leonardwarren Chapter 100 Comparison
Chapter 100 Comparison
Chapter 100 Comparison
"Lord Adelaide!"
Gavin gave Ron a knightly salute.
Ron's original Ashwood territory was registered in Gorubike Castle as Adler's territory, and the records showed that his mother was from a collateral branch of the Ashwood family and had a thin line of Ashwood blood.
As for Blackthorn Wasteland, only two territories have actually come into contact with Ashwood Territory: Harland Territory and De Gea Territory.
The former wouldn't betray Ron, and even if the latter wanted to, no one would believe him.
Because De Gea's word doesn't count.
In fact, the entire kingdom's high command knew that Adrenaline was Ashwoodland.
However, an unspoken rule must be followed: in the absence of clear evidence, everything is based on the records in the archives.
Many impoverished nobles, having no male heirs, would adopt children from distant relatives to inherit their titles.
If everything requires evidence, then the bloodlines of many nobles have long been problematic, and even royalty is no exception.
After all, King Auster IV was adopted from a branch of the royal family by the third king, who had no children.
This made Auster IV value the legitimacy of bloodlines even more.
Rumors circulated that Auster IV was born from an affair between his mother and a court painter, and had no royal blood whatsoever.
Because of this popular rumor, Oster IV has killed many people over the years, and at the same time, he has pushed for the enactment of such a law.
To avoid revealing his identity, Doron naturally claimed that he had made contact with Lord Ad.
After all, he was once a guard knight of the Ashwood family, so it's quite normal for him to have connections with a distant branch of the Ashwood family.
So Gavin came this time specifically to get his hands on the wood scale armor produced in Adria.
Doron once brought a set with him, but most nobles looked down on it. Only the mercenaries could understand just how practical these wooden scale armors were.
The existing heavy armor for knights is too heavy. Although it provides excellent protection, it has two fatal flaws: a severe lack of mobility and flexibility. This means that knightly warfare requires a massive logistical support system.
Gavin got straight to the point: "Lord Adler, I would like to purchase a batch of wood scale armor from your territory."
Ron pointed to the No. 2 pit courtyard and said, "Let's go inside and talk."
Gavin had never seen such an amazing building before, with three floors above ground and two floors underground.
Especially in the second basement level, you can feel a coolness that is completely different from the outside as soon as you step in.
Gavin was amazed, but he didn't utter a sound.
“Mr. Gavin, tell me your thoughts on the Wood Scales,” Ron said very naturally. “If you don’t explain it well enough, this business deal is off.”
""
Ron's idea was simple: someone who doesn't understand the product will have a hard time selling it. Most importantly, he wanted to test Gavin's abilities.
In his letter, Doron repeatedly mentioned his hope that the lord could win back Gavin, a capable general.
Gavin said without any hesitation: "Firstly, wooden scale armor is easy to repair and maintain. Although the wooden armor plates we make ourselves are not as sturdy and durable as those in your territory, if only a few plates are lost, we can simply make a piece of wooden armor and sew it on, which can still play a certain role. Unlike the heavy armor of knights, once it is damaged, even if there are blacksmiths in the military camp who can repair it, it will take a long time."
""
"Secondly, it is more mobile and flexible. The wooden scale armor is much lighter than the knight's armor, making it very suitable for infantry and scouts. Moreover, it is more flexible in combat than the knight's armor. Many knight's armors severely restrict the knight's combat movements, making many movements inconvenient or even impossible. Especially when falling down, it is not as fast as the wooden scale armor to get up again."
"The only drawback is that the wooden scale armor is far less defensive than the knight's armor. I wonder if your territory has any plans to forge iron scale armor?"
'
After hearing this, not only Ron, but even Old Hall looked at the scarred mercenary with new respect.
"You can bring me iron ore," Ron asked with a smile.
The technology behind wooden scale armor isn't particularly advanced, and it's easy to imitate. The key to making it impossible to imitate lies in the treatment of the wooden scales.
If not handled properly, wooden scale armor is less defensive than a piece of leather armor. As for forging it into iron scale armor, with full-body armor being the mainstream for knights, the production of iron scale armor is too complicated. Taking light wood scale armor as a standard, the armor plates to be made exceed 800 pieces, and drilling is also required.
Drilling holes in wooden armor plates is easy, but drilling holes in iron armor plates is much more difficult.
Of course, it wouldn't be difficult to do with the kingdom's current technology, but the final cost of the Ironscale Armor would be even higher than that of the Knight's Heavy Armor.
This is something a mercenary simply cannot afford. Even Gavin, the mercenary leader, would hesitate for a long time before buying such a set of Ironscale Armor.
Gavin's eyes flickered, and he subconsciously lowered his voice: "I'll be sending a batch of iron ore every now and then, but I don't know how your territory will purchase it?"
Ron glanced at Gavin in surprise, not expecting this guy to have this ability.
After going around in circles, it turns out I was waiting for you here.
After thinking for a moment, Gavin said, "One hundred catties of iron ore is worth five gold coins. After all, transporting it from Gorubak Fort here requires a lot of manpower and resources."
""
Ron shook his head slightly: "The cost is too high, I'm not interested!"
'
The main smelting process in this world is low-temperature briquette ironmaking. A hundred pounds of iron ore can yield a maximum of ten pounds. If you're unlucky, or if the ore has too low an iron content, you might only get five or six pounds.
This efficiency is equivalent to buying five kilograms of pig iron with five gold coins.
Pig iron needs to be smelted to become wrought iron, and only wrought iron has the ability to be forged into weapons. If wrought iron is then forged into steel...
If you can refine five pounds of steel into three pounds, you'll be lucky.
Ron said, "You might as well sell me the iron ingots."
Gavin fell silent for a moment.
Old Hall and Ron exchanged a glance and shook their heads slightly.
Gavin's ore is probably of dubious origin, and they lack the smelting technology to operate openly, so they want to sell it in the Blackthorn Wasteland.
Gavin feigned heartache and said, "Lord Adler, to be honest, the ore doesn't belong to me alone, so the price isn't that high. But transporting it to you is too far. Not only would it require hiring a large number of people, but there are also various expenses such as carriages. Three gold coins is the lowest I can go."
Without a second thought, Ron said, "One gold coin. When Dorron sends refugees over, you can have the refugees help you with the transportation. You only need to pay a little food. Anyway, Dorron will hire you to escort a batch of refugees over every month."
Gavin opened his mouth slightly, wanting to refute, but found that every word Ron said was exactly what he was planning.
He gave a wry smile and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.
In fact, that was his plan. He only needed to pay for the taxi fare, while Duolong would cover the rest.
At most, he was just doing side jobs.