Chapter 102 Rurik’s Atomic Theory (2)

Kawei fully understood all of Rurik's explanations based on at and the entire iron smelting principle. Up to now, he has no doubts about these explanations.

Can there be any doubt? Is there any more reliable explanation than this?

Even his father, Klavasen, who was also a blacksmith teacher, never told him these profound things.

Before tonight, Kawei simply felt that charcoal burned stone, and the last remaining red thing turned into iron by knocking it. Why is this happening? Probably Thor's miracle, or Odin's miracle.

After listening to Rurik's explanation, I'm afraid there are still miracles here, but these miracles can be controlled by others.

The saying passed down from our ancestors is that Odin created humans in his own image. In this case, perhaps people have been tacitly allowed by Odin from the beginning and can obtain and use some miracles.

He even asked by analogy: "What if we calcined not fifty times, but a hundred times? Wouldn't it be harder?"

"No!" Rurik said bluntly Negative, "A sword will become very fragile if it absorbs too much carbon. A pure iron sword will bend easily, and an iron sword that absorbs too much carbon will be particularly easy to break. We must take advantage of this characteristic of iron to make the best A good weapon.

The entire sword must absorb a certain amount of carbon. Because it has two characteristics, my sword actually has some flexibility. Kawei, please help me try it. "

"Me?"

"Yes." Rurik continued; "You don't have to worry about anything if you hold the hilt of the sword and press it hard. It won't break or deform, it will bend like a branch with your strength, and return to its original shape due to your force."

I saw Kawei holding the sword at an acute angle with one hand. He began to exert strength. Under Rurik's gaze, the sword blade really bent. But looking at Kawei's ferocious expression, this young strong man also used a lot of strength.

Kawei let go and saw the once-bent sword bounce back to its original shape instantly, and was really shocked by the force of the rebound.

"Wow! You really hit the mark." Kawei said excitedly.

Klavasen was even more excited, because this little experiment was an accurate proof of what Rurik had just said.

Clavason said sincerely: "Rurik, I am very clear about the iron swords I made in the past. As long as you press it with strong force, the sword body will bend in place. If you want It must be reddened to restore it to its original state. This sword of yours has shown me a miracle."

"Haha? Is this a miracle? Is it a miracle that it was created?" Rurik shook his head, "I have told you that the entire human world is composed of the smallest indivisible things, the smallest at.at forms new things in different ways, further composing everything we see. "

Rurik paused and said, "I will answer Kawei's question accurately. What would happen if you continued to forge and forge iron swords? It absorbs too much carbon. After reaching a certain level, Kawei continues to press the sword, and the sword can break directly. Even during forging, the sword embryo broke directly.

As blacksmiths, you now have to learn a brand new skill, which is to control the amount of carbon absorbed by the iron sword. This all depends on your own feeling.

I ask you to judge a good sword in the future. It must be able to cut through an ordinary iron sword and be able to return to its original shape after bending. These two principles are the most important. ”

The two blacksmiths nodded deeply, and at the same time a strong sense of excitement affected their bodies, making their feet sweat and their whole bodies shaking with excitement.

Up to now , Rurik already believed that the two blacksmiths had understood the atomic theory they were talking about, and also understood the principles of making a steel sword.

Of course, Rurik's so-called "atomic theory" itself has its own meaning. There are a lot of loopholes.

The earliest "atom theory" was born in Greece in the fifth century BC. Many philosophers discussed the composition of the world, a theory that believed that the world was composed of the smallest indivisible things. It was also born from countless discussions and was compiled into a classical theory. This theory can only be regarded as an enlightenment. They even think that flame is also a kind of atom, which is the concept of "phlogiston".

Stay. What Rick calls atomic theory is purely to take into account the blacksmith's understanding, making it more like "ancient Greek atomic theory." He also directly applies the results of modern atomic theory, where the actual meaning of at is equivalent to protons

Due to the special nature of their work, blacksmiths know more about "natural philosophy" than ordinary tribesmen. In order to take useful copper and iron out of the ore, they have to ponder the composition of the ore. .

It is very interesting that in order to get more gold, some ancient Greeks began to invent and tinker with alchemy. After all, the color of bronze seems to be just a little darker than gold if some metals are added. Its color is closer to real gold, and if it is fake, it is a huge profit.

With the destruction of Western Rome, the whole of Western Europe entered a state of chaos, and it took hundreds of years for the Germanic chiefs to regain control of the Franks. A new order was established under the authority of man.

The large-scale iron smelting factories of the Roman era disappeared, and science and technology also disappeared with them. A large number of Germanic blacksmiths were in decline. Knowing that the ore can be heated red and hammered into lumps to make iron, many barbarian blacksmiths did not even have time to find quenching techniques from Roman ruins.

Because of the lack of a teacher, most of the iron in Western Europe was made.Jian hopes to improve the quality of their products, but has no theoretical basis to support their desire.

Coupled with the general poverty of ordinary people of Germanic descent in Western Europe in this time and space, there are not many professional blacksmiths, and most of them are part-time farmers. Both iron smelting and blacksmithing are extremely strenuous physical labor. Blacksmiths must eat more bread to have the strength to strike iron. Poor civilians are half-starved and have no financial resources to hire blacksmiths to make good tools. I thought about these things.

What maintained the foundation of the Frankish Empire was a large number of homesteaders.

Many of these yeoman farmers are still in the final stage of tribal society. The ancient Germanic tribal system was destroyed by the conquest and rise of the Franks, and the emerging small peasant class had to break away from the tribes that no longer existed.

They had to use wooden plows or even their hands to reclaim wasteland to grow food, and they used wood to make tools to build houses. The Frankish nobles were their managers and had to collect certain taxes. The poor yeomen struggled to accumulate their wealth, and those who went bankrupt would naturally become serfs of the nobility.

Craftsmen such as blacksmiths are more likely to become slaves of nobles. It’s just that nobles prefer blacksmiths to serfs who farm.

Nobles must have a strong army of their own, and the only things that can make the army strong are iron and bronze. The so-called Frankish nobility, their ancestors were German chiefs, and the ancestors of the yeoman farmers were just ordinary residents of each tribe. From the beginning, they were distinguished between noble and humble. When Frank adopted the enfeoffment system in an all-round way, this distinction between noble and humble became further sanctified for church reasons.

The nobles needed blacksmiths to make iron, and when they went on an expedition, they had to bring a blacksmith with them to repair the weapons made of wrought iron that were easily bent and broken at any time. They believed that all weapons were like this.

Blacksmiths originated from farmers who lacked or had little land. They inherited this laborious job from generation to generation. They greatly needed the support of the nobles. After all, the nobles were their biggest financial backers.

Especially in the current time and space, residents of Norway and Denmark, acting as Viking pirates, began to plunder the British region and the Frankish Empire on a large scale. The nobles needed the taxes from the common people to survive, so in order to survive, they had to organize an army to counterattack all the Vikings.

Wars began to become more frequent, and the nobles needed blacksmiths even more.

The blacksmiths in Western Europe in the ninth century did not understand atomism, nor did they understand alchemy at all. It was even less possible to acquire the ancient steel-making techniques from the East that had been cultivated to the pinnacle in the classical period.

According to the normal historical trend, the invasion of the Mongolian army brought a lot of things.

The introduction of some steel-making techniques from distant China and the return of steel-making techniques that continued to spread from the Middle East made Europe finally able to manufacture low-carbon steel. The returning alchemists would rather risk being burned to death as wizards than do some crazy experiments out of thin air.Create gold from ordinary things.

The historical development process finally began to undergo a small deviation in 828 AD.

In the beginning, this was a minor deviation.

However, when the blacksmiths of the Ross tribe fully understand the core principle of making carbon steel from a block, many things will become different.

Because of Rurik, he is not just a little angel who provides steel-making skills. For him, letting the blacksmith make steel swords is not just for a little wealth. The blacksmith has gained a new understanding of the world based on the "Rurik-style atomic theory" he developed.

Although Rurik still claims that the world was created by Odin, how Odin created the world is no longer something indescribable and incomprehensible.

Carbon steel has elasticity, which did not exist in metal weapons used as weapons in Western Europe in the past.

Since it has good resilience, it can be made into better weapons, such as crossbows.

When Rurik saw Kawei struggling to bend his dagger, he instantly thought of the possibility of a steel-arm crossbow.

At the end of the Middle Ages, Genoa was most famous for its steel-arm crossbow made of steel. Its power lay in its ability to penetrate heavy arrows through the armor of plate-armored knights within a certain distance.

Although the steel arm crossbow has its own many shortcomings, it was made in the 15th to 16th centuries, an era when matchlocks were just starting out. It is another weapon that can effectively attack heavily armored units.

For things like weapons, in a country with frequent wars, all parties will generally choose the most cost-effective equipment. The monarch does not require weapons to be fancy, they must be able to achieve their own army at a small cost. The result is defeating the enemy.

The climate in Europe is generally humid, and the advanced technology of sinew-angle composite bows is prone to embarrassment in humid environments, which forces Europe to use single-piece straight wooden bows.

However, in the ninth century AD, the use of bows was not common in wars throughout Western Europe, let alone high-tech crossbows.

As for the Nordic world, the Vikings, who are called barbaric by Western Europe, do not even use bows. Of course there are throwing weapons, namely spears.

Human beings have been making spears and using them as throwing weapons for tens of thousands of years. Any human being in the world has this valuable innate ability. The Romans took throwing javelins and spears to the extreme.

Does the Ross tribe need to develop long-range weapons? Of course.

Rurik regrets that he is still too weak. He always has countless ideas and long-term plans in his mind. He also understands the reason why his hips may be strained by taking too big steps.

He is the kind of person with a calm temperament unique to the East. Even if he longs for the Ross tribe that he will take power to have stronger technology, he cannot achieve it overnight.

Rome was not built in a day. Every stone slab on the stone road leading to Rome was spliced ​​piece by piece by workers.

One thing Rurik fears most is that as he grows older, he accidentally forgets some of the most basic and important knowledge.

The night is already very deep, and in a few days it will be Hanukkah, the biggest festival of the Ross tribe. All tribesmen will have a carnival to welcome the "longest night".

After the new Hanukkah, the tribe must have a new beginning, Rurik deeply believed so.

Now, Klavasen and Kawei have learned a lot of so-called "knowledge of Odin".

Rurik looked at the two blacksmiths who looked satisfied and full of confidence in the future, and said profoundly: "Odin gained knowledge at the cost of one eye, and then turned the giant's corpse into countless atlas. , use knowledge to create our human world. We are all Odin's creations, so we can also understand some of Odin's wisdom. Now you can make your own new swords."

" "Yes!" Klavason said excitedly: "My son and I will become very rich for this. I have decided that before Kawi goes to Novgorod with the leader, I must build a steel." The sword (stelsvard) is Kawei's sword."

"Dad, I will make it myself, so you don't have to worry about it," Kawei said confidently.

"You? You'd better go to Novgorod to find an excellent woman and give me more boys. Since our family has received Odin's wisdom from the next leader, we must carry it forward. ."

"I will, at worst, grab one back."

Hearing their banter and bickering, Rurik couldn't smile any more. Robbery is also a traditional skill of all Viking Nordics. This kind of behavior is not a good thing. Not only because robbery is a crime that breeds resentment, but from a purely rational point of view, improving the efficiency of the group's production of materials is obviously more cost-effective than robbery. Selling high value-added materials is the traditional way to make a fortune. The Viking business aristocracy group will also be born from this.

This night, Kawei and Klavason made it clear that they would develop the technology of "Hundred Steelmaking" and would fulfill their contract with absolute honesty.

But Rurik didn’t want it to end so simply.

Exhausted, he asked Kawei: "Bring me another board."

"What's wrong?"

"I want to carve something. About what Odin created with at. I carved it on the wooden board for you to learn."