Yang Fan looked nonchalant, and he was not worried at all.
As long as he doesn't use shotguns and muskets, he won't be afraid. He knew very well the virtues of those fire-door guns made by the Ming Dynasty.
Yang Fan himself has experimented. His nine-shot fire door gun uses the best maroon gunpowder as the propellant, and the armor-piercing bullets made of steel balls wrapped with lead shot can completely block it at a distance of 25 meters without penetrating.
As for the Ming Dynasty's gunpowder formula, he was confused. The projectiles are also pure lead bullets that are not round at all. The lead bullet is soft, and at this distance, the gun can't even hit cloth armor, let alone steel armor.
Yang Fan handed over his hands to everyone and said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I want to make a bet with all of you. I bet that I will shoot my plate armor with the Jiannu big bow, the magic gun, the broken house gun, and the three-eyed gun. If I can penetrate it, I am willing to pay three for one. If it cannot be penetrated, I am willing for them to pay one for one."
Although Chongzhen is not old, he likes to keep a straight face and pretend to be serious. The ministers did not dare to be presumptuous and joke in front of him.
As soon as Yang Fan's words came out, everyone was a little surprised and felt that Yang Fan was a little arrogant. Many of the censors present were ready to accuse him of speaking out of turn and of disrespecting the emperor.
Unexpectedly, Chongzhen laughed very happily and said: "Yang Qing, you have a good idea. I will bet on you to win. I bet on you to win. Wang Chengen bet fifty taels."
The civil and military ministers were very happy to see the emperor and immediately became active. Placed bets one after another. But they basically don't think highly of Yang Fan.
Because everyone knows that armor cannot stop a spear from being pierced. As long as the enemy's physical strength is sufficient, the spear can generally penetrate through armor and cloth armor and pass through the chest.
Armor is mainly for losing defense on the battlefield, and it also has good defense against slashing. No matter how tightly the nails are woven, there will always be gaps. The spear penetrated easily.
Defending against muskets is even more difficult. Jiannu relied on his triple armor and a certain distance to block the three-eyed gun's shooting. Yang Fan's plate armor only had a thin layer, and it didn't look like it could block him.
Soon, the Ministry of War transferred test personnel. They are all veterans who have returned from the Liaodong battlefield. After Li Banghua took charge of the Great Seal, the Ministry of War went through a lot of rectification, and now both efficiency and personnel have been greatly improved.
A pair of wooden human-shaped stakes for hanging armor were brought in.
Under the guidance of Yang Fan's soldiers, the wooden model was first put into thick cotton clothes. Then, put the plate on and wear it. The veterans stood aside, waiting for instructions.
Li Banghua looked at Chongzhen. Said: "Your Majesty, do you think the test will begin now?"
Chongzhen nodded and said: "Let's get started. Today I will see with my own eyes whether these armors are just showy, or whether they really perform well."
Following Li Banghua's order, several veterans rushed forward, swung their Yanling knives, and slashed violently. They are all veterans of many battles and are skilled in sword skills, specializing in slashing from various tricky angles.
Whether it is the armor of the Ming Dynasty, the cloth armor of the Jiannu, or the feather armor of the Mongols, they all have weaknesses. The main reason is that the defense of the waist and ribs is weak.
The armor stomach of the arm is only found on the outer semicircle, but not on the inner side. This design is mainly for flexibility and weight reduction. The weight here is dead weight. The enemy is basically unable to attack, and it still accounts for four or five kilograms of weight.
Several veterans discovered that this plate armor had no so-called weaknesses, that is, there was no place that the iron armor could not protect. It's really all wrapped up. The slashing and stabbing produced nothing but a string of sparks anywhere.
They soon discovered that these curved surfaces were very slippery and could not be cut solidly. Stabbing with the tip of a knife is also ineffective. The plate armor was so polished that if it hadn't been pickled, it could have been used as a mirror.
Xiaoqi Cheng Bin is a veteran in his fifties and has rich battlefield experience. He was one of the veterans Zhang Fengyi brought back to the Ministry of War from Liaodong.
He came over and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, these plate armors cannot be cut with a knife. They are all first-class fine steel armors."
Chongzhen nodded and said, "Then try changing to a spear."
The veterans took the order and left. A strong man over 1.8 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a round waist, picked up a big gun, stamped his feet, twisted his waist to exert force, and shouted "Kill".
Shake out the sky full of guns and flowers. The tip of the spear was like a dragon emerging from the water, and it went straight to the chest of the plate armor and stabbed it.
The chest of this armor is a raised arc with golden chrysanthemums painted on it. It looks very nice with the gray-black background color.
This shot was heading towards the core of the chrysanthemum.
Everyone shouted "Hello" in unison, and even Chongzhen couldn't help but clapped his hands and praised: "This shot makes you so handsome."
With a bang, the spear tip pierced the plate armor. Then it skidded, pulling out a long string of sparks. It slipped from the side, passed through the arm and ribs, and penetrated a wooden stake behind the armor.
The one-foot-long pointed steel spear point directly pierced a wooden pile as thick as a bowl of ocean and saw splinters flying away. The tip of the gun penetrated directly through the wooden pile and became stuck inside.
The big man twitched but did not pull out. I touched my nose in embarrassment. Then withdrew.
Only the long barrel of the gun was left, trembling and making a buzzing sound.
"Okay," there was a burst of cheers, which was not only praising the strong man's marksmanship, but also praising Yang Fan's strong steel armor.
In fact, the thickness of the front chest part and key parts of the steel armor reached three millimeters. Just very little.
If the shot just now had pierced the ribs, it would have been able to pierce even a one millimeter carburized hardened steel plate. But that place is extremely difficult to stab, and there is almost no chance on the battlefield.
Chongzhen flushed with joy. Li Banghua had shown him before that none of the mandarin duck war jackets and cloth armors in the Ministry of War's inventory could block a spear. This kind of steel armor is still awesome.
Li Banghua was not unhappy because he was in danger of losing the bet, but was very happy.
He is the Minister of the Ministry of War who really hopes to rectify the national army. It's just that Chongzhen failed to withstand the pressure and used him like Qin Xiaogong used Shang Yang.
"This level of force is enough to block a cavalry charge with a lance. We have passed the weapons level. Now let's test the bows and arrows and muskets." Li Banghua said.
A group of veterans came up, each holding a large bow in the style of a slave with a long tip. The string length of these large bows is more than 1.8 meters, and the string length is 1.6 meters.
Because it's too big, people with smaller stature can't use it at all. Height must be above 170cm. And when shooting with a bow and arrow, you need to lean forward and stick your butt out. It looks extremely ugly.
Cheng Bin asked: "Sir, how many steps away are you shooting the arrow?"
"Starting from fifty steps, shoot an arrow every ten steps, and within twenty steps, shoot an arrow every five steps." Li Banghua said.
Cheng Bi continued to ask: "Sir, how powerful is the bow and what kind of arrows are used."
Li Banghua thought for a while, and the most powerful weapons for building slaves were the tiger bow and shovel-shaped arrows, and the most powerful weapons for breaking armor were the triangular pyramid arrows. Then he said: "Use a 13-power bow, shovel-shaped arrows and three-sided arrows."
The Tiger Power Bow has 12 power, and using a 13-power bow is obviously to simulate the strength of the White Pendulum Toast Soldier in shooting arrows.
The highest-level elite soldiers of Jiannu, Bai Baiya Labing, were very good at fighting, riding, and bows. If we only talk about the power of bows and arrows, there are more than 20,000 people in the slave country who can shoot tiger-power bows.
Ordinary armor can't stop the Tiger Power Bow at close range. Can Yang Fan's plate armor do it?
