The names of the armors in the Northern Song Dynasty army are very complicated, such as steel chain mail, chain armor, bright mesh armor, gold armor, long and short head-length armor, black paint near water mountain spring armor, Mingju armor, foot armor... Ling Lingzong There are dozens in total.
However, according to the types of arms, they can be roughly divided into three categories.
That’s it, horse, foot, crossbow!
The first one among them is the infantry armor, which consists of 1825 armor leaves and weighs 58 kilograms.
Note that this 58 kilograms is just the basic weight.
If you encounter strong enemies such as heavy armored cavalry, you can also install additional armor leaves on the armor to increase your defense.
It can reach up to 89 Song Jin!
According to Nie Dong, the infantry armor is not as bulky as imagined. In fact, it adopts a roller shutter-style folding design, which is very convenient to wear and will not cause too much interference to the soldiers' movements.
This manufacturing process is extremely complex. Even if there are design drawings, craftsmen in ordinary government-run workshops cannot imitate it immediately. They will have to study it for at least a year and a half.
The second is the heavy armor of the crossbowmen.
Yes, the armor of the crossbowmen in the Northern Song Dynasty border army was heavier than that of the cavalry, weighing 54 Song Jin.
It seems a bit strange that the crossbowman is wearing such heavy armor.
But there is nothing that can be done about it. When facing Xixia, the cavalry is at a disadvantage. Once the Xixia cavalry breaks into the formation, the crossbowmen can only become lambs to be slaughtered.
Therefore, in the years of fighting with Xixia, the crossbowmen gradually began to use heavy armor. In this way, they were not afraid of cavalry charging into the formation.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei relied on his heavy armored infantry and relied on the dense formation of ditch fortress to defeat the Jin's ace cavalry Tiefutu many times.
However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. The heavy armored infantry moves slowly. Even if they defeat the Jin army, they cannot take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the results.
This resulted in the inability to inflict a fatal blow to the Jin army, leaving it severely injured.
This is one of the reasons why, under the command of famous generals such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, the Southern Song Dynasty fought many victorious battles but was always on the defensive.
The heavy armor of the cavalry is the lightest among the three types of arms, only 44-52 Song Jin.
Naturally, Han Zhen did not want to focus on heavy infantry, so he only customized 300 pieces of infantry heavy armor, and the rest were mainly light infantry to ensure the mobility of the army.
To put it bluntly, the choice of heavy infantry in the Song Dynasty was a helpless move because the cavalry was too overwhelmed.
You know, there was no heavy infantry in the early Song Dynasty, because the Jingsai cavalry in the north was powerful enough to face the hard-steel Liao king's famous cavalry Tielin Army without falling behind.
If the Jurchens are less than ten thousand, are they invincible?
wrong!
The Han cavalry is less than ten thousand, and it is invincible if it is full of ten thousand!
This sentence refers to the Jingsai Iron Cavalry.
The most glorious achievement was when he used three thousand cavalry to severely damage the Liao Kingdom's 80,000 Tielin Army!
However, with the signing of the Tanyuan Alliance and the peace between Song and Liao, the Jingsai Cavalry, a cavalry descended from the Tang Dynasty vassal town, gradually declined, and the quality of the Song Dynasty's cavalry also plummeted.
Boom boom boom!
The water hammer hit the wrought iron, making heavy sounds.
Compared with traditional workshops, the advantages of hydraulic workshops are assembly line operations and non-stop work day and night.
As long as the water of the Xiaodong River is still flowing, the water hammer will continue to wave.
When the two phases are superimposed, the efficiency is naturally several times higher than that of traditional workshops.
After completing the inspection, Han Zhen smiled with satisfaction and said: "Yes, you have worked hard during this period of time. You can go to the county office later and receive a reward of fifty guan per person!"
Fifty strings!
Craftsman Yuan and others' eyes suddenly lit up, and they bowed and thanked them repeatedly.
This reward was quite generous, and I was filled with gratitude to Han Zhen.
Patting Craftsman Yuan on the shoulder, Han Zhen encouraged: "Work hard. If you can complete the job ahead of time, you will be rewarded!"
Is there any reward?
Craftsman Yuan took a deep breath and said solemnly: "The county magistrate is relieved, we will do our best."
Han Zhen warned: "The work must be rushed, but the quality must also be guaranteed."
"I saved it."
Craftsman Yuan nodded quickly.
After a few more explanations, Han Zhen left the workshop, mounted his horse, and rushed to Xiaowang Village.
As we galloped all the way to the stronghold, we saw a few local warriors standing on the wall carrying bows and arrows. When they saw Han Zhen from a distance, they immediately shouted: "Stop whoever comes!"
Not to mention, it is quite impressive.
Seeing that Han Zhen did not stop, the village heroes immediately took off their bows and arrows and drew their bows.
"County magistrate?"
As he got closer, a Xiang Yong recognized him.
Hearing this, the others immediately put down their bows and arrows.
After the villager Yong called someone to open the gate of the village, he looked uneasy and said, "Excuse me, county magistrate. We were so far apart just now that we didn't recognize him."
"It's okay. If you do a good job, it will be like this from now on."
Han Zhen smiled slightly and rode into the stronghold.
The person in charge of the township brave came forward and summoned up the courage to say: "County magistrate, when can we go to the military camp?"
They were happy for a long time after they accepted Xiang Yong.
Although he is only a country hero, he can directly join the army in the future.
As a result, they learned the news of the army expansion yesterday, and many people in Xiaowang Village were selected, which made them feel disappointed.
Han Zhen knew what they were thinking and couldn't help but said: "Don't be impatient. You should lay a good foundation first and learn more words while you are free now. When you join the army, as long as you perform well, you will be able to do it soon." promotion."
"I understand!"
After eating the big cake drawn by Han Zhen, a smile appeared on his head immediately, and he was full of energy.
It is no secret that if the Qingzhou Army wants to be promoted, they need to be literate and arithmetic.
Nowadays, more and more people are taking night classes in Xiaowang Village.
As a result, two new industries have been born in Xiaowang Village.
Blackboard and chalk.
Paper, ink, pens and inkstones are too expensive and ordinary villagers cannot afford them.
But chalk and small blackboards are very cheap. One penny can buy a dozen pieces of chalk, enough to last for several days.
There are smart villagers who spend money to purchase hydrated lime from lime kilns, make chalk at home, and then sell it in the market.
The blackboard is also very simple. Anyone who knows how to be a carpenter can make it.
And making a blackboard requires raw paint...
These two simple small industries have created a large number of jobs.
Xiaowang Village is Han Zhen's base and experimental site.
If Xiaowang Village can successfully transform from a small farmer economy to a commodity economy, it can be applied to other counties and towns in the future.
…
In Xiaowang Village not far away, several billows of black smoke shot straight into the sky.
Compared with the profits created by the factory, the impact of these thick smoke is completely negligible.
Entering the village along the loess path, the most eye-catching thing is a huge work shed in the northwest corner.
This work shed is Han Zhen's money bag and salt factory.
The monkey knew that he was coming today and had been waiting outside the workshop door early.
"Brother Han!"
Today's monkey has an air of calmness about him.
This is actually normal. After having the experience of managing thousands of people, your mentality will gradually change.
After getting off his horse, Han Zhen asked, "Has work started yet?"
"Work has started!"
The monkey nodded and signaled: "Second Brother Han, I will take you to take a look."
When you walk into the work shed, you will see four large stepped salt ponds.
Each salt pond is operated by workers No. 30 or 40.
After boiling the salt water in the highest salt boiling tank, workers immediately opened the bamboo pipes and the salt water was automatically poured into the No. 2 salt tank.
A bucket of lime milk is poured into the salt water, and workers hold bamboo poles and stir it continuously to make it react quickly.
After the lime milk precipitates, the reacted brine is poured into the No. 3 salt pond again.
The workers in charge of the No. 3 salt pond used bellows to continuously pump air into the salt water for secondary reactions.
After settling again, the brine is poured into the No. 4 salt pond.
After the first three processes, a lot of water in the salt water has evaporated. As the concentration of the salt water increases, the No. 4 salt pool does not need to be heated, and pure white salt will automatically precipitate in the pool.
After the workers fish it out with a large wooden spoon, they put it in a wooden frame to dry and finally bag it.
The entire salt-making process is as orderly as a machine.
"Brother Han, this salt pond is so useful. I asked the workers to try burning it yesterday, and it produced thousands of kilograms of refined salt in half a day."
Monkey continued excitedly: "I followed the example of the lime kiln and divided the workers into three shifts, working day and night. In this way, we can produce at least 150,000 to 60,000 jins a month."
At present, Zhu Ji and Gu Song are constantly exploring channels outside under the names of Zhao Ting and Liu Mi.
After the refined salt is produced, it will not be piled up in Xiaowang Village, but will be transported to various places immediately.
They were exchanged for golden copper coins, as well as grain, coarse salt, pig iron, cowhide and horns, cattle, horses, donkeys, mules and other materials and livestock, and then transported back to Linzi County.
This saves a lot of time.
Han Zhen lowered his voice and said sternly: "The confidentiality of the salt factory must not be left behind."
"Second Brother Han, I saved you."
Monkey nodded solemnly and said, "I am going to set up a patrol team to patrol the factory day and night and be responsible for finding out those with evil intentions."
"good!"
Han Zhen smiled slightly.
After inspecting the salt factory, it was already noon, and Han Zhen and the monkey had a fight in the factory cafeteria.
"Monkey, I'll leave the salt factory to you. Help me keep an eye on it."
"Second Brother Han, don't worry!"
The monkey knew in his heart that Han Zhen was training himself.
I'm afraid that after the salt production plant stabilizes, new errands will be arranged.
Suddenly, the monkey seemed to have thought of something and said, "By the way, Brother Han, that cement you mentioned earlier seems to have been baked in the lime kiln."
"Is it burned out?"
Han Zhen was overjoyed.
He himself knew little about firing cement. He only knew that clay and iron ore should be added to limestone, but he had no idea about the specific proportions and the temperature during calcination.
After adding a kiln entrance to the lime kiln, he left a separate kiln for the workers to try firing cement in their spare time.
Whoever can burn it will be rewarded with fifty coins.
Under the heavy reward, the workers showed great enthusiasm. Anyway, they are idle, so let's give it a try.
"I gonna go see!"
Saying goodbye to the monkey, Han Zhen mounted his horse and hurried to the lime kiln.
Seeing him, the manager of the lime kiln immediately came up to him and called with a smile: "County Magistrate!"
He was originally a villager in Xiaowang Village and one of the first workers to be recruited.
Han Zhen asked straight to the point: "I heard that someone burned cement?"
"right!"
The steward nodded.
Han Zhen ordered: "Go and call him."
(End of chapter)
