The next day, early in the morning, Liu Yu rushed to the blacksmith shop after washing in a hurry. To his surprise, at dawn, there were handymen and hard workers like ants, carrying burdens and coming from the camp.
They came from the mountains and forests outside and transported loads of cold spring water back to the large vats in the blacksmith shop. The stove had not yet lit a fire. The cold spring water in October filled the entire blacksmith shop with a wave of excitement.
The slightest chill made Liu Yu, who was wearing single clothes, feel a hint of winter.
Kong Jing stood holding a sledgehammer, guarded by more than a dozen men, at the door of the blacksmith shop. When every servant carrying a load of water passed by, he would carefully check the water quality and touch the water temperature with his hands.
, and even tasted one or two, and then waved their hands with satisfaction, and the handymen who passed the inspection were all relieved. After thanking them, they happily ran to the canteen on the other side to get their meals.
Liu Yu walked to Kong Jing's side and said seriously: "Master Kong, please arrange my work today."
Kong Jing smiled slightly, waved his hand, and dismissed a small worker in front of him. He said to Liu Yu: "Liu Team Leader (Yesterday Liu Yu temporarily added the post of Team Leader). According to the rules, you are supposed to be here."
Let’s start with basic tasks such as fetching water, transporting coal, and moving iron. But since you have been the owner of a building and are a well-known hero in the army, we will not arrange these chores for you for the time being. From today on, you
Let’s start making armor first.”
Liu Yu's heart moved. Mao Qiu and Feng Qian had told him last night about making armor. He curled up his lips and said, "Master Kong, do you want me to make leather armor or iron armor?"
Kong Jing turned back and pointed at the leather armors piled up like a hill outside, and said: "Ours is a blacksmith shop here, used to make iron armor, and the leather armors are made by the Leather and Clothing Department in the supply camp."
Liu Yuqi said: "So, the leather armors are produced elsewhere? But since the leather armors are produced elsewhere, why do they have to be shipped here?"
Kong Jing laughed: "Liu Duizheng, I'm afraid you haven't been on the battlefield, and you haven't worn real armor, or in other words, you haven't paid attention to it?"
Liu Yu's face turned slightly red. He had never worn genuine iron armor since joining the army. Even in the last martial arts performance, the double-layered iron armor he wore was used for training. It was stained with rust and the effect was not good.
Very good.
Liu Yu said: "Then today I am going to learn from Captain Kong. Why is this leather armor moved here? Do we need to use this leather armor to make iron armor?"
Kong Jing nodded and waved his hand. Feng Qian, who was standing aside, immediately ran to get a piece of leather armor. Liu Yu took a closer look and saw that about a quarter of the leather armor had already been covered.
Begin to braid densely packed nail plates, which are rectangular in shape, about one finger wide and three fingers long. Each layer of nail plates is stacked thickly together, next to each other, on top of a circle of leather armor, about the length of the front.
There are twenty or thirty pieces of armor like this, and looking at the height, it would take at least four to five hundred pieces of armor to cover the entire front of the leather armor.
Liu Yu opened his eyes wide, touched the ropes under the armor plates, and tightly wrapped the armor plates on the leather armor, and said: "Is the so-called iron armor the armor plates that are entangled like this? It needs to be wrapped around the leather armor.
Add another layer of armor leaves on top?"
Kong Jing said sternly: "Yes, don't underestimate these armor plates. They are made of fine steel, not ordinary iron plates. If you don't believe me, just take one and have a look."
Liu Yu took off a piece of nail leaf and turned it over in his hand. The tentacles were cold. The nail piece looked like a rectangle, but after taking it off, he found that the nail surface was curved, with a small bulge outward.
It has a curvature like a mountain bag, but its weight is not light, about half a tael. Liu Yu estimated that this layer of hard leather armor weighs about five or six kilograms, and four to five hundred such armor pieces are placed on it. The weight is terrible.
It weighs more than thirty kilograms.
Liu Yu continued to fumble with the piece of armor and kneaded it gently with his hands. He found that the piece of armor was not made of pig iron or wrought iron. On the contrary, it was very hard without losing its toughness. It seemed that it was exactly what Kong Jing said.
It is made of fine steel. Because pig iron cannot be forged into such a curvature, and wrought iron will deform when pinched.
Liu Yu nodded, handed the armor piece back to Kong Jing, and said, "This is really a piece of fine steel armor. Is it a large armor for generals?"
Liu Yu once saw some generals wearing this armor in the commander's tent. Both Liu Laozhi and Sun Wuzhong wore it. This armor is so expensive, and the curved armor leaves are very protective. Obviously, it doesn't look like it.
For the soldiers to wear.
Kong Jing smiled slightly: "No, these armors are used to equip the Tiger Army. Every ordinary soldier in the Tiger Army will wear this armor."
Liu Yu opened his mouth in surprise. This was even more surprising than the first time he heard from Liu Jingxuan about the formation of the Tiger Army: "What, let ordinary soldiers wear it? How is this possible? Where can there be so many iron armors?"
"
Kong Jing smiled slightly: "Now we have three thousand armor-makers here. Normally, it would take an armor-maker about three hundred days to make these five hundred armor leaves and make a pair of armor. However, in
Here, I use my Kong family's unique method of speeding up work, and it can be completed in one hundred and fifty days. In this way, each person can complete three pieces of armor in one year, and three thousand people can complete nine thousand pieces in one year."
"The Tiger Force should have gathered the elite of the entire army, and the number will not exceed five thousand. If Commander Xuan sends more people to help, it will be enough to build these armors within half a year. Liu Duizheng, now you understand what elite soldiers are.
A sharp soldier should be equipped with iron armor."
Liu Yu sighed: "When you put it this way, I understand. If one makes a pair of pure iron armor, it will be labor-intensive and time-consuming, and if a mistake is made, all the efforts will be wasted. But if we only make this small piece of armor, we can make it in one day."
If there are ten pieces and eight pieces, it will be much faster if everyone does it together. And even if there is an error, it will only break a small piece of armor, and it will not affect the entire armor. At most, it will just be replaced. This method is really good and can be done quickly.
, produce such armor in large quantities."
The furball on one side laughed and said: "Not only that, if these armors are attacked and damaged on the battlefield, they can also be repaired. Just replace the damaged ones with new armor pieces. Liu Duizheng, you see
Are the holes on these armor pieces used to thread ropes? In fact, this kind of armor only requires a strong rope to string together twenty or thirty nail leaves and fix them on the leather armor.
The layers are stacked on top of each other, and they are like a pair of iron armor. When it is far away, it can prevent arrows, and when it is close, it can protect it from being cut by knives and spears. The effect is quite good!"
Liu Yu laughed: "Okay, great, Master Kong, how should I make this piece of armor?"
