Chapter 25 Ordnance Bureau
After hearing He Xi's words, Fu Zhong breathed a sigh of relief.
To be honest, Fu Zhong didn't want to offend He Xi. No matter whether He Xi was Zhu Yuanzhang's illegitimate son or not, one thing was certain. That is He Xi now being favored. There is no benefit in offending this person, but there are some things that men cannot let go of. It's not that Princess Anqing is so good, but Fu Zhong's mother has already said it. If Princess Anqing was taken away from her, it would be a hatred that no man could swallow.
Now He Xi has made his position clear. Fu Zhong naturally wanted to reciprocate the favor.
Fu Zhong said: "Good brother, you are not responsible for supervising the manufacture of weapons. I will lead you. I am very familiar with this weapons bureau. I have supervised the manufacture of weapons with my father several times. I am very familiar with it." He said that he was like a bear's paw. His hand slapped on He Xi's shoulder. He Xi felt as if a nail was being driven into the ground, and his shoulder hurt.
But Fu Zhong had to accept the kindness and said, "Thank you so much, Brother Fu."
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The Ordnance Bureau is huge.
The Nanjing Ordnance Bureau alone has tens of thousands of craftsmen, divided into four large factories, and there are even several workshops outside the city. In terms of scale, it is no smaller than some later enterprises.
He Xi came here specifically to visit the armor-making site.
With Fu Zhong leading the way, He Xi quickly figured out the way. Fu Zhong called a little old man to He Xi and said, "This is Foreman Ge. He has been in the Ordnance Bureau for many years. He is most familiar with the making of weapons. If you have anything, just ask him. Don't Ask those turbans, those turbans don’t know anything.”
After He Xi heard this, he took a peek and saw that the officials from the Ministry of Industry who were following him, ranging from the director of the Ministry of Industry to the ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau and other officials of all sizes, all looked unhappy. But no one dared to speak.
Because they know that although it doesn't sound good, it is true.
They secretly murmured in their hearts that this kind of work of craftsmen was not the way to treat Confucian ministers. They are Confucian officials, so why should they understand? It's just that the soldier Fu Zhong obviously doesn't understand what he said. Therefore, when a scholar meets a soldier, there is no reason to explain. I had no choice but not to say anything.
This was also the norm during the Hongwu period. Fu Zhong was just the son of a marquis, and he suppressed officials below the minister of the Ministry of Industry and did not dare to take a breath.
He Xi saw this and didn't care. After all, business was more important.
He Xi said to Foreman Ge: "Old man, could you please lead the way? Let me see how the armor is made."
Just by saying this, Foreman Ge felt something different. He is an old man in the Ordnance Bureau. It can be said that before the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang was still the King of Wu, Foreman Ge was already working in the Ordnance Bureau. Over the years, I have met countless people.
I have seen honest and honest officials, and I have seen ruthless corrupt officials. I have seen vulgar generals. But I have never met anyone like He Xi.
No matter what kind of official you are, how you speak to him. There is a feeling of superiority inside. He could feel that He Xi was also arrogant. But this sentence doesn't feel very condescending.
After all, He Xi is a modern person. Different knowledge systems make it normal for He Xi to be a little arrogant. But He Xi was deeply influenced by the idea that everyone is equal. Regardless of whether it is fake politeness or genuine politeness, there is absolutely no look down on others.
This feeling was clearly grasped by Foreman Ge.
Foreman Ge said: "Yes."
Then He Xi and his party were led to a blacksmith furnace.
The fire was burning, and it was much stronger than the fire in Yinzuo Bureau. A young apprentice, shirtless and wearing only shorts, said "Ouch", picked up the heavy hammer, and smashed it down. Immediately, an old craftsman with gray hair, holding a poker in one hand and holding a red-hot iron bar, was also shirtless, wearing only calf pants, but wearing a leather apron in front of him, holding a small hammer. , after the big hammer hits, the small hammer hits immediately.
While tapping, the tongs also slightly change their position to ensure that the tapping is accurate and even, leaving no dead ends.
There was also an apprentice who was pushing the bellows desperately. The flames flew up to the sky, but were tightly held by the stove. There is only struggle.
Just like that, there was the sound of fire, the sound of bellows, the sound of shouts, and the colorful sounds of sledgehammers and small hammers falling. Even the sound of sparks flying around was like a symphony.
Under He Xi's gaze, the iron ingot was beaten into armor pieces. Then, the old craftsman took an iron cone, pointed it at the nail plate that had not completely cooled down, and jingled it a few times, and a few small holes came out.
Then he held his armor and went deep into the water. Suddenly there was a sound of "------" and a large piece of white smoke came out.
After the nail plate stopped emitting white smoke, a dark piece of nail plate was taken out of the water and set aside.
He Xi touched it with water, and there was still some warmth, but it was no longer hot. He held it in his hand and weighed it. This piece of armor was about ten centimeters long and five or six centimeters wide. It had seven or eight holes on it, each hole about three millimeters in diameter.
The holes are not drilled along the sides, and there seems to be some technique involved in the perforations.
Overall, it's very thin and light. But there is some weight to it.
He Xi asked Foreman Ge, "Can these armor pieces be used?"
Foreman Ge said: "This still needs to be polished and oiled. Then it can be weaved."
He Xi touched it and found that the nails were very rough. Said: "Let's go and see how to weave."
Under the leadership of Foreman Ge, a group of people came to another courtyard and saw large wooden tables here. Some women were sitting around the tables. There were several baskets in the middle of the tables. He Xi stepped forward and saw that these baskets were filled with armor pieces. The armor pieces in each basket are different.
Most nail plates are rectangular. But the rectangle is also different. There are also trapezoids and other shapes. He Xi glanced over and saw that there were about nine baskets, that is, nine different kinds of armor pieces. Then watch as the women weave the armor together using slender strips of cowhide. Forming large tracts of armor.
These different parts of the armor were taken away again.
In the next process, heavy cotton cloth is used as interlining, and the large pieces of armor that have been woven are nailed on with rivets. Then tie the large pieces of armor together and put on three sided breast shields. The entire armor is basically formed.
It probably just looks like a vest. It is open in the middle and tied with a rope. There are two breast protectors on the chest and one breast protector on the back.
He Xi also saw a helmet here. It is an iron hat made of eight pieces of iron that are closed together in the middle. It probably won't look good if it's not painted yet.
Seeing this, He Xi had a good idea. He asked Foreman Ge: "How many pairs of armors does this Ordnance Bureau produce in a day?"
Foreman Ge said: "Originally we could produce a hundred pairs a day. But in recent years, a lot of armor has been accumulated in various places, so there is no need to produce so many."
He Xi nodded. Weapons in the cold weapon age are different from guns and ammunition. Even firearms have a long shelf life. If a pair of armor is well maintained, it should be passed down for hundreds of years without any problems. There is even a case where the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom dug out Wu Sangui's artillery and it was still usable.
Large-scale wars certainly have costs. However, since the Battle of Lingbei in the fifth year of Hongwu, in the past ten years, there have been constant small battles but few major battles. Large-scale ordnance production has never stopped, but most of it has been shipped to the northern front line, or to enrich military posts in various places.
Armor has such a long shelf life. Obviously there is no need for upgrading, so the armor production will naturally have to be put down, and it doesn't need to be so fast. Just maintain basic production capacity and make replacements at the same time.
After all, armor may last a long time simply by being stored. But once a war breaks out, the consumption will be hard to say.
It's okay to win a battle, but once defeated, it's normal to abandon your armor and lose tens of thousands of armors in a battle.
The Nanjing Ordnance Bureau is the largest weapons production base in the country. At least until the Ming Dynasty moved the capital, this place would always maintain this scale. Zhu Yuanzhang has always been prepared for danger in times of peace.
He Xi calculated in her mind that even if the Nanjing Ordnance Bureau worked overtime to produce more than 10,000 pairs of armors by the end of this year, it would probably take two or three years to replenish 100,000 pairs of armors. He thought to himself: "The craftsmanship of the armor must be improved. Otherwise, this task cannot be completed."
Then He Xi thought of crossbows again and said, "Foreman Ge, how is the production of crossbows? Is there room for improvement?"
Foreman Ge said: "Sir, I will tell you the truth. The maximum number of crossbows this year is 8,000. Because what determines the production of crossbows is not the amount of labor, but the amount of materials, cowhide, beef tendon, isinglass, and various bow materials. This They cannot be produced in one or two years, and it is already autumn. Many materials will not be ready until next autumn due to the wrong season, and it will take several years before the bow can be produced."
He Xi frowned and said secretly: "Why is it so complicated?"
According to Foreman Ge, with this production method, it is impossible to produce a sufficient number of crossbows in three months. He Xi said: "Go over and take a look."
Foreman Ge immediately took the lead. After walking around several courtyards, we came to the bow-making place. Compared with the armor-making place, where the clanging and clanging was in full swing, it was very quiet here, and there were many fewer craftsmen.
He Xi only saw rows of wooden shelves. On the wooden shelf, there are long bows pressed. To be precise, the mold on the wooden shelf presses a lot of materials into the shape of the long bow.
He Xi leaned over and took a sniff, and could smell an indescribable smell. It wasn't very good. He Xi estimated that it smelled like lacquer, isinglass and other materials mixed together.
"Actually, you don't have to worry too much about crossbows. After all, most of the troops today use firearms instead of crossbows." Seeing He Xi's dilemma, Fu Zhong said, "And going to the south, crossbows are even more inconvenient. As long as you can add some A large amount of firearms and crossbows can be used."
