Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry

Leofric moved his hands to reveal the next piece of military equipment. He grabbed the plain linen cloth that covered the closest wooden box and pulled it away to expose the object sitting inside.

The item resting on the bottom of the wooden box was a hand cannon.

Leofric reached into the wooden container, grabbed the object with both of his hands, and lifted it up so that all the rulers in the room could observe its physical structure.

A hand cannon consists of a thick iron tube measuring approximately two feet in length. The iron tube is forged by pouring heated liquid metal into a cylindrical mold and allowing it to cool until it becomes a solid piece of metal.

This thick iron tube is mounted securely on a straight wooden handle.

The wooden handle provides a surface for the soldier to hold the weapon without touching the metal tube, which becomes heated during the firing process.

The wooden handle is attached to the bottom of the iron tube using flat iron bands and metal nails.

Furthermore, the hand cannon utilizes a simple wick-lighting mechanism to initiate the firing process. Near the closed rear section of the thick iron tube, there is a very small hole drilled through the metal.

A soldier operates the weapon by pouring black powder down the open front end of the tube, followed by inserting a small piece of cloth, and then pushing a lead ball into the tube using a long wooden rod.

After packing the contents inside the tube, the soldier places a small amount of black powder into the small hole at the rear.

The user then holds a piece of burning rope, which serves as the wick, and touches the burning end of the rope to the small hole to ignite the black powder inside the iron tube.

This weapon comes with carefully cast lead balls. Lead is a heavy metal that melts at a lower temperature than iron.

The workers in Ragnar’s settlements melt blocks of lead in iron pots over wood fires and pour the liquid metal into two-piece molds.

When the metal cools and becomes solid, the workers open the molds and remove perfectly spherical lead balls.

These lead balls are stored in leather pouches and distributed to the soldiers who operate the hand cannons on the battlefield.

When the burning wick ignites the black powder inside the thick iron tube, the chemical reaction creates a sudden expansion of gas that pushes the lead ball out of the front of the tube at a very high speed.

Because of this high speed and the heavy weight of the solid lead ball, the projectile can penetrate any armor made in the ninth century, provided the soldier fires the weapon at a close range.

In the ninth century, armor primarily consists of chainmail, which is made from thousands of interconnected iron rings, or metal plates, which are flat pieces of iron tied to leather garments.

When the fast-moving lead ball strikes the chainmail or the metal plates, the physical force breaks the iron rings and bends the metal plates, pushing the broken metal and the lead ball directly into the human body behind the armor.

In addition to its ability to break through iron armor, the hand cannon produces a loud noise and a distinct smell when it is fired.

The sudden expansion of gas creates a loud sound that resembles the noise of thunder during a storm.

The burning black powder produces a thick cloud of smoke that smells strongly of sulfur. In the ninth century, soldiers do not study the properties of chemicals and powders.

When an enemy army hears the terrifying sound of the explosion and smells the sulfur in the air, they process this sensory information through their understanding of the world.

Because they do not understand the mechanics of the iron tube, the enemy army would believe the soldiers holding the wooden handles were using black magic to kill their opponents from a distance.

In his mind, Ragnar sat in his wooden chair and observed the faces of the kings as Leofric displayed the iron tube.

He evaluated the long-term consequences of giving this weapon to foreign rulers.

Despite his awareness of this negative outcome, Ragnar mentally tracked the exact series of events that would follow the sale of this item.

He knew that whichever king purchased the hand cannon would immediately transport the iron tube back to his own territory.

Once the king arrived in his own lands, he would take the weapon and show it to his local scholars and blacksmiths. These workers would measure the thickness of the iron, examine the placement of the small hole, and analyze the residue of the black powder left inside the tube.

Through this process of examination, the scholars would learn how the weapon functions. They would then begin manufacturing many of them in their own workshops, and they would use these newly forged iron tubes to start arming their own armies.

After all, allowing foreign kingdoms to manufacture their own hand cannons would break Ragnar’s monopoly on weapons that use black powder.

However, at the same time, Ragnar identified a great advantage in this scenario. If the scholars in the other territories learned how to forge the thick iron tubes and cast the lead balls, Ragnar wouldn’t need to allocate his own workers and raw iron to create such a primitive weapon in his kingdom.

The hand cannon requires a slow loading process and possesses limited accuracy over long distances, making it a primitive tool compared to the larger artillery pieces Ragnar was developing.

By allowing the other kings to copy the design, all the kingdoms under his control would eventually have this weapon instead of swords, and Ragnar would save the time and resources required to supply them.

With all these factors evaluated, Ragnar concluded that this distribution of technology would improve the overall military strength of the territories aligned with him.

Thus, he would be surrounded by powerful allies who possessed weapons capable of breaking the armor of any invading forces from outside his domain.

If the kings under his influence replaced their foot soldiers who carried iron swords and wooden shields with soldiers who carried iron tubes and lead balls, their borders would become highly secure against traditional cavalry and infantry charges.

And so, Ragnar did not fear their rebellion. If the kings decided to use their newly manufactured hand cannons to attack Ragnar’s territories, their primitive weapons would not be sufficient to defeat him.

Ragnar knew he had more advanced things up his sleeve than just a primitive cannon that could be loaded in minutes. His own settlements contained heavy cannons mounted on wheels that could fire explosive shells over great distances, and he possessed rifles with internal mechanisms that allowed for faster reloading and greater accuracy.

Because he maintained exclusive control over these superior weapons, he determined that the risk of a successful rebellion was zero.

That’s why he decided to take this bold step and permit Leofric to sell the hand cannon at the auction...

While Ragnar completed his internal assessment of the strategic implications, Leofric placed the hand cannon on the flat wooden table so that all the attendees could see the thick iron tube and the wooden handle.

Leofric then retrieved a small leather pouch from the wooden box and poured a handful of the carefully cast lead balls onto the table next to the weapon.

The opening price for the hand cannon was ten thousand gold dinars.

In the 9th century, ten thousand coins or dinars were equivalent to the wealth of a small town.

Therefore, asking for ten thousand gold dinars for a single iron tube mounted on a wooden handle meant that the buyer was exchanging the entire economic output of a populated settlement for a piece of military technology.

After Leofric stated the opening price, King Aedh MacNeill stood up from his wooden bench and looked at Leofric.

"I’ll open the bidding at 12,000 gold pieces!"

Hearing this initial offer, Erik, the newly appointed king of Norway, reacted by standing up from his seat.

"I don’t care about the gold!" Erik shouted, pointing his hand toward the iron tube on the table.

"I’ll give you five ships laden with silver bullion from the northern raids. I want this to shatter the gates of Paris!"

If the king of Norway or the king of Ireland acquired the weapon and gave it to their scholars to copy, they would eventually possess armies that could destroy the chainmail worn by Donald’s soldiers.

King Donald II hit the wooden table in front of him with his closed fist.

"100,000! This weapon must not leave my territory!"