Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 87 Iron Armored Cavalry
The equipment of the Shenji Battalion made Cao Wenzhao's eyes goosebumps. There are muskets and cannons, as well as chariots, long spears, wolf whisks, boring palladium, waist knives, etc., and both melee and long-distance weapons are combined. They have everything, and their Shenwu Camp has nothing but horses at the moment.

In fact, he has long wanted to add a sharp weapon to the Shenwu Camp, but the sharp weapon is very troublesome to build, so he has never dared to mention it to the emperor.

Now that the emperor took the initiative to ask, he would be a fool if he didn't mention it.

Great opportunity!

He rubbed his hands and smiled apologetically: "Your Majesty, you see, I have only a few thousand guards and more than ten thousand war horses, and I don't even have a few pairs of reins, saddles and stirrups. It's a shame to practice riding without reins, saddles and stirrups." No problem, but it’s impossible to go to the battlefield, because you can’t shoot arrows or cut people with empty hands!”

This guy must be jealous of the equipment of the Shenji Battalion.

Taichang understood it right away, he was a little bit dumbfounded and said: "The equipment department you listed is organizing manpower to rush to make it, and it will definitely not come out in a while, you don't know, why, do you have another one?" Any new ideas?"

Cao Wenzhao nodded embarrassingly and said: "Yes, Your Majesty, the last general suddenly thought of a problem a few days ago, the armor equipped by Jiannu is so scary, even the horses in the front row are covered with armor, so they claim Iron cavalry, if we only have armor for a few generals, we will suffer a lot if we meet them!"

This is a problem. The light cavalry will suffer a lot when they meet the armored cavalry, especially when they charge each other, the speed is so fast that there is no reaction time, and the winner can be decided with one blow.

They are wearing armor, if you slash at them, nothing will happen to them, but if they slash at them, apart from the generals and school wearing armor, no ordinary cavalry can stand it!
Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help but nodded slightly and said: "Well, what you said makes sense, so how about it, I'll go to the Ministry of Industry tomorrow to see if I can make a batch of armor for you."

When Cao Wenzhao heard what the emperor said, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Of course he knew how difficult it is to make armor. Could the emperor be coaxing him?

You are not joking, it is naturally impossible for Taichang to deceive Cao Wenzhao. Early the next morning, he came to the yamen of the Ministry of Industry in person, and came to the value room of Xu Guangqi, Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

At this time, Xu Guangqi was immersed in calculating the materials there.

The emperor has muskets and cannons, chariots and ammunition, stirrups and saddles, horse knives and crossbows, etc. He threw hundreds of thousands of things at once, and these He didn't even go to the household department, and he didn't use the money from the treasury. He had to make a separate book and send it to the palace.

This time the amount is really too big, he still can't ask his subordinates to calculate it, because the Ministry of Industry also has a lot of Donglin, if it is handed over to others to calculate, it will be strange if they don't delay you for a few months.

Alas, this is too much.

While scratching the abacus, he recorded the names and amounts of various materials, just like an accountant, keeping both hands busy.

Taichang didn't ask anyone to sing the door, so Xu Guangqi naturally didn't know he was coming.

He gently opened the door and walked in to have a look, he couldn't help asking curiously: "Hey, Zixian, what are you doing?"

Xu Guangqi looked up, quickly put down his brush, got up and cupped his hands, and said, "Oh, your majesty, why did you come here in person? If there is anything wrong, please order someone to let you know. I will come to the palace to see you."

Taichang smiled slightly and said: "The palace can't explain this clearly, by the way, what are you doing?"

Xu Guangqi sighed helplessly: "It's the materials needed for the weapons and equipment of the Shenji Camp and the Shenwu Camp. You also know that Donglin is strongly opposed to this matter. If I let my subordinates do the calculations, I'm afraid they won't be able to calculate them this year." .”

These Donglins!

Taichang gave a slight cold snort, then sat down at the head of the guest seat, patted the seat beside him casually, and said kindly: "Zi first, stop that one first, I'll ask you something."

He also knew that Xu Guangqi would not dare to sit in the guest seat in front of him, and it would not be a problem for the two of them to stand on both sides of the desk and chat, so he simply asked Xu Guangqi to sit under the guest seat.

Hearing this, Xu Guangqi hurried over, carefully sat down on the guest seat, and then asked, "Your Majesty, I don't know what you are asking about?"

Taichang said bluntly: "Armor, is there a place in the capital to process it?"

Xu Guangqi nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, there is an armor factory in Mingshifang in the southeast corner of the inner city, which specializes in helmets and armors."

The Ministry of Industry has many factories in the capital. In addition to the Wanggong Factory and the Armor Factory, there are also Chariot Factory, Armor Factory, Armor Factory, Large Wood Factory, Bamboo Wood Factory, Stone Factory, etc., ranging from bridges, palaces, mausoleums to small ones. These factories can manufacture everything from gun heads and arrows used by soldiers.

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help but nodded slightly and said: "Well, it's good to have it. I'm going to build [-] sets of helmets, [-] sets of armor and [-] sets of vests for Shenwu. I don't know how long it will take."

Ah!
How many?

Xu Guangqi almost fainted when he heard this.

[-] sets of helmets are nothing, as long as the style is determined, clay molds are made and cast, and cleaning and polishing are a little more troublesome, which does not take much time. months!
Xu Guangqi calmed himself down slightly, and then said carefully: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for talking too much, this armor is really too difficult to make, [-] sets of armor and [-] sets of vests, even if tens of thousands of craftsmen are gathered, it will take five years. Can't make it."

This is unlikely, right?

Taichang was a little curious: "Then how did Jiannu equip so many armors so quickly?"

Xu Guangqi sighed helplessly: "They were made by artisans and even ordinary people who were forced to take them away. They didn't cost money at all. Over the years they have taken hundreds of thousands of Liaodong civilians and artisans at least. When the animals are in charge, these civilians and craftsmen not only have to farm for them, but also make all kinds of things for them, most of them probably starve to death, we definitely can’t do that!”

Well, it turns out that Jiannu likes to rob people because of this.

This is indeed clearly recorded. Every time the slave cavalry entered the bandits, they would rob everything, not only property, but also people, not only women, but also men!

They snatched people away, basically using them as slaves, beating, scolding and even killing them at every turn.

In this case, they would naturally be quick to build something, as long as they grabbed the materials, and then forced the slaves to do it with whips or even knives and guns, they didn't care if they were exhausted or even starved to death.

Alas, Liaodong civilians, miserable!
Taichang sighed slightly, and then asked again: "Aren't there many kinds of armor? Let's find the easiest and fastest one to make, for example, cast it."

How can it be so simple!

Xu Guangqi shook his head helplessly and said: "Your Majesty, the cast armor you mentioned is plate armor. However, if the plate armor is cast, it is basically useless, because the cast is too brittle, and small objects can barely make do. If As big as a plate armor, it is useless to smash it with a knife, gun or even a hoe. The plate armor must be beaten out of it in a way similar to steelmaking, which is the most time-consuming Moreover, the plate armor is very heavy, a set of plate armor must weigh at least [-] jin, plus the vest, the horse is equivalent to carrying two people, and it cannot run at all!"

Uh, well, things made of pig iron these days are really brittle, and they can't stand being knocked at all.

If it is replaced with pure copper, the toughness may be acceptable, but the hardness of pure copper is not enough. If it is too thick, the horse will not be able to move it.

Taichang was stunned for a moment, and then he said awkwardly: "What about the others, is there anything that can be processed?"

Xu Guangqi simply waved his fingers and introduced: "In addition to the plate armor, there are also chain mail, fish scale armor and zip armor. Chain mail is made by stringing thin iron rings together. The thinner the iron rings, the stronger the defense. If you want To protect against sharp arrows shot by horsemen, the iron ring must be made the size of a fingernail, and twenty craftsmen of this kind of armor are estimated to take about three months to make a set."

He took a breath and continued: "The fish-scale armor is made of fish-scale iron sheets connected in series, and the fish-scale iron sheets have to be made into different arcs according to different parts, otherwise it will be inconvenient to move. Fish scales The smaller the armor, the stronger the defense. To defend against sharp arrows shot by horsemen, the fish scales have to be made the size of a fingernail. In this way, a pair of armor needs at least 2000 pieces of fish scales, and it is estimated that ten craftsmen have to make them It takes about three months to build a set."

He paused again, and continued to introduce: "Zajia is made of letter-shaped iron sheets connected in series. It is relatively simple to process, but it is easy to be damaged. Because the animal skin rope connecting Zhajia cannot be like fish scale armor. Hidden under the armor piece, the animal skin rope is likely to be cut as long as someone scratches it with a knife. For the armor piece, the armor piece is generally about [-] pieces, and ten craftsmen should be able to make a set in about one and a half months. "

These armors are too time consuming to build!
Hearing this, Taichang frowned and pondered for a while, and then asked: "The fish-scale armor and Zhajia are time-consuming to make armor, right?"

Xu Guangqi nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, Your Majesty, it is not enough to hit a few random armor pieces to make a rough shape. The size and thickness of each piece of armor must be strictly according to the size, otherwise the armor will be made to wear. After going up, the movements will be inflexible or even stuck."

Well, if there are strict requirements on size and thickness, then it is not impossible to think about it.

Taichang nodded slightly and said, "Okay, let's go to the armor factory first."

(End of this chapter)