Westerners in this era traveled across the ocean from Europe to Southeast Asia, to put it bluntly, just to make money and for the charming golden little cutie.
As for whether Simonson feels ashamed that he has taken refuge in Zhu Hongyu, a Chinese?
Haha, Simonson said, it’s not a shame to make money, but from whom?
Zhu Hongyu nodded in agreement.
"As long as you can make a water-powered forging hammer, gold and silver won't be a problem!"
"You build a water conservancy forging hammer and I will give you fifty silver coins. If you teach a Chinese craftsman to make a water conservancy forging hammer, I will give you fifty gold coins. You are a good boy!"
"If you can make great contributions, it won't be a problem for my general to grant you an official title in the future!"
"Although you are prisoners of war, as long as you can show your worth, your life safety will be guaranteed to the greatest extent!"
"You can also get everything you want!"
When Simonson heard Zhu Hongyu's words, his eyes shone like silver coins.
He mobilized a few craftsmen who knew carpentry skills, and started to make hydraulic forging hammers with full motivation.
Zhu Hongyu was thinking about armoring the Liberation Army.
If a hydraulic forging hammer could be made, the production of armor would not be a problem.
Traditional Chinese armor such as cotton armor, fish scale armor, mountain armor and other traditional Chinese armor have complicated craftsmanship and cannot be made.
But European-style plate armor can be directly forged with a water-powered forging hammer!
In terms of defensive power, plate armor is definitely the pinnacle of the cold weapon era!
Thick plate armor is like an iron can when worn on a human body. Swords, bows and crossbows are useless, and even spears may not be able to break through the armor.
If you want to kill an iron can, you have to use a blunt weapon. If you use a musket, you have to shoot it close to the face. Lead bullets can break the armor.
The advantages of plate armor are obvious, but the disadvantages are equally obvious!
That’s just too heavy!
Plate armor originated in Europe, but the only people in Europe who could wear plate armor to fight were the aristocratic knights who were tall and well-fed and had good food and drinks since childhood.
The average physical fitness of Europeans in this era is not as good as that of the people of the Ming Dynasty!
Not everyone can wear plate armor!
Although most of the soldiers of the Liberation Army were tall and strong miners, only a very small number of them could wear plate armor and fight on the battlefield.
Of course, Zhu Hongyu was not prepared to equip the Liberation Army with full-body plate armor!
If all the Liberation Army were to be equipped with full-body armor, the process would be too complicated.
It is true that the main part of the plate armor can be directly forged and formed, but the manufacturing of the connecting parts and joints is not as simple as that of traditional Chinese armor.
Also, even if it were made, not many people would be able to wear it.
Therefore, he planned to equip the Liberation Army with a single-sided breastplate.
In this case, the process will be simple.
Just use a water-powered forging hammer to hammer the steel plate into shape, and the back part can be connected and fixed with rattan or cloth strips.
Anyway, in wartime, you are facing the enemy from the front. If you are facing the enemy from behind, you are running away!
A single-sided breastplate can provide a certain amount of protection to the front, which is enough.
On a darker note, such a single-sided breastplate can also reduce the possibility of deserters to a certain extent.
After all, if you don't run away, you still have a steel plate on your chest for protection. If you run away, your unprotected back will be exposed to the enemy.
And since the steel plate is a single-sided breastplate with only the chest, even if the breastplate is thickened, it can be thickened enough to protect against musket fire at medium and long distances.
This weight is not a problem for most soldiers of the Liberation Army.
Of course, a close-range musket cannot stop it!
Unlike Chinese muskets, which are developing towards precision, the muskets are so accurate that they can shoot birds.
The Spanish matchlocks are all large-caliber heavy matchlocks!
The accuracy is terrible, but the power is really amazing.
If shot at close range, no matter how thick the plate armor is, it cannot withstand it. Even if the plate armor can withstand it, the shock force will be enough to shatter the ribs and kill the soldier hit by the lead bullet!
Zhu Hongyu told Lao Liutou his idea of a single-sided breastplate and asked him to lead others to try it.
And also proposed the concept of paper-cased fixed bullets!
Compared with flintlock guns and matchlock guns, the rate of fire cannot be significantly increased, but an inconspicuous gadget like custom-loaded paper bullets can.
The lead bullets and gunpowder are packed in advance according to a certain proportion, and the paper shells of the bullets can be directly torn open during wartime before loading.
By eliminating the process of pouring gunpowder and loading lead bullets, the rate of fire of the musket can be significantly improved!
…
Six or seven days have passed, and thanks to the efforts of hundreds of Liberation Army soldiers, the construction of the river valley has begun to bear fruit.
In the river valley, everyone is busy.
Pieces of fertile land were cultivated, shacks were erected in succession, and a second small blast furnace for iron-making was built.
Next to the river, a hydraulic forging hammer is gradually taking shape, and many craftsmen are busy in front and behind it.
At the entrances on both sides of the river valley, where the forts are to be built, the foundations have been dug.
As soon as the construction stones are mined and the required cement is fired, construction can begin at any time.
The road from the river valley to the coal and iron output was also opened, the vegetation on the road was leveled, and a relatively straight and smooth road appeared in the mountain forest.
On this day, Zhu Hongyu and the soldiers of the Liberation Army were fishing in the river together, preparing to give the brothers a snack in the evening.
Li Guangyuan came back with the families of the Liberation Army soldiers!
The arrival of two to three thousand family members made the valley camp even more lively.
The family reunited, hugged each other and cried bitterly. For a while, bursts of crying could be heard in the river valley.
Li Guangyuan came to Zhu Hongyu with a look of urgency and said.
"General, something happened!"
Zhu Hongyu smiled and nodded at Li Guangyuan's mother and his younger brothers and sisters, then turned to ask Li Guangyuan.
"What happened?"
Li Guangyuan said with an urgent look.
"When Captain Wang and I left Jianei with our brothers' families, we were targeted by the Spaniards!"
"The Spanish sent people to pursue us and chased us into the mountains. We tried to circle in the mountains, but we couldn't get rid of the pursuers."
"In order for me to successfully evacuate with my family, Captain Wang led his men to intercept the pursuers, and then led the Spaniards toward the mine."
“I don’t know what’s going on now!”
"We have to hurry up and reinforce Captain Wang and his friends!"
Zhu Hongyu's face suddenly became extremely cautious and he spoke.
"Tell me carefully, what is going on?"
"How did the Spaniards discover you? How many people are chasing you? Are they chasing you closely?"
He felt that something was wrong. This was the intuition of a soldier who had been a veteran for more than ten years and had been on the line between life and death several times.
Li Guangyuan said.
"We were not discovered at the beginning and took the people out of Jianei very smoothly!"
"After all, there are people coming in and out of the stream every day. Although there are a lot of people, walking in batches is not particularly noticeable."
"But after we went into the mountains to meet, the brothers who were on guard behind the team said that a large number of Spaniards were following us!"
"We accelerated forward, but the pursuit from behind became tighter and tighter. In order to protect his family, Captain Wang decided to lead people to stop the Spaniards, and then divert the pursuers away from the larger army..."
…………
It has been ten days since I passed the review, and there are only 300 collections.
The effect of the recommendation today is not obvious, I am afraid that I am not going to pounce...
Cool!
This is already the fourth update today. The author has already done this, so readers should do it too and give them some support!