Both the Ministry of Industry and the Army have conducted specialized research and testing on plate armor. After detailed testing, they found that although the plate armor has excellent protective capabilities, it is too heavy and is far heavier than what the Tang Army currently has.
Iron armor must be heavy.
At the same time, there is no precedent for equipping this kind of plate armor in East Asia, and the Tang Dynasty did not produce it, so many of them knew about plate armor, but for a while they never thought of equipping it on a large scale.
However, although they have not thought of equipping plate armor on a large scale, they are still relatively familiar with the plate armor of the Folan Robots. After all, they have been specially tested and studied.
During the test, they found that the plate armor's defensive ability against cold weapons was extremely outstanding, and its defensive effect against muskets was also stronger than the cotton iron armor currently commonly equipped by the Tang Army.
The current 14mm matchlock gun of the Tang Dynasty needs to be within 20 meters to penetrate the plate armor captured from the Folangji people. Of course, this is because the plate armor of the Folangji people is not universal.
In the early days, there were only about two millimeters of plate armor, but due to the influence of the contemporary popularity of Western heavy muskets, the plate armor of the Folangji was particularly thick. Among the purchased plate armors, the front thickness reached four millimeters.
millimeters, some key parts are even six millimeters.
And such a thick thickness also brings an extremely heavy weight!
Although it is very heavy, it is unrealistic for many officers to generally equip this kind of heavy armor, but they still praise the excellent defensive capabilities of plate armor.
Li Xuan didn't know what the Army and Ministry of Industry officials were thinking, but Li Xuan knew that the current main enemy of the Tang Dynasty, that is, the Ming Dynasty still had a large number of cold weapon troops, and the muskets used by their firearm troops were not as powerful as
The muskets of the Tang Army.
According to the measurement of the captured Ming Army muskets, the caliber of the Ming Army's muskets is generally smaller than that of the Tang Army, but overall it is between 11 mm and 13 mm. Don't ask why the calibers of the Ming Army's muskets are different.
, because the calibers of the Ming army’s muskets were so different.
Basically every workshop, and even every craftsman, makes muskets with different calibers, and you can’t blame them, because they have no concept of a unified standard!
The Ming army had a large number of cold weapon troops and musket troops of varying quality, so armor was still one of the important equipment of the Tang Dynasty in a short period of time.
This is also the main reason why the Tang Dynasty continued to manufacture and equip cotton armor in large quantities, and even traditional iron armor such as chainmail was still manufactured and equipped in large quantities.
However, compared with traditional iron armor, cotton iron armor, and plate armor, there is a big gap in terms of cost, defensive capabilities, and even the flexibility it brings to soldiers.
In the past, due to insufficient industrial processing and material capabilities, it was impossible to mass-produce plate armor on a large scale, but now that Li Xuan saw these mechanical equipment, he believed that the time was ripe for large-scale production of plate armor and equipping the troops!
Therefore, while inspecting the Zhaoqing Arsenal, Li Xuan directly approached officials from the Ministry of Industry and some engineers from the Zhaoqing Arsenal and directly asked them about the feasibility of mass production of plate armor.
When they heard Li Xuan suddenly ask this question, they were still a little unable to react, because everyone knew that Li Xuan came here today to watch the test firing of the nine-pound artillery, and he was just on the way to inspect other things in the arsenal.
But since Li Xuan asked, they naturally needed to answer!
Of course they know about plate armor and have even tested it!
Now the Ministry of Industry is basically the military-industrial production complex of the Tang Dynasty, and they will research all kinds of weapons they can find!
So someone immediately replied: "Your Majesty, with our current technical capabilities, it is still difficult to mass produce plate armor on a large scale. However, small-scale production is possible. If we want to mass-produce, we need to establish
With a dedicated production line and the manufacture of more professional machinery, if there is no pressure on funds, small-scale mass production of plate armor can be achieved within three months, and large-scale production should be possible within half a year!"
At this time, Zeng Ziwen, who was the representative of the Army, suddenly heard the mention of plate armor, and immediately said: "Plate armor, are they the ones captured from the Folangji people? Our army has also tested this plate armor.
The thickness of the front of several pieces of plate armor captured from the Folangji is generally up to five millimeters. If it is a full-body armor, the weight is too heavy. Only a very small number of strong soldiers can wear it. Most soldiers
Still can’t wear it!”
Li Xuan said unconcernedly: "Any kind of equipment must have its pros and cons. As for the heavy weight of the plate armor, it requires strong soldiers to wear it. This is not a problem at all.
Those equipped with armor will inevitably be heavy armored sword and shield soldiers and heavy armored spearmen. They have relatively good physical strength to begin with, and they will strengthen their physical training in the future to be able to wear this kind of plate armor. Moreover, plate armor does not require full body armor.
A half-body armor or even a breastplate is acceptable!"
"You should think more broadly and look further ahead!"
"And after being equipped with plate armor, all the cold weapons of the puppet Ming thief army will be eclipsed in front of plate armor. At the same time, plate armor of this thickness also has good bulletproof capabilities!"
"And the most important thing is that the cost of this kind of plate armor will be lower, allowing the Army to obtain large quantities of equipment!"
Plate armor is a natural choice made by a country facing the development of military technology after it reaches preliminary industrialization!
The main enemy that the Tang Dynasty faces today is the Pseudo-Ming. The Pseudo-Ming has a large number of cold weapon troops. Even the firearms army has relatively weak power of muskets. Plate armor will allow soldiers to survive on the battlefield.
The ability is at least much better than the current cotton iron armor, chain armor, scale armor, etc.
But Li Xuan also thought, what if the Ming Dynasty also followed suit and started to equip plate armor?
The Ming Dynasty was not stupid. In a short period of time, it had already begun to imitate matchlocks and artillery. Although plate armor has relatively high requirements for materials and processing, it could not stand up to the large number of people in the Ming Dynasty. What if someone had to make it?
Woolen cloth?
Also, even if we don’t count the Ming Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty still has the enemy Fo Langji. Who will definitely fight with the Spaniards in the future, and these two European countries are both people with plate armor.
How did the Europeans deal with plate armor? The method was simple and crude: increase the caliber of the musket!
And this has led to the popularity of heavy muskets on contemporary European battlefields!
In order to prepare for a rainy day, Li Xuan felt that the Tang Dynasty must also have its own heavy muskets. At first, for the sake of mobility, the first generation muskets of the Tang Dynasty only had a caliber of 14 mm, but now it seems that a caliber of at least 14 mm is needed.
Heavy muskets above 17 mm or even 20 mm.
Then follow the example of their European counterparts and use heavy muskets and light muskets together!
As for when the heavy muskets will no longer be used, and when the enemies of the Tang Dynasty will no longer be equipped with plate armor, then the heavy muskets can be thrown back into the trash heap.
What weapons the army is equipped with does not actually depend on whether they are useful or technologically advanced, but on what weapons the enemy is equipped with!
If the Ming army did not have plate armor or similar heavy individual defense equipment, then the Tang army would naturally not be equipped with bulky heavy muskets on a large scale.
If the Spaniards and Franji no longer equipped plate armor, the Tang Army would not use it either.
The 14mm caliber matchlock gun is already quite easy to use. It has both weight and power. It is the best balance that the Tang Dynasty can achieve at present. If it is small, it will not be powerful enough, and if it is large, it will be too heavy!
Therefore, he did not forget to remind the officials of the Ministry of Industry to develop a heavy-duty musket based on the existing muskets. As for large-scale production, there is no rush. Technical reserves will be made first, and large-scale production will be carried out when needed.
.
But for plate armor, the faster, the better, and the more, the better!
If possible, Li Xuan still hopes to use heavy armored infantry piled up from plate armor to swamp the Ming army!
After returning from the Zhaoqing Arsenal, Li Xuan still couldn't forget the military's weapons and equipment issues. Now that the Tang Dynasty King's Division cannot continue to expand in size, it is already what Li Xuan can think of to improve the training and equipment level of the troops as much as possible.
The best way.
In the face of Li Xuan's personal instructions, the Ministry of Industry naturally did not dare to neglect, and soon dispatched specialized personnel to develop and design plate armor. Naturally, the plate armor needed by the Tang Army could not be completely copied and captured.
The plate armors of Zifo Langji must be adjusted according to the actual situation faced by the Tang Dynasty King.
The most critical thing is thickness, because thickness is directly related to weight!
Considering that the Ming Army currently does not have heavy muskets, and even the number of light muskets is not large, and the quality is not very good, so after discussions with the army officers, it was decided to initially determine the thickness of the plate armor to be two
Between millimeters and four millimeters.
The plate armor on the front and chest is the thickest, reaching four millimeters, while the other parts are two millimeters!
The purpose is very simple, as long as we can defend against the large number of bows and arrows of the Ming army and the muskets at medium and long distances!
Then there is the detailed design of each part to make it easy to put on, which is very important because it is impossible to give soldiers enough time to put on the armor in every war!
Therefore, the design must be easy to wear, cheap, and easy to mass-produce, even if it requires some defense and comfort.
This is also the key requirement that Li Xuan made to these designers. Although the protective power of armor is very important, the ease of wearing it and the cost are equally important.
The cost is even more important.
And these requirements of Li Xuan also caused the Tang Dynasty's plate armor to be divided into several types before it was even born, namely full-body armor, half-body armor, and breastplate!