The drumming stopped, and I saw a person slowly walking out of the corner door, he was already covered with a special fire alkane armor, holding an arc-shaped fire shield, and was walking step by step to the center of the field, where there was a wooden barrel, filled with fire oil.

"Your Majesty, this is a death row prisoner, the minister borrowed it from Dali Temple, if he can complete this experiment, then the Ministry of Punishment can spare him from the death penalty at its discretion." Fang Zongyan explained in a low voice on the side.

Zhang Huan didn't speak, he looked at this tester intently, he used the oil drum in the center of the venue, and when it burned, it would instantly produce a wave of flames, which was very powerful.

At this moment, a soldier appeared by the corner gate, holding a rocket in his hand, and slowly aimed at the surface of the oil barrel, where the lid was open, revealing the black surface of the oil.

Gradually, the tester approached the oil drum, whoosh! With a bang, the rocket drew an arc and accurately shot into the oil barrel, all the people on the scene held their breath at once, a circle of flames ignited on the oil barrel, and then it burned bigger and bigger, the tester's legs obviously began to tremble, and he took a step back, suddenly, a flame rose into the air, the tongue of fire burst out in all directions, the tester was suddenly engulfed in the fire, everyone only saw a bright yellow sea of fire, but no human figure, only in an instant, the tongue of fire was retracted, revealing the tester's straight body, he suddenly and slowly fell, There was an exclamation from the stands, and all the officials stood up.

Zhang Huan didn't move, he could see very clearly, the tester's fire alkane armor turned gray, but there was no damage, and at the moment when the flames reached his body, he threw away the fire shield in his hand, Zhang Huan knew that this person was scared out nine times out of ten. But on the battlefield of bloody fighting, it is impossible for a cowardly person like him to appear. In other words, if under this kind of red flame, this person is just stunned, then it proves that Du Huandi Huoanejia has succeeded.

At this time, several attendants ran forward and extinguished the flames with sand, dragged the tester aside, untied the fire alkane for him, and checked for a moment, when suddenly someone stood up and shouted, "He's still alive!" ”

There was cheering in the stands. Zhang Huan smiled slightly. At this time, Du Huan walked forward quickly and saluted Zhang Huanshen, "The minister succeeded by luck." ”

"Mr. Du's fire alkane nail has opened my eyes, I wonder if you still have any difficulties that I need me to help you solve?"

"Back to Your Majesty. Chendi fire ane is very bulky and inconvenient to walk. It's just to adapt to naval warfare, and on land you still need to use light fire clothes, but the effect of fire lane taking hemp blending is far less than using cotton, and now the lack of cotton cloth in Datang is the most important problem faced by the minister. ”

Cotton cloth? Zhang Huan didn't know what cotton was, at this time, Fang Zongyan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, cotton cloth is white folded cloth, and it is bought in the East Market, which is very expensive." ”

Zhang Huan suddenly realized, suddenly. He seemed to remember something. After a deep sigh, he said: "I remember that there are a lot of them in Zuozang, and they are all obtained from trade with the Western Regions. I'll take you to see it. The group got up and went to Taifu Temple, Taifu Temple was opposite the Ordnance Prison, and arrived in a moment, Zhang Yansheng, the secretary of Taifu Temple, heard that His Majesty had arrived, and hurriedly ran out to greet him.

"The minister doesn't know that His Majesty is coming, please forgive Your Majesty!"

Zhang Huan smiled and said, "I am inspecting the Ordnance Supervisor today, but the Ordnance Supervisor needs white cloth, I remember that you had this item in stock in your last report, so I took them to take a look." ”

Zhang Yanxiang slapped his forehead, "Yes!" Yes! The minister will take His Majesty there. ”

The two most important warehouses in the Tang Dynasty, one is Zuozang, the other is Taicang, Taicang is mainly to store grain, located in the Dasi Nong Temple, and Zuozang is mainly to store money, in addition to gold and jade, jewelry, silk and other things are also stored in Zuozang, which occupies a huge area, is composed of hundreds of warehouses of warehouse groups, and is very heavily guarded.

The white cloth that Zhang Huan was looking for was in the utility warehouse, Zuo Zangcheng led everyone to the huge warehouse, opened the warehouse, and as the door rumbled open, a long dry smell rushed to his face, Zhang Yansheng said apologetically: "Your Majesty, many of the things in this place are left by Emperor Suzong, and they are old, please don't blame Your Majesty!" ”

"I remember that the King of Qiuzi paid tribute to a batch of white cloth on New Year's Day, and it is still there?"

"In! Take Your Majesty with you. Zuo Zangcheng answered, and walked into the huge warehouse with the emperor and hundreds of other people.

This is the national warehouse of the Tang Dynasty, the momentum is magnificent, there are 300 steps in depth, more than 20 zhang high, the materials inside are piled up, but they are classified and placed neatly, which is convenient for the audit of accounts, about 100 steps, Zuo Zangcheng took everyone to the storage point of cotton cloth, all of them are bundles of bundles, a bundle of ten horses, about more than 100 bundles, mainly from the Great Food and the Western Regions, etc., there are trade gains, and there are tributes.

Zhang Huan smiled and said to Du Huan behind him: "Mr. Du, is so much cotton cloth enough?" ”

Du Huan shook his head, "Your Majesty, it was the minister who didn't make it clear, the minister needs to blend cotton thread and fire lane to make fire ane cloth, not woven cotton cloth." ”

This Zhang Huan is a little embarrassed, Datang does not produce cotton, so how can he make cotton threads.

Du Huan seemed to understand what Zhang Huan was thinking, he smiled slightly: "Your Majesty, the minister has been eating for many years, and has also been to Egypt and Byzantium, and the minister found that the people there don't seem to grow hemp, they all grow cotton, and the yield is large, especially the soft and warm are much better than hemp, which can solve the problem of clothing for a large number of people, and Anxi also has it, why doesn't Your Majesty let the people of the Central Plains plant a large number of them to increase their income?" ”

Because the grain output in the Jianghuai region is much larger than that in the Central Plains, the water source is sufficient, and it is not easy to cause disasters, so Zhang Huan considered that the Jianghuai region mainly grows grain, and the Central Plains region changes to mulberry hemp, and now Du Huan persuaded him to plant cotton.

Zhang Huan glanced at him and smiled quietly, Du Huan knew that the emperor saw his true intentions, and he quickly knelt down, "Your Majesty, please forgive the ministers for their false crimes!" ”

"If you want to persuade me in the future, just say it directly, don't go around the bush, I won't blame you, get up first!" Zhang Huan didn't take Du Huan's untruthfulness to heart, he really had a little interest in this kind of cotton cloth, so he said to Zuo Zangchen: "Pick out a bundle and let me take a look." ”

Zuo Zangchen immediately stepped forward and picked up a bundle of more fragments, took out half of the horse and handed it to Zhang Huan, "Your Majesty, this is from the Great Food Trade last year, please take a look." ”

Zhang Huan took the cotton cloth and unfolded it gently, the snow-white fabric was soft and comfortable, and the feel was much better than the linen cloth, at this time, Zuo Zangchen took out another section, offered it with both hands, without touching it, only a light glance, Zhang Huan felt that this section of cotton cloth was a little different from the cotton cloth just now, the color was gray and cold, there was no feeling of fullness and brightness, he reached out and touched it again, this cotton cloth was rough in his hand, completely without the softness and comfort just now, and even the hemp could not be compared.

Zhang Huan frowned and asked, "Where is this cotton cloth?" ”

Zuo Zangchen hurriedly said: "Back to Your Majesty, this is produced by Gaochang Kingdom, and it is indeed a lot rougher. ”

"No wonder there is cotton in the Western Regions for hundreds of years, but it can't enter the Central Plains, it's me, and I'd rather buy fine hemp." Zhang Huan shook his head, and said to Du Huan: "If you have a way to make my Datang cotton cloth also like the big cotton cloth just now, then I will adopt your suggestion and promote cotton planting in the Central Plains." ”

Du Huan hurriedly gave a deep salute, "Your Majesty, the cotton cloth of Dashi is mainly from Egypt, and the minister is willing to take a sea boat to go to Dashi and invite Egyptian textile craftsmen to come to Datang to teach skills for Your Majesty." ”

"You can't go, if you go and get caught by Da Shi again, won't all the secrets of my Datang's weapons be revealed?" Zhang Huan waved his hand and smiled, at this time, he suddenly thought of something, but he couldn't see it clearly, it seemed to be an extremely important thing, he thought hard for a while, but he still couldn't remember what it was.

In the end, he had to shake his head and say to everyone: "Let's go!" I have lost too much time today, and I have to rush back to deal with the affairs of the court. ”

Everyone walked out of the warehouse with him, and walked to the gate of Taifu Temple, Zhang Huan smiled at Du Huan: "I will send someone else to complete the matter of going to Egypt to learn textile technology, Mr. just concentrate on the study of weapons, it is best to get out the Greek fire of the big food, and we will return it to others in the way of others." ”

Du Huan hurriedly waved his hand, "Your Majesty, the Greek fire formula of Da Shi was stolen from Byzantium by them with great difficulty, and it is their top secret, just like our Da Tang Lei formula, Da Shi also dreamed of it, but it was difficult to get it." ”

"Gunpowder!" Zhang Huan's mind flashed these two words like lightning and fire, this is the extremely important thing he couldn't remember just now, that is, Da Shi's thirst for gunpowder, at this time, Zhang Huan smiled coldly, he had already guessed the real goal of the Hui secret agent, what was exposed in Luoyang, what leader went to Jianghuai, this is their trick to hide the truth from the world, is to direct their attention to the east, if they want to get the formula of gunpowder, in addition to Chang'an, there is only Longyou in another place.

(Cotton was introduced to the Western Regions as early as the Han Dynasty, but it has been only used as a flower planting, until the Song and Yuan dynasties began to be planted on a large scale in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Lao Gao can not find the reason why cotton cloth has not been promoted for thousands of years, considering the appearance of Huang Daopo during the Song and Yuan dynasties, Lao Gao thinks that this may be related to textile technology, the textile cost of cotton cloth in the Han and Tang dynasties is too high, in fact, the cotton textile technology in Egypt during the Tang Dynasty has been quite developed, but there is no opportunity to introduce it to China, but if the imperial court can pay attention to the results of Du Huan's journey to the west, Perhaps a lot of China's history will be rewritten, and Lao Gao is allowed to do it here, and finally whisper for a monthly pass. ）