Upgrading the military crossbow cost Egil a total of five tech upgrades. Half of the total rewards. But Egil felt it was well worth it. The new repeater, named Wrath of Egil, will greatly enhance the Empire's long-range strike power. It is even possible to make the crossbow more important than the longbow. Become the most powerful ranged weapon in the Imperial Army. Armed with a repeater, an Imperial soldier will be a nightmare for all enemies of the Empire. It will also be a powerful weapon in the face of powerful nomadic enemies in the future.

Immediately afterward, Egil used the remaining two upgrade tech bonuses for metal smelting, which is a very important and basic technological strength to improve the ability of industry and manufacturing. Today, the Norman Empire has a large number of iron, copper and lead-zinc mines. Hundreds of furnaces work day and night. A large number of production tools and weapons were produced. Not only can it meet the requirements of the empire itself, but it can also be sold abroad.

In fact, metal utensils would play a very important role in the slave trade, which was now presumptuous, and in the trade to the New World that Egil envisioned in the future.

"Let those idiots, savages who can't even make the most basic bronze casting, pay for our ironwork!"

With this in mind, Norman merchants roamed Black Africa, exchanging metalware, glassware, and other handicrafts for gold, silver, precious stones, ivory, furs, and other precious items. And, of course, there was the most important thing, and the most urgent need of the empire - slaves.

The above goods were exchanged for prisoners of war of hostile tribes. It even provoked incidents, provoked contradictions between African tribes, and caused wars. He even captured lone black slaves with his own hands. The slave traders of the Age of Discovery had already set an example for the Normans, and the Normans had only to learn to do so.

In addition, all kinds of exquisite items made of lead are also the goods that Egil urgently wants to export. The Yaga people of this era don't understand what heavy metal poisoning is. Lead products, which brought down the Western Roman Empire, are now about to be used as weapons by Egil and transported to the New World of America. As a trailblazer of the Empire.

"Since the Black Death, smallpox, plague or something, we have no resistance ourselves, so we can't use it. Then use this one. As a result, while the workshop dedicated to the production of lead utensils for the friendly countries of Central America was working day and night, Egil also issued a policy order that "the use of any lead utensils is strictly prohibited."

Although the hazards of using lead products have not been seen in recent generations. But hard work will always pay off. Isn't it?

For the last chance to upgrade, Egil clicked on the plate armor - the plate armor that is still in its infancy has exposed a lot of shortcomings, whether it is defense, comfort, weight, or shape, all need to be improved. After the conquest of Eastern Europe and the Crusades, the Norman blacksmiths and armorers also gained a lot of experience. Egil could see that if they were to study it for another three and five years, in the middle of the term, the various styles of plate armor would basically take shape - but Egil couldn't wait that long.

When you click on the plate armor technology, you hear the prompt sound of the system: Congratulations, your current forging technology, plate armor manufacturing technology has reached a certain level, and you can cast a medium-term plate armor with stronger defense, more toughness and durability, and more ergonomics. In addition, the upgrade of plate armor technology also provides you with more choices.

According to the thickness of the armor, there are four levels of plate armor: 1 mm light plate armor, 2 mm medium plate armor, and 3 mm thick heavy plate armor. According to the area of the armor, it is divided into three types: full-body plate armor, three-quarter plate armor and half-body plate armor. There are also cuirasses that simply protect the torso. ...,

"In this way, the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army will reach a new height. Egil was very excited after reading the introduction of the system - many royal knights and janissary knights had complained to him for a long time. Talking about how uncomfortable it is to wear such plate armor, how bad the breathability is, grinding the hips and grinding the feet and teeth. Now that there is armor made with new technology, this time I should be less complaining.

Of course, the cost of replacing new equipment is also astronomical...... Thinking about this, Egil felt a lot of pressure.

"In recent times, the money looted from Syria and Egypt is almost half a million Norman gold. The system gave a million florins, which is converted to a little more than one million two hundred thousand Norman gold...... And I haven't wasted too much of my taxes in the past few months. From December last year to April this year, the total tax revenue for five months was 2.7 million Norman gold...... Such a great love is more than 4.5 million Norman gold ......"

Egil pondered for a long time, and then came to a conclusion: "It's still not enough special code!!!

Although the income has been high in recent times, and the empire has been thriving, and the monthly income has exceeded 500,000 Norman gold (partly due to inflation), this amount of money is still not enough compared to the astronomical cost of military reform.

If we want to carry out the military reform thoroughly and transform the existing 70,000-strong army into a new army, we need at least 8 million Norman gold. And if you want to recruit another 30,000 new troops and expand the army to 100,000, you need 12 million. In addition, to maintain this army, it is necessary to pay 100,000 nomans every month, as well as 50,000 noodles for ordnance maintenance, maintenance, and the purchase of military rations.

"Let's finish reforming the existing army first, and then slowly recruit new troops. The local garrison corps or something will be delayed first. They don't have to rush. So Egil made up his mind, and added another line to his love letter to Artoria: "Do everything you can to plunder the property of the Egyptian pagans, and preferably leave them not a single copper plate." ”

It is believed that Artoria will complete Egil's task well and ravage the Egyptians fiercely. After all, she was sent there, and Egil had that in mind.

Joan of Arc, who was more moderate and more concerned about the people's livelihood, was sent to Syria because it was a land closer to the empire and closer to the Holy Land, and Egil wanted to occupy it and indigenize it. The murderous Artoria was sent to Egypt because it was a place in Egypt where Egil did not want to rule because of the distance, the difficulty of management, and the political influence.

If you don't rule here, you have to abandon it. Throw it to the Greeks, Europeans or Muslims. But until then, Egil wanted to destroy the land as much as possible, to exploit Egypt's wealth as much as possible, and to reduce Egypt's war potential. So that the person who finally gets this land cannot increase any strength. On the contrary, there is a huge burden on your back.

That's it, you still need to work the money side. After writing the letter, Egil gave it to Sonya, who sent pigeons to deliver the message, and then returned to his tent and began to think about the use of the last reward.

"Upgrade the building four times...... What?"

Compared to the previous reward, which was to upgrade the technology level ten times in a row, this reward seems a bit shabby. The so-called upgrading of buildings is not the upgrading of all types of buildings in the whole country, but only the upgrading of a single building in a specific city - today there are dozens of Norman provinces, and the number of large, systematically determined cities is even greater. Upgrading a few buildings alone is no longer enough to satisfy Egil's desires. ...,

"It's a little bit of a chicken. Egil thought about it for a moment and decided that he should use these four upgrades for special buildings. to maximize the effect.

The first to be chosen by Egil was Oslo. It served as a military base in Scandinavia, where Egil started. Although now the status has declined a little. But its importance remains self-evident. As a systematically determined sergeant city, and with the many special buildings that Egil built here to enhance the ability of new recruits, it was still one of the most important cities in the Norman Empire.

Tens of thousands of local militia units come here every year to train. And every year, thousands of soldiers officially enlist here and join the imperial army. The number of officers who come here for training every year also exceeds 1,000. The five large shipyards also provided a large number of high-quality ships for the Norman Navy. The prototype of the North Sea Fleet, the Baltic Fleet, and the Open Sea Fleet. It's all produced here. Egil's ship, HMS Victory, Norman's first gunboat, first heavy ballista battleship, and first schooner, were also produced here.

It can be said that at least two-thirds of Egil's army was formed here. Without Oslo, there would be no Imperial Army. There was also no Imperial Navy. Although Egil is now preparing to build a new military base in Eastern Europe, the process is quite long. There will be no improvement in a few years. So by far Oslo remained the most important military center of the Empire.

Egil's upgrade this time is the Imperial Army training ground in Oslo. Upgrade this special building to the Royal Army Training Ground. This will increase the XP of the soldiers produced here a little more. In this way, the military city plus three experience, the Royal Army training ground plus two experience, and the Praetorian Guard Barracks plus two experience. Recruits who come out of here have seven experience points (up to a maximum of twenty) as soon as they come up. Better than the average veteran......

*J