Chapter 496 New Shipborne Weapons

A group of small but strong boys followed Rurik's order and all gathered. They stood in the open space outside the blacksmith workshop area of ​​Klavassen and accepted Rurik's review.

Rurik looked at them one by one with his hands behind his back.

These ten-year-old boys were originally destined to be farmers in Novgorod, spending a short and mediocre life in poverty, and even died prematurely due to malnutrition.

Now, everything has changed.

They are stronger than Rurik. Due to regular physical labor, everyone can see obvious muscle texture when they roll up their sleeves, even if they are only ten years old.

They eat a lot of meat every day. In the past six months, they must have had a pound of oats every day.

Such a highly nutritious and high-calorie diet is not about fattening the boys. They were ordered to work hard and each of them became a good little blacksmith. These children are just small in age and short in stature. They are as strong as cattle now. Will they be able to do so in the future? Aren't you so strong that you can chop down a pine tree with a single blow from an axe?

These Slavic boys can basically take charge of their own business. Although they are not as efficient as the young and strong Kawei in terms of work efficiency, their future is bright.

Kamne came to report excitedly, "Boss, everyone is here. Arrange the tasks and we can complete them without sleeping."

"Okay! Very energetic. Then According to my order, I want you to make a new type of weapon."

There is no need for Rurik to elaborate. After all, these children are all involved in the direct manufacture of torsion slingshots and weapons. Zai'er is very knowledgeable.

How can it be possible to manufacture a large number of weapons by just relying on the gray-bearded Klavason? Behind the large number of Ross ships equipped with "Scorpion Crossbow" torsion slingshots, wooden arm and steel arm crossbows is the efforts of these young blacksmiths.

Without such success, Rurik would not have dared to assemble them and entrust them with important tasks.

The wild donkey trebuchet is a so-called powerful torque-driven lever. When the stone is thrown out, the inertia also drives the entire machine to jump up, just like a donkey kicking a child.

The best way to prevent it from jumping is to install a counterweight at the end.

These children are being trained by Rurik as "all-round craftsmen". They are young miners, metallurgists, cement workers, and promising carpenters.

Clavason is busy forging steel swords himself, and he has always enjoyed it. Kawei and the men he recruited still guarded the blast furnace and continued to produce iron tools in large quantities.

The children cannot be protected by capable craftsmen, but Rurik himself is their best teacher.

Warmer seawater from the southern seas has invaded the Gulf of Bothnia. The sea has basically thawed, and there are large and small ice floes on the sea surface, and even some giant icebergs.

The fjord where Fort Ross is located is still frozen, but people have noticed that the stream upstream is becoming increasingly turbulent, and the freeze in the fjord will break down within a few days.

Summer came late this year, and the snow on the ground is melting on a large scale, only to freeze again at night. Everyone had to use various tools to break off the amazing ice edges on the eaves of their homes every morning.

After five days of busy work, the six "wild donkey trebuchets" planned by Rurik were finally completed by his young men!

There are no wild ass in northern Europe. The donkeys in the world all come from Central Asia. Today, there is not a single donkey in Europe from Western Europe to Northern Europe.

If he had to use the kicking behavior of an animal to describe this weapon, Rurik would not hesitate to think of a bull.

Ten "Bull Trebuchets", they can be described as standardized products.

Its site is a frame with a length of one stika and a width of half a stika, which is about one meter and half a meter. One end of the weapon has a reinforced wooden post with up to five layers of buffered deerskin strapped to it.

Its torque source is hemp rope, baleen and rubber band strips, which are soaked in grease to further enhance the willfulness.

It is essentially a highly adaptable tactical machine, and its overall structure is also very simple. Of course, its accuracy is far inferior to that of a crossbow-type torque slingshot.

Lord Rurik invented a new weapon!

People who are looking forward to the thaw of the sea have become increasingly anxious these days, and they need some interesting things to relieve their mood.

Rurik sent some strong men, and each two men easily carried the completed "bull trebuchet" and placed it outside the wooden wall that was still under construction. Ten trebuchets faced the sea in unison, waiting to be manipulated.

Thousands of people came to watch, and the newly built wooden wall scaffolding was also full of people, not to mention a group of guys standing on the roof.

They have probably guessed that the function of these weapons is to launch rocks. Each of them is small, so how effective can they be?

Everyone speculates that Rurik has the technology and ability to build a larger torsion trebuchet, but he lacks time.

These small items, with a total length of more than one meter and a torque lever of more than one meter, are weapons that can be used in a short time.

Everyone is looking forward to the stunning performance of the new weapons in their hearts. They look at the frozen sea that can still let you move around with their eyes, hoping to see the splash of rocks in the distance.

Otto watched silently. When he saw the actual object being built before, he knew the usefulness of this weapon and even the tactical effect it could bring.

Otto thought of the decisive battle on Gotland Road. If we had been able to launch stones on a large scale at that time, a large number of stones falling from the sky would have smashed the Gotland army from a distance.

Suddenly, he was surprised to see that the people operating the machinery were actually a group of children!

Rurik only arranged for strong men to carry them, and the operators were the little blacksmiths who built them.

"Brothers, are you all ready? Act as we agreed!"

Without any hesitation,It was also necessary to incite the emotions of the onlookers. Rurik gave the order simply, but the children still turned the ratchet winch and the lever was lowered little by little.

The ten bull trebuchets are finally ready.

"Hjutra!"

Rurik ordered, and the ten children pulled the rope holding the bayonet at the same time.

The bull trebuchets, fully charged with power, suddenly activated their levers, pulling the leather bags wrapped around the seaside stones, and violently threw the leather bags out.

Because angular momentum is conserved. The lever rotated violently and reached its peak. It hit the cushioning pad, and almost all of its angular momentum was given to the bag hanging on the hemp rope.

A pebble as big as a grown man’s fist flew into the air! If you were hit hard by such a rock, a helmet would not save your life.

People raised their heads one after another, watching their retreating shadows. The shadows gradually blurred and became difficult to recognize. Finally, ten water columns were set off in a very far place.

No cheering! There’s really no cheering!

People weren’t even shocked, or they didn’t know what was happening. There was a loud buzz from the thousands of people watching, all talking among themselves.

Rurik was surprised. He always felt that the range was three hundred meters at least.

This is an extremely astonishing distance, a range that most bows and arrows cannot match.

Rurik noticed from a distance that the landing points of the stones were relatively concentrated.

"Not enough! Do it again!"

After hearing the order, the children continued to work. After the lever quickly returned to its position, the stone was installed and inserted into the bayonet.

A new round of volleys began soon, and everything was just like the first time.

"Great, let's do it again!"

Rurik kept ordering, and each trebuchet was fired ten times. One hundred rounds of prepared pebbles were all used for "special ice cutting," not to mention that the ice in the distance was indeed penetrated.

It seems like the experiment should end here?

Rurik finally patted Kamne on the shoulder and handed him the hemp rope that recorded the length.

It was a hemp rope with a total length of one hundred stikas. It was a tool used to calculate the range of crossbows, and later was also used to calculate the range of various long-range weapons.

It is knotted every tenth stika, and each stika is painted with a blue channel.

Kamne is a child, so he doesn’t have to worry about crushing the ice. However, when he kept measuring with the rope and completed the second length of hemp rope (about 200 meters in total), he suddenly felt guilty.

The weapon actually threw the stone so far?

As he continued to move forward, he noticed something extremely surprising. There were cracks in the ice on the sea surface! He still had the courage to measure, and after finally measuring the 280th stika, he did not dare to continue.

He has not yet reached the point where the rocks fell intensively, but the ice in front has cracked extensively.

He returned in a hurry and reluctantly told the truthReport.

Rurik squinted his eyes and listened, and couldn't help but sigh: "Did the rocks smash the ice? 280 stikas are still not the landing point."

Rurik didn't Without further ado, he immediately moved to the testing ground on land.

A forest, now only bare tree trunks remain. There are absolutely no stones in this generation. If the experiment finds that the fist-sized stones must be fired stone projectiles.

Russian people followed Rurik’s footsteps and continued to watch, this time there were more spectators.

Everything went smoothly and in a very safe state, and an exciting result was also in front of Rurik.

Rurik, he started the experiment in the morning and continued until the evening. He collected a large amount of data and clarified the maximum range of the bull trebuchet, as well as how to control the torque for different distances.

Rurik is the greatest scientist in the entire Principality of Rus. His knowledge of advanced mathematics directly affects ballistics calculations. And the optical knowledge he mastered was based on human reference objects. The size of human figures visible to the naked eye at different distances was directly chiseled on the wooden sight.

He does not require this kind of trebuchet to be accurate every time. The so-called large-scale use relies on probability throwing and targets the enemy's dense formation, but will achieve excellent results.

At night, everything seems to be calming down.

Those who participated in the bloody battle gradually realized the horror of this weapon and began to share their insights with their family and friends.

In the Duke's mansion, Rurik and his family gathered together for dinner as usual, but Niya knew that this scene of people gathering together would be over for the time being.

Otto drank a bottle of strong wine. While drinking, he seemed to be complaining to his son inexplicably, and his emotions became more and more intense.

"Rurik! Why don't you invent this kind of weapon? If you...that's 330 stikas at the farthest! We can obviously kill those Visby guys slowly without death. You can win with hundreds of brothers.”

Hearing this, the wheat stew in the bowl suddenly lost its aroma.

“What did you say he did?” Niya pushed Otto displeased.

Otto trembled: "We obviously have a chance to kill less people."

Rurik was also helpless, he said calmly: "The situation of the new weapons is all based on my estimation. No! I think it can hit 200 stikas at most. I can’t believe it’s so ferocious. If we equip them early, it’s best to use them in large quantities. We can annihilate 10,000 Visby soldiers without killing a single person.”

Otto took out another bottle of strong wine, stared at the crystal clear glass bottle against the hot oil lamp, and giggled at the so-called Roman characters on it.

"They died well. The high priest is the Valkyrie, and their heroic spirits have gone to heaven. Rurik..."

"I am here."

Niya let out a long sigh and subconsciously pushed a plate of meat in front of her son, "It may take you the whole summer to go there, so eat it. Eat more. "

"Okay! Well... I don't think there is any risk. "Rurik muttered.

Niya sighed and murmured, "I just think of your two brothers, alas..."

"Unlucky. "Otto slapped the table violently, shocking Rumia and other women and retreating hastily. "This is to fulfill the covenant, and this is to make a lot of money. Also, mock those proud Danes! Niya! "

Otto ordered his wife as a master, "Your task now is to take good care of Rumia. She is not just a high priest now, she must be pregnant. If you take good care of her, you will take good care of our first grandchild. ”

Niya nodded and casually brought Rumia to her side.

Niya used to despise this deer herder’s little slave, but now everything has changed. She hugged her Holding Rumia to show closeness is like hugging her own daughter. Indeed, in the days to come, Rumia, Carlotta, Ella, Saipolava and other girls will be her spiritual support. < /p>

The men went on an expedition to the sea, while the women stayed at the home port to guard the place. The tribesmen thought it was natural.

Niya did not dare to block Rurik's voyage. She could only pray silently that God would continue to favor Rurik. .

The sea has finally thawed!

It is May and everyone has lost their illusions that this year will have a sadly short summer.

Smart people. Rurik is already worried about this year's wheat harvest. Although he is very worried that he will not be able to get a lot of oats in the autumn, he really can't care about that much now.

If he can survive a summer, he can think about it differently! If the Balmoks get a lot of salt and transport it back, the Rus can make bacon on a large scale. From the perspective of survival, eating bacon is at least better than eating a lot of spoiled meat.

The cargo was stuffed into the cabin of the Aurora, and her load capacity was already up to ten tons. Of course, this was nothing for her, whose cargo capacity exceeded fifty tons.

After all, this trip has to pass through the Danish-controlled area. Rurik learned that the Danish leader has a high self-esteem, and he wants to jump repeatedly under the nose of that guy. It can be said that he is crazy and provocative, and a fight is inevitable.

Up to ten torsion slingshots are installed in Class A, arranged six at the front and four at the back.

The bull trebuchets are placed on the forecastle of the "captain's lounge" for a compact arrangement. It will be moved out later.

Rurik planned to transport mainly leather, followed by 10,000 pounds of wheat, and a hundred pig iron axes and hammers. , wouldn't it be too embarrassing if the other party couldn't afford it? Rurik himself didn't want to do a loss-making business, even if it was to sell favors to his allies, it was enough.

So the most valuable thing among the goods was a set of glassware., ten bottles of spirits, a pig-iron cauldron for stewing meat, and a batch of soap. These things were given to Biyongni's parents, the leaders of Balmok, and were also regarded as betrothal gifts for taking Nolen away.

In an extremely warm atmosphere, the Russians completed the spring sacrifice and pushed all the ships into the sea.

During this period, Otto led his brothers to complete the taxation of merchants. Gould was still the one who paid the most taxes in public, and of course he received part of the tax refund behind the scenes.

The most lively event was naturally the two large ships entering the sea, and people cheered for them.

Guldot! Sperosvilia! Two large armed merchant ships have become the new protectors of the Russians.

This is still a new beginning! Because people saw that the two keels of the huge wooden workshop of the Hotla family's shipbuilding workshop had been laid, and one of them was the beam of the old priest's longhouse!

Rurik finally began his great voyage. The Aurora carried forty people, elite mercenaries such as Jevro, all Balmok guests, and Gould's most elite sailors. .

Otto stood on the pier at the pier, calmly watching the ship leave. Niya hugged her old husband and cried as she watched the big ship go away. Until the big ship gradually left people's sight in the dense ice floes, everything returned to calm.