Chapter 62: It hurts but it's cheap

The factory where Master Jiang worked was separated out by Yan Xu. In addition to ordinary processing, he was busy with more orders placed by him. For example, the samples of the new armor he requested were produced in just two days.

The new armor looks like fish scale armor, but it is actually fish scale-shaped metal armor plates fixed to the cut canvas with rivets.

The canvas itself is quite strong. After being covered with a layer of fish scale armor, it has a good defensive effect against arrows and cutting. The most important thing is that it is lighter and more flexible than bamboo armor, and it is not expensive.

Yan Xu plans to use this kind of armor for the katana team.

In theory, a katana equipped with heavy armor can be used for both fighting and resisting, but in reality it is not realistic because physical strength is consumed too quickly, so this new armor was invented.

In addition to ordering a batch of better quality weapons and equipment for personal use, swords and guns made from discarded iron bars and steel bars still need to be produced, because the arms business is currently the main source of gold and silver in the Japanese world. After the trade route is opened, salt, sugar, and iron will become new sources of income, so weapons continue to be produced, and a batch of bamboo mats and armor are also ordered.

In addition, Yan Xu also bought a batch of lymph meat, cockscomb oil, and scraps through Gou Qiang's relationship, and then found a factory to process them into canned food, and then added the indispensable starch sausage, and everything was complete.

If Yan Xu had not had cat and dog pictures printed on the canned food and starch sausages and explained that they were pet food, he would probably have been treated as a close friend by the owner of the cannery.

It was only then that Yan Xu realized that the behavior that had been condemned by his conscience had already become commonplace here, and there were even more excessive practices, which made him lose his appetite for the next few days.

However, this matter is not something he can control. Even if he reports it, it will be of no use. Otherwise, countless small factories across the country will have to close down.

Although they have tried to save costs as much as possible, and he feels guilty about the raw materials they use, the cost is still too high. Because once the machine is turned on, they will not produce for you if the quantity is small, so the cost naturally cannot be low.

Although a lot of canned food was produced, Yan Xu still needed more convenient and cheaper food as strategic reserves, which was another huge expense.

I thought I would have to rely on Gou Qiang's connections in this regard, but I didn't expect that when I was ordering clothes and chatting with the owner of the cloth shop, I actually found an extra way.

I don't know if the cloth shop owner has a special liking for overstocked goods. In addition to old cloth, he actually has other overstocked goods on hand, such as old military uniforms, tents, engineer shovels, compressed biscuits, etc. If it weren't for the noise of "bang bang bang swish swish", he would have suspected that the other party had some side job abroad.

Upon asking, I found out that the cloth shop owner had a cousin who was in charge of the storage warehouse.

Reserve warehouses were originally used for military purposes, because at that time the entire nation was preparing for war. Not only were air-raid shelters dug everywhere, but all kinds of war preparedness items were also produced. They were prepared for the Third World War and even the mushroom winter.

But now is no longer the time when the whole nation was preparing for war. The things in the warehouses are either outdated or expired, becoming a historical legacy that is difficult to resolve. Therefore, as long as you have the connections, you can buy them at extremely low prices.

Yan Xu took a fancy to the compressed biscuits, tents and engineering shovels. As for the military uniforms, although they were cheap, he thought that his men were not worthy of them.

Yan Xu has taken a look at the batch of compressed biscuits purchased. Although they are from the 1990s, they should be edible, but it is not recommended to eat them.

It was cheap enough, so cheap that Yan Xu couldn't help but buy a lot of it. But when he went to the warehouse to deliver the goods, he actually saw the old man who almost went to the battlefield.

These compressed biscuits stored in the air-raid shelter and forgotten by people were almost as old as his life. He didn't know if they were edible. The warehouse manager told him with certainty that they were edible, but it was not recommended to eat them. If they were processed into animal feed, they would probably, should, maybe, and possibly. After asking about the price, it was no longer a question of cheapness, so Yan Xu couldn't help but take away a lot of them.

After returning, he opened a barrel of the oldest one and had to admire that the people at that time were indeed responsible. Although the production technology was not advanced, the quality was much better than today's products. After such a long time, there was no sign of mold or deterioration. He smelled it and it seemed to be fine. So he looked at the pig, then at the pig farmer, and was silent for a moment. Finally, he cooked it into a big pot of paste and let both sides share it.

Compressed biscuits are made of refined grains, and are added with oil, salt, sugar, and even milk powder. Regardless of the date, the taste is far better than the food eaten by ancient civilians. At least the farmers eat it with relish, and the piglets also eat it with great relish.

"It seems that the gastrointestinal medicine I bought is useless." Yan Xu nodded.

Of course, although it is edible, long-term consumption will definitely have an impact on health. After all, it is impossible for all ingredients to not deteriorate at all, such as carcinogens.

But considering the average life expectancy in ancient times, he didn't think the other party would live long enough to have health problems. He might even be able to prolong his life by eating more nutritious compressed biscuits for a long time.

In modern times, with the abundance of material goods, we can be picky and consider health issues. In ancient times when people were unable to get enough food, the only thing we had to consider was not being driven crazy by hunger to the point of eating people.

With this batch of extremely cheap supplies, Yan Xu breathed a sigh of relief and was in the mood to go to the hardware factory to see how the cannons were made.

That's right, in order to deal with the war launched by the Otomo family, Yan Xu was ready to use the God of War. Because the number difference between the two sides was too great, it would not be cost-effective to rely solely on soldiers fighting, even if Onimaruyama Castle had the advantage of geographical location. So he thought of artillery.

Of course, Yan Xu would not break the law, so his so-called cannon firing was just a side job, and it was impossible for him to really build a cannon.

The cannon made in the factory is simply made by cutting off the top of a purchased discarded fire extinguisher, which is then polished a little and mounted on a bracket. Its shape is similar to the ancient tiger squatting cannon, but it does not fire cannonballs, but custom-made fireworks shells.

When custom-making fireworks, Yan Xu did not require colorful ones. He only had one requirement, which was that they must be loud enough, like thunder in a drought, because loudness meant that they were powerful enough.

In his previous life, not many people would dare to do what Yan Xu asked, and he would probably have to find several companies. But nowadays it is not a big deal. The boss of the fireworks factory smokes a cigarette and pats his chest loudly, promising to make him satisfied. If he is not satisfied, he will be set on fire.

Staring at the cigarette in the boss' mouth, even though it was not lit, Yan Xu's face still turned a little dark. He quickly paid the deposit and left, fearing that the man in front of him would just take out a lighter and light it up.

As soon as Yan Xu arrived at the hardware factory, he went to see the cannon. If it was feasible, he would finalize the production. Unexpectedly, it looked quite good.

The original Tiger Crouching Cannon was cast very heavily to prevent it from exploding. It was not as light and thin as the small cannon in front of you. A person could hold two and still jog along.

This is mainly because fireworks do not require excessively high chamber pressure, and the fire extinguisher itself is pressure-resistant, and the material is of better quality, so it does not need to be thickened or have several iron hoops added to the outside.

You can see that there are two tiger claw-like struts in front of the smooth and short gun body, and a serrated metal strip is welded to the bottom of the gun to prevent the gun from moving backwards.

From a modern perspective, the overall shape is not very good, but this does not hinder its functionality and low price.

(End of this chapter)