The newly appointed Yuhousi Logistics Department, Zhao Hongde, the head of the logistics department of the Central Battalion, accompanied Li Chengzhong, Feng Dao and others to inspect the newly established weapons and equipment department. The weapons and equipment department is a special establishment unit under the logistics department. In Li Chengzhong's plan,
This is the department that researches and manages the production of weapons and equipment. The high emphasis on military science and technology is the thinking golden finger that Li Chengzhong, a later generation, spontaneously brought. The important impact of military equipment on combat success firmly occupied his subconscious. Therefore,
, this department not only set up its location in a house adjacent to the Governor's Mansion, but also specially assigned a group of soldiers to be on guard duty in accordance with Li Chengzhong's request.
Zhao Hongde is Zhao Da. During the year he followed Li Chengzhong, Zhao Hongde, the cook of the former key soldier camp, gradually grew from an ordinary soldier with weak duties to a senior officer of the Yingzhou Army in charge of logistics and supplies. He was promoted to a subordinate in rank.
Zhao Da, who was the eighth rank imperial captain, felt that his lack of a decent name was a shameful thing. When he heard that Zhong Silang begged Li Chengzhong to give him the name Zhong Shao, he was upset.
Li Chengzhong came to him and asked Li Chengzhong to give him a name. Li Chengzhong immediately remembered the military leader who had left a bad impression on him even though he had never met him - the former Lutai envoy and Youwuwei General Zhao Yuande, so he became pregnant.
It was a bit of a bad taste to give Zhao Da such a similar name.
Today, Zhao Hongde is no longer the submissive, timid and cautious gang leader Zhao Da. He has managed the logistics troops and logistics offices of the two cities directly under him in an orderly manner. His vision, ambition and courage have become much stronger.
I don't know when he started to develop the habit of laughing first when talking or doing things. His grinning smile and shiny forehead made Li Chengzhong feel more and more that this guy was born to be a cook.
When entering the main entrance of the Ordnance and Equipment Department, the soldiers on duty on both sides shouted "Salute". Zhao Hongde smiled "haha" and returned the military salute with a fist on his chest. With a confident look, he led Li Chengzhong and his party inward.
Walking, shouting loudly as he walked: "Old Jiang Zhang, Old Jiang Zhang, come quickly, the general is here!"
Mr. Zhang, the recorder of the weapons and equipment department, is instructing his apprentice to carefully clean up the yard and place all the craftsmanship tools as if this is his new home. These days are the happiest days of Mr. Zhang’s life, not only in Feng
With the help of Chang Shi, he escaped from his lowly status as a craftsman, and was highly regarded by General Li. He became a serious military officer with the rank of Lieutenant Renyong and the ninth rank! He never thought that he could have
One day when I was an official, when I heard about this appointment, tears immediately flowed down from my wrinkled eyelids.
In addition to being an official, what excited Mr. Zhang the most was that General Li also asked him to open a government office! God, what an honor this is. Mr. Zhang didn't sleep well for three days in a row. After waking up every morning,
He had to ask his disciples if all this was true. He had already planned to bring his family from Pingzhou to Liucheng, so he sent his eldest disciple back to Pingzhou to pick them up. After Zhang Laojiang passed away, he
On the second day of the yamen, a special meeting was held with all the disciples. In addition to announcing his official position, he also seriously warned all the disciples that they should pay attention to official affairs and etiquette in the yamen from now on. For example, they should call him "Zhang Lushi"
". According to General Li's instructions, he also announced the good news that a number of people with better skills among the apprentices would be selected and awarded the rank of Peirong Colonel and Peirong Deputy Lieutenant respectively.
Hearing that General Li and Feng Changshi were coming to inspect, Zhang Laojiang hurried over from the backyard. The meeting was a military salute. According to his understanding, since Captain Renyong is a military officer, he should be an officer.
Of course, it was a military salute. For this reason, Zhang Laojiang specially asked the soldiers on duty to teach him how to salute, and he practiced it many times.
Zhang Laojiang took General Li and Feng Changshi to visit various places, giving instructions and introducing them. According to Li Chengzhong's instructions, the entire weapons and equipment department was divided into departments such as research and development, production, supervision and acceptance, with the focus on development and production.
The production here only refers to production guidance, that is, when the research and development results are put into the workshop, it guides the progress of production, which has the meaning of management. The specific production tasks are undertaken by various workshops in and outside the city.
After the inspection, everyone came to the main hall and sat down to listen to Mr. Zhang's continued introduction.
"The apprentices of a certain general have been transferred to our weapons and equipment yamen. The most important thing is to develop the armor, hand crossbow and Mo Dao proposed by the general. To be honest, the general's idea is very good, but it is difficult to build it in detail.
.”
"Oh? Be specific."
"The Mingguang Armor proposed by the general is actually not difficult. We have the work and methods, and the samples sent by the general are also there. We just need to build them according to the samples. The key is that the quantity proposed by the general is too large, and we cannot make fifty sets of Mingguang Armor every month.
…”
"Well, how many can we make?"
"Two paintings at most! Firstly, there are not enough manpower, and secondly, the tempering, grinding and inlaying of the armor pieces are also delicate and time-consuming. If the general can allocate more manpower to so-and-so, and so-and-so can teach the skills well, maybe it can be done in a year
Make it ten sets per month." As he said that, Old Craftsman Zhang asked his apprentice to lay out the set of Mingguang Armor that Li Chengzhong had given him.
"The carvings on this helmet alone will take many days, and the beast's kiss on the belt and the beast's head on the shoulder pads are all extremely cumbersome..."
Li Chengzhong said without thinking: "In this way, all the carvings and patterns on the armor are not used. These things are useless. We just want the soldiers to defend themselves. Well, there is no need for the back, just the front protective armor."
Zhang Laojiang was stunned: "You don't want the armor at the back? Doesn't that only cover half of it?"
Li Chengzhong said: "If the soldiers need to use the armor plates on their backs to protect themselves, it means that our army has been defeated. It is meaningless to have armor plates. Mr. Zhang, there is no need to build the armor plates on the back, only the front ones, but
I want these iron sheets to be enlarged and thickened, and try to cover all the places that can be covered, such as arms and legs. Let's put it this way, starting with the helmet, I need a mask that can be opened and closed, and iron nails are drilled into the ears of the helmet.
It can be flipped freely along the helmet, placed behind the head at ordinary times, and flipped to the front in time of war. The neck needs a round iron ring, the upper body needs an iron plate covering from the top to the crotch, and the legs and arms must also be covered with armor.
In other words, what I want is a piece of 'human armor'."
While listening, Old Craftsman Zhang asked his apprentice to record it carefully, and said: "If we don't need to carve patterns or connect fine scales, it would be easier to make armor with large pieces of iron, but the amount of iron used is a bit large..."
Feng Dao interjected from the side: "I read some of these days that the Khitans still attach great importance to craftsmen. There are now seven blacksmith shops in Liucheng with more than 200 craftsmen. There are also a large number of iron and stone in Nanshan outside Liucheng. The Khitans
People have already started collecting iron and stone there, and one person lost his sight after asking. The entire Liucheng can produce five thousand kilograms of iron every month. However, the Khitan people do not pay much attention to iron armor, and most of the pig iron is used to make arrows and knives. Especially the soldiers of the Diela tribe,
He likes to use hammers, iron rods, etc., and needs to exchange a large amount of pig iron from Liucheng every year. If we occupy Liucheng, we will cut off the source of a large amount of pig iron in Diela tribe."
Li Chengzhong nodded. Before he occupied Liucheng, he had no idea that the Khitan people's ironware production had reached this level. In Liucheng alone, the output and craftsmanship of ironware were directly tied with Pingzhou. Especially the harvest of Dongshan Iron Mine, let
Li Chengzhong, a traveler who suffered from a lack of supplies in the White Wolf Mountains, felt like he had become rich overnight.
Li Chengzhong decided to propose the assembly line production method. He said: "Decompose the various parts of the armor and let these blacksmith shops build them separately. For example, one shop specializes in helmets, one shop specializes in protective iron sheets, and one shop specializes in protective iron sheets.
They shop to make iron rings to protect their necks, and a craftsman shop specializes in making armor plates for their hands and feet, which can ensure their proficiency and speed. Finally, they find a leather workshop to inlay these armor plates into leather armor. Of course, Zhang
We must produce qualified finished products here, and let each craftsman shop make them according to the finished products. The allowable errors are stipulated, and those exceeding the allowable limit are rejected."
Zhang Laojiang's eyes lit up, and he thought carefully about Li Chengzhong's words for a long time, and then said excitedly: "In this way, someone may be able to achieve the fifty sets of Mingguang armor per month set by the general."
Li Chengzhong said: "We still have too few craftsmen, and we need Mr. Zhang to recruit more disciples. I have an idea. We recruit young men in Liucheng, and let Mr. Zhang's disciples be the masters. The teaching will be simpler, and some of them will specialize in mold making.
Some specialize in blacksmithing, some specialize in grinding, and some specialize in inlaying. They are not required to learn all of them. They only need to learn one craft. At that time, the Ordnance and Equipment Department will prepare a large iron shop. According to the method I just mentioned,
Make various parts separately and finally assemble them.”
Mr. Zhang nodded: "If you only learn one craft, you can master it roughly in one month and master it in three months."
Li Chengzhong said: "A rough understanding is enough, no need to be sophisticated. They are just ordinary craftsmen in the workshop, not skilled craftsmen in the weapons and equipment department. By the way, how about hand crossbows and Mo Dao?"
Old Craftsman Zhang said: "The repeating crossbow the general mentioned should be the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow passed down by old people. The crossbow itself is okay, but the key is that the automatic winding step cannot be realized. According to what the general said, someone added a string to the crossbow.
The crossbow box is installed, but after firing an arrow, the arrow in the crossbow box cannot automatically drop to the bowstring. As for the 'spring' the general mentioned, the thin iron wire cannot be made..."
Li Chengzhong was silent. If iron wire cannot be made, spring technology cannot be realized. The wire drawing technology he mentioned is temporarily unachievable in this era. Li Chengzhong didn't know exactly how to draw wire. He could only pat his head helplessly.
Cursing himself secretly for being a waste.
Zhang Laojiang continued: "As for the Mo Dao, there is no doubt that someone can make it, but it is just a two-edged horse-killing sword. However, the Mo Dao requires a large amount of pig iron, and hundreds of steelmaking is required to cast it, which requires a lot of work.
Okay, with someone’s ability, it would take ten days to build a Mo Dao.”
Li Chengzhong shook his head: "You don't need to practice a lot, just be heavy."
Old Craftsman Zhang said: "Then fifty refinings, but it consumes a lot of iron materials. I led my apprentices to make it, and can produce twenty swords every month. The Mo Dao is very heavy, weighing sixty kilograms, and the general needs to select strong men.
Otherwise, it cannot be used."
The topic comes back again. It seems that the output of five thousand kilograms of pig iron per month is seriously not enough. Li Chengzhong has a very strong Mo Dao complex. He is very eager to have a Mo Dao team in his hand to recreate the "wall-like attack" in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
"It's just that he traveled to the late Tang Dynasty. During this period, production was in decline. The Mo Dao with its huge iron content was very luxurious for military towns, and it was not economical to equip it. This is also the reason why the Mo Dao gradually declined.
There are iron mines in Liucheng, but the supply of ore is insufficient. Not only is the supply of ore insufficient, but the technology for smelting the ore is also poor. Li Chengzhong sighed again. He knew that smelting iron stone requires higher temperatures, which requires wind speed and good fuel materials. The former can use a blower.
The latter seemed to use coke, but other than that, he only had simple smelting terms such as open hearth and blast furnace in his mind. He told what he knew, and Master Zhang asked his apprentice to record it, saying that he would go back and try it.
But for now, if we want to increase the amount of iron produced, we will need a lot of manpower. Dingkou in Liucheng cannot afford it, so we need to find a way from the south of Yingzhou.
In response to this, Feng Dao replied: "Each group of civil servants have gone south, but we don't know how many strong people and how many forts there are in the south of Yingzhou. Everything needs to be returned before they can understand."