Chapter 929： Rhino Hide

Since Sir Redondo came to the back door, he was naturally reluctant to bid on the basis of bidding like most people. Because, that price is too high, and may not be able to shoot.

Therefore, he came directly to the main leader of Marin. Anyway, Malin had thousands of pieces of porcelain in his hands to drink more silk. It was cheaper to deal with him than the auction price, mainly for the Duke of Coimbra behind him.

In particular, under the premise that the Duke of Coimbra was also required to buy slaves, Marin had to consider giving Duke Coimbra a face ...

Of course, since he came to the back door, Redondo did not come empty-handed, but brought a lot of gifts.

These gifts are all African specialties. After all, Portugal colonizes Africa and can easily obtain many local specialties from Africa. Moreover, the cost is not high. However, when you get to Europe, it is rare.

For example, diamonds are great gifts that cannot be run away. This thing was picked up by African indigenous people, and then used to exchange with Portuguese colonial merchants for valuable glass beads and other items.

Transparent diamonds, which are legendary diamonds, are very valuable and can be used to create expensive jewelry. The value of turbid diamond is not so high, but it is also rare. Just like the diamond that Redondo gave to Marin, it was not large and had never been processed. Some diamonds still have sharp pointed tips and are not suitable for jewelry.

But Marin is very satisfied with these pointed diamonds, why? Because these small diamonds can be used to engrave the rifle in the barrel as long as a suitable jig is made. Diamond is so hard that it is best for this kind of work. Although Marin does not currently plan to launch the Minnie rifle and Minnie bullet, it must be launched before the religious war. It is still necessary to get some diamond suitable for rifling.

In addition to ordinary diamonds, Redondo also brought a lot of ivory products, gum arabic, rhino horn products and a bundle of elephant skin ...

For ivory products, Marin does not have a cold. Because there were too many hard white plastics he had seen in the previous life, and there was not much surprise for the same white ivory.

As for gum arabic, Marin remembers that this seems to be a very good viscous food additive, and it is naturally harmless. Also, it seems that it can be used as an anti-oxidation coating for printed boards. Seems like it's still useful ...

As for rhino horns, like ivory, Marin is not interested. And the thick and soft elephant skin, Marin is a little wonder what its use ...

"Well, although the elephant skin is thick, it is relatively soft. Therefore, it can be used as a leather cushion for tables and chairs. At the same time, it can also be used as a good saddle ..." Redondo explained.

But somehow, Marin suddenly remembered that a public service advertisement done by Yao Ming in his last life was not sold, and he was not killed ...

Marin shook his head vigorously, driving Dayao's advertising content out of his brain. Why? Because the black men in Africa have no shotguns for hunting wild animals this year, so for the thick-skinned animals like elephants and rhinos, the old men have no way to deal with them. Therefore, animals such as elephants and rhinos should not be endangered at this time.

Asked, Redondo really gave an answer that met Marin's guess:

"How do you say that black indigenous people killed elephants? Actually, this elephant skin is not from the elephants they hunted, but from old and sick elephants. Otherwise, their weapons ca n’t be broken. The elephant skin is so thick. As for the number of elephants and rhinos? I heard the local chief saying that the grassland is full of ... and, it ’s not easy to mess with ... "

Marin's expression suddenly became weird. He clearly remembered that the black rhinoceros of West Africa had been extinct in his previous years before he crossed. Unexpectedly, this year, the grassland is actually full of ...

It's no wonder that later generations of black men have a handful of ak47 in war-torn countries, hunting rhinos or something, naturally very easy. But in this era, black people in West Africa simply did not have weapons that could break the skins of rhinos and elephants. Because the weapons used by West Africans are mostly stone tools.

In fact, both the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire in West Africa had metal weapons. However, those metal weapons are all under the official control. Because West Africa does not produce metals such as copper and iron, the required metals are generally exchanged with foreign merchants at trade centers such as Timbuktu. The metal trade is generally controlled by the king, and the metal weapons are also distributed by the king.

However, the kings, great nobles, and armies of the Malian Empire are generally located in the territory of later Mali. As for the West African coast that the Portuguese touched, it actually belonged to a remote area of ​​the Mali Empire. Therefore, the local chiefs naturally could not allocate any metal weapons.

But the chiefs of the West African coast have trade with the Portuguese, and they can exchange metal weapons from the Portuguese, but not many. Moreover, even ordinary metal weapons may not be able to break through the thick skin of rhinoceros. If the rhinoceros or elephant cannot be killed, it will anger them, but it will be killed ...

Therefore, although there are many elephants and rhinos on the prairie in West Africa at this time, the old blacks have no choice. At most, it is cheap to find old or sick rhinos and elephants. Of course, there are some fierce men who can hunt rhinos and elephants. It's just that there are fewer such macho brothers. Moreover, it must be equipped with metal weapons.

"They didn't know that they drove the rhinos into the dug traps and starved to death?" Marin was dumbfounded. Hunting elephants and rhinos, using cold weapons ... It's very deadly ... You know, crazy male elephants and rhinos are just like tanks ...

Redondo shrugged and said:

"Who knows? If the black natives knew to use their brains to hunt their prey, maybe they could use their brains to smelt metal instead of trading with us."

Marin nodded, but approved Redondo's words. If those black uncles are willing to use their brains, they will definitely not develop in the 21st century. Anyway, for the old men, they can never use their brains. Therefore, they are easy to become sports athletes, but they are not easy to become scientists. Sports athletes do not make the country strong, so there are many African stars, but the country is poor and backward.

Suddenly, Marin said:

"What if I want rhinoceros to make leather armor?"

Marlin was a history major in his last life, and naturally understands history. In the history of China, rhinoceros armor is an important armor. Especially during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, rhinoceros armor was very popular and its protection was very good.

That is because, during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, China had many wild rhinos. Ancient Chinese wars were frequent, especially during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and there were many large-scale wars. In order to provide sufficient armor to the army, people at that time slayed rhinos, which directly led to the extinction of rhinos in the Central Plains.

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Guo in the south, because the rhinoceros was rich in resources, the armor was also very good. At that time, Wu Wangfucha had 103,000 warriors wearing rhinoceros armor, and he also led soldiers to the Confederacy to fight for lordship.

The rhinoceros armor knife could not be cut and the arrow could not be worn. It was the best leather armor at that time. But the Central Plains countries had no rhinos to hunt, and naturally lacked rhinoceros. Therefore, at that time, the Wu Kingdom army was quite arrogant, and under the leadership of the great military strategist Sun Wu, the Chu State was phased out in stages, and they also strived to become the leader.

But, the chauffeur took the soldiers to go to the Huimeng League, the hometown of Jiangnan was empty, and the home base was demolished by the insidious hook practice, and the chauffeur had no big rear.

By the way, Vietnam was still south of Wu Kingdom at that time, there was no shortage of rhinos, and there were many rhinoceros warriors ...

...

But in ancient China, there was more war than war, and the amount of rhinoceros was also very large. Then, more rhinos died tragically ...

By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, only the Southern Dynasties occupying the South had the ability to obtain a large number of rhinoceros. For example, during the Nan Qi period, it was recorded that the elite army of Nan Qi at that time "all wore rhinoceros, swords could not hurt". But after that, there was no legend about the formation of an army wearing rhinoceros.

In the Tang Dynasty, Tang Jun ’s leather armor was not made of rhinoceros, nor was it made of cowhide. It was forbidden to kill cows. There must be not enough cowhide, but camel skin. The effect is definitely not up to the authentic rhinoceros.

When the army of the Tang Dynasty heard that the army of the Southwest Shaomin was equipped with armor made of rhinoceros in a large scale, it was really a real tyrant, more luxurious than my Datang army ... In fact, just because there were many The rhino ...

...

Redondo didn't understand how Marin wanted rhinoceros leather. Because plate armor is already popular in Europe, why do leather armor like that? Even if the rhinoceros is thick, it is not stronger than the plate armor made of steel ...

After hesitating for a while, he said:

"Our Lord Duke may not be involved in the trade of rhinoceros. Because rhinoceros can only be used as armor. But, you know, now there are plate armor, and leather armor is not selling at all. So, our Lord Duke Unwilling to open up this path. "

After a pause, Redondo said:

"Moreover, even if the black people in West Africa killed the rhino by a trap, there was no sharp steel knife to cut the skin of the rhino ..."

Marlin was dumb indeed. The black uncles did not have enough hard and sharp props to separate the rhinoceros ...