xymnovel Chapter 282 Craftsman
Chapter 282 Craftsman
Chapter 282 Craftsman
Ge Daji arranged to meet Zhao Mingyuan, the deputy commissioner of the Changzhou Road Miscellaneous Works Bureau, at his residence.
At 9:00 PM, the group was led into the back hall of the Zhao residence.
Zhao Mingyuan was in his early forties, with a fair complexion and a light beard. He wore a simple blue cloth robe, but a jade belt from the Western Regions was tied around his waist.
Upon seeing Ge Daji, Yu Yuan, and the others, he nodded indifferently and said, "I received Zhang Weigong's (Zhang Yang's) letter. What brings you here so late at night?"
Ge Daji cursed inwardly, "What are you pretending for? Even if the magistrate's letter couldn't go into details, surely the messenger must have given some information?"
However, he still bowed and said, "Lord Zhao should know about the Huashan bandits. The Prince of Zhennan wants Jiangyin Prefecture to send men to help suppress them, but the garrison can't even lend out a single suit of armor. The men can't go out in plain clothes to get killed, can they? So—"
Zhao Mingyuan frowned slightly and said, "The weapons produced by the Miscellaneous Weapons Bureau are all accounted for. Every suit of armor and every sword must be accounted for by the Military Equipment Bureau. Even if we privately borrow craftsmen to make them, firstly, it's a capital offense, and secondly, there wouldn't be enough time, would there?"
Upon seeing this, Ge Daji stepped forward and whispered a few words in Zhao Mingyuan's ear.
Zhao Mingyuan fell silent upon hearing this.
Ge Daji understood immediately, so he clapped his hands and had the porters carry the six boxes in one by one.
The first box contained a large stack of cotton cloth from Wunijing, Songjiang, fine as silk, suitable for making summer clothes.
Zhao Mingyuan glanced at it but didn't say anything.
The second box contained four jars of Shaoxing Road colored wine, with a "plum blossom" mark sealed on the mud.
The third box was opened, revealing a complete set of Guangling ancient books—a twenty-volume Song Dynasty edition of the Tongdian, with paper and ink as good as new.
Zhao Mingyuan's gaze froze instantly.
The fourth and fifth boxes contain sandalwood, agarwood, styrax, and ambergris, respectively.
The last box was the smallest, made of rosewood.
Yu Yuan opened it himself, and inside were neatly stacked banknotes, a total of fifty ingots.
"Lord Zhao, if the Huashan bandits are not wiped out completely, they will disrupt Changzhou Road, and the transportation of iron materials and charcoal from the Miscellaneous Workshop will also be hindered. Lord Zhao, helping us is helping yourself." Yu Yuan said softly, "If there is any iron armor in the warehouse that has not yet been sent north, could we borrow some?"
I will certainly return it after use. Furthermore, could you perhaps allow a few of your craftsmen to go out for a while and do some private work? I will bring the iron myself, so it won't cost the bureau a penny. The craftsmen's wages will be doubled, and I will provide an additional bonus. There will be absolutely no repercussions after the job is done.”
Zhao Mingyuan fell silent.
His gaze lingered on the Song Dynasty edition of the *Tongdian* for a long time. Finally, he sighed, closed the camphor wood box, and slowly said, "There's an old carpenter in this bureau, surnamed Zhou. His family has worked for three generations in the Suzhou Carpenters' Bureau. Later, he injured his leg and was transferred here. His skills are excellent, second to none in the bureau. Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, go to the local temple outside Xishuiguan and wait for him. Don't make a sound."
Yu Yuan clasped his hands in a fist and bowed deeply once more.
Ge Daji also bowed, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.
The magistrate's information was correct. When giving gifts, one must cater to the recipient's tastes. Zhao Mingyuan is a scholar, and although he likes money, one cannot simply give him money. One must give something "refined," something that touches his heart.
******
July 14th, early morning, at the Earth God Temple at Xishuiguan.
The temple was dilapidated, seemingly long since abandoned. The statue of the deity was missing half its face, the legs of the offering table were propped up with bricks, and a thick layer of dust covered the floor. The only redeeming feature was the slight coolness inside, after all, Changzhou in July was as hot as a steam room.
Yu Yuan and his group arrived half an hour early, carrying a small jar of yellow wine and a bag of braised beef wrapped in lotus leaves.
Just after 9 a.m., an old man walked in, leaning on a limp and seemingly ill.
He was in his early fifties, with gray hair, a slight limp in his left leg, and a coarse linen short coat that was filthy. His hands were large and thick like palm-leaf fans, with protruding knuckles and palms covered with purplish-black calluses and burn scars.
Yu Yuan immediately stood up, bowed, and said, "Master Craftsman Zhou."
Master Craftsman Zhou waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "I am not worthy of the title of Master Craftsman."
After saying that, he glanced at the few people inside the dilapidated temple and said, "Vice Envoy Zhao sent someone to say that a big patron wants armor made. Tell me, how many sets? What style?"
Yu Yuan and Ge Daji exchanged a glance and said, "I don't know much about armor either. Let's make fifteen sets of lamellar armor first, with a double layer on the chest and back, and complete with a full collar, shoulder guards, and leggings. There are many mountains in Jiangnan, so the total weight should not exceed fifty catties, but the protection cannot be poor."
Master Craftsman Zhou squinted and thought for a moment, then said, "Fifty-pound lamellar armor requires at least twelve hundred armor plates. Each plate needs to be forged, drilled, woven together, edged, and painted. Fifteen sets... have you calculated how many man-days that would take?"
"I was just about to ask the master craftsman for his advice," Yu Yuan said humbly.
"Each batch of armor requires at least sixty workdays, so fifteen batches would be nine hundred workdays. Even with three people working at the same time, it would take at least ten months," Master Zhou said. "This time I brought four apprentices, whose skills are passable. If all five of them come together, it will take about six months. We also need to prepare the materials in advance, otherwise it will cause further delays."
"It's not long at all—" Yu Yuan was taken aback.
He felt it wasn't much slower than making leather armor, since the latter required a considerable amount of time to process the leather, while blacksmithing required no such waiting, so he went with it.
"You're right, six months isn't long," Master Zhou said. "But Vice Envoy Zhao only gave me forty days. Forty days to get fifteen sets of armor out, unless—"
"Unless?" Yu Yuan pressed.
"Two things," Master Zhou said. "First, the iron material cannot be ordinary pig iron sheets; it must be cast iron (steel)."
Take three layers of charcoal, two hard and one soft, and stack them together. The charcoal must be good quality, like chestnut or mulberry wood. The resulting armor plates will be hard but not brittle, and arrows will slip on them. Secondly, you need to find me a few more helpers; their skills must be decent, not beginners.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Yuan realized that things were not as simple as he had imagined.
He had read many miscellaneous books, but he had only vaguely heard of the "method of filling charcoal," and he knew nothing about the effects of mulberry charcoal.
Thinking of this, he glanced at Master Zhou and subconsciously asked, "Is this how the Changzhou Miscellaneous Armor Bureau makes armor?"
Master Craftsman Zhou shook his head and said, "In recent years, the iron used in the Miscellaneous Armor Bureau has been severely restricted by the higher authorities, and the steel quality of the armor plates has deteriorated year by year. The last suit of official armor I made was sent to Dadu for inspection, and they said it was as brittle as dry bone and unusable." Furthermore, with insufficient and frequently delayed payments of grain and paper money, the craftsmen have even less motivation to properly craft armor.
Yu Yuan felt it was understandable.
Aren't seafarers and salt producers all like this? They don't get enough money for shipping and labor costs, so the transport of goods and salt production are getting worse day by day.
What exceptions could there be for nail craftsmen?
"When you go to Jiangyin, you don't need to cut corners or deceive your superiors. Just make the armor properly," Yu Yuan said. "My brother likes capable people the most. He will definitely provide plenty of food and money, enough for the whole family to eat and wear, with some left over. There's no need to worry about that."
Master Zhou nodded slightly, sighed, and said, "You'll need leather straps or ox tendons to stitch the iron pieces together. Don't forget that."
After saying that, he called out to the outside, inviting his four disciples to come in and pay their respects.
Yu Yuan hurriedly returned the greeting and exchanged pleasantries.
After much fuss, Ge Daji quietly tugged at him and whispered, "Although this dilapidated temple is remote, someone might pass by. Let's get them onto the boat as soon as possible."
"Alright." Without wasting any words, Yu Yuan immediately had two boatmen lead Master Zhou and the others onto the boat.
"Zhao Mingyuan also promised to lend us a few sets of heavy armor, which you need to send someone to fetch. But don't expect them to be any good quality armor; they've been gathering dust in the armory for a long time, and they're covered in rust, so they might not be very useful," Ge Daji added.
"We'll use whatever we need, we're not picky," Yu Yuan quickly replied.
Ge Daji nodded and said nothing more.
At this point, Yu Yuan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He managed to get this done on his own, without troubling his brother, and probably without leaving too many loose ends. As for what to do next, that's up to his brother to decide; he needs to hurry back and report.
******
That afternoon, after picking up seven rusty suits of armor at another location, everyone immediately headed to the docks.
After a short while, Huang Bingchuan quietly left Changzhou and sailed downstream, heading straight for Matuosha.
Before leaving, they had a simple meal at the dock.
Many merchants from the north and south came and went, and they talked animatedly about their business.
Some mentioned that the Prince of Zhennan invited an army from Jiangxi, which joined the main force that arrived in succession, and fought a great battle against the Huashan bandits.
The specific details of the battle are unknown, as they were unable to observe the battle from the front lines. They only vaguely heard that Zhu Sanshan, one of the bandit leaders, had suffered a flare-up of his arrow wound and had been dead for several days.
It seems the government troops still haven't been able to capture Huashan. Corpses are being carried out from time to time, and then they are all buried in pits.
The bandits of Huashan must have suffered some casualties, because the government troops hung the bandits' heads under the fence as a deterrent.
As for how many bandits from Huashan are left, it is unknown.
Some say there are fifty left, some say at most forty, and others say there might be less than thirty. There's no definite answer.
Aside from the bandits of Huashan, there's not much else to report, and it seems few people care.
Only one merchant complained that Changzhou was becoming increasingly chaotic. He had only been there a few days when he saw thugs with Jiangbei accents fighting with people in the street, resulting in several deaths and injuries, and the government was not doing anything about it.
Another person mentioned that the archers of the Benniuba Patrol Station seemed to have been severely injured by a group of newly arrived bandits from Huai, with many dead and wounded. They were even too afraid to patrol anymore, clearly having lost their nerve.
This matter was originally nothing special, as it was not uncommon for the patrol office to be beaten badly in the past two years. However, there was a particularly powerful woman among the bandits who was invincible in battle, which suddenly made this matter "explosive" and brought it to the attention of more people.
Yu Yuan was very clever and immediately thought of "Bi Si" that Ma Tuo Sha had reported.
Could it be these people? It's not impossible. If so, Changzhou might be in chaos for a while, but it won't affect them for now.
On July 15th, Yu Yuan led Master Zhou and his five apprentices to Yaqian Street and checked into the Jinsha Inn.
As evening fell, Shao Shuyi appeared outside the inn.
Accompanying him were seven or eight people, including Jiang Xingtuo, a blacksmith from Maqiao, and his apprentices.
After years of hard work, as the Yuan Dynasty's control over local areas gradually diminished, the Shao gang's iron armor forging project finally took shape and was about to officially commence.
>