Chapter 792： horseshoe

Taking the cavalry to Shilla Fort to participate in the festive event to show the majestic martial arts of the prince is definitely not the main purpose of Liulik, his real purpose is to complete the upgrade of the cavalry.

Rülik more than planned to install steel horseshoes for all the horses, and to equip his 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 deerskin staggered riveted steel sheet.

The upper body of the cavalry is also more exquisite. The front chest and back are covered by an integral forged plate armor. The carbon steel armor is surface-hardened, which can not be penetrated by the steel arm crossbow of the Ross people. exist.

Since the arms must be sturdy and flexible, the arm is 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 armor", and the horse's neck and horse scorpion should also be hung with armor.

This low-profile armored soldier became a lively attack weapon, but it also broke away from the nature of the light cavalry, and objectively moved closer to the Eastern Roman armored cavalry.

But from the current position of the Duchy of Russ, there is no need for the Duchy to train a huge group of light cavalry, unless the ruling power of the Duchy has actually arrived in the Ukrainian prairie. The duchy controls the forest area, and the battlefield where it is the turn of the cavalry to fight is always cramped. This kind of battle environment is most suitable for heavy cavalry to break through the formation like a tank.

The grand plan seems impractical for the time being, because Lurik must mobilize enough people to make armor and horse armor for himself, and pay a huge sum of money for this.

The reform of the heavy cavalry of the cavalry must be gradual, and with the heavy cavalry, the light cavalry cannot be less. Cavalry's shooting skills should be practiced, and horse-riding hacking and thrusting should have been practiced.

These days Kagan and the Pecheneg people still live in the comfort zone of Shilla Fort. He is very happy that his horses can eat oats and hay. It is not a problem to pay some money for this.

Shilla Fort had two markets inside and outside the city, and the amount of goods sold was really eye-opening for him.

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 steeds were sold to Prince Rose, and there were not enough pack horses to bring the purchased new supplies back to the grassland.

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

Although Rurik ordered that only the official and legal contractors of the Principality have the right to sell salt, and the salt price is fixed. As a coastal country, ordinary people scoop sea water and boil salt, and it is almost impossible to find that it is so dry.

Ordinary people can of course do this, but the salt content of the Baltic Sea, especially the Gulf of Finland, is too low, especially during the warm summer period. It is an exaggeration to say that some sea waters are drunk. It takes a lot of manpower and material resources to boil salt with this low-salt seawater. The cost of boiled salt in this way is too high. How can it compare with the salt from the Balmerks from Narvik Port, which faces the Atlantic Ocean?

The Balmerks now transport the salt by land and river every year to Elronburg, then ship to Screwcastle, and then all by sea to Tombstone Island, Novosibirsk on the Neva River, and finally to Novgorod.

The good salt they made is packed in hemp bags, and a small boat can transport a lot of it at a time.

This is Northern Europe. Only blacksmiths have the opportunity to sweat a lot. The daily demand of ordinary people is less than 6 grams of salt. The large-scale use of salt for pickling food 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 Duchy of Ross, the Ross people take the so-called sea water to boil salt. The efficiency is only one-tenth that of the Balmerks for a long time.

So even if you have to cross the central mountains of Scandinavia, and then take a long journey to transport the Atlantic salt to the hinterland of the Principality of Ross. These salt transporters can also make a lot of money, because the Principality sets the price of salt according to the Baltic Sea salt cooking efficiency as a reference.

In the East, salt drying technology can be achieved due to good geographical and climatic conditions. In Northern Europe, it is impossible to dry salt, and you can only rely on the daweng to boil the brine, and then control the heat to get the crystallized sodium chloride, and then dump the bittern.

Even if the situation between Datang Yuan and ZTE had just been 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, the price is cheaper than the price set by Rurik of Ross. As for the Tang Empire to continue to make a fuss about the salt tax, the situation that salt was 20 times more expensive than grain in the last year was also better than the one hundred times difference set by Rurik.

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

Only the rich and the rich don’t worry about eating salt, and the ordinary people of the Principality of Rus can save a bit of food. At least eating sea fish naturally has a little salty taste, which the Ross people can tolerate. As for the Slavic people around Lake Ilmen who have been living with a long-term salt shortage, it is good that they can buy salt stably, and they are even very happy that the price is cheap.

But the purchase price of Balmerks’ salt by the ruling group represented by Rurik was not so extreme. He deliberately lowered the price with the power of the prince. The purchase price was 50% of the selling price. If necessary, he could still Further reduce the purchase price.

After all, the Balmerks have no fist products except salt. The brave people in the local harbor have all gone to Britain to establish their Viking York kingdom. The rest of the people say that it is not good to hear that they are biased towards the weak. The presence. Of course, they also hope that their lives will be better. Sending experiments to the principality in exchange for other daily necessities is acceptable even if they pay a higher price, not to mention that they don't feel that they are at a loss now.

Rurik did not explicitly charge a salt tax, but made precise comparisons between the purchase price and the official selling price, and changed the direction to charge a heavy salt tax.

He really couldn't help it. Soon there were five thousand children in the Principality who wanted to eat food from the treasury. These children could hardly create more wealth before they reached the age of twelve. They were eating the Principality’s finances, which forced Liu Like to make money. money.

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

The current national money income is greater than the expenditure. If the principality maintains its current productivity, a large number of children born will soon overwhelm the principality. Further pioneering is inevitable and necessary. When they grow up, they will take up arms to form armed immigrants, attack the Eastern European world with Ilmen Lake as the center, ask for farmland from the forest, and ask for living space from others.

Therefore, at this stage, what Lurik has to do is to ensure the lives of the children in his country, raise them to the age of twelve to reach the standard of adulthood in the traditional sense, and become a person who must be self-reliant in the traditional concept.

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

The first tax in the Principality is the grain tax, followed by the iron tax, followed by the leather tax, and the salt tax should be put at the back.

Of course, there is also a special source of wealth, war dividends. Only the unstructured pirates are busy grabbing gold and silver. The Ross people either don't do anything, and once they do, they can look at the granary of other countries and search vigorously.

All this requires a group of book clerks who are proficient in calculation. It just so happens that Rurik has already trained a team, and they are still improving their statistical skills.

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, but as long as there is a lucrative seizure after victory, most of the risks will naturally be forgotten.

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

In seven days, Kamnier played his subjective initiative and brought his brothers to complete the imitation and improvement of the Pecheneg horseshoe.

Five hundred carbon steel horseshoes with preset holes are piled up into a hill, and each one shimmers in the fire. They have been polished with sandpaper, and the beauty of the metal is dazzling.

Knowing that Kamni had completed the task, Rurik found Kagan, who had completed the salt purchase, with great interest, and explained to him the good thing about playing horseshoes against the horses.

Horseshoes are of course a good thing, and even more amazing things, even the Pecheneg people’s mounts 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 brothers who are righteous, aren't we? This is a gift from me."

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

"This is easy to say, we will naturally fight side by side in the future. There is also this horseshoe fight. My people have just come into contact with this matter, and you need to send someone to guide them! If the horseshoes don’t fight well and startle the horses, it will be terrible. ."

"It's simple. Just treat it as my reward for the horseshoe." Kagan said.

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

Rurik took him to visit the major iron factory of the Principality, which really opened Kagan's eyes.

Kagan looked left and right: "Unexpectedly you are making iron like this? It's amazing, you clearly are making steel."

"We are making steel, we are making more things. Let's follow me to see the horseshoes first." Rurik said and motioned to Kamni to lead the way.

A small warehouse is full of horseshoes, their styles are exactly the same, although they are handmade, the tolerances can be ignored.

Stroking the horseshoe with a rather smooth surface, Kagan was taken aback. He noticed the neatly regulated bumps on one side and was curious.

Rurik casually explained: "I ordered this on purpose. Such a horseshoe is nailed to the horseshoe, the protrusions can sink into the mud, and the ice and snow can make small pits. This kind of horseshoe is more stable."

"I probably know this, but you guys..." Kagan didn't know the clear principle but knew that it was good to do this. He was surprised that all the horseshoes had exactly the same shape, including the positions of the bumps and dents.

"Okay..." Rurik gestured to Kamnier: "Bring the brothers over, bring the horseshoes to the cart, and follow me to the stable outside the city."

Without riding tasks, the horses in winter are tied to the stables to eat quietly and eat oats. The horses that reach out to Shilla Fort continue to eat a lot of food. They eat good food for many days, which directly compensates for the loss from Novgorod. De's long journey to the Neva River was a huge expense.

The work of nailing the horseshoes to the steeds was carried out outside the stables (a batch of wooden sheds assault modification).

They are all 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 Pecheneg people who accompany horses every day, because of the preciousness of ironware, they will only give the best horses a shoe, and ordinary horses are not necessary. In fact, you can fight without a horseshoe, just like a warrior without boots can fight barefoot.

Without the help of the Pechenegians, the horse-shoeing work, Kamni and others, would be really hard to get started.

Fortunately, Rurik belonged to the past, and Kamnier was a kid with good learning ability. Camne watched the old horseshoe being pried off by the Pecheneg, and observed that the nail was separated from the horseshoe. At the same time, the horse stood obediently as if nothing happened.

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

Kamnier looked surprisingly, and said to himself with a strong long-lived mentality: "Eh hey?! It doesn't seem to hurt at all."

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

In this way, Kamnier suddenly realized.

Every horse needs to be repaired first and then nailed. Kagan pointed out that everything will be fine if it is nailed, because the hoof will always grow, and the wear of the hoof will be reduced after nailing the horseshoe. Therefore, the horseshoe needs to be repaired regularly, and the horseshoes will have to be removed. .

Even BMW cars have to be maintained regularly, not to mention this is a real horse.

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

Even some horses are so lively that they need to ride and shoot hard to pull the reins to restore their stability.

"Are they suddenly excited? Still a little bit painful?" Rurik couldn't help asking.

Kagan casually explained: "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 horseshoes have been built, which objectively makes the horses more sensitive to the ground, just like a person has shaved off the old calluses on the soles of the feet, and the soles of the feet have become sensitive.

It is also because the horses are aware of the strangeness when they walk, and because the ground in the stables is free of ice and snow, their walking noise is suddenly too loud, which naturally causes anxiety.

The horseshoeing work lasted for two days, and it took three more days for the horses to adapt to return to normal.

It's time to go out for a walk and experiment!

Rurik assembled his soldiers. The brothers can change into uniforms, and even put on white and blue robes on the brown horses. The riders and war horses displayed snow camouflage objectively, and they looked like riding horses. prestige.

The cavalry squadron assembled, lined up in two rows, and under the leadership of Rurik, circled the road under the walls of Shilla Fort for a costume parade.

Such good things are naturally indispensable for Arik, Jeflo, Medvete and others. Everyone's horses are nailed, and there is reason to join the team for a parade.

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

All the riders are aware of the gratifying results after the horseshoes. They can clearly feel that their mounts are more confident in walking on the ice The snow in the city is compacted, but the bulge at the bottom of the horseshoe Under structural pressure, pits are still slightly melted, and the powerful horseshoes can even lift ice cubes. This grip is really nothing to say.

The people watched the heroic appearance of the Ross cavalry, and everyone with a discerning eye noticed the changes in the hoofs of the horses.

Look! What is the prince doing? !

The prince was riding his horse to sprint in the city. He was so confident in controlling the horse.

The young boys are the most curious. They look at the majestic elder brothers, especially the princes, with their big eyes open.

These boys were either after the traditional Viking immigration, or the descendants of Roth’s direct line, or they were of mixed blood between Roth and Slavs. What is unsurpassed is that these boys have long been told by their parents that they must serve as soldiers in the Principality when they grow up. This is like eating and sleeping for granted.

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 posture, and the children's eyes were full of envy and desire, eager to become mighty fighters and make contributions.