The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 36 Heavy Cavalry

"You don't need to ask too much about the purpose." Zhu Linmi laid out the sketch and told the two foremen, "Note that the center of gravity of this sword must be one inch above the guard. The blade must be made of high-quality steel, and it must be durable."

The two were busy taking notes carefully.

"This batch of swords has a total of [-] handles," Zhu Linmi said again, "Try to finish it within two months."

The two foremen looked at each other, and although they felt a little difficult, they still nodded in response.

Zhu Linmi picked up the pen and paper again, and drew back and forth for a long time, but due to the limitations of painting techniques, he still couldn't draw what he wanted to express.

He simply asked the two foremen to take him to the place where the clay model was made, took a piece of clay the size of a fist, and molded it into the shape of an armor.

There are five parts in total, the front and rear two breastplates, the left and right shoulder armors and the neck guard.Each part is composed of slopes and curves, and the whole is close to the style of European half-body plate armor.

"This is more important than the cavalry sword." Zhu Linmi pointed to the clay armor in front of her, "Cavalry armor, every part is forged from a single piece of steel plate."

Chu Di and Xiong Zhong picked up the mud sample to observe back and forth, and discussed with each other a few words, all frowning.

"Boss, it might be okay if it is made into a flat shape," Chu Di wondered, "but the crooked shape, I'm afraid..."

Zhu Linming was not surprised. Due to the characteristics of the Eastern War, plate armor has never become popular. Therefore, in this era when manufacturing relies heavily on experience, there may be no ready-made plate armor craftsmen in Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Linming must make the plate armor right now.

Plate armored cavalry has an excellent defensive effect against the small-caliber firearms equipped by the Qing army.

You must know that the Musketeers of the Qing Army did not have such things as bayonets at all, and they also lacked the protection of spearmen.As long as they are exposed to the heavy cavalry, basically a charge will collapse.

In addition, plate armored cavalry also has a very big advantage when fighting against Qing cavalry.

First of all, the Qing army's good riding and shooting can hardly threaten the plate armor.Since the shape of the plate armor is curved, it is easy to cause the low-speed attacking object such as the arrow to slip. With the steel plate 2 to 3 mm thick, it will basically not be pierced by the bow and arrow 20 meters away.

And the distance of 20 meters is a blink of an eye for the cavalry.

Secondly, plate armored cavalry has a more obvious advantage in charging and attacking Qing cavalry equipped with cotton armor.Cotton armor is effective against bullets, arrows and the like, but when facing weapons such as swords and spears, only the thin iron sheet lining the inside works, which has almost no protective effect.

When attacking plate armor with swords and spears, due to the superior overall structural strength of the plate armor, it is necessary to use a lot of force and a relatively vertical angle to cause damage.

And half armored cavalry is more mobile than cotton armored cavalry!
While it might sound like cotton armor is lighter than steel plate armor, the opposite is true.The cotton is compacted and not light at all!A standard Qing Army cotton armor weighs between 25 and [-] jin, while a [-]mm half-body plate armor weighs only about [-] jin, and a [-]mm half-body plate armor weighs less than [-] jin.

The lighter the weight, the stronger the maneuverability.Therefore, it is foreseeable that the cavalry of the Qing army will have an embarrassing situation that they will not be able to fight and run, and will not be able to run away.

Zhu Linmei originally planned to build a cuirassier unit that was very popular in the eighteenth century.

But considering that he would often confront the cavalry units of the Qing army, he finally chose a half body armor that could also defend against cold weapons.Protect the shoulders, neck and other parts that are more vulnerable to sword attacks.

So in the end he decided to form a regiment of heavy cavalry in plate armor, with cavalry swords and wheeled pistols.

Among them, the cavalry sword is the easiest to manufacture. Given the size, the craftsmen of the iron field can make it immediately.After the spring wheel pistol has high-quality steel, it should be able to be assembled quickly with the watchmaking process.

The most troublesome thing is the plate armor that seems to have the least technical content.

To forge a whole piece of steel into a curved armor, the most likely problem is to crack the steel plate, so use low-carbon steel with better ductility, use hot forging to reduce the structural stress of the steel, and forge the steel plate forming.

But low carbon steel is too soft and can be cut with a single knife.Therefore, after forming, carburizing is carried out to turn it into hard medium and high carbon steel.

Finally, it is quenched to improve the hardness and wear resistance of the armor, and then tempered to improve the toughness.Such a qualified plate armor is considered complete.

It can be said that none of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty knew these crafts, but no one could master the entire craft process.Of course, Zhu Linmi, a latecomer, was an exception.

He described the entire production process to the two foremen in detail, and the two of them bowed their heads in silence for a long time before Chu Di said to Zhu Linming: "Boss, let's try it. Although I understand what you said, the whole process Come down but dare not say nothing wrong.”

Xiong Zhong asked another question, "Master, how many sets of armor are you talking about?"

"Let's make [-] sets first. We will definitely need more in the future."

"Boss, according to my estimate, it will take three or four blacksmiths seven or eight days to build such a set of armor." Xiong Zhong hesitated, "It will take more than half a year to make these [-] sets of armor..."

Zhu Linmei immediately thought of the European method to improve the efficiency of plate armor manufacturing, "With the hydraulic forging machine, craftsmen only need to control the forged parts."

"Hydraulic forging machine?"

"It is to drive a hammer with a water wheel, so that it can repeatedly strike."

Chu Di immediately realized, "Isn't this a water pestle? I used to use this thing to grind rice."

Zhu Linmei asked him to briefly talk about the structure of the water reel, nodded and said: "The basic principle is similar, but the mechanical structure is more complicated. I will use the ready-made water wheel in the iron yard as the driving force, and I will draw the blueprint."

For Zhu Linmi, who majored in mechanics, how could a simple hydraulic crankshaft and connecting rod system be difficult for him.

He first measured the size of the water wheel in the iron yard, made a rough plan, and designed a transmission mechanism in only two hours.With the current speed of the water wheel, the design forging speed is about 120 times per minute.

He handed over the drawings to Chu Di, first explained in detail the meanings of the various symbols on the drawings, and then roughly explained the principle of this hydraulic forging machine.

Those incredible but extremely ingenious mechanical transmission parts made Chu Di dumbfounded.

He took a few blueprints and looked at them several times, and couldn't help but be amazed, and he was greatly amazed in his heart. It turned out that this young master was actually a skillful craftsman who kept his secrets!
In order to speed up the production progress of the plate armor, Zhu Linmei simply asked Chanyi to find the craftsman who built the water wheel, and built two more water wheels on the river near the iron yard, and rebuilt the hydraulic grinding machine elsewhere. forge.

He estimated that with three hydraulic forging machines and eighty or ninety craftsmen, they should be able to complete the planned [-] sets of half-body armor within two to three months.

(End of this chapter)