Otto woke up from his drowsiness. He was surprised that he was lying on the ground and unexpectedly covered with a deerskin.
"What's going on? Where are the people? Come here!"
Otto shouted loudly, and soon, mercenaries armed with swords rushed into the house. The person who came was none other than Jevlo.
"Big Chief, what are your orders?"
"I...what's wrong?" Otto held his head and stood up.
"Yesterday you drank too much and got drunk."
"Oh yes? Where is my son, Rurik?"
"He went to the warehouse to check the tributes. He gave me an order to take a few brothers and stand outside the door waiting for you to wake up."
"So that's it?"
Otto sat up and felt a chill. Then he subconsciously touched his left and right hands, and unexpectedly touched a piece of wheat cake.
Jevro hurriedly explained: "Rurik was afraid that you would be hungry after you woke up, so we specially prepared some food."
"This kid is very thoughtful." Otto shook his head vigorously, finished the cake in a few bites, and looked like he was resurrected with full blood: "Let's go, Jevro. Show me those tributes."
When the sea was about to freeze, a fleet came to Ironburg in the far north in order to collect iron tribute.
While Otto was still sleeping soundly, Rurik endured the coldness of early winter. He put on a thick leather coat, glanced at his father who was still snoring in the lobby, and left the house with Saipolava.
He summoned more than a dozen mercenaries, put on a very imposing aura, and issued orders to the city lord Mechasta.
The order is to inspect all tributes.
Coincidentally, the most important materials were all stored inside the wooden walls. Following the tradition of the Kewen people, a large number of cellars were dug out.
What appeared in front of Rurik were five long wooden houses. They seemed to be semi-underground houses, but there was indeed a cave inside.
Mechasta is in good spirits, and he is eager to prove to his true master what loyalty is. Mechasta does not find it absurd to swear loyalty to a little boy. He and his tribe have indeed gained some benefits because of this child, and their lives are stable.
After coming down, everything is for the better. Since what happened in the past has happened, the Covin people are easily defeated by the Russians even if they unite, so just be obedient servants.
Based on this thought, Mechasta personally opened the wooden door of a room, and immediately, a cold feeling hit his face.
"My lord, this room is filled with axes and spearheads. All the tributes you want are here."
Rurik glanced inside and couldn't help feeling afraid. He was either afraid of pure darkness, or he couldn't see what was hidden in the darkness.
"Can't you light a torch?"
"Oh, I'll send someone to light the fire right now," Mechasta said hurriedly.
"No need." Rurik waved his hand, "Let your people take out all the tributes and place them on the ground for me. I will count their numbers myself." As a person in power, Rurik must defend his own rights.
Power, when it comes to eating, is one, it cannot be two. "A thousand axes, five hundred spearheads, if one is missing, you will be punished."
What's the punishment? Mechasta doesn't even think about it. It's too easy to fulfill his master's tribute request.
Soon, some men from the Iron Squirrel tribe began to frequently enter and leave the wooden house, and one after another walked out with bundled axes. Just like the Kovin tribe living in the Oulu River, the people there beat the skins of squirrels.
Bundles, people here bundle ax handles.
The wooden handles of the axes were tied with hemp rope. Since a person has ten fingers, the axes were bundled in bundles of ten. They were placed on the hard ground and arranged in a matrix for statistical purposes according to Rurik's requirements.
After a while, a ten by ten square matrix was arranged, with exactly one thousand axes, no more, no less. In fact, there were still some axes in stock in the warehouse, and Mechasta had no intention of taking them out any more.
The spearheads were also taken out. All the spearheads were simply metal pieces that had been polished into spear shapes. With the waterwheel free forging system, the hot iron ingots could easily be hammered into iron pieces, and then after some rough polishing,
The spear head is basically formed. It does not have a sleeve, but the blacksmith deliberately left a depression on the iron piece behind the spear head so that the hemp rope can be tied to the wooden stick well.
Is it still required that each of these weapons be a magic weapon?
Rurik squatted down, untied a bundle of axes, and held the small hand ax in both hands. Even a ten-year-old boy could handle these axes. After all, the ax blades were only in the hands of young men.
It is so big, and there is no hole to accommodate the wooden stick. The ax blade is still deliberately dented, and after being bonded with easily available pine glue and tied with hemp rope, it is relatively firmly fixed on the wooden handle.
Rurik really knows how to make the two weapons. Hydraulic free forging can be said to have solved the current situation of Ironburg's absolute shortage of muscular men. The most physically demanding blacksmithing work has become the work of the river. That is
Simple hydraulic free forging cannot currently produce any fine processing.
Seeing that Rurik was looking fascinated and his little brows were furrowed, Mechasta lowered his head and said, "Sir, how do you feel about these tributes?"
"It feels like the quality has dropped a lot compared to the ones we originally produced."
"Ah! Because the men under me have just become blacksmiths, and their skills are far inferior to the experienced Ross blacksmiths..."
Mechasta still wanted to say a lot more, but Rurik said twice: "Stop talking. You have indeed completed your mission and you have proved your loyalty."
Mechasta calmed down and said calmly: "It is my honor to serve you."
Of course Rurik liked to hear compliments, but of course he kept some of his inner thoughts in his heart.
For example, these weapons were not sharpened properly. Even the spearheads still needed to be polished. Did Rurik have no intention of blaming them for this? He still did not mention it unintentionally.
The slender spearheads can easily be made into short spears and javelins. These hand axes are not really suitable for felling large trees. After the ax blade is sharpened, it can be used as a good tool for cutting meat and bones. In battle,
, these small hand axes are completely flexible. Even if the ax blade is no longer sharp, the warrior can smash the enemy's head with one swing of his right hand.
Just like pumpkins and bones, they are basically short sticks equipped with iron heads. Their high flexibility brings flexibility in killing enemies.
If these new blacksmiths of the Iron Squirrel Tribe were to make all chromium-iron ax and spearheads finely polished with ore and sandstone, it would take too long.
Are they ordnance, or a mass-produced ordnance? Mass-produced ordnance only needs to ensure a bottom line of quality. The rest is how to reduce the investment of manpower and material resources to obtain greater output. With this awareness, Rurik does not want to
What to say, they are just tributes, and a batch will be sent to the Melalen tribe to equip Olegin's warriors.
They must be ferrochromium materials, which naturally have strong corrosion resistance. Although they have not undergone lengthy carburizing operations, after undergoing quenching processing, the sudden cooling forced a huge change in the surface metallography. They are already extremely hard.
existence, would negate all the advantages of pure wrought iron weapons.
However, compared to the weapons used by the Russians themselves, these instruments are so-called "monkey versions".
Rurik clapped his hands vigorously and stood up: "I thought about it and I am generally satisfied."
"So, my master, you are still a little unhappy?"
"It doesn't matter." Rurik shrugged, "You will mass-produce axes and spearheads for me according to this standard in the future. Remember, your tribute will be doubled during the warm period next year. I know you can do this.
"
Mechasta gritted his teeth: "Okay, I will stick to it."
"Do it well. If you do well, I will give you rewards. What rewards you can get depends on your actions."
Life requires hope, hope and hope, but Otto, escorted by mercenaries, arrived without hesitation.
Either the methanol in the liquor had not evaporated completely, or he simply did not sleep well while doing his homework. Otto was just agitated by the air-conditioning, and his energy was still a little sluggish.
Otto accepted the guidance of the mercenaries, and a group of people who seemed to be idle gathered together. He immediately recognized Rurik, who was wearing a beautiful ferret hat, and also saw a lot of reflections in the early winter sun.
Very return trip.
Immediately afterwards, he understood.
The mental malaise disappeared. Otto was so frightened that he sat down on the ground. He pointed at the equipment on the ground: "Tomahawks! Why are there so many battleaxes? Are they all made by Covin?"
Jevlo and his men hurriedly helped the stunned leader up, and Mechasta immediately approached to claim this "brilliant" result.
Otto had just stood up, and his trembling mouth was trembling; "When I came...a year ago, this was just our...temporary camp. Now it is a city. You Kewen people, you are all...
A blacksmith? Even more efficient than our Russian blacksmiths!"
"It is an honor for me to be praised well by the great leader." Mechasta quickly expressed his attitude respectfully.
In fact, Otto made a mistake. When it comes to iron production, what is the level of Ironburg here? A blast furnace was built in Screwburg. Since it successfully produced iron, the operation of the furnace has been completely restricted by charcoal fuel and ore.
The supply is insufficient. It is a big eater, and one of its furnaces is more efficient than a hundred ordinary stoves! But it is real pig iron smelting, and what is cast are iron daily necessities, such as a large number of pallets.
, bowls, oil lamp holders, and even large iron pots for cooking. Of course, cast iron can be weaponized, that is, to make hammers and become useful blunt instruments and production tools, but don’t expect it to be polished into something useful.
sharp objects.
Otto simply watched the smelting in the blast furnace and learned that iron ore can also be turned into hot "water". He just observed this miracle and lamented that miracles always come when the Ross tribe is born, but did not pay attention to it.
Any intuitive understanding of production capacity.
Now, he was shocked by the axes all over the ground.
He stroked his beard and thought: "With the production of a thousand axes a year, my warriors will soon have one in each hand! No, two! My warriors will be full of powerful fighting power."
Thinking of this, Otto wanted to know more and more how they were made. He shouldn't ask Mechasta about this matter. Otto knew that all miracles came from his son Rurik standing beside him.
Let an old leader see a little bit of the power of technology, and Rurik is willing to help.
"Dad, do you want to know? I want to remind you, when you feel scared, don't sit on the ground again."
Otto, who knew he was losing his temper, hurriedly yelled: "I'll try my best...as much as I can."
The rivers are surging, and those residents who lived in the tribal era simply did not realize that water flow itself is a kind of labor force. The waterwheel systems in the European Middle Ages are one of the few engineering technologies left over from the Western Rome, and waterwheels and other water-power utilization machinery
It was a miracle that it appeared in Northern Europe in the ninth century.
No, this time Otto really understood what those wooden houses with huge wheels along the river were.
They are just showing the miracles from Asgard in the human world, aren't they?
If it hadn't been for Gevro's timely support, Otto would have sat on the ground again.
What he saw was a Kewen craftsman wearing only a burlap shirt in the cold winter. He kept putting the red iron burning in the small stove under the incredible automatic hammer. It was like Thor himself.
Give these sledgehammers divine power and let them be forged by craftsmen.
Otto had no idea that the wooden wheel full of blades outside the wooden house, which was constantly being beaten and rotated by the water flow, was the core of the power. Moreover, due to the dry season, the efficiency of the wooden wheel was no longer as good as before.
"Dad, what do you think?" Rurik asked knowingly.
"A miracle! A complete miracle!"
"Yes, it is indeed a miracle." Rurik smiled and asked against his will, "Dad, what do you think this means? These hammers will keep beating for us Russians."
"It's us...no!" Otto's eyes widened, and he looked at his son's beautiful smile. The innocence still revealed holiness and an inviolable majesty. "It's you! It's Odin, it's Thor, the gift
You have great power! Rurik, you have performed a miracle."
Deny that this is a miracle? Rurik did not want to deny it. He deliberately said: "It is these Covin people who have surrendered to us who are making iron tools. They have been approved by Thor, which means that God has approved them. Then, I also
It takes a lot of intimacy to recognize their relationship with us."
In an instant, Otto understood his son's true intention, which indeed made him very sensitive.
"Do you want me to admit that they are Russians, or that they are equal to us Russians?"
"I didn't say that." Rurik said calmly.
"What do you want to say?"
"I'm just stating the fact that Thor allowed the Corvin people of the Iron Squirrel tribe to use his divine power. That's all."
"You..." Otto gritted his teeth and simply stopped asking.
If Otto really had some scientific literacy, he should have been able to see that the constantly rotating wooden shaft and the raised wooden blocks of the bearing formed a cam structure longitudinally, which was the driving force for the operation of the hammer lever. He was shrewd in power calculations.
He is not a craftsman, and he does not even look down on the craftsman himself. He only admires the brave warriors. A young blacksmith like Kawei should be despised by Otto, but Kawei has already shown his ability
Kawei has a warrior side and is proficient in iron smelting, which makes Kawei more advantageous and charming.
Otto watched for a while, becoming more and more fascinated, and sighed: "I can't believe that your people are still giving birth on such a cold day. Since God has rewarded you, I should also give you a reward."
Mechasta was shocked when he heard Gevro's translation. He immediately knelt down and was as humble as a hound, which made Otto even more happy.
But after all, these people are Rurik's servants, and this matter has been decided by himself. Otto looked at his son: "Rurik, they are your servants. In the name of the great leader, I ask you to reward them some."
"
"Me? Is it necessary?" Rurik asked deliberately. He was also surprised that his father was probably not drunk yet. You must know that he had always been strict and stingy towards all kinds of servants.
"You must reward, otherwise you will be sorry to the gods. Let's do this!" Otto slapped his head and pointed at the kneeling Mechasta's forehead: "I give you 10,000 pounds of grain as a reward for your hard work and loyalty, which is also a response to God.
Favor. I will command your master to give you some reward."
Mechasta was not excited immediately. He felt that this matter was a bit strange, but since a large amount of precious oats might fall into his stomach, only a fool would refuse.
Seeing how determined his father was, Rurik had already planned a way to cultivate loyalty based on more "carrots" from these scientific people, so he had no worries now.
"Then I will also provide you with some food." Rurik expressed his position directly in the language of the Kovin people: "I also got some magical wood, which can be processed into a very elastic long bow, which is shorter than yours.
Wooden bows are more useful. Since you all know how to shoot, I will reward you. Once there is a war in the future, you must send troops to fight for us."
This "sending troops to fight for us" is the most significant promise! Mechasta knows that the hateful Salmon Lord tribe, even though they have fought against the Rus, still enjoy a great deal because they have become a servant army.
They are free, unlike their own tribe. Once there is actual disloyalty, they will be severely punished by the Russians.
Fighting side by side clearly means getting a higher status among the Russians.
Isn't there a living example in front of us? The Finn Jevro, this man obviously has a higher status than many Russians, just because he is a loyal warrior.
Mechasta made a promise: "My people are all excellent hunters, and having a good bow is a better hunter. We look forward to an opportunity to serve the Rus."
Jevlo cleverly added embellishments to the translation, making Mechasta's words even more respectful.
"Hahaha, maybe the battle you are eager to prove yourself is not far away! You Kewen people should be well prepared."
A war, will there really be a war? The words of the leader of Ross did not sound like a drunken joke.
Mechasta smiled and complimented on the surface, but he was muttering in his heart. Are the Russians really planning to attack the Tavastians next year? Of course, the Covin people are constantly fighting among themselves. If the Tavastians invade, all tribes will
We still have to unite, otherwise everyone will be a slave to those people.
But Otto and Rurik really have nothing to say. Both of them are aware of the huge risk of war, which is also an escalation of the war with the Danes and Gotlanders. The Tavastians? Otto is simply against these guys.
Not interested. Of course Rurik was not interested in them either, even the Karelians were more interesting than them.
If the soldiers thought there was some fun in the war, it would be to plunder the gold and silver of the Gotlanders. Facts have proved that those guys are really rich.
Otto suddenly came up with an idea, which was to let the archers of the Kovin people board the boat. This way, when his nephew Arik robs the Gotland fishing boat, the Russians would have a greater tactical advantage. Moreover, these Kovin people
Archers are bound to be extremely useful. They are just slaves. They are not paid like mercenaries, and they have no right to distribute spoils of war. They are just a tool. Even if they are approved by God and use divine power to strike iron here, it is nothing more.
A tool that can be controlled by Russians. It is indeed important to maintain and treat your own tools well.