Zhao Yu closed the door in his house and thought about his mistakes. Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
That day he received news from the court that Zhao Kai led his army north to conquer Tian Hu, and he was even more certain that the Daojun Emperor would change his name to a crown prince.
If Zhao Kai succeeds in the first battle, it may not take long, and it is even possible to strike while the iron is hot. After returning, Emperor Daojun will put the matter of changing the crown prince to the court for discussion.
The most miserable person at that time was Zhao Huan, who fell from the clouds to the ground.
As for his own family, it would be fine if Emperor Daojun was in power, but if Zhao Kai ascended to power in the future, he would probably be liquidated and retaliated.
It is already the mid-autumn season. The leaves outside the window are green and slightly yellow, and the flowers and plants are not as vibrant as in summer. Everything indicates that the best time of the year is coming to an end.
Zhao Tong was sitting in the study, and next to him was a little book boy who was washing his pens in the three-legged porcelain washer. The boy's name was Yu Mo. He was originally one of Zong Ze's, but because Zhao Tong also wanted to find someone to serve as a calligrapher, Zong Ze recommended him. come over.
Seeing his intelligence, Zhao Tong took him into his residence and naturally gave him a generous monthly salary. He usually taught him how to read and was very clever in drawing inferences from one example to another.
He had just written three letters, one to Xiao Min of the Liao Kingdom, in which he briefly mentioned the cause of death of her father, the King of Liaoxi County. 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, I will cause unnecessary trouble.
The second letter was sent to Qiong Ying. Zhao Kai conquered Tian Hu. Regardless of victory or defeat, he would not intervene, but just in case, he had to let Qiong Ying prepare for the response in advance. If Zhao Kai really won, Fortunately, there is a way out.
The third letter was to Duan Yichang of Dali. In the letter, he asked Duan Yi to grow something called a rattan armor.
In the Song Dynasty, there were generally four types of armor: iron, leather, cloth, and paper. Ordinary soldiers mostly wore cloth armor or paper armor with iron nails and iron pieces.
The infantry armor that was passed down to later generations has not yet taken shape. At present, it is just a half-covered iron armor. It is rarely made and is rarely assembled and used by ordinary soldiers in the army.
The heavy infantry armor, which consists of 1,825 armor leaves and weighs up to fifty-eight kilograms, was later modeled after the Tang Dynasty infantry armor specifically to deal with the Jurchen cavalry.
The paper armor and cloth armor worn by soldiers in the army today are not very defensive. Although the number of iron armors reached a peak during the Song Dynasty, it was impossible to equip all infantry with iron armor. Later infantry heavy armor also Only certain infantrymen are specially equipped, not all soldiers are heavily armored.
Zhao Tong had made plans a long time ago. If one day he built another mountain, his infantry would also be equipped with armor. He had thought about bamboo armor before. Bamboo armor had been around since the Spring and Autumn Period and had not been used in the Song Dynasty. However, after careful study, he found that , although bamboo armor has many benefits, it also has two fatal weaknesses.
The first is that bamboo armor is inelastic and cannot resist gravity. It is even inferior to paper armor in this regard. It is fine in infantry combat, but is almost useless once it encounters a heavy attack from the cavalry.
Secondly, bamboo armor looks simple, but it is very time-consuming to make. In particular, cutting the bamboo surface crosswise and drilling holes in the armor requires certain skills and is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It cannot be completed easily.
Finally, Zhao Tong thought about Teng Jia. Teng Jia has been around since ancient times. Although it is light, it is very elastic. It can not only resist swords, guns and bows to a certain extent, but also has high defense against heavy weapons.
Moreover, rattan armor is not afraid of water and can be worn for swimming in rivers. Its only weakness may be that it is afraid of fire, but paper armor, cloth armor and bamboo armor are also afraid of fire. Even iron armor cannot withstand fire.
However, I can't be sure that the rattan armor is afraid of fire until I see the real thing. After all, Zhao Yan has some impressions. The "Military Bei Zhi" once said that the rattan armor is good for water and fire. 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 low-cost, cheaper than bamboo. They are very suitable for today when money is tight. However, 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 simple records without descriptions of the craftsmanship. They only say that the production of this kind of thing takes a long time. Calculated in years, if a good pair of rattan armor is , which takes almost two years to manufacture.
This is simply outrageous. It is several times more exaggerated than the production of iron armor. Iron armor is nothing more than selecting good 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 estimated that with the wars raging during the Five Dynasties, it was impossible to wait for you to build armor in a year or two before going to war. Therefore, even if the defense of rattan armor was extremely high, it was gradually abandoned for this reason.
Up to now, this dynasty has not been unified, and many things have not been obtained, including the method of making this kind of rattan armor. After all, this thing originally originated in the southwest, and many places in the southwest were not as long as the Song Dynasty whip.
Such as Dali, such as Jiaozhi, and other tribes of Yiyue.
Although there was no way to make rattan armor in the Song Dynasty, it may not be available in some places in the southwest. Zhao Tong felt that rattan armor might be spread in Dali, so he wrote to Duan Yichang to inquire.
If the craftsmanship of making rattan armor can be obtained, it will be extremely beneficial to resisting the golden soldiers in the future, or re-dividing the world.
There has always been a saying about the defense of rattan armor. It is said that the defense of rattan armor is even stronger than that of iron armor. Some arrows can penetrate iron armor, but cannot penetrate rattan armor.
But Zhao Tong felt that this was a bit excessive. There must be something wrong with the quality of the armor. No matter how Fujiko processed it, it was not metal after all. How could it be compared with iron?
However, each pair of rattan armor must be equipped with a shield, which increases the defense. In this case, it may be equal to the iron armor, regardless of the outcome. Moreover, the rattan armor is lighter, so it will take some advantage in the battle.
If he wanted to use rattan armor in the future, he would have to make preparations now given the exaggerated manufacturing time for such a thing.
In his letter to Duan Yichang, he said that if there is indeed a method for making rattan armor, he would send a copy to Tokyo. If Dali can still find this thing now, he would send a few pairs and he would spend money to buy them.
In addition, and most importantly, in his letter, he asked Duan Yichang to make a rattan armor shield for him.
This is a very important thing. Even if he gets the method of making rattan armor, he can at most send it to Huang Jue on Fujian Road to make it, but there are too many things to do there and they have to be secretive, so I'm afraid he won't be able to make it. How many pairs come.
As for Tokyo, there is no way, and it is impossible for Longyou.
The price he offered Duan Yichang was not high, only 10% of the armor!
The cost of this thing is extremely low, and it shouldn’t require a lot of manpower. It’s just time-consuming.
Therefore, the price of 10% seemed to be too high for Zhao Tao. You must know that iron is a very valuable thing, not to mention that after it is forged into armor, 10% is also a lot of money.
However, he is afraid that no matter how little Duan Yichang does, he will not do it. After all, this kind of thing will probably not be made clear to Duan Yichang. Duan Yichang is not the emperor of Dali and has a group of brothers. Doing this kind of thing is also risky.
These three letters are secret letters, and the places they go to are not controlled by the Song Dynasty, so they have to send people with high martial arts skills to deliver the letters.
He planned to send Ding Daxie to the capital of Liao Kingdom. He originally wanted Huang Gu to go. After all, Huang Gu had gone to Liao Kingdom with him before and he also knew Xiao Min.
But Huang Gu had to go to Tian Hu's army to meet Qiong Ying, and no one else could take his place, because Qiong Ying was only familiar with Huang Gu, and Tian Hu's place was dangerous and required someone with extremely high martial arts skills to go there, so Huang Gu was the only one suitable.
As for Dali, they need to send someone who is eloquent and smart. After all, asking Duan Yichang to present the method of making rattan armor and asking him to make rattan armor are just Zhao Tong's wishful thinking. If Yi Chang doesn't want to do it when the time comes, You need someone to persuade you.
So he asked Ouyang Bei to go to Dali, and gave Ouyang Bei a very important 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, he will fully support him in ascending to the throne of Dali.
This bargaining chip is extremely heavy, but it can only be used when there is no other way out, because such words cannot be broken, otherwise it will not just be as simple as breaking one's trust.
The three letters were sealed with rain ink. At noon, Huang Gu and others arrived together. Zhao Yu told them one by one that Ouyang Bei and Ding Daxie were fine, but Huang Gu was the only one who didn't want to go to Tian Hu.
Zhao Tong looked at him with a sneer: "If this matter can't be handled well, there's no need to come back. Just go to Brother Nai in Fujian and wait for orders."
How could Huang Gu be willing to go to Fujian to become a pirate? 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 his head.
Zhao Tong was confused. Judging from the time, the last time he asked Luo Jinshui to contact the Mingjiao disciples brought back from Luzhou, it could not be done so quickly.
After all, there were not dozens of people, but hundreds of people, and it would only take him more than half a month to contact them all.
Zhao Tong said: "But have everyone on the list been found?"
Luo Jinshui kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, it's not this matter, but another matter that I'm anxious to report."
Zhao Tong nodded: "Get up and talk."
Luo Jinshui stood up cautiously: "Your Majesty, my subordinates discovered... that someone from the Holy Cult is recruiting disciples in the capital!"
"Huh?" Zhao Tong frowned: "A member of the Ming Cult?"
"They are from the Ming Cult." Luo Jinshui said hurriedly: "I just don't know which sect they belong to."
Zhao Tong began to think deeply after hearing this. He and Liyana had a detailed chat about the internal composition of the Ming Cult. The Ming Cult was actually somewhat similar to the enfeoffment system.
The leader is the largest and controls everything, but the four light envoys, the five Dharma kings, and the six scattered disciples below each form a force, with their own seven-color flag-bearing envoys and their own disciples and followers.
Light envoys, Dharma kings, and Sanren all have the right to recruit believers on their own. They can preach in various places without going through the leader. The people they recruit can be directly included under their command.
As the Right Envoy of Light, Zhao Tong has this right. Furthermore, Huang Gu and Yao Pingzhong, the two flag envoys, are counted as his subordinates, and the believers he recruits are also counted as his right envoy's subordinates.
As for the leader, they only need to report their names and positions, enter them in the register, and then hold a large sect meeting once a year. Once they meet the leader, they will return to their respective leadership.
But don’t think that the leader will be ignored in this way. In fact, there are more people under the leader, and whether they are believers or disciples, they are all attracted to the Mingjiao teachings and do not obey the orders of a certain person. Therefore, if something happens to the Mingjiao , as the leader, he can still mobilize all the believers.
It's just that Zhao Tong is a little strange. He estimates that the time is almost up. Fang La is very likely to have an uprising next year. Shouldn't we be preparing intensively at this time? Why are we still going to Tokyo to develop followers? Aren't you afraid that the news will be leaked and all your previous efforts will be wasted?
"How did you discover it?" Zhao Tong looked at Luo Jin Shuidao.
"Your Majesty, my subordinates have been ordered to contact the disciples who have returned from Luzhou these days. They have been running around 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 waterways.
Zhao Tong nodded. The Ming Cult had many codes that represented different meanings. For example, when he passed by the Liyanaza Courtyard in Luzhou, he saw the mark on the door.
"What kind of code is it?"
"Your Majesty, most of them are the marks of ordinary believers, and the biggest one is the one who receives the messenger."
"Accepting an envoy?" Zhao Tong smiled. This was poaching right to the doorstep of his own house. This was not bad. I wonder who was so bold as to dare to come to Tokyo to preach.
"It's the reception envoy." Luo Jinshui said cautiously: "I have seen two places. I feel that this must be from outside. Otherwise... I should only have one reception envoy in the city."
"Yes, you are indeed the only one who guides the Holy Cult in Tokyo City." Zhao Tong narrowed his eyes: "The others are all fake, counterfeit, and heresy!"
"Heresy?" Luo Jinshui couldn't help but tremble when he heard this. He had heard the scriptures several times in Luzhou, so he knew what this heresy meant.
"Yes, they are heretics!" Zhao Tao said coldly: "These heretics dare to put their hands into Tokyo. They are really impatient to live!"
Luo Jinshui actually had some doubts in his heart. He also had a rough understanding of the internal structure of the Ming Cult. Since he joined the religion in Luzhou, he naturally belonged to the lineage of the Holy Nuns.
And the prince is the right envoy of the light, and his relationship with the holy aunt... This cannot be thought of, this is a crime. In short, the prince is also from the holy aunt's lineage, including all the disciples who came to Beijing this time.
They are now under the command of the Right Envoy and belong to the Right Envoy sect. Although the people recruiting believers in Tokyo this time do not know which sect they are, they must be under the Mingjiao sect. How can this... become a heresy?
But Luo Jinshui thought about it, and the prince said yes. After all, the prince is the right envoy, and the right envoy is the prince. He couldn't get around it, so he thought that the prince is the biggest, and he is bigger than the leader anyway. The prince is the real son of light.
Zhao Tong said: "You go back and observe those places carefully. It's best to draw a map. If you don't have enough manpower, you can pick a few of the believers you have contacted to act together. Remember not to reveal your flaws and be noticed by the other party."
Luo Jinshui hurriedly said yes, and Zhao Tong added: "I am currently confined in the palace. I will deal with these heretics after the incident is over. Please be careful when you return home."
Luo Jinshui naturally knew what happened at the celebration banquet. Now almost no one in the entire Tokyo city knew about it. King Qin had been shut up for a month and could not go anywhere.
After Luo Jinshui left, Zhao Tong thought for a while, turned around and took out a piece of paper from the small red sandalwood box on the table. On this piece of paper were written down a dozen names. When Luzhou and Liyana were separated, Liyana The list of the Ming Cult's light messengers, Dharma kings, and Sans who were given to him...
The next morning, Liu Qi, the commander of all four compartments of the Dragon God Guard, received the imperial decree and entered the palace.
Then he stayed in the palace for a full day, and did not leave Xuandemen until dusk.
His eyebrows were furrowed, his expression was serious, and his heart was heavy.
The official gave him a task, which shocked him so much that he tried to persuade him several times, but he could not speak under the indifferent eyes of the official.
The official asked him to go to Dengzhou, meet two people there, and then go to sea to do a big thing.
One of those two people is named Ma Zheng, the other is named Hu Yanqing...
(End of chapter)
