On that day, the Tiefutu soldiers of the Ding Navy charged into the battle despite a rain of arrows and knives, and destroyed Li Quan's camp of tens of thousands of people in one breath. Yu Man'er witnessed it with his own eyes. He was very confident in his personal martial arts, but when he thought about the sophisticated equipment of the navy, he had to give in.
Later, he followed Guo Zhongyuan's troops to Yidu Mansion. On the same day, he followed Tang Jiuyu, the officer in charge of the surrender, to meet the team of craftsmen who arrived from Laizhou.
In that team, Yu Maanger recognized the blacksmiths who made weapons, the bowsmiths who made crossbows, as well as carpenters, stonemasons, masons, tailors, etc. There were so many people that they carried more than a dozen carts full of tools. I thought that so many craftsmen were the personal belongings of Guo Jiedu in Laizhou, but after asking Tang Jiuyu, I found out that these people were actually directly subordinate to General Manager Guo Zhongyuan, and everyone had the status of a full-time soldier and could protect the people.
The team of craftsmen under Guo Jiedu are treated similarly, but the number is much larger. There is an organization called the Ordnance Department that is responsible for the production of all kinds of armor sticks day and night.
Because the Ordnance Department's craftsman camp must ensure output while relocating, bulk mining and metallurgy cannot be moved, and other industries must also be adjusted to coordinate with mining and metallurgy. The final decision will take several months. At present, Yu Maanger and others only need to help Guo Zhongyuan's home craftsmen settle down.
Among these craftsmen, the one with the highest status is the blacksmith named Fang.
When Yu Man'er worked for him, he always heard him bragging proudly. He said that as early as the year before last, he had followed Guo Jiedu in the Xiangjunhe camp in Hebei Province and had repaired the green velvet armor for Guo Jiedu. If he hadn't been indifferent to fame and fortune, he would not have been promoted to the Ordnance Department now.
Even if he hadn't been promoted by the Ordnance Department, he now had a blacksmith workshop with the army in charge and was living a very comfortable life.
The iron materials are provided by the military government on a monthly basis. He only needs to promptly respond to the needs of Guo Zhongyuan's soldiers, repair and build standard armor weapons. The excess iron materials can be used to make small protective weapons for the soldiers, such as Hammers, daggers, throwing axes, etc.
All of this had to be paid for by the soldiers themselves, so Blacksmith Fang made a lot of money from it.
Now that he heard the sound of blacksmithing, Yu Man'er immediately recalled the location of the blacksmith's workshop. He looked at the high walls on both sides and suddenly felt familiar. It turned out that he had walked half a circle around the school grounds and arrived at the southwest corner of Dongyang City.
It is not difficult to return to the school from here, but those spear-throwing competitions are not interesting anyway, so you might as well go and see what Blacksmith Fang is busy with.
He took a few steps forward and turned to the right. The lights were brightly lit in front of him. Sure enough, it was already the craftsman's camp.
The blacksmith's stove in the craftsman's camp was temporarily set up. It was not very big, but it used a wooden fan to blow the air, and the firepower was sufficient, lighting up the entire workshop a bright red. Blacksmith Fang was using iron tongs to clamp out the red-hot steel bars, and then, in cooperation with his apprentice, he repeatedly struck them with large and small hammers.
Looking closer, Yu Maanger recognized that they were making long or square armor pieces.
In the work shed, there is a wooden frame used to support the armor, and a piece of armor is hung on the wooden frame. Although it is not a particularly thick and weighted iron-plated armor, the body of the armor is draped with shoulders, legs bent down, and the head is covered with a hood to protect the neck, which is also very sophisticated.
It seems that Blacksmith Fang is making armor plates to be used on this set of armor. I don’t know which officer needed it so urgently that blacksmith Fang started working on it overnight.
The work was almost done. Blacksmith Fang's youngest apprentice was spreading a set of tools on the large wooden table, preparing to punch holes in the cooled armor pieces and then braid ropes into the entire set of armor.
Blacksmith Fang has four apprentices, all of whom he took in as refugees. They were raised by him from childhood and took his surname. Because some apprentices died in military disasters or diseases in the early years, the ranking of these four people was staggered, and they were named Fang Three, Fang Four, Fang Six and Fang Seven.
At this moment, those sweating profusely and blowing the wooden fans were Fang Si and Fang Liu.
Fang Liu pulled the bellows lever and asked half-jokingly: "Fourth brother, do you think we working people are any worse than soldiers in terms of hand strength? Guo Jiedu is good at hitting people with a hammer. Are we good at it too? You think, if we go into battle and fight, can we get some merit in battle?"
"What do you want to do in war? I want to practice my blacksmithing skills, become the leader of the craftsman's family like my master, and then save money to marry a wife and have children." As he spoke, Fang Si licked the saliva from the corner of his mouth.
Fang Liu rolled his eyes.
"Being the leader of a craftsman's family is nothing more than that. It's better to achieve victory faster. I asked Lao Lu a few days ago and they will win a battle..."
He crossed his two fingers and said in an emphatic tone: "Each person was rewarded with five acres of land! It was all irrigated land! Do you think you are happy or not?"
Fang Si chuckled: "What's wrong with ten acres of land? I don't know how to farm. Besides, I still have to deal with the shade households... Every one of the several shade households under the master's name is not easy to take care of. They need this all day long. Want that...thinking about them gives me a headache!"
"What do you think is so hard to do? By then, you will be a regular soldier and a security chief! It will be too late for them to serve you!"
When Fang Liu was about to speak again, there was a muffled sound on his forehead.
He was hit by the wooden bowl casually thrown by Blacksmith Fang and fell to the sky.
Blacksmith Fang shouted loudly: "Stop dreaming! How can war merit be so easy to earn? People will die if you win a battle, and even more if you lose a battle! Those who have never been on the battlefield and have no sense of tune will die!"
After a few curses, he said to the other party: "You covered the fire door. These pieces of armor are all healed!"
"Okay!" Fang Si quickly took the iron drill, covered the fire door until only a small crack was left, and then used wet mud to seal the edges.
Fang Liu sat on the ground, touched the sudden bulge on his forehead, rubbed his neck, and shouted unconvinced:
"The navy is expanding very fast. Not just one or two people who have never been on the battlefield are signing up for the army! What does it have to do with me whether they die or not? If they are all dead, I will not die either! Lao Lu and I Having said that, the key is to have strength and courage!”
He turned around and saw Yu Manger next to him, and called out: "Yu Manger, do you think so?"
Fang Liu was too unprofessional, and Yu Man'er didn't know how to explain it to him.
What's more, the military achievements of those people Fang Liu envied were coming from the slaughter of Yu's former partners, and Yu's became increasingly lazy to pay attention to them.
He felt a little bored, so he turned and left. Suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps coming from outside the work shed.
A man stomped over and shouted in a deep voice: "So what if you haven't been on the battlefield? Are you the one who can say whether the soldiers will die or not?"
If it's broken, it means disaster comes from the mouth!
Blacksmith Fang hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, with a smile on his face: "Don't be surprised, Xiaolang Yu, my apprentice has always been a mouthful of nonsense... Xiaolang, the armor you want will be ready soon, and you can't delay tomorrow morning..."
The man called Yu Xiaolang sounded young, about fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed in ordinary martial arts clothes, and was tall and fat. He came in a hurry, sweating profusely and panting loudly over the stove. At first glance, he looked like a wild boar that was provoked and jumped: "If you can't do it tomorrow morning, I want it tonight! Old Fang, hurry up! I'll give you extra Just give you money!"
He shook off Blacksmith Fang and continued to walk into the work shed. He glanced sideways at Yu Manger and sneered again: "No wonder your apprentice expects to kill people in the navy? Is this too much dealing with surrendered soldiers?"
As he spoke, he stretched out his thick arm and pushed Yu'er's shoulder violently: "Get out of the way!"
Yu Manger really didn't block his way, this Yu Xiaolangjun was just making excuses. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but he’s so angry.
The clay figurine also has a bit of a rustic temperament, and even if Yu Man'er becomes a surrendered soldier, he is not willing to be bullied by cats and dogs.
At this moment, he stood still with a slight force on his feet.
Yu Xiaolang pushed Yu Mong'er's shoulder with his hand. It was like pushing an iron pillar and it didn't move at all.
"Good boy!"
Yu Xiaoyang's strong body paused, and the strength in his arms suddenly increased by several percent.
Yu Man'er made a wrong step at this moment, and Yu Xiaolang staggered forward a few steps. If it weren't for his quick reaction, he would have almost hugged the stove and performed a fire-fighting performance.
"Good boy! Dare to fight back!"
Yu Xiaolang turned around with an evil look on his face, said nothing more, and punched him.
Given his physique, even if the punch was not full force, it still seemed fierce and vicious. But this kind of straightforward method used for fighting in the battle formation is not the same as Yu Mao'er's reckless martial arts. Although Yu Mao'er is young, he has fought with Li Quan for many years and is a well-known expert in the more than 10,000 red coat troops!
Yu Man'er spread his hands to wipe away the fist that was thrown in front of his face, turned sideways and raised his knees, followed by a side kick.
This time, following Yu Xiaolang's momentum, he kicked hard on his thigh. Yu Xiaoyang screamed, his feet went weak, and he fell to the ground.
