The Rise of the European Emperor

Swords and the like, there is no shortage of samurai under the command of other daimyos. After all, Japan is a place that produces high-quality samurai swords. It is difficult for Marin to open up the market when he sells knives.

However, during the Warring States Period, what Japan lacked the most was actually armor. As I said before, when the daimyo army is fighting, only the samurai can afford to wear serious armor. As for the ashigaru, because Japan lacks iron, they don't even have metal weapons, so many simply use sharpened bamboo poles as weapons. Most of the armor on them was crudely made of bamboo and wood. Of course, that doesn't mean it's defenseless. When facing the opponent who also uses a sharpened bamboo pole, he may be able to resist it...

As for the Japanese samurai, the nobles generally wear large armor with more metal pieces. However, even the large armor is made of metal and leather pieces. Without him, if all metal pieces were used, the armor would weigh at least forty or fifty catties...

And with the height of the Japanese in this era, a "primary school student" who is 1.41 meters and 5.0 meters can run in armor weighing 40 to 50 kilograms? Are you still fighting a war?

Therefore, even if it is a large armor, more iron pieces will only be used in key parts. For less important parts, leather armor pieces are basically used. Otherwise, the samurai would not have to fight.

Later, after foot combat became dominant, the lightweight armor shells made of leather and bamboo pieces became popular among Japanese samurai armor. Wearing this lightweight bamboo and leather shell, the samurai can charge lightly and wield a samurai sword freely.

Therefore, in this era, the most popular among short Japanese samurai is actually leather armor, not iron armor. Of course, the important parts of high-end leather armor must be made of iron. Otherwise, security is not enough.

And because the North Sea country is now killing sharks in large numbers, there are a lot of shark skins, so it can use shark skins to make armor and exchange cattle with Japan.

In fact, it is more cost-effective to take shark skin to trade in the Ming Dynasty. After all, Marin's commercial demands in the Ming Dynasty were greater. However, since the idea of ​​hunting whales in Hokkaido fishing grounds and producing soap locally to sell to the Ming Dynasty people, the trade of shark skin has become less important. After all, the production of soap is large and the profit is high enough.

The armor is made of shark skin, and some iron pieces are nailed to the key parts. The manufacturing process is simple and the cost is not high. And, certainly popular with samurai.

In addition, for a big country that uses swords, the Japanese have a great demand for scabbards. You know, every samurai wants to have a good knife. And a good knife also needs a high-grade scabbard.

As far as Marin knows, the reason why the Dutch let people hunt sika deer after occupying Taiwan Island is because Japanese samurai have a strong demand for samurai sword scabbards made of sika deer skin.

Then, every year, the Dutch plunder hundreds of thousands of buckskins from Taiwan Island and export them to Japan. This shows how strong Japan's demand for leather is. And shark skin happens to be the best leather for making scabbards. Therefore, being sought after by Japanese samurai is almost a foregone conclusion...

It can be said that the market for shark skin scabbards in Japan is much larger than that in Daming. After all, the Ming Dynasty was dominated by scholars, the status of warriors was low, and few people used expensive swords. In Japan, owning a samurai sword is a status symbol. And for the sake of showing off, those warriors have a greater desire for sharkskin scabbards.

Before, Marin didn't think about getting anything from Japan, so naturally he didn't care about selling it to them. However, today, Marin's development of Hokkaido requires a large number of cattle that can cultivate paddy fields. Therefore, exchanging the armor and scabbard made of shark skin with the Japanese daimyo for farm cattle became a last resort.

After all, farm cattle are a strategic resource, and the daimyos of the agricultural country of Japan will not take them out easily. However, when encountering armor and high-grade katana scabbards that are good for their battles,

They couldn't help it. After all, during the Warring States Period, armament was the most important thing. Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will be wiped out by the names of other villages...

...

However, when it comes to leather, the five Baigeri put forward different opinions to Marin...

Several Sauron warriors thought that using sharkskin for armor was too extravagant. Because, in the eastern region, no matter in the Central Plains, in the bitterly cold Northeast, or in Japan, the scabbards made of shark skin are very popular high-end scabbards and are very valuable.

Even barbarians like the Jurchens like sharkskin scabbards very much. Just like several treasured swords of Qianlong, they were all made of shark skin. As for Bai Geri and the other five Saurons, although they had never seen a shark skin scabbard, they still yearned for it.

So, when Marin said that he planned to use shark skin to make leather armor, he shouted that it was a waste...

"But, I only have a lot of shark skin and it's not worth much..." Marin said helplessly.

Shark skin is also known as "dragon skin" in the East, so it is naturally very popular. In Europe, there is no relevant history and culture, so it is not particularly sought after. Therefore, Marin doesn't value shark skin very much, and thinks it is a popular product. However, East Asia, influenced by Chinese history and culture, is very fond of shark skin.

As for the "cheap leather armor decorated with iron pieces" armor that Marin said, Muren thought for a while and said:

"Khan, what do you mean, you want to provide Japanese samurai with cheap armor with a little bit of iron?"

Marin nodded, while Muren continued:

"Since that's the case, you don't need to use any shark skin anymore. You can buy deer skin directly from Nurgandus. Do you know that when the weather is cold, the 'Cuoluozi' where we Saurons live, we wrap their skins It is full of suede, deerskin, roe deer skin and other kinds of leather, and the floor of the house is also covered with leather..."

"In the Nurgan area, only mink is the most affordable leather, which can be exchanged for money and goods. As for deerskin, suede, roe deer skin and even wolf skin, they are worthless things in every household. You only need Spend a little salt and clothes, and you can get a lot of cheap leather. If you use an iron pot, you can get at least ten buckskins, weighing more than a hundred catties..."

"Fuck!" Marin couldn't help but swear.

He really didn't expect that deerskin, which is still valuable in Europe, is completely worthless local goods used by every household in the Northeast corner of this era...

In fact, the Sauron people usually eat venison and roe deer until they vomit. They eat three meals a day. There are really a lot of deer skins, and no one buys them... There is no way, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty ventured there, It is not rare to buy deerskins with low profits, and only willing to buy expensive products such as mink fur and ginseng with super high profits... As for deerskins, although this thing has a profit point, it is a bit interesting for businessmen who venture out of customs. not on...

As Muren said, in the Northeast of this era, an iron pot can be used as a dowry to marry a beautiful Sauron or Jurchen beauty. Moreover, this dowry is very expensive, and it is absolutely affordable, just like dowrying a luxury car in later generations...

There is no way, at this time in the Northeast, ironware is in short supply, especially iron pots. As long as Marin gets more iron pots, he can exchange for a mountain of buckskins. An iron pot can be exchanged for more than 100 catties of high-quality deerskin...

And more than one hundred catties of deerskin can make more than ten sets of double-layered thick leather armor. But a big iron pot is only worth more than two hundred cash in Daming. A piece of buckskin worth ten catties was worth 480 ren in the Ming Dynasty, and could buy two large iron pots.

But in the Northeast, it's the other way around. An iron pot can be exchanged for at least ten high-quality deerskins. If you are a bit unscrupulous, you can exchange 20 cards...

In short, in the Northeast of this era, leather is one of the least valuable local products. As long as Marin is willing, he can buy it by boat or boat at a low price...