A group of small but strong boys followed Rurik's order and all gathered. They stood in the open space outside the blacksmith workshop area of Klavassen and accepted Rurik's review.
Rurik looked at them one by one with his hands behind his back.
These ten-year-old boys were originally destined to be farmers in Novgorod, spending a short and mediocre life in poverty, and even died prematurely due to malnutrition.
Now, everything has changed.
Their bodies are stronger than Rurik's. Due to regular physical labor, everyone can see obvious muscle texture when they roll up their sleeves, even if they are only ten years old.
They ate a lot of meat every day. In the past six months, they had to eat a pound of oats every day.
Such a highly nutritious and high-calorie diet is not about fattening the boys. They were ordered to work hard and each of them became a good little blacksmith. These children are just small in age and short in stature. They are as strong as cattle now. Will they be able to do so in the future? Aren't you so strong that you can chop down a pine tree with a single blow from an axe?
These Slavic boys can basically take charge of their own business. Although their work efficiency is not as good as that of the young and strong Kawi, their future is bright.
Kamni came to report excitedly, "Boss, everyone is here. Arrange the tasks and we can complete them without sleeping."
"Okay! Very energetic. Then follow my order, I will let you make a new type of weapon."
There is no need for Ryurik to elaborate on everything. After all, these children are all involved in the direct manufacture of torsion slingshots and weapons. These children are very expert.
How could the gray-bearded Klavasen alone produce a large number of weapons? Behind the large number of Ross ships equipped with "Scorpion Crossbow" torsion slingshots, wooden arm and steel arm crossbows is the efforts of these young blacksmiths.
Without such success, Rurik would not have dared to assemble them and entrust them with important tasks.
The wild donkey trebuchet is a so-called powerful torque-driven lever. When the stone is thrown out, the inertia also drives the entire machine to jump up, just like a donkey kicking a child.
The best way to prevent it from jumping is to install a counterweight at the end.
These children are being trained by Rurik as "all-round craftsmen". They are young miners, metallurgists, cement workers, and promising carpenters.
Clavason was busy forging steel swords himself, which he always enjoyed. Kawei and the men he recruited still guarded the blast furnace and continued to produce iron tools in large quantities.
Children cannot be protected by capable craftsmen? But Rurik himself is their best teacher.
The warmer water from the southern sea has invaded the Gulf of Bothnia. The sea has basically thawed, and there are large and small ice floes on the sea surface, and even some giant icebergs.
The fjord where Roseburg is located is still frozen? However, people are aware that the stream upstream is becoming increasingly turbulent, and the fjord's freeze will collapse within a few days.
Summer came late this year? The snow on the ground is melting on a large scale, only to freeze again at night. Everyone had to use various tools to break off the amazing ice edges on the eaves of their homes every morning.
Five days of busy work? The six "wild donkey trebuchets" planned by Rurik were just completed by his young men!
There are no wild ass in Northern Europe. The donkeys in the world all come from Central Asia. Today, there is not a single donkey in Europe from Western Europe to Northern Europe.
If he had to use the kicking behavior of an animal to describe this weapon, Rurik would not hesitate to think of a bull.
Ten "bull trebuchets"? They can be described as standardized products.
Its site is a frame with a length of one stika and a width of half a stika, which is about one meter and half a meter. The weapon has a reinforced wooden post at one end, with up to five layers of buffered deerskin strapped to it.
Its source of torque is hemp rope, baleen and rubber band strips, soaked in grease to further enhance the willfulness.
It is essentially a highly adaptable tactical machine with a very simple overall structure. Of course? Its accuracy is far inferior to that of a crossbow-type torque slingshot.
Lord Rurik has invented a new weapon!
People who are looking forward to the thaw of the sea are becoming more and more anxious these days? They need something interesting to do to relieve their mood.
Rurik sent some strong men, and each two people easily carried the completed "bull trebuchet" and placed it outside the wooden wall that was still under construction. Ten trebuchets faced the sea in unison, waiting to be manipulated.
Thousands of people came to watch. The wooden wall scaffolding that had just been built was also full of people. Not to mention a group of guys standing on the roof.
They have probably guessed that the function of these weapons is to launch rocks. Each of them is small, so how effective can they be?
Everyone speculates that Rurik has the technology and ability to build a larger torsion trebuchet, but he lacks time.
These small items, with a total length of more than one meter and a torque lever of more than one meter, are weapons that can be used in a short time.
Everyone is looking forward to the stunning performance of the new weapons in their hearts. They look at the frozen sea that can still let you move around with their eyes, hoping to see the splash caused by the rocks in the distance.
Otto watched silently. When he saw the actual object being built before, he knew the usefulness of this weapon and even the tactical effect it could bring.
Otto thought of the decisive battle on Gotland Road. If we had been able to launch stones on a large scale at that time, a large number of stones falling from the sky would have smashed the Gotland army from a distance.
Suddenly, he was surprised to see that the people operating the machinery were actually a group of children!
Rurik just arranged for strong men to carry them, and the operators were the little blacksmiths who built them.
"Brothers, are you all ready? Act as we agreed!"
There was no need to hesitate, and it was necessary to incite the emotions of the onlookers. Rurik gave the order simply, and the children still turned the ratchet winch, and the lever was lowered little by little.
The ten bull trebuchets were finally ready.
"Hjutra!"
Rurik gave the order, and all ten children pulled the rope holding the latch at the same time.
The bull trebuchets were fully charged with power, and their levers suddenly started to pull on the leather bag wrapping the seaside stones, and forcefully threw the leather bag out.
Because angular momentum is conserved. The lever rotated violently and reached its peak. It hit the cushioning pad, and almost all of its angular momentum was given to the bag hanging on the hemp rope.
Pebbles as big as a grown man's fist flew into the air! If you were hit hard by such a rock, a helmet would not save your life.
People raised their heads one after another, watching their retreating shadows. The shadows gradually blurred and became difficult to identify. Finally, ten water pillars were set off in a very far place.
No cheers! There really was no cheering!
People weren't even shocked, or they didn't know what was happening. There was a loud buzz from the thousands of people watching, all talking among themselves.
Rurik was surprised. He always felt that the range was at least 300 meters.
This is an extremely astonishing distance, a range that most bows and arrows cannot match.
Rurik noticed from a distance that the falling points of the stones were relatively concentrated.
"Not enough! Do it again!"
After hearing the order, the children continued to work. After the lever quickly returned to its position, they installed the stone and inserted it into the bayonet.
A new round of volleys began soon, and everything was just like the first time.
"Great, do it again!"
Rurik kept giving orders, and each trebuchet was fired ten times. One hundred rounds of prepared pebbles were all used for "special ice cutting," not to mention that the ice in the distance was indeed penetrated.
It seems like the experiment should end here?
Rurik finally patted Kamne on the shoulder and handed him the hemp rope that recorded the length.
It was a hemp rope with a total length of one hundred stikas. It was a tool used to calculate the range of crossbows, and later was also used to calculate the range of various long-range weapons.
It is knotted every tenth stika, and each stika is painted with a blue channel.
Kamne is a child, so he doesn't have to worry about crushing the ice. However, when he kept measuring with the rope and completed the second length of hemp rope (about 200 meters in total), he suddenly felt guilty.
The weapon actually threw the rocks that far?
As he continued to move forward, he noticed something extremely surprising: there were cracks in the ice on the sea surface! He still took the measurements daringly, and after finally measuring the 280th stika, he did not dare to continue.
He still hadn't reached the point where the rocks fell intensively, but the ice in front had cracked extensively.
He returned in a hurry and reluctantly reported the truth.
Rurik squinted his eyes and listened, and couldn't help but sigh: "Did the rocks smash the ice? 280 stikas are still not the landing point."
Rurik didn't talk nonsense anymore, and he immediately moved to the testing ground on land.
A forest, now only bare tree trunks. There are absolutely no stones in this generation. If the experiment finds that the fist-sized stones must be fired stone projectiles.
The people of Russia all followed Rurik's footsteps and continued to watch, this time there were more spectators.
Everything went smoothly and in a very safe manner, and an exciting result was in front of Rurik.
Rurik, he started the experiment in the morning and continued until the evening. He collected a large amount of data and clarified the maximum range of the bull trebuchet, as well as how to control the torque for different distances.
Rurik is the greatest scientist in the entire Principality of Rus. His knowledge of advanced mathematics directly affects ballistics calculations. And the optical knowledge he mastered was based on human reference. The size of the human figure visible to the naked eye at different distances was directly chiseled on the wooden sight.
He does not require this kind of trebuchet to be accurate every time. The so-called large-scale use relies on probability throwing and targets the enemy's dense formation, but will achieve excellent results.
At night, everything seemed to calm down.
Those who participated in the bloody battle gradually realized the horror of this weapon and began to share their insights with family and friends.
In the Duke's mansion, Rurik and his family gathered together for dinner as usual, but Niya knew that this scene of people gathering together would be over for the time being.
Otto drank a bottle of strong wine, and while he was drinking, he seemed to be complaining to his son for no reason, and his emotions became more and more intense.
"Rurik! Why don't you invent this kind of weapon? If you... that's 330 stikas away! We can obviously kill those Visby guys slowly, and we don't have to kill hundreds of brothers. Won."
When Rurik heard this, the wheat stew in the bowl suddenly lost its aroma.
"What did you say he did?" Niya pushed Otto displeased.
Otto trembled: "We obviously have a chance to kill fewer people."
Rurik was also helpless. He said with a calm face: "The situation of the new weapons is all based on my estimate. No! I think it can hit 200 stikas at most. I didn't expect it to be so fierce. Indeed, if we equip these early, it is best to use them in large quantities. Using it, we can annihilate 10,000 Visby warriors without killing a single person.”
Otto dug out another bottle of strong wine, stared at the crystal clear glass bottle against the hot oil lamp, and giggled at the so-called Roman characters on it.
"They died well. The high priest is the Valkyrie, and their heroic spirits have gone to heaven. Rurik..."
"I am here."
"The ice will melt soon. With these new weapons, I am completely reassured about your voyage."
Niya let out a long sigh and subconsciously pushed a plate of meat in front of her son, "You may have to spend the whole summer doing this. Eat. Eat more."
"Okay! Well... I don't think there is any risk." Rurik muttered.
Niya sighed and murmured, "I just think of your two brothers, alas..."
"Bad luck." Otto slammed the table, shocking Rumia and the other women and hurriedly retreating. "This is to fulfill the covenant, this is to make a lot of money. Also, to mock those arrogant Danes! Niya!"
Otto ordered his wife as a master, "Your task now is to take good care of Rumia. She is not only a high priest now, she must be pregnant. If you take good care of her, you will take good care of our first child." grandson."
Niya nodded and casually brought Rumia to her side.
Niya used to despise this little slave of the deer herder, but now everything has changed. She hugged Rumia to show her closeness, as if she were her own daughter. Indeed, in the days to come, girls such as Rumia, Carlotta, Ella, and Saipolava will be her spiritual support.
Men go on expeditions to the sea, while women stay at their home port to guard. The tribesmen think it is natural.
Niya did not dare to block Rurik's voyage. She could only silently pray that God would continue to favor Rurik.
The sea has finally thawed!
It's May, everyone has lost all illusions, and this year we have a sadly short summer.
Smart people are already worried about this year's wheat harvest. Although Rurik is very worried that he won't be able to get a lot of oats in the autumn, he really can't care about that much now.
Think differently! If they can get a large amount of salt from the Balmoks over a summer, the Rus can make bacon on a large scale. From the perspective of survival, eating bacon is at least better than eating spoiled meat.
A large amount of cargo was stuffed into the cabin of the Aurora, and her load capacity was already as high as ten tons.
Of course, this is nothing to her, whose cargo capacity exceeds fifty tons and everything is normal.
After all, this trip had to pass through the Danish-controlled area. Rurik learned that the Danish leader had a very high opinion of himself. He wanted to jump repeatedly under the nose of that guy. It was a crazy provocation, and a fight was inevitable.
As many as ten torque slingshots are installed in Class A, arranged six in front and four in back.
The bull trebuchet is placed on the forecastle in the "captain's lounge" for a compact arrangement, and can be moved out when necessary.
Rurik planned to traffic mainly leather, followed by 10,000 pounds of wheat. There are a hundred pig iron axes and hammers that are both weapons and tools. If you transport too much goods, wouldn't it be embarrassing if the other party can't afford it? Rurik himself did not want to do a loss-making business, even if it was selling favors to his allies, it was enough.
Therefore, the most valuable items in the cargo were a set of glassware, ten bottles of spirits, a pig iron cauldron for stewing meat, and a batch of soap. These things were given to Biyongni's parents, the leaders of Balmok, and were also regarded as betrothal gifts for taking Nolen away.
In an extremely warm atmosphere, the Russians completed the spring sacrifice and pushed all the ships into the sea.
During this period, Otto led his brothers to complete the taxation of merchants. Gould was still the one who paid the most taxes in public, and of course he received part of the tax refund behind the scenes.
The most lively event was naturally the two large ships entering the sea, and people cheered for them.
The Gurdot! Sperosvilia! Two large armed merchant ships became the new protectors of the Russians.
This is still a new beginning! Because people saw that the two keels of the huge wooden workshop of the Hotla family's shipbuilding workshop had been laid, and one of them was the beam of the old priest's longhouse!
Rurik finally began his great voyage. The Aurora carried forty people, elite mercenaries such as Jevro, all Balmok guests, and Gould's most elite sailors.
Otto stood on the pier at the dock and calmly watched the ship leave. Niya hugged her old husband and cried as she watched the big ship go away. Until the big ship gradually left people's sight in the dense ice floes, everything returned to calm.
