Northern Song Dynasty: Starting from the son of Song Renzong

Chapter 94 Begins to Equip Weapons

Spring, the third year of the Qingli period.

The palace in March is already lush with flowers and trees.

The apricot blossoms have already grown beyond the palace walls.

Zhao Xin thought it over and decided that instead of thinking so far ahead and worrying about the country and the people, it would be better to be down-to-earth and do what he can.

Zhao Xun also came back earlier.

Fortunately, his younger brother was fine on the front line. Although he was defeated, at least he escaped back.

However, seeing that Zhao Xin had not equipped the soldiers with armor and weapons for such a long time, Zhao Xun had to ask Zhao Xin: "Your Highness, shouldn't we practice with real swords and guns? This old man is practicing with bare hands, and he won't have much fighting power when the time comes."

Zhao Xin thought so too, and then asked Zhao Xun: "How many strings of silver does it take for my Song Dynasty to make a set of armor that fits the soldiers? Including the bows, crossbows, swords and so on, a complete set."

Zhao Xun had done some research on this, so he replied, "A set of armor, a bow and a crossbow, and a sword would cost about fifty strings of cash. This is for infantry. If it were cavalry, with horse armor, then the cost would be doubled. A budget of eighty to one hundred strings of cash would be sufficient."

Then Zhao Xin made a hissing sound.

Zhao Xin: “Why is it so expensive?”

And Zhao Xun also said: "It's about the same price."

Zhao Xin said, "I can't afford that many houses. I can only buy a hundred at most. The key is to keep some money for turnover. So fifty is the maximum."

Zhao Xun then asked, "Your Highness, why don't you ask the emperor directly for it?"

Zhao Xin replied, "Daddy has it, sister has it, it's better to have it myself. Besides, I'm not a three-year-old child anymore. I should be independent and learn to support myself."

Zhao Xun saw that he was only at the level of his thighs.

That is really difficult for Your Highness.

So he had to settle for the next best thing and said, "This armor is relatively expensive, but this crossbow is okay. Even if you can't afford the armor now, at least make the crossbow."

Zhao Xin asked again: "How much is that crossbow?"

Zhao Xun said, "Two strings of silver is more than enough to make a crossbow."

Zhao Xin said, "That's still okay."

Even if all his five hundred personal soldiers were equipped, it would only be one thousand strings of cash.

His annual salary was 2,400 strings of cash.

Zhao Xin said, "Then let's buy 500 crossbows for fun. What about the swords?"

Zhao Xun said, "In addition to armor, it is estimated that 3,000 strings of cash will be needed to equip 500 soldiers."

Good guy!
This took away nearly one-third of his profit from selling silk in seven months.

How did Emperor Taizong Wen support 800 people?
The essential……

There is no war now, so these crossbows, swords, and other things may become old and rusty and may not be used.

It is indeed not an easy task to maintain an army.

But what else can we do?
Zhao Xin said, "Then I'll give you three thousand strings of cash."

Zhao Xin patted Zhao Xun's thigh hard. He could only say that he felt very sorry for spending the money.

Of course!
If he wants equipment like crossbows and swords, he must report to his father in advance.

Zhao Xun seemed to see Zhao Xin's distress and said, "Don't we have a few people who can make crossbows themselves? If we let him teach all 500 people how to make them, then at most we will only spend some money on materials. We should be able to save a lot of money on these 3,000 strings of cash."

Zhao Xin also said: "How could I forget this! That's settled then!"

Then Zhao Xin said, "Now that we have bought this weapon, do we need to find a place to practice?"

Zhao Xun said: "Your Highness means..."

Zhao Xin replied: "What I mean is that there are bandits everywhere in the Song Dynasty. I think we can go and suppress them. If they surrender, it would be best to recruit them. If they don't surrender, we can only kill them. There is no other way."

After that, Zhao Xin looked up at Zhao Xun and said, "Come to think of it, you were at the front line of Western Xia before, and all the soldiers under your command were regular imperial guards. Would you feel unhappy if you were asked to lead them to suppress the bandits?"

Zhao Xun said, "I don't dare!"

Zhao Xin said, "In the next few years, there shouldn't be many wars. We have already negotiated peace with the Liao Kingdom, and we are also negotiating with the Western Xia. So, instead of staring at the Western Xia people on the western front, it's better to suppress the bandits and get some exercise."

"After I make money, we will continue to expand our army!"

Zhao Xun heard the prince's tone and felt like a child. However... in his eyes, Zhao Xin was indeed just a child.

Zhao Xin then said, "No matter what, even if we are suppressing the bandits, we will need at least 100 sets of armor. It will take about half a year. We should be able to gather all the armors after half a year. Let's equip the strong ones first."

I have to find something for my people to do.

otherwise……

Having nothing to do every day is not a big deal.

As for the population obtained from the suppression of bandits, it depends on whether they can be used to reclaim wasteland, plant mulberry trees and raise silkworms.

But the premise is...

He had to find a piece of land first!

There must be no land around Kaifeng.

It was impossible for Zhao Xin to annex other people's farmland, so he had to follow the upper reaches of the Yellow River and go up to see if there were any mountainous areas, and then try to grow mulberry trees and raise silkworms on the mountains.

Don't tell me yet!

Such a place really exists!

I just feel that most of them are rocky mountains, and probably only some land at the foot of the mountain can be used for reclaiming.

of course!

This is good enough, why do you need a bicycle?

Unfortunately, now he has become his father's only son.

otherwise……

Zhao Xin really wanted to go out and see it in person.

Wait another year!

When I turn six, I should be able to learn how to ride a horse, right?

Zhao Xin has watched Douyin, Kuaishou and other platforms. It seems that children in Mongolia and Tibet, who are about the same age, are already very good at riding bicycles.

Same March.

Next…

His father called him over again and watched some of the imperial guards' martial arts together.

Also, he reviewed the cavalry of the Song Dynasty.

Frequent attendance at such occasions naturally made Zhao Xin's reputation even higher.

but……

In fact, it is normal to be high!

after all……

Now, he is his father's only son.

The official brought his only son to the military review!

Everyone who saw him would think that the emperor really held Prince Yu in the palm of his hand.

Zhao Zhen also asked Zhao Xin: "How is the training of your five hundred soldiers going?"

"How does it compare to these guys?"

Zhao Xin could only say: "My five hundred soldiers haven't even started formal training yet."

Zhao Zhen then asked, "Haven't those soldiers been given to you for almost a year?"

Zhao Xin replied: "I'm poor and have no money to buy weapons. So I can't train!"

Exactly!

He also reported the matter to his father on the same day, regarding the purchase of crossbows and armor.

Only then did Zhao Zhen realize that Zhao Xin had already made so much money.

(End of this chapter)