September of the first year of Jingtai.

In just one month, Tang Yu commanded the people of the Ministry of Commerce to join the Shandong merchants to set off a huge storm in the provinces south of the Yangtze River, not only suppressing the original major merchants and gentry in the provinces south of the Yangtze River, but also the workshops and industries of Yushan Town and Shandong merchants have also sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

"Zongzhen, now the Ministry of Commerce has acquired eight textile gardens in Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places, and it will not be long before silk can be produced. When the time comes, part of the silk produced by our Ministry of Commerce will be used for sale, and part of it will be supplied to the Yushan Town Military Bureau for the production of artillery shells! ”

Liu Juntao was still very satisfied with the actions and results of the Ministry of Commerce, so he praised Tang Yu and asked him to continue to expand in the south, and at the same time not to relax his deployment to the northern provinces.

However, compared with the successive victories of the Ministry of Commerce, the increasing arrogance of civil officials in various parts of the Ming Dynasty at this time made Liu Juntao worried.

Right in front of him, the same is true of the state and county civil officials in Yanzhou Prefecture, and the garrisons in various places have reported to Liu Juntao, and there are often prefects and counties in various places who point fingers at the garrison.

Hu Dexing, the recruit Si Si who came to report to Liu Juntao for his work this time, said angrily: "General Town, we are battalion soldiers, and we are relatively better; The guards in various places have suffered, and now they are being bullied by those civil officials too badly, and even many of the land of the guards have been occupied by the local civilian gentry! ”

Liu Juntao frowned slightly and asked, "Then the commander of the city guard makes Song Er care?" ”

"Him?"

At this time, Liu Zi'an took over the conversation with a disdainful face and said: "Zongzhen really looks up to him too much, and now that Song Er is not out of the gate, he is dedicated to taking care of his own industry, and he has no courage to fight with those civil officials!" ”

Liu Juntao also frowned when he heard this, and then said: "Then Song Er doesn't care, then we can't sit idly by!" The order will go down: Three days later, outside the north gate of Yanzhou Mansion, a military parade will be held, and we will also increase the morale of our warriors! ”

Then, Liu Juntao said to Tang Yu: "Allocate money and food, and customize new dresses for the soldiers of the whole army, the style refers to the flying fish suit of Beizhen Fusi!" I want our soldiers to be brightly dressed, clothed and fed, and I want the soldiers of the army to be called the existence that everyone looks up to! ”

"Order!"

Three days later, Liu Juntao mobilized more than 12,000 soldiers from the Chinese military camp and held a grand military parade outside the north gate of Yanzhou Mansion.

In the face of the majestic majesty of the army under Liu Juntao, the arrogant civil officials who had been arrogant during this period of time were suddenly dumbfounded, and in the face of more than 12,000 murderous Ming soldiers, these civil officials were all pale, and they had long lost their former majesty, and even the eyes that looked at Liu Juntao and the soldiers under his command were full of awe.

This is exactly what Liu Juntao wants!

At the same time, the officers and men who participated in the parade also felt happy in their hearts, and the stuffiness that had been blocked in their hearts these days was spilled out.

A few days later, the news of Liu Juntao's military parade also spread, and the civil officials at all levels in Yanzhou Prefecture also restrained a little, while the morale of the garrisons and generals in various places was greatly boosted.

After that, Tang Yu also cut a complete set of generals' new-style dresses according to the design plan given by Liu Juntao, and with the full cooperation of Zhang Baigui, the director of the Equipment Department of the Military Department, he renovated the existing armor of the whole army, and allocated millions of taels of silver to carry out a comprehensive redress of the soldiers of each battalion.

In fact, the iron armor worn by the long sword soldiers in the battalions under Liu Juntao's command before included the step armor of the Song Dynasty and the armor of the Han general, all of which were full-body armor and a set of cotton armor.

Not to mention that the soldiers in such costumes felt heavy, and they were incompatible with the mainstream armor of the current Ming army, Liu Juntao realized that it was time for change.

On this day, Liu Juntao summoned all the ministers, Si Cheng, and the generals and guerrillas of each battalion to the General Military Office, and announced that the soldiers and horses of all battalions in Yanzhou Town had begun to change their uniforms.

After everyone arrived, they greeted each other for a while, and then saw Liu Juntao clapping his hands, and some guards in the palace walked in with a set of armor.

Liu Juntao said with a smile: "Everyone, please see, this is some samples that I asked the Equipment Department of the Military Department to create, and everyone will come to evaluate and see if it is suitable." ”

After finishing speaking, Liu Juntao stood in the middle of the lobby, beckoned to the guards, and said, "Today, the town will give you a demonstration, come on!" Put it on to the town! ”

After Liu Juntao finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter.

I saw that with the assistance of those palace guards, Liu Juntao first wore the armor of an ordinary sergeant.

Liu Juntao first wore combat boots, which were long felt boots inlaid with iron leaves on the outside to protect all his calves.

Then the guards took the body armor, which is a long body armor, dark red in color, placket style, lined with small armor pieces, and has a supple inner edge, and the outer part is densely covered with copper nails, which is full of protection.

Since the armor is made in one piece, it is very quick and easy to wear, just like putting on an outer garment.

The armor is the placket, buckled with a copper buckle, and the general Ming army is a cloth knot buckle, and the copper buckle is buckled, which is more powerful and heroic.

After Liu Juntao put it on, everyone was amazed: Where is this ordinary sergeant's armor, put it in other military towns, this set of armor must at least be worn at the general level!

Then there is the arm hand, also known as the arm binding style, which is a kind of arm armor, which is different from the shawl commonly equipped in other military towns, much like the sleeve of later generations.

At this time, Liu Juntao's arms and hands that had been worn were made of green cotton cloth, cotton flowers, etc., and the outer trim was decorated with fine iron armor leaves, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, and the nail leaves at the elbows were thinner, making the whole hand flex and rise flexibly.

At the same time, there is a buckle on the arm and hand, which can be connected to the shoulder armor, and there is a copper buckle on the inside of the forearm, and the arm and hand of the buckle are good.

After the two arms and hands are ready, Liu Juntao puts on a folded scarf, which belongs to the inner hat, and finally puts on the hat helmet, and ties the belt around the waist, so that the armor is worn.

If this complete set of armor is put on, the sergeant with fast movements can be dressed in fifteen or twenty seconds, but it is a little troublesome to put on the arms and hands, but no matter how slow the action is, there is no problem to complete it in one minute.

Such a convenient and fast wearing speed is very useful for the rapidly changing battlefield, which can greatly save the time required for the assembly of large army soldiers.

Moreover, this full suit of armor is not heavy, about thirty pounds, and it is especially dressed quickly, which is also a progress in the design of this armor.

At this time, the soldiers of the Beijing camp in the Ming army and the elite cavalry of the border army were all equipped with similar armor, but there were slight differences, because the armies wore cloud-winged helmets, but the new armor of Yanzhou Mansion was a one-color hat helmet, and this armor was lighter and stronger.

Of course, the cost of this armor is also more expensive, but for Liu Juntao, silver is not a problem at all!

Liu Juntao is to use enough money and food to build an army that is "extremely luxurious", arm it with the most advanced, sophisticated and lethal equipment, and then sweep away all enemies!

At this time, everyone gathered around Liu Juntao to watch carefully, and at the same time, they also praised him.

Liu Juntao wears this armor, the collar is square, the shoulder, collar, placket, and hem all have golden velvet, along the collar to the shoulder, there is also a slip of red velvet, close to the shoulder, each pick up a small pompom, increasing the thickness and three-dimensional sense of the shoulder.

Everyone was excited to look at it for a while, this new set of armor is indeed convenient, the protection is also good, and it looks heroic, it looks very powerful.

Yan Hu said with a smile: "Although this set is just the armor of the small army, it is handsome and mighty when worn on the head of the town, there is really nothing to say." ”

Everyone immediately laughed when they heard this, and Liu Juntao even pointed at Yan Hu and scolded with a smile: "You kid, I found that you are getting better and better at sycophancy, but it sounds really comfortable, haha." ”

Everyone also said a word from you and I for a while, and also put forward some small suggestions on the style of this set of armor, Liu Juntao also asked Zhang Baigui to write them down one by one, and then modify them as appropriate after going back.

At the same time, Liu Juntao also said that while the soldiers were wearing this set of armor, they still had to wear another layer of cotton armor lined with silk to increase their protection.

In this regard, everyone also agrees very much.

After all, the silk lining can effectively protect against arrows, and cotton armor can also effectively protect the enemy's possible firearms, killing two birds with one stone.