Aztec Eternals

Shulot passed through the busy courtyard and headed to the northwest of the Shenqi Institute, which was the research area for armor equipment. The person in charge here is Mattel, an armor maker from the Holy City, who is good at leather armor in addition to being proficient in cotton armor.

The cotton and leather armor of the Mexicans is quite mature. Every young samurai is equipped with ichkavipili, light cotton armor in the form of a waistcoat. Second-level samurai and above are equipped with different levels of Traveztelli, that is, bright full-body cotton armor. The more elite senior warriors will transition from cotton armor to leather-encrusted cotton armor, or sleeveless lace-up leather armor.

The main reason for the widespread popularity of cotton armor is the low production cost. Central America is one of the most important origins of cotton. It has extremely rich cotton resources, and the American ancestors have an amazingly long history of domesticating cotton. During this era, upland cotton grown by the Mexican tribes was the most productive variety in the world, far exceeding that of Indian cotton at the same time.

When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico and the Yucatan, they discovered the advantages of fine-staple cotton production here, and they would in turn bring them back to Eurasia, and then quickly spread to replace the original cotton species.

Sherlot knew that in later generations, 90% of the world's cotton production would be upland cotton originating in Mexico. In fact, the American civilization has no cattle and sheep, and lacks leather and wool, so it has gone a long way in plant domestication. Corn squash, sweet potatoes, tomato avocado, chili passion fruit, cocoa tobacco, and high-yield short-staple cotton are the outstanding contributions of the ancient American civilization to the world, which have completely changed human life. This is another great form of civilization.

When Shilot entered the workshop of making nails, the fragrance of cotton grease wafted into his nostrils, making people light and relaxed.

The young man looked around, and the craftsmen put several kilograms of cotton wool into the mold, and after soaking in water, they were repeatedly molded, and pressed layer by layer into a thick sheet, that is, cotton sheet. At this time, the field in the middle of the workshop is full of cotton sheets that are drying. If these cotton sheets do not swell after being exposed to the sun for a day, they are considered qualified and can be used to make cotton armor.

In the corner of the workshop, master armor maker Mattel was sitting by a large pool, tanning a nearly four-meter-long crocodile skin. This is the fresh raw material that the warriors just sent from Tianhuo Island, please ask the armor master to help make leather armor.

Compared with cotton, the material of leather is more rare. The only sources of leather for the Mexicas were the rare wild deer, coyotes, jaguars, and huge crocodiles. Years of veteran samurai will enter the mountains to try to ambush wild deer, chase tigers and wolves, and hunt predators, so as to make cherished and tough leather armor for themselves. Leather armor has thus become a symbol of high-ranking samurai.

Shirott strode closer and watched carefully. The crocodile skin has been soaked and washed, soft and clean, the protein fibers have been fully stretched and swelled, and now it is put into the pool of tanned leather. The pool was filled with diced bark, and a layer of grease floated on the water.

The young man smelled the slightly pungent smell, and then smelled the unique aroma of pine trees. He looked at the texture of the bark again, and it was indeed tannin-rich pine bark, possibly some fir bark. The sap tannins in the bark will flow into the water, and then penetrate into the skin and combine with collagen to completely denature the structure of the protein, making the leather into leather, making the leather tough and no longer corrupt.

Mattel vigorously turned the crocodile skin in the pool, as if he was training a huge beast. This stirring process lasts two quarters of an hour a day. After about a few weeks, the skin will soften and you can take it out and tap it again. After tanning is complete, it is washed and stretched on a wooden frame to dry. Finally, optionally smooth and oil, polish and knead until it is completely formed.

There is a soft and tough jaguar skin in the hall where Shilot works, as a cushion for his office. Jaguar noble warriors also like to wear tiger skins, or make tiger skins into leather armor to show their bravery and strength.

Seeing His Highness coming, Mattel respectfully knelt down and salutes. He was about forty years old, with an ordinary appearance, and there was a long slanted claw mark on his face. Looking at his thick fingers, thick calluses, and quick and powerful movements, he was obviously an excellent hunter.

Shirott immediately took two steps forward, smiling and holding up the Armor Maker.

Mattel is an old man in the holy city, whom he has known since childhood. He is a senior civilian samurai, good at hunting, good at making armor, and finally retired from the samurai to become a master of armor making, and has a high status in the Holy City army. The boy's leather armor and moccasin boots were made by Mattelard.

Mattel is a direct descendant that can be fully trusted. This time, when the Shenqi Institute was established, Shulot specially invited the master of armor from the holy city to be responsible for the research of armor.

"Matrar, is the armor I asked you to try ready? How about the defense? How much is the labor?" Sherlot asked earnestly.

The armor maker smiled gently and handed over the work to the apprentice. His character is much better than that of Cushingki, and at this time, he personally walked to the row of armors placed on the wooden frame and explained it to His Highness in detail.

"Your Highness, please take a look. Here are the cloth copper armor, cloth paper armor, rattan armor, and finally the rattan armor that I made myself."

Shulot nodded slightly, his eyes showing anticipation. Cotton armor can effectively defend against obsidian weapons and arrows, but it is weak against bronze weapons, and it is difficult to resist the piercing of copper spears. The teenager searched the various equipment in his memory and tried to restore the armor master.

"The first is this cloth copper armor. According to His Highness's suggestion, I nailed a lot of copper nails and copper pieces inside, and then filled them with cotton pieces and leather. In order to save copper materials, copper nails and copper pieces are concentrated on the chest. and the position of the shoulders. Each pair of cloth-covered bronze armor is between 20 and 30 pounds of copper, plus the cotton armor itself, it weighs 30 to 40 pounds.

It's fully defensive against stick cuts, slightly weaker against bludgeoning. For bows and arrows, Tlaxcala bows and arrows are completely unbreakable, and the Mexica longbow needs to be shot at close range. And against the copper axes and spears of the Tarasco people, this cloth-covered copper armor is also very strong. "

Speaking of which, Mattel sighed sincerely, the scars on his face shaking in surprise.

"However, as I said before. A pair of cloth copper armor needs at least 20 catties of copper and 10 catties of cotton. Special craftsmen are required to make copper nails with copper sheets and then fix them on the cotton armor. The production cost and The labor is very expensive. This armor is also extremely heavy, and only an elite warrior can bear it for a long time."

With that said, the Tarasco bronze axe that Mattel had brought to test, chopped several times, and the cloth-covered bronze armor was not fatally damaged. Then he changed to a copper spear, stabbed the front several times, and was then slid away by the copper nail. Only flanking attacks are effective and lethal, and these positions will be defended with weapons and shields.

Touching the smooth copper nails on the surface of the cloth armor, Shiloh nodded in satisfaction and fell into contemplation.

In this era, cloth armor has begun to be popularized in Daming due to its excellent performance and low cost. The elite frontier troops of the Ming army were equipped with a large amount of cloth-covered iron armor, which could even weigh 40 to 50 pounds, becoming a new type of heavy armor. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Spaniards brought the cotton of the Mexicans to the world, and the cotton production of the Celestial Dynasty would greatly increase, so that the cloth armor became the standard equipment of the standing army~www.readwn.com~ During the Ming and Qing Dynasties The proportion of iron armor equipment will therefore exceed that of any previous dynasty.

Cloth-covered armor is surprisingly good at defending against traditional swords. Compared with plate armor and tie armor, it is much cheaper in terms of craftsmanship and cost, but its defense power has not been reduced much, and it is easy to maintain and maintain, and can be widely used in the standing army of the Eastern Empire. At the same time, the padded cotton pieces can effectively defend against emerging firearms, similar to the most basic body armor.

Then, Shirot shook his head and smiled bitterly. This kind of cheap and efficient equipment for the Ming Dynasty was placed in the Mexican Union and Central America, but it was extremely expensive and advanced equipment, and it was a truly invincible heavy armor.

A pair of cloth-covered bronze armor consumes 20 to 30 catties of bronze. These bronzes are enough to make 50 taels of spearheads, and provide 50 village militiamen with weapons that can threaten the samurai. However, the Alliance does not produce copper and cannot afford hundreds of heavy copper armor. At the same time, the production of cloth copper armor consumes a lot of labor.

More importantly, this technology skips the forging difficulty and overweight problems of the overall bronze armor. Once it flows into the hands of the Tarasco people and pierces this layer of window paper, it will truly arm the enemy in the West, multiply the strength of the other side, and change the military contrast between the two sides.

Thinking of the thousands of cloth-covered bronze armored warriors, Shulot shuddered and shook his head again. He pondered for a moment, and then asked Mattel to put away the cloth copper armor, and the production technology was temporarily sealed. And when the alliance goes west and obtains a stable copper mine, the cloth copper armor will start to be installed, bringing unexpected surprises to the next war target, as well as deep despair.

Next, the boy looked at the cloth paper armor, this new and ancient cheap equipment, and showed a sincere smile.