The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

Chapter 298 Armor Comparable to Iron Armor

Zhao Tun closed his door in the mansion and thought about his mistakes, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day he received news from the court that Zhao Kai led an army north to conquer Tianhu, and he was even more certain that the Daoist Emperor wanted to replace him with a crown prince.

If Zhao Kai succeeds in the first battle, it won't take long, and it is very likely that he will strike while the iron is hot. After returning, the Taoist emperor will bring the matter of changing the crown prince to the court.

At that time, the worst one was Zhao Huan, who fell from the clouds to the ground.

As for his own family, it would be fine if the Daojun Emperor was in power, but if Zhao Kai ascended to the throne in the future, he might be liquidated and retaliated against.

It was mid-autumn at this time, the leaves outside the window were slightly yellow in green, and the flowers and plants were not as vibrant as in summer. Everything indicated that the best time of the year was coming to an end.

Zhao Tong was sitting in the study room, next to him was a little book boy who was washing pens in a three-legged porcelain washbasin. The little book boy was called Yu Mo, who was originally from Zong Ze, but because Zhao Tuo also wanted to find someone to write for him, Zong Ze recommended it. over here.

Seeing that he was clever, Zhao Tun took it into the mansion, and the monthly salary was naturally generous. He usually taught him to read, and he also had the wisdom to draw inferences about other cases from one instance.

He just wrote three letters, one to Xiao Min of the Liao Kingdom, in which he briefly mentioned the cause of her father's death of the Liaoxi County King, this matter should not be rushed, and should be told to Xiao Min slowly, otherwise, with her temperament, I'm afraid that if I can't accept it for a while, it will cause some unnecessary troubles.

The second letter was to Qiongying, Zhao Kai conquered Tianhu, regardless of victory or defeat, he would not intervene, but just in case, he had to make Qiongying prepare in advance, if Zhao Kai really won, Well, there is a way out.

The third letter was to Dali Duan Yichang. In the letter, he asked Duan Yichang about something called rattan armor.

The armor currently used in the Song Dynasty is generally of four types: iron, leather, cloth, and paper. Ordinary soldiers mostly wear cloth or paper armor with iron nails and iron sheets.

The infantry armor, which has been passed down to later generations, has not yet taken shape. Right now, it is just a kind of half-covered iron armor. It is rarely made, and it is rarely assembled for ordinary soldiers in the army.

The heavy infantry armor consisting of 820 five armor leaves, with a maximum weight of 58 jin, was later modeled on the infantry armor of the Tang Dynasty specifically to deal with the Jurchen cavalry.

The paper armor and cloth armor worn by the soldiers in the army are not very defensive. Although the number of iron armor reached a peak in the Song Dynasty, it is impossible to equip all infantry with iron armor. It is only specially equipped for certain infantry, rather than all soldiers focusing on heavy armor.

Zhao Tong had planned a long time ago that if one day another mountain was erected, his pawns would also need armor. He had thought about bamboo armor before. Bamboo armor had existed since the Spring and Autumn Period, and Song Dynasty had never used it, but he studied it carefully and found that Although the bamboo armor has many advantages, it also has two fatal weaknesses.

The first is that bamboo armor is inelastic and does not resist gravity. In this respect, it is not even as good as paper armor.

The second is that the bamboo armor looks simple, but it is very laborious to make, especially the cross-cutting of the bamboo surface and the drilling of the armor plate requires certain skills, and it is time-consuming and laborious, and it is not easy to complete.

In the end, Zhao Tun thought of Teng Jia after all kinds of thinking. Rattan armor has also existed since ancient times. Although it is light in body, it is flexible. It can not only resist swords, guns and arrows to a certain extent, but also has a high defense against heavy weapons.

Moreover, rattan armor is not afraid of water, and can be worn to swim in rivers. The only weakness may be that it is afraid of fire, but paper armor, cloth armor, and bamboo armor are equally afraid of fire, even iron armor can't stand fire.

However, rattan armor is afraid of fire. Before seeing the real thing, I can’t be sure. After all, Zhao Tun has some impressions. It was said in "Wu Bei Zhi" that rattan armor is good for water and fire, and the tung oil painted on its surface has a high ignition point. Waterproof and fireproof, this can only be determined by seeing the real thing.

Therefore, things like rattan armor are the most practical, and the cost is low, even cheaper than bamboo. It is very suitable for the current time when money is tight, but the manufacturing process of rattan armor has been lost.

After the Tang Dynasty, no more rattan armor was born, and only sporadic records can be seen in books. They are all simple records, without descriptions of craftsmanship. It is only said that this kind of thing takes a long time to make. , almost two years to manufacture.

This is simply outrageous, and it is several times more exaggerated than the manufacture of iron armor. Iron armor is nothing more than selecting high-quality iron for making. If several craftsmen work together, a pair of iron armor can be completed in a few days, while rattan armor actually takes two years.

Zhao Tong reckoned that during the Five Dynasties, wars were raging, and it was impossible to wait for you to build the armor in a year or two before going to war, so even if the rattan armor was extremely defensive, it was gradually abandoned for this reason.

Up to now, there is no great unification in this dynasty, and many things have not been obtained, including the production method of this kind of rattan armor. After all, this thing originally originated in the southwest, and many places in the southwest are not as long as the whip of the Song Dynasty.

Such as Dali, such as Jiaozhi, and such as the tribes of Yiyue.

Although there was no method of making rattan armor in the Song Dynasty at this time, there may not be any in some places in the southwest. Zhao Tang felt that there might be rattan armor circulating in Dali, so he wrote to Duan Yichang to inquire.

If you can get the craft of making rattan armor, it will be extremely beneficial to resist the Jin soldiers in the future, or to re-divide the world.

There has always been a saying about the defense of rattan armor, which says that the defense of rattan armor is even stronger than that of iron armor. Some arrows can shoot through iron armor, but they cannot shoot through rattan armor.

But Zhao Tong felt that this was a bit too much. It must be the quality of the iron armor. No matter how Fujiko processed it, it was not metal after all, so how could it be compared with iron?
However, each pair of rattan armor must be equipped with a rattan card, which increases the defense. In this case, it may be evenly matched with the iron armor.

If he wanted to use rattan armor in the future, he would have to start preparing it right now given the exaggerated manufacturing time for this kind of thing.

In his letter to Duan Yichang, he said that if there is indeed a method of making rattan armor, send a copy to Tokyo. In addition, if Dali can still find this thing now, then send several pairs together, and he will buy it for money.

In addition, and most importantly, in the letter, he would entrust Duan Yichang to make rattan armor and rattan tokens for him.

This is a very important thing. Even if he got the method of making rattan armor, he would at most send it to Huang Jue on Fujian Road to make it. How many pairs come.

As for the Tokyo side, there is no way, and Longyou's place is also impossible.

The price he offered Duan Yichang was not high, only [-]% of Tiejia's!
The cost of this thing is extremely low, and the manpower used should not be large, but it is only time-consuming.

Therefore, the price of [-]% was too high for Zhao Tang. You must know that iron is a very valuable item, not to mention that after being forged into armor, [-]% is also a lot of money.

But he was afraid that no matter how little Duan Yichang was, he would not do it. After all, Duan Yichang would probably not make it clear. Duan Yichang was not the emperor of Dali, and there were a lot of brothers. Doing this kind of thing is also risky.

These three letters are all secret letters, and the places they go are not controlled by Da Song, so people with high martial arts skills must be sent to deliver the letters.

He planned to send Ding Daxie to Liao Kingdom Shangjing, originally he wanted Huang Gu to go, after all, Huang Gu followed him to Liao Kingdom before, and he also knew Xiao Min.

But Huang Gu had to go to Tian Hu's army to meet Qiongying, and no one else could replace him, because Qiongying was only familiar with Huang Gu, and Tian Hu's side was dangerous, so someone with extremely high martial arts skills was needed to go, so only Huang Gu was suitable.

As for Dali, it is necessary to send someone who is eloquent and shrewd. After all, asking Duan Yichang to present the method of making rattan armor and asking him to make rattan armor is just wishful thinking. If Yichang doesn't want to do it when the time comes, Someone has to be around to persuade.

So he asked Ouyang Bei to go to Dali, and gave Ouyang Bei a very heavy bargaining chip, that is, if there is really a method for making rattan armor and rattan cards, but Duan Yichang is unwilling to give it or make it, he will tell Duan Yichang, As long as he agrees, then I will fully support him to ascend the throne of Dali.

This bargaining chip is extremely heavy, but it is only used when there is no other way, because such words cannot be broken, otherwise it will not be as simple as breaking the promise of others.

The three letters were sealed by Yu Mo, and Huang Gu and others came together at noon, and Zhao Teng told them one by one, Ouyang Bei and Ding Daxie were fine, only Huang Gu was too skinny and didn't want to go to Tian Hu's side.

Zhao Tong looked at him with a sneer: "If you can't handle this matter, you don't have to come back, just go directly to brother Fujian Nai to wait for orders."

Huang Gu was not willing to go to Fujian to become a pirate, so he accepted the letter and left with a sad face.

A few days later, Luo Jinshui suddenly asked to see him at night.

After Lei San brought him over, Luo Jinshui bowed down and bowed.

Zhao Tong was puzzled, and based on the time, the last time Luo Jinshui contacted the Mingjiao disciples brought back from Luzhou, it was impossible to finish it so quickly.

After all, it wasn't dozens of people, but hundreds of them, and he wouldn't be able to contact all of them in just over half a month.

Zhao Tong said: "But have you found everyone on the list?"

Luo Jinshui kowtowed and said, "My lord, it's not this matter, but another matter to report urgently."

Zhao Tun nodded: "Get up and talk."

Luo Jinshui stood up cautiously: "My lord, my subordinates have discovered... that people with the holy religion are recruiting disciples in Beijing!"

"Huh?" Zhao Tong frowned: "Mingjiao?"

"It's a member of the Ming Cult." Luo Jinshui hurriedly said, "I just don't know which faction I belong to."

Zhao Tun became thoughtful when he heard the words. He and Liannazha had a detailed chat about the internal composition of Mingjiao. Mingjiao is actually somewhat similar to the enfeoffment system.

The leader is the largest and commands everything, but the four envoys of light below, the five great Dharma kings, and the six great scattered people all form a force, with their own envoys holding seven-color flags and their own disciples.

The Envoy of Light, the King of Dharma, and the Sanren all have the right to independently recruit believers. They do not need to go through the leader of the church when they preach in various places, and the people they recruit can be directly included under their command.

As the right envoy of Guangming, Zhao Tun has this right, and Huang Gu and Yao Pingzhong, the two envoys in charge of the banner, are both counted as his subordinates, and the recruited believers are also counted as his right envoy's subordinates.

As for the leader, you only need to report your name and position, enter it in the register, and then hold a big meeting once a year. You can just meet the leader, and you can still lead them at ordinary times.

But don't think that the leader of the leader will be ignored in this way. In fact, the leader has more people under his command, and believers and disciples are all attracted to join the religion by the teachings of Mingjiao, and they do not obey a certain person, so once there is something wrong with Mingjiao , as the leader can still mobilize all believers.

It's just that Zhao Tong is a little strange. He reckons that the time is almost up. Fang La's side is likely to have an uprising next year. Shouldn't he be preparing nervously at this time? Why did he go to Tokyo to develop followers?Aren't you afraid of leaking the news and wasting all your previous efforts?
"How did you find out?" Zhao Tong looked at Luo Jinshui and asked.

"My lord, these days my subordinates have been ordered to contact the disciples who came back from Luzhou. They have been running around in the streets, especially in the outer city. On the doors of some streets and alleys, they saw the special marks of the sect." Luo Jin waterway.

Zhao Tong nodded, Mingjiao has many codes, which represent different meanings, for example, when he passed by the Liyanaza courtyard in Luzhou, he saw the marks on the door.

"What kind of code is it?"

"My lord, most of them are the marks of ordinary believers, and the biggest ones are to receive messengers."

"Receive the envoy?" Zhao Tun smiled, this is digging the foot of the wall to the door of his own house, which is not bad, but who is so bold, dare to come to Tokyo to preach.

"It's the envoy." Luo Jinshui said cautiously: "This subordinate has seen two places, and I think it must be from outside, otherwise... there should be only one envoy in the city."

"That's right, you are indeed the only envoy of the Holy Cult in Tokyo." Zhao Tang squinted his eyes: "The others are all fake, counterfeit, heresy!"

"Heretics?" Luo Jinshui couldn't help trembling when he heard this. He had heard the scriptures several times in Luzhou, so he knew what this heresy meant.

"That's right, it's heresy!" Zhao Tun said coldly, "These heretics dare to put their hands into Tokyo, I'm so impatient!"

Luo Jinshui actually had some doubts in his heart. He also had a general understanding of the internal structure of Mingjiao. He joined the religion in Luzhou, so he naturally belonged to the lineage of saints.

And the prince is the right envoy of the light, and the relationship with the holy lady... This can't be thought about, this belongs to the crime, in short, the prince is also the saint's line, including all the disciples who came to Beijing this time.

They are now under the command of the Right Envoy, and they belong to the Right Envoy faction. Although the recruiters in Tokyo this time, although they don't know which faction they are, they must be under the Mingjiao sect. This...how could it be a heresy?
But Luo Jinshui thought about it, the prince said yes, after all, the prince is the right envoy, and the right envoy is the prince, he couldn't get around, so he thought that the prince was the biggest, no matter what, he was bigger than the leader, and the prince was the real son of light.

Zhao Tong said: "Go back and observe those places carefully. It's best to draw a picture. If you don't have enough manpower, you can choose a few believers to act together. Remember not to show your feet and be noticed by the other party."

Luo Jinshui hastily said yes, and Zhao Tong said again: "This king is now confined in the mansion, and I will deal with these heresies after the matter is over. Go back and be careful."

Luo Jinshui naturally knew what happened at the celebration banquet, and now almost everyone in the entire Tokyo city knows that King Qin was locked up for a month and couldn't go anywhere.

After Luo Jinshui left, Zhao Tong thought for a while, then turned around and took out a piece of paper from the small red sandalwood box on the table. There were more than a dozen names written on this paper. The list of Mingjiao Light Envoys, Dharma Kings, and Sanren given to him...

In the morning of the next day, Liu Kai, the commander of the four chambers of the Dragon Guard, received the imperial decree and entered the palace.

After that, he stayed in the palace city for a full day, and did not walk out of Xuande Gate until dusk.

His brows were furrowed, his face was serious, and his heart was heavy.

The official gave him a task, which shocked him so much that he wanted to persuade him several times, but he couldn't open his mouth under the indifferent eyes of the official.

The officials asked him to go to Dengzhou, meet two people there, and then go to sea to do a big event.

One of those two people was called Ma Zheng, and the other was called Hu Yanqing...

(End of this chapter)