"The foreign minister has expressed his gratitude to Duke Bai for his kindness on behalf of the Prime Minister. I think the Prime Minister can appreciate Duke Bai's sincerity in helping the Han Dynasty. However, the foreign minister does not dare to guarantee whether the transaction will go through." Sima Lang said.
Of course, Sima Lang estimated that Cao Cao would probably buy it in the future - after all, sabers of this quality were very rare in Cao's army, and...iron weapons, or even well-made ordnance, wouldn't it be hard on himself if he didn't buy it?
It’s just that you have to go deeper first, and then you can lower the price.
Zhang Zhao became even more anxious when he heard that he was going to sell it.
Although Jiangdong is a land rich in copper and iron, but... at this stall, how can there be any reason to sell weapons for sale?
He just didn't want to see Jiangdong, who was getting better day by day, use all his energy on ordnance, not because he wanted to capitalize on the enemy!
But just when he was about to speak, he saw that Mr. Lu Kang was sitting firmly at this time, and then stopped - he believed that the lord should have informed Lu Kang about this kind of thing, and since the lord could convince Lu Kang, then it would be possible
own reasons.
This is indeed the case...
Talking about mineral reserves? Iron ore and copper mines are both Jiangdong’s strengths. Even in later generations, Jiangdong is second only to Northeast China in terms of iron ore and second only to Yunnan in terms of copper mines. Now of these two places, one is Fuyu.
, one is Nanzhong...
The latter is full of barbarians. Even after Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times, the Nanzhong barbarians did not stop for a few years, but trade became smoother. The former is still the Fuyu Kingdom - the leader is now Gongsun Du's son-in-law, and he is considered dependent on Gongsun.
of foreigners.
What was the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty? Yangzhou was very rich in copper and iron!
The reason why copper and iron are also very precious in Yangzhou is simply because the excavation efforts are not strong enough.
As long as rock drills can be made and black powder is readily available, if one learns the simplest and most crude method of "exploding mountains", Jiangdong's mineral production will be several times higher than the current output of only shallow mining...
What's more, when exporting strategic materials, Baitu will definitely have to collect strategic materials - grain and grass from the Central Plains, ore from Liaodong, horses from the north...
In this way, it not only allows the Ministry of Industry to maintain its expenses, but also has an additional benefit... If it directly connects with a certain family and recognizes the other party as an "agent", then... the local princes are the right ones, they are the right ones.
Or is it diaphragm response?
When Bai Tu thought of this, he looked at Sima Lang with a more kind look.
Sima Lang didn't know what he was thinking, but he trembled instinctively!
"It doesn't matter, I just said casually, Boda, you don't have to feel pressure... Liu Shijun of Xuzhou should also be interested. The Gongsun family in Liaodong and the Ma family in Xiliang... are now also protecting the people of the Han Dynasty.
, shocked the Qiang and Hu Xianbei, I believe they will also need these, and the Prime Minister's Office does not need to take it too seriously." Bai Tu raised his glass and said.
Sima Lang's face froze when he heard this - is this telling the Prime Minister's Office not to take it to heart?
He didn't believe that Bai Tu could sell swords to Liaodong or Xiliang, but Xuzhou... aside from that, Jian Yong from Xuzhou was also at the banquet!
Could it be that Bai Tu had this idea?
Bai Tu no longer paid attention to his appearance, and Pang Tong on the side also said in time: "My lord, the Ministry of Industry has recently designed and created a brand new battle armor, using a new concept and design style, and I hope to take this opportunity to
, I would like to dedicate it to my lord’s fierce warriors!”
"Submit it." Bai Tu said.
I saw several more big men, carrying armor after armor...
The weight is described as "seats" - two big men with big shoulders and round waists can only attach four armors to one pole.
At this time, the armor of the Eastern Han Dynasty was mainly made of zha armor for Ji-made soldiers, and scale armor was usually worn by generals - only war generals of a certain rank had to have it. Ordinary corps commanders, even senior commanders, did not receive this treatment.
The so-called Zha armor is leather armor inlaid with large hard plates, which mainly protect the chest and ribs. The inferior ones are made of hardwood plates, while the better ones are made of iron or copper plates.
Of course... that is to say, the equipment of the Yangzhou army is neat, otherwise the third-rate armies of ordinary princes are usually equipped with leather armor and civilian clothes, and even Zhajia can only be equipped by the first- and second-tier armies.
As the name suggests, scale armor is a fine scale iron sheet, which is embedded in layers on top of each other. In comparison, the coverage rate is higher.
These are all old techniques that existed in the pre-Qin period. Although there have been improvements, the basics have not changed.
In history without the White Rabbit Effect, armor during the Three Kingdoms period has also made great progress - like weapons, the thing that can most promote the transformation of armor is war!
Chain armor began to appear during the Three Kingdoms period, and the prototype of Mingguang armor appeared in the later period...
The former is made of small iron rings hooked together to form an armor like an "iron net", while the latter is a large piece of copper and iron like a breastplate, which protects the chest, abdomen, and back. It is usually combined with chain mail or scales.
For use with armor.
After the development of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, chain armor and Mingguang armor were both included in the "Thirteen Armors" in the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the popular mountain armor in the late Tang Dynasty can also be regarded as an optimized variant of chain armor——
The hoops are no longer circles, but are in the shape of a mountain, woven together with each other.
Mingguangjia gradually withdrew from the battlefield in the late Tang Dynasty...
The second major revolution in armor was undoubtedly the walking armor that appeared in the Song Dynasty!
Although they were nailed to the "coward frame" of emphasizing culture over military affairs, the heavy infantry of the Song Dynasty did indeed have a glorious past...
The Song Dynasty, which lacked cavalry, was able to compete with the Liao and Hou Jin in the north because of its powerful and fat heavy infantry!
The basic small unit of Buren armor is no longer a "ring", but a piece of armor leaf weaving. Like his old enemy, the armor of Houjin's Iron Buddha, it is layered from bottom to top.
structure.
Compared with chain mail, the anti-long-range ability of infantry armor has been greatly improved. Although it cannot resist the bow and arrow, at least it will not be penetrated by stray arrows and projectiles unless it is too unlucky.
Moreover, as infantry armor, the designers of the infantry armor in the Song Dynasty also worked hard to "tire the ox to death".
Another feature of the infantry armor is that you can further improve the defense by adding more armor, and at the same time...it is also heavier!
The heaviest thing is the spearmen's armor, because the spearmen of the Song Dynasty had to shoulder the important task of blocking cavalry charges, so... it was really heavy.
Under normal conditions, a spearman can carry a heavy load of sixty or seventy kilograms, and when fully armed, he can carry more than a hundred kilograms of armor - even if you want to become a deserter, you have no chance!
The lightest crossbowmen are heavily armored, but they are 70% as strong as the spearmen...
Even in a "normal state", it is already the pinnacle of the load-bearing capacity of cold weapons and armor, both at home and abroad.
When marching, you need to push the armor like a baggage, wearing only the inner armor, wear full armor when on guard, and only bring the rack with you when the war begins!
Therefore, the heavily armed Song Dynasty did not need to think about attacks or encounters. They could only fight positional battles, and they did not need to plan to chase the enemy. Not to mention that they would not be able to catch up. If they ran a few more steps, they would be counterattacked...
…
If you lose, don't think about running, the opponent can catch up with you by jumping on one leg!
And under the command of Pang Tong, these things that were carried up looked like scale armor at first glance, but they were denser than scale armor, and the coverage was far greater. If you look closely, you will find that... they are just pieces of armor leaves.
Made!
There is no need to experiment. Look at these warriors huffing and puffing. They can feel a sense of security when they hear the armor hitting the ground.
But... the guards all looked at Pang Tong.
Although armor is also a guarantee of life, but... who designed this to make you die from exhaustion?
Also the design concept, design style... This Ministry of Industry and Commerce Department is really bad!
Pang Tong seemed to feel everyone's resentment, shook his hair that was no longer flowing, smiled slightly, and asked the warriors to show off separately.
Just like a matryoshka doll, several parts of the outermost layer were disassembled, and it suddenly felt streamlined. Then it was lifted again - the outer armor was lifted together with the hanger.
The inner armor is exposed...
Pang Tong also introduced the advantages and disadvantages of this "heavy armor" in detail.
When loaded into the battle armor, the original shortcomings of the infantry armor are actually greatly compensated - the principle of the battle armor cannot be explored in the white diagram, but what is certain is that after loading the infantry armor, it is usually equivalent to
The bulky infantry armor was also included in the "soldier talisman".
In terms of marching, it will not cause additional burden.
Instead, the armor has three forms, one is the ordinary marching form, the second is the battlefield form, and the third is the enemy-facing form - the defense power increases in turn, but the constraints on flexibility and speed are becoming more and more obvious.
"Can we equip the entire army?" Bai Tu asked.
Hearing Bai Tu's words, Zhang Zhao almost jumped up from his chair...
Fortunately, Pang Tong shook his head and said: "Lord, this kind of armor is quite expensive to make, and if it is equipped with ordinary Ji-made soldiers, it will be very inconvenient. From a tactical level... it is not enough to equip it with all the armor."
nonsense!
Is the Song Dynasty fat? There are more than one million troops, and the Forbidden Army alone is 800,000!
But... when the military equipment was at its most complete, including Han Shizhong and Yue Fei, the number of men who could be considered fully armed was only a little over one hundred thousand.
As for the Iron Buddha, the heavy cavalry of the Jin Kingdom, there were only five thousand in its heyday.
"Well, let's equip it in stages! It will be popularized among the corps commanders and senior commanders first, and then the number of heavy armors required by each army will be calculated. In addition... ordinary light leaf armors must be equipped to the entire army three years ago." Bai
Tu Caicai said arrogantly.
Of course, Bai Tu has known and decided this for a long time. The reason why he said it now is just to remind Sima Lang, Jian Yong and the others - Zha Jia and scale armor are also for sale!
"Here." Pang Tong responded.
At this time, Bai Tu also praised Pang Tong again, and announced that all officials in the Ministry of Works would have their performance upgraded to one level. Officials involved in the Jian'an Four Sabers and Jian'an Siyejia projects would be rewarded based on their merits!
However, Pang Tong was not impressed. He only felt that these were skills taught to him by Bai Tu, but he was a slow learner, which is why he produced so many "transitional products".
In fact, both Bai Tu and Pang Tong knew that there was another kind of armor that was more practical than infantry armor, and that was plate armor that could truly "use a shield to defeat a spear" - it was cast from a single piece of two-millimetre-thick iron plate, with a weight ratio
The heaviest infantry armor is lighter, and its defensive power... can guarantee an 80-90% block rate against arrows fired straight from the front!
It's just that plate armor requires cast iron - the carbon is in the form of flake graphite, which can only be cast but cannot be forged. Large pieces of pig iron can be cast, also called "cast pig iron", which is different from "smelted pig iron" which can only be forged but cannot be cast.
Steel pig iron" corresponding.
Theoretically, casting pig iron can be produced by smelting iron in a blast furnace. However, the technology needs to be gradually improved. At present, only "steelmaking pig iron" can be produced, so this type of spliced walking armor was chosen for the armor craftsmanship.
At the same time, even if cast pig iron is smelted, at least a hydraulic forging machine will be needed to produce plate armor on a large scale...
The previous incident with Lian Nu also prevented Pang Tong from having a good time today. At this time, Pang Tong also took the initiative to mention: "My lord, the affairs of the Ministry of Industry are becoming more and more complex, especially in terms of organizational structure. It is really not Tong's strength. He is bold.
My lord, please... strengthen the talent selection test, and recruit more talents in the talent recruitment hall!"