Chapter 74 Chest Armor
When Xiao Tianjian left this small courtyard, he became in a good mood. Although Lu Xiangsheng finally did not agree to Xiao Tianjian's invitation to be an official of Xing Tianjun, which made Xiao Tianjian somewhat regretful, he accepted Xiao Tianjian's suggestion and decided to be Xiao Tianjian's behind-the-scenes counselor and help him for a considerable period of time. Make a plan. If one day when Xiao Tianjian fights with Jiannu again, it will be when he comes out of the mountain and puts on his robes again. At that time, he will personally carry a knife to fight against Jiannu side by side with Xiao Tianjian!
Moreover, Xiao Tianjian and Lu Xiangsheng also discussed his plan at present. Lu Xiangsheng also expressed his opposition to Shaanxi. The reason is basically the same as Xiao Tianjian's consideration, that is, the population of Shaanxi is too withered, but he can't raise soldiers. On the contrary, it consumes a lot of energy and troops of the Xingtian Army, and then invest in it afterwards. The great power to guard does not agree with the interests of Xing Tianjun at present.
As for attacking Kaifeng, although Lu Xiangsheng agreed with Xiao Tianjian's judgment and believed that taking Kaifeng would give a heavy blow to the court, he was a little worried. In his opinion, Kaifeng is really a strong city, and the number of troops are not small. It is difficult to conquer it in a short period of time. Once it is not defeated, it will hit the morale of Xing Tianjun. And if you open the seal, the court will not sit idly by. It may attract officials and soldiers to help from all sides. It's better to go to Huguang first. After getting the rich Huguang, you can seize Nanjing first. In this way, Beijing, which has cut off the support from the south, will also collapse!
However, Xiao Tianjian still insisted on his own opinion that he should open the lockdown first. As for the strength of Kaifeng City, it is indeed true. In history, Li Zicheng was surrounded by Kaifeng City, but he did not win Kaifeng in the end. He knows better than anyone else, but history has become the history of the past, and his ability to attack Xing Tianjun has long been It's not that Li Zicheng can compare with him. Not to mention that Xing Tianjun himself has already established a large-scale workshop for artillery production. At present, not only can Jinnan cast various types of cannons, but also in Lu's, Wuyang, Ruzhou and other places in Henan Province have established new artisan camps, which can cast a large number of artillery and create new types of self-fire guns. Used in the broken equipment army, they have recently captured a lot of heavy Hongyi cannons from the officers and Tatars in the north. In addition, they have special engineering battalions to help the main force carry out tough battles. The combat effectiveness can not be compared with those rabbles under Li Zicheng in history!
So he is sure enough to open the seal, which is also the best time for him to show the world that his Xingtian army is invincible. In addition, he is not worried about the matter of sending troops by the court to help. What he is afraid of is that the officers and soldiers will not come. As long as he comes, he is sure to leave them, let alone his eyes. The situation in the Lower Central Plains is under his control, and the officials and soldiers can't come if they want to come. Zhu Youjian, don't you want to take advantage of me to come to the north? This time, I will also give you a battle of Kaifeng, so that you can steal chicken again! I, Xiao, have decided to attack this Kaifeng!
After Xiao Tianjian came out of Lu Xiangsheng, he went to inspect the craftsman's camp outside Ruzhou City. The craftsman's camp here is a newly built craftsman's camp affiliated to the logistics department. The main source of the craftsmen is the master drawn from the Yangcheng craftsman's camp and the craftsmen recruited from the north, which was newly established in the second half of last year. An artisan camp, to put it bluntly, is an arsenal.
And many places in central and western Henan are originally coal-producing places. In addition, Jinnan's iron production has increased significantly year after year. Jinnan itself can no longer consume such a large amount of iron production, so a large number of refined iron produced has begun to be transported to Henan through the Yellow River, so the iron has It is not a factor restricting the military development of the Xingtian Army.
In addition, Jinnan not only produces iron, but has also begun to make steel with the newly built original blast furnace. Although the output is very low and sometimes the quality is not too high, at least a big step has been taken, so that when building fire, the newly refined steel has been partially applied, so that The fire of Xing Tianjun is even sharper.
However, in addition to producing cannons, the craftsman camp here in Ruzhou is also responsible for producing a very important thing, that is, the armor that Xing Tianjun has always lacked. This time, Xiao Tianjian almost requisitioned most of the armor in the army, and then armed the soldiers of the Northern Expedition, and the armor is in the current war. It is still an indispensable thing, so it also reminded Xiao Tianjian to strengthen the construction in this area.
In fact, Xiao Tianjian did not mean to ignore the production of armor over the years, mainly because of its limited ability. The steel needed to build an armor requires more fine iron than to make an iron bar. In the past, he needed a large number of guns, so he had to focus his limited human and material resources on building a cannon, so although However, armor is also produced, but the output has always been relatively low, and the armor produced is mostly old-fashioned armor.
However, after several battles with the officers and soldiers last year, some veterans in the army fell under the swords, arrows and bullets of the enemy because of lack of armor. The loss of a veteran was very big for Xiao Tianjian, so Xiao Tianjian began to change his mind and decided to put a large number of armor to arm his soldiers and horses.
And this time in the northern expedition, he saw that after years of accumulation, the Handar soldiers relied on robbing from the Ming army and producing themselves. The amount of armor and equipment in the army was very large, even far exceeded the Ming army's equipment for armor. If it hadn't been for the unified mobilization of a large number of armor by the Xingtian Army, the Xingtian Army would have lagged behind them more, in the cold and hot soldiers. When the weapons are alternate, armor is still a kind of necessary equipment, so that it can give full play to the stronger combat effectiveness of troops. At the same time, it can also effectively boost the morale of the army. Therefore, after coming back, he strictly ordered the craftsmen in various places to expand the production scale of armor.
In the choice of armor, after considering it, he decided not to do anything. The armor produced pays more attention to practicality. Based on the eight-petal helmets among the various iron helmets used by the Ming army, he simplifies the process as much as possible, but under the premise of ensuring quality, he creates a larger area of human head protection. A little bit of iron helmet, and at the same time, draw on the steel helmets of later generations, with cushions and suspended cloth belts to make the iron helmet more practical.
As for the armor on his body, he pays more attention to the protection of the soldiers' torso, so after considering it, he still chose some chest armor similar to the West. One is to effectively protect the key parts of the officers and soldiers, and the other is also convenient for the movement of the soldiers' limbs, which weakens the protection of heavy legs and arms. There are gains and losses. In this way, it not only improves the production speed of armor, but also simplifies the production process and cost, and effectively improves the combat effectiveness. Therefore, recently, the craftsman's camp in Ruzhou has begun to create the first batch of more than 100 sets of uniform armor according to his instructions.
Xiao Tianjian came to Ruzhou this time. In addition to meeting Lu Xiangsheng to see this national hero he admired, he also came here to see the new armor here.
When he entered the craftsman's camp, he seemed to know the person in charge here. When asked, this person turned out to be an apprentice of Yang Changshou in the Yangcheng Shuangfeng Village Craftsman's Camp. He had seen him before. At this time, although Yang Changshou was still in the Yangcheng Craftsman's Camp, his apprentices began to be gradually transferred to Xincheng. In the craftsman's camp, he acted as a great craftsman. According to later generations, he would be the chief engineer.
So Xiao Tianjian first asked about the living conditions of these craftsmen. After learning that the local officials and the logistics department had settled their lives well, he asked about the production situation here.
The master craftsman here is surnamed Luo. When he knew that Xiao Tianjian was here to see their work, he immediately offered their products like a treasure. First, there was a black self-made fire. These self-fireddens have a unified serial number. You can see which craftsman is produced from the label. In the event of a serious accident, the manufacturer's accountability can be found immediately from the serial number.
And the self-fired fire produced here, from the perspective of shape, has been improved both in terms of technology and quality, and the key parts are more refined. It can be seen that the craftsmanship of these craftsmen is also constantly improving. Without test shooting, Xiao Tianjian can also feel that this guy should be quite powerful. Wrong, so he nodded and praised while looking at it, which made the master Luo's big mouth on his black face not close.
After Xiao Tianjian looked at these well-made self-made fire guns, he touched the beard on his chin and thought that since the craftsmanship level of the craftsmen has reached such a high level, is it time to try to get a wire gun, even if it is enough to start with the former Minni bullet worm gun, and slowly develop a more powerful wire warp. Rifles, but when he thinks of their limited human and material resources at present, he has a sense of helplessness. The production of rifles is much more difficult than the current smoothbore rifles, and the requirements for craftsmen will be very high. Even if it is energy production, the output will be quite low. If at the current industrial level, a large number of rifles in the production line are estimated to be It can make him go bankrupt.
So even if it is a wire-making rifle, it can only be tested by a few high-level craftsmen on a small scale at present. He knows more or less about the specific methods and can guide them to do it, but it can't be produced in large quantities in a short time. After all, the tuffel guns they use are quite quite in this world. Sharp weapons. If there are too many times beyond, it is not necessarily a good thing. Many processes and technologies need to go hand in hand. It is not necessarily a good thing to develop unilaterally in the technology of something. Sometimes it may be self-defeating.
So Xiao Tianjian temporarily pressed the idea and continued to look down.
Ruzhou Jiangzuo Camp has not been established for a long time, and the foundation is still relatively weak. The cannon has not been put into production so far. Therefore, the casting of Xing Tianjun's cannons is mainly provided by Gao Su's cannons in Yangcheng. Lu's cannons have now begun to be put into production, but because of the problem of iron production, the cannons produced there are far from full. It was enough, so this time I only saw the iron molds of the cannons being cast in Ruzhou. Only after the iron molds were cast, the production of iron cannons could officially begin. Although he was a little anxious, Xiao Tianjian also knew that he could not eat a fat man in one bite, so he patiently told Luo Dajiang and let him grasp it as fast as possible. Meanwhile, the cannon is put into production, but the premise is that you can't ignore the quality because you are in a hurry. Everything needs to be carried out step by step.
Master Luo nodded repeatedly and said that he would do everything he could to put into production artillery as soon as possible. At the same time, he sent a set of armor to Xiao Tianjian. The style of armor is very simple, and it can even be said to be a little simple. It has not been painted yet. The whole body is the original color of iron, but Xiao Tianjian At first glance, he immediately laughed out. What he wanted was this style, simple iron helmet, simple chest armor, not many materials, simple technology, but the protection is not weak, especially the key points are covered by the whole piece of iron armor. It is estimated that it is difficult for ordinary officers and soldiers to penetrate. As for the right one, The strong bow of the Taran is probably impossible to shoot through such a chest armor, and the force on the shoulders is relatively even, and it is also convenient for the soldiers to wear, which is very conducive to the soldiers to march after putting them on.
So he immediately ordered a guard to put it on. After putting it on, the guard did some movements back and forth and found some minor problems. Some places were very uncomfortable after wearing it, so he brought it out. However, on the whole, wearing this kind of armor is still relatively comfortable, and the overall weight is not large, about 20 catties. Left and right, basically, after the soldiers put on, it doesn't affect their movements, and it also makes people feel reassuring. Although the protection on the limbs is not high, it is at least much more reassuring than wearing cotton armor.
"Good! That's what I want! Hurry up and modify it to make the officers and soldiers as comfortable as possible. You people should remember that soldiers sometimes have to march for a long distance when fighting. If there is a little discomfort, it may make them consume more physical strength and weaken the combat effectiveness of our army. In addition, the weight should be controlled again. The local armor can be thinner, but make sure that the protection of the key places is strong enough, and put it into production as soon as possible! How long does it take for a craftsman to make such a pair of armor? Xiao Tianjian nodded with satisfaction.
"Follow the Lord's instructions! The little ones will modify it well! As for this kind of armor, it is much simpler to make than the common iron armor and scale armor, but the labor consumption is higher than the cotton armor hanging iron. It takes a craftsman to make a pair in about half a month. After becoming proficient, with the application of a large number of forming molds, coupled with the kind of flowing water operation we use, it can be played as soon as ten days. It takes a year and a half to make a pair of scales, which is much more convenient!" The Master Luo said quickly.
After listening to this, Xiao Tianjian was slightly surprised, but he was immediately relieved. This thing has been modified too simple by him. Basically, there is no superfluous or complicated process. Everything can be saved, and it is riveted with large pieces of armor, while the iron armor used in China in the past is Of course, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to compile small pieces of iron armor one by one, so their own craftsmen can create a pair in such a short time. I'm afraid that even cotton armor will not be made so soon.
After a silent calculation, at present, there are more than 1,000 craftsmen in various places who have been transferred to create this kind of armor. Three sets per person a month, that is, 3,000 sets, and nearly 20,000 sets of such armor in half a year. In just one year, he can arm a large number of well-equipped generals. Think about who will still be him in the future. The opponent, so he felt a little like he wanted to laugh out loud.
This is also the most powerful place in China. The advantages of many Chinese people can be fully brought into full play in this era. Moreover, the labor cost is extremely low in troubled times. If there is food, people can work. Iron can be produced by themselves. Some people dig coal, and some people can burn coke. Although the manpower is not sufficient, at least there are millions of people in their jurisdiction, and there are thousands of blacksmiths recruited. Otherwise, it is really difficult to deal with this.
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