please make me king

Chapter 1113 Heavy Armor

"Look, King Shun, this is the Ming armor worn by my generals, including the armor, helmet, iron arms and shoes, etc., weighing forty-five catties in total." Du Hongyu couldn't help presenting a complete set of armor.

"It's not a Zhajia?" Zhang Shun grabbed a corner of the armor, opened it, and saw the cotton cloth attached to the back of the armor, he couldn't help being taken aback.

"This is the Ming Armor!" Du Hongyu quickly explained, "Different from the Dark Armor, this armor has the cloth cover removed, so as to prevent the craftsmen from substituting the second for the good, and the thin for the thick, so as to prevent the soldiers from being lazy and letting it rust."

Zhang Shun flipped through it for a long time, and finally realized that, despite the glaring appearance of this armor, it is actually a cotton armor without a cloth cover.

The linking method of the nails is not the way that the nails are put together with cooked cowhide, but nailed to the cloth surface with copper foam nails.

The advantage of doing this is that the armor plate can be made relatively large, which reduces the overlap of the armor plate and can achieve the same defensive effect with lighter weight.

For example, the Burenjia in the Song Dynasty used [-] pieces of armor, and the weight was as high as fifty-eight catties, which seriously affected the mobility of soldiers.

In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Tang Shunzhi also mentioned the Ming army with Zhajia as its main equipment: "Soldiers on all sides weighed a total of forty-five catties, such as armors, skirts, and arms, and helmets and brains weighed seventy-five catties. The item protects the heart, the heart protects the body and the body weighs five catties", a total of fifty-seven catties.

And Wang Ding's set of body armor, iron arms, iron shoes and helmet is only forty-five catties, which is quite convenient.

"These iron shoes" Zhang Shun looked at a pair of worn-out cotton boots in front of him, how could they look like they were made of refined iron?

"Oh, it's quite heavy!" He grabbed it and was about to look at it carefully, but couldn't help but feel that the pair of shoes were so heavy, "Is it clamped?"

"Yes!" Du Hongyu couldn't help laughing, "King Shun, don't look at them as ordinary cotton boots. In fact, the inside is like a cotton armor, with fine iron sheets sandwiched, so the sword is indestructible!"

"Can it defend against firecrackers?" Zhang Shun nodded, quite satisfied in his heart.

"When you encounter the three-coin bird gun, you can't break it in twenty steps; when you encounter the Lumi gun, you only need to put on a battle jacket, which is enough to stop it!" Du Hongyu couldn't help laughing.

"When you encounter ordinary swords and guns, you will not be afraid at all. Only Western cannons, big axes, and hammers can break them!"

"Not bad!" Zhang Shun nodded, feeling that this armor is not bad, basically enough for the rebel army to fight hand-to-hand.

It turned out that after Li Jiyu raised three problems, the latter two problems were relatively easy to solve, but the heavy armor problem was a bit troublesome.

Although it has entered the age of firearms, hand-to-hand combat is still a key factor in the decisive victory of the two armies.

In fact, let alone this era, even in the Korean battlefield of later generations, the heroic volunteers sometimes need to meet the American bayonet to decide the outcome.

Melee combat is the last bottom line of an army, and it is also the most critical blow that determines the outcome of a war in this era.

Wars in this era are always on a two-dimensional level, so no matter how the two sides arrange their troops, an inevitable problem is "occupation", or "seizing positions".

No matter what you call it, it will eventually require face-to-face contact between the two parties, and one party will drive the other party out of its original position.

As long as it is an opponent with a little fighting will, it is impossible to capture or disperse at once, then the two sides will inevitably encounter hand-to-hand combat, which is "hand-to-hand combat."

People love death and hate life. It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

Therefore, "hand-to-hand combat" elite soldiers must firstly be carefully selected, secondly be brave and not afraid of death, thirdly be fully protected, and fourthly have sufficient food and pay.

In addition to selecting and training soldiers and ensuring logistics, the most important thing is weapons, armor and other equipment.

In the past, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty once said: I count one as ten, and there is no one else, only a strong soldier with sharp ears!
Only with good equipment and good material conditions, soldiers will be courageous and confident in hand-to-hand combat, fight bravely without fear of death, and go forward bravely.

Zhang Shun got Du Hongyu's fine armor, so he asked Wukong to take it, and went to find Wang Zheng.

When Zhang Shun led people to the craftsman's workshop, the white-bearded Wang Zheng was directing several people to carry a large cabinet.

Seeing Zhang Shun, he hurriedly went up to pay respects and said, "Where did King Shun come from? I was about to go to visit, but unexpectedly I saw King Shun here."

"That's it, I want you to help me see if such fine armor can be made, and how much is each pair worth?" Zhang Shun couldn't help asking Wukong to present it.

"This... Could it be that King Shun wants to follow the example of Empress Jin?" Wang Zheng was stunned and couldn't help being shocked.

It turns out that Houjin originally belonged to the Jianzhou Guard of the Ming Dynasty, and its equipment, organization, and tactics are almost the same as those of the Ming Frontier Army.

However, due to limited productivity, firearms and firearms are slightly inferior to the Ming army, so they can only train heavy armored soldiers, and then push the shield chariot to approach and fight the Ming army hand-to-hand.

"Basically, different routes lead to the same goal!" Zhang Shun explained, "In today's battle, firearms are too fierce. If there is no fine armor, I am afraid that soldiers will lose their lives in vain!"

"If it is to resist firearms, I have something to offer to King Shun!" Hearing this, Wang Zheng asked someone to bring out an object and explained.

"This item is the Far West full iron armor..."

"Plate armor!" Zhang Shun couldn't help shouting without waiting for Wang Zheng to finish speaking.

"Well, in fact, it's okay to call it that." Wang Zheng couldn't help laughing.

"This thing is difficult to penetrate with ordinary firearms..."

Without waiting for Wang Zheng to elaborate, Zhang Shun couldn't help reaching out and touching it.

This so-called "plate armor" is actually a half-body plate armor, which is very thick and heavy. Zhang Shun lifted it up and weighed it, and it weighed almost fifty catties.

It turned out that after the missionary Gao Yizhi suffered setbacks at Zhang Shun's place, he saw that the rebel army was getting stronger and stronger, he couldn't help seeing it, and was anxious in his heart.

I couldn't help but write to other missionaries to buy strange things such as telescopes, chime bells, iron armor, hand guns, etc., trying to please Zhang Shun in exchange for missionary work in the rebel area.

As a result, after getting these things, Zhang Shun just happened to lead his troops into Shaanxi, and missed another good opportunity.

It's just that the east is not bright and the west is bright. Gao Yizhi failed in his efforts. He didn't expect his friend Wang Zheng to fight fiercely with Zhang Shun instead.

So at Wang Zheng's request, he sent this thing over and asked Wang Zheng to send it to Zhang Shun.

The full-body plate armor in Europe is only a custom-made plaything for the nobles. Where can these missionaries find a pair for Zhang Shun?

So I searched and searched, and finally bought a better-quality half-body plate armor from the Portuguese officer in Macau.

Zhang Shun studied it carefully for a long time, and found that the breastplate was actually thicker than the iron armor pieces sent by Du Hongyu, but the iron quality didn't seem to be very good.

"The quality isn't good, is it?" Zhang Shun asked suspiciously as he knocked on the breastplate.

"Ahem...well, it's hard to find good things for a while, so I have to make up for them..." Wang Zheng didn't expect Zhang Shun to be an expert, so he immediately observed the problem.

It turns out that according to the technical level of this era, it is difficult to perform complex heat treatment on bulk metals.

Therefore, apart from a small number of gorgeous and sophisticated full-body plate armor customized by nobles, the quality of the breastplate worn by ordinary soldiers is not very good.

Even the early breastplates were mostly made of wrought iron, and the defensive effect could only be increased by stacking thickness.

Later, with the advancement of iron smelting technology, middle and low-level officers can also afford low-carbon steel half body armor, and the situation is slightly better.

However, compared with refined small pieces of nails, the quality is still inferior.

If compared with the resounding cold-forged armor, the difference is incomparable.

(End of this chapter)