After Yuan Feng became the chief security officer, the first thing he did was to make armor for his men. Iron helmets and iron armor were not even thought of. You must know that a set of armor of the Imperial Forbidden Army requires 1,825 pieces of armor.
The leaf weighs forty-eight pounds and takes a skilled craftsman four months to make. It is simply impossible to complete it with the manpower and material resources of Shibalibao.
Making leather armor is much simpler. Just make it from cooked cowhide. Scrape off the useless attachments inside the cowhide and hit it hundreds of times with wooden sticks to make the leather flat, dense and tough. Then add it up to make leather armor.
It is a semi-finished product. Use these large pieces of leather to cut it into a suitable shape, and then braid it with leather strips to create a piece of leather armor.
In the northwest, there are flocks of cattle and sheep, raw materials are not a problem, and craftsmen who can handle leather are easy to find. According to Yuan Feng's requirements, all leather armor must have seven layers. Logically speaking, two layers of leather armor are usually enough.
However, the number of the Thirteen Taibao was small and they could not withstand casualties, so they had to wear seven armors to maximize their defensive performance.
Last time, Deng Ziming helped bring twenty curved bows from the Western Regions. They were all riding bows used by the Turks. They were shorter and more powerful than the Central Plains bows they originally used. When the bows were not strung, they would bend back.
Like a semicircle, it takes all the strength to string it up, which is extremely labor-intensive. This also proves the power of the bow. Even Zhao Ding'an, who is the strongest, can't fire the bow several times, but the arrows are all good.
Ling.
Young people are eager to win, so they all use the Turkic curved bows to practice, but no one uses the Central Plains longbow. However, Yuan Feng disagrees, thinking that hard bows are not good. If they are shot in groups, they can also produce lethality, so small groups of troops can use them.
If it is, it cannot be held for a long time after being drawn, and the shot will be fired immediately after the draw is full. The hit rate is not high, but it is not as accurate as a soft bow and a long arrow.
While Yuan Feng and the others were out, there was a small conflict between Shibalibao and a nearby village over water issues. The other party pulled out a strong man of fifty or sixty, holding a shovel, a hoe and a stick, and wanted to fight aggressively, but ten
Bali Fort only dispatched more than twenty cavalry. As soon as the sharp swords and bows and arrows appeared, the opponent softened. This incident once again allowed the townspeople to taste the sweetness of having force, so when someone proposed to recruit guards
When the time comes, every family responds.
The system of this dynasty is that there are ten households for one security, ten for one Jia, each household has one strong man, a team of one hundred people, one security chief, every ten Jia for one one, and one for Zheng. These armed men are equivalent to
The permanent militia organization is responsible for local security, but it is not an official-military system. The government does not provide weapons and supplies, and all expenses are raised by the local people themselves. Not to mention Luyang County, the Baojia system in the entire northwest region has been abandoned, and now it is restored
When they got up, a hundred and ten people lined up outside the fort with long spears. They were very majestic and majestic. They reminded many old people of their glory when they were soldiers and made many people sigh with emotion. If they had organized earlier, why would they have suffered from horse thieves for so many years?
of bullying.
In addition to the thirteen Taibao of Yuanfeng, eighty more Baodings were organized in the fort. They usually work in farming and herding, and are trained every ten days. They are equivalent to soldiers who do not leave work. Their weapons are weaker and only equipped with birch poles.
It's just a spear, the main resources are still used on the Thirteen Taibos.
The Thirteen Taibao is just a name. In fact, there are far more than thirteen people. Several nearby Zhuangzi have sent some young people to practice martial arts. Yuan Feng's direct line strength has been close to sixty people. They are responsible for this round-the-clock training.
The small cavalry unit was far beyond the capacity of Shibali Fort.
War horses are the biggest expense. Fortunately, a lot of horses were snatched from Duyi Dao. Now they are barely enough. However, the cost of horse feed and pasture is not small. It is no exaggeration to say that one horse can feed a whole family. And then
In addition to the seven pieces of leather armor required by Yuan Feng, a sword and a spear for each person, and three meaty meals a day, even if all the people in Shibalibao did not eat or drink, it would be difficult to afford them.
Fortunately, Yuan Feng still had some savings, but he was still sitting on nothing. Just eating and drinking every day cost him several taels of silver. Seeing that his savings were decreasing rapidly, Ye Kai, who was in charge of accounting, was so worried that he couldn't sleep. He went to Yuan Feng to discuss: "Brother Feng, if this continues
But no, the money on hand won’t last two months.”
Yuan Feng was also very distressed. This economic problem could not be solved by fighting and killing. Shibalibao was on the edge of the desert, with scarce water resources and barren land. There was little land for cultivation and the yield was low.
The only thing that can have some thought is the traveling caravans, but what's the point of making a living by collecting protection fees?
"Do you still remember the time we sold horses in Lanzhou Prefecture?" Yuan Feng asked after thinking for a moment.
"Remember, that horse was sold for eighty taels of silver. If we hadn't been so eager to sell it and the price was lowered by profiteers, it would have been sold for more than one hundred taels." Ye Kai replied.
"That's it, let's just sell the horses."
"But... none of us have ever done business. What should we do if we are cheated?"
"You can learn if you don't know how to do it. If anyone dares to trick us, talk to him with a knife."
"..."
The business plan has been decided, but where to find the source of horses? The sixty horses in the fort are war horses and cannot be moved. There are herdsmen in the fort, but they are grazing cattle and sheep, not horses.
This thing is rather delicate, and it cannot survive without suitable pasture. Within a few hundred miles, only the narrow strip west of Liangzhou and Xiningzhou have rich water and grass, and are rich in cattle and horses.
Zhang Tietou had done business with the Deng family caravan many times and should have some experience in this area. Yuan Feng brought him in for discussion and asked Deng Ziming how they did business.
In fact, Zhang Tietou was just a horseman in the caravan, and he didn't know the core things at all, but he at least knew what kind of goods the caravan was carrying.
"Usually shopkeeper Deng would buy some brick tea, cloth, silk, porcelain, ironware, etc. from the market in Chang'an, pack them in wicker boxes, and carry them around with mules, horses, and camels. Horse-drawn carriages are not available. You can go all the way west, in Lanzhou Prefecture.
Unload some goods and sell some silk porcelain, but the prices are not as high as those in Liangzhou. Then go west to unload the goods in Liangzhou. There is a big market in Liangzhou, where merchants from the east and west meet.
The goods from the Central Plains can be sold at a good price here, and then some furs, gems, spices and other things can be purchased and sold back to Chang'an. This way, you can get two price differences, and the cost of one hundred taels is converted into two hundred taels.
It's no problem, but the journey is long and dangerous, and you often have to pay for the funeral expenses of the clerk, so it's not easy to earn this money.
"It turns out that there are so many things to pay attention to in doing business. Just organizing the goods is a major subject. If the goods are wrong, I'm afraid they won't be able to sell at a high price." Yuan Feng said thoughtfully.
"Yes, Brother Feng is smart. Last time, a businessman in Guanzhong sold more than a dozen bottles of wine from the Western Regions from Liangzhou and sold it at a sky-high price. As a result, a group of people went to sell wine, and the prices in Liangzhou went up.
The enthusiasm here in Chang'an has gone down, and five caravans were killed this time alone. However, brick tea and silk are quite easy to sell, and they don't have to worry about sales every time." Zhang Tietou said.
"Then, are there many horse sellers?" Yuan Feng continued to ask.
"There is a mule and horse market, but the horses in Liangzhou are not cheap. A three-year-old Hequ horse costs eighty taels of silver. If it is an Ili horse from the Western Regions that can be used as a war horse, it will cost around a hundred taels."
"Isn't it about the same price as Lanzhou?"
"Exactly, so if you want to buy cheap horses, you have to go further west to Ganzhou, which is controlled by the Turks. The price of horses is much lower. You can buy a Hequ horse for only 10 taels of silver."
“Since horses are so profitable, why don’t caravans specialize in this business?”
Zhang Tietou shook his head and said: "Brother Feng, you don't know that these horses are forbidden to be sold by the Turks. Anyone who sells horses privately will be put to death. Who dares to risk beheading to do this business? If you have money, you will lose your life."
But it’s miserable.”
It turns out that there is such a saying, but if you think about it, you can understand that horses are military strategic materials. If they are exported to the Central Plains in large numbers, the advantage of the Turkic cavalry will be gone. In this regard, the Turks are right.
Since the horse business is not easy to do, we can only do something else. When Zhao Ding'an came back from training with the team in the evening, Yuan Feng called him in for discussion.
"Brother Ding'an, your shoes, stirrups, kitchen knives, hoes, etc. are just sitting around. Why don't we take them out and sell them at a good price in Liangzhou," Yuan Feng said.
"Jiulang, I'm not talking about you. Isn't there a blacksmith in Liangzhou Prefecture? They are not short of such things. Besides, my father has not been focusing on this recently. The horseshoes at home are almost used up, and he doesn't care."
"What is Uncle Zhao busy with?"
"He is thinking about making steel. The swords we Thirteen Taibo use are stolen. The old man feels that it is shameful. He was originally a well-known craftsman in the army, specializing in swords. He can even make armor.
, I have been looking for ore outside these days. In the past, I bought pig iron from outside. There were too many impurities to make steel. If I can find suitable iron ore, my father said I would give you an armor."
Yuan Feng's eyes lit up, and then he smiled bitterly and said: "Even if I type it out, I can't wear it anymore. Look -" He pointed at his pants, and the pants that originally fit well have turned into cropped pants.
After the Spring Festival, Yuan Feng will be sixteen years old. According to his age, he should not be so short. The slow growth is actually related to his uncle's training method. High-intensity physical training consumes the energy that should be used to grow taller.
Due to the lack of nutrition, calcium and protein in the meals, he is much shorter than other children of the same age.
But since the death of his uncle, Yuan Feng has been exercising according to his own ideas, combining work and rest, and keeping up with nutrition. In addition, his genes are not bad, and his head has been growing like a seedling. It has only been a few months.
With the effort, I have grown two inches, and standing with the mute aunt is no longer so embarrassing.
Also growing very fast is Yuan Feng’s good friend Sai Hu. This dog has now become the dominant force in Shibali Fort. All the dogs dare not bare their teeth when they see it. Even in previous years, it often appeared in spring.
The wild wolves did not dare to appear near Shibali Fort.
"It doesn't matter, the armor is naturally made according to the human body shape. By the way, what did you say just now, business? I have a way to do business." Zhao Ding'an continued what he had just said.