Otto, the great leader of the Russian people, finally felt that life could calm down for a while, and he could take a good rest for a while before making arrangements for his trip to Novgorod for Sorgon this spring. As a result, the entire tribe became restless again, and the reason turned out to be just the son's dream.
The atmosphere in the warm home was solemn, and Rurik sat here with a firm attitude.
One thing that made Otto angry was that his noble son was going to be a shipbuilder.
Otto did not hide his displeasure: "If you want to build a ship, you can send someone to do it. You actually want to be a craftsman yourself? Hold the hammer yourself. You can give me some advice. As for talking to those who built the ship, Do you think it's fun to hang out with the craftsmen's children? Or do you think you can get along with them to make yourself happy? Listen, if you do this, many people will think you are not noble enough."
"Huh?" Rurik, who was smiling at first, now froze on the leather mat in embarrassment.
"Tell me, do you still want to continue?"
"I..." Rurik was playful and didn't expect Otto to see his thoughts clearly. If you think about it carefully, a leader is really involved with the craftsmen. The leader will be self-satisfied because of his actions to be close to the people. As for whether he has moved everyone, it may be true as Otto said.
Even so, Rurik was determined.
He cheered up: "Dad, this is my decision. What is being built is my ship, and it only makes sense if I do it myself."
In fact, Rurik is still There is an idea, just because of my own bad taste and desire to cater to history. Because Peter the Great was an apprentice in the shipyard and later became the Holy Lord of Rus. History chose Rurik to lay the foundation for Ross, and he consciously felt worthy of this responsibility. Personally participating in shipbuilding has a strong symbolic meaning, but others do not feel the resonance.
"Okay! That's your decision. My attitude is still against it, but I won't stop you. There is only one thing you must think about."
"What is it? ?"
"You have to worry about a group of warriors who are good at carpentry. Is it worth paying them at least a daily supply? I have checked and the current stock of food is not enough. To 200,000 pounds. As long as you continue to consume it, you will run out of food soon. The food can be exchanged for 20,000 silver coins, so do you want to give it to them? "
Rurik hesitated for a moment. He thought of something and immediately made his attitude clear: "Dad, this is my decision. In the future, you will understand that the ships we built at a huge cost will also We have brought huge benefits. I don’t want to describe a too bright future. I just want you to stop worrying about anything. I just want to get your approval and let you call everyone to build the ship in the name of the leader.”
< p>Otto pursed his stubble-covered mouth: "At this moment, you can just raise your arms and shout. Do you still need me?""But, you are the leader. "
"Haha, I thought you forgot. Otto smiled bitterly, and sighed with a hint of sadness: "You have grown up." Well, let me help you. "
Otto's attitude really made Rurik feel a little uncomfortable. For the first time, he noticed his father's old age. Otto's arms were still strong, and his thick beard did not hide the masculine power he still exuded. In recent years, his aging has been obvious.
There is nothing better than an old heart. Seeing that his son is so active, Otto also deliberately delegates power in order to become a happy rich man. He is the only one. The big leader, as Rurik, who knows the rules, said, summons the entire tribe to engage in some big things, and only the big leader's words are effective.
No, Otto immediately pulled his son, and even the people in the tribe. A group of people with powerful words gathered together. Finally, he issued the summons. At the moment when the temperature was still cold, more than a thousand men and women, wearing heavy leather clothes, gathered happily at the door of the leader's house.
Some news about accelerating shipbuilding spread wildly among the tribes at the first time. These news were deliberately spread by Liuli's mercenaries to build momentum for the shipbuilding.
Those news. The rumors obviously turned into legends. A large group of people breathed thick white mist from their mouths, looking at the leader standing high up, thinking about what benefits they could get from the shipbuilding.
Otto. Finally spoke!
A man holding a patterned steel sword, his blond hair and sunken eyes accentuated the weight of his words: "You all know some things! shipbuilding! The Avora must be masted within ten days. It is not enough to rely solely on the shipbuilders. For our cause, I call you now. You are the best of the Ross tribe, and only you can build our largest ship. I command you! Go build a ship! ”
In an instant, the crowd was excited!
This lively mood infected the entire Roseburg, and even those who climbed onto the roofs covered with snow could hear the roar. , clenched his fists and joined in the fun.
To this day, Otto still criticizes Rurik's actions as a "stupid waste." Otto has lived for half a century, how can he not know the burden. The labor will inevitably lead to serious food consumption, especially in this damn winter, even women will become big eaters. He just feels that his son's generosity is somewhat prestigious.
It's because of boat building. As a big leader, Otto can issue an order to order the tribesmen to prepare their own food and tools to participate in some shipbuilding matters. As for the reward they can get, of course they are qualified to participate in this year's tribute voyage.
Since his son insisted on taking out the food, he couldn't say anything else.
Otto decisively pulled Rurik to his side, and in full view of the crowd, the future leader of the tribe, Announce the specific work of shipbuilding and how those involved will be paid.
Rurik followed his own ideas, and even communicated with those involved.As a result of the discussion, the shipbuilder solemnly announced his plan.
The big ship needs to be built quickly, so it is absolutely impossible to recruit some people who are good at fishing and paddling or who are infirm.
Rurik will hire all other shipbuilders in the tribe as long as they are willing to participate. The result? All the local shipbuilders are here! Behind Rurik's great surprise was Xiao Jiujiu who couldn't think of this group of people for a moment.
What do the local shipbuilders think? Youdao is that foreign monks can chant scriptures. The Russians have never had the ability to build cargo ships for decades. They can only build very low-side long ships. Who would have thought that the Hortra family and their friends immigrated from Mälaren? , the first boat built by that group of people in Fort Ross was a behemoth.
Only fools would ignore their peers' efforts to "build wonders" and leave them alone. They took the opportunity to steal technology.
As for the group of muscular men, their registration was obviously very simple - they were busy in the boring winter, and their wives were pregnant, which made their lives even more boring.
A person with strong experience will not decide to go for a month just because of a long hunting. An ambitious person will be eager to get more after receiving a bounty. They are all careerists, hoping to perform well in front of their leaders to gain new possibilities for their own future and that of their children. Of course, the most direct reason is Rurik's crazy food supply.
To build big ships, Rurik would not provide them with even a single silver coin.
But until the masts of the ships were erected, he would provide two pounds of wheat per man per day.
Although one silver coin can buy ten pounds of wheat, the exchange ratio appointed by the chief family has been stable for more than half a year. However, now the grain inventory is getting less and less, and the amount of grain released from the warehouse is also much smaller. Even if they have money, it is now difficult for them to buy even a pound of grain.
As the saying goes, whatever the human body lacks most, the body’s instinct will drive the mind to obtain it. The daily diet of the Russian people is almost entirely fish. They are extremely short of carbohydrate intake, so after they began to eat a large amount of wheat as never before, they could not bear the pain of losing it, because it really comes from the DNA deep in every cell. shout.
Rurik recruited more than 500 people. They were either shipbuilders themselves, masters in logging, or good at wood carving. There were even a few who claimed that they could pull a long ship by leaning on a cable. Hercules ashore.
Rurik does need a large number of tough men, because the first task given to this group of people is extremely challenging!
An astonishing number of blond strong men gathered in front of the shipbuilding plant in Huotra. With such a large number of people, the head shipbuilding craftsmen didn't know what was going on.
As Hotla walked out of the factory to negotiate with Rurik, he quickly smiled.
It only took a day, but the strong men who assisted in the shipbuilding arrived? !
The whole majestic crowd moved, they had been entered by RurikAfter that, they were divided into groups, and the person with a higher reputation among them was appointed as the so-called team leader, and they were instructed to perform their respective duties.
Some groups specialize in logging, targeting the small pine trees near the tribe that are only suitable for firewood and charcoal.
Some groups are responsible for twisting existing thin cables into large cables as thick as an arm.
Some groups began to use various tools to further cut the spruce poles used as masts.
Some groups operated two-man saws, axes and scrapers to cut the shipped northern pine into wooden boards.
The work of some groups is extremely strange, as if it has nothing to do with shipbuilding. They are just responsible for digging holes in an area designated by Huotra.
There are only some participants, and they participate in very special ways.
Building a big ship, how could such a major event be without the help of the blacksmith alliance of the Ross tribe? How could the most capable Klavasen and Kawei be missing?
The first earthen blast furnace of the Ross tribe, it just completed a casting operation in the harsh winter. The blacksmith apprentices from Novgorod braved the severe cold and led the reindeer herds carrying the ore back. In just one casting, Klavassen completed all the ore smelting. He couldn't expect the power of a group of children wielding pickaxes to smash into the mine, nor could he expect how much ore the team could transport back.
Finally a batch of ore was shipped back, and the huge blast furnace produced a batch of iron ingots in just one smelting.
Because of their understanding of "atomic theory", blacksmiths throughout the Ross tribe understood the differences between pig iron, steel and wrought iron.
They are blacksmiths, just like shipbuilders. Although their group that believes in Thor is relatively unique among the Ross tribe, they also represent the highest technology of the tribe.
They are innovative, especially after learning about "atomism" from Rurik, their worldview was greatly subverted.
Kawei, he doesn’t even need Rurik’s personal guidance. So-called knowing the main components of air and the main components of cast pig iron, this young man has figured out the "fried steel method" to make steel.
However, it cannot be said that Kawei is a genius with an IQ of 200. He tried to forge a cast iron ingot with a hammer. As a result, he was so strong that he smashed the iron ingot into a pile of broken pieces, and then angrily These things were thrown into the small stove one after another. He hoped to keep blowing, so that the so-called gas with the symbol "O" would take away all the damn "C" in the iron ingot. As a result, these small pieces of iron fused into a lump in the furnace. When they were fished out, they could finally be forged. As he became more proficient, Kawei became more adept at using the steel frying method, and the efficiency of forging steel swords was greatly improved.
The father and son Kawei and Klavason were busy making steel swords. Lilia also stared at the glass molding in her spare time while nursing the child, while Kamni and the child focused on the liquor. Distillation.
Until Rurik returned, he gave the blacksmith an order: make a batch of nails.
Of course the Russians know what nails are,It used to be very expensive, not to mention that tribal shipbuilders all used mortise and tenon structures, so why did they need nails?
Only now, Rurik needs a lot of nails, but they are not used on ships.
The heavy preparations were the first job for the strong men. They received a death order from Rurik, which was actually a death order from the big leader. Forced by that unquestionable majesty, Everyone gave up.
They were working hard, but the preparations still lasted for seven days!
Rurik fulfilled his promise and actually paid as much as eight thousand pounds of oats to make up for the physical losses of the strong men. Even so, the strong men were still nibbling on their own reserves of dried meat, or buying hard-frozen seal meat and cod meat from hunters.
Rurik also mobilized his group of children as usual, but what can these children do? They just followed the instructions, collected branches and sawdust everywhere, used them as fuel for cooking, and did as much auxiliary work as possible. They even gathered together to sing Russian folk songs, or hum some beautiful songs that Rurik urgently taught them, to relieve the tension and anxiety of the strong men from the heavy work.
The most arduous tasks here are two.
A group of people were using scrapers to painstakingly cut the mast wood, which was about half a meter in diameter, into one-third stika, and the other end was also cut down to only one-fifth stika. According to Hotla, even for this big ship, it still doesn't need a big mast.
There is also a group of people who are actually making accessories for the mast, that is, a beam that is fifteen stikas long, which is also the "crossbar on the mast." Its design requirements are too high. It was too long, so I had to use two pieces of wood and tie them together with hemp rope.
Any Ross ship has a horizontal beam, but the one made now is extremely special, just because it must be hung with the sail tilted, so that it becomes huge when the sail is set. The triangle sail is also the so-called "Latin sail". Its advantage is obvious, that is, it not only allows the Caravel-style boat to have extremely high speed, but also has the ability to move quickly in any wind direction.
Another arduous task is to build a mast standing on the gravel ground and a scaffolding with a slope.
A spruce tree about ten meters long that was not further processed was dragged to the pit by more than thirty strong men, followed by another thirty strong men lifting it and another thirty strong men pulling it. cable to keep it standing in the pit. In fact, this work is a rehearsal for erecting the mast of a large ship. It is to ensure the safety of the hull. No one dares to act recklessly.
The sloping scaffolding is for transporting mast wood. The height of the ship's side that must pass through the Avlora can reach three stikas. It is also the tallest ship that all Russians have ever seen. ! In order to quickly build this scaffolding, Rurik did not have time to tolerate his men working with the mortise and tenon structure, so a batch of iron nails made by surprise were put to great use.
Until the eighth day, everything is ready!
One hundred strong men and thirty strong stags were designated, especially those self-proclaimed strong men. Seeking mercy will lead to mercy, and Rurik placed them in the most critical place. .
The ground is still covered with snow, and although the wind is not so aggressive, its cold still makes the clean water freeze.
Everyone had a meal of wheat porridge for the first time in the morning. This was Rurik's order!
At the same time, a total of at least 4,000 people, including men, women, children, and even businessmen living in Rossburg, gathered near the Huotra Shipyard, and even anywhere where they could enjoy the wonderful scenery.
"Now, let's get started!" It was Otto who actually gave the order. In front of him, there were a group of menacing strong men with golden chest hair carrying cables on their shoulders, as well as a herd of reindeer.
Someone roared, and the entire team began to move slowly.
At this moment, Rurik, even his Carlotta, Ella, and even Lumia were standing on the top of the scaffolding with her Lumi, looking at a large ship. The hull of the ship was slowly pulled out by the Russians.
The Ross tribe does not yet have a dry dock, and any ship must be built on the shore and then pulled to the sea by manpower. Rurik estimates that the Avora, which is modeled after the Caravel ship, has a standard displacement of only fifty to sixty tons, which means that this ship is a fifty-ton giant!
Fortunately, there was ice and snow everywhere, and the number of Russians pulling the ship was overwhelming. The hull of the ship was like a cicada that had just shed its shell, and it left the factory where it was created little by little. Just before thousands of people Under the attention of the strong men, and with the roars of the red-blooded heads, they were pulled to the correct position.
The hull of the ship came to a halt, and the strong men hurriedly retreated to catch their breath and rest. Another group of people immediately took action and placed the prepared pine wood on the lower end of the ship's keel to act as sleepers.
There is no need to doubt these sleepers. They surround the hull, but they make her a tumbler on the snow.
"It's your turn now! Hotla! You take command!" Rurik, who was standing on the scaffolding, gave the order and evacuated immediately.
All the crazy efforts are for now. Hotla slapped his old face hard and ordered those who were fully prepared to start taking action.
The rope wrapped around the prefabricated mast, and its size was reduced a lot. Its actual weight is now only 800 kilograms.
This is still an extremely heavy wood. There is no way. It must choose the core wood of spruce, which is the most resilient and hardest part. It has been machined to fit nicely into the base in the cabin, and the installation work has begun!
The mast that has been stuck on the ground for a long time has a distance of eight meters above the ground. It is a solid fulcrum to hold up the cable. In this case, there were as many as thirty strong men dragging the cable, and more than ten people were pushing and pulling from behind. The mast quickly tilted and the thickest end was deep into the cabin, and successfully resisted the presetbaffle.
The next thing is to solve the problem using the principle of leverage. In fact, if the mast had not been so heavy as never before, the Hotla family would not have come up with this idea. All they needed to do was install a mast on the cargo ship and make a scaffolding. But it was just scaffolding, and it was a skill that local shipbuilders in Russia did not know.
Those Ross shipbuilders who sneaked in to learn skills are now smiling in their hearts.
In the end, as many as a hundred strong men participated in handling the mast. The heavy mast became frivolous, and it and its stable posture just stuck in the preset position.
The mast is completely perpendicular to the keel. It is so vertical entirely because the Hotla family used the "pendant method".
The mast stabilized, pointing straight toward the sky.
The scene fell into temporary silence after a muffled sound. For a moment, everyone cheered.
“Ah! We succeeded!”
“It’s God! God has favored us!”
“This ship will be equipped with sails soon. It can sail!"
"An unprecedented large ship is in Rus..."
A variety of cheers arose, and Rurik saw that he had worked hard and paid a great price to stand. He wanted to laugh wildly as he raised the mast, but for a moment he felt unable to laugh.
Had it not been for Rumia hugging him and cheering excitedly, Rurik could barely force a smile.
This smile is a bitter smile...
To be honest, it’s strange that Rurik can laugh so freely. Counting the funds invested in Ironburg (grain is also counted, equivalent to seventy pounds of silver coins), and the funds invested in the past few days (grain is equivalent to nine pounds of silver coins), plus the rewards promised to the Hotla family (reduced Edition) of eight-pound silver coins, the current investment in the Aurora is roughly eighty-seven pounds. .
Wait a minute! Eighty-seven pounds is a little less! Rurik estimated that if the subsequent planking and a huge sail were included, her actual price would be less than a hundred pounds?
The Aurora is really a hundred-pound lady, and her cost has seriously exceeded the budget ten times!
This is actually the case, but all R&D expenses and supporting equipment expenses are added to it.
Rurik thought for a while, if he built a torsion slingshot for ships, that would be another huge amount of money!
"The navy is so expensive. Even a big ship has a big stomach to swallow gold!" Now, Rurik really understood why the navy was an aristocratic branch. It was just an imitation Caravel ship. The price of the ship is twenty times that of an ordinary cargo ship!
Let’s think about it. At least the Russians have finally increased the tonnage of a single ship to the fifty-ton level in practice.
Even if she is just floating on the sea, Rurik believes that the Aurora can dominate the entire Baltic Sea.