In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 163 The King of Wei's Ambition is Clearly Revealed

In the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, the imperial court did not have much energy to invest in armor. Except for the elite field army and the imperial army, there were very few infantry armors in the general garrison army. In addition to the lack of physical fitness of the soldiers, the cost factor was also huge.

Moreover, at this time, the treatment of craftsmen was not good enough, and the quality of the nail pieces produced was relatively poor.

For various reasons, infantry armor is becoming less and less, and leather armor occupies the majority of the army.

Zhao and Rui's Qingyuan Mansion garrisoned a large army with more than 6000 personnel, and the actual number was more than 3000, of which about [-]% were armored.

There are only more than 100 complete infantry armors, and most of them have only parts, or leather armor, or paper armor.

Therefore, if Zhao Yurui wanted to build a full-strength Southern Song infantry, it would be extremely difficult, and the number of craftsmen, financial resources, and materials would be extremely difficult to choose.

At this moment, Zhao Yurui was standing in the armor bureau, looking at a brand new infantry armor in front of him.

This step of Man A was made by their craftsmen.

The way of forging is different from the traditional way of the Southern Song Dynasty, which Zhao Yurui came up with after watching the casting of coins and cannons.

The nail piece is made by minting coins. First, molds are made, and then molten steel is poured into the mold. Each mold can produce [-] nail pieces with holes at a time. As long as there are enough molds, thousands or even tens of thousands of pieces can be produced every day.

The regiment steel used for their armor plate is a bit stronger than the iron plate of Song Jun. Of course, it will take more time to make steel in the early stage.

Song Jun's infantry armor pieces are all the same size, so there are more than 800 pieces.

However, in order to save man-hours and improve defense, Zhao and Rui set up two molds.

One is the same size as the armor piece of the Song Army, and it is installed at the joints for easy movement.

The other is a relatively large nail, about eight centimeters wide and twelve centimeters long.

The small nails are thinner, the large nails are thinner on both sides and thicker in the middle, and all nails have two holes (the mold has holes, no need to drill holes.).

There are about 620 armor pieces for a full set of infantry armor, which is far lower than that of the Song Army infantry armor.

After the nail piece is out of the mold, it is the workers who grind the edge. After simple edge grinding, a layer of mulberry paper is placed underneath, and then a layer of ordinary silk cloth is placed on it, and they are sewn together.

Tang Bo introduced to Zhao Yurui at this time: "Our Zhajia (called Zhajia here to distinguish it from the Song Army infantry armor) weighs 30 kilograms in total, and it mainly protects the upper body, head, and shoulders."

Li Pingxia was looking at a man in armor standing in front of him.

The man's head and upper body were covered with heavy armor, but starting from the abdomen, there were only a few large pieces of armor on the front of the thighs, not on the back, nor on the calves.

From head to toe, it is definitely a lot worse than the Song Army infantry armor.

"We are fighting Meng Jin mainly to prevent their long-distance bows and arrows." Zhao Yurui said to Li Pingxia at this time: "The soldiers are standing together densely, and the opponent's bows and arrows can basically only shoot at the upper body, not the lower body."

As for the back of the thighs, there is no need, even the back of the upper body, Zhao and Rui have reduced their nails.

On the battlefield, unless you retreat and escape, it is generally impossible to show your back to the enemy.

As for Zhao Yurui's training, the sergeant only went forward without retreating or running away.

Therefore, their infantry armor and back armor are also relatively small.

In the future, I will remind the sergeants that you have less armor on your back. If you turn around and run away on the battlefield, you will die faster.

Li Pingxia also nodded when he heard the words: "The infantry armor of my Great Song Dynasty is indeed too heavy. When the imperial court made the Northern Expedition, only more than 600 of the [-] elite could wear a full set of infantry armor. Your Majesty is right, you don't need too much armor on the back. A piece of armor, on the battlefield, there is no retreat, so there is no reason why the back needs a piece of armor."

After improvements by Zhao Yurui and craftsmen, their infantry armor weighed only 30 catties, far lower than the infantry armor of the Song Army. In addition to the improvement of the armor piece, and the addition of silk cloth and mulberry paper, the frontal The protective power is slightly improved, and the wearing comfort is also improved.

"How many can be produced in a month now?" Zhao Yurui asked Tang Bo, Liu Fu and others.

"Returning to Your Majesty, we now have 100 Zhajia artisans, about 600 workers, and a monthly output of more than 400 pieces."

According to them, they are now in groups of five, 700 people are divided into 140 groups, each group can make one tool in about ten days, and more than 700 people can produce more than 400 tools per month.

The requirements of armor craftsmen are relatively low, and they don't have much skill and fine work. Zhao Yurui doesn't require too much polishing, as long as they go there.

Ordinary people will be familiar with it after ten and a half months.

The most laborious and time-consuming step is the front molding step, and the later grinding and sewing are relatively simple.

What affects their output is steelmaking and casting molds.

The steelmaking here and the cannon casting are both in one place, in the same area, divided into two districts, and the molds are cast as soon as the molten steel is tapped, and then brought over for polishing.

Zhao Yurui thought about it in her mind, the speed of steelmaking and ironmaking is the most important factor affecting the manufacture of firearms and armor.

If the factory can be located in the Shinshu mine, his speed can take off, because there are a large number of iron-making furnaces there.

"Come on, give it a try." Zhao Yurui finally waved his hands.

The scene quickly fiddled with, made a dummy, and put on the armor.

Then he took a few more bows.

At this time, the main bows of the Jinmeng cavalry are six to eight bows, and the most powerful bows are one stone.

No matter how powerful it is, it kills two with one stone.

As for those with two stones and above, they are all peerless fighters, like Yue Fei and Li Pingxia, there is no one in a million players.

Zhao Yurui looked at the many bows in front of him, all of which were self-made on his own island, and his hands were itchy, but fortunately he knew his level, so he finally took a look at Li Pingxia.

Everyone came to about fifty steps first, and Li Pingxia picked up the eight-dou bow, which is the most common bow in the army of Meng Jin and other troops.

Bow and nock with ease.

When, after an arrow hit, there was a metal collision sound, and the feathered arrow shook a few times before falling to the ground again.

Li Pingxia Xianping shot five arrows, three of them were relatively heavy, two of them were relatively shallow, and one of them fell to the ground.

Of the three arrows shot in, one arrow pierced the target, but the other two arrows failed to penetrate the target.

Then he shot in place again.

The effect of throwing arrows seems to be even worse. The helmet is basically slippery when shot, and the shoulder is the heaviest part of the armor, which is also unable to penetrate.

Li Pingxia changed to seven bows, six bows and one stone bow. The distance changed from fifty steps to sixty steps, thirty steps, and eighty steps.

A stone bow at eighty steps can still tear through Zhajia, but the six-dou and seven-dou bows are much worse.

After the overall test, the defense effect against projectiles is good, and the defense effect against eight fights and below is even better.

Jinmeng is not all eight-dou bows, some people still use seven-dou and six-dou bows, especially in the Kingdom of Jin where there are more Han troops, and there are also servants of the Mongolian army, most of them use less than eight dou bows .

Judging from the effect, as long as the target is not hit, it is fine to be shot a few times.

In ancient wars, many people were fine after being hit by countless arrows, probably like this.

For example, Yang Zaixing in history did not know how many arrows he hit. The Jin army got his body, and after burning it, they got as many as two liters of arrowheads.

Therefore, the defense of excellent armor is very important. A small amount of damage will not reduce the combat effectiveness.

But this is the armor of ordinary sergeants, and Zhao Yurui also tailor-made elite armor for the generals according to their abilities.

For example, it was made for Li Pingxia, with a total weight of 60 catties of fine steel armor.

This set of Zhajia weighs [-] jin in total, and Li Pingxia can decide whether to add another [-] jin of armor.

The whole body was made of refined steel, and a pair of 20-jin chain armor was also made. Li Pingxia could wear the armor on the inside and the chain mail on the outside. With a total weight of [-] jins, even a stone bow within [-] steps could hardly break the armor.

After viewing the entire Craftsmanship Bureau, Zhao Yurui was quite satisfied overall. This place is fully closed management, no one can come in and out at will, but there will be all the entertainment that should be there.

Billiards, mahjong, and even playing cards were all invented by Zhao and Rui, and they were not promoted in other places in Song Dynasty, and they were only distributed here for everyone to play.

All materials are provided as much as possible, and the food is good. It is relatively stable at present.

When they finally left the Artisan Crafts Bureau, Zhao Yurui asked Liu Fu to carefully select about ten of the best artisans who are willing to innovate, invent and develop new firearms. The matter of firearms.

That night, Zhao and the generals in the army on Ruizhao Island had dinner together, and the next day they called all the sailors and infantry on the island to meet in turn.

Dutou is the commander of the centurion, and he can be considered as an important commander in the middle and lower levels.

Zhao and Rui met and interviewed them one by one, asking them about their needs and their family situation.

Everyone was very excited when they saw King Wei.

During the interview, two people sat behind Zhao and Rui, and they specially recorded the situation of the general's family and the current situation of their wives and children.

When everyone was leaving, Zhao Yurui rewarded each person with five catties of snow sugar, ten catties of rock sugar, two catties of tea leaves, and for those who had wives and daughters, two portions of rouge and five taels of spices; through.

All the generals returned with a full load and were extremely excited.

On the third day, Zhao and Rui distributed money to 3000 troops from the two armies of Shuibu on the whole island.

Below the head of the capital, according to the official rank, it ranges from thirty guan to ten guan, and all sergeants have five guan.

Each battalion distributed them in turn, once every 500 people, and the king of Wei came to the scene in person and distributed them one by one.

Everyone received the money from King Wei, and then shouted loudly: "Thank you, King, for the money."

There are more than 3000 horses, and basically they all know the king of Wei, and know that the king of Wei is benevolent and righteous, and treats the army leniently.

Zhao Yurui stayed on the island for five days before leaving. When he finally left, when he asked for monthly payment in the future, he had to remind everyone that it was the money from King Wei.

This is the first time he publicly stated that he sent the money, and his intention to buy people's hearts has been clearly revealed.

Because although he was in Dinghai, there was news from Lin'an that Ning Zong's health was getting worse and worse, and the situation in Lin'an City was also turbulent.

In the middle of May in the 17th year of Jiading (1224), when Zhao Yurui's boat returned to Dinghai County from Jeju Island, they saw countless people standing by the pier. Surge forward.

There are Gongmen servants from Dinghai County all around, but they can't stop them.

"King Wei help."

"Master Qingtian, king of Wei."

"Let the King of Wei be the master."

Zhao Yurui walked from the diving board to the shore, staring at everyone in a daze, not knowing what happened.

(End of this chapter)