Chapter 1145： North to Dagukou

The cane beetle is similar to the wood chip armor invented by Marin. They are both plant armor and are very light. But the difference between the two is still very big. Marin's wood chip armor is not very protective. It's not very practical if you don't have a layer of metal on the outside of the wood chips. At most, reducing the degree of soldiers ’injuries cannot resist the damage of weapons, especially metal weapons.

Strictly speaking, the wood chip armor is used to fight Native Americans. Because the weapons of Native Americans are too bad, they are all stone tools, and even the bowstrings are plant vines, which are soft and weak. Therefore, wood chips can be mixed in the Americas, and in Europe, it is absolutely useless without tinplate.

However, even if you are covered with iron skin, you can only resist some ordinary sword damage at most. For the more powerful bows and arrows and crossbows, can not resist. As for the musket, that one has no solution and the plate armor is useless.

But the defense of Fujiko, Marin still knows. This kind of rattan has been experimented in TV programs of later generations. It can resist the shooting of ordinary bows and crossbows (except heavy crossbows), not to mention swords.

Moreover, its production cost is also low, that is, some old vines cut from the mountains, as well as tung oil and raw lacquer, are not valuable. At least, it was not valuable in the Ming Dynasty.

Cut old vines up the mountain for no cost, as for tung oil and lacquer, the price is not expensive. Tung oil only costs 30 liters per catty in Daming, and the lacquer is more expensive, but only 65 liters per catty. To make a set of rattan (including rattan helmets and rattan cards), the cost of craftsmen is included, and the cost does not exceed two or two silver. If it is left in Europe, it is more than two or two silver only for labor costs.

It's just that the general vines have a major disadvantage-fear of fire. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the section "Fired Rattan Soldiers" is too famous, so even Daming doesn't like to promote rattan soldiers. Because, with the popularity of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, even the peddler of the Ming dynasty knew the weaknesses of Tengjia, and naturally no one would make any Tengjia.

It was Li Lazi, a former guard of the military and a master of rattan weaving, combining the shortcomings of the vines soaked in tung oil that was afraid of fire, and came up with a thick layer of paint on the surface of the vines and the brand of vines to solve the problem of fire . Because lacquer is neither afraid of water nor fire. As long as the lacquer coating is thick enough, the vines are not afraid of fire.

Seeing that the vines are not costly, light, and have high protection. When Marin was happy, he let Li Laizi bring a group of vine woven masters to help him make a large number of vine shields and vines for good luck to use in Europe. Also, it is shipped to the Americas for use.

The jungles of North America are so dense that they ca n’t send cavalry deep, only infantry. But because of the ubiquitous threat of cold arrows from the Indians, soldiers needed armor with high protection. The plate armor is invincible, but it can't move at all. Even if you can move, you can't go far, and the speed is super slow. The light armor, which is light and highly protective, has become the best choice for jungle warfare. What's more, the rattan card is also the best shield against indigenous people. Even the local shield soldiers, Marin planned to switch to rattan to save the soldiers' physical strength.

……

When Marin asked Kong Tai to send a smuggling speedboat to purchase more tung oil and lacquer on Meizhou Island, there was good news from Feng Xu, a household in Quanzhou, Jinyi, and Wei-Liu Jin agreed that the Malin fleet went north Dagukou's request to log in, but only allowed Marin to follow the landing, it is strictly prohibited to carry weapons. This is because Liu Jin was afraid that Malin, a barbarian, would take the opportunity to attack Tianjin Guardian. Therefore, Marin is required not to land with weapons. As for the advanced Franco machine guns and muskets, they were handed over to Tianjin Wei's soldiers to arrive in Beijing.

This message was sent to Quanzhou by Liu Jin through the post system, using the official post system. Because Di Bao pays attention to timeliness, it is often transmitted quickly. Although it can't reach the urgency of 800 miles, it is because the relay station relays, and the speed of propagation is much faster than that of ordinary people. Because the message can be changed at any time through the post system, without having to wait for the horse to rest before going on the road.

But when the news reached Marin, it was already in late May, and it was only two or three months before Liu Jin fell. Fortunately, the speed of Marin's ships is fast, and it is not a problem to travel nearly 100 kilometers a day. The straight-line distance between Danshuibao and Tianjin Wei is only more than 1,600 kilometers, and there is no need to take detours when walking at sea. Therefore, Marin is not worried about the delay.

But before leaving, Marin suddenly remembered something-he needed some glass ...

What does he want glass for? Not for trade, nor for bribery, but to make a conservatory to raise Galapagos tortoises.

Galapagos tortoises are tropical creatures after all, they like to be warm and afraid of cold. The capital city is located in the north, and it is relatively cold for almost half a year, and Galapagos tortoises may not adapt.

The problem is that the Galapagos tortoise is a "splendid" by Marin, and there is no problem. If you die, it's not auspiciousness, but anger. Dare to bring grief to Ming Ting, Marin's trade qualification will be canceled in minutes.

Therefore, these Galapagos tortoises must not be raised to death. At least, it can't die so fast. Otherwise, this is not auspicious.

Marin felt a bit regretful about catching these Galapagos tortoises, but the reason he landed from Tianjin Guardian was to **** "Xiangrui" to land. Otherwise, he has no reason to take the Tianjin Wei near road. If you go from the reception points of Fuzhou or Ningbo, which accept vassal states, to the capital, it is estimated that there will be a delay of several months. By the time Liu Jin collapsed, things would be a bit difficult. Because, Liu Jin can take office through bribery, and Liu Jin collapses, letting those civil servants do business for a few years is not impossible.

Therefore, Marin is now riding a tiger and must present the Galapagos tortoise. Moreover, it must be ensured that the tortoise is not raised to death.

The best way to prevent the tortoise from being fed to death is to build a conservatory. But Marin remembers that the Galapagos tortoises have a habit-at least one or two hours of sun every day, otherwise it will affect health ...

This is hard to live in Marin. How cold is the winter in the north of Beijing? In the cold weather, the equatorial Galapagos tortoise went out to bask in the sun.

So, the only way is to let the Galapagos tortoise basking through the glass in the greenhouse ...

But the problem is that the Ming Dynasty did not have transparent glass at all, and the crystal was too expensive ...

In desperation, Marin had to make a guest artisan and decided to burn a batch of glass with him to the north, and help these "black turtles" build a glass greenhouse by the way ...

……

So, while Marin let his men build a crucible furnace for glass firing, he sent people to purchase quartz sand, alkali, lead ore for glass firing in the Ming Dynasty ... Obviously, what he wanted to fire was the most basic optical glass Lead glass ...

In fact, there is another important ingredient for glazed glass-borax, but Marin is not sure if there is a Ming Dynasty. As a result, I inquired that this thing has long been available in China ...

It turned out that in the Song Dynasty, borax was used as a Chinese medicine. In the official Taiping Shenghui Fang edited in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, borax was mentioned, and its role was also introduced-clearing heat and removing phlegm, detoxifying and antiseptic ...

Although the price is more expensive, 500 yuan per catty, this is already several times cheaper than in Europe. In Europe, the price of borax is about 3 or 2 silver per catty, which is 6 times more expensive than the Ming Dynasty. Fortunately, this is just an auxiliary material for burning glass. Not much is used, otherwise the price of glass will be expensive ~ www.novelhall.com ~ In addition, Marin also sent people to the mountains to find the legendary Keelung Badouzi coal mine. It is a pity that the mountains and forests are dense and difficult to find for a while. So he simply asked people to purchase coal on the mainland. Anyway, coal on land is not expensive ...

After the crucible furnace with the combustion chamber was repaired, the smuggling speedboat sent to Meizhou Island also brought back enough quartz sand, alkali, borax and coal.

Then, Marin called West, who was an apprentice in the glass factory, and came to make glass. Before smelting the raw materials, West let people wash and wash the materials, and also made a simple copper roller with copper rods.

After, the cleaned and dried raw materials are poured into the crucible furnace, and coal is put underneath to simmer. After reaching a temperature of more than a few thousand Baidu enough for steelmaking, West asked the craftsmen who helped to pour the glass melt on the prepared platform. When the solution solidified into a jelly form, West picked up the copper roller and began to crush the jelly glass until it became a large flat plate.

Then, the large piece of flat glass was put into the annealing furnace by West, and annealed, and then the flat glass was considered a success ...

West processed all the raw materials into pieces of flat glass one foot square at a time, and packed the ship. These flat glass are enough to build a relatively large glass greenhouse. Anyway, the glass greenhouse does not need glass on all sides, just the glass on the south ...

After preparing the glass for the greenhouse that houses the Galapagos tortoise, Marin finally prepared everything and led the fleet north to Dagukou, ready to land there and pay tribute ...