The Canary Islands, a wild land, are in good shape.

But compared to the "minutiae" of the Canary Islands, it was Ferdinand's puppet kingdom in the Mediterranean - Sardinia that really created the miracle.

Not to mention the booming cotton mills in Sardinia, and not to mention the insane wheat production in Sardinia – despite the miraculous yield of wheat that has shocked so many people's jaws!

Let's start with the least important.

This is the cement wave in Sardinia.

Let's follow in the footsteps of documentaries and CCTV reporters and start an encounter in time and space that spans more than 500 years.

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"The Rise of Great Powers" documentary series (2006)

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Episode 1 "The Age of the Seas" (1291~1522): Spain (Portugal was seen as a soy sauce player who was once independent from Spain)

Episode 2: "The Forerunner of Industry" (1522~1648): Spain (Iberian and United American Empire)

Episode 3 "Global Hegemony" (1648~2006): Spain (Iberian and United States of America)

Episode 4 "A Small Country, Big Business": The Netherlands

Episode 5 "Passionate Years": France

Episode 6: The Holy Roman Empire

Episode VII "United Forces": Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Federation

Episode 8 "Chasing the Aurora": Kingdom of Sweden

Episode 9 "Seeking the Way to Strength": The Russian Empire

Episode 10 "Mishima Restoration": Japan (West-Japan Alliance ~ Otomo Restoration ~ Invasion of China by the Eight Powers ~ Russo-Japanese War ~ Economic Power)

Episode 11: The twists and turns of the Ottoman Empire

Episode 12 "Thoughts on the Great Road": The rise of 9 world powers

——

……

Sardinia is the starting point of Spain's economic take-off.

In 1493~1495, this large island in the Mediterranean Sea had a vigorous cement wave.

In the port of Cagliari in Sardinia, there is an all-cement "Sardinia Cement Memorial Hall", which displays cement products from more than 500 years ago, as well as a large number of documents, materials, portraits, and computer-generated simulated pictures.

In the museum, we can find the diary of Don Isaac Abravanel, the prime minister of the puppet kingdom of Sardinia, which contains an account of Sardinian cement.

……

"Ahh

Isaac Abravanel felt a little uncomfortable, he always felt that someone was pointing fingers at him, and even suspected that someone was spying on his diary.

"Alas, people are getting old, and all kinds of inexplicable feelings have come to ......" Isaac Abravanel shook his head, how could such a thing be?

Aside from that, Isaac Abravanel wrote in his diary how rapid cement construction was in Sardinia.

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"The two types of cement in Sardinia, pozzolana cement and Portland cement, are good building materials with different uses......

"Pozzolana cement should only be used in water and in humid environments. Every day, volcanic ash from the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Naples, the Papal States, Florence and other places is mined and transported to Cagliari by the royal fleet or by the ships of nobles and private merchants, and then most of it is transported to the vertical kilns of the town of Bosa for mixing and firing, and some is transported to the ...... of Oristano"

"Since last autumn, volcanic ash from the Canary Islands has also been transported to Sardinia, where the amount of volcanic ash is of high quality and even better than that of Sicily...... A large part of the private individuals who ran the business of transporting these volcanic ashes were Jewish merchants who, like me, adhered to the Jewish faith, and were desperate to earn their wealth to compensate for the loss of the kingdom's heavy taxes......"

Writing this, Isaac Abravanel couldn't help but think of what he had seen these days.

"Many of the Jewish merchants who came to the port had already converted to Catholicism, and often ten days ago a merchant and I were parishioners, but ten days later they had different beliefs, and as a faithful believer in the religion of our nation, and a loyal subject of our King and Queen, I do not know whether to rejoice or tears, Louis has been persuading me to convert, but I am determined to always hold on to my faith......"

Isaac Abravanel, who was preoccupied, wrote this sentence to conclude this paragraph-

“…… His Majesty has told me, 'After all, strong faith always makes people loyal and strong.' ”

……

The converted Jew, Louis de Sandon Hull, who was then treasurer of King Ferdinand of Aragon, also left this record in his diary—

"Volcanic ash, limestone and clay are mixed together in certain proportions and fired into solidifying cement. A large amount of pozzolana cement renovated the port terminals of Bosa and Cagliari, the throughput capacity was increased, and it is said that the genius of the King guided the Valencian shipyards to start the construction of a very fast sailing ship (clipper), and there was already a pleasure ship for the royal family, which would soon visit the port of Bosa......"

"I don't know exactly what the boat is, how it is built, or even what it is called...... However, one use of pozzolana cement is that it can be used to coat the hull of this fast boat, which is effective against wind and waves and corrosion. Without such measures, I seriously doubt that a sailing ship at such a high speed would have to be overhauled at the end of every voyage! ”

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"At that time, Sardinian city officials, farmers, townspeople and artisans spoke of 'cotton' and 'factories' when they worked, 'wheat' and 'sweet potatoes' when they were farming, 'peppers' and 'tobacco' when they were pastimes—the latter being strongly restricted by the king of Aragon, the future Ferdinand the Great, talking about 'sherry' and 'rum' when enjoying drinks, and 'Italy' and 'Italy' when they were arguing about the international situation The Ottomans', when they were worried about their lives and health, focused their eyes on the spread of syphilis, and when they walked on the wide roads and enjoyed the life of the city, they would say: 'Thank God, thank the king, thank you to the prime minister, for giving us such a wonderful thing as cement'. ”

(Stav Arenas, "General History of the World", quoted by CCTV reporters when reporting from Sardinia)

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Diego, who almost died under the jaguar's teeth in the Panamanian rainforest, is now being deployed to garrison Sardinia, and when he learned that there is such a good thing as "volcanic ash cement", Diego also opened his mind and made a suggestion for His Majesty the King: "Isn't that place in Panama covered by rainforests?" It rains all day long, and it's easy to get lost, which is quite dangerous and the traffic is not convenient...... I think if we could build a road in Panama with this waterproof cement from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean, we would not have to rely on the indigenous Indians to cross the isthmus! ”

I have to say, this brain hole is very level!