Rurik said solemnly: "It is best if you shoot all the enemies with a bow in the battlefield, but the key to the battle is still the warrior's close combat."

"Ah? You need to make steel swords and steel axes?!" Cravason couldn't help it, and lay down on the ground begging, "We are blacksmiths, not Thor! Do we have to make thousands of steel swords? How could it be possible?! If you gather all the blacksmiths, it would be nice to be able to make five hundred in a year!"

"Why don't I know? Your production capacity is indeed limited, but..." Rurik patted his chest: "During battle, a stick can also be used to ram the enemy in front of you. In order to avoid being rammed to death by the enemy, you need to A!"

"Chain mail? Oh, no, no, no..." Clavasson still refused, "Unless it's a tailor-made chain mail for you, you want me to make a lot of it in a short time, I don't have the ability."

Rurik also shook his head: "Why chain mail? Haven't you seen fish scales?"

"you"

"Let the warrior wear a special armor, which is covered with iron scales. Did you know? The chain mail is meaningless to the enemy's spearhead. The heavy losses of our allies are due to This. This time it is our Rus' turn to start a war, and we are bound to face these situations.

Listening to every soldier, it is very important to our tribe. I can't bear to die in large numbers of soldiers. I...really need your hard work! "

Rurik had already made his words very clear, and Clavassen sat upright: "Don't you just need to hang the iron plate on the chain mail, and you will be satisfied?"

"Correct."

"How much do you want?"

"Probably, one hundred sets. Note that the armor I want, the armor piece must cover the entire torso of the soldier, only the shoulders and arms, which can be omitted."

Kravasson nodded. From Rurik's words, he could conclude that the production of the so-called fish-scale armor would cost him too much. If only the scales were attached to the front and back of the warrior, the workload would be reduced. .

But the amount of one hundred sets, this is a task that Kravasson can't accomplish by himself. He didn't want to retreat, so he frowned and asked, "One hundred sets? Which elite fighters do you plan to equip? Berserker? That should be a shirtless madman. They don't even bother to wear armor."

"No. Those are people who go 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 won't get hurt when facing ten times as many enemies. , Can kill as much as possible."

"It's like a pile of iron ingots?" Cravason couldn't help but doubt: "Such a soldier attached to the High School is too big, I'm afraid that they 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 such scaled armor. When the battle becomes chaotic, I will send a hundred people to break into the enemy's battle."

The so-called Berserkers probably also use this tactic, and Rurik understands this. That being the case, in order to create a more serious and lasting chaos, of course the Berserker must have the incorruptible body of King Kong.

At this point, Klavasen has understood the situation. He is not surprised that Rurik has such a strange idea. If he is allowed to judge by himself, although he has lost some vitality in the strongest armor, he is in battle. , The party with the highest rate of armor is basically locked in the victory.

The battle in this era seems to follow an iron law, that is, those with a large number of people and excellent equipment should win the battle.

Personal brute force is extremely useful, so a warrior should eat as strong as a bear and wear armor as hard as a rock.

Even if Clavasson deliberately shirks this matter, Rurik will force him to do it. Since the stacking is clearly supported, he will 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 front of the chest, and so on the back, with four plates on each of the ribs.

I really hope that Clavasson and even all the blacksmith families will order them to come up with a hundred sets of upgraded armor suits in three weeks. It is reluctant to come.

Why bother with the number "one hundred"? It was entirely because of Rurik's tactics.

There will be a hundred warriors as berserkers, rushing to the most dangerous front in the battle, they will do their best to achieve their personal courage, because the battle does not have the support of their comrades, they must rely on their own iron armor. It is precisely these strong men who can wear heavy armor to fight fiercely.

They are heavy infantry in the true sense, and Lurik deliberately made such trump cards.

At the blast furnace next to the blacksmith's shop, the thick smoke never dissipated.

Clavasson closed his eyes and thought about Rurik's plan. He opened his eyes suddenly and yanked his son Kawei vigorously.

"Dad, what do you mean...we really can?"

"If you use that big stove, we should be able to. But, I want you to take the kids to make more small stoves, and I..." Clavasson stood up and patted his legs vigorously: "It seems that I will do it now. It's time to act and call those guys to a meeting." After that, he gave Rurik another wink: "My dear, this battle is related to the prosperity and decline of our tribe. I call all those old guys for you, Even if there are difficulties, we will work together to complete the task that you are commanded."

For a moment, Rurik only felt that his nose was suddenly sore, and tears almost flowed. He felt that this old fellow was Rose's loyal minister.

Clavasson does have self-knowledge. His wealth comes from the favor of Rurik. Sometimes he does feel powerless, but in the battle of the rise and fall of the principality, he dare not insult his ancestors, let alone his benefactor, and Dare to shame your own glory.

Soon, the traditional five blacksmith families of the tribe, their heads gathered at the blast furnace of the Cravason family.

The grim situation made an old guy enthusiastic, and even felt unbearably hot with his back against the blast furnace.

They immediately expressed their great interest in the production of weapons and armor. The reason is really clear-producing these can make a lot of money.

Rurik would not take away the value of their labor in vain. Since both sides have urgent needs, it is really appropriate to make an appointment here.

The five blacksmith families want to work together to transform a hundred pairs of chain mail into fish scale armor, the most important thing is the armor piece. Forty-eight pieces of nails are needed for each pair of nails, and each piece of nail is designed as a rectangle the size of the palm of an adult man. The nail piece should be thick with a man's pinky (relatively saving iron), and it should be made of malleable carbon steel.

Rurik's requirements for technology are actually relatively high, a total of 4,800 pieces of carbon steel armor pieces, to be honest, every piece of armor can be transformed into a good hand axe or shovel, and it is actually a luxury as a piece of armor!

This is indeed very extravagant, and it was unimaginable madness in the past.

Just when some blacksmiths were suspicious, Rurik smiled and pointed at the towering blast furnace: "What do you think I assembled you here for? This is our largest furnace. It produces molten iron. We only make nail pieces. The fastest way. When the cast iron pieces are finished, you return them to the furnace, burn off the excess carbon, and get the pieces you need!"

"Wonderful!" A blacksmith immediately slapped his thigh, "I thought I had to start by burning an iron ingot."

"That's completely redundant." Rurik swears, "We will manufacture this way, and you are fully capable of making more. The war is coming, and your orders for steel swords will be temporarily put on hold. Follow our orders and go. Produce armor pieces, and then produce spearheads. Each fish scale armor must make 20 sets, and they must be taken out on July 20. You try to produce carbon steel spearheads again, and I will buy them at the price of three silver coins each."

Rurik is naturally noble, and the blacksmith present dare to question or object to the purchase price he proposed?

The price does seem to be very low, but Rurik prides itself on being very kind.

Because the Rus tribe's method of smelting iron is already ahead of the entire European world, the blacksmith families here vowed not to betray the Rus tribe, nor to the "Blacksmith Alliance" (leaving the tribe without permission is treason), and they are more or less Know the secret of blast furnace and smelting pig iron. Although the blast furnace iron smelting method smelts all pig iron, all blacksmiths can already turn pig iron into carbon steel quite scientifically.

Blacksmiths, in theory, they don't need to use their own small furnace to make sponge iron and then work hard to make wrought iron ingots.

They have been doing a small-scale reverse operation, that is, burning pig iron with the strongest flames until it becomes forgeable. It was indeed Kawei who accidentally realized the method of frying steel, he did not need to teach it by Rurik himself, and the technique has been popularized in the "Blacksmith League" within the tribe.

Rlic has always been their biggest buyer, and he is also in control of that important contract, that is, he has the right to take away the blacksmith's profits. This is a fusion of "consumption tax" and "value added tax". In addition, the blacksmiths Rylik has begun to collect commercial taxes, and they have no right to refuse.

A piece of armor can be transformed into the value of a spearhead, and if human labor is included, then each pair of scale armor must have a total price of at least one hundred and fifty silver coins. In this way, the price of a hundred armors is already a terrifying one hundred and fifty pounds of silver! The money is enough to make Rick build another Aphrodite.

And this is just to meet the basic needs of Rurik to build an "iron man army".

He believes that this amazing expenditure is worthwhile, but for the time being, the large cash box of the Ross people, there is not a lot of money to deposit.

Quite a lot of silver coins are the money sold by the Ross people this year, and they are stranded in Gouldburg in Lake Mlaren on a large scale.

It was impossible for Rurik to buy the goods of the blacksmith immediately, but the blacksmiths were not in a hurry, because they trusted the credibility of their leader very much. Rurik didn't want to owe a favor, he waved his hand, and the money for these goods was simply handed over to the blacksmiths to ask for half of the tax burden.

The leader of Rose is advanced to the Duke, and this method of collecting money is also more advanced. In the past, the means of collecting money was almost entirely dependent on military looting, but now the Duke uses taxation to get the money out of his own people.

This model can be described as the basis for the operation of a duchy. Lurik cannot expect his descendants to be humble, pragmatic, and benevolent. At least for him, under his actual rule, taxes are collected.

Worried about opponents, he himself would rather adopt coercive measures. Rurik was purely for influence and could not bear to kill people in the tribe, but he fully supported the expulsion of those who did not pay taxes.

"His plan is very good, so we still make a lot of money." Cravason laughed haha, he looked at the guys present, watching their attitude.

The blacksmiths are also merchants by nature. They do a lot of mental calculations, knowing that they will never lose money, but there is no reason to be slack.

They will indeed not lose money, or in order to ensure the production schedule, Lurik will personally coordinate and handle a series of rough processing procedures such as the most critical mining, smelting, mold burning, and charcoal making.

Blacksmiths are actually engaged in complete finishing work in the steel industry chain of Ross like never before.

Who will do the hardest work? Of course it is the cheap labor with a large number of people.

Those are the elderly in the tribe, the women, and a large number of children.

Only a handful of men over fifty have the physique of Otto who are still strong, and quite a few of them have buckled their backs and become uncomfortable walking. They can do some simple work, such as processing clay to make mud embryos, and then firing them into molds for pig iron casting.

There are more than two thousand adult women in the Ross tribe. They can do a lot of things that men can do on their own. In this battle, women who are extremely short of money, Rurik, of course, are unceremonious and want to buy them at a low price. Their labor. For example, arranging work for them is just a silver coin as a reward. Even so, they must be rushing to do work, because a silver coin is equivalent to ten pounds of wheat, saving food, enough for a woman to survive for forty days.

Rurik deliberately plans women to participate in mining, ore removal, and wood logging. What seems to be men's work.

For those children who have undergone military training for more than two years, now it is time to show the strength of the future strength of the Rus tribe!

A large part of the children must participate in this war, and Rurik stubbornly needs them to join to make up the three thousand army, which is also training for them. Because many children are twelve years old at most a year, according to tradition, that is an adult. Any adult Ross man has the obligation to respond to the commander's war command, so that he will be brought to the battlefield in advance to experience, no one says that this is inappropriate.

Rurik slapped his legs and raised his head up and said: "I will desperately start the people to mine, I will mobilize every Rus, and all the servants and slaves. You don't have to worry at all, you just need to continue to process those. After smelting the brittle pig iron, you will make a lot of money. Moreover, my promise is also for you, fifty pounds of wheat, your family, whether it is a man or a woman, or a child, will have wheat! You will surely stand. If you do great work, I will give you more rewards appropriately."

Everyone stretched out their necks, sighing that there are such good things.

Ranrulik still has one last weird requirement for the scale armor.

"You go to make nails, I want each nail to be dipped in silver water, so that the nail will be the color of silver!"

As soon as this statement was made, everyone's outstretched necks immediately shrank back.

Clavasson had no idea that Rurik had such "delusions." As a substantial silversmith, he was forced to doubt: "Rurik, are you serious? Why. Do you want the enemy to think we are Extravagant enough to use silver for armor?"

"Is this bad? It will scare the enemy, and it will also make the armored warrior proud. Besides, if iron is not properly oiled and maintained, it will rust, but if it is coated with silver, it will be immortal."

Maybe Rurik was thinking about immortality, and Clavasson patted his head again: "Oh, how many silver coins will it cost? Rurik, is it really worth it?"

"It's worth it! After winning the war, we let the loser pay back all the expenses, and besides, we will definitely win. Silver-plating all the scales, I can afford it at the beginning."

If you want to create bright white carbon steel, it requires too much hard work by craftsmen.

Rurik knew very well what the armor piece he got would be, that is, the outer surface is carbon steel with a large amount of carbon loss, and the inside is still a piece of cast iron. After quenching, the armor piece will become very hard and possess a certain degree of toughness. That is, its color must be black overall. A large group of black warriors? That would be too lacking in shock, and it would also collide with the elite troops of the Mellaren people.

Of course, the Maillaren people painted the chain mail with ink, and the linen cloth lining it was also deliberately blackened with ink.

It's not that Rurik didn't think about the gold-plating operation, but when you think about it, gold-plating is the real show operation, and it is not impossible to perform, but the cost is too amazing.

On the whole, silver plating is the most cost-effective.

Imagine that a group of warriors wearing silver scale breastplates and holding up two axes rushed into the enemy camp frantically. They would attract the eyes of the enemy, like a silver posture, presumably they would be more able to attract the enemies who are greedy for money to approach. Attract the enemy as much as possible, and then be killed by Rose's heavy armored berserkers, and use this to consume the morale of the enemy~www.mtlnovel.com~ This is also what Rurik urgently needs, even as important as Bow Arrow!

Will this happen?

Afterwards, after making an appointment with the blacksmiths, Rurik couldn't help but think about it. The blacksmiths never dare to neglect subjectively, they will make all the armor, spears and arrows they need for honor and money.

In this way, the Ross people have the strongest long-range weapon and the strongest armor in the Baltic Sea world. They shoot fish scale armor with a steel-armed crossbow. Who is the strongest?

I'm afraid this is not a contradiction, because the other races only have broken bows that are only equipped with rabbit hunting, and chain mail woven with pure iron rings. Rurik saw clearly in actual combat that these two types of weapons have been out of the times in the current war.

Only the Ross people, who control the blast furnace technology and the only chromite ore in northern Europe, can make the most extreme weapon in this time and space.

The exciting thing is that the blacksmiths hummed their hometown's minor tunes and went back to their homes. They adjusted their work as soon as possible. On the day before the big sacrifice, they led the entire tribe to start armament production.

Give them a full twenty-three days for delivery.