nyslfriends Chapter 373: A Few Hundred
Chapter 373: A Few Hundred
"...the roasted venison smells absolutely incredible. I hope the cooks are treating you all well?"
"We are doing wonderfully, Ragnar," Louis said. "But... you are entirely sure we aren’t going to war?"
"Oh, ignore that, Louis. Just some boring border disputes in the south," Ragnar answered, "Nothing that requires ruining a good dinner."
Gyda let out a sigh. She knew Ragnar was hiding something massive, but she also understood he was doing it to protect the peace of the room.
Ragnar chewed his bread, looking around the table with curiosity.
"By the way, what happened in here while I was outside?" Ragnar asked, raising an eyebrow. "I heard the double doors open, and someone was shouting. Did one of the castle hounds get loose in the kitchens again?"
"Oh, no, it wasn’t a hound," Queen Ermentrude smiled, her elegant composure finally returning. "It was Ealdred, the new master of your educational schools."
"Ealdred?" Ragnar chuckled. "Ah, yes... The Saxon scholar. The man has a brilliant mind, but he completely forgets to sleep. What was he so frantic about?"
"He was begging me for more machines," Louis groaned playfully, rubbing his fingers. "He said the schools are overflowing with thousands of children, and the monks cannot copy the textbooks fast enough. He asked for more printing presses."
"And what did you tell him?" Ragnar asked.
"I told him building the cast-iron frames takes a massive amount of time," Louis sighed, leaning his elbows on the table. "Especially since someone... who happens to be the Iron King gave me the highly complex blueprints and then left me alone to figure out how the movable steel type actually works."
Ragnar let out another booming laugh, "I am a busy man, Louis... I couldn’t have built them better myself."
"Flattery will not save you, Ragnar," Gyda teased, "I actually had to step in and save the poor scholar. I lied and told Louis that you ordered him to build more presses."
Ragnar paused, "Gyda... that isn’t a lie," Ragnar smiled, reaching over to gently squeeze her hand. "We can spread news, royal decrees, and completely control the political narrative across all of England."
"See? I told you it was a good idea," Gyda winked.
"...but it gets even better, Ragnar," Louis interrupted, "If I build ten new presses for the schools... we can use them to print paper money!"
Ragnar stopped chewing his bread. He stared at the young, stuttering prince in profound shock.
Paper currency?
Ragnar had told Louis about this idea and had fully planned to introduce paper money to revolutionize the economy, but he postponed the project entirely due to his intense involvement in military affairs.
Ragnar, however, believed he had never discussed the idea with the prince. Louis, for his part, never forgot a single word Ragnar uttered.
"Paper money?" Ragnar repeated, his eyes wide.
"Yes!" Louis nodded eagerly, "If we print unforgeable paper notes backed entirely by your gold reserves... we can revolutionize the entire economy!"
"Paper money is a brilliant concept, Louis," Ragnar said, reaching for his cup of spiced wine. "But honestly? It is too massive of a project right now... We do not have the time or the economic stability to flip the financial system of three kingdoms overnight."
Louis blinked, "We don’t?"
"No," Ragnar shook his head. "...Introducing paper currency requires unquestioned trust from the merchants. Right now, with rumors of war brewing and trade routes constantly threatened by pirates, people want solid gold and silver.
...they want something heavy in their pockets. If we hand them paper, they will think the Iron Kingdom is broke."
"Bbut the printing presses..." Louis stammered, "Ealdred needs them for the schools."
"And he will get them," Ragnar smiled. "Spreading knowledge with the printing press will help us in the long run. We need educated engineers, literate commanders, and smart bureaucrats to run this empire. Build the ten presses, Louis. Print the textbooks. But the paper currency? We put that project back on the shelf."
Queen Ermentrude nodded in agreement, slicing her bread. "The Iron King is right, do not overwhelm the peasants."
Louis let out a sigh, "Fine. I will focus on the books."
Ragnar chuckled, taking a long drink of his wine. "Besides, Louis," Ragnar added, "I have other plans for the metalworkers tomorrow. I cannot spare all twenty blacksmiths for your printing presses. I need at least half of them in the royal forge."
Gyda looked up from baby Floki. "Other plans?"
Ragnar finished his venison, wiping his hands on a linen napkin.
"The repeating rifles and the shore cannons are beautiful weapons, Gyda," Ragnar explained, "But if we are going to face a massive navy... we need something entirely new."
Leofric, standing quietly near the wall, leaned forward, "A new weapon, my King? Better than the cannons?"
"Faster than the cannons," Ragnar corrected, "I am going to my study tonight. By tomorrow morning, I want the forges burning at maximum capacity."
"What is the weapon called, Papa?" little Magnus asked, his eyes wide with wonder.
Ragnar reached over, ruffling his son’s hair. He looked back at Leofric.
"It is called a Gatling gun."
"A Gatling gun?" little Magnus repeated. He giggled, tapping his wooden sword against the floor. "That sounds like a funny bird, Papa."
Ragnar let out a chuckle, reaching down to ruffle his son’s blonde hair. "It does sound a bit funny, little warrior. But I promise you, the men on the wrong end of it will not be laughing."
Leofric stepped away from the wall, "How does it work, my King?" Leofric asked, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Is it a massive bombard like the ones we mounted on the coastal forts? Or is it a smaller, hand-held weapon like the repeating rifles?"
"Neither, Leofric," Ragnar explained, leaning back in his chair and resting his hands on the table. "Fundamentally, it’s not a big difference from the cannons. We are still entirely using explosive powder to push lead and steel through a metal tube. But the mechanics... it is faster. Much, much faster."
Ragnar picked up a fork, spinning it between his fingers. "Instead of one barrel that takes a full minute to clean, load, and fire," Ragnar continued, "this weapon has multiple rotating steel barrels bound together in a circle. You turn a hand-crank on the side. While one barrel fires a bullet, the next barrel is automatically loading the powder, and the previous barrel is cooling down in the air."
The Great Hall went entirely silent... A self-loading, self-firing cannon?
"Good heavens," Leofric whispered, his eyes widening. "If it fires automatically while you turn a crank... how many shots can it fire in a single minute?"
"A few hundred..." Ragnar stated.
"Hundreds?!" King Louis the Stammerer gasped, nearly dropping his cup of spiced wine.