Chapter 1,129 Rurik at Elon-Olava Castle

Ross needs to step up preparations for war. What to do specifically? Just try to replicate the armament plan of 839.

Rurik stayed in Rossburg for three days. He inspected the blast furnace town, personally felt the heat here, smelled the rich smell of coke, and also watched an iron tapping.

Slag is like magma, with a slow flow rate and a viscous texture. The molten iron is really like water. The hot and white "water" flows into the preset pottery mold. Those pottery molds were unevenly made and had different shapes, and they were obviously just for collecting solidified pig iron ingots.

If mild steel tools were available, no one would want to use wrought iron or cast iron. The former was too soft and the latter was too brittle. To cut down large trees, a carbon steel ax was required.

Blast Furnace Town does a small amount of pig iron processing. Now, taking advantage of the king's stay, all the furnaces in Blast Furnace Town are at full production. All the solidified iron ingots are planned to be brought back to the capital on the king's ships.

If there is demand in Blast Furnace Town, mines in mountainous areas must increase raw material transportation.

The charcoal-burning and pottery-making workshops were booming. The king was more willing to give money when there was demand, so the workers had strong motivation.

As for who is displeased, the slave laborers, composed of prisoners of war, can only endure the cold and fatigue and continue to work hard.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of inspection, Kaweite made a special speech to the king.

All the workers who could spare their efforts gathered together, and they could easily see the king's shining golden crown, and then the king's tall and tall shadow.

Rurik stood at a high place and ignored the cold wind that penetrated the fjord. He raised his voice to cover up the sound of the wind.

"You must step up production! Try to maintain the highest efficiency this winter! Ross is facing new challenges, and a new war is ahead. We will make a fortune in the new war! For you, the war requires enough ordnance, Don't think that you are just adding charcoal to the stove in the rear and has nothing to do with the war. No! Whether the army can win the war half comes from the courage of the soldiers, and the other half comes from your iron! Work hard! My king's demand for iron is endless. You can produce as much as you like, and I will purchase it with silver coins or grain of equal value..."

Rurik must elevate the status of these heavy industry talents. Although his current status is high, this high-level speech is indeed a show.

What do you think of this show? Naturally, they applauded.

The king asked to work hard, even ignoring the severe winter to continue working. As long as the money and food are sufficient, anything will be fine. Now, the king does have enough money and food to support his agitation.

The Governor has a solid record of how many registered laborers there are in Blast Furnace.

The number of husbands who are solely engaged in smelting metals reaches 300, and those who provide ore, charcoal and pottery molds are not among them.

The former is a salary for registered people. In principle, when they are old and can no longer work, they can still receive some food every month to support their old age. They are people who directly contribute to the interests of the royal family and the Blacksmiths Union in a real sense, and receive the best treatment.

Those who provided raw materials came from a variety of sources, and a considerable number of laborers were slaves. Even children as young as five years old can participate in the work of providing raw materials. Anyone who can hold a chisel or an ax can dig open-pit iron ore in the unclaimed mountains.

When it comes to Rossberg's current excavation efficiency, although thermal expansion and cold contraction have been widely used to destroy rocks, it is still not as satisfying as using violent tools such as detonators and explosives. They don't have advanced technology. They use the trick of burning with fire and then watering, and the amount of ore mining has been far behind the past.

For craftsmen, they are all aware of this rapid improvement in efficiency. For Rurik, no one understands the power of steel better than him. He is not satisfied with today's mining efficiency, but there is nothing he can do about it.

With such poor technology, even if it were dug for a thousand years, the open pit veins in the northern region could not be dug out.

The long and narrow central mountain range of Scandinavia, a place that was forcibly squeezed and lifted by plate movement, pushed an extremely high-quality iron ore vein to the shallow bottom. If you dig underground, you can dig out better-quality ore, but that is very unnecessary.

Rossburg is indeed prosperous, but not many people really devote themselves to ore mining. Mining is hard work and hurts the body. The ore itself is worthless and is just a piece of stone lying on the ground. However, it is indeed the key to the smelting industry. Simply relying on the ore supply from Roseburg cannot feed the blast furnace matrix in Blast Furnace Town, so a second source of minerals is needed - Fort Ailon Orava.

That was also the last stop of Rurik's northern inspection.

Compared with Fort Ross in the mountains, Fort Ailon Orava is located in the flat riverside area.

A thicker wall has tightly wrapped the city, the riverside docks are neatly built, the water-powered waterwheels are making constant tinkling sounds, and the rat cage cranes standing beside the city walls are also busy at work.

This place is the gateway to the northern ice and snow world and the core of Ross's entire "Arctic Ocean Economic Zone".

Disappeared fishing boats are everywhere here, and when Rurik arrived with his family, the busiest salamander fishing season had just ended.

The roe is collected, pickled with coarse salt, and processed into a salty and greasy sauce.

The fish with its head and guts cut open is spread out, strung with hemp ropes and grilled on a large scale over a bonfire to make the most traditional fish jerky. The "fish cakes" will be grilled until they are dry and hard, and there are also wild practices of grilling venison, rabbit, fox, wolf, and even bear meat.

What the cold northern land can provide is this kind of food. Like other northern tribes, the old Rus's traditional way of life has become quite similar due to the harsh climate, and now everyone lives in groups.

Warships rarely have the chance to rush to the deepest part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is already showing signs of freezing. What is certain is that the lowest temperature at night has reached zero degrees. Therefore, it can be seen that the dead grass on the riverside is always covered with frost in the early morning, making it look like white flowers as far as the eye can see.

What is very bad is that Rurik has entered the Arctic Circle, and Rossberg only has one day of polar night. For Ellenborg, the polar night will last for several days.

It's still some time before the winter solstice, and the daylight hours here are rapidly decreasing.

The polar night is nothing. The Lapps and Kovin people are very accustomed to this kind of winter life.

The Lapps wanted to prepare for reindeer grazing in the winter. They brought deer skins, bones, walrus tusks and other items to Ironburg to exchange for iron, salt, and other necessities of life.

The Kovin people, or the Kovin people who are mainly the gray squirrel tribe, have long said goodbye to their past hunting life.

They are never a poor tribe who can only live by hunting and fishing. As long as they have the opportunity, they will definitely change their lifestyle to live a better life.

The tribe of the Lord of the Salmon, which was originally Coven, discovered the large mine in Ironburg. The unique chromite ore here allowed Ross to manufacture some extremely high-quality stainless steel products, although the output was not high due to the technology.

After all, the Salami Lord Tribe finally dreamed of obtaining the resources of the Oulu River Basin in the eastern region, and the Gray Squirrel Tribe was collectively moved to Ellenburg.

This was Rurik's intention. The two tribes were originally in a hostile state. The essence of their hostility was the competition for limited resources. Now that they are separated from each other, there is no reason for hostility at all.

More than ten years have passed since the war, and the name of the gray squirrel tribe has also been changed to "Iron Squirrel", which is the original intention of the Iron Olawa Fort.

Ross's direct participation in that war caused heavy losses to the population of the Gray Squirrel tribe. Their population recovery efforts over the past ten years have been quite effective.

Youdao is that the premise of hatred between the country and the family is that there must be a country and a family first. Their choice is more pragmatic. Based on the principle of joining if they can't be defeated, now they are merged into the Ross system. Governor Mechasta, the tribal chief, is living a small life. very nice.

The tribe needs population revitalization. After a large number of men were killed in battle, the remaining women of the tribe shouldered the important task of revival. They took the initiative to have relationships with the Rus who came to the north to hunt. This kind of situation, which is like a dew couple, will definitely happen every year during the winter hunting. .

A large number of brown-haired children appeared in Ellenborg. In this environment, their Norse was average, and the Koven dialect of Finnish was extremely fluent. They are the mixed-blood Corvin people. Almost no one knows the identity of their Ross or Melalen father. They only know that the Governor is their chief. They now also learned that the great chief's daughter Saipolava gave birth to a child for King Rus. This noble mixed-race boy was the next chief.

Due to the excessive draft, Rurik's large ship was able to anchor near the shore, and then landed in Ironburg in a small boat.

Looking around, except for the huge low hills in the northwest, the distant mountains can be clearly seen through the clear air.

Are the mountains far away? At least a hundred kilometers.

The king arrived so suddenly that the open-air market was completely empty, and various people gathered near the shore to watch the excitement.

I saw Governor Mechasta leading his bodyguards to separate from the crowd of booing people and running wildly along the boardwalk.

He had many questions to ask the king. During the meeting, he first greeted him with greetings, and then he couldn't wait to hear about his daughter and grandson.

He was really anxious, especially when he saw the presence of the queen, the prince, and the future high priest Velika.

Rurik was quite surprised to see this old guy again. It seems that life is really richer than before. This old guy's hair is starting to turn gray, but his whole head is round and round. It can't even be described as a fat-headed fish. His cheekbones unique to North Asian descent are slightly prominent and have been swollen. The fat is basically covered up.

"Your Majesty, my daughter... didn't come?"

"Seporava, she needs a good rest, and Tibetans are too young to withstand the extreme cold and wind and waves."

"Tibet, is my grandson called that? What a good name."

"Of course, you can rest assured that she is recuperating in the warm Novgorod, eating well and sleeping well."

Mechasta is very happy that his grandson has a traditional Kovin name.

Mechasta, who was once brave and good at fighting and risked his life for the survival of his tribe, will eventually face irreversible aging in his youth. The king in front of him was more heroic than he had been in two thousand years. He also learned too much news about last year's war. Since the published "War Chronicles" articles were spread to various settlements, Mechasta read the original text and also learned from the returned The tribesmen learned more detailed information about the war.

Since the number of troops sent by the Kovin people was very small and they were all longbowmen commanded by the great chief of the Suomi tribe, the Earl of Finland, the army composed of all Pan-Finns who spoke similar languages ​​suffered almost no losses and gained a lot of results. .

We all need glory. The people of Covin can say that their tribe followed King Rus and fought all the way to Denmark, and even to the Frankish world.

In response to the Frankish war, the Kovin archers tried their best to beat their chests and claimed that what they said was not false at all.

But the scale of the war far exceeded the concept of the old leader Mechasta. For example, he had rarely seen horses in his life. Although he knew that the Russian army had cavalry troops, it reminded him of two thousand armored cavalry. He was powerless against the charge. People cannot imagine things they have never seen.

When you arrive at Ellenburg, you must taste the special salmon here.

The so-called salmon, or salmon, is more appropriate.

Eating fish is also very particular. The large salamanders caught here will be offered as sacrifices to the river gods to thank them for their gifts. This is the old rule of the Kewen tribe.

Unlike the Rus who may burn the sacrifices, after completing the priesthood, the Kovan tribes usually give the sacrifices to the most noble people in the tribe.

Rurik, the priestess of Ironburg, remembers that this woman wore special costumes covered with feathers, dressed like an owl, danced wonderfully by the campfire, played the harmonium to create "ancient electronic music" and imitated birds The way he screamed.

Governor Mechasta warmly entertained the royal family with a fish feast, and Rurik's entourage also enjoyed the fish.

The fish is fried in oil and paired with pickled caviar. The food here is too "ketogenic diet", and Rurik doesn't say anything. There is no shortage of wheat in Ironburg. This is the northernmost mine. People with heavy manual labor need a lot of wheat. In order to ensure the production of ore and good timber felling in the north, the granaries built in Ironburg are filled with wheat. Due to the constant cold and dry weather, Condition, a grain of wheat can be stored for several years.

Mechasta wanted to present an all-fish feast to reflect local characteristics, so he simply did not prepare wheat cakes.

The queen was a little tired of eating and drinking every time she went to a new place. She took her two children aside to play, and an uninvited "owl priest" came, a middle-aged woman named Porla with her own The ceremony baby came closer.

Queen Svetlana was instinctively wary of her, but the middle-aged priestess went straight to the incomprehensible Velika.

"You...what are you going to do."

The priestess was silent for a moment, took out her treasure from her arms, put it in her mouth, and then continued to fiddle with it. The wonderful sound of the harmonica attracted Velika's attention, and Lanna, who was holding her son, was also curious.

"You are the future high priest of Ross, and I am the high priest of Kewen. Children, let's talk and talk. This is called the harmonica. You can play with it. Well, I can give it to you."

Curiosity drove Velika to pick it up. After wiping it, she stuffed it into her mouth. Then her eyes widened and she kept moving about the pornographic piece...

All this was arranged by Governor Mechasta, just to bring the Corvin people of Ironburg closer to Ross.

Rurik noticed his daughter playing with the gadget. He was slightly drunk again. The "ancient electronic music" in his ears gave the banquet wooden house a different feeling, as if he had been displaced in time and space.

He had stuffed his stomach full of fish meat and fish oil, and now he really couldn't eat it.

What can two well-fed men talk about when they get together? Talk about their respective family affairs, and finally return to the "big things" that men care about most.

"A situation arises now." Rurik said bluntly.

"Could it be related to us?"

"Exactly. How is your ore production going now? I know that in winter this place is covered with ice and snow, and your water forging workshop will be shut down. Although the only blast furnace is still spitting fire, I'm afraid that over there in the mine... "

"I kind of understand. We won't mine in extremely cold conditions. After all, I lack slaves here, so my tribe is digging at the risk of freezing to death... I'm very worried."

"I can't see it." Rurik shrugged, "I've seen it all! There are brown-haired boys running around everywhere. They speak the Finnish language. They are mixed people. Since they have part of the blood of the Russians, I I don’t believe they are really afraid of the cold.”

"This... they are indeed much stronger than the people of my generation." Mechasta was telling the truth. The oldest mixed-race child in the tribe is already eleven years old. When it comes to height, a boy of this age is already almost 11 years old. Be consistent with yourself. Maybe they can't grow up to be as burly as the blond pure-blood Russians, and far better than their parents.

"We must give young people a chance. Unfortunately, they are still too young now."

"Your Majesty, is there something in your words?"

"Yes. The king is preparing for a new war, and these boys of yours are also included in the recruitment. "

"Ah! They are indeed young. So, who is the king going to fight?"

"Fight Frank again." Rurik knocked on the table unceremoniously, "However, the situation is not such that we can launch a full-scale war. There are many things to consider when launching an expedition with a huge fleet, and your boys are indeed not suitable to participate. Just, no Suitable for participation next year. They will grow up soon, and in at least five years, they will be qualified warriors. Listen..." Rurik continued to poke his head, his golden eyebrows tightened into a line: "I won't let you When you go to fight with others, you train the boys to be archers. You ask them to step up their training on strong arms, do you understand?"

"Oh! I basically understand."

"No, you still don't understand."

"how?"

"What better way to exercise the strength of your arms than to dig for ore with a pickaxe? The king is expanding his army, and you and Fort Ross must do their best to provide ore. Be bold this winter, dig as much as you can, and pile up the ore. I will pick it up at the dock next spring. Don’t worry, the money and food will be yours.”