Chapter 409, Steel and Steam
The Skaven’s development of the Black Iron Star is not yet halfway through, and even the Skaven’s war against the aboriginal stone shell monsters on this planet has not yet ended. The last time During the cleanup war, the rat people only drove these stone shell monsters completely into the underground depths of the Black Iron Star, but did not completely exterminate these hard stone people.
These guys will pop up from time to time and cause some trouble to the rat people.
On the Black Iron Star, there is a rat city under construction. The city was built to mine a mediocre mineral, iron ore.
Iron ore can be regarded as the largest reserve in the Black Iron Star, and it is also the most common thing. You can get a glimpse of it from the name the rat engineers called this planet, Black Iron.
These iron ores brought out from the core of the planet by volcanoes or geological movements are not even in the state of alloys carrying impurities, but are simply a large piece of iron. They have not even had time to oxidize and rust, and are simply a large piece of iron. Iron
If you suddenly see a little bit of darkness in the wilderness of the black iron star, then there is no doubt that the black is an iron mine, an iron mine exposed on the surface.
This is where the name Black Iron comes from.
The extremely abundant metal veins on this planet have even whetted the appetite of the rat people. The small veins all over the surface of the planet have even lost the value of being mined by the rat people.
At this time, a question arises. Since the iron ore on the Black Iron Planet is so rampant, what kind of iron ore is worth the effort of the rat people to build a city?
Several crude steam-tracked vehicles were driving in the wilderness of the Black Iron Star.
They set out from the super city that serves as a node in this area, and their mission this time is to transport the first batch of workers to the newly built city.
Due to cost considerations, it is impossible for the rat people to endlessly transport immigrants to every colonized planet with their star warships.
After transporting enough people to cultivate the first rat city, and after those new young rat people begin to be born, the initial colonization of the rat people will be completed.
In the future, after the rat cities are established one after another, these second and third generation rat people who were born and raised on this planet will take on the main responsibility of developing and building this colonial planet.
And began to transport the extracted resources to the outside of the planet.
Essentially, the colonial approach of the rat people is almost the same as their establishment of resource cities on resource points, except that now what they regard as resource points is no longer one or two woods, but one or two. A vein of minerals, but an entire planet.
This steam track is not brand new, and is even covered with various traces. It is not surprising. This is also a classic car, a model from 80 years ago. Maybe these rats on the car are People's grandparents are not as old as this tracked vehicle.
At this time, the atmosphere in the car was not very good. It was very quiet. Perhaps it was because after leaving the city, there was a turbid air with a slight odor. The active volcano not only A large amount of resources were ejected from deep underground, which also brought the turbid air with a slight odor.
A large amount of sulfide gas is sent into the atmosphere by active volcanoes. Even the rat people who have excellent tolerance to various harsh environments cannot endure this toxic air for long.
Although this unbearable time scale may be pushed to years, anyone who cherishes his own life will at least put a simple filtering device on his face.
For example, the big nose full-covering filter on the face of the rat mercenary driving the car.
But this requires financial support, and those who can be sent to work in the wilderness often do not have money.
Blood money, some of which are either bright yellow or with some small copper-green flakes, has officially become the standard currency of the Skaven Empire.
It is a currency circulated among the free rat people, who account for the largest portion of the Rat Empire.
And it only exists in a small flake state.
Of course, the currency in the Rat Man Empire is not just blood money, but these free rat people even use blood money alone as a currency. In fact, it is enough. Of course there is currency.
Just like the Soul Stone, yes, these blue stones have also become a part of the rat people's currency system.
The most inferior ones are those taken out of living flesh that are glowing green, and the most precious ones are the blue soul stones that are sown by the death comet.
These things have actually become a kind of hard currency among the rat people. After all, the normal navigation of the rat people's star warships is inseparable from these stones that are either inferior green or faint blue. .
It's a hard currency.
Of course, there are some further up.
Just like the blood mushrooms, they have gone round and round. In fact, until now, the blood mushrooms still have part of the currency function in the Rat Man Empire and can still be circulated as currency. However, the essence of life has been used by those greedy people. Due to excessive consumption of vampires, the number of blood mushrooms in circulation has been greatly reduced, and they can hardly support the intelligence of conventional currency.
These are the things that the Rat Empire can currently use as currency. Of course, barter still exists.
Can you imagine that this group of guys are all capable of space navigation, and even the most basic barter has been retained by them when conducting internal transactions.
Relative progress, this description is extremely appropriate for the rat people.
A simple filtering device actually does not cost much blood gold, that is, three to five blood gold, which is not considered expensive in this category.
But if you carefully observe the situation of these free rat people, you will find that almost none of them has purchased such a set of protective equipment for themselves.
Three to five blood coins, this is not an expensive price, it only requires two to three days' salary of a rat free citizen.
But at such a price that is not unaffordable, as long as three to five blood gold, the simple filtering device can effectively reduce the toxic gases inhaled, in exchange for health and longer life. life.
But none of these guys have made an exchange. This can only explain one problem. Either these guys are so poor that they can't even pay three to five blood coins, or these guys feel that their lives and health are basically useless. It's just not worth the exchange for those little golden discs.
So which situation is it? In fact, there are both.
In fact, the newly born bureaucrats in the Rat Man Empire, the new people with power, soon discovered something very interesting.
That is, the price-performance ratio of free rat people.
These guys absorbed the theory born from the Wasteland City and pushed it a step further. They discovered a very interesting thing. If you drive slave rats, you still have to pay the purchase price. Food to consume, pills that may be needed, and just shelter.
But the minimum amount of money you need to pay to drive these free rat people who seem to have more say and are less easy to control is only enough to keep them from starving to death.
And compared to those slave rats who riot from time to time, these free rat people are more active and proactive. They even work harder than those slave rats to please you by nodding and bowing.
All it takes is a small amount of money, enough to keep them from starving to death.
This is really a good deal, isn’t it?
This is the reason why the Skaven breeding house finally disappeared from the history of the Skaven.
Those bureaucrats, the rat people who hold power, they found that they only need to invest the most basic food relief in the city, then no matter what kind of rat people they want, what kind of tools they want, this group of rat free people Everything can grow out of it.
At most, the most is just paying a few more shiny little copper pieces.
Is there anything cheaper than this?
No more, no more, and there will be no more.
A strong wind blew over, bringing up the dark gravel. In this wilderness, a sandstorm was about to arrive.
The gravel hitting the metal shell of the tracked vehicle finally made the numb ratmen on the vehicle regain some of their energy.
Actually speaking, these guys are far from the worst among the free rat people, at least before they failed.
Trainee engineers, businessmen, engravers, apprentices, yes, yes!
And the bureaucratic clerk.
The origins can be described as diverse, and the reasons for being sent to this crawler vehicle are equally diverse.
A loser who desperately tried to pass the test and borrowed money to become a real rat engineer but bought inferior materials.
A small businessman whose goods were burned in a fire.
The engraver who made a mistake in engraving.
Apprentices without grades.
And the petty official who lost in the struggle for power. Damn it, wasn't this guy's former boss a security guard in charge of a small street? Can this also be a power struggle? How crazy!
There are many people who have to board this tracked vehicle heading into the wilderness for various reasons.
The only thing these guys have in common is that they all belong to the rat free people.
The Imperial Code is far from banning the rat-men's fights and all kinds of sins, and it doesn't even think about banning the rat-men's various fights and sins.
The only advantage these free rat people have over slave rats is that at least they have choices on the surface.
For example, at this time, even though everyone knew what the most likely outcome would be, they still had some hope.
Maybe, maybe what I am facing is something even more different.
Until the sudden collision and violent shaking sounded in the wildly dancing wind and sand.
The transport of these guys is a rather huge convoy, with more than a hundred crawler transport vehicles, which can transport tens of thousands of ratmen at a time. These guys who are forced to embark on the journey are like It's sardines in a can that are usually stuffed into the rear compartment of a tracked vehicle.
Leaving the city and heading into the wilderness is indeed not an easy task and represents danger. However, usually, the danger in the wilderness will gradually decrease due to the increase in the size of the convoy.
These hundred or so crawler transport vehicles were enough to eliminate most of the dangers in the wilderness, but unexpectedly, an accident still happened.
The transport truck at the head of the team was paralyzed, and the team stopped. The wildly dancing wind and sand obscured most of the sight. Looking out the window through the glass-inlaid grille window, what caught the eye was There is only the black sand.
The rat mercenaries in the cab of the transport vehicle clenched the steam rifles in their hands.
This is the weapon that the rat people used to replace the magic rifle after they walked into the starry sky. The relative progress is also experienced in these steam rifles.
While soul gems were becoming more and more expensive and rare due to the construction of the Star Fleet, the weapons in the hands of the rat people had to be downgraded.
Without the soul gem, even those inferior green stones will be useless, so what should be used to replace it?
At that time, the Big Claw Priests, who had just stepped onto the starry sky and had not yet changed their names to rat engineers, all invariably turned their attention to the things they were using with increasing proficiency.
Steam.
The steam boiler is miniaturized, the pipes covered with rubber are connected to an ordinary iron pipe, a valve and a pressurizing device are added, and you're done.
This is how steam firearms were born.
In the development of these years, steam firearms have made great progress in the hands of the Skaven.
Just like the styles on these rat mercenaries.
Equipped with a small steam boiler, continuous firing valves, and a dual-chamber pressurization device, it can spray armor-piercing steel needle bullets with hot steam at the enemy in a very short time.
Don't underestimate this strange thing. The bullets it fires can easily penetrate the bones of most creatures.
And this is not a real military model, but a stability maintenance model specially provided for rat-man security guards. It is still an old model that has been eliminated for forty years, just because of its simple structure. It is loved by rat mercenaries for its excellent portability.
These rat mercenaries did not leave the armored vehicles rashly.
The fear from the unknown made them a little more nervous, and they couldn't help but tighten their grip on the steam rifles in their hands. A scream suddenly came from the communicator around their waists, and then It's that desperate cry.
"Death Worm!"
In a moment, the communicator completely exploded.
“Death worm! How come there are death worms here!”
"It's those damn stone-shelled beasts! These guys ran out again!"
Listening to the messy words in the communicator, the rat-man mercenary also had a lot of trouble on his face. Share fear.
From the death worm, but also from those stone-shelled beasts.
Don't look at the fact that these guys have been defeated miserably since the rat men came to this planet. Those who were beaten even retreated deeper into the earth's crust to escape, just like a group of guys who are not worth mentioning.
But it also depends on who you compare with.
The group of people who were able to beat these guys to the ground were the regular troops led by the rat warlords. They were the arrogant storm rat warriors who had their eyes high. They were not the rat men like them who were busy running around in the wilderness for a few blood coins. Mercenaries!
There is no more or better way, they simply can't deal with the stone shell man with the death worm.
The only thing he could do was huddle in the car and pray that he would not become the target of the stone shell man.
In despair, the young rat mercenary with a ferocious scar on his face could not help but murmur in a low voice.
"Great God, bless me, bless me to live!"
Du Yuan's faith has not disappeared among the rat people. Even though the rat people today are no longer so fanatical about gods, they still can't help but call out to the great gods when they are in danger or when they are excited, which has become a kind of thing similar to Common saying stuff.
This is a remnant from that fanatical era.
In fear, he whispered softly.
Of course, even he holding the steam gun was in such a panic, let alone the goods he was transporting.
The rat-man freedmen crowded into a group in the carriage, who were already overwhelmed, began to scream in terror.
It seemed that he saw something in the roaring black sand.
But this angered the young rat-man mercenary. He stood on tiptoes, held the steam gun in his hand, poked his head into the carriage behind him, and shouted sharply.
"You damn fools! If you want to live, just shut up!"
It's very effective, the black muzzle of the gun and the words on the face of the young ratman mercenary Amidst the ferocious scars, these guys quickly became quiet.
After doing all this, the young rat mercenary seemed to remember something.
The man in the corner was busy and pulled up a dark iron box under the seat that was only about the size of his two heads.
I fumbled for the pick and pulled it to the far right without hesitation. In an instant, a sharp buzzing sound sounded.
The iron box he used as a stepping stone was the portable boiler for the steam rifle in his hand. Now, he had maximized the power of this portable boiler, and the sharp buzzing sound came from this. Come.
He hoped it would save his life.
The death worm noticed him, and seemed to notice his crawler transport vehicle, or maybe not.
The young rat mercenary only saw a huge shadow flashing through the dark wind and sand.
With red eyes, this poor guy couldn't bear such pressure. He raised his eyes with red eyes, raised the steam rifle high in his hand, and in a frenzy began to think about the place where the black shadow flashed. He started shooting randomly, until finally he could no longer hold the steam rifle in his hand under the burning of the hot steam.
The loaded armor-piercing steel needle had already been completely beaten by him.
There was no movement. In this dark wind and sand, he didn’t know whether he was hit or not. Even whether he really saw the flashing black shadow was now unclear. There is some uncertainty.
The courage I raised in the madness was completely gone in a very short period of time, and now only fear is left.
The steam rifle in his hand was thrown aside, and he huddled up in fear.
A timid guy.
(End of this chapter)