Vikings: Nordic women

Chapter 72: Technology must not be allowed to germinate
The tavern waiter led Margaret and her companions through the winding path to the lord's barn. He walked towards the person in charge with ease and started a conversation.

Margaret's eyes were attracted by a small pile of feces not far away. Her eyes lingered on the pile of feces and found white powder mixed in it, which aroused her curiosity.

The white powder is the nitrate filtered out after the feces are soaked in rainwater. According to the specific proportion, it can be used to make gunpowder.

However, Margaret did not pay much attention to these. It was not that she did not know how to make a musket, but she knew that the appearance of a musket would change everything. She was determined not to let the musket appear, but to guard against it.

The emergence of fire guns would shorten the training time of archers. Once capital mastered it, it would reduce the cost of rebellion, trigger a great revolution, and ultimately end the rule of feudal lords.

This was undoubtedly a betrayal to herself, which she absolutely could not accept.

"Come here, come here!" The person in charge of the barn clapped his hands, signaling the laborers who were cleaning up the manure to gather over.

"Miss, you can choose now. Anyone can take it away with just five ounces of silver!" The tavern waiter gestured to Margaret.

"I need a group of caravan guards. Anyone who is willing to participate can step forward!" Margaret shouted at them without any stage fright.

Everyone's eyes were on her. No one expected that the person who was going to hire them was an eight-year-old girl.

"How much commission are you willing to pay?" A warrior stood up and asked. As wandering mercenaries, they could understand Norse.

However, Margaret could not understand what the other party was saying because he was speaking Frankish, and being able to understand Norse does not mean being able to speak it.

Margaret observed the other person. He had a protruding mouth, high cheekbones, a long face, a high nose bridge, and reddish-gold hair. She was a little curious about his race.

"He's a Frank and he's asking how much you can pay him every week!" the bartender explained.

"How much do you want?" Margaret asked.

The Frank warrior bowed slightly: "I am an excellent warrior. I once followed the 'Roman Emperor' Charlemagne to fight. I participated in the defensive war against Denmark and successfully prevented their invasion. I hope you can pay one ounce of gold every week, and my sword will be your sword!"

"An ounce of gold?"

Margaret's mouth twitched. The other party was really asking for too much. Her golden pea only weighed 0.5 ounces.

This means that she mainly pays the other party two golden peas every week, which is outrageous.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm a rider and I own a warhorse and a full set of chain mail, so I'm a little more expensive. If you can't accept this price, you can look at others first! If I wasn't unwilling to sell my things, you wouldn't see me here at all!" The Frank warrior looked at Margaret with pride and contempt, as if he was looking at a poor person.

Margaret was a little unhappy, but she didn't know what to say. She continued to ask other people, and she targeted a Norseman.

"Miss, I only need five ounces of silver a week because I need to pay my bills and redeem my spear..."

Margaret kept asking and found out that these guys were all empty-handed, which meant that if she hired them, she would not only need to buy weapons but also a horse.

And their demands for a weekly salary were beyond her ability to bear.

Finally, she realized how affordable Piast's commission was. The other party only asked for enough food, even though they were a family.

Although she couldn't afford the salary, Margaret still wanted to try to see if she could get something for free. Her future boss was just so stingy, and she learned something from the beating.

"Your salary is too high. I think we can try another way. I can redeem you and provide you with food. I will also share the spoils along the way with you."

Upon hearing this, the two sides parted unhappily. Almost everyone left with disdain and continued to work, leaving only the Frank warrior.

When she thought he had changed his mind, he said, "Miss, if you don't have money, don't joke with us. Go to the street and see if you can recruit some beggars!"

As he said this, he left with a mocking voice, leaving Margaret in a mess. As expected, animals like cattle and horses only exist in the later Chinese capitalist society, and normal people would not accept such harsh salary conditions.

"Miss, you need to give me two ounces of silver because you have delayed our work!" the person in charge said to Margaret and extended his hand.

Good man, he failed to get anything for free and ended up getting something for free. Margaret was a little unconvinced, she knew that if she left the town rashly, she would most likely be stopped by those roadblockers. She couldn't do it without the ability to protect herself.

She wavered, maybe she should make a few muskets to protect herself, maybe as long as she was careful not to leak it.

She looked at the person in charge and pulled him aside. "Can I hire them for a day's work? I can pay one ounce of gold."

The person in charge was a little hesitant.

"This ounce of gold is all yours. You can put it directly into your pocket. No one will ask you for it!" She smiled as she looked at those people who had previously disdained her to pay a reward. Wasn't she successfully getting it for free?

Although she paid, for them, isn't it just free stuff?
"Deal, but two ounces of silver cannot be less!"

"make a deal!"

At Margaret's signal, the person in charge used a whip to order the mercenaries to pour buckets of water on a pile of feces that had been accumulated for a long time, and used a shovel to move the pile of feces away.

During the removal, Margaret found a lot of earthworms and grass residues, which indicated that the pile of animal feces had been here for a long time.

The manure water flows into a puddle nearby, which is the nitrate solution.

Under the curious gaze of the person in charge, Margaret looked at the sunlight above her head and then looked down at the puddle.

After waiting for a long time, under the sunlight, the water at the bottom of the puddle evaporated and a thick layer of nitrate appeared. Margaret carefully collected the nitrate wet mud and the nitrate stained with animal feces under the dung pile and put them into a large leather bag.

She plans to go through the water purification process again when she returns to avoid wasting it.

She handed over two gold beans and two pieces of silver, and left with the bored Rosalin and Piast.

"What do you want these things for?" Rosalyn asked curiously.

Margaret said nothing, but just evaded the question. She didn't want to tell anyone, not even Rosalin, who was closest to her at the moment.

She was afraid that leaking it would advance technology.

She went all the way to the blacksmith's shop, paid a gold bean, and stayed with the blacksmith to tinker with how to cast iron pipes and iron bullets.

She looked at the blacksmith and his apprentice, and a murderous intent surged in her heart, but it quickly dissipated after some thought.

Anyway, they don’t know what it is used for, and as long as she doesn’t use it here, they will never notice anything wrong even if they die.

But Piast and Rosalin witnessed the whole process, and she was determined not to let them leave.

The appearance of the musket can make up for her own lack of strength. After all, no matter how strong her strength is, she can be defeated with one shot. The musket is definitely a killer weapon that destroys the romance of knights. Before she has played enough knight charges or encountered some unsolvable problems, she would never touch this thing.

However, she also knew that this secret could not be kept secret forever, because the Tang Dynasty already had gunpowder, and in the Song Dynasty, gunpowder was even used to launch arrows. However, she would do her best to delay the time when Europe discovered the true use of this thing.

However, after she returns, she may be able to build a completely closed science and technology city under strict control to maintain her technological leadership.

(End of this chapter)