Chapter 24 Fu Zhong
Ministry of Industry warehouse.
A supervisor from the Ministry of Works opened the large iron lock on the warehouse door.
After opening the door, a layer of dust filled the air.
A group of more than a dozen people left a few people outside. The director of the Ministry of Industry went in together with He Xi. After He Xi entered, his eyes only felt dark. After a moment, I saw everything in front of me clearly. Among the seven warehouses, there are large mahogany boxes stacked on top of each other. Several people took down the mahogany box. After opening it, 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 opinion, this armor is actually an intermediate form between cotton armor and iron armor. Or cotton nails without cotton. There are probably more than a hundred pieces of armor in a suit of cloth armor. There are also layers of leather woven together, looking at the complicated weaving patterns. He Xi also knows that it is very strong.
However, these armor pieces are lined with a thick cotton cloth. Or the outer lining. Use round nails. In this way, the shortcomings of Zhajia, which are too bulky, can be avoided. In order to ensure that there is no gap, Zhajia seems to lay the nail pieces one on top of another. There are many overlapping armor plates, giving it extra weight.
Nowadays, the layout of cloth-faced armor allows the armor pieces to be fully spread out. So the weight is reduced. The defense has 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, needless to say, the sour smell. Therefore, ancient craftsmen came up with a little trick, which was to turn the cloth outside. The armor faces inwards. Just don’t.
And this kind of armor came to the north, probably for the purpose of keeping out the cold. Add cotton to the cloth. It became cotton armor.
Of course, there are other changes to cotton armor, so I won’t go into details here.
He Xi didn't stay in one warehouse for too long. He just took a look at the samples and then determined the quantity of various weapons. There was not much discrepancy with the accounts. Even though it was said to be the Hongwu period, the troubles in the warehouse could not be completely eliminated.
He Xi inspected the armor, crossbows, firearms, swords and guns, and other warehouses. Sure enough, there were countless weapons piled up into mountains. They are tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. There is 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 helmet, one piece of armor, one waist sword, one bow, two strings, thirty arrows, one pair of throwing bags, 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 and twenty swordsmen. Thirty archers and forty gunmen."
He Xi turned around and found that the visitor was someone else. But Fu Zhong. Fu Zhong wears his helmet, flutters his armor, and presses his sword on his waist. The armor rustled as he walked. He walked to He Xi in a few steps and said: "Yesterday, I came to order weapons on my father's order. Although the court has laws and regulations, it is like this. But we must analyze the specific situation. In the southwest battle, there is no need for regimental cards and long cards. Because there is a thing in the southwest called a rattan sign. It is made from several years of old vines, kneaded, and soaked in kerosene. It is not as strong as the wooden sign and can be easily used. And there is no problem with swords, guns, and arrows. The inventory of the Southwest Guards Station The most. What you need to pay attention to is armor, firearms, and crossbows. These three cannot be manufactured by the Southwest Guard. They are also the smallest in quantity. According to the regulations of the imperial court, a guard can produce 160 pairs of armor a year, which is considered qualified. . And these three items are also the ones that the Ministry of Industry has the smallest inventory. As soon as the army comes out, they may be emptied. It is not even enough."
He Xi listened and looked at the data in his hand. There are about 100,000 pieces of armor. Among the bows and crossbows, there are tens of thousands of arrows, but there are only less than a thousand crossbows. And there are all kinds of firearms. Too many varieties. There are dozens or hundreds of types, and the number of each type of firearm is also different. There are more than a thousand gates at most, and only a few dozen at least.
In fact, there are different types of crossbows. For example, enemy-defeating crossbows, divine arm crossbows, etc. But not in a big way. But firearms are different. Not to mention explosive firearms, just shooting firearms. Firearms held by soldiers and cannons weighing tens or hundreds of kilograms are almost indistinguishable in name.
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: "Is that in the internal military battle?"
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 hundreds of thousands of troops. Therefore, the most important things are armor and crossbows. Firearms can be used to 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 couldn't figure out the idea of firearms in the Ming Dynasty. The number of Akito's firearms is staggering. Even in the early Ming Dynasty, there was a glimpse of it. But in He Xi's opinion, it's like the army can't use the universal card. The army only needs a few types of firearms, maybe a dozen types. Where is the need for so many?
If He Xi was asked to make firearms, his first step would be to rectify them. Then pick, 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 a simple manufacturing problem. He Xi has the confidence to solve it.
Fu Zhong repeated: "How much easier would it be?" There was a hint of ridicule in his tone.
He knew why the guards made so few crossbows, firearms, and armor. Although it is not only because of the difficulty of production, but also because of the need to control the internal and external aspects. After all, these three weapons play a greater role in war than swords, guns, and shields.
The manufacturing process is also very complex.
For example, a crossbow, a serious crossbow, 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 takes several years to prepare. From selecting materials to gluing and training the bow, it takes several years. It also requires many raw materials such as isinglass.
very troublesome.
Even this is an important reason why bows and arrows were replaced by firearms. Production is 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, and weaving the armor pieces together layer by layer. Not to mention the armor itself, which requires hammer after hammer to hammer it out, not to mention the careful weaving below.
The Nanjing Ordnance Bureau only produces tens of thousands of pairs of armor a year. This was still during the Hongwu period. Later, the capital of the Ming Dynasty only produced 10,000 pairs of armor a year.
As far as armaments are concerned, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the production of weapons was estimated to have not exceeded that of the Hongwu period.
It is precisely because we know how difficult and troublesome these processes are. Fu Zhongcai felt that He Xi was just trying to please others. He thought to himself: "I don't know what path He Xi took to gain His Majesty's appreciation, but for such a boastful person, I'm afraid he will be stripped of his skin."
Fu Zhong knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had a bad temper. The person who disappointed Zhu Yuanzhang. What's the end?
But Fu Zhong remembered the scene where the servant reported. 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 quite grateful to Fu Zhong. Fu Zhong's few words suddenly saved He Xi a lot of work. If Fu Zhong hadn't reminded him, it would have taken He Xi half a day longer to come to the same conclusion. That would waste 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."
