Rise of Rurik - Chapter 791

[Chapter 792 Horseshoe]

Taking the cavalry to New Rose Fort to participate in the festive event to show off the majesty’s martial arts is by no means Rurik’s main purpose. His real purpose is to complete the upgrade of the cavalry.

Rurik not only planned to install steel horseshoes uniformly for all war horses, but also equipped his own cavalry with steel swords and spears, as well as some special protective gear.

Every cavalryman must be equipped with integrally forged calf greaves, and the thighs must be covered with a layer of “battle skirt”, the so-called leatherized buckskin interlaced riveted steel sheets.

The upper body of the cavalry is also more exquisite. The chest and back are covered by forged plate armor as a whole. The carbon plate armor is then hardened on the surface. exist.

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

According to Rurik’s plan, even the horses should have armor, especially the horse’s chest should be hung with “buckskin riveted iron plate armor”, and the horse’s neck and rump should also be armored.

This low-configuration armored soldier has become a killer weapon for charging into the battle, but it is also divorced from the essence of light cavalry, and is objectively moving closer to the Eastern Roman armored cavalry.

But from the current position of the Principality of Ross, there is no need for the Principality to train a huge group of light cavalry unless the principality is a ruling force that actually reaches the Ukrainian steppe.

The principality controlled the forest area, and the battlefield where it was the cavalry’s turn to fight was always cramped. This kind of combat environment was most suitable for heavy cavalry to charge and break through the formation like tanks.

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

The reform of the heavy cavalry of the cavalry must be gradual, and with the heavy cavalry, there must be no shortage of light cavalry.

The cavalry’s riding and shooting skills need to be practiced, and even more so should they be slashed and stabbed on horseback.

These days, Kagan and other Pechenegs still live in the comfort of New Roseburg. He is very happy that his horses can eat oats and hay again, and it is not a problem to pay some money for this.

There are actually two markets inside and outside the city in New Roseburg, and the amount of goods sold there really opened his eyes.

Kagan brought 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 pack horses to bring the new supplies back to the grassland.

Realistic factors forced him to use his money to buy the most needed material for the Pechenegs—salt.

Although Rurik ordered that only the principality’s official and legal contractors have the right to sell salt, and the price of salt is fixed.

As a country by the sea, ordinary people scoop sea water to cook salt, and most of them can’t find out if they do this.

Ordinary people can certainly do this, but the seawater in the Baltic Sea, especially the Gulf of Finland, is too low in salinity, especially in the warm summer period. It is an exaggeration to say that the seawater in some sea areas is drinkable.

It takes a lot of manpower and material resources to cook salt with this low-salinity seawater. The cost of salt boiled in this way is too high. How can it compare with the salt from the Balmok people in the port of Narvik facing the Atlantic Ocean?

The Balmerks now transport salt by land and river every year to Eronburg, then ship to Screwburg, and then ship it to Tombstone Island, Novorosburg on the Neva River, and finally to Novgorod.

The good salt they made was packed in sacks, and a small boat could carry a lot at a time.

Here in Northern Europe, only blacksmiths have the opportunity to sweat a lot. The daily salt requirement of ordinary people is less than 6 grams. Salt is used to pickle food on a large scale, which is the main demand.

The salt content of the northern Atlantic Ocean far exceeds the average value of the Baltic Sea. Because there is always a large amount of surface runoff near the settlements of the Principality of Ross, the Ross people get the so-called boiled sea salt nearby, and the efficiency has long been only one-tenth of that of the Balmerks.

In this way, even if it takes a long journey to cross the central mountains of Scandinavia, the salt from the Atlantic Ocean can be transported to the hinterland of the Principality of Ross.

These people who transport salt can also make a lot of money, because the principality prices salt according to the efficiency of boiling salt in the Baltic Sea.

In the East, drying salt technology can be achieved due to good geographical and climatic conditions.

In northern Europe, it is impossible to dry salt, so we can only rely on the big man to cook brine, and then control the heat to get crystallized sodium chloride, and then discard the bittern.

Even though the situation of Tang Yuan and Zhongxing had just been destroyed by the Manna 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 Ross’s Rurik.

As for the Tang Empire continuing to make a fuss about the salt tax, it reached a situation where salt was 20 times more expensive than grain in the last year, which was better than the 100-fold difference set by Rurik.

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

Only rich and noble families don’t have to worry about eating salt, and ordinary people of the Principality of Ross can save some food.

At least eating sea fish naturally has a little saltiness, which the Ross people can bear.

As for the Slavic people around Lake Ilmen who live in a long-term salt shortage, it is very good to be able to buy salt stably now, and they are even happy with the cheap price.

However, the ruling group represented by Rurik is not so extreme in purchasing salt from the Balmerks. He uses the power of the prince to deliberately lower the price, and the purchase price is 50% of the selling price. Further reduce the purchase price.

After all, the Balmerks have no competitive products other than salt. The brave men in the local harbor have all gone to Britain to establish their Viking Kingdom of York. The presence.

Of course, they also hope to live a better life. It is acceptable to send experiments to the Principality in exchange for other daily necessities, even if they pay a higher price, not to mention that they don’t feel that they are at a disadvantage now.

Rurik did not explicitly collect salt tax, but made a precise decision on the purchase price and the official selling price, and charged a heavy salt tax in a different direction.

He really has no choice. Soon there will be 5,000 children in the Principality who will eat food from the treasury. These children will not be able to create more wealth until they reach the age of 12. They are eating the treasury of the Principality. money.

Infrastructure construction, child support and education, and military expenditures are the three major expenditure items of the Principality.

At present, the income of the state treasury is greater than the expenditure. If the principality maintains its current productivity, a large number of children will soon be born to eat up the principality.

Further pioneering is inevitable and necessary. When they grow up, they will take up arms and form armed immigrants, attack the Eastern European world around Lake Ilmen, ask the forest for farmland, and ask other people for living space.

Therefore, at this stage, what Rurik has to do is to guarantee the lives of the children of his own country, raise them until they reach the age of twelve to reach the standard of adulthood in the traditional sense, and become people who must support themselves in the traditional concept.

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

The principality’s first tax is the food tax, followed by the iron tax, and then the leather tax, and the salt tax will be put behind.

Of course, there is also the special source of wealth of war dividends.

Only unstructured pirates are busy robbing gold and silver, and the Ross people either don’t do it, and once they do, they aim at the granaries of other countries to search them vigorously.

All this requires a group of scribes who are proficient in calculations, and it happens that Rurik has already trained a team, and they are still refining their statistical ability.

Training the army is the most expensive. Launching a large army to fight not only costs money but also takes into account the risk of loss. However, as long as there is a good harvest after victory, most people will naturally forget about the risk.

Rurik chose to be conservative and temporary. He trained cavalry and improved cavalry armaments. This behavior directly blocked the mouths of many people.

Where is the prince conservative?

The principality even has cavalry!

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】

In seven days, Deling Kamnie took the initiative and led his brothers to complete the imitation and improvement of the Pecheneg horseshoe.

Five hundred horseshoes made of carbon steel with preset holes are piled up to form a hill, each of which shimmers and shines under the fire.

They’ve all been sanded down, and the metallic beauty is dazzling.

Knowing that Kamne had completed the task, Rurik was very interested in finding Kagan, who had completed the big purchase of salt, and explained to him the good thing about hitting horseshoes against horses.

Hitting the horseshoe is of course a good thing, and what is even more amazing is that even the Pechenegs’ mounts will get brand new horseshoes for free.

“Is this true?” Kagan was taken aback. “I didn’t even have to pay a silver coin.”

“We are sworn brothers, aren’t we? This is my gift to you.”

“Ah!” Kagan smiled, feeling a little embarrassed that he owed a favor.

“Then I have to do something for you, too.”

“That’s easy to say. We will naturally fight side by side in the future. There is also the matter of horseshoeing. My people are new to this matter, and I still need you to send someone to guide it! If the horseshoes are not good enough to scare the horse, it will be terrible. gone.”

“It’s simple. Take it as my reward for the horseshoe,” Kagan said.

In a sense, Kagan paid for his labor and got dozens of sets of horseshoes that belonged to him.

Rurik took him to visit the principality’s large ironworks, which really opened Kagan’s eyes.

Kagan looked left and right: “I didn’t expect you to forge iron like this? It’s amazing, you are clearly making steel.”

“We are making steel, and we are making more things. Follow me to see the horseshoe first.” Rurik said and motioned for Kamne to lead the way.

A small warehouse is full of horseshoes, and their styles are exactly the same. Although they are handmade, the tolerance is negligible.

Caressing the rather smooth horseshoe, Kagan was taken aback. He noticed that there were neatly regulated protrusions on one side of the object, and he was curious.

Rurik explained casually: “I ordered it on purpose. This kind of horseshoe is nailed to the horseshoe. The protrusions can sink into the mud and can make small holes for the ice and snow. Such a horseshoe is more stable.”

“I probably know the reason for this, but you…” Kagan didn’t know the exact reason, but only knew that it was beneficial. He was surprised that all the horseshoes had exactly the same shape, including the same position of protrusions and dents.

“Okay…” Rurik motioned to Kamne: “Take the brothers over here, transport the horseshoes to the trolley, and follow me to the big stall outside the city.”

There is no riding task, and the horses are tied together in the stables in winter to graze quietly and eat oats. The horses in New Roseburg still eat and eat. Rhodes’ long trek to the banks of the Neva was exhausting.

The work of shoeing the horses is carried out outside the stable (a group of wooden sheds for surprise renovation).

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

Even for the Pechenegs, who live with horses every day, because of the preciousness of iron, they only shoe the best war horses, not ordinary horses.

In fact, it is possible to fight without horseshoes, just as a warrior can fight barefoot without boots.

Without the help of the Pechenegs, it would be really difficult for Kamne and others to do the horseshoeing job.

Fortunately, Rurik belonged to the old man who knew people with eyesight, and Kamnier had a good learning ability.

Kamni watched the old horseshoes being pried off by the Pechenegs, and observed that the iron nails were separated from the horseshoes. At the same time, the horses stood obediently as if nothing had happened.

The old horseshoe was scraped off, and the horseshoe was cut into a plane by a knife.

Kamne looked surprised, and said to himself with a strong mentality of seeing it for a long time: “Hey?! It doesn’t seem to hurt at all.”

Rurik replied casually: “Does it hurt when you bite your fingernails? Horseshoes are like a horse’s fingernails. They walk on their toes, and their toenails are like shoes. All we have to do is put four iron shoes on them.” .”

In this way, Kamner suddenly realized.

Every horse needs to have its hooves repaired before they are shoed. Kagan pointed out that not everything will be fine if they are nailed on, because the horseshoe will always grow. After the horseshoes are nailed, the wear and tear of the hooves will be reduced. Therefore, the horseshoes need to be repaired regularly, and the horseshoes will have to be removed at that time .

Even BMWs require regular maintenance, and this is a real horse.

The horseshoeing work was going on in an orderly manner, and it seemed that the mentality of the horseshoeed horses had also changed, and they became more lively and willing to stretch their ladders.

There are even some horses that are too lively and need to be pulled on the reins vigorously by riding and shooting to restore their stability.

“Are they suddenly excited? Or is it a little painful?” Rurik couldn’t help asking.

Kagan explained casually: “You put on new boots, don’t you have to spend some time getting used to them? Don’t worry, they will be completely normal within three days.”

There is really no other reason. The horseshoe has been built, which objectively makes the horse’s perception of the earth more sensitive, just like a person scraping off the old calluses on the soles of the feet, and the soles of the feet become sensitive.

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

The shoeing work lasted two days, and it took another three days for the horses to acclimate and get back to normal.

Time to go out for a walk and experiment!

Rurik assembled the soldiers under his command, and the brothers could change into uniforms, and even put on white-and-blue-striped robes on the brown-based horses. The riders and horses were objectively equipped with snow camouflage, and they looked like they were riding horses. Really majestic.

The cavalry gathered and lined up in two columns. Under the leadership of Rurik, they went around the road under the city wall of New Roseburg, and came to a parade in costumes.

This kind of good deed is naturally indispensable for Arik, Yevro, Medved and others. Everyone’s horses have been shoed, so there is a reason to join the team for a parade.

Arik didn’t even forget his second wife, Asuraki, who stayed in New Roseburg, so he asked her to put on a warm and beautiful white bear robe and sit sideways on the saddle, with the main purpose of showing off.

All the riders realized the positive results after shoeing, and they could clearly feel that their horses were more confident walking on ice.

The snow in the city was compacted, but under the pressure of the raised structure at the lower end of the horseshoe, it still slightly melted into a pit, and the powerful horseshoe could even lift up ice, which is really amazing.

The people watched the heroic posture of the Ross cavalry, and anyone with a discerning eye noticed the change in the horse’s hooves.

look!

What is the prince doing?

!

The prince actually rode his horse and sprinted in the city, and he was so confident in controlling the horse.

The young boys were the most curious. They looked at those majestic big brothers with wide eyes, especially the demeanor of the princes.

These boys were either descended from the traditional Viking immigrants, descended from the direct descendants of the Ross family, or mixed with Ross and Slavs.

What is unsurpassed is that these boys have long been told by their parents that they must serve the Principality as soldiers when they grow up. This is like eating and sleeping as a matter of course.

Since you want to be a soldier, wouldn’t it be great to be a cavalryman?

They walked in front of them in a noble posture, and the children’s eyes were full of envy and desire, eager to become mighty fighters and make contributions.

[End of this Chapter]