Rise of Rurik

For the giant ship, the Sovereign of the Seas, the Ross Navy must expand its forces.

The specific affairs of the military expansion are handed over to Godlund of the "Ocean War Chief".

He was originally appointed as the first person to manage naval affairs. Out of trust, Rurik entrusted the military expansion affairs to this person, and Rurik retained the final interpretation and authorization.

But as a navy, in the eyes of the world, it is essentially a royal sailor for the king.

Who is he, Goldlund? He used to be Old Gould's subordinate, but now he is also a big shot.

The real Russians don't think there is any nobility in the navy, or they don't recognize Goethelund's military exploits. After all, Rurik himself has commanded many naval battles in the past, and the son of the Gould family has also commanded many times. At that time, there was no formal navy, and the sailors in the navy were only responsible for manipulating the ships. In real battles, the troops that focused on land warfare had part-time naval warfare.

Who is Rus' master seaman but King Rurik? The world is more willing to recognize the explorer Spyut, who was named Earl of Sarema.

If you want to be a soldier, be the king's standing army! Whether it is infantry or cavalry, only the army can make a fortune in future wars. After all the wars, people have reached a consensus.

As for the navy? That is a large group of armed sailors, who only go ashore with weapons unless they are needed in time of war. They can handle the ship very well, and there is no point in fighting in formation on the shore, so there is basically no chance of reaping the spoils.

Perhaps the power of battleships can be used to plunder at sea?

Piracy, which was commonplace in the past, is now a serious crime.

Because King Ross promised all those who surrendered to him, King Ross is the protector of sea safety. The work of catching pirates was entrusted to Earl Sarema. sin.

It would be a good thing if that were the case.

The world also knows what Earl Sarema's men are. That is a large group of recruited pirates, among whom there are even descendants of exiled criminals. With this group of people acting as the patrol force for ocean security, wouldn't they take the opportunity to eat Naka?

The descendants of the old Ross people are generally resistant to this. They trust their king very much, and they have a grudge against being a navy before they really make great achievements.

When it comes to recruiting, Goldlund has no shortage of soldiers.

In the Harvest Square, they shouted at the top of their voices for new sailors, promising a salary for the steward, and young idlers, or those with debts at home, to try their luck.

He quickly recruited a group of young people and counted their identities.

Most of these people came from Lake Mälaren, and they were young settlers from various Swedish tribes. At that time, he came across the ocean with his parents as a child, but now in New Roseburg, he often appears as a proletarian.

New Roseburg can provide them with a lot of labor opportunities. These young blondes appear in various workshops, especially leather workshops.

Tanning leather has to deal with the inevitable stench of animal decay and alkaline substances. But tanning leather is the industry of Ross since ancient times, and they have to endure in order to make money. Young people are incapable of bargaining with their employers. They basically have no days off. During the busy period, they endure the short light of the severe winter and work even with oil lamps.

Logging sales, fishing sales, and even going to the quarry in the East to work with the group of exiled criminals, just to earn wages.

Hunt and catch rare animals, or form a bear hunting team and station in Bear Altar Town in the northeast. The status of young people in the team is low, and the income depends entirely on the number of hunting, and the final dividend is not much.

Another reason they don't earn much is the competition from the Finns.

In the past era, the Finnish Suomi Tribal Alliance had a large population but lived a rough life in the past. Their lives are bad, but they don't feel that they are really bad because there are no forests and lakes to block their vision, until the whole family is merged into Ross's system.

New Roseburg needed labor, so the Suomi people came in canoes on a large scale, and formed a large shantytown of Finnish ethnicity outside the capital. They are more able to bear hardships and are more easily satisfied, because most Suomi people feel that they are short in stature, and they don't seem to be good fighters in battle. They have self-knowledge in this regard, and are generally willing to be a stable laborer.

The Suomi people naturally entered Ross's large and small leather workshops and became cheap hired labor. Swedish immigrants who were willing to work in this industry had to endure high prices.

But they are Swedes after all, and they have exactly the same blood as the old Ross.

As a sailor with a stable salary, in principle, you can serve forever, until the gray beard is really too much to do.

Even the king will arrange for the final dignity of the old soldiers. The retired soldiers are assigned some jobs, especially brought into the ordnance factory in the capital, to polish the newly produced metal weapons, and to install arrow clusters for the new arrows, in exchange for daily rations. Even after death, there is a kingdom to collect the body.

Such was the end of some of the veterans of the Second Banner, who had retired, and those who wished to continue serving the King had been sitting in the comfort of their chambers this winter adding arms to the royal family.

The salary is not much, but it is very stable.

If there is no war, the escorts who have to be transported by sea from time to time must endure boredom if they cannot go ashore for a long time. The advantage is that they never have to worry about starvation.

Goldlund recruited 200 people in a short period of time, and they were all simply selected, and these were the best ones who passed the test.

The weather is sunny, and the snow in Harvest Square has been cleared away, exposing the original concrete road. It's just that the quality of the cement is not good. After several years of wind and rain, although there is no serious heavy rolling, the surface layer inevitably disintegrates, and the overall texture presents a very rough texture.

Even such a road is known as a "wonderful hard flat land", and it is still the best place for the army to gather and dry the wheat during the harvest season.

No, Goldlund stood in the square with the two hundred new sailors he had recruited, waiting for the king's review.

Just look at these people, the plain white linen is cut into robes that barely reach the knees, and a buckskin belt is tied around the waist. Cloth robes cover the inner casual clothes, and the robes can be sewn with blue cloth strips to show their identity.

They all wore a dark brown buckskin hat with a wide brim for sun protection and a small metal hook on it, and the brim folded up to form a three-cornered hat.

Why is the visor deliberately made into the style of a three-cornered hat? Goldlund didn't understand, he only knew that this was the king's preference.

"It should be to reflect the difference between us and those land troops."

He had already done some ideological work for the recruits.

After all, those young people who are determined to kill the enemy and make great contributions to make a fortune will rush to sign up even after hearing that the king is recruiting a standing army.

Only when the navy was recruited, they were all a group of honest laborers. The whole winter's hard work made their young faces look old. This is because the leather tanning operation is coming to an end this winter, and a large number of workers lose their jobs instantly. The unemployed Suomi people took the money they earned to buy daily necessities on the spot, planning to return to their hometown in Finland happily with the supplies in case the ice melted.

These Swedish ethnic workers really couldn't refuse the opportunity to get a stable salary in the navy, even if life was not very good.

Before really tasting the sweetness, the recruits may hardly be convinced that their profession is honorable, although they can keep saying "it is my honor to serve the king".

Goldlund took them all to the dry dock of the Sea Monarch. This group of people who had been in the tanned leather house for a long time with the stench was shocked and awed when they saw the scene of the huge ship about to leave the port.

When they learned that they would become the sailors of this huge ship, they were more excited and frightened.

"Such a big ship, can I, an ordinary person, handle it?" People have to doubt themselves.

Goldlund didn't care too much, he was ordered to do something, and now the ice layer was melting badly, and it was not far from sailing, so he had to show the results of his recruitment to the king.

The sun shines on the earth, even though there is still a north wind, it is no longer biting.

Merchants are preparing for spring trade, it is another warm season, and spring plowing in the capital is also being prepared.

Rurik has his own important affairs, a thousand warriors who are urgently in need of an expedition, they are busy reorganizing their armaments and receiving brand new weapons.

In the southern world, due to the lack of high-quality large iron ore, the overall price of Frank's various ironware is relatively high. There is iron ore in southern Frank (Frank), and its low grade makes smelting cost high. Unlike the northern mines controlled by the Ross people, it can produce extremely high-quality ore with a grade of 80% or more. Even so, selling iron is enough to make some southern nobles rich. Objectively, in order to keep their money, they have reasons to avoid the control of Lothair, the real king of the Franks, so they have reasons to choose those who are not old enough to be bald "Bald" Charlie as his agent.

The molten pig iron smelted in a blast furnace and combined with the steel frying method, the smelting cost of Ross is much lower than that of the counterparts in the south, and the advantage is that iron ore is easy to obtain and the output is also large.

Rurik has hundreds of senior blacksmiths, each with at least two apprentices. It is not a problem for each blacksmith to make three sets of breastplates in one winter. Rurik, who inspected them, was very satisfied with the results, because the person in charge, Kamne, had already produced 500 sets of breastplates.

The armor should pay attention to practicality, let's look at this armor, the overall chest plate protects the entire front torso of the warrior, and the back is a cloth face armor with leather riveted on iron sheets and then covered with cloth.

The matching ones also have "iron skirts" which are also leather riveted iron pieces, which can protect the soldiers' thighs.

The arms are still traditional chain mail. All veterans of this type of armor have one or two sets in stock, mostly from the seizures in previous battles over the past ten years.

Soldiers must wear high-top leather boots with Slavic characteristics. They are mainly made of the most common buckskin. There are a lot of rivets on the soles, and they walk loudly. Good boot for armed parades around town.

The soldier's iron helmet was further thickened, except for the addition of an integral plate armor on the forehead, the already huge iron nose guard was expanded into a "butterfly". It was upgraded to a so-called butterfly helmet, and the horizontal iron plates were enough to protect the soldiers' cheekbones. There are still hooks on the helmet, just to hang the ring armor. The ring armor is connected in series by ropes and hung on the iron helmet when needed, so as to directly protect all parts below the nose, especially the neck that cannot be protected by the breastplate armor.

A soldier wearing this suit is really a new heavy infantry that is invulnerable.

Since Ross is very rich in iron, it is only logical for him to crazily stack armor for his standing army.

All members of the First Banner Team of the Standing Army, led by the veteran Grund, were refitted with heavy armor, which made the "Mad Bear" with only a hundred people soar to as many as five hundred, and the armor was even heavier.

In order to withstand such armor, soldiers have to enjoy delicious and special food. In exchange, they have to strengthen their physical training, especially training their muscles, so that they can truly withstand such an extreme weight of armor.

No, when Rurik organized a hundred people to dress up such an extreme armor with an experimental mentality, and they lined up to form a shield wall, at first glance the shield also lost its effect.

Stacking armor is so extreme, what's the use of a shield?

The average person holds a steel sword and hand axe, and a small number of people don't use shields at all, and focus on using a special Nordic forest ax that can stab.

The new equipment of the Standing Army's First Banner Squad is Musha's new Seventh Banner Squad. It is the first time for young soldiers to see a large-scale "iron man". What about killing the enemy?"

I'm afraid that a heavy ax draped on a stomach can only scratch it, let alone a sword.

Rurik has already tested it. The surface hardness of the low-carbon steel breastplate after quenching is amazing. Even if the steel-armed crossbow shoots at close range and breaks the sharp arrow clusters, it can only smash a not-so-sharp arrow on the steel plate. Big dents.

Shooting the heavy arrows of the steel-armed crossbow at medium and short distances is a tactic that the Luo army has never been comfortable with. Now the strongest arrow has been defeated by the strongest armor.

It is in line with the course of history that true plate armor is almost immune to any missed shots.

The iron men of the standing army will always appear in the most lore reserve team in the cruel war, and the blue fox will send a thousand troops. Although he is envious of the iron army under the king, he has no money to create such a fierce army.

To make matters worse, because a huge sum of money was to be handed over to Robert, Earl of Lyingau, who sold the land, the money should be paid by the Gould family, specifically he himself lent it to his younger brother Black Fox. Brothers also have to settle accounts clearly. In exchange, the younger brother will use the future wine proceeds to repay the debt owed than buying land.

After all, this is something that brothers have only seen. To Lanhu's great relief, King Rurik decided to send the "Iron Army" into the expedition, and he was appointed as the commander. With a strong army in hand, some acts of looting that were not dared to do last year will be dared this year.

I'm afraid there is more than just trust here.

The sailors newly recruited by Godlund didn't know that the king had replaced an entire iron army with a flag team. If necessary, this group of people could install bear head decorations on their helmets and become "berserkers" among the five hundred.

He was very satisfied with his recruitment results. The new sailors had been standing in the early spring sunshine for a while, and they still tried their best to keep the team neat, sticking in a matrix like wooden stakes.

At last the king appeared with his golden laurel wreath and his retinue.

Rurik was followed by twenty warriors. They wore iron helmets and thick woolen coats with breastplates. The large area of ​​the breastplate was intentionally polished, reflecting the strong light that cannot be ignored under the sun, easily attracting the attention of many new sailors.

Naturally, Godelund was also taken aback.

"Your Majesty, everything is in order." His words were flattering.

With a sullen face, Rurik couldn't help stroking his beard. He ordered all his followers to stand at attention, and walked around the line of new sailors himself.

Pairs of eyes couldn't help but glance at the young Wang, but their bodies were still as straight as wooden stakes, and they didn't dare to be restless even for the sake of a stable salary in the future.

"Not bad." After reviewing, Rurik looked into Godlund's eyes: "I thought you would recruit strange people. They are all blond. I'm afraid there are many descendants of the old Ross people?"

"Hey, almost all of them are from Mellaren."

"Mellaren?"

"There are also people from Yermalen. They all came to the capital to seek a living, and they came to sign up when they heard that the king was recruiting troops. As for why there are no old Ross people, maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Just think you're underpaid."

"Oh! There is such a thing." Rurik shrugged and thought it was ridiculous, even if the salary he gave was low, he didn't want to raise his salary. "It's just a reason, it doesn't matter. Since they are all from Sweden, how loyal are they?" ? Are they all good at sailing?"

"Loyalty shouldn't be a problem, the latter...it's hard to say."

Goldlund was very honest, Rurik nodded, thinking of some plans.

Just as the recruits were gathering, Rurik announced loudly in front of them: "If you want to be a regular naval soldier, you must prove your loyalty. Of course you can call yourself loyal. I don't want to hear what you say, I just want to see you do it!" Now I give you a chance to fight! The elite troops are about to go on an expedition to Frank, and this king needs some sailors to participate. How about you? Can you? This king gives you a chance. Go through the expedition and prove your loyalty."

The king's speech caused an uproar. No one was cowardly in war. On the contrary, what they were looking for was the opportunity to make a fortune in war. Unexpectedly, the king personally gave the opportunity.

"But they are too young, they have never been involved in wars before, and they have been working as laborers in the capital." Goldlund was really worried about his own people.

"Are they considered young?" Rurik glanced at the corner of his mouth, "I still want to send the Seventh Banner on an expedition. My nephew is only thirteen years old, and he will go to the battlefield himself. Aren't they younger?"

"this…"

"Is there any reason?"

"They also lack training."

"It's okay~www.readwn.com~ They can row boats, they are good sailors. Since they were still laborers in the past, there must be many people who can cut wood and make wooden utensils. We need such talents. As for the lack of training, this time the king appointed the highest The commander is Blue Fox Gouldsson, a member of your old club family. What do you think of him? There is no problem with training soldiers."

"That's true. The matter of such a big ship..."

"Hey." Rurik couldn't help but patted the shoulders of these veterans, "You have a huge responsibility! The Monarch of the Seas is our new flagship, who will be authorized to conduct sea trials? Of course you! I also want to appoint you as the new flagship. Captain of the flagship, I want you to select elite sailors who must learn how to maneuver this big ship this summer. You are going to conduct sea trials at the Kronstadt anchorage, and the King needs your results."

To be honest, Goldlund was a little surprised. He heard that the king intended to steer the big ship directly to the mouth of the Rhine River to show off to the group of Frankish nobles.

Your Majesty has changed his mind. It seems that Your Majesty is very cautious in this regard.

"Obey." Godelund, clutching his heart and swearing, just declared that he would definitely implement it.