Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry

Chapter 388: A Garbage Musket Today

Though the giant Viking was smiling, there was no warmth in his blue eyes.

King Rudolf I sat still on his warhorse. Behind him, the hundred heavily armored Burgundian knights were frozen in fear.

They knew exactly what modern artillery could do... a single volley from those forty ships would level the lower city in less than ten minutes!

"You are out of your fucking mind," Rudolf whispered.

Hakon just chuckled, tossing the iron cannonball back up into the air and catching it again. "I get told that a lot, King Rudolf. But the Iron King’s orders are clear. We either leave here as incredibly wealthy trading partners... or we leave here after burning your castle to the ground. The choice is absolutely yours."

Prince Conrad, sitting on his horse right next to his father, shivered. He looked at the crates of flawless steel tools, warm coats, and modern medicine stacked on the pier, and then looked at the iron cannons.

"Father..." Conrad muttered, his voice trembling. "They are going to kill us..."

"Stay quiet, Conrad," Rudolf ordered smoothly, never taking his eyes off the giant Viking warlord.

Rudolf slowly climbed down from his warhorse. His bare feet sank into the mud of the riverbank, ruining his royal sleep-tunic, but he didn’t care.

He walked right up to the edge of the pier, stopping just a few feet away from Hakon and the open crates of modern goods.

He stared down at the steel plows. He looked at the neatly packed glass bottles of medicine.

Then, Rudolf frowned, shaking his head in confusion.

"Why all that?" Rudolf demanded, gesturing wildly toward the crates. "Why?! You sail an entire armada up my river, you threaten to blow my city to ash... and in the same breath, you offer me farming equipment and soap? What the fucking hell is wrong with you northerners?!"

Hakon blinked, lowering the cannonball. "I just told you. We want to revolutionize your kingdom~"

"And what is the benefit of these things in war?!" Rudolf yelled, losing his patience. His military mind was completely short-circuiting. Emperor Louis is building an army of a million men. He just formed an alliance with the Bohemians and the Magyars. Even if I ally with Ragnar right now... how can I fight with his weapons?!"

Rudolf marched over to the nearest crate and yanked a steel plow out, holding it up for the giant Viking to see.

"Am I supposed to hit the Frankish cavalry with this?!" Rudolf roared, "Am I supposed to throw glass bottles of smelling soap at their muskets?! Louis has explosive powder, Hakon! He has fire-tubes! You cannot stop a musket ball with a fucking farming tool!"

After hearing such words, Hakon didn’t get angry. Instead, the warrior threw his head back and let out a loud laugh.

"You are entirely right, King Rudolf!" Hakon cheered, amused by the King’s meltdown. "If you try to hit a Magyar horseman with a steel plow, you are going to die very, very quickly!"

"Then why the hell did you bring them?!" Rudolf threw the steel plow back into the crate.

Hakon slowly stopped laughing. He walked forward. He towered entirely over the Burgundian King, his face dropping into a serious expression.

"Because dead men cannot fight, your Grace," Hakon explained. "King Ragnar knows that a war against a million men isn’t going to be won in a single afternoon. It is going to be a massive, entirely grueling winter campaign. If your peasants are starving because they can’t harvest the frozen ground, and your soldiers are dying of the sweating sickness... your kingdom will collapse before the Franks even fire a single shot."

Hakon tapped afinger against the crate of medicine. "The Iron King feeds the people first. He cures the diseases first. That is why we brought the tools. But do not worry, King Rudolf..."

A thrilling smirk entirely spread across Hakon’s face.

"Ragnar will give you the muskets also," Hakon whispered, his voice dropping into a dark tone. "Once the primary trade routes are established, the Iron Kingdom will open its armories to you. We will arm your military with modern repeating rifles. You will have weapons that make Louis’s primitive fire-tubes look like children’s toys."

The suffocating tension on the docks completely shifted... the Burgundian knights stopped breathing. Prince Conrad’s eyes went wide.

Repeating rifles... the legendary, entirely terrifying magic weapons that could shoot multiple times without reloading.

However, Hakon wasn’t finished. He crossed his arms.

"But..." Hakon stated firmly, cutting off any premature celebrations. "Before that happens, you must ensure that you will actually ally with him. King Ragnar is entirely generous, but he is not an idiot. He is not going to just hand over his best weapons to a southern King who might completely stab him in the back tomorrow."

Hakon pointed toward the towering castle of Burgundy in the distance.

"You shut your borders to the Franks today," Hakon ordered smoothly. "You sign the blood alliance. You accept the tools and the medicine, and you entirely declare war on Emperor Louis. Only then will the iron ships return with the rifles."

The river wind whipped through the docks.

Rudolf stood still in the mud. His bare feet were freezing, but his mind was entirely on fire.

Ragnar needed a buffer state in the south to slow the Franks down, and he was using the promise of modern weapons as bait to trap Burgundy into doing the dirty work.

Even so, Rudolf was a King who had survived decades of brutal European politics. He didn’t just blindly jump at the first shiny object placed in front of him.

Rudolf slowly straightened his back, fixing his dirty sleep-tunic.

He looked up at the giant Viking.

"No." Rudolf stated simply.

Hakon blinked, his arrogant smirk faltering. "No? Did you not just hear a single word I said, King Rudolf?"

"I heard you perfectly," Rudolf replied smoothly, taking a step closer to the warrior. "You want me to declare war on Emperor Louis today, pissing off an army of a million men... and in exchange, you will give me some plows and a promise that maybe you will bring the actual guns later."

Rudolf let out a humorless scoff.

"Emperor Louis already sent me an ultimatum this morning," Rudolf declared, crossing his arms over his chest. "He already figured out the explosive black powder. He is mass-producing muskets right now. If I ally with the Franks... Louis will give my men the weapons for sure. Instantly. Without me having to wait for your iron ships to sail back across the ocean."

Hakon’s hand slowly drifted back toward the handle of his battle-axe. His blue eyes darkened significantly. "Emperor Louis’s muskets are garbage compared to our steel, Rudolf."

"Maybe they are..." Rudolf shrugged, unbothered by the giant’s subtle threat. "But a garbage musket in my hand today is better than a perfect repeating rifle that is still sitting hundreds of miles away in City Titan."

Rudolf took another step forward, closing the distance until he was face-to-face with the Viking warlord.

"So what?" Rudolf whispered, his voice dripping with authority. "You threaten to shoot my city? Fine. Shoot it. But if you blow up my docks, you lose any chance of an alliance, and the Franks will march straight through the ashes to reach your borders."

Rudolf slowly tilted his head, a cunning smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

He knew Hakon didn’t actually want to destroy the city... Ragnar needed Burgundy intact.

"You don’t want to burn my kingdom," Rudolf challenged, his eyes locking onto the Viking’s. "And I don’t want to die for your King. So let’s stop pretending and get down to actual business."

Rudolf held his ground, the wind howling around them as the fate of the southern continent hung entirely in the balance.

"Hmm?" Hakon asked calmly, raising an eyebrow dismissively at the king. "What do you want then?"