A supervisor from the Ministry of Works opened the large iron lock on the warehouse door.
After opening the door, a layer of dust spread out.
A group of more than a dozen people left a few people outside. The director of the Ministry of Industry and He Xi went in together. After He Xi entered, he only felt that his eyes were dark. After a while, he saw everything in front of him clearly. Among the seven warehouses, there were layers upon layers.
There were large mahogany boxes stacked on top of each other. Several people took down the mahogany boxes. After opening them, a pair of armor was opened in front of He Xi.
He Xi looked a little strange.
This is a cloth armor.
In He Xi's view, this armor is actually an intermediate form between cotton armor and iron armor. In other words, cotton armor without cotton. There are probably more than a hundred pieces of armor in a cloth armor. There are also layers of leather woven together.
The complicated weaving pattern. He Xi also knew it was very strong.
However, these nail pieces have a layer of heavy cotton as the inner lining, or outer lining, which is fixed with round nails. In this way, the shortcomings of the nail armor, which is too bulky, can be avoided. In order to ensure that there is no
When it is empty, it is as if the nail plates are stacked one on top of the other. There are many overlapping nail plates, which gives it extra weight.
Nowadays, the layout of armor such as cloth armor allows the armor pieces to be completely spread out. Therefore, the weight is reduced, and the defensive power is not weakened much.
There is just one problem with the armor made in this way, and that is the problem of rivets. Each rivet is on the side of the cloth. If the cloth is included, these rivets will be facing the skin, and it goes without saying that it has a sour taste.
Therefore, the ancient craftsmen came up with a little trick, which was to put the cloth on the outside and the armor on the inside.
When this kind of armor came to the north, it was probably needed to keep out the cold. Cotton was added to the cloth to become cotton armor.
Of course, there are other changes to cotton armor, so I won’t go into details here.
He Xi did not stay too long in a warehouse. He mostly took a look at the samples and then determined the quantity of various weapons. There was not much discrepancy with the accounts. Although it was said that it was the Hongwu period, it could not be completely
Get rid of the tricks in the warehouse.
He Xi inspected the armor, crossbows, firearms, swords and guns, and other warehouses. As expected, there were countless weapons piled up in mountains. They were tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. There was no discrepancy with the accounts.
He Xi confirmed this and said: "By the way, Mr. Wang, do you know how many weapons a 300,000-strong army requires?"
"Your Majesty has already given an order: for each pair, one piece of helmet, armor, and saber, one bow, two strings, thirty arrows, one set of sacks, five blunderbuss and arrows; for every two pairs, add a regiment card, and a spear
One stick." Suddenly a voice came from behind He Xi. The voice was sonorous and powerful, as if every word had an echo. "According to the military order of the Ming Dynasty, one hundred households have ten gunmen, twenty swordsmen, and thirty archers.
Name, forty gunmen."
He Xi turned around and found that the person who came was none other than Fu Zhong. Fu Zhong put on his helmet and held his armor, holding his sword on his waist. As he walked, his armor made a rustling sound. He walked to He Xi's side in a few steps and said: "
Yesterday I was ordered by my father to order some weapons. Although the imperial court has laws and regulations, it is necessary to analyze the specific situation. When fighting in the southwest, there is no need for regiment cards or long cards. Because there is a thing in the southwest called a shield card. Take the number
The old vines, after being kneaded and soaked in kerosene, are not as tough as wooden signs, but are lighter. And there is no problem with swords, guns and arrows. The Southwest Guards Station has the largest inventory. What you need to pay attention to is armor, firearms, and bows.
Crossbows, these three items are not manufactured by the Southwest Guard. They are also the smallest in quantity. According to the imperial regulations, a guard station can produce 160 pairs of armor a year, even if it is qualified. And these three items are also the smallest in the Ministry of Industry's inventory.
.As soon as the army comes out, it may be emptied. It may not even be enough."
He Xi listened and looked at the data in his hand. There were about a hundred thousand pieces of armor. Among the crossbows, there were tens of thousands of bows and arrows, and there were only less than a thousand crossbows. And there were all kinds of firearms. There were too many varieties. There were dozens of them.
There are hundreds of kinds, and the number of various firearms is also different. There are more than a thousand at most, and only a few dozen at least.
In fact, there are different types of crossbows, such as enemy-defeating crossbows, divine arm crossbows, etc. But the form is small. Firearms are different. Not to mention explosive firearms, they are just shooting firearms, held by soldiers.
Firearms are almost indistinguishable from cannons weighing tens to hundreds of kilograms.
A gun is also a cannon, and a cannon is also a gun.
He Xi, who was not familiar with these things, was confused.
He Xi said: "Thank you, General Fu, for your advice. This firearm -----"
Fu Zhong said: "In fact, you don't need to pay too much attention to these firearms, because the place with the most firearms in Yingtian Mansion is not here."
He Xi said: "That was during the military battle in Dauchi?"
Fu Zhong said: "No."
He Xi felt a little strange and said, "Where is that?"
Fu Zhong said: "It is on the top of the city of Yingtianfu. Your Majesty built the city with a high height, accumulated a lot of grain, and gradually became the king and conquered the world. The most beautiful city in the world is none other than Jinling. The walls of Jinling are dozens of miles long and there are many firearms. It can be said that
The firearms at the top of Jinling City are enough to arm an army of hundreds of thousands. Therefore, the most important things are armor and crossbows. Firearms can be slow down."
When He Xi heard what Fu Zhong said, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This will be much easier to handle."
In He Xi's opinion, firearms are the most complicated. Because he can't figure out the idea of firearms in the Ming Dynasty. The number of firearms in the Ming Dynasty is jaw-dropping. Even in the early Ming Dynasty, it was a little bit obvious. But in He Xi's opinion,
Just like the army cannot use Wanguo brand. The army only needs a few or a dozen types of firearms. Why do you need so many?
If He Xi was asked to make firearms, his first step would be to sort out the firearms. Then he would select or reinvent a few standard firearms.
This all takes time, and the time given by Zhu Yuanzhang is definitely not enough.
Without these two things, armor and crossbows would just be simple manufacturing problems. He Xi was confident that he could solve them.
Fu Zhong repeated: "How much easier would it be?" There was a hint of ridicule in his tone.
He does know why there are so few crossbows, firearms, and armor made by various guards. Although it is not only because of the difficulty of making, but also because of the balance between internal and external. After all, compared to weapons such as swords, guns, and shields, these three are more important in war.
There is a greater role in it.
The manufacturing process is also very complex.
For example, crossbows, serious crossbows, both the bow body and the bow string, are made of very complex materials. Compound bows have always been popular in China. A good bow requires several years of preparation, from material selection to bonding and bow training.
, and other steps will take several years, and also require many raw materials such as isinglass.
very troublesome.
Even this is an important reason why bows and arrows were replaced by firearms. Production was too troublesome.
And the same goes for armor.
Armor is not just about punching out armor pieces, it also requires a lot of weaving work, including fine cowhide, to weave the armor pieces together layer by layer. Not to mention the armor pieces themselves, which need to be hammered out with hammer after hammer, let alone
The following is carefully woven.
The Nanjing Ordnance Bureau only produced tens of thousands of armors a year. This was still during the Hongwu period, and later on, the capital of the Ming Dynasty only produced 10,000 pairs of armors a year.
As far as armaments are concerned, the production of weapons during the Ming Dynasty probably did not exceed that of the Hongwu period.
It was precisely because he knew the difficulties and troubles of these crafts that Fu Zhong felt that He Xi was simply trying to please others. He thought to himself: "I don't know what route this He Xi took to gain His Majesty's appreciation. But for such a boastful person, he will not be able to do anything in the future."
I'm afraid the fate will be to peel off the last straw."
Fu Zhong knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had a bad temper. He was the one who disappointed Zhu Yuanzhang. What would happen to him?
But Fu Zhong remembered the scene of the servant's report and said: "Secretary He, there is one thing I want to ask you."
Fu Zhong looked down on He Xi from the bottom of his heart, but He Xi was very grateful to Fu Zhong. These few words from Fu Zhong saved He Xi a lot of work. If Fu Zhong hadn't reminded him, He Xi would have spent half a day longer.
Only time can come to the same conclusion. That would be a waste of time.
As for Fu Zhong's complexion, Fu Zhong originally had a big beard and went out to fight all year round, so his complexion was very rough. If you don't look carefully, who knows whether he has a good complexion or a bad complexion.
He Xi said: "General Fu, if you have anything to ask, just say it." This chapter has been completed!
