In Xiguan, officials from the Ministry of Justice who came to investigate the case investigated all officials at the general level regarding Zhang Da's case of abandoning the pass and absconding.
However, the results of the investigation all shifted the responsibility to Zhang Da. Before arriving at Xiguan, Gongsun Burang, the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment, was still thinking that since he was here to investigate the case, he should pretend to torture Hou Tai to extract a confession. After all, if he did it more realistically, it would be easier to do business back home.
But when they arrived at Xiguan, they learned that Hou Tai had not only played a major role in the previous battle to retake Xiguan, but this time the Jie tribe's great Khan led his army to attack Xiguan, and Hou Tai even led his army to ambush the Jie tribe's Tugedami tribe. , killing nearly ten thousand enemy troops.
Thinking of the corpses of the 100,000 Jie clan buried outside Xiguan, they no longer had the ambition they had before coming, for fear that one of them would accidentally be killed by these frontier warriors.
Cai Binghui, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, originally wanted to take the opportunity to hint Hou Tai not to talk nonsense, but he gave up the idea when he saw Gongsun's refusal. After all, no one mentioned the prince or the Zhang family during the investigation, which gave him some peace of mind. many.
After leaving Xiguan, a group of officials just walked far away when passing through Yancheng, for fear that the King of Yan would detain them again after entering Yancheng again.
They did not enter Yancheng, which was what Zhao Bin wanted. Because at this time, all affairs in Yancheng were in full swing.
Cao Li allocated silver from the government treasury to the brick factory. At the government's request, several new brick kilns were added and many people from the surrounding areas were hired.
At the same time, many people are digging trenches at the construction site of the new smelting plant, preparing to build a new smelting plant.
At Zhao Bin's request, the scale of the new smelting plant was greatly expanded, and different forging workshops were reserved.
A large number of weapons and equipment will be built here in the future, so Zhao Bin also began to try to make some lathes and other things. However, these things still require a lot of steel and time and cannot be completed in a short time.
However, considering that the production of iron armor should be given priority, Zhao Bin finally made a forging device driven by water flow power after several days of research, which would speed up the production of fine scale armor.
Fine scale armor is mainly composed of scales and sewing technology. The production process includes scale casting, polishing, cutting, sewing and other steps. The scales are usually chosen based on their size, shape and quality, and the stitching is done using leather or metal thread to ensure the scales are strong and durable.
Of course, in Zhao Bin's impression, the best armor is the Mingguang Armor.
It's just that the production process of Mingguang Armor is quite cumbersome, requiring multiple processes and fine craftsmanship.
First, the iron pieces need to be processed into small pieces of a certain shape, which are then embedded in leather or fabric.
Next, it is necessary to perform processes such as tapping, rough grinding, perforation, staggering holes, cutting, staggering, and fine grinding to make the nail pieces smooth and have sufficient hardness.
After completing the processing of the armor pieces, leather strips need to be woven into armor.
This process requires meticulous craftsmanship and skill to ensure that the connection between the nail plates is tight and secure.
Finally, certain cuts and adjustments to the armor are required to increase comfort and flexibility.
Overall, the production of Mingguang Armor is a rather complex and tedious task that requires a lot of time and manpower.
At the same time, because its production process and material selection require high professional knowledge and skills, only experienced craftsmen can produce high-quality Mingguang Armor.
As for the armor provided to the Xianbei people, in Zhao Bin's opinion, the thin scale armor was already extremely luxurious, so he would definitely not make such a good thing as the Mingguang Armor for the Xianbei people.
While Yancheng was immersed in production and construction, Xiao Chu finally returned with several trucks of sulfur. The Liao people had agreed to exchange fine salt for sulfur, so that the sulfur problem could be solved smoothly.
These sulfurs are what Zhao Bin has been thinking about most during this period of time.
It's just that the sulfur brought back by Xiao Chu was mixed with many impurities. This is not a big problem. It is just filtered and purified.
Under Zhao Bin's instructions, several trucks of sulfur mixed with impurities were quickly purified into pure sulfur.
Although sulfur is available, Zhao Bin is not in a hurry to make a large amount of black powder. As long as the raw materials are enough, making gunpowder is just a simple process.
The use of heartless cannons last time has inevitably attracted the attention of concerned people, so after careful consideration, Zhao Bin still felt that for the sake of safety, he should not proceed with large-scale production of black powder for the time being.
Zhao Bin ordered people to store all the purified sulfur, and continued to send people to the Liao area to exchange for large amounts of sulfur.
The Liao people still don't know the use of sulfur. If there is a head-on conflict with the Liao people one day in the future, the channels for sulfur will inevitably be cut off. At present, they must hoard a large amount of supplies. As the saying goes, dig holes deep and store grain widely. Slowly become king.
Zhao Bin has been in the limelight enough in the past six months, and he doesn't want any new trouble to come to him.
