Rise of Rurik

For the sake of the giant ship Sea Monarch, the Ross Navy must expand its forces.

The specific matters of military expansion were left to the "Marine War Chief" Goldlund.

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

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

Who is this Goedelund? He used to be Old Gould's subordinate, but now he has become a big shot.

Real Russians don't think there's anything noble about the navy, or they don't recognize Goldlund's military exploits. After all, Rurik himself had commanded many naval battles in the past, and the sons of the Gould family had also commanded many times. There was no formal navy at that time, and the sailors in the navy were only responsible for operating ships. When the war really started, the troops that focused on land warfare also took part in naval warfare.

Apart from King Rurik, who was Rus’s master sailor? The world is more willing to recognize the explorer Spyut who was named Count of Saaremaa.

If you want to be a soldier, be the king’s standing army! Whether it is infantry or cavalry, only by being an army can one make a fortune in future wars. People have reached a consensus after all the wars.

As for the navy? That is a large group of armed sailors, who will only come ashore with weapons unless necessary in wartime. They can control the ship very well, and there is no point in fighting in formation on the shore, and there is basically no chance of getting loot.

Maybe we can use the power of battleships to carry out plunder at sea?

Piracy was not uncommon in the past, but it is now a serious crime.

Because King Rus promised to all those who surrendered to him, King Rus would be the protector of maritime security. The task of catching pirates was entrusted to Count Saaremaa. The patrolling ships often cruised in the South Baltic Sea, which was full of murderous people in the past, and punished by force. sin.

It would be a good thing if that were all true.

The world also knows what Count Saaremaa's men are like. That was a large group of pirates who were recruited, and there were even descendants of deported criminals among them. Let this group of people act as a patrol force for maritime security. Will they not take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of the situation?

The descendants of the old Rus are generally resistant to this. They trust their king very much and have some grudges about becoming a navy before the navy truly achieves great achievements.

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

In the Harvest Square, they shouted at the top of their lungs to recruit new sailors, promising to be paid for taking care of the food, so that young idlers or guys with debts at home could try their luck.

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

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

New Roseburg can provide them with many labor opportunities. These young blond people appear in various workshops, especially leather workshops.

Tanning leather has to endure the inevitable stench of animal decay, and it also has to deal with alkaline substances. But tanning leather has been Rus' industry since ancient times, and they must endure it in order to make money. Young people have no ability to bargain with their employers. They basically have no days off. During busy periods, they endure the short light of severe winter and have to work even by lighting oil lamps. If the season falls, workers have to find another job.

Selling logging, selling fish, and even going to the quarries in the East to work with the group of exiled criminals, just to earn wages.

Hunt and capture 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 hunts, and the final dividend is not much.

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

In the past, the Finnish Suomi Tribe Alliance had a larger population but a rough life. Their life was very bad, but they didn't feel that they were really bad because there were no forests and lakes to block their vision, until the whole family was merged into Ross's system.

New Roseburg needed labor, so the Suomi people came in large numbers in canoes and formed a large Finnish shantytown outside the capital. They are more able to endure hardships and are more easily satisfied. Because they feel that most Suomi people are short in stature, they do not seem to be good warriors for killing in battle. They are self-aware in this regard and are generally willing to be stable laborers.

The Suomi people naturally entered the large and small leather workshops in Russia and became cheap employees. Swedish immigrants who were willing to work in this industry also had to endure high prices.

But they are Swedes after all, with exactly the same bloodline as the old Russians.

With a stable salary as a sailor, you can in principle serve forever, until your beard becomes gray and you can no longer work anymore.

Even the king will arrange for the last dignity of old warriors. Retired warriors are assigned some jobs, especially brought to the ordnance factory in the capital, where they polish newly produced metal weapons and install feathers and clusters on new arrows in exchange for daily wages. rations. Even after death, a kingdom comes to collect the body.

Such was the end of some of the veterans of the Second Standard, who had retired from service, and those who wished to continue serving the King had been sitting in the comfort of their homes this winter, adding weapons to the royal family.

The salary is not much, but the advantage is that it is very stable.

If there is no war, you have to work as a escort for ocean transportation. You have to endure boredom when you can't go ashore for a long time. The advantage is that you don't have to worry about starvation.

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

The wind is sunny and the snow has been cleared from the Harvest Square, revealing the original cement road. It's just that the quality of the cement is not good. After several years of exposure to wind and rain, and even without serious crushing by heavy objects, its surface layer will inevitably disintegrate, and the overall texture will appear very rough.

Even this kind of road surface is praised as a "wonderful hard flat ground". It is still the best place for troops to gather and dry wheat during the harvest season.

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

Look at these people. They are cut from plain white linen into robes that barely reach their knees, and their waists are tied up with a deerskin belt. The cloth robe covers the casual clothes underneath, and the robe can be sewn with blue cloth strips to highlight one's identity.

They all wore a dark brown deerskin hat with a wide brim for sun protection. There were also small metal hooks on it, and the brim turned into a three-cornered hat.

Why are sun hats deliberately shaped like tricorn hats? Goldlund didn't understand. He only knew that this was the king's preference.

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

He has already done some ideological work for the new recruits.

After all, those young people who are aspiring to kill the enemy and make great achievements and make a fortune, when they hear that the king is recruiting a standing army, rush to sign up even if they don't even eat.

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

These Swedish ethnic workers really can't refuse the opportunity to work in the navy and get a stable salary, even if their life is not that good.

Before they really taste the sweetness, the recruits may not be convinced that their profession is glorious, although they can keep saying that "it is an honor to serve the king."

Goldlund took them collectively to the dry dock of the Sea Monarch. This group of people, who had spent a long time in the tanned leather building with the stench, were shocked and awed when they saw the huge ship looking like it was about to leave port.

When they learned that they would become sailors on this giant ship, they became even more excited and frightened.

"How can I, an ordinary person, control such a big ship?" People have to doubt themselves.

Goldlund couldn't care too much. He was ordered to do something. Now the ice was melting badly and the voyage was not far away. He had to show the results of his recruitment to the king.

The sun shines on the earth, and even though there is still a north wind, it is no longer biting and 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, and is in urgent need of a thousand warriors for the 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 ores, the overall price of Frank's various ironware is relatively high. There is iron ore in the southern Franks (France), but its grade is low, making smelting costs high. Unlike the northern mines controlled by the Russians, which can produce excellent ore with a grade of over 80%. Even so, selling iron is enough to make some southern nobles rich. Objectively speaking, in order to maintain their financial resources, they have reason to avoid being under the control of King Lothair, the real power of the Franks, which gives them reason to choose those who are not old enough to be bald. "Bald" Charlie is his agent.

By smelting pig iron in a blast furnace and combining it with the steel frying method, Ross's smelting costs are much lower than those of its counterparts in the south. What's more, iron ore is easy to obtain and the output is 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 chest plate armor in one winter. Rurik, who made an inspection, was extremely satisfied with the results, because the person in charge, Kamne, was able to produce five hundred sets of chest plate armor.

Armor should be practical. Look at this armor. The overall chest plate protects the warrior's entire front torso, and the back is a cloth armor made of leather riveted with iron sheets and covered with cloth.

The matching "iron skirt" is also made of leather and riveted iron pieces, which can protect the soldier's thighs.

The arms are still covered with traditional chainmail armor. Veteran warriors all have one or two sets of this type of armor in stock, mostly captured from battles over the past ten years.

Soldiers must wear Slavic high-top leather boots. They are mainly made of the most common deerskin. There are a lot of rivets on the soles. They make a lot of noise when they walk. If they march in line at the same rhythm, the rumble will be really powerful and domineering, which is what Ross is used to. Great boots for armed cruising around the city.

The soldier's iron helmet was further thickened. In addition to adding an integral plate armor to the forehead, the existing huge iron nose guard was expanded into a "butterfly". It was upgraded to a so-called butterfly helmet, with horizontal iron plates enough to protect the soldier's cheekbones. The helmet still has hooks for hanging the ring armor. Multiple rings of ring armor are connected in series by ropes and can be hung on the iron helmet when needed. This directly protects all parts below the nose, especially the neck, which cannot be protected by the chest plate armor.

When a soldier puts on this suit, he becomes a brand new heavy infantryman who is invulnerable.

Since Rus is very rich in iron weapons, it is only natural to pile up armor like crazy for his standing army.

All members of the First Flag Team of the Standing Army, led by veteran General Grund, were equipped with heavy armor, causing the number of "Crazy Bears" that originally numbered only a hundred to soar to as many as five hundred, and the armor became even heavier.

In order to withstand such an armor, the soldiers had to enjoy delicious and delicious special meals. In exchange, they had to strengthen their physical training, especially training their muscles, so that they could truly withstand such an extreme weight of the armor and stomach.

No, when Rurik organized a hundred people with an experimental mentality to dress up in such an extreme way, and they lined up to form a shield wall, at first glance it seemed that the shield was useless.

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

Most people hold steel swords and hand axes, and a small number of people don't use shields at all, focusing on using a special Nordic forest ax that can thrust.

The new equipment of the Standing Army's First Flag Team, Mu Sha's newly built Seventh Flag Team, the young soldiers saw a large-scale "Iron Man" for the first time. A major question couldn't help but surfaced: "What if I fight with such an enemy?" Where to kill the enemy?"

I'm afraid that the heavy ax will only scratch the stomach if it is draped on it, let alone the sword.

Rurik has already tested it. The surface hardness of the low carbon steel breastplate after quenching is astonishing. Even if the steel-arm crossbow is shot at close range and breaks the sharp arrow cluster, it can only smash a small one on the steel plate. Large dents.

The heavy arrows of the steel-arm crossbow were shot at close range. This was Luo Jun's unsatisfactory strategy. Now the strongest arrow was defeated by the strongest armor.

It conforms to the historical process. Real plate armor can basically prevent any missed arrows.

The iron men of the standing army will always appear in reserve for the most brutal battles. Blue Fox will send a thousand troops. Although he envies the king's iron army, he does not have the money to build such a fierce army.

What's worse is that because a huge sum of money has to be handed over to Robert, Earl of Raiingau, who sold the land, the Gould family has to pay this money. Specifically, he himself lent it to his younger brother Black Fox. Brothers also have to settle accounts. In exchange, the younger brother uses future wine earnings to repay the debt from buying the land.

After all, this was something only brothers could see. To Blue Fox's great relief, King Rurik decided to put the "Iron Army" into the expedition, and he was appointed as the commander. With a strong army in hand, some robberies that were not dared last year will be dared this year.

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

Goedelund's newly recruited sailors didn't know yet that the king had replaced an entire flag force with an iron army. If necessary, each of these people could add bear head decorations to their helmets and become "berserkers" among the five hundred.

He was very satisfied with the results of his recruitment. The new sailors had been standing in the early spring sunshine for a while, still trying to keep the team as neat as possible, forming a matrix like wooden piles.

Finally, the king appeared with his golden laurel crown and his entourage.

Rurik was followed by twenty warriors, who wore iron helmets and breastplates on top of thick woolen coats. The large area of ​​​​the breastplate was deliberately polished, reflecting a strong light that could not be ignored in the sun, easily attracting the attention of the new sailors.

Naturally, Goldlund was also surprised.

"Your Majesty, everything is fine." His words were somewhat flattering.

Rurik couldn't help stroking his beard with a sullen face. He asked all his followers to stand at attention and walked around the new sailors in formation.

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

"Not bad." After reviewing it, Rurik looked into Goldlund's eyes: "I thought you would recruit strange people. They are all blond. Is there not many descendants of the old Russians?"

"Hey, actually, almost all of them are from Melalen."

"Melaren people?"

"There are also people from Yelmalun. They all come to the capital to make a living. When they heard that the king was recruiting troops, they came here to sign up. As for why there are no old Russians, maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"I just feel like your salary is too low."

"Ha! There is such a thing." Rurik shrugged and thought it was ridiculous. He didn't want a raise even if the salary he gave was low. "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 should be no problem, the latter...it's hard to say."

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

Just as the new recruits were gathering, Rurik loudly announced directly in front of them: "If you want to be a standing naval soldier, you must prove your loyalty. Of course you can claim to be loyal, but I don't want to hear what you say, I just want to see you do it!" Now I give you a chance for war! The elite troops are about to go on an expedition to Frank, and I need some sailors to participate. How about you? Can you? I give you a chance. Experience the expedition and prove your loyalty."

The king's speech caused an uproar. No one was timid about war. On the contrary, what they wanted was the opportunity to make a fortune by fighting. Unexpectedly, the king himself gave them the opportunity.

"But they are too young. They have never participated in a war before. 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 will also order the Seventh Flag to go on an expedition. My nephew is only thirteen years old and will go to the battlefield in person. Aren't they younger?"

"this……"

"Is there any reason?"

"They also lack training."

"It doesn't matter. They can row, and they are good sailors. Since they were 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, the top commander appointed by the king this time is Blue Fox. Gouldson, a member of your old employer’s family. What do you think of him? Training soldiers is no problem at all.”

"That's true. Something about such a big ship..."

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

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

The king has changed his mind. It seems that the king is very cautious in this regard.

"As ordered." Goethelund swore with his heart in his hands, just to declare that he would definitely implement it.