What Zhang Zhao brought to Li Shengtian was a set of cloth armor, including iron arm guards and a composite helmet that were not available in this era.
In addition to being heavy, the armor of this era also had a major drawback, which was that it did not pay much attention to the protection of arms and wrists.
Especially for arms, soldiers often have to build or buy them themselves. Of course, it may also be because they are too heavy and they have to give up arm protection.
But Zhang Zhao's set of cyan cloth armor only weighed about thirty-one kilograms, so he directly added the iron arm armor on his arms.
Seeing this new set of armor, Li Shengtian immediately took off the ice pack on his forehead. His head was no longer dizzy and his legs were no longer weak.
Although he was a more civilized king, Li Shengtian didn't know anything about war. He just had no talent, but he was still very knowledgeable.
Of course he knew how much combat effectiveness such a set of armor, which seemed to him quite perfect, could increase.
In fact, Zhang Zhao wanted to make the blue-black cotton robe into the red cotton armor that was common in later generations, but the dye used to dye red in this era was red and blue grass.
Not to mention that Zhang Zhao didn't know how to extract the red color from it. The fact that the red and blue grass grew in the area south of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains frightened Zhang Zhao.
The price of shipping this thing to Anxi is not low, and it is still unavailable unless you specifically ask the merchant to bring it to you, so he can only honestly make it green and black.
Li Shengtian carefully looked at the armor leaves lined with cotton armor. These armor leaves were made very smooth and were more than ten times larger than the ordinary armor leaves, which greatly enhanced the defense. Because the armor leaves were large, it meant that the armor leaves were There will naturally be fewer gaps between the nail leaves.
The bubble-nail nail connection design on the surface is also more convenient to manufacture and repair than prick nails.
Li Shengtian motioned Zhang Zhao to move away and try it on himself. He, who rarely wore armor, was able to put it on quickly, which was really convenient.
Moreover, this model of lining with armor can also play a role in covering the weak points of the armor.
Don't think that it is impossible to find the weakness of the opponent's armor in battle. In fact, veterans of war are very good at discovering this.
Many times on the battlefield, armored soldiers were severely injured, rarely by brute force. Most of them were stabbed to death after being repeatedly entangled, and the enemy found the weakness of the armor.
Therefore, in the outer armor mode, especially for an army like Khotan that is dominated by heavy armored infantry, the pressure of manufacturing, repairing and maintaining armor leaves is very high.
Because even if you are in great shape all over your body, as long as you have a small flaw, it may be magnified on the battlefield.
This difficulty, which was summarized as the barrel effect by later generations, has been an unsolvable problem since the emergence of armor. It was also a major factor in the cost of armor in the cold weapon period.
Once you build it, you still have to spend a lot of time and money on maintenance, but the inner armor model of cloth armor can avoid this problem to a large extent.
"Uncle, please see, this armor only weighs more than thirty kilograms. For a well-trained soldier, it is not heavy at all.
Therefore, when we encounter the enemy's elite heavy armor, we can wear a ring-lock armor underneath and then wear a cotton-padded jacket next to it.
The total weight is only fifty kilograms, but its defensive power exceeds two layers of armor, making it almost invulnerable.
No matter whether it is the Ghulam Guards of Karakhan or the Ghulam Guards of Saman Persia, it is impossible to fight against us! "
Zhang Zhao introduced Li Shengtian one by one, and Li Shengtian and Cao Yuanxin next to him heard their eyes light up. Zhang Zhao was willing to introduce without reservation, which at least proved that Zhang Zhao did not want to hide anything.
"Then what's the point of this Douchan?" Li Shengtian asked, pointing to the duplex helmet Zhang Zhao brought.
The purpose of the iron arm armor was obvious at a glance, but he still didn't understand the secret of the helmet.
Zhang Zhao picked up this duplex helmet, which historically only appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. He and other enthusiasts in later generations restored it with reference to "Illustrated Chinese Armor of the Past Dynasties".
The reason why it is called a duplex helmet is because this helmet is not a whole helmet that is simply picked up and put on the head.
Instead, it consists of three parts: an outer helmet, an inner lining helmet, and a collar. The outer helmet and the inner lining helmet are then fixed together with large nails.
When being hit, the compound structure can first use the dome structure and brim of the outer helmet to withstand the kinetic energy from the impact of a sharp blade or blunt object in advance, and finally the kinetic energy reaching the inner helmet will be greatly reduced, so as to achieve the goal of passing through both the inner and outer helmets. Layer helmet structure, purpose of protecting the head.
This kind of duplex helmet with a brim was once considered one of the ancestors of the flying saucer helmet in the Ming Dynasty. After subsequent restoration tests, it has been considered to be the highest level of defense that could be achieved before the Ming Dynasty.
After Zhang Zhao recovered him, he has already undergone more than a dozen tests, and more than ten of them were even directly tested by real people. Two feet of cloth plus a meal, and he was treated for injuries. There were as many people as he wanted. Come be the guinea pig.
"Erlang! Are you really willing to hand over this set of skills to your uncle without reservation? This is an important weapon of the country!" Li Shengtian held Zhang Zhao's hand tightly, his face full of emotion.
For this era, it is no exaggeration to say that the cloth face armor and double helmet that Zhang Zhao presented are important weapons of the country.
Li Shengtian had actually prepared for the worst, as long as Zhang Zhao was willing to leave him three hundred sets of cotton armor, but now he didn't expect Zhang Zhao to be willing to reveal the entire set of techniques.
Zhang Zhao actually has a pretty good impression of Li Shengtian. Although his uncle has many problems, such as being a little wary of him mentally, he is not ambiguous in matters of right and wrong.
For example, the cotton-splitting technology invented by Zhang Zhao is now mastered by Cao Yanmian's tribe. Li Shengtian did not send anyone to learn it secretly. To be fair, Li Shengtian treated Zhang Zhao very well.
"Of course I'm willing to give it up, because nowadays, surrounded by barbarians, my nephew still has to work with his uncle to protect the Tang Dynasty!
Khotan and the Guiyi Army, neither one of them can survive alone. Only by joining the branches and prospering together can they be passed down to all generations.
But my uncle and nephew have a request, I don’t know whether I should say it or not. "
"Say it! There is nothing unspeakable between you and me, uncle and nephew!" Li Shengtian ignored Cao Yuanxin's eyes and waved his hand. He decided that even if Zhang Zhao asked him for a large piece of land, he would give it to him.
"If my nephew ever marches eastward to the Central Plains in the future, please ask my uncle for his strong support!"
The words were short, but they were like a thunderclap that exploded in Li Shengtian's mind. He looked at Zhang Zhao dumbfounded. Marching into the Central Plains?
This was also the second time that Zhang Zhao revealed his true feelings to outsiders. The last one was Cao Yuanxin's father, Cao Yijin, the governor of the Guiyi Army.
Before Li Shengtian said anything, Cao Yuanxin thought of this quickly, and she screamed.
"No wonder! No wonder with his character, not only did he not order to kill you when he met with you, but he also gave dozens of the most elite soldiers of the Guiyi Army as gifts, and promised to marry Yanxi to you, and even hook up with you. Yan Nai! I am even more willing to Yan Ming to go west with you.
I had never understood before that Yan Nai was not an ordinary daughter of the Cao family. He, Ah Weng, was the governor of Guazhou in the Guiyi Army, and his status in the Guiyi Army was higher than that of his brother Yuande.
I don’t know how much benefit King Ling Gong’s decision will bring to the Murong family. Yanming is King Ling Gong’s most beloved grandson. How can you be willing to let him take risks with you?
Now I understand everything. It turns out that you, Zhang Erlang, have such ambitions! "
"Okay! Sure enough, a hero comes from a young age!" Li Shengtian suddenly stood up. He stared at Zhang Zhao with burning eyes and suddenly smiled bitterly. He finally knew the answer to Zhang Zhao's hard work in Khotan.
"Uncle now understands why you are so generous to a certain person and work so hard for the Kingdom of Khotan. It turns out that you have this ambition.
But uncle supports you. If you really want to go east to the Central Plains one day, you can take whatever you like from uncle! but..."
Li Shengtian was suddenly stuck. He supported Zhang Zhao, and he also wanted to enlist the Khotan Kingdom to support Zhang Zhao. This was not for nothing. It must be considered an investment, and the safest investment was to get married directly.
However, Li Shengtian only had four daughters. The eldest daughter died young. The three daughters had been promised to the most outstanding third generation of Cao's Guiyi Army, Cao Yanlu, Cao Sanniang's younger brother. The fourth daughter was only two years old and was not suitable at all.
As for the remaining second daughter, it is even more embarrassing. She was born to Queen Yuan Yutian who was sent to Samaroo Temple by Cao Yuanxin to become a nun. How could Li Shengtian dare to use this daughter to marry Zhang Zhao?
Moreover, even if the birth of this second daughter is okay, Zhang Zhao's first wife has been assigned to Cao Jiuniang Yanxiang of the Cao family.
Even if Li Shengtian's princess is not born well enough, she cannot be a concubine.
Unless Zhang Zhao can really sit on the throne, whoever invests can guarantee success. If Zhang Zhao can't sit on the throne, Li Shengtian will be embarrassed.
The three of them suddenly fell into embarrassment. Zhang Zhao took a deep breath and decided to take a gamble.
"Uncle, why don't we do this? Cousin Cong De is about the same age as me. Why don't we let the next generation get married.
If someone's first legitimate son is a boy, he will marry Cong De's cousin's eldest daughter as his queen. If I get my eldest daughter, then I will marry Cong De's cousin's eldest son as my queen. "
This was really a gamble, because Zhang Zhao planned to support civilian officials to check and balance the military attachés after entering the Central Plains.
Once the atmosphere of Confucian civil servants is formed, they will never accept a Scythian white man as the queen.
So Zhang Zhao is betting that his first child with Cao Yanxi will be a girl. If it is a boy, he will be in trouble.
"That's good! This way we can kiss each other even more!" Before Li Shengtian could answer, Cao Yuanxin happily agreed.
She had just been afraid that Li Shengtian would go out of his way and agree to marry the second princess to Zhang Zhao to make her a child. Now it can be said that it is the best ending for his son Li Congde to make an engagement with Zhang Zhao.
Whether his granddaughter marries the Zhang family and becomes the queen or even empress, or Zhang Zhao's eldest daughter marries over and becomes the Queen of Khotan, there is no better ending than this.
Li Shengtian thought for a while and thought there was no better choice than this, so he nodded in agreement.
