Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 143 Armor
Regarding the material of cloth armor, in Vig's memory, cotton was the first choice for cloth armor in the Ming Dynasty. However, cotton requires a high-temperature and dry environment, which is not suitable for cultivation in Western Europe.

In contrast, flax, a plant that prefers cool and humid conditions, is more suitable for local cultivation, so he chose flax cloth as the material for his new armor.

Wearing it himself, Vig discovered that the cloth armor weighed about 20 pounds, protected the torso, arms, and thighs, and offered greater flexibility, which helped conserve the soldiers' energy.

To verify his hypothesis, he went to the open space behind the blacksmith's shop, jogged at a steady pace for more than ten laps, drew his Dragon Breath Sword and waved it in the air for a long time, and then ran for more than ten laps.

Taking the linen cloth from the blacksmith, Vig wiped the sweat from his brow, panting heavily. "Hoo, not bad. Its lightness and agility are far superior to chainmail. How about its defensive capabilities?"

Rugal pointed to a wooden stake not far away, covered with a similar style of cloth armor. Seeing this, Vig picked up an ordinary-looking iron sword from the weapon rack and slashed repeatedly at the stake, but could not break through the defense.

He then used both hands to wield his sword and unleashed a powerful thrust, barely managing to pierce the cloth armor.

He put the iron sword back on the weapon rack, picked up a bow and arrow, and aimed and fired from sixty paces away.

Whoosh~
Ten arrows were fired, and six of them hit the target, achieving a 60% hit rate.

According to the assessment standards of the Song Dynasty: archers of the Palace Guard and the Infantry Command, wearing armor, could shoot twelve arrows from sixty paces away, and six arrows hitting the target were considered first-class. Vig's archery performance was acceptable.

"Phew, that's fine. With my mediocre shooting talent, I've done pretty well. There's no need to compare myself to shooters like Niels or Shrike."

Upon getting closer, he discovered that the six arrows that had hit him had failed to penetrate the cloth armor, so he shortened the distance and fired again.

Even when reduced to thirty paces, the cloth armor can still block arrows, and its protective performance meets the predetermined requirements.

As for hammer blows, axe strikes, and spear thrusts, these were undoubtedly beyond the limits of the cloth armor, and Vig was too lazy to waste his energy trying them.

In fact, plate armor, lamellar armor, scale armor, and chainmail are equally vulnerable to blunt force and piercing attacks, unless one were to switch to full plate armor from the Renaissance era. However, the production process of plate armor is complex and costly, which was not within Vig's considerations at all.

After the inspection was completed, Rugal removed the battered cloth armor and told the lord some good news.

"My lord, this armor can still be repaired. We only need to replace the damaged armor plates and patch the fabric, similar to mending clothes. It can be temporarily repaired even in a field camp."

“Very good, you’ve done a great job,” Vig praised repeatedly, then raised a crucial question—production time and cost.

Rugal's answer was standard, taking twenty days and costing a total of 0.8 pounds of silver.

Comparing his memory of the Ming Dynasty cloth armor, Vig fell into deep thought:
“In the Ming Dynasty, a set of cloth armor cost four taels of silver (149.2 grams). It is estimated that the iron smelting industry was developed at that time, which reduced the cost. However, even though Tyneburg's cloth armor cost 0.8 pounds of silver (279.9 grams), it was still cheaper than chainmail and iron scale armor.”

In conclusion, the cloth armor met all the expected requirements in terms of protection, flexibility, and cost, and he instructed Rugal to arrange for a blacksmith to oversee its production.

"Maintain secrecy. Arrange a secluded courtyard specifically for storing the produced armor."

Currently, Vigor possesses a total of one thousand sets of various types of iron armor, sufficient to handle bandit suppression and small-scale conflicts. In the coming years, all cloth armor produced will be stored in concealed areas, awaiting any eventuality.

With the production of cloth armor on track, Viger led his guards on a tour of the countryside in Tyne County. The wheat seedlings along the way were growing well, which lifted his spirits considerably. After traveling more than thirty kilometers north along the road, a reclamation team of two hundred men was working diligently.

The laborers in the reclamation team were all prisoners of war, 70% of whom were Pictish bandits and 30% were Viking pirates. In addition, there were 30 soldiers equipped with shields and axes to supervise them.

The laborers' main tasks were to dig ditches, build windmills to drain the swamp, clear away scattered bushes, and then move on to the next area.

Afterwards, the dormitories they left behind served as temporary housing for the new immigrants. The discarded drainage windmills were converted into windmills, controlled by the village chief, who regularly paid a usage tax to Tyneburg.

Currently, there are five such reclamation teams, responsible for the initial land clearing, while the follow-up work is left to the new immigrants.

After a five-year term of service, laborers would be sent to a region in the North to become free farmers. From this perspective, Vig did not break his promise.

After riding around for a while, Vig saw an Anglo-Saxon youth with short, light blond hair. "Connor, how's the recruitment going?"

This man was a detective in Stirlingshire, specializing in recruiting spies to infiltrate the northern mountains. In addition to the more loyal freed slaves, he also planned to recruit a small number of captured gentry or noble guards, using these individuals with inside information as intelligence advisors.

Upon hearing the call, Connor rushed to the Duke's side and reported on the progress of his work over the past period.

"My lord, nine men are currently willing to pledge their loyalty, and I am currently selecting them."

The two discussed various points of attention for a long time, until one of the riders interrupted the conversation:
"Sir, villagers have come to report that a longboat has been found stranded on the east coast, along with many drowned bodies. The boat is loaded with weapons such as double-handed axes, iron swords, and bows and arrows."

pirate?

Vig and fifty guards went to investigate, and after a long journey, they crossed the last hill before sunset.

The sky was overcast, and the shore was covered with grayish-white waves. A wrecked Viking longship lay askew on the beach, its dragon head carved on the prow broken off, and its hull badly damaged. Several crabs were crawling into the ship through the gaps in its hull.

Twelve corpses lay scattered on the nearby beach, pale and swollen from being soaked in seawater. A large flock of seabirds pecked at their swollen, pale cheeks, occasionally letting out loud cries, as if calling for more companions to come and enjoy this feast together.

As Vig approached the longship, he noticed that the corpses were dressed in extremely strange ways: two were covered in bear skins, six in wolf skins, and the remaining four in deer skins.

In addition, all the corpses had dark tattoos on their left wrists, suggesting they came from the same organization.

"Berserker?"

In Vig's memory, berserkers usually wore bearskins, were fond of mead and fighting, and never formed a strict organizational structure, unless...
He looked at the tattered canvas not far away, which depicted Hafdan's distinctive charred oak emblem.

"The Berserkers are organized; I never expected Hafdan to pull off something so ruthless."

If I'm not mistaken, bear skins, wolf skins, and deerskins represent warriors of different ranks, and the organizational structure is similar to that of the historical Crusades.

(End of this chapter)