The Xixia sword and the divine arm crossbow Hongtao have also seen, and there is a Xixia sword rewarded by the emperor at home, which is inlaid with gold and precious stones, and is gorgeously decorated, which is indeed harder and sharper than the sword equipped by the forbidden army of the Song Dynasty, but that's all.

In Hong Tao's view, this kind of sword is repeatedly forged with pig iron, coupled with proper heat treatment in the later stage, there is nothing too difficult in the process, but the output will not be very large, and the process of manual forging alone limits its scale.

The craftsman should first heat the pig iron and constantly beat it to peel off the impurities inside it and reduce the carbon content. Toughness is nothing more than the control of the cooling rate during the later heat treatment, which is similar to the principle of producing gray iron.

To put it bluntly, this kind of sword is a kind of steel, but the carbon content is difficult to accurately grasp, so the success rate of manufacturing is also low. No matter how sharp it is, it doesn't matter the situation of the battle, and it turns out that it is, even if the officers in the Western Xia army can not wear this kind of sword, the symbolism is even greater.

The Divine Arm Crossbow is a good thing, but this thing can also be produced in the Song Dynasty, and it is called the Divine Arm Bow under a different name. It is said to be a bow, but it is actually a crossbow, but it is a lot bigger. Because the Song Dynasty lacked good quality horns, they had to enlarge the size in order to obtain similar range and power, which was also a last resort.

It is difficult to describe and understand in words, Shen Kuo just said that this kind of nail has protrusions, like a body of scabs, hence the name.

This armor is a scale armor made up of pieces of iron that are spliced together in series. This kind of nail is thin and convex in the middle, and the hardness is higher than that of wrought iron, and the weight of the same area is lighter than that of wrought iron. In this way, you can connect some more armor pieces on your body, and even cover your head and face, effectively defending against the attack of arrows.

In Shen Kuo's opinion, the incomprehensible forging technology is pediatrics in Hong Tao's eyes. The reason why the nail piece of the nail is light and thin and has high hardness is nothing more than cold forging. To put it bluntly, it is still an iron piece, and the performance is much worse than that of carbon steel.

And there is a big problem with the production process of cold forging, which is the same as the Xixia sword, the output. In the absence of large-scale forging equipment, the use of cold forging can be very labor-intensive. If there is no quantity and scale of armor and weapons, it is basically the same as if there is or not, and it is not helpful for war, and there is no need to pay too much attention to it.

"What was the domestic economy of Western Xia, and what kind of commodities did the two countries trade with each other?" Hong Tao already has a general understanding of the military power of Western Xia, and the overall situation is not optimistic.

Originally, there were many cavalry, but now there are multiple arms and sharp weapons with tacit understanding, especially the long-range weapon god arm crossbow, which makes the Song army not take too much advantage in the battle, no wonder it can have a slight upper hand in the war that has lasted for so long.

That is, the national strength of the Western Xia can't support more equipment, and there is a Liao State on the side, otherwise the Song army may even be able to defend it. This is no longer a question of who is strong or weak in command, but is suppressed in all directions.

But Hong Tao is not only concerned about the army and weapons, no matter how powerful the Western Xia army is, it is also composed of people, and people have to eat, produce, and live. Without the support of strong national strength, and without a quick victory, there is only one word in the end, death!

"The Western Xia produces good horses, camels, yaks, sheep, green salt, musk navels, furs, wheat, millet, buckwheat, barley, straw, japonica, hemp, radish, cranberries, and bracken. The water and grass in the Pingxia area are the most abundant, and the rest of the places are not barren, and there are many Gobi deserts. However, it guards the east-west route, and also sells goods from various countries in the Western Regions, such as coral, frankincense, white smelt, jade, clay, sandalwood, agate, and glass. The amount of green salt is the largest, and there are many musk navels, furs, camels, sheep, jade, and glass. Qingyan has been banned many times, and every time the envoys of the Xia Kingdom come to the court, they always mention it. ”

Shen Kuo did his homework, and he had some knowledge of the internal affairs, diplomacy, and military affairs of the Western Xia, and he was not reluctant to talk about it at all, and he also talked about the trade war adopted by the Song Dynasty against the Western Xia.

The Song people are okay with the war, but their ability to do business is first-class. Seeing that they could not gain military benefits, they turned to economic moves.

Although the Western Xia guarded the Hetao area, most of the land was still mountainous and desert, and the food was not rich and the products were not very rich. Only the salt obtained from the salt lake was particularly rich, so it was exported to the Song Dynasty in large quantities in exchange for grain, tea, ironware, silk and other goods needed in the country.

The government of the Song Dynasty simply took green salt and strictly forbade the import, which made Western Xia very uncomfortable. Later, the Western Xia government also learned to be smart, didn't you let me export through normal channels, so just play smuggling.

The Song Dynasty implemented the salt system, so the price of salt was relatively high, and once the low-cost green salt of Western Xia entered the country, it would inevitably affect the sales of salt in the Song Dynasty, killing two birds with one stone.

But playing with the Song Dynasty government is really not a Xixia person, seeing that the amount of smuggled green salt at the border is getting bigger and bigger, it is not a matter just to catch and cut off the head. Because as soon as Qingyan entered the country, most of the people who were caught and cut were their own people, and there was no harm to the enemy country at all.

What to do? The government of the Song Dynasty simply opened up the salt trade in the Song-Xia border area, and then mobilized a large amount of sea salt from all over the country to transport it and sell it at a lower price than green salt.

No matter how large the salt production in the salt lakes of Western Xia is, it can't withstand the inexhaustible sea salt, and the common people don't care that green salt is better looking and delicious than sea salt.

As a result, there was no need to ban smuggling, and the smugglers simply changed their careers. It is unprofitable to continue to sell salt from Western Xia to the Song Kingdom, and it is trafficked to the interior...... A few heads are not enough to cut off.

At this time, the Western Xia government panicked, the largest export goods could not be sold, and the scarce materials could not be replaced. What to do? No way, don't look at the Song army's attack, but if you let the Western Xia army leave its own territory to attack the Song Dynasty on a large scale, you can't be sure. After all, in defensive battles, the infantry is less at a loss, and the difference in numbers can offset the advantage of the cavalry.

So they could only sit down and negotiate, and the Song Dynasty government lost the battle, but it was the Western Xia who bowed down to the courtiers. Then the government of the Song Dynasty compensated a part of the money and goods every year, and when any party felt unwilling, it would fight again, and talk about it again after the fight. The two sides are in such a temporary stalemate, and no one can move anyone.

"What about the horses? Did Western Xia ever use horses as mutual goods? For this approach of the Song Dynasty government, Hong Tao raised his hands and feet in favor, and it is best not to use war for disputes that can be resolved by other means, not to coerce, but to the cost is not cost-effective.

Whether in ancient times or in modern times, fighting a war is burning money, and if the money is burned, you can't get back enough spoils, and this war will be a loss regardless of whether you win or lose, and it will be meaningless to the country, and there will be great harm.

"It is forbidden to use good horses to fight each other in Western Xia, even in exchange for scriptures, most of them are castrated horses, and the number of them is only a few dozen at a time."

Speaking of this topic, Shen Kuo was also very helpless, since Li Yuanhao took charge of Western Xia, the horse trade between the two countries was completely banned. No one is a fool, and they must not let the other party attack him with his own horses.

Horses are bred in large quantities and require a sufficient number of male stallions with pure bloodlines, and once they are used as war horses, they must be castrated. In addition to the lack of suitable horse breeding areas, this is also the main reason why the Song Dynasty has not been able to expand the war horse population.

Everyone understands the reason, but it can't be done. As for the horses obtained from Dali and Tubo through trade, they did not substantially help the war. The horses were only suitable for mountain transport, but they were not good at sprinting and long runs in the plains, and were too short.

At this time, there were only two places where war horses were produced, one was the border area between Inner Mongolia and the Northeast in later generations, and the other was the Xiliang region. And these two places are not within the control of the Song Dynasty, so it is useless to be anxious.

"It doesn't matter, even if I don't have horses, I still have a way to increase the combat power of the forbidden army. If you have time in storage, you may wish to go to my house to talk about it, and some utensils need to be stored to help refer to the details. ”

Hong Tao was unable to get a sufficient number of stallions in a short period of time, and the area for raising horses was even smaller. I had no choice but to focus on the improvement of weapons, bows and crossbows to be precise. Shen Kuo should be more experienced in this regard, and it is much more reliable than pondering by himself.

"......" Shen Kuo suddenly turned his gaze to the other side when he heard this, as if he was unwilling to agree to this request.