Rise of Rurik

Taking the cavalry to New Roseburg to participate in the festive event to show the maharaja's illustrious martial arts is by no means the main purpose of Rurik. His real purpose is to complete the upgrade of the cavalry's armament.

Rurik planned not only to install steel horseshoes on all his steeds, but also to equip his cavalry with steel swords and spears, as well as some special protective gear.

Each cavalryman must be equipped with an overall forged calf greaves, and the thighs should be covered with a layer of "war skirts", so-called leather deerskin staggered riveted steel sheets.

The upper body of the cavalry is also more particular, the front chest and back are covered by the overall forged plate armor, and the carbon steel plate armor is surface-hardened. exist.

Since the arms must be strong and flexible, the arms are covered with chainmail, and a whole plate armor is hung on the forearm.

According to Rurik's plan, even the horses should have armor, especially the chests of the war horses should be hung with "buckskin riveted iron armor", and the necks and hips of the horses should also be armored.

This already low-configured armored soldier has become a deadly attacking weapon, but it has also departed from the essence of the light cavalry, and is objectively moving closer to the Eastern Roman armored cavalry.

But from the current position of the Principality of Rus, there is no need for the Principality to train a huge group of light cavalry, unless the Principality is the ruling force that has actually arrived in the Ukrainian steppe. The principality controls the forest area, and the battlefield where it is the turn of the cavalry to fight is always cramped. This combat environment is most suitable for heavy cavalry to rush through the formation like tanks.

The grand plan seems unrealistic for the time being, because Rurik has to mobilize enough people to make armor and horse armor for himself, and pay a large sum of money for it.

The heavy cavalry reform of the cavalry should be carried out step by step, and with the heavy cavalry, the light cavalry should not be missing. The cavalry's cavalry skills need to be practiced, and the horseback slashing and thrusting skills should be practiced even more.

These days Kagan and the Pechenegs still live in the comfort of New Roseburg, and he's so happy that his horses have oats and hay again, and it's not a problem to pay some money for it.

There are two markets inside and outside the city, and the amount of goods they sell really opened his eyes.

Kagan took his subordinates and money into the market to scan the goods. Seeing the cheap leather prices here, he really wanted to buy a few carriages. However, all his horses were sold to Prince Ross, and there were not enough packhorses to bring the new supplies back to the grasslands.

Realistic factors forced him to use the money to buy the most needed material of the Pecheneg people - salt.

Although Rurik ordered that only the official and legal contractors of the duchy had the right to sell salt, and the price of salt was fixed. As a coastal country, ordinary people scoop up sea water to boil salt, and most of them can't find it.

Of course, ordinary people can do this, but the salt content of the Baltic Sea, especially the Gulf of Finland is too low, especially in the warm summer period. It is exaggerated to say that the seawater in some sea areas is drinkable. It takes a lot of manpower and material to cook salt in this low-salt seawater. The cost of cooking salt in this way is too high. How can it compare with the salt from the Balmers in the port of Narvik facing the Atlantic Ocean?

The Balmerks now transport the salt by land and river every year, first to Elronborg, then by ship to Screwburg, and then by sea to Tombstone Island, Novrosburg-on-Neva, and finally to Novgorod.

The good salt they make is packed in sacks, and a small boat can transport a whole lot at a time.

This is Northern Europe. Only blacksmiths have the opportunity to sweat a lot. The daily salt demand of ordinary people is less than 6 grams. Salt is used on a large scale for pickled food, which is the main demand.

The salinity in the northern Atlantic Ocean far exceeds the average value of the Baltic Sea. Due to the large amount of surface runoff near the settlements of the Rus Principality, the Rus people use the so-called seawater to boil salt nearby, which has long been only one tenth of the efficiency of the Balmers.

In this way, even if it takes a long journey to cross the central Scandinavian mountains, it is necessary to transport the salt of the Atlantic Ocean to the hinterland of the Principality of Rus. These people who transport salt can also make a lot of money, because the Principality sets the price of salt based on the efficiency of the Baltic Sea.

In the East, the technology of drying salt can be achieved due to good geographical and climatic conditions. In Northern Europe, it is impossible to dry the salt, so we can only rely on the big man to boil the brine, and then control the heat to obtain the crystallized sodium chloride, and then drain the bitter brine.

Even if the situation of Datang Yuan and ZTE was just destroyed by the Ganlu Change, the empire could only increase taxes to clean up the mess, and the price of official salt soared.

But even so, this price is cheaper than the price set by Rurik in Ross. As for the Tang Empire continuing to make a fuss about the salt tax, the situation in which salt was twenty times more expensive than grain in the last years was also better than the one hundred times difference set by Rurik.

Ten pieces of silver can buy a pound of salt, and a hundred pounds of oats, or rye, or ninety pounds of wheat.

Only the rich and noble people do not worry about eating salt, and ordinary people of the Principality of Rus can save some food. At least eating sea fish is naturally a little salty, which the Rus can tolerate. As for the Slavic people around Lake Ilmen who have been living without salt for a long time, it is very good that they can buy salt stably now, and they are even happy that the price is cheap.

However, the purchase price of the salt of the Balmers by the ruling group represented by Rurik is not so extreme. He deliberately lowered the price with the power of the prince. The purchase price is 50% of the sale price. If necessary, he can still Further lower the purchase price.

After all, the Balmers have no competitive products except salt. The brave people in the local harbor have gone to Britain to establish their Viking York kingdom. The presence. Of course, they also hope to have a better life, and send experiments to the Principality in exchange for other living items, even if they pay a higher price, it is acceptable, not to mention that they do not feel that they are at a disadvantage now.

Rurik did not explicitly charge the salt tax, but made a precise adjustment between the purchase price and the official sale price, and charged a heavy salt tax instead.

He really has no choice. Soon the duchy will have 5,000 children to eat the food from the national treasury. These children will not be able to create more wealth before they reach the age of twelve. They are eating the finances of the duchy, which forces Rurik to money.

Infrastructure, child rearing and education, and armament expenditures are the three major expenditure items of the Principality.

At present, the income of the national treasury is greater than the expenditure. If the principality maintains its current productivity, a large number of children will soon be born and the principality will be eaten up. Further pioneering is inevitable and necessary. When they grow up, they will take up arms and form armed immigrants, attacking the Eastern European world with Lake Ilmen as the center, asking for farmland from forests, and asking for living space from others.

Therefore, what Rurik needs to do at this stage is to ensure the lives of his own children, raise them to the age of twelve and reach the standard of adulthood in the traditional sense, and become people who must be self-reliant according to the traditional concept.

The changed salt tax rate is extremely high, but the consumption of this thing by the people of the whole country is not amazing.

The first tax of the Principality is the grain tax, followed by the iron tax, followed by the leather tax, and the salt tax will be placed in the back.

And, of course, there is the special source of wealth, war dividends. Only the pirates who have no pattern are busy grabbing gold and silver. The Rus people either don't do it, and once they do, they aim at the granary of other countries and snatch it vigorously.

All this required an army of calculating scribes, and Rurik just so happened to have trained a team who were still refining their statistical abilities.

Training the army is the most expensive, and launching a large army to fight not only costs money, but also considers the risk of damage. However, as long as there is a generous capture after victory, most of the risks will naturally be forgotten.

Rurik chose to be conservative and temporary. He trained cavalry and improved cavalry armament. This behavior directly blocked the mouths of many people. Where is the prince conservative? The Principality even has cavalry!

In seven days, Deling's Kamne exerted his initiative and took his brothers to complete the imitation and improvement of Pecheneg's horseshoes.

Five hundred carbon-steel horseshoes with pre-set holes were built into hills, each gleaming under the fire. They've all been sanded and polished, and the metallic beauty is dazzling.

Knowing that Kamne had completed the mission, Rurik was very interested to find Kagan, who had completed the big purchase of salt, and explained to him that it was a good thing to hit the horseshoe for the horse group.

Of course, it is a good thing to play horseshoes, and even more wonderful things, even the horses of the Pecheneg people will get brand new horseshoes for free.

"Is this true?" Kagan was taken aback. "I don't even have to pay a silver coin."

"We are righteous brothers, aren't we? This is my gift to you."

"Ah!" Kagan smiled, feeling a little embarrassed that he owed the favor. "Then I have to do something for you too."

"It's easy to say, we will naturally fight side by side in the future. There is also the matter of hitting the horseshoe. My people have just come into contact with this matter, and I still need you to send someone to guide me! If the horseshoe is not beaten well, it will startle the horse, but it will be bad. ."

"It's a simple matter. Take it as a reward for my horseshoes," Kagan said.

In a sense, Kagan paid the labor to get dozens of horseshoes belonging to him.

Rurik took him on a tour of the Principality's Iron Works, a sight that really opened Kagan's eyes.

Kagan looked left and right: "I didn't expect you to strike iron like this? It's amazing, you are obviously making steel."

"We're making steel, we're making more things. Let's take a look at the horseshoes first," Rurik said, motioning for Kamne to lead the way.

A small warehouse is full of horseshoes. They are exactly the same style. Although they are handmade, the tolerances are negligible.

Stroking the smooth surface of the horseshoe, Kagan was taken aback, and he noticed that it had neatly regulated protrusions on one side, and he was curious.

Rurik explained casually: "I ordered it on purpose. Such a horseshoe is nailed to the horse's shoe, the protrusions can sink into the mud, and they can press out small pits in the snow and ice. This kind of horseshoe is more stable."

"I probably know the reason, but you..." Kagan didn't know the clear principle, only knew that it was beneficial to do so. He was surprised that all the horseshoes had the same shape, including the position of the bumps and dents.

"Okay..." Rurik motioned to Kamne: "Come here with the brothers, transport the horseshoes to the cart, and follow me to the big stables outside the city."

There is no riding task, the horses are tied together in the stables in winter and eat oatmeal quietly. The horses that extend out of Novo Rosberg are still feasting. The huge consumption of the long trek to the Neva River.

The work of shoring up the horses takes place right outside the stables (a batch of wooden sheds blitzed).

They are all well-trained horses, they are also large animals with high intelligence, and they have seen what humans want to do with their hooves.

Even the Pecheneg people are a group of people who are companions of horses every day, because of the preciousness of iron, they will only nail the shoes of the best war horses, and ordinary horses do not need it. In fact, one can fight without a horseshoe, just as a warrior without boots can fight barefoot.

Without the help of the Pecheneg people, the horseshoe work Kamnee and others would be really difficult to do.

Fortunately, Rurik belonged to the discerning eye of the past, and this kid Kamne has a good learning ability. Kamne watched the old horseshoes being pried off by the Pechenegs, and observed that the nails were separated from the horseshoes, while the horses stood obediently as if nothing had happened.

The old horseshoe was ripped off, and the hoof was cut into a flat surface by the knife.

Kam Nee looked at it strangely, and said to himself with a strong mentality of seeing it in a long time: "Hey?! It doesn't seem to hurt at all."

Rurik replied casually: "Does it hurt when you bite your fingernails? Horses' hooves are like horses' fingernails. They walk on their toes, and their toenails are like shoes. All we have to do is put four iron shoes on them. ."

Only then did Kamne realize.

Every horse needs to have its hooves repaired before nailing the shoe. Kagan pointed out that it is not necessary to nail it and everything will be fine, because the hoof will always grow, and the wear of the hoof will be reduced after the shoe is nailed. Therefore, the hoof needs to be repaired regularly. .

Even BMWs have to be serviced regularly, not to mention that these are real horses.

The horseshoeing work is proceeding in an orderly manner, and it seems that the mentality of the horses that have been nailed has changed, and they have become more lively and more willing to stretch their ladders.

Even some horses are too lively and need to hold the reins hard to restore stability.

"Are they suddenly excited? Or are they in pain?" Rurik couldn't help asking.

Kagan explained casually: "You put on new boots, don't you have to take some time to get used to it? Don't worry, they will be completely normal in three days."

There is really no other reason. The horse's hooves have been built, which objectively makes the horse's perception of the ground more sensitive. It's like a person has scraped off the old calluses on the soles of his feet, and the soles of his feet have become sensitive.

It was also because the horses noticed that they were walking differently, and because the ground in the stable was free of ice and snow, their walking noise was suddenly too loud, which naturally caused anxiety.

The horseshoe work lasted two days, and it took another three days for the horses to adjust to normal.

Time to go out for a walk and experiment!

Rurik assembled his soldiers, and the brothers could change into uniforms, and even put brown robes on the horses with blue patterns on a white background. The riders and the horses objectively displayed snow camouflage, and they looked like they were riding. prestige.

The cavalry assembled, formed two columns, led by Rurik around the road under the walls of Novo Roseburg, and went on a costumed parade.

Such good things are of course indispensable to Arik, Yevlo, Medved and others. Everyone's horses are nailed, and there is a reason to join the team for a parade.

Arik didn't even forget his second wife, Aslaqi, who stayed in New Roseburg, so she put on a warm and beautiful white bear robe and sat on the saddle side by side. Showing off was the main purpose.

All riders were aware of the gratifying results of the shovels, and they could clearly feel that their mounts were much more confident about walking on ice. The snow in the city was compacted, but under the pressure of the protruding structure at the lower end of the horseshoe, the pits still melted slightly, and the horseshoe could even lift up ice cubes.

The people admired the heroic appearance of the Ross cavalry, and the discerning people noticed the changes in the hooves of the horses.

Behold! What is the prince doing? !

The prince actually rode a horse sprinting in the city, he was so confident in controlling the horse.

The young boys were the most curious. They stared at the majestic older brothers, especially the princes, with wide eyes.

These boys are either after traditional Viking immigrants, or after the direct line of Rus, or mixed Rus and Slavs. Unparalleled is that these boys have long been told by their parents that when they grow up, they must serve as soldiers for the principality. This is like eating and sleeping as a matter of course.

Since you want to be a soldier, wouldn't it be good to be a cavalry?

They walked in front of them in a noble manner, and the eyes of the children were full of envy and desire, eager to become mighty warriors and make achievements.