Early in the morning of the next day, the sun was still dazzling.
Li Daoxuan had just gotten out of bed when he saw Thirty-Two standing outside Gao Yiyi’s ho, scolding soone.
“Li Da, Gao Yiyi! You two useless trash who only eat without working.”
Thirty-Two, hands on hips, pointed at their noses and yelled, “The Deity ordered you to forge armor. More than half a month has passed in the blink of an eye. When bandits attacked a few days ago, you only managed to produce two sets of two-panel armor! What use does the Deity have for you? Don’t you feel ashad eating the rice awarded by the Deity?”
The scolding indeed made the two blacksmiths blush. Behind them stood other blacksmiths who had co to the village from Wangjia Village, Zhengjia Village, Zhuangjia Village, and other places, and they also flushed red.
After a while, Gao Yiyi finally stepped forward, lowering his head. “This… this isn’t Master Li Da’s fault. The Deity ordered him to forge that strange new-style firearm. My orders were to forge the armor. I… I didn’t expect the bandits to really co, and so many at once… So… I only made two sets of two-panel armor… then spent my ti slowly studying how to forge various armors.”
“The armor plates… we’ve actually forged a lot already; they just haven’t been assembled into armor yet.”
The group of new blacksmiths also apologized in agreent. “We were also learning armor crafting from Master Li Da. We forged a huge pile of plates but haven’t assembled them.”
Thirty-Two scolded, “Stop making excuses! Plenty of plates, you say? Bring them out! Let see!”
Gao Yiyi rushed back into his house and soon ca out holding a large winnowing basket. Inside were indeed many armor plates of various shapes—so obviously ant for shoulders, so for arms, so for the chest…
Thirty-Two asked, “You have this many? Why haven’t they been assembled?”
Gao Yiyi scratched his head, wearing an awkward smile, unsure how to explain.
Li Da took over the response. “Steward Thirty-Two, this is indeed our fault. First, we didn’t expect the bandits to really co, and in such numbers. We thought Gaojia Village wouldn’t need armor for the ti being and beca negligent. Second… we lack the materials needed to assemble these plates.”
The Village Chief had wandered over from the side. “The Deity gave you so much iron. How can you lack materials? Is the iron insufficient?”
Li Da shook his head. “The iron is sufficient, but armor isn’t made entirely of iron. Think about it—if it was all iron, how heavy would that be? We wouldn’t even need to fight; the armor would crush us into the ground.”
The Village Chief couldn’t help asking, “Then what do you use?”
Li Da answered, “Cotton.”
Hearing this, Li Daoxuan outside the box imdiately understood. “Cotton”—or, more accurately, “cotton cloth.”
He vaguely recalled reading in so material that existing unearthed armor from the Ming Dynasty had no pieces made purely of iron. They all used cotton cloth to so degree, with tal plates connected by cotton ribbons. So armor even used more cotton than iron plates, hence the na “cotton armor.”
Cotton armor had many advantages over traditional iron armor.
First, it was light, preventing the armor itself from crushing soldiers before battle. Second, it was cheaper, easier to maintain, less prone to decay, and had excellent insulation—especially suitable for the cold winters of the north. Unlike traditional heavy armor which required custom fitting, it also offered strong protection against early firearms.
These were advantages lacking in traditional iron armors like plate armor, chainmail, or scale mail.
Hearing Li Da’s explanation, Thirty-Two’s expression softened, his anger diminishing. “You lack cotton cloth? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I could have arranged soone to take flour to the county town to exchange for cotton.”
Li Da and Gao Yiyi scratched their heads awkwardly. “We truly didn’t expect the bandits to co so quickly and in such numbers… We weren’t in a hurry to ntion it.”
“Ugh!” Thirty-Two shook his head. “Such fools!”
Hearing them reach this point, Li Daoxuan chuckled internally. I have an old cotton jacket I don’t want anymore. Maybe I could pull out so cotton batting and give it to them?
But… after the fiber thickens by 200 tis, could it still be woven into cloth?
He suddenly paused. Wait, there’s sothing wrong here!
Reflecting on various things he’d placed into the box, he sensed the rules governing this diorama weren’t that simple. It seed things invisible to the naked eye—”microscopic” items—didn’t enlarge upon entering the box.
For example: the cabbage leaves he put inside. If their fibers also thickened by 200 tis, the tiny people couldn’t possibly eat them. Similarly, if “molecules” or “atoms” inside eggs or rice enlarged, chaos would arise. If bacteria in water enlarged, could the pool water still be consud?
Considering this, Li Daoxuan vaguely realized that microscopic entities like bacteria, molecules, or fibers likely didn’t enlarge by 200 tis when placed inside.
Speculating is useless… might as well test it. Such things would be clear once tried.
Li Daoxuan opened his wardrobe, pulled out the old cotton jacket he no longer wanted, reached through a hole in the hem, grasped a clump of cotton batting inside, and forcefully tore it free.
Then, gently, he placed it in front of Gao Yiyi and the others.
Just as Thirty-Two was pondering where to buy cotton, a mass of cotton drifted down from the sky, lightly landing before Gao Yiyi.
Everyone looked: an imnse ball of cotton, the size of a house!
This was clearly bestowed by the Deity.
All promptly thanked the Deity.
Thirty-Two rose after kowtowing, reached into the cotton mass half the size of a house, plucked out a handful, rolled it between his fingers, and exclaid excitedly, “Celestial cotton! Truly divine! So white, so fine, so long!”
Of course it is! Li Daoxuan thought, amused. This is top-grade Xin Jiang long-staple cotton! A variety introduced from the Soviet Union in 1955—a Central Asian long-fiber type. Unheard of in the Ming Dynasty. No wonder you find it so marvelous.
He observed sothing: the cotton fibers hadn’t thickened. They retained their original fine texture.
This proved his earlier thought: microscopic items didn’t enlarge by 200 tis inside the diorama.
Despite the fiber size remaining unchanged, the entire cotton mass was huge. That ant the number of cotton fibers had multiplied!
Therefore, for microscopic items placed inside—molecules, atoms, fibers, cells—their volu didn’t increase. Instead, their quantity multiplied proportionally, causing the entire object to beco macroscopic.
Contemplating this, the perplexities that previously troubled him suddenly fell into place.
Thirty-Two, clutching the long-staple cotton, joyfully declared, “Village Chief! Quickly summon all the won of the village! Anyone who knows weaving cloth now has work!”
Seeing such a vast amount of cotton, the Village Chief was already overjoyed. “It seems every person in our whole village can have new clothes now!”
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