some people are immigrated to develop Long Island, it is estimated that the effect will be much better. After all, New York can grow not only rye, but also wheat and soybeans, and a lot of vegetables. But on Cape Breton Island, there are very few vegetable varieties, and only a few more hardy varieties can be grown.

In addition, Albert believes that the Upper Bay (Upper Bay) in the western part of Long Island is a very good freshwater port and can be built into an excellent freshwater port. In addition, a shipbuilding base can be built here. Because the harbor conditions here are really good. It is a harbour set back inland, with a relatively narrow but actually wider outlet to the sea. Because it is the mouth of the Hudson River, the northern part of the Upper New York Bay is basically a freshwater area. In the south, near the mouth of the sea, although there is a certain amount of salt, the salt content is also very limited due to the impact of river water. In the age of wooden boats, the northern half of the Upper New York Bay was an absolutely excellent port area. The terrain here is open, the water is deep, it is still a freshwater port, and it is not affected by sea storms...

In fact, Albert's vision is very accurate. Because, Upper New York Bay is the famous New York Harbor in later generations, the largest trading port in the United States in later generations. The main dock area of ​​New York Harbor is located in the Hudson Estuary area at the western end of Long Island...