I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 207 Plate Armor
The armor rate of the armies in the Ming and Qing dynasties was close to 100%. Now the most mainstream armor in the Ming Dynasty is Qingjia (qingyi iron armor, a kind of cloth armor).

青甲穿甲片的线要用石灰处理过的鹿皮制作，一件甲要用领叶30片、身叶209片、分心叶17片、肢窝叶20片，甲外的布面要用又厚又密的青白色棉布、甲钉要用火漆小丁，打一件甲要用40斤8两铁，最终成品的重量在20-25斤。

Compared with the lace armor that was popular in the Tang and Song dynasties, the advantage of cloth armor is that the processing cost is lower. Lace armor requires a lot of time to weave the armor pieces, while cloth armor only requires nailing the armor pieces to the cloth with nails.

Moreover, the leather ropes of the armor are exposed and easy to be cut, while cloth armor does not have this problem and can also hide the seams between the armor.

Moreover, cloth armor is easier to maintain than corbel armor, because iron will rust. A set of corbel armor has one or two thousand armor plates, which need to be disassembled and polished during maintenance, and then strung together with leather ropes. The maintenance is very cumbersome. Relatively speaking, cloth armor is much easier to maintain.

However, the defense of zebra armor is higher than that of cloth armor. Zebra armor and chain mail were called Ming armor in the Ming Dynasty, which means armor with metal armor plates on the surface. This kind of armor is usually only equipped by officers.

The opposite cloth armor is called dark armor.

Many people may have the impression that cloth armor comes from the Qing Dynasty, and regard it as a symbol of the Qing Dynasty. However, the Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming system, and the cloth armor of the Qing Dynasty was also inherited from the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, whether it is barbed armor or cloth armor, if you want to continue to improve the protective power, you can only develop towards plate armor.

The advantages of plate armor are self-evident. When the weight and material are equal, plate armor has the strongest defense. The dome structure is more advantageous against blunt attacks because it does not directly contact the body.

Plate armor requires high technical skills but consumes less man-hours.

It is also relatively easy to maintain, with only two steel plates at the front and back, making oiling and maintenance very convenient.

So Zhu Houxun prepared to make a set of plate armor, which he said was a plate breastplate.

The cost of equipping ordinary soldiers with full body plate armor is still too high, and full body plate armor needs to be customized according to the user's body shape, otherwise it will be very uncomfortable to wear. If customization is required, it is not suitable for mass production.

The plate breastplate not only reduces costs, but also largely solves the problems of customization and wearing comfort.

As for the protection of the limbs, cloth armor is still used.

Many people feel that plate armor is very expensive. In fact, that is because the technology does not meet the requirements, so a lot of extra costs are incurred.

If the technology is available, the cost of plate breastplate can actually be lower than that of lapel armor and cloth armor.

In terms of making plate armor, the Ming Royal Group has technical reserves. Zhu Houxuan has been dealing with the steel industry since he traveled through time. The steel industry is also the industry in which he has invested the most. Under his guidance, the steel industry has also achieved leapfrog development. Both materials and production technology have been well accumulated.

At least the one-piece stamping technology has now been discovered, which is one of the technologies for making cylinders for steam engines.

The use of integrated stamping technology to manufacture plate armor is not only easy to manufacture, but also has higher defensive power at the same weight.

Zhu Houxun did not plan to make the plate armor breastplate too heavy, about 20 kilograms would be enough. Adding the protection of the limbs and the helmet, it should not exceed 40 kilograms. Adding weapons and other things, it should not exceed 50 kilograms.

This is because the times are different and the choices we make when facing different enemies.

Heavy armor was popular during the Tang and Song dynasties, and it reached its peak during the Song dynasty. The Infantry Armor is a representative example, and the armor alone weighs 77 kilograms. It depends on what kind of enemy they are facing.

The main enemies faced by the Tang Dynasty in the middle and late period were the An Lushan Rebellion and local warlords. Both sides had the same iron smelting technology, so they both produced heavy armor to fight back.

The Song Dynasty faced a similar situation. Both Liao, Jin and Western Xia had mature iron smelting industries and no generation gap in iron smelting technology. In the absence of mature firearms, both sides could only engage in an arms race and continuously thicken their armor.

But the situation changed during the Ming Dynasty. The main enemies of the Ming Dynasty were the Mongols in the north and the ethnic minorities in the southwest.

The terrain in the southwest is rugged and heavy armor is not very suitable.

The Mongols were very mobile, and after being driven back to the grasslands, their iron smelting technology plummeted, and now they couldn't even make iron pots. Every time they went south to plunder, iron pots were the main item looted. So light cloth armor was enough to deal with the Mongols' weapons.

Faced with such a situation, the Ming army basically abandoned heavy armor and chose to increase mobility.

Zhu Houxuan also adapted to this situation and did not make the armor too heavy.

Therefore, Zhu Houxun would stop making cloth armor first. Anyway, the delivery date of the cloth armor was still early. He planned to make some plate armor breastplates to let Zhu Houzhao and the Ministry of War see the effect.

Of course, all of this is just a transition. Once firearms with sufficient power and firing rate appear, armor will eventually disappear from the stage.

After inspecting the situation, Zhu Houxuan returned to Nangong, but was surprised to find that Zhu Houzhao was already waiting there, flipping through a book in his study.

"Why is my royal brother here?" Zhu Houxuan asked in surprise.

"Let me see what other good things you have here," Zhu Houzhao said with a smile as he closed the book in his hand.

"I just came back from the Ministry of War and talked about military equipment manufacturing." Zhu Houxuan said, raising the contract in his hand.

"Well, there is no one in the Ming Dynasty who is more suitable for manufacturing military weapons than you. The cheapest and highest quality steel are all produced by you. I have high hopes for your ability to manufacture military weapons," Zhu Houzhao said slowly.

"Thank you for your compliment, my brother, but why do I feel like I'm not in a good mood today?" Zhu Houxuan noticed Zhu Houzhao's abnormality and asked directly.
"My brother has seen through it. I have nothing to hide. I am just worried about the Beijing Camp." Zhu Houzhao's face was not looking good. "The problems of the Beijing Camp have been going on for a long time, and the accumulated problems are deep. I once wanted to restore the combat effectiveness of the Beijing Camp. I selected 30,000 elite soldiers from the 12 regiments and established the East and West Offices. At first, they were still elite, but gradually the combat effectiveness began to decline."

Zhu Houxuan did not say anything, but just listened quietly.

"Then I transferred border troops to Beijing, hoping to use the elite border troops to change the atmosphere in the Beijing camp. As a result, not only did these border troops fail to improve the atmosphere in the Beijing camp, they themselves were influenced by the Beijing camp and lost their original simple atmosphere," Zhu Houzhao kept sighing.

"Brother, you always have a lot of ideas. What do you think about the Beijing Camp?"

"Ah? Brother, why did you remember to ask me about the Beijing camp? I am just an armchair enthusiast and I don't know anything about military affairs," Zhu Houxuan asked in surprise.

"I feel that the capital is full of vitality everywhere, but only here do I feel that it is full of vitality. Although you have never commanded an army, you are good at commanding people. There are similarities between the two, so I would like to hear your opinion."

Well, I have been working overtime recently, so I couldn’t sleep after writing one chapter last night. I have to work overtime today, so I will post one chapter first, and the second chapter will be posted in the evening.
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(End of this chapter)