After Zhu Pingan took the approval for the recruitment of soldiers from Zhang Jing, he returned to the government office of the Department of Tidings and Pressure Enforcement and bid farewell to Zhang Tiantai and the others, and then rushed to the Peach Blossom Collection School Ground without stopping, and on the way, he sent Painting Er, the little maid of the buns, and Ruo Nan, the demoness, to the Peach Blossom Collection Town Residence.
The two of them, Painter and Demoness Ruo Nan, wanted to follow to recruit soldiers, but were rejected by Zhu Pingan without hesitation.
“Auntie, Miss asked me to take care of your life and living ……”
The bun little maid, Painter, was pitiful and aggrieved in her attack, failing to change Zhu Pingan’s mind.
“Hmph, not bringing us, it’s because we’re afraid that we’ll disturb someone looking for flowers and willow, and feast on the people’s wealth, right…
Demoness Ruo Nan’s eccentric and cynical attack also failed to change Zhu Pingan’s mind.
This is a military recruitment, not a trek, why are you following, Zhu Pingan firmly rejected them.
A few days have not returned to the barracks, Zhu Pingan will first go back to the Zhejian army barracks to arrange the work, and then go to Yiwu to recruit soldiers.
The first thing is the cotton armour, soon to enter the period of war against Japan, cotton armour is an important part of Zhu Pingan’s plan. Qi Jiguang once said that good armour can protect life and defeat the enemy, the reason why the eight banners of the Qing Dynasty fought all over East Asia, in addition to the high strength of the eight banners, the cotton armour of the Qing Dynasty is also one of the important reasons.
Zhu Pingan called Liu Dazhou and other people, briefly said this time to go to Yingtian to receive the decree of the situation, learned that Zhu Pingan high promotion of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Tijin Zhiqi Division Acting Deputy Secretary, the people are very excited, and congratulations to Zhu Pingan. Water rises with the boat ah, Zhu Ping An has been promoted, their invisible benefits are many.
Zhu Pingan smiled and waved his hand, then asked Liu Dazhou about the cotton acquisition situation.
“Your Excellency, the hundred taels of silver you gave me, I bought all of it as cotton, now that it’s winter, the price of cotton has gone up a bit, together with 50 wen for a catty of cotton, I bought a total of 2,000 catties of cotton.”Liu Dazhou reported.
“Big Dagger, good job.”Zhu Pingan nodded in satisfaction and praised.
The unit price of the cotton was a bit more expensive than expected, but of course, Zhu Pingan was making an empiricist mistake.
Zhu Pingan subconsciously compared the price to the modern era, modern cotton has a high yield, large planting area, high degree of mechanisation, so the price is cheaper, the price of modern cotton is about five or six dollars a catty.
Forget that it is now Ming Dynasty.
Ming Dynasty cotton planting area, cotton production and so on can not be compared with modern times, the price is also reasonable.
That said, also have to thank the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang is the first person to promote the popularity of cotton in China. Cotton is about the Song and Yuan between the beginning of the species in China, before the Ming Dynasty, cotton is mostly used as an ornamental plant – flowers, the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang discernment of cotton, cotton as an ornamental plant found a huge economic value, ordered to force the promotion of the whole country, which makes the cotton planted on a large scale throughout the country. Of course, due to historical limitations, and modern times can not be compared.
Anyway, the production of cotton in this period is not low (although it can’t be compared with modern times), the price is not too expensive, the ordinary people can afford to spend money, and the average family can have a cotton coat to protect themselves from the cold in the winter.
“This seven hundred taels of silver you take, continue to purchase cotton, if there is not enough nearby, you can go to a farther village or town to purchase.”
Zhu Pingan pulled out another seven hundred taels of silver from his pocket and handed it over to Liu Dazhou, instructing him to continue purchasing cotton.
“Still need to buy cotton ah ……”Liu Dazhou froze for a moment.
“That’s right, keep buying, more is better.”Zhu Pingan patted Liu Dazhou’s shoulder and said with a smile, then instructed, “Dazhou, while purchasing cotton, have someone go to the town to find craftsmen who can pop the cotton, and pop all the cotton.”
“Yes sir, promise to complete the task.”Liu Dazhou patted his chest and assured.
Zhu Pingan also asked Liu Mu about the blacksmiths and how the iron sheets were being made, Liu Mu replied that he had hired ten blacksmiths from nearby villages and towns, and had already started melting down the tattered armour to make the iron sheets for the armour tie, and had taken some of the iron sheets that were made and shown them to Zhu Pingan.
Zhu Pingan looked at the iron pieces in his hand and nodded with satisfaction, these iron pieces were made according to his own instructions, the iron pieces were about seven centimetres or so, with holes pre-drilled for fixing them with copper nails at a later stage.
“Good, that’s it, make as many as you can. Oh yes, let them make a batch of moulds first, that is, body armour moulds, front gear moulds, armour sleeve moulds, batch shoulder moulds, left gear moulds, etc., which I have drawn sketches of, and the exact dimensions of which, too, are marked on them. Note that these sketches are top-secret, must not be spread. Make the blacksmith do mould time should also pay attention to, each blacksmith can only do a kind of mould, at the same time let them sign a confidentiality agreement, a should be mould are military secrets, shall not spread abroad, violators to disclose military secrets crime heavy penalty. Each kind of mould temporarily first do fifty it.”
Zhu Pingan pulled out the sketch from his pocket and handed it over to Liu Mu, explaining to him.
“Don’t worry, Your Excellency.”Liu Mu took the sketch and placed it into his bosom as if it was a treasure, nodding vigorously.
“After the mould is done, one would put the popped cotton after absorbing enough water inside the mould, repeatedly patting, patting into thin cotton sheets, take it out for drying, after drying, then put the many pieces of cotton sheets into the mould by wetting them again, again repeatedly patting them into thin sheets, drying them again, patting them again, and so on for four times, take it out for drying, it is the moulded cotton sheets, how much can be done?As many as you can.”Zhu Pingan then explained to Liu Mu.
Repeatedly beating and drying can make the cotton fibre tissue dense and thick, so as to resist the attack of hot and cold weapons, but also waterproof.
Zhu Pingan estimated the time for repeated drying and beating, and estimated that when he came back from recruiting soldiers, the cotton sheets would just be ready to be moulded.
Thus, Zhu Pingan said to both Liu Mu and Liu Dazhou, “You guys do these for now, and wait for me to come back to do the rest.”
“Waiting for Gongzi to return? Gongzi, are you going out for public work?”Liu Dazhou’s eyes lit up as he hurriedly asked.
“Yes, I’m going to Yiwu to recruit soldiers.”Zhu Pingan nodded and briefly explained to them, “Governor Zhang Jing Zhang gave us the approval of 1,200 men for the Zhejian army, allowing us to raise our own troops.”
“Recruit troops? My lord, I’ll go with you, the Japanese have been restless lately, I’ll accompany you to protect you, and make sure that not a single hair of your lord’s head will be missing.”Liu Dazhou volunteered.
“You still have to procure cotton.”Zhu Pingan shook his head slightly, “Cotton is the focus of making cotton armour, it’s a big task.”
“My lord, I took our battalion to procure cotton a few days ago, and they were all competent. Hehehe, just take me there.”
Liu Dazhou pleasingly hemmed and hawed.
“Gongzi, you just take Big Dagger, he is limber and simple-minded, he can’t even calculate the accounts, the other day when he procured cotton, it was mainly done by their battalion. Compared to procuring cotton, he is more suitable to accompany and escort Gongzi.”
Liu Mu also helped out and said.
Zhu Pingan went to Yiwu to recruit soldiers, without Liu Dazhou and the others accompanying him, Liu Mu was not at ease either.
“Alright then.”Zhu Pingan nodded and said to Liu Dazhou, “You go back and give an explanation to the people in your battalion.”
“Your Excellency don’t worry.”Liu Dazhou heatedly smiled and nodded repeatedly.
Zhu Pingan gave another explanation to the battalion commanders, making them practice strictly, and when he came back to test himself, which battalion pulls the crotch, he will take their battalion commanders for questioning.
