Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 234 Infantry Armor

"The foreign minister has thanked Duke Bai for his kindness on behalf of the Prime Minister. I think the Prime Minister can also understand the sincerity of Bai Gong Kuang in helping the Han Dynasty. However, the foreign minister cannot 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 for him not to buy it?
It just needs to be deeper first, and then the price will be lowered.

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 as he was about to speak, he saw that Mr. Lu Kang was sitting firmly at this moment, 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.

And it is true...

Talking about mineral reserves?Iron ore and copper mines are 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 and the other is Nannan. middle……

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 has become smoother. The former is still Fuyu Kingdom - the leader is now Gongsun Du's son-in-law, and he is considered dependent on Gongsun. of foreign nations.

What was the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty?Yangzhou is very rich in copper and iron!

The reason why copper and iron are also very precious in Yangzhou is simply because the digging intensity is not 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 must also collect strategic materials - grain and grass from the Central Plains, ore from Liaodong, horses from the north...

In this way, not only can the Ministry of Industry maintain its expenses, but it also has an additional benefit... If it directly connects with a certain aristocratic 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, his eyes towards Sima Lang became a little more kind.

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 from 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, 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 Mansion not to take it to heart?

He didn't believe that Bai Tu could sell swords to Liaodong and Xiliang, but Xuzhou... Apart from that, Jian Yong from Xuzhou was also at the banquet!

Could it be that Bai Tu had this idea?

But Bai Tu stopped paying attention to his appearance, and Pang Tong on the side also said at the right time: "My lord, the Ministry of Industry has also designed and built a brand new battle armor recently, 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 a few more big men, carrying armor after armor...

The weight is described as "seats" - two big men with big muscles and round waists, only four armors are attached to one pole.

At this time, the armor of the Eastern Han Dynasty was mainly made of zha armor for Ji-made soldiers, and the generals usually wore scale armor - only war generals of a certain rank had to have it, and ordinary corps commanders and senior officers did not get 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, the Yangzhou army is well-equipped, otherwise the third-rate armies of the general princes are usually made of leather armor and civilian clothes, and even Zhajia can only be equipped by first- and second-tier troops.

As the name suggests, scale armor is a fine scale iron sheet, which is embedded in layers on the inside. 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 combined use.

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 force, the heavy infantry of the Song Dynasty did indeed have a glorious history...

The Song Dynasty, which lacked cavalry, was able to compete with the Liao and Hou Jin in the north because of its powerful, fat and oily heavy infantry!

The basic small unit of the stepman armor is no longer a "ring", but a piece of armor leaf weaving, just like the armor of his old enemy, Houjin's Iron Buddha, it is layered from bottom to top. structure.

Compared with chainmail, 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 shot through stray arrows and projectiles unless it is too unlucky.

And as an infantry armor, the designers of the infantry armor in the Song Dynasty also worked hard to "tire the cow to death".

Another feature of the infantry armor is that it can be further improved by adding more armor, and at the same time... it is also heavier!

The heaviest thing is the armor of the spearmen, because the spearmen of the Song Dynasty had to bear the important task of blocking the cavalry charge, so... it was really heavy.

Under normal conditions, spearmen carry sixty to seventy catties of the later generation's weight, and when fully armed, they are covered with more than one hundred catties of armor - even if they want to be deserters, there is no chance!

The lightest crossbowmen are heavily armored, but they are [-]% 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 alert, and only bring the rack with you when the battle 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 took 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!

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.

It's just that... the guards all looked at Pang Tong.

Although armor is also a guarantee of life, but...who designed this to death from exhaustion?

Also the design concept, design style... This Ministry of Industry and Commerce Department is very 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 a little more streamlined. Then it was lifted again - the outer layer of 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 also received the "soldier talisman".

In terms of marching, there will be no 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: "My 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!

Was the Song Dynasty fat? There are more than 100 million troops, and the forbidden army alone is 80!

But... when the armaments were at their most complete, including the troops of big guys like Han Shizhong and Yue Fei, there were only over a hundred thousand people who could be said to be fully armed.

As for the Iron Buddha, the heavy cavalry of the Jin Kingdom, there were only five thousand in its heyday.

"Well, let's equip them in different levels! First popularize among corporal commanders and special commanders, and then count the number of heavy armor required by each army. In addition... ordinary light leaf armor should be equipped with the entire army three years ago." Bai Bai Tu Caicai said arrogantly.

Of course, Bai Tu knew and decided this long ago. The reason why he said it now is to remind Sima Lang, Jian Yong and the others that Zha Jia and Lin Jia are also for sale!
"Here." Pang Tong responded.

At this time, Bai Tu also praised Pang Tong again, and announced that all the officials of the Ministry of Industry would be promoted to a higher level. Officials involved in the Jian'an Sisa and Jian'an Siyejia projects should be rewarded for their merits!
However, Pang Tong didn't get any favors, he just felt that this was something Bai Tu taught him, but he was slow to learn, that's 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, two-millimetre-thick iron plate and weighed less than The heaviest infantry armor is even lighter, and its defensive power... can guarantee an [-]-[-]% block rate against arrows fired straight from the front!

It’s just that the plate armor needs cast iron—in which carbon exists in the form of flake graphite, which can only be cast but not forged. Large pieces of pig iron can be cast, also called “casting pig iron”. 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 "steel-making pig iron" can be produced, so this type of spliced ​​infantry armor is still chosen for armor technology.

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 Ministry of Industry has more and more affairs nowadays, especially in terms of organization, which is really not Tong's strength. He is bold. Please, my lord...intensify the recruitment of talents in the talent selection test and talent recruitment hall!"

(End of this chapter)