In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

After Lu Chao came out from behind the screen, he politely bowed to Qingyuan Wu and smiled warmly.

Qingyuan Wu was stunned at first, then stood up and bowed, saying: "It turns out to be Lu Dian. I am honored to meet Lu Dian here."

He naturally knew Lu Chao's identity, because Dewa Province is very close to Sado Island. He once personally brought some specialties of Dewa Province to trade and met this famous Song Dynasty businessman.

Nowadays, Song Dynasty has many merchants in Japan. Among them, the most famous and the most prestigious is Mr. Song Cai, who has a strong capital and bought a lot of shares in Iwami Silver Mine.

Then it is this Lu Chao. Among the mining rights and shares of Sado Gold Mine this time, apart from Song Cai, Mr. Lu Chao has more shares.

However, Lu Chao knows that those shares are not his, but the power behind him.

Because Lu Chao's identity is the spokesperson of the Cao family in Japan.

In the second half of the third year of Qingli, Zhao Jun, the head of the Political System Institute of the Song Dynasty, began to plan to deal with the problem of redundant soldiers.

His first thought was to resolve the dispute peacefully with the generals to avoid bloodshed, so he tried to give some benefits to the generals.

One of them was to let the generals invest and participate in the ocean trade.

For this reason, Zhao Jun even set an example for the generals, letting the Cao family participate first and take a trip to show everyone how much profit the ocean trade could make.

Although it was later proved that Zhao Jun obviously underestimated the greed of the generals, so that the plan failed, and in the end he was still forced to solve the dilemma of redundant soldiers through a purge.

But before the purge, there were still some generals who knew the times and changed their flags and chose to cooperate with the court instead of continuing to resist.

Therefore, from that time on, generals and nobles gradually joined the ocean trade and became pioneers in going to sea.

The Cao family was the first to invest, and naturally they were the first to profit. Not only did they gain a firm foothold, they also formed their own fleet, sent people to station in the local area, and bought mineral shares. They had a lot of influence in Tsushima Island, Iwami and other places.

Lu Chao was the person in charge of the fleet sent by the Cao family to the Iwami area to station and connect.

He is a nephew of a branch of the Cao family. His mother's surname is Cao. He and Zhao Jun's wife Cao Miaoxin are distant cousins ​​of the fourth generation.

His status is naturally not very high, so he was sent to this place where many people are unwilling to come.

For those children of noble families, even those of lower status, being sent to a place like Japan where there is no shit, they are definitely unwilling to go.

Because in their view, this is no different from exile.

So many people don't want to come.

Lu Chao thought so at the beginning. Although the treatment was good, he was also very resistant until he couldn't pay off his gambling debts and had no choice but to take this job.

Unexpectedly, after he came here, he found that this place is not hell, but heaven.

Although Japanese women are a little shorter, darker, and uglier. But there are always a few good-looking ones among ten thousand.

Moreover, the status of Song people here is very high, comparable to the upper class.

Ordinary women at the bottom of the society are not even qualified to serve him. Many small nobles want to marry their daughters to him, even as concubines.

Therefore, since he came here at the beginning of the fourth year of Qingli, Lu Chao couldn't stop for more than three years.

So much so that he rarely returned to Song Dynasty in the past year, and simply stayed in this place for a long time, and learned the local language.

However, although Lu Chao lived a life of debauchery here, he knew very well that the main reason why he could live so comfortably was that he had money.

Otherwise, a poor Song person coming to Japan could not live such a good life.

Therefore, making money is the main business.

So how can he make more money?

Although his salary is very high, and he can make a lot of money every time he trades, the shares are not his, and the profits are not his business.

If he takes advantage of it and embezzles, once the Cao family finds out, the consequences will be unimaginable.

So if he wants to make more money, Lu Chao must think of other ways.

Selling arms is the best way.

"Qingyuan Palace is polite, I have heard of your great name for a long time."

Lu Chao smiled slightly.

Abe Raiyoshi hurriedly said, "Mr. Lu, please take a seat."

In the Heian period, the Japanese dignitaries often addressed each other by their official titles or residence names.

However, if they were unfamiliar, they would call him "Mr. So-and-so", which was more familiar, and in informal occasions, they would call him "Mr. So-and-so".

Abe Raiyoshi obviously addressed him in this way to intentionally tell Kiyohara Takeshi about his close relationship with Lu Chao.

Lu Chao bowed slightly and then sat down in the main seat between the two of them.

Abe Raiyoshi and Kiyohara Takeshi sat facing each other, with a small tea table in the middle, on which were teapots and teacups.

Sitting between them, Lu Chao looked like the host.

The three of them didn't care about these details. Qing Yuanwu asked, "Lu Palace just said that he can provide as many weapons and armor as you want. Is that true?"

"Yes."

Lu Chao turned his head to look at him and smiled, "We are a great country with vast territory and abundant resources. Naturally, we have sufficient armaments and countless blades and armor. If Qing Yuan Palace wants it, let alone thousands of blades and thousands of armors, even tens of thousands of blades and tens of thousands of armors, our Song Dynasty can afford it."

Qing Yuanwu's breathing became rapid.

What do thousands of blades and thousands of armors mean?

It means that you can walk sideways in Japan.

Although there are millions of people in Japan now, the division is too serious.

An area of ​​200,000 to 300,000 square kilometers was divided into more than 60 or 70 countries.

Each country not only had the imperial power like the governor, but also the local powerful families like them.

And the vast majority of the population was controlled by the powerful families in various places, which led to the fact that the larger powerful families like the Fujiwara family had a large number of manors and could gather tens of thousands of troops.

Smaller families, like the Tachibana family in Echigo Province, had been reduced to lower-level nobles under the suppression of the Fujiwara family, and only a few dozen pitiful people barely managed to get the position of governor of Echigo Province.

In this way, millions of people can only gather 200,000 to 300,000 troops at most, and then each family will get a little, and hundreds of families will get a little, but each family can only get a few hundred or a few thousand people, right?

Therefore, during the Kamakura shogunate, when the Yuan Dynasty attacked Japan, they gathered the strength of the whole country, but only had 120,000 people.

So in this extremely divided situation, if a powerful family has more than 5,000 or 6,000 soldiers, it is basically one of the most powerful forces in Japan.

If these thousands of soldiers also have blades and armor, they can be said to be invincible in the world.

After all, many local nobles now use sticks as weapons and bamboo as armor. If they have iron knives and armor, wouldn't they be able to chop melons and vegetables?

Thinking of this, Qingyuan Wu did not hesitate at all and asked: "I wonder how much this blade is and how much the armor is?"

"Well."

Lu Chao glanced at Abe Raiyoshi next to him, and then said: "A crossbow requires 15 strings, a bow requires 8 strings, a set of armor requires 580 strings, and a knife requires 33 strings."

"Ah?"

This price directly shocked Qingyuan Wu, and he couldn't help but said: "So expensive?"

"Not expensive, not expensive."

Lu Chao waved his hands and said: "These blades and armor are all made by famous craftsmen in Song State. The knives are extremely sharp and the armor has high defense. Don't you have famous swords like Tongjiqi Yasunaga and Kogunimaru in Japan? Compared with them, the blades of my Song Dynasty are not only as sharp, but also five times cheaper."

He said this without blushing or panting, and there was no sign of lying at all.

In fact, the source of Lu Dynasty's weapons is actually the weapons and equipment that were eliminated by the 1.2 million imperial guards.

After Zhao Jun's army was reorganized, the main weapons of the imperial guards changed from cold weapons to hot weapons.

Even if cold weapons such as waist knives were still retained, weapons were also transformed, from the original iron knives to steel knives.

After all, due to the process problems, the swords and armors of the Song Dynasty had too much sulfur content. It was fine at ordinary times, but when fighting with Xixia, problems were exposed and it was too easy to break.

So now they are naturally replaced with steel weapons.

What should be done with so many eliminated weapons and equipment?

Basically, there are two places.

One is to go back to the furnace and melt it into molten iron to make steel.

The other is to flow into the market and sell it to countries such as Dali, Yue, and Goryeo.

Even in those years, when Xixia and Liao could exchange what they had with the Song Dynasty and there were no import and export restrictions, they also bought a lot of weapons from the Song Dynasty.

However, even so, due to the exaggerated military expenditure of the Song army in previous years, the obsolete armor and weapons piled up like a mountain, and the surrounding countries could not digest them at all when there was no war.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty still has a lot of inventory.

This gave Lu Chao an opportunity.

He had been in Japan for a few years and also noticed the division in Japan.

There are now more than 60 or 70 countries, hundreds of wealthy families, each with hundreds or thousands of soldiers. If these people were gathered together, I am afraid there would be at least more than 100,000 troops.

Although it is still small compared with the number of troops in the Song Dynasty, it is already a huge market.

And there is another problem. Countries such as Liao, Xixia, Dali, and Goryeo are not particularly short of iron ore, so they have a certain ability to manufacture weapons and armor in their own countries, and the market will be very small.

Japan is different.

Japan is not short of gold, silver, copper, sulfur and other mines, but iron ore and coal mines are extremely scarce, so their armor and weapons are also very few.

Therefore, this is a huge market.

If they can be encouraged to fight and make them have a greater demand for armor and weapons, it will be even better.

But this price was obviously unacceptable to Qingyuan Wu.

He waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Lu Palace, this is too expensive. In comparison, our weapons and armor are much cheaper than yours."

"Of course I understand, but I hope Qingyuan Palace understands that your weapons and armor are not only less produced, but also inferior in quality to our Song Dynasty's weapons and armor."

Lu Chao stood up and said, "If Qingyuan Palace doesn't believe it, you can come and see it with me."

Qingyuan Wu and Abe Raiyoshi stood up.

The three of them immediately went to the backyard. A lush tree in the yard covered the sky. Under the tree, there were several sets of armor and Song Dynasty's Pudao, Tiaodao and other blades on a shelf.

"The knife on Qingyuan Palace's waist looks good. Why not try our sword and armor?"

Lu Chao glanced at the knife on Qingyuan Wu's waist.

Qingyuan Wu waved his hands quickly and said, "Forget it, forget it, there is no need to compare. Song Dynasty's sword and armor are really powerful."

Seeing the sword and armor, Qingyuan Wu knew that there was no need to try it.

Because the knives of the Heian period in Japan were learned from the straight swords of the Tang Dynasty, the blades were narrow, thin, and short, a bit like the samurai swords of later Japan.

The steel production from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty was not particularly large, so this straight sword was widely popular.

However, after the Tang Dynasty, the period from the Song Dynasty to the Song Dynasty was the period when the steel pouring method flourished, and the steel production increased dramatically, so there was the saying of the Song Eight Swords.

The common feature of these knives is that the back of the knife is thick, and it is powerful and heavy when cutting. For example, the lifting knife equipped by the Song Army, also called a hand knife, is a bit like the machete of later generations.

If you use a machete to attack someone with a small straight knife, isn't that bullying?

"You don't have to fight with a knife, why not try armor?"

Lu Chao said enthusiastically again.

When Qingyuan Wu saw the armor, he nodded and said, "Okay, let's try it."

As he spoke, he drew his sword, walked to the wooden frame, and struck the armor hard with his sword.

There was a crisp "bang" sound, and his narrow and thin knife directly opened a gash.

The armor was intact.

Qingyuan Wu glanced at his sword distressedly and sighed: "Song's armor defense is really amazing."

Lu Chao smiled and said nothing.

In Japan, wooden sticks are used to beat bamboo armor. A few wrought iron knives would be good.

That kind of particularly good steel knife can be said to be a national treasure-level sword, the kind that can be sold for hundreds of dollars.

For example, there is a famous sword in Japan called the Great Prajna Changguang. It is a hundred-smelted steel sword and is worth 600 swords.

And such a knife can be made easily in the Song Dynasty. If it is sold to Japan, wouldn't it be crazy?

Therefore, even if these swords and armors are outdated equipment eliminated by the Song Army, if placed in Japan, they would already be like gods.

"It's just that the price is still too expensive. I can't afford it at all."

Qingyuan Wu shook his head and sighed.

As he spoke, he looked at Abe Nora and said, "Abe-don is indeed rich, and he can afford such expensive knives and armor."

"If Qingyuan Palace is serious about it, the price is not impossible to negotiate."

Lu Chao smiled.

Abe Yoriyang also said: "Qingyuanden doesn't know what I know. I can't afford these knives and armors, but the price Ludian sold to me is much cheaper."

"Oh? How much cheaper can it be?"

Qingyuan Wu asked hurriedly.

"The cheapest one is a crossbow with only 3 strings, a bow with 500 strings, armor with 80 strings, and a sword with 7 strings."

Lu Chao quoted the final low price, which was indeed very conscientious and cheap.

Historically, during the Renzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty, in the Shaanxi area where there was a war with Xixia, a crossbow cost 500 coins per gun, a bow cost 700-800 coins, a pair of full armor of the Shenwu Army was worth 58 guns and 200 coins, and a vest cost 40 coins and 100 coins. Wen, 300 Wen for 3 swords.

The price will definitely be more expensive during the war. In terms of cost alone, these items are estimated to be discounted by half to one-third. For example, a set of full-body armor should cost around 30-40 pieces.

But you must know that this is shipped to Japan, and the freight cost alone is very high. Therefore, if the price is only doubled, it is already a reasonable price.

"Is it so much cheaper all at once? Then."

Qingyuan Wu was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "What is the price?"

"Kiyohara-don is a smart man, and I believe he can understand what Abe-don and I want."

Lu Chao smiled and said: "If Qingyuan Palace is willing to form an offensive and defensive alliance with Abe Palace, I can sell the weapons to you at this price."

"Well"

Qingyuanwu fell silent.

He naturally knew that Lu Chao wanted to encourage the two of them to separate themselves, and even the more chaos Japan had, the better.

In this way, once there is a war, his ordnance will sell better.

So does Takeshi Kiyohara have such ambitions?

Of course there is.

Otherwise, why would he later send troops to attack the Abe clan? Wasn't it because he coveted the Abe clan's Mutsu territory?

So after a brief silence, he said without any hesitation: "If Lu Dian is willing to sell the weapons to me at this price, of course I can form an alliance with Abe-don, but..."

Kiyohara Takeshi said with a wry smile: "But even so, I think it is still very expensive. After all, Abe-don is very wealthy and there are many mineral deposits in the country, but my country, Dewa, is very poor."

He has more than 3,000 people under his command, and each person needs more than 20,000 swords. Where does he get so much money?

"It doesn't matter if you don't have money. I heard that a mine was recently discovered in Dewa Country. It's called the Ani Mine?"

Lu Chao asked.

"Yes, but we have searched this mine. There are very few mines outside. It requires a lot of people to dig it out. This requires huge manpower and material resources."

Qingyuanwu shook his head and said: "It is too difficult to mine this mine, otherwise I would have sent people to dig it long ago."

Lu Chao smiled and said: "Qingyuan Palace doesn't need to worry about this. I just need you to hand over the mining rights to me. From now on, I will not only bring you generous returns every year, but also have a very powerful force."

"What Lu Dian means is that this mine will be mined by you?"

Qingyuan Wu's eyes widened.

"nature."

Lu Chao smiled confidently.

The Japanese cannot mine it because their mining tools and mining technology are backward.

After all, although the Japanese in the Heian Period passed the Dahua Reform, they learned from the Tang Dynasty and entered the feudal society from the Stone Age.

However, Japan's shortage of iron resources still cannot be solved. As a result, most of the agricultural tools used by their farmers are stone or bronze, and the number of iron tools is pitiful.

Isn’t it a joke to use this kind of equipment for mining?

However, the Lu Dynasty can transport a large number of mining tools from China and recruit local people to dig, without having to worry about technology and tools.

Therefore, the Japanese could not open those mines, but they could mine them. This is how the Iwami Silver Mine was mined.

After learning what Lu Chao meant, Qingyuan Wu pondered for a moment and then said: "Okay, then as Lu Dian said, I will hand over the mining rights of the Aren Mine to you."

"Then thank you Qingyuan Palace."

Lu Chao smiled even brighter.

Kiyohara Takeshi looked at him deeply and said: "Lu Dian is really scary. He can easily start a war. Abe-don and I are both pawns in Lu Dian's hands."

"I'm just an ordinary businessman, here to help everyone's expectations."

Lu Chao smiled humbly and said: "Don't you two really want to become a prince, and even go south to Heian Kyo, defeat the Fujiwara clan, and become regent? Everything I do is to help you."

Abe Yoriyang and Kiyohara Takeshi looked at each other, and then they both laughed.

Yes.

They did know that the Lu Dynasty instigated them to rebel in order to sell arms.

But so what?

Who would be willing to just be a local tycoon?

Since the army is strong and the horse is strong, it is natural to establish himself as the king, and even covet a higher position.

So this is a conspiracy.

Even if both of them knew this, they would jump in willingly.

As long as they are ambitious, that is enough.