Rurik said solemnly: "It would be best if you shoot all the enemies with bows and arrows in the battle formation, but the key to the battle is still the warrior's close combat."
"Ah? We still need to make steel swords and steel axes?!" Klavasen couldn't bear it any longer, and he lay on the ground and begged: "We are blacksmiths, not Thor! Do we still need to make thousands of steel swords?" How is that possible?! Gather all the blacksmiths and it would be great to be able to make 500 of them a year!"
"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. Do you know? Chain armor is completely meaningless against the enemy's spearheads. The heavy losses of our allied armies are all because of This. This time it is our turn as Russians to launch a war, and we are bound to face these situations.
Listen, every warrior is vital to our tribe. I can't stand the large number of warriors dying in battle. 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 a 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 would cost him too much. If he only hung "fish scales" on the chest and back of the warrior, the workload would be reduced. .
But with the number of one hundred sets, this is a task that Klavasen alone cannot complete. He didn't want to back down, so he frowned and asked: "A hundred sets? Which elite warriors are you going to equip? Berserkers? Those should be shirtless madmen, they don't bother to wear armor at all."
"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. , can kill with all his strength."
"Like a pile of iron ingots?" Klavasen couldn't help but wonder: "Such a warrior is so big that he will 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 generally use this kind of tactics, and Rurik understands this. In this case, in order to create more serious and lasting chaos, the berserker 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 had to force him to do it. Since Duoduo was obviously supportive, 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 on each side of the ribs.
It would be reluctant to really expect Clavassen to 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 was entirely because of Rurik's tactics.
There will be one hundred warriors as berserkers, rushing 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. It is precisely these strong men who can wear heavy armor and fight fiercely.
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.
Klavason 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 it is difficult, we will work together to complete the task you have been given."
For a moment, Rurik felt his nose suddenly sore, and tears almost flowed, feeling that this old guy was Ross's most loyal minister.
Klavasen is indeed self-aware. His family's wealth comes from Rurik's favor. Sometimes he does feel that he is powerless. However, the rise and fall of the principality depends on this battle. He does not dare to insult his ancestors, let alone his benefactor, and not others. Dare to dishonor your own honor.
Soon, the heads of the five traditional blacksmith families in the tribe gathered around the blast furnace of the Klavasen family.
The grim situation made a group of old guys' blood boil, and they even felt unbearably hot with their backs against the blast furnace.
They immediately expressed their great interest in the production of weapons and armor. 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 worked together to transform a hundred pairs of chain armor into fish scale armor. The most critical part was the armor plates. Each set of nails requires forty-eight pieces of nail, and each piece of nail is designed to be a rectangle the size of an adult man's hand. The nail plate should be as thick as a man's little finger (relatively sparing iron) and 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 truly extravagant and would have been unimaginably crazy in a bygone 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, and they must be taken out on July 20th. If you try to produce carbon steel spearheads, 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 does seem low, but Rurik prides himself on being extremely 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 Learned the secrets of blast furnaces and smelting pig iron. Although the blast furnace iron smelting method only smelts molten pig iron, all blacksmiths have been able to 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 were already working in reverse on a small scale, burning pig iron with the strongest flames until it became forgeable. It was indeed Kawei who unexpectedly figured out the method of frying steel. He did not need Rurik to teach him personally, and the technology had already become popular among the "Blacksmith Alliance" 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. This is a fusion of "consumption tax" and "value-added tax". In addition, 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 a terrifying one hundred and fifty pounds of silver! This money is enough for Rurik to build another Aurora.
And this is just to meet Rurik's basic needs to build an "Iron Man Army".
He believed that this astonishing expenditure was worth it, but for the time being, the Russian people's big money box didn't have a lot of money left.
There are quite a lot of silver coins that were used as payment for goods sold by the Russians this year, and they are stranded on a large scale in Gouldburg in Lake Mälaren.
Rurik could not immediately spend money to buy the blacksmith's goods, but the blacksmiths were not in a hurry because they trusted the credibility of their leader. Rurik didn't want to owe a favor. With a wave of his hand, he simply handed over the payment for these goods to the blacksmiths and asked for half of the tax.
The leader of Ross was promoted to a duke, and his method of making money became more advanced. In the past, the method of making money relied almost exclusively on plundering and plundering, but now the Duke used taxes to get money out of the hands of 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.
Worried about his opponents, he himself would rather take coercive measures. Rurik could not bear to kill people in the tribe simply for influence, 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.
The 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 it is those cheap laborers with a large number of people.
It was the elders of the tribe, the women, and a large number of children.
Among men over the age of fifty, only a few of them still have a strong physique like Otto, and quite a few of them are already stooped, making it difficult to walk. They can do some simple work, such as processing clay to make clay embryos and firing them into molds 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, Rurik of course has no politeness to buy them at a low price. their labor. For example, they were given jobs and the reward was only one silver coin. Even so, they must be rushing to work, because one silver coin is equivalent to ten pounds of wheat. If they eat sparingly, it is enough for a woman to survive for 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 turn twelve at most in one year, according to tradition, they are 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 proudly: "I will work hard to mobilize the people to mine. I will mobilize every Russian, and 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 last, bizarre request for the fish scale armor.
"You guys are going to get your nails done. 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.
Klavasen 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 bad? It will definitely scare the enemy, and it will also make the armored warrior proud. Besides, if iron is not oiled and maintained properly, it will rust, 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! After 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. It's just that its color is definitely black overall. A horde of black warriors? That would be too lacking in shock value, and it would compete with the elite troops of the Mellaren people.
Of course, the Malaren people inked their chainmail, and the linen lining was also deliberately blackened 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. Attract the enemy as much as possible, 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?
Later, 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 need for the sake of honor and money.
In this way, the Russians have the most powerful long-range weapons and the strongest armor in the Baltic 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 mail made of pure iron rings. Rurik saw clearly in actual combat that in the current war, these two types of weapons were 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.
