Rurik said solemnly: "It would be best if you kill all the enemies with bows and arrows in the battle formation, but the key to the battle is still the close combat between warriors."
"Ah? We still need to make steel swords and steel axes?!" Klavasen couldn't bear it anymore, lying on the ground and begging: "We are blacksmiths, not Thor! Do we still need to make thousands of steel swords?"
How is that possible?! If we gather all the blacksmiths, we can make 500 of them a year. It would be great!"
"How could I not know? Your production capacity is indeed limited, but..." Rurik patted his chest: "In battle, you can use wooden sticks to crush the enemies in front of you. In order to avoid being crushed to death by the enemy, you need to
First!"
"Chain armor? Oh, no, no, no..." Klavason still refused, "Unless it's a pair of chain mail tailor-made for you, and you want me to make a large number of them in a short time, I don't have the ability."
Rurik also shook his head: "Why chain mail? Have you never seen fish scales?"
"you……"
"Let the soldiers wear special armor, which is covered with fish scales made of iron sheets. Did you know? Chain armor is completely meaningless against the enemy's spearheads. Our allies' armies suffered heavy losses because of
Well, this time it's our turn as Russians to start a war, and we are bound to face these situations.
Listen, every soldier is very important to our tribe, and I can’t bear the death of a large number of soldiers. I... really need your efforts!"
Rurik had made his words very clear, and Klavasen sat upright: "Are you satisfied with just hanging the iron piece on the chainmail?"
"right."
"How much do you want?"
"About one hundred sets. Note that the armor I want must cover the entire torso of the warrior. Only the shoulders and arms can be omitted."
Klavason nodded. From what Rurik said, he could conclude that the production of the so-called fish scale armor cost him too much. If he only hung "fish scales" on the chest and back of the warrior, the workload would be reduced.
.
But the number of one hundred sets was a task that Klavasen could not complete by himself. He did not want to back down, so he frowned and asked: "A hundred sets? Which elite warriors are you planning to equip? Berserkers? That should be
Shirtless madmen, they don’t even bother wearing armor.”
"No. Those are people who went crazy after eating red mushrooms and a large glass of ale. They are not real berserkers. My berserkers must have the best armor so that they can face ten times the number of enemies without getting hurt.
, be able to kill with all your strength."
"Like a pile of iron ingots?" Klavasen couldn't help but wonder: "Such a warrior is so big that he might be out of breath after walking a hundred steps. Can they do it?"
"So I will select a group of strong men to wear this kind of fish scale armor. When the battle becomes chaotic, I will send these one hundred men to break into the enemy's formation and fight."
The so-called berserkers probably use this tactic, and Rurik understands this. In this case, in order to create more serious and lasting chaos, the berserkers must of course have an indestructible body.
At this point, Klavason has understood everything. He is not surprised that Rurik has such a strange idea. If he is allowed to judge for himself, although wearing the strongest armor has lost some vitality, it will still be in the battle.
, the side with the higher armor penetration rate basically locks in the victory.
Battles in this era seem to follow an iron law, that is, the one with the largest number of people and the best equipment will be victorious.
Personal brute force has a great use, so a warrior should be as strong as a bear and wear armor as hard as stone.
Regarding this matter, even if Klavasen wanted to shirk it, Rurik would force him to do it. Since Duoduo clearly supported it, he could explain the details smoothly.
The so-called fish scale armor is more like an "iron shirt" in Rurik's plan. There should be twenty iron plates arranged in a matrix on the chest, the same on the back, and four plates on each rib.
It would be reluctant to really expect Clavassen to even unite all the blacksmith families and order them to come up with a hundred sets of upgraded armors within three weeks.
Why bother with the number "one hundred"? It's entirely because of Rurik's tactics.
One hundred strong men will serve as berserkers and rush to the most dangerous front in the battle. They will try their best to show their personal bravery. Since there is no support from their comrades in the battle, they must rely on the strength of their own armor. Precisely only these strong men can wear heavy armor.
A fierce battle.
They are heavy infantry in the true sense, and Rurik deliberately trained such ace.
The thick smoke from the blast furnace next to the blacksmith shop never dissipated.
Klavasen closed his eyes and thought about Rurik's plan. He suddenly opened his eyes and pulled his son Kawi hard.
"Dad, you mean...we can really do this?"
"If we use that big stove, we should be able to do it. However, I want you to take the children to make more small stoves, and I..." Klavason stood up and patted his legs vigorously: "It seems that I will do it now.
It's time to take action and call those guys for a meeting." After that, he gave Rurik another look: "My dear, this battle is related to the rise and fall of our tribe. I'll call all those old guys for you.
Even if there are difficulties in the task you have been given, we will work together to complete it."
For a moment, Rurik felt that his nose was suddenly sore, and tears almost flowed, feeling that this old guy was a loyal minister of Ross.
Klavasen is indeed self-aware. His family's wealth comes from Rurik's favor. Sometimes he does feel that he is unable to do what he wants. However, the rise and fall of the principality depends on this battle. He dare not insult his ancestors, let alone his benefactor, and not
Dare to dishonor your own honor.
Soon, the heads of the five traditional blacksmith families in the tribe gathered next to the blast furnace of the Klavasen family.
The serious situation made a group of old guys' blood boil, and they even felt unbearable heat with their backs against the blast furnace.
They immediately expressed their great interest in the production of weapons and armor, and the reason is very clear - they can make a lot of money by producing these.
After all, Rurik would not take away the value of their labor in vain. Since both parties have urgent needs, it is perfect to make an appointment here.
Five families of blacksmiths work together to transform one hundred pairs of chainmail into fish scale armor. The most critical part is the armor pieces. Each armor requires forty-eight pieces of armor, and each piece of armor is designed to be a rectangle the size of an adult man's palm.
The piece should be as thick as a man's little finger (relatively sparing iron material), and should be made of malleable carbon steel.
Rurik's technical requirements are actually relatively high. There are 4,800 pieces of carbon steel armor in total. To be honest, each piece of armor can be transformed into a very good hand ax or shovel. It is actually a luxury piece of armor!
This is indeed very luxurious and unimaginable madness in the past era.
Just when some blacksmiths were doubtful, Rurik pointed to the towering blast furnace with a smile: "Why do you think I gathered you here? This is our largest furnace. It produces molten iron. We only make armor plates."
The fastest way. When the cast iron pieces are completed, you return them to the furnace, burn off the excess carbon, and you get the armor pieces you need!"
"Wonderful!" A blacksmith immediately slapped his thigh, "I thought I had to start by burning iron ingots."
"That is completely redundant." Rurik vowed, "We make it this way, and you are fully capable of making more. The war is coming, and your orders for steel swords will be put on hold for the time being. Follow our orders and go
Produce armor plates and then produce spearheads. Each family must make twenty pairs of fish scale armor, which must be taken out on July 20th. If you try to produce carbon steel spearheads as much as possible, I will buy them at the price of three silver coins each."
Rurik was born into a noble family. Did the blacksmiths present dare to question or object to the purchase price he proposed?
The price seems low indeed, but Rurik prides himself on being very merciful.
Because the Ross tribe’s method of smelting iron is already ahead of the entire European world, the blacksmith families here have sworn not to betray the Ross tribe, nor the “Blacksmith Alliance” (leaving the tribe without permission is tantamount to betrayal), and they also more or less
Now you know the secrets of blast furnace and smelting pig iron. Although the blast furnace smelting method is all about casting molten pig iron, all blacksmiths can turn pig iron into carbon steel quite scientifically.
For blacksmith families, in theory, they don't need to use their own small furnaces to bake sponge iron and then work hard to make wrought iron ingots.
They are already doing the reverse operation on a small scale, that is, burning pig iron with the strongest flames until it becomes forgeable. It was indeed Kawei who accidentally discovered the method of frying steel. He did not need Rurik to teach him personally, and the technology
The "Blacksmith Alliance" has spread within the tribe.
Rurik has always been their biggest buyer, and he also controls the important contract, that is, he has the right to take away the amount of the blacksmith's profit, which is a fusion of "consumption tax" and "value-added tax". In addition to this
, Rurik has begun to collect commercial taxes from the blacksmiths, and they have no right to refuse.
A piece of armor can be transformed into the value of a spearhead, and including the labor cost, each pair of fish scale armor must have a total price of at least one hundred and fifty silver coins. In this way, the price of one hundred pairs of armor is already terrifying
One hundred and fifty pounds of silver! This is enough money for Rurik to build another Aurora.
And this is just to meet Rurik's basic needs for building an "Iron Man Army".
He believed that this astonishing expenditure was worth it, but for the time being, the Russians did not have much money in their big cash boxes.
There are quite a lot of silver coins that were used as payment for the goods sold by the Russians this year, and they are stranded in Guldeburg on Lake Mälaren on a large scale.
It was impossible for Rurik to immediately spend money to buy the blacksmith's goods, but the blacksmiths were not in a hurry at all because they trusted the credibility of their leader. Rurik didn't want to owe a favor, so he waved his hand and bought these goods.
The money was simply handed over to the blacksmiths and they were asked to pay half of the tax.
The leader of Ross was promoted to a duke, and his means of amassing money became more advanced. In the past, the means of amassing money relied almost exclusively on plundering and plundering, but now the duke uses taxation to get money from his own people.
This model can be said to be the foundation for the operation of a principality. Rurik cannot expect his descendants to remain humble, pragmatic and benevolent. At least for him, under his actual rule, taxes must be collected.
Worrying about the opponents, he himself would rather take coercive measures. Rurik simply wanted to influence and could not bear to kill people in the tribe, but he fully supported expelling those who did not pay taxes.
"His plan is very good. We still made a lot of money this way." Klavasen laughed. He looked at the guys present and watched their attitudes.
Blacksmiths are also businessmen at heart. They do some mental calculations and know that they will definitely make a loss, but there is no reason to slack off.
They will indeed not lose money, or Rurik will personally coordinate the most critical rough processing processes such as mining, smelting, mold burning, and charcoal making in order to ensure the production progress.
Blacksmiths are essentially engaged in complete finishing work in Ross's steel industry chain as never before.
Who will do the hardest work? Of course, the large and cheap labor force.
They were the elderly people, women, and a large number of children in the tribe.
Among men over fifty years old, only a few of them still have a strong physique like Otto. Quite a few of them are already stooped and have difficulty walking. They can do some simple labor, such as processing clay and making
The clay embryo is fired into a mold for pig iron casting.
There are more than 2,000 adult women in the Rus tribe. They can do a lot of things that men can do. During the war, women who are extremely short of money and income, of course Rurik will buy them at a low price.
Their labor. For example, if they are given jobs, the reward is only one silver coin. Even so, they must rush to work, because one silver coin is equivalent to ten pounds of wheat. If you save food, it is enough for a woman to survive.
As long as forty days.
Rurik deliberately planned for women to participate in mining, moving ore, logging and other tasks that seemed to be men's.
For those children who have gone through more than two years of military training, it is time to show the future power of the Ross tribe!
A large part of the children must participate in this war. Rurik stubbornly needs their participation to form an army of three thousand, which is also their training. Because many children will be twelve years old in a year at most, according to tradition
, that’s an adult. Any adult man in Ross has the obligation to respond to the leader’s war call. No one said it was inappropriate to bring him to the battlefield in advance for training.
Rurik patted his legs and said with a high head: "I will desperately mobilize the people to mine. I will mobilize every Russian, even all the servants and slaves. You don't have to worry at all, you just need to keep processing those
After smelting the brittle pig iron, you can make a lot of money. Moreover, my promise is also for you. For fifty pounds of wheat, your family, whether it is men, women, or children, will have wheat! You will definitely win
If you work hard, I will give you more rewards appropriately."
Everyone stretched out their necks, sighing that such a good thing could happen.
However, Rurik still had one final, bizarre request regarding the fish scale armor.
"You guys are going to do your nails. I want each nail piece to be dipped in silver water, so that the nail pieces will be the color of silver!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's stretched out necks immediately retracted.
Klavason had no idea that Rurik had such "delusions". As a de facto silversmith, he was forced to doubt: "Rurik, are you really serious? Why. Do you want the enemy to think that we are
So luxurious that you use silver to make armor?"
"Isn't this good? It will definitely scare the enemy, and it will also make the armored warrior proud. Besides, iron will rust if it is not properly oiled and maintained, but if it is coated with a layer of silver, it will become immortal."
Maybe Rurik only thought about immortality. Klavason slapped his head again: "Oh, how many silver coins will this cost? Rurik, is it really worth it?"
"It's worth it! If we win the battle, we'll make the losers pay compensation for all the expenses. Besides, we will definitely win. I can afford to plate all the scales with silver."
If you want to create bright white carbon steel, it requires a lot of hard work by craftsmen.
Rurik knew very well what the armor he got would be, which was carbon steel with a large amount of carbon loss on the outside, and a piece of cast iron on the inside. After quenching, the armor would become very hard and possess a certain degree of toughness.
But its color is definitely black as a whole. A large group of black warriors? That would be too lacking in shock value, and it would also clash with the elite troops of the Mellaren people.
Of course, the Malaren people inked their chainmail, and the linen lining was also intentionally dyed black with ink.
It's not that Rurik hasn't thought about the gold plating operation, but if you think about it carefully, gold plating is a really cool operation. It's either impossible to perform, or the cost is too shocking.
Overall, silver plating is the most cost-effective.
Just imagine, a group of warriors wearing silver scale breastplates, holding two axes high, rushing into the enemy camp with howling madly, they will definitely attract the enemy's attention, as if they are dressed in silver, they must be more attractive to the enemies who are greedy for money. As much as possible
Attract the enemy, and then be killed by Ross's heavily armored berserker, taking advantage of this to wear down the enemy's morale. This is what Rurik urgently needs, and is even as important as the bow and arrow!
Will this happen?
Afterwards, after making an appointment with the blacksmiths, Rurik couldn't help but think about it. The blacksmiths would never dare to neglect subjectively. They would make all the armor, spears and arrows they needed for honor and money.
In this way, the Russians have the most powerful long-range weapons and the strongest armor in the Baltic Sea world. They use steel-arm crossbows to shoot fish scale armor. Who is the strongest?
I'm afraid this is not a contradictory issue, because other ethnic groups only have broken bows suitable only for hunting rabbits, and chain armor made of pure iron rings. Rurik can clearly see in actual combat that in the current war, these two weapons
It's out of date.
Only the Russians, who control blast furnace technology and the only chromite mine in Europe in the north, can produce the most extreme weapons in this time and space.
What is exciting is that the blacksmiths went back to their homes humming the tunes of their hometown. They immediately adjusted their work and started arms production just one day before the big sacrifice, ahead of the entire tribe.
They were given a full twenty-three days to deliver the goods.