Rise of Rurik

Otto woke up in a drowsy state. He was surprised that he was lying on the ground, and he was unexpectedly covered with a piece of deerskin.

"What's going on? Where are people? Come on!"

Otto called out loudly, and soon, mercenaries with sword guards rushed into the house. The visitor was none other than Yefro.

"Boss, what are your orders?"

"What's wrong with me?" Otto stood up while holding his head.

"Yesterday you drank too much wine and passed out."

"Oh is it? My son, where is 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."

"Is that so?"

Otto sat up and stood up. He felt a chill, and then subconsciously fumbled with his left and right hands, and even touched a piece of wheat cake.

Yefro hastily explained: "Rurik prepared some food in case you would be hungry after waking up."

"This kid is very thoughtful." Otto shook his head vigorously, finished eating the cake in twos and threes, with a gesture of resurrection full of blood: "Let's go, Yefro. Show me those tributes."

When the sea was about to freeze, a fleet came to Elronburg in the extreme north to collect tribute of ironware.

While Otto was still soundly asleep, in the cold of the early winter in Rurik, he put on a thick leather jacket, glanced at his father lying in the lobby who continued to snore, and left the house with Saiporava.

He summoned more than a dozen mercenaries, put on a very imposing aura, and gave orders to the city lord Mechasta.

The command is to check all tributes.

Coincidentally, the most important materials were all hoarded inside the wooden walls. In line with the tradition of the Kewen people, a large number of cellars were dug out abruptly.

Appearing in front of Rurik were five long wooden houses. They seemed to be semi-crypt houses, but their interiors were indeed unique.

Mechasta is in good spirits, eager to prove his loyalty to his true master. Mechasta didn't think it was absurd to swear loyalty to a little boy. He and his tribe did get a little benefit from the boy, and after their life settled down, everything was going well. Now that what has happened has already happened, even if the Cowen people unite, they will be easily defeated by the Ross people, so just be obedient servants.

Based on this thought,

Mechasta personally opened the wooden door of a room, and immediately, a cold feeling came over his face.

"My lord, this house is full of axes and spearheads, and all the tribute you want is here."

Rurik glanced inside, feeling terrified. He is not afraid of pure darkness, but he cannot see clearly what is hidden in the darkness.

"Can't you light a torch?"

"Oh, I'm going to send someone to light it," Mechasta said hastily.

"No need." Rurik waved his hand, "Let your people take out all the tributes and put them on the ground for me. I will count their numbers myself." As the ruler, Rurik must defend his own Power, eating said one can not be two. "One thousand axes, five hundred spearheads, if one is missing, you will be punished."

What is the punishment? Mechasta didn't even think about it. It's so easy to complete the master's tribute request.

Soon, some men from the Iron Squirrel Tribe began to enter and leave the wooden house frequently, and came out one after another with bundled axes in their arms. Like those Kovin tribes who live on the Oulu River, where they bind squirrel skins, here they bind ax handles.

The wooden handle of the ax is tied with hemp rope. A person has ten fingers, so there are ten axes. They were placed on the hard ground and arranged in a matrix for easy statistics according to Rurik's requirements.

After a while, a ten by ten square matrix was arranged, and there were exactly one thousand axes. In fact, there are still some axes in stock in the warehouse, and Mechasta has no intention of continuing to take them out.

Those spearheads were also taken out, and all the spearheads were simply pieces of metal that had been polished into a spear shape. With the waterwheel free forging system, the hot iron ingot can be easily beaten into iron sheets, and after some rough grinding, the spearhead is basically formed. It does not have a sleeve, but the blacksmith deliberately left a depression in the iron plate behind the spearhead, so that the twine can be used to tie it to the stick.

Is there still a requirement that each of these weapons be a magic weapon?

Rurik squatted down, untied a bundle of axes, and held the small handaxe in both hands. Even a ten-year-old boy can wield these axes. After all, its blade is really only the size of a young man's palm, and there is no hole for a wooden stick. The blade of the ax is still deliberately left with a depression, and it is fixed relatively firmly on the wooden handle after being bonded with easily available loose glue and tied with hemp rope.

Rurik really knows how the two weapons are made. The hydraulic free forging can be said to have solved the absolute shortage of muscular men in Elronburg, and the most labor-intensive work of blacksmithing has become the work of the river. It is pure hydraulic free forging, and it cannot make any fine processing at present.

Seeing that Rurik was fascinated, his little brows were also furrowed, and Mechasta lowered his head: "My lord, how do you feel about these tributes?"

"Feel? The quality has dropped a lot from 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 wanted to say a lot more, but Rurik said a few words: "Stop talking. You have indeed completed the task, and you have proved your loyalty."

Mechasta calmed down and said cheaply: "It is my honor to serve you."

Of course Rurik liked to hear compliments, and of course he kept some of his innermost thoughts in his heart.

For example, these weapons are not well sharpened, and even the spearhead still needs to be sharpened. Did Rurik intend to blame them for this matter? He still did not intend to mention it.

The slender tips are easily crafted into pikes and javelins. These hand axes are not really suitable for felling big trees. After the ax blade is sharpened, it can be used as a good tool for cutting meat and bone. When fighting, these small hand axes are completely flexible. Even if the blade of the ax is no longer sharp, a warrior can smash the enemy's head with one right hand.

Just like gourds and Guduo, they are basically short sticks with iron heads, and their high flexibility brings the flexibility to kill the enemy.

These newly promoted blacksmiths of the Iron Squirrel tribe, if they really polished all the chrome-iron alloy axes and spearheads with ore and sandstone, it would take too long.

They are ordnance, or a mass-produced ordnance. Mass-produced ordnance only needs to ensure a bottom line of quality, and the rest is how to reduce the input of manpower and material resources to obtain greater output. With this awareness, Rurik didn't want to say anything, they were just tributes, and a batch of goods would be sent to the Melaren tribe to equip Olegin's soldiers.

They must be made of ferrochromium, which naturally has strong anti-corrosion ability. Although there is no long carburizing operation, after quenching, the sudden cooling forces a huge change in the surface metallography. They are already extremely hard, and will negate the advantages of all purely wrought iron weapons.

However, compared to the weapons used by the Ross people themselves, these utensils are the so-called "monkey version".

Rurik clapped his hands vigorously and stood up: "I thought about it, and I am generally satisfied."

"So, my lord, are you still a little displeased?"

"It doesn't matter." Rurik shrugged. "You will mass-produce axes and spearheads for me according to this standard in the future. Remember, in the warm period next year, your tribute will be doubled. 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 needs something to look forward to, looking forward to looking forward to, but Otto came here swaying under the guard of mercenaries.

Either the methanol in the spirits hadn't evaporated completely, or simply because he didn't sleep well during his homework, Otto was still a little bit sluggish even after being agitated by the air conditioner.

Otto accepted the guidance of the mercenary, and a group of seemingly idle people actually gathered in one place. He recognized Rurik wearing a beautiful ferret fur hat at a glance, and he also saw a lot of reflections in the early winter sun, which was very return trip.

Immediately afterwards, he understood together.

The mental lethargy was gone, and Otto was frightened by a strong shock. He simply sat down on the ground. He pointed at the equipment all over the floor with his finger: "Tomahawk! Why are there so many battle axes? Are they all made by Cowen?"

Yevro and his fellows hurriedly helped the stunned chief to his feet, and Mechasta immediately approached to claim this "brilliant" achievement.

Otto just stood up, his trembling mouth was trembling; "A year ago... when I came here, this was just our... temporary camp, and now it is a city. You Kewen people, you are all successful! A blacksmith? It is even more efficient than our Ross blacksmiths!"

"It's my honor to be well received by the chief." Mechasta hurriedly expressed his position respectfully.

In fact, Otto made a mistake. In terms of the output of ironware, what level is Eilonburg here? A blast furnace rose from the ground in Screw Fort. Since it successfully produced iron, the operation of the furnace has been restricted entirely by the insufficient supply of charcoal fuel and ore. It is a big eater, and the efficiency of its single stove is better than a hundred ordinary stoves! But it is real pig iron smelting, and what is casted are some iron daily necessities, such as a large number of trays, bowls, oil lamp holders, and even large iron pots for cooking. Cast iron can of course be weaponized, that is, to make a hammer, to become a useful blunt tool and production tool, but don't expect it to be polished into a useful sharp tool.

Otto simply watched the smelting of the blast furnace, and knew that iron ore can also be turned into hot "water". He just observed this miracle, feeling that miracles are always born in the Ross tribe, but he didn't have any intuitive understanding of its production capacity.

Now, he was shocked by the axes all over the floor.

He stroked his beard and thought: "Produce a thousand axes a year, and my warriors will soon have one! No, it will be two! My warriors will be full of powerful fighting power."

Thinking of this, Otto wondered how they were made. This matter should not be asked about Mechasta, Otto knew that all miracles came from his son Rurik who stood beside him.

Show an old chief a little of the power of technology, and Rurik is happy to oblige.

"Dad, do you want to know? I want to remind you, when you feel frightened, don't sit on the floor again."

Otto, who knew he had lost his composure, hurriedly laughed: "I will try... as much as possible."

The big river was rushing, and those residents who lived in the tribal era did not realize that the water flow itself was a kind of labor force. The waterwheel system in the Middle Ages in Europe is one of the few engineering technologies left over from Western Rome. It is a miracle that waterwheels and other hydraulic machinery 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 to show the miracles from Asgard in the world. Is not it?

If it wasn't for Evro's timely support, Otto would sit on the ground again.

What he saw was the Kewen craftsman in the cold winter who only wore a burlap shirt, and kept putting the red iron burning in the small stove under an incredible automatic hammer. It's as if Thor, the God of Thunder, personally bestowed these sledgehammers with divine power, letting them be forged by craftsmen.

Otto didn't know at all that the blade-filled wooden wheel outside the wooden house was the core of power, and because of the dry season, the efficiency of the wooden wheel's rotation was not as good as before.

"Father, 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, "Father, what do you think this means? These hammers will keep beating for us Ross."

"It's us... No!" Otto's eyes widened, and then he looked at his son's beautiful smile. His innocence also revealed sanctity, and an inviolable dignity. "It's you! It's Odin, it's Thor, who bestows divine power on you! Rurik, you performed a miracle."

Deny that it's a miracle? Rurik didn't want to deny it. He deliberately said: "These Kewen people who surrendered to us are making ironware. They have been approved by Thor, which shows that God has approved them. Then, I also approve them and ours. Relationships need to be very close."

In an instant, Otto understood his son's true intentions, which he said really made him very sensitive.

"Are you hoping for me to admit that they are Ross people, or that they are equal to us Ross people?"

"I didn't say that," Rurik said calmly.

"What do you want to say?"

"I'm just stating the fact that Thor allowed the Kewen 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 has some scientific literacy, he should be able to see the non-stop rotating wooden shaft, and the raised wooden block of the bearing forms a cam structure longitudinally, which is the driving force for the operation of the hammer lever. He is a man who is shrewd and calculating about power, but he is not a craftsman, and he doesn't even look down on craftsmen themselves. He only admires brave warriors. To say that a young blacksmith like Kawei should be underestimated by Otto, but Kawei has long shown his warrior side and is proficient in iron smelting, which makes Kawei more advantageous and charismatic.

Otto watched it for a while, and he became more and more fascinated, and he also felt emotional: "It's really unexpected that your people are still giving birth in such a cold day. Since God has rewarded you, I should also reward you."

Mechasta was taken aback by Yevro's translation. He knelt down immediately, as humble as a hound, which pleased Otto even more.

But these people are all Rurik's servants after all, and this matter is decided by himself. Otto looked at his son: "Rurik, they are your servants. In the name of the chief, I ask you to reward them."

"Me? Is it necessary?" Rurik asked intentionally. He was also surprised that the old man hadn't passed the alcohol. You must know that he used to be strict and stingy with all kinds of servants.

"It must be rewarded, otherwise I will be sorry to the gods. Let's do this!" Otto slapped his head and pointed to the forehead of the kneeling Mechasta: "I will give you ten thousand pounds of grain to reward your hard work and loyalty, and it is also a response to God. Grace. I will order your masters to give you a little reward."

Mechasta was not immediately excited. He felt that this matter was a bit strange, but since a large amount of precious oats might fall into his stomach, a fool would refuse.

Seeing that his father was so resolute, Rurik had already planned to use more "carrots" from these Kewen people to cultivate loyalty, and now he has no worries.

"Then I will also provide you with some food." Rurik directly expressed his position in the language of the Kewen people: "I also got some magical wood, which can be processed into extremely elastic longbows. Wooden bows are more useful. Since you all know how to shoot arrows, I will reward you. Once there is a war in the future, you will send troops to fight for us."

This "send troops to fight for us", it is the most significant promise! Mechasta knows the hateful Salmon Lord tribe, even if they have fought against the Ross people, because they are servants, they still enjoy a lot of freedom now, unlike their own tribe, once there is substantial disloyalty, will be severely punished by the Rus.

Fighting side by side clearly represents a higher status among the Ross people.

Isn't there a living example in front of you? Gefro the Finn, this man was obviously of higher rank than many Rus, simply because he was a loyal warrior.

Mechasta made a promise: "My people are good hunters, and a good bow is a better hunter. We look forward to an opportunity to play for the Ross people."

Yevro cleverly added embellishments to the translation, making Mechasta's words 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? What Chief Ross said didn't sound like a drunken joke.

Mechasta smiled and complimented on the surface, but he was muttering in his heart. Are the Rus really planning to attack the Tavastians next year? Although the Kewen people are constantly fighting among themselves, if the Tavastians invade, all the tribes have to unite, otherwise everyone has to be their slaves.

But Otto and Rurik really had nothing to say. Both of them realized that there was a huge risk of war, which was also an escalation of the war with the Danes and the Gotlands. Tavastians? Otto was simply not interested in these guys. Of course Rurik was not interested in them either, even the Karelians were more interesting than them.

If the warriors found some fun in war, it was looting the Gotlands' gold and silver, and it turned out that those guys were really rich.

Otto suddenly had an idea, that is, to let the archers composed of Cowen people on board, so that when his nephew Arik robbed the Gotland fishing boat, the Ross people would have a greater tactical advantage. Moreover, these Kewen archers are bound to be extremely useful. They are just servants, and they don’t need to be paid like mercenaries, and they have no right to distribute spoils. Forging iron is just a tool that can be controlled by the Ross people. It is indeed important to maintain and treat your tools well.