The weather at sea changed quickly. When they went out to sea with Niuer yesterday, it was still calm. But at this time, the weather was very bad. There was a lot of wind on the sea, and the waves were very big. The small fishing boat was floating on the sea, looking particularly helpless. It seemed that if the waves were a little bigger, the fishing boat would be overturned.
In this kind of sea situation, it was very risky to go out to sea with a small fishing boat. Niuer also persuaded Ang Lee and others to wait for the wind to stop before setting off. Ang Lee just asked Niuer if he had the ability to go out to sea safely in this situation. Niuer was also proud and guaranteed that he had this ability. Others said that he didn't do his job and didn't know anything, which was an insult to him. He thought that he still had some ability, but he didn't want to do those laborious and low-paid jobs.
He always thought that those laborious jobs were meaningless. His mentality was very high. He always felt that he should get more benefits with less labor. Those who worked hard and earnestly, their annual income was less than his for one or two months. For example, the benefits that Ang Lee gave him this time was enough for an ordinary laborer to earn a year. Although it was impossible to receive so much every time he received a guest, it was enough for him to meet one generous guest a year. If he met two, he would earn a lot. In any case, his annual income was indeed much more than those who did manual labor. It was estimated that those who did manual labor didn't know this secret. After all, Niuer wouldn't tell others how much he earned each time, and the guests he received wouldn't tell this matter either. Thus, Niuer's income became a secret, a secret that only he knew.
Because the fishing boat was too bumpy, everyone could only hold on to the parts of the boat that they could hold on to so that they wouldn't fall into the sea. This feeling was really exciting and very heroic. Only those who often rode boats could experience this feeling of bumpiness on the sea. If people who didn't often ride boats were on this small fishing boat, it was estimated that they would soon vomit and have diarrhea. They would vomit as much as they ate.
Niuer's ability was really not small. In such a bumpy situation, he could still drive the small fishing boat. This ability was absolutely not inferior to ordinary fishermen. Nobody knew how he practiced this ability.
The Red Iron Island was right next to the Giant Tree Island. The two islands were less than three miles apart. Because of the strong wind and waves, it took Niu Er 50% more time to get the small fishing boat to enter the shelter of the Red Iron Island. As soon as the boat entered the harbor, the waves stopped and it was no longer bumpy.
"Niu Er, the capability of your ship is no less than that of the old fishermen! When did you learn it? Others say that you're lazy and don't do proper work. "
Ang Lee asked.
Niuer smiled honestly and said, "They all have a prejudice against me. I'm not a lazy person. I just have a more ambitious goal. I'm not like them. They work hard every day. They work hard all their lives. They never have any hope."
Although he didn't answer directly, Niuer was obviously not what others said. He also had some ability. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to live a peaceful life with just his mouth. The bird squatted on the branch. It never believed in the branch, but its wings. Even if the branch suddenly broke, the bird wouldn't be killed. Niuer was the same. Even if one day, Niuer couldn't work anymore, he could do something else. Even if it was fishing, he wouldn't lose to others. However, Niuer was very confident in himself. He believed that he could do something more promising than being a fisherman. The job of a fisherman could no longer satisfy him.
At this time, due to the strong wind, almost no one could be seen at the port of Red Iron Island. The ships in the port were all docked at the wharf. There were no craftsmen on the wharf. After going ashore, Ang Lee and others walked for a long time before they saw a house. Inside was a workshop that produced various items.
"This Red Iron Island is mainly used for smelting iron and is responsible for producing all kinds of iron utensils, including weapons and farming tools."
Niuer explained.
Li An nodded and walked into the house. He saw the busy scene inside. The craftsmen inside the house were making melee weapons and other products. There were spear heads, sabers, swords, daggers, butcher knives, and so on.
Seeing Niuer come in with a group of people, these people were not surprised. Obviously, Niuer often brought people in, and they were used to it.
Listening to the clanking sounds, Ang Lee and others approached the craftsmen step by step.
"Old Li, take a break! No one is watching. Why are you working so hard? "
Niuer said.
"Don't be sarcastic. Although no one is watching, our task must be completed. If we don't hurry up and miss the Black Wolf King's mission, we can't afford to be responsible."
Old Li replied.
— — —
"It doesn't matter. Come, there's a lot of your favorite wine and meat here. Everyone has worked hard. Let's eat together! "
Niuer took out the prepared wine and meat and said.
Of course, the wine and meat were not prepared by Niuer. They were all prepared by Ang Lee and given to Niuer as a favor. This kid was not so generous. He was very stingy.
Seeing good wine and meat, the craftsmen naturally stopped what they were doing. They didn't mind a short delay. The tasks given to them by the pirates weren't heavy. Most of the time, they were producing weapons for themselves to sell so that they could earn some money to support their families. The tasks given to them by the pirates were mandatory, but it wasn't difficult to complete. Most of the time, they were making ironware for their own use or to sell. Not only pirates could use swords and sabers, ordinary people could also use them for self-defense or for hunting. Meat sellers also needed sabers and sabers.
"Haha! You're lucky, kid. You met a rich man again. So much wine and meat, hahaha! Let's help ourselves. "
Old Li was not polite to Niuer at all. He directly ate and drank with a group of craftsmen. The stove that was burning the fire was thrown aside.
"Old Li, how much can you make in a day?"
Ang Lee asked.
Old Li replied as he ate his chicken drumstick, "That depends on what we're forging. If it's the simplest dagger, it wouldn't be a problem to forge dozens of them in a day. If it's a broadsword used to chop people, it'd be good if we could forge five of them in a day. If it's the Black Wolf King's weapon, it would take three people half a month to forge it!"
"Let me see the quality of these weapons."
Ang Lee said and walked to the finished knife. He picked it up and observed it carefully. He could judge the general performance of the weapon by its appearance. The quality of the weapon could be roughly seen from the appearance. If he wanted to further understand the performance of the weapon, he could only do more experiments.
"This big knife didn't add tungsten, so the performance improvement is limited?"
Ang Lee looked at the weapons and said.
"Tungsten, hehe, that thing is so expensive. We can rarely get tungsten. Only the Black Wolf King has some tungsten. Last time when he asked us to make a big knife for him, he prepared a lot of tungsten for us. Unfortunately, the rest of the tungsten was taken away by them. They didn't leave any for us."
Old Li said and seemed a little disappointed.
The price of tungsten was far higher than that of ordinary pig iron. Not all blacksmiths had the financial resources to make ironware with tungsten. There was a big difference in the quality of ironware made with tungsten or not. Generally, ironware made with tungsten was far better than ordinary ironware in performance. If two big knives collided violently, the one made with tungsten would be undamaged, but the one without tungsten would be broken into two pieces. This was the most obvious difference. The performance of tungsten was better.
After adding tungsten, the performance of ironware could be greatly improved. Therefore, the Black Wolf King would inevitably increase the management of tungsten. He would not let these blacksmiths casually produce weapons with tungsten. Even if they produced tungsten, it would be for the Black Wolf King and the others. They would not produce weapons for others.
The pirates were not stupid. The Black Wolf King often took his brothers out to rob. If they were lucky, the merchant ships they encountered would not resist and they could easily rob enough. However, if they encountered a merchant ship with guards, a big battle was unavoidable. In close combat, the quality of the weapon was very important. If the weapon in the hand was cut in half at a critical moment, they might lose their lives. Therefore, the pirates would do their best to improve the performance of their own weapons. Under the situation where tungsten weapons were not widely used among all pirates, they naturally could not lose a pound of tungsten. In addition, according to Old Li's introduction, it took a long time for pirates to forge a tungsten weapon. This was enough to show that after so many years of accumulation, the pirates did not have much tungsten in their hands. The tungsten weapons they forged could only meet the needs of important pirates. Most ordinary pirates used the simplest iron weapons in their hands, which were not high quality.
In order to prevent it from breaking, these basic iron weapons were forged to be thicker. The thicker the broadsword, the harder it would be to break it. Although it was too heavy and strenuous to hold, it was still tolerable compared to breaking the broadsword.
These daggers were also relatively heavy and had been specially designed to prevent them from breaking. In the eyes of later generations, breaking weapons seemed to be a very rare occurrence, but in the current era of the Great Tang, breaking weapons was very common. In a war, tens of thousands of broken spears and sabers were very common. The chances of metal weapons breaking in the middle were not very high. Therefore, in ancient wars, a lot of weapons had to be stored, and a group of craftsmen who could repair weapons had to be prepared. Only then could a war of attrition be fought. Otherwise, it would be impossible to fight a war of attrition.
It was precisely because every time there was a robbery, weapons would be damaged, so the pirates' demand for weapons had never been satisfied. Every time, the Sea Wolf King would ask these blacksmiths to make a batch of weapons for them to use. These weapons included daggers, broadswords, and spears. Sometimes, if there were more losses, more missions would be given. Sometimes, if there were not many losses, the missions given would be easier.
Of course, in addition to the pirates' robbery, ironware bought by ordinary people also had the possibility of being damaged. Therefore, all kinds of ironware needed to be constantly manufactured. There would never be a time when the supply of ironware would be saturated. The production of ironware had to be carried out every day.
After eating and drinking, these blacksmiths continued to work. Ang Lee and others left this workshop and went to another workshop not far away.
This workshop produced long-range weapons. There were bows and crossbows. There were many types of bows and crossbows. At a glance, there were more than ten types of bows and crossbows. There were also five or six types of crossbows. The largest crossbow was larger than the whaling crossbow equipped on Chen Fugui's whaling ship. It looked a little scary. If it hit someone, they would definitely die.
The largest crossbow was called a whaling harpoon. It was a permanent crossbow, not a disposable one. This kind of crossbow needed to be matched with a rope that was hundreds of meters long. After the whale was shot, the rope could be tightly tied to the injured whale, making it impossible for the whale to escape. Thus, the whale was completely captured.
Ang Lee took a look. The quality of the whaling harpoons produced here was very ordinary. Although they were larger than the ones equipped by Chen Fugui, the quality was obviously inferior. This could not be helped. Chen Fugui's whaling ship was bought in the coastal workshop of the Tang dynasty. On an island, the conditions here naturally could not be compared with the coastal environment of the Tang dynasty. The technical level and equipment here were much worse. It was already very good to be able to produce this kind of product. One could not ask for too much. It was unrealistic to ask for too much.
"Old Zhou, are you guys busy? Here's your favorite donkey meat. Take a break! "
Niu Er looked at the leader of the blacksmiths who was busy and said.
"Hehe, you've got another customer."
Old Zhou took the donkey meat with a smile and said.
"Old Zhou, how many weapons can you produce every day?"
Ang Lee asked.
"It's hard to say. It's different every day. I can't remember clearly, and I'm too lazy to remember. Hehehe!"
Old Zhou said.
Ang Lee walked over and took a look. The construction quality of these crossbows was good, but compared with the ones made by the Munitions Factory of the Tang dynasty, they were much worse. Whether it was the materials or the workmanship, they were lacking. This could not be helped. The conditions here were limited. It was impossible to make everything perfect. It was very difficult to do this.
Holding a crossbow, Ang Lee gestured back and forth for a moment and nodded approvingly. The workmanship of this crossbow was not bad. Although it was not as good as the military weapons of the Tang dynasty, it was very good to be able to do this. This crossbow was very practical for pirates. In close combat, a crossbow could quickly kill the enemy and put oneself in an invincible position. It was a relatively popular weapon for pirates. Almost every pirate had two weapons, a dagger and a crossbow, which had almost become the most basic standard of pirates. They were essential weapons for robbing. In addition to crossbows and daggers, pirates would also be equipped with melee weapons such as spears and broadswords according to their habits.
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