The night in Bilbao is not quiet.

Chen Jiujing, who was sitting on the balcony on the second floor, put down the teacup, raised his hand and knocked on the cuirass on his body, took back the military boots that had been warped to the limestone guardrail, and turned his head to Carlos and complained: "It's strange, I heard that the armor of France is very good, why do you feel that the quality is not as good as what the king gave me?" ”

Carlos, the general of the Seiyong Battalion, who was holding a teacup next to him, was looking at the teacup with some anger in his eyes, combing his water-stained beard up with his hands on his lips.

Hearing Chen Jiujing's question, he smiled and said: "General, I'm afraid it wasn't sent to you by the king, in Spain, people will generally think that the Xiyong battalion stationed in Bilbao is already the king's payment for the general's attack on Bordeaux." ”

Chen Jiujing raised his eyebrows, noncommittal.

He did not go to Madrid himself, but shortly after he had written to the monk Acosta, who had remained in the Imperial Palace, he was accompanied by the merchants who had been transporting wool to Bilbao this year, along with the six hundred horses and armoured by the Spanish Crown, which had been given to him by the Spanish crown.

"It doesn't matter if you send it or not, we deserve it. I'm a soldier, and he shouldn't have dragged me into a conspiracy, even against the enemy. ”

As he spoke, Chen Jiujing sighed, suddenly rubbed his face and said, "I found out that I did something stupid again, I shouldn't have written that letter, let alone asked for this thing." ”

This?

Carlos doesn't think these weapons and horses are 'a little bit'.

But in the opinion of Chen Jiujing, who realized it hindsight, compared with these armors, he should teach the king of Spain a lesson, let him know that his troops could not be controlled.

But his approach is just the opposite, I am afraid that it will encourage Fei Laoer's practice of counting the Baishan Battalion into his armed forces without saying a word, as if it is not terrible to offend Chen Jiujing - as long as you give money.

The young General Chen shook his head and muttered in a low voice, "My father-in-law misunderstood me. ”

Now that the armor and horses had arrived, it was too late to return, so he pulled the topic back again: "You haven't answered me yet, why the Spanish plate armor looks better than the one we captured in Bordeaux." ”

"Didn't you notice that the plates we took from those knights were of excellent quality, while the soldiers' were a little worse?"

"I know that the armor of the nobles was purchased from other places, and that the armor worn by the spearmen was not as good as that of Spain, and although the workmanship looked more detailed, they were inferior to the cuirasses sent from Madrid."

Chen Jiujing's doubts came from Marguerite, although she was the sister of the King of France, she did not have a good relationship with Hum Laosan.

Four years ago, one of her mistresses, Joseph Boniface de la Mor, was guillotined by her brother and their mother.

After the execution, Margaret asked the executioner for her lover's head, put it in a pocket with pearls and flowers, and went to the court ball held by Hum Lao San with the blood stains and the head bag.

Of course, that's another story.

The important thing at the moment is that from Marguerite, Chen Jiujing learned that France was the best country for making armor in Europa, and they often exported cuirasses and plate armor to distant eastern countries.

That's right, among them was the Ottomans.

The movement of God's filial son France jumping sideways from side to side made General Chen, who was already confused about the situation in Europe, even more confused.

Before he came, he thought that this was the same as the Asian continent, let's say Spain was the enemy, well, then he would catch Spain and beat him to death, and after the beating, it would be over.

But that's not the case – even if you have a French princess sleeping next to you, you can't be sure where she's standing.

You think she is a French princess, after all, apart from blood, everyone can sometimes agree on the matter of working together against her husband Henry Bourbon; But when she woke up, she complained that you had robbed the Protestant Bordeaux, and that you had gone to Paris to beat her brother.

All the European royal families that Chen Jiujing knew or knew were jumping in his mind repeatedly, their power and power came from kingdoms and families, but kingdoms and families did not mean their interests.

A pirate of the Ming kingdom went to sea to lay down a piece of land, and the small kingdom he established was called Han.

A Portuguese pirate went to sea to lay down a piece of land, and he established a small kingdom of King Salem.

That's the local place name.

When the Mongols and Japanese outside the Saiwai asked the merchants of the Ming Dynasty where they were from, they would answer the Ming Dynasty; And when Chen Jiujing asked anyone in the Xiyong Battalion, they would answer a small place that Chen Jiujing couldn't find on the map.

Even if it was Marguerite, her answer was Valois...... After describing it for a long time, Chen Jiujing finally understood that it was an earl's territory.

While gradually getting to know Margaret, Chen Jiujing was also gaining a deeper understanding of this land that was different from his hometown, and what he saw and heard made him scribble to a conclusion that these Europeans had no concept of state or nation at all.

By the way, Chen Laojiu also self-righteously found the reason why all the royal families were pro-pope.

Kings can be on a continent where they are not natives, and if there is no religion that can help the people find a sense of collective honor, these patchwork 'kingdoms' are better than the Mongols who do not have Naadam on the north side of the Great Wall.

"The general also said, it's partial." Carlos corrected Chen Jiujing's concept very seriously, and said: "There are tens of thousands of towns in Spain, and these different noble territories have blacksmiths with different skills, and it only takes three or four days to make a half-armor. ”

Chen Jiujing was noncommittal about this sentence, he really didn't want to tell the most trusted and respected general in the Xiyong battalion that his so-called tens of thousands of towns, more than 9,999 were just villages.

"The cost of these semi-armor is only one or two halves, plus labor, and the royal family needs less than two taels of silver for requisition, some of the semi-armor is taken by the local adults to arm the soldiers, and the rest is given to the larger nobles, and the last part is in the hands of the king."

"Now that the king has given them to the generals, they are naturally good; Most of the armor used by the French legionnaires in Bordeaux was also semi-armored, and their quality was not as good or bad as that of the Spanish ones, and their quality was almost the same no matter where the armor came from. ”

"It's like this."

Carlos picked up a silver coin that was not comparable to the plate armor, which they had obtained in Bordeaux, but which could also be spent in Spain: "They even have a finest workmanship than ours, and only half a tael can compare with theirs." ”

Chen Jiujing deeply agrees with this: "Their money is like their cannons, their armor, they are all hammered out...... Next time we go to Navarre on the other side of the mountain, we can't buy these things, so we have to get them ourselves. ”

Carlos frowned when he heard this, he thought that this was not in their interests, and reminded very cautiously: "In the place where the warship cannot enter, I am afraid that the war situation is not in our favor, there is the Ming Empire in the new continent to mint half a tael, and the king does not need these tools." ”

"Of course the king doesn't need to, he thinks anything can be bought for money, I don't make these for him, my emperor likes to make metal things as much as Margot, I have to find a way to see how they make it, if it's new...... Take it back to offer auspicious rui to the emperor. ”