Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 143 Cotton armor and new problems
Throughout June and July, Li Shimin spent time discussing how to promote business development.

Ma Zhou’s suggestions were all adopted, and Changsun Wuji would be the one to handle the details. At present, more than a hundred Huren caravans have reached loan agreements with Han merchants. In addition, there are hundreds of Huren caravans that have not been affected. And the Han Chinese caravans that want to go to the Western Regions are willing to contribute money and accept the protection of the Han army. In this way, after most of the Hu people have sold their products and purchased the products they need, the number of this group is huge. Thousands of cavalry, as the guard team, are about to set off from Chang'an.

In the imperial study room of the Taiji Palace, Qin Qiong, who had obtained the right to see, strode inside. In his hand, he held a large padded jacket made in Nie Sanniang's tailoring workshop, and on his back was a folded padded jacket. Blocks of tofu, quilts tied tightly with rope.

"Your Majesty, I have something important to offer you."

Li Shimin, who was reviewing the memorial, looked up and saw the cotton coat in his hand and the quilt on his back.

"Is Shu Bao talking about something in your hands?"

Putting down the brush, Li Shimin walked over from behind the table, took the big padded jacket from Qin Qiong's hand, weighed it, and found that the jacket was not light.

"This garment is made of cotton produced in the feudal land, oh, the cotton is what we used to call white dippers. After the cotton is taken from the seeds by the craftsmen in the garment workshop, it can not only be weaved, but also stuffed into cloth and leather. Among the materials, when made into a jacket, its effect of keeping warm is much better than that of linen and silk.

The waiters in Wangjiang Tower wore such a sheepskin jacket last year, which was able to withstand the cold wind in Guanzhong. This year, the tailor workshop responsible for making clothes for them made this kind of thicker cotton jacket.Not only can it help soldiers resist the severe cold outside the pass, but it can also be used as armor, which is even more effective. "

As he said that, Qin Qiong turned the sheepskin cotton jacket that Li Shimin held in his hand to look inside and out, and showed Li Shimin inside and out. The outermost layer was a layer of sheepskin that could resist the cold wind. A layer of thick silk cloth was sewn. Inside the silk, it was stuffed with pressed thick cotton, and with cotton cloth, the cotton was densely divided into long strips, which were sewn to death and fixed on the sheepskin. Not only that, the gap between each long needle thread , and stuffed with iron bars, the whole jacket is at least five centimeters thick, and with the iron bars interspersed in the cotton, it weighs more than ten kilograms.

After the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the weather in Guanzhong was already slightly cool. After Qin Qiong's explanation, Li Shimin didn't say much, and directly put this thick sheepskin padded jacket on his body, and buttoned the hardwood buttons on his chest. , Before he walked out of the imperial study room, he felt that the heat was not dissipating at all, and he felt like he wanted to sweat.

"I now know why that boy Sun Zhengming has deliberately planted so much cotton. With this cotton coat to keep out the cold, the people in the Guanzhong area will not be frozen to death."

"Hehe, I just said that this clothing is more effective when used as armor. Your Majesty, please take off your clothes and find a guard to test the defensive power of this clothing."

"Oh? Can this clothes really block swords?" Walking out of the palace, Li Shimin only felt that the autumn wind outside the palace could not penetrate his clothes at all, so he knew that the clothes were also very strong against wind. Hearing so much from Qin Qiong, Asking in surprise, he took off his padded jacket, raised his hand and summoned a guard in front of the palace.

"Hand over your saber, take off your armor, and put on this robe."

"promise."

The guard followed Li Shimin's order and removed his armor and changed his clothes on the spot, but Li Shimin pulled out the guard's saber, looked at the sharpness of the blade, and saw Qin Qiong's calm demeanor. Li Shimin, who originally only wanted to use [-]% of his strength, felt that You should try it with [-]% strength.

After a while, the guard put the padded jacket on himself, Li Shimin told him to stand still, raised his hand and slashed at the guard's chest, you know, Li Shimin is used to the army, and his arm strength is stronger than ordinary soldiers. He had to be stronger, and when he swung the saber with [-]% of his strength, the guard in the padded coat only took two steps back with pain on his face, but straightened his body again.

"Hey, something interesting."

Li Shimin abandoned the horizontal knife and ran over to look at the knife edge on the guard's chest, only to find that his knife with [-]% strength failed to pierce the cotton-padded clothes. You know, it's just an ordinary quilt, and it's not easy to pierce through with a knife. , not to mention this kind of padded jacket that is compacted, up to five centimeters thick, and stuffed with iron bars.

Of course, Qin Qiong let Li Shimin chop with confidence, not only because the cotton is compacted and can resist sharp weapons, but because the design of the cotton jacket interspersed with iron bars is originally designed to defend against chopping, not to cut iron like mud How could such a precious sword split such thick cotton wool and iron bars?

"Your Majesty, there are iron bars sewn into this padded jacket. If you cut it with a knife, it will be very difficult to break it. Not only that, it can also resist bows and arrows."

"Really? Get your bow."

After a while, a two-stone longbow was taken into the hands of Li Shimin by the guard. He opened the bow and set an arrow. Eighty steps away, with a bang, the long arrow hit the unlucky guard's abdomen.

However, the guard did not fall down in pain, but was pushed back two steps by the impact force of the arrow, then puffed out his chest again and stood up straight.

"Sharp arrows can't pierce through this clothes?"

Thin iron bars are stuffed in the thick cotton, and it is difficult for the blade to split. Li Shimin can understand this, but it is difficult for Li Shimin to understand that small sharp arrows cannot penetrate it. After all, iron bars have limited defenses. , Impossible to just shoot one of the iron bars by myself!

"Hehe, that's right, that's why Nie Sanniang sews a layer of silk cloth behind the sheepskin. Although the arrows are sharp, the silk cloth is soft, and the arrows can't cut them apart. It is even more difficult to penetrate through the thick cotton. Your Majesty, with this cotton armor, our Tang cavalry not only need not fear the cold outside the pass, but also have no fear of the Turkic sabers, bows and arrows. Why worry about the immortality of the Turks."

When Qin Qiong explained this, Li Shimin's eyes lit up when he heard it. After checking that the guard was not injured, he turned to Qin Qiong and said, "How much does this armor cost?"

"Each piece needs a piece of sheepskin, ten catties of cotton, five catties of iron, and less than five feet of thick silk."

The price of a piece of sheepskin is about [-] renminbi, and ten catties of cotton with seeds removed is only [-] renminbi at this year's market price. Adding five catties of iron and a few feet of silk, the total price is only a few renminbi, comparable to that of a full iron armor. The cost is several times lower.

In the winter outside the customs, a soldier puts on a pair of iron armor that weighs at least thirty or forty catties, plus winter clothes and weapons to keep out the cold, and the load is as high as fifty or sixty catties. Under such a high load, they cannot last at all. Combat, moreover, the armor that has been blown by the cold wind, the skin dare not touch, touch a piece, frostbite a piece.

Now, the cotton armor is a good solution to this problem. A load of more than ten kilograms has very little impact on physical strength. The key is that it keeps warm, and after wearing it, its defense power is not much lower than that of wearing iron armor.

"Shubao has made great achievements, and he should be rewarded heavily." Li Shimin said happily after he settled the account.

"Uh, I don't dare to take credit for this. The cotton was planted by that boy Sun Zhengming, and the person who developed the cotton armor is also a craftsman in his clothing workshop..."

"Really? But he didn't offer this armor to me, but you did." Hearing this, Li Shimin looked at Qin Qiong playfully and said.

"Hasn't he returned to Chang'an yet? In addition, the Wa Kingdom sent an envoy from the Tang Dynasty to Beijing with the letter of state. The official envoy is Ertian Yu, the dog who had a conflict with that kid in Yangzhou..."

"Shubao is afraid that those civil servants will take the opportunity to deal with that kid?"

"Exactly." Qin Qiong was an honest person, and nodded in admission without beating around the bush.

"Hehe, you guys, I'm really not afraid of spoiling that kid. By the way, what's on your back?" Li Shimin smiled and pointed at Qin Qiong, only to find that there was something like a tofu cube on his back. .

"This is a cotton quilt, which can also be called a marching quilt. In winter, even if there is no fire, soldiers can sleep soundly if wrapped in a marching quilt like this and covered with cotton armor."

"Well, carrying it like this can make it more convenient for the cavalry to march and camp. Later, let the boy's workshop make more and send it to the palace. It is a waste of firewood and charcoal to burn the kang in this season. Cover it with a bed of cotton wool. Being, it's just right."

Li Shimin flipped through the quilt, and made another mistake of taking advantage of Sun Xiangfu, but with his attitude, Qin Qiong knew that no matter how noisy the civil servants were, Sun Xiangfu would be fine this time.

Following Li Shimin back to the imperial study, and handing over the quilt to a servant, Qin Qiong said again, "This time, your Majesty has decided who to send to the Western Regions with the Hu merchants?"

"Don't even think about it. Without your share, you should still take a good rest in Chang'an. I plan to let Li Jing go about this matter."

"Li Yaoshi? He is a good soldier, but this cotton armor will not be able to equip his soldiers and horses for a while. This year, he may suffer a lot."

"There are a lot of people who want to rush to eat this pain! By the way, what else can I ask you to tell me?" Li Shimin said with a slight smile.

The military generals of the imperial court all know that whoever took up the task of training troops to protect the Hu merchants in the Western Regions will be the main general who will conquer the Turks in the future. Therefore, the generals of the military generals have all scratched their heads recently, Yu Chigong, Cheng Yao Jin, Li Ji, Hou Junji, etc. fought in the court many times, but Li Shimin finally decided to settle Li Jing. He didn't want anyone to question his decision again, so he changed the topic.

"That's not true, that is, the cotton in the vassals has made the nobles of Chang'an greedy again. I am afraid that next year, there will be many dignitaries and ministers following the trend. Then, the impact on the grain in the Guanzhong land will be great... ·”

This kind of new problem has always appeared in the court recently. The big sales of several kinds of courgettes have already made the nobles greedy. Every family is desperately trying to get seeds at home and dig out those farmers who know how to plant. I think they will be successful next year. No food will be grown.

Now, the huge profits of cotton have made the nobles greedy again. You must know that the cotton Sun Xiangfu planted is all planted next to rivers with sufficient water. Five hundred catties, and although the price of Baidiezi in Chang'an market has dropped a lot this year, unseeded cotton can still be sold for one hundred yuan per catty, and the value of one mu of land can reach forty to fifty guan. What concept?But it is more than twenty times the income of growing grain!

Therefore, as soon as the Qin family's cotton products were sold on the market, the threshold of his family was stepped on. They either asked him to share some cotton seeds for himself, or asked him to send him two farmers who could grow cotton. It's some profit-oriented things, but he is too tired to deal with them. Obviously, these people who are looking for him will definitely not grow such low-yielding crops as food next year.

And if no one grows food in the whole Guanzhong, it will be a big deal. You must know that Guanzhong is the most densely populated place. There are more than 100 million people in Chang'an City alone. This year, it is only because of a small drought. The price of grain in Guanzhong has not dropped like in other parts of the country. At present, the price per stone of grain is still maintained at the price after last autumn harvest, about 200 yuan per stone. This is because the news of eight stone grains per mu was released , There is also the reason why more than 200 million shi of grain from Shijiazi was transported to Chang'an one after another. In places like Jiangnan, Jinghu and other places, the price of grain actually only needs more than [-] yuan a shi.

If the self-produced grain in Guanzhong will be significantly reduced next year, it is conceivable that it will not be a matter of price. Food is the survival guarantee of the people. If the gap is too large, it will cause instability in the country. This requires the imperial court to regulate. However, you let those landowners grow low-yield food again, do they agree?

(End of this chapter)