Chapter 38 Steel-Crossbow
The prince has never been on the battlefield. But very familiar with logistics. The prince has been involved in government affairs since he was a child and has handled many matters supporting frontline operations. How could he not know the revolutionary significance of chain mail production? The prince even thought that the production of chain mail could be put on the front line. Bring enough steel materials and wire drawing tools to the frontline soldiers. Just knit it yourself.
Of course, from the perspective of internal and external checks and balances, it is absolutely impossible. But making other armor requires a professional blacksmith, at least an apprentice. Such people are rare in the Ming Dynasty. Not only ordinary people can produce chain armor, but nearly half of Nanjing's city is craftsmen, and they can produce it.
The prince could see an almost inexhaustible supply of chain mail.
Even though this chain armor is not as good as Zha armor, cotton armor, and new armor in many aspects. Having armor and not having armor are completely different concepts.
It seemed that because He Xi's surprise was too great, everyone was silent for a while. After a while, the prince said: "Brother He, do you have any surprises for us? Bring them out."
He Xi said: "There is only one thing left." He Xi asked someone to bring up the last weapon.
A crossbow, to be precise, a steel crossbow.
The prince took matters into his own hands and looked at it carefully.
The crossbow body is made of steel, and the bow string is also made of steel wire. The crossbow body is fixed on a piece of hard wood. There is also a runner next to it, which is a winding device. Under He Xi's guidance, the prince stirred the stringer, stretched the steel crossbow, loaded the arrow, and let go. With a "collapse" sound, the crossbow arrow shot out of the air and stuck on a big tree until it was featherless.
The prince smiled and said: "Not bad."
Compared with He Xi's previous two armors, this crossbow seemed less surprising.
Although the power of the crossbow is good, compared to the divine arm crossbow, the enemy crossbow is just like that. Probably somewhere in between. The only surprising thing is the winding device, which can save the soldiers some effort. But compared with the power of firearms, it is far behind.
It’s not that He Xi didn’t work hard, it’s actually the ancient Chinese crossbows, especially the crossbows from the Song Dynasty, which were simply the pinnacle. Almost to the limit.
He Xi said: "Your Highness, does he know how this crossbow is made?"
The prince gave He Xi a favor and said, "Brother He, please help clear up Brother Yu's doubts?" In fact, as the prince, he didn't care too much about technical details.
He Xi said: "Just beat the steel ingots into steel bars and fix them on it. As for the steel wire strings, they are no different from the steel wires of chainmail. As long as there are enough raw materials and enough craftsmen, it is not difficult to produce hundreds of them a day. ?”
"What?" Fu Youde was shocked. He couldn't bear it anymore. He took a few steps forward, took the crossbow in his hand, and looked at it carefully. Without using the stringer, he just pulled the crossbow open. He watched the crossbow body deform slightly before letting go. Said: "What a strong bow."
When He Xi saw this, he couldn't help but said: "The Marquis of Yingchuan is brave."
How brave.
Making crossbows was He Xi's choice to replenish his inventory. After all, nearly 10,000 bows and crossbows have been sent out of the Ming Dynasty's arsenal. He Xi was not satisfied at all. I feel a little irresponsible. But as I said before, the production of crossbows is different from the production of other weapons. The accumulation of raw materials alone will take several years, but now if you want to produce it, it is difficult for a skilled woman to make a meal without rice.
So He Xi thought of the steel crossbow.
After just forging a steel bow and arrow, He Xi discovered a problem. No one could pull it away. Too hard. No matter it is the bow body, it is the bow string. Then I racked my brains and added a winding device. I also gave up the idea of making bows and arrows, and just made them into crossbows.
But Fu Youde pulled away abruptly, which shows how high Fu Youde's force value is.
With a smile on his face, Fu Youde said, "Secretary He, can you replace all the armors allocated this time with this kind?"
There is a reason why Fu Youde is arrogant at first and respectful at the end.
As mentioned before, the reason why crossbows do not perform well in the south is because they tend to open the glue. Once the glue is opened and the bow string becomes loose, it is worse than burning a fire stick. Gunpowder is also susceptible to moisture in the south. Although it can be overcome, there are always problems.
Now Fu Youde saw a weapon that was particularly suitable for the south.
It's a steel crossbow.
It is an iron-wood structure. Even if there are too many problems and too much water vapor, it will only rust easily.
The problem of rust is relatively easy to solve. Soldiers will maintain their weapons. Secondly, even if it is rusty, it will not become unusable all of a sudden. It's just that the replacement frequency is higher. Fu Youde's Southern Expedition was about to come, and he thought about the Southern Expedition every day. When he saw this, he couldn't care less about the criticism he had just made.
He Xi said: "This has just been produced. I'm afraid we won't be able to produce much at a time."
The prince said: "Marquis Yingchuan, before you leave the capital, I will let you take away as much as you can produce, but now everything has been settled. Temporary changes are not possible. However, please don't worry, Marquis Yingchuan, I will be here alone." Go to Father Bingming, and you can add some new armor and armor to the second batch of supplies sent to the front line."
Fu Youde said: "On behalf of the frontline soldiers, I would like to thank His Highness the Crown Prince."
The group had lunch outside the city. The prince said: "Brother He, come back to the palace with me."
He Xi said: "Your Highness, there is still a lot to do here. These are samples that have just been produced. They have not yet been mass-produced. And my promise to the craftsmen has not yet been fulfilled."
The prince said, "Didn't you accept a disciple? If the master has something to do, the disciple should do his job and let him be the ambassador of the Arms Bureau. If you leave the matter to him, if it doesn't work, I will send a few capable people to assist you." Two is enough.”
"Father is thinking about you. You have been away for a while, and Father asked me to take you back."
The prince could see clearly that the most difficult things were actually over.
The new weapons created by He Xi may not be good in other aspects. But they all have one characteristic. That is to facilitate production. Especially convenient for production. He Xi does not need to preside over the rest of the organization's production. Many people do it.
After all, before the Ming Dynasty, hundreds of thousands of weapons were produced without manpower.
Placing He Xi's disciple here does not mean that the prince wants to take credit. The real reason came from the emperor.
He Xi was shocked. He didn't teach Ge Tiangong anything at all. It's just a master-disciple status. The prince conveniently gave it to a seventh-grade official. This is too much, He Xi said: "Your Highness, Ge Tiangong is still young and knows nothing. How can he be entrusted with such a heavy responsibility?"
The prince smiled slightly and said: "Why not? He is your disciple. When he meets Gu, he will also call him uncle. How can I not give him a greeting gift? He is just a seventh-grade ambassador. What does it matter? What can't he do? As long as he is sincere. Do things with kindness and kindness, and don't let the little guys deceive you."
What else could He Xi say, he could only bow and salute and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."
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In the Qianqing Palace.
Two pairs of armors were propped up on wooden stands. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at them carefully, flicked them a few times with his fingers, and then pulled out the sword beside him with his backhand, performing a standard stabbing motion. There was a crisp "ding" sound, but nothing changed on the steel armor.
Zhu Yuanzhang returned the sword to its sheath and looked again. The steel crossbow on the table did not require a stringer. He could draw the bow with his bare hands. Although it was not as full as Fu You's draw, it was still 80% drawable. His face didn't change color, his heart didn't beat, just like plucking the strings of a piano.
He Xi looked at it below, if he hadn't asked the people around him to try it one by one. I can't believe it at this moment.
Zhu Yuanzhang is in his fifties. The force value is actually not weak. It's just that he was in the palace and didn't show his skills for many years. At the beginning of the year, when Zhu Yuanzhang was still known as Mr. Zhu, he was also the leader and the leader of the charge.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "He Xi, you did a good job. There's just one thing I don't understand. You didn't do anything in the Ordnance Bureau. Most of these inventions were made by the craftsmen themselves. But before that, why couldn't they be made? Come out? What is the technology you are talking about reflected in? "
This is also where Zhu Yuanzhang was confused.
He read the records of almost everything He Xi said and did after he went out. He Xi actually doesn't do much, so why are there so many changes all at once?
He Xi pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, there is a saying: 'A true message is a sentence, but a false message is thousands of books.' In fact, in many things, the truth is very simple. Because between heaven and earth, the greatest truth is the most simple. As long as those who can't understand it , will make things very complicated. The most important thing I want to remind craftsmen is the principle of steelmaking. As for the following, it is just the impact of material advancement on technology."
"Many technologies already exist. They are used in many places. The reason why this new armor cannot be built is not because the craftsmen are not talented enough, but because there are no raw materials. There is only enough steel. Because the properties of steel are much better than pig iron. Now. Only then can we have what we deserve now.”
"Materials are the basis of all technology. Without the development of materials science, all imperial examinations are vain."
"I just improved the steelmaking method, and the rest is just following the trend."
Many of these words are He Xi's sighs during this practice.
Before that, he knew the importance of materials. But I never thought it would be so important. Steel cannot be mass produced. Many technologies are simply impossible to use. Among the various steelmaking methods, craftsmen are required to hammer with hammers. Although the frequency is reduced. However, due to the inertia of thinking, it is difficult for such large-scale hydraulic forging to occur.
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and said, "Is this why you had to promote large-scale steelmaking before?"
He Xi said: "Your Majesty has seen thousands of miles. This is what I mean."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "That's right. I believed you, but there is only one thing that I should let you know. I sent someone to check on Guo Huan, the chief envoy of Zhejiang Province, and found that he was efficient, honest and self-responsible, and was definitely not corrupt. Minister. What do you say?"
"What?" He Xi's expression suddenly changed. Said: "This is impossible."
