Zhenguan Crown Prince Li Chengqian

Chapter 14 Carry out the tossing to the end

The busiest army in the Tang Dynasty recently is the Six Commanders of the East Palace. With Li Shimin's acquiescence, a new barracks was built in the east of Chang'an City, and Xie Yingdeng used the infantry drills and fighting techniques (military boxing) given by Li Chengqian. Daily training of the young soldiers who are usually pampered.

Of course, the high-intensity training made some people unable to persevere, and they all found ways to transfer away from the Six Commanders. After Li Chengqian heard about it, he didn't stop him. He told Xie Yingdeng that the army was used to fight, and such people would also be deserters on the battlefield. Go early, everyone looks good.

In later generations, recruits have to go through three months of training before they can be assigned to the army, but Li Chengqian knows that three months can only let recruits know what is discipline and what is an army, but this soldier's taste cannot be developed without more than two years of edification. here.In Li Chengqian's view, the soldiers of the sixth rate can only be used to guard the court, or in other words, they can only scare the common people.

Li Chengqian didn't have two years to train them. Fortunately, the most important thing in Datang was the opportunity to fight. With short-term training and several actual fights, Li Chengqian believed that the combat power of the six rate would not be lower than that of the sixteen guards.

In order to provide better preparations for the sixth rate, Li Chengqian has been going to the Ministry of Industry and the craftsman's workshop every day for the past month. The two couldn't figure it out.

Duan Lun is Li Chengqian's uncle, and Shang De is Li Yuan's fourth daughter, Li Shimin's sister, Princess Gaomi, so there is nothing he can do about Li Chengqian asking him for help.

At first, Duan Lun thought that Li Chengqian was just a few samples, and then went to Li Shimin to ask for a reward, but when he learned that Li Chengqian had transported [-] jin of steel to the craftsman's workshop, he couldn't sit still.

He hurriedly went to find his brother-in-law, the meaning was obvious, take care of your children, the Ministry of Industry can't even produce all the equipment planned by the imperial court, how can there be time for him to do it, besides, as Li Chengqian's elder, he can't watch The kid made a mistake, so he found Li Shimin.

Li Shimin is the emperor on horseback, and he is very familiar with military affairs. Duan Lun's words aroused his interest, and he quickly asked someone to bring the samples, and at the same time sent someone to the East Palace to ask Li Chengqian to beat him.

There are four kinds of things in front of Li Shimin, "Prince, this is what you made by tossing the Ministry of Industry for a month." Li Shimin asked Li Chengqian with the Mitsubishi-shaped dagger.

"Father, what you have is a self-defense dagger. The head of this dagger and spear is common. It is made of fine steel and weighs one pound and six taels. The role of the dagger and spear in combat is mainly to stab and let blood Large volume and non-healing wounds are the characteristics of these two weapons."

Speaking of which, Li Chengqian unloaded the tip of the spear in his hand and handed it to Li Shimin, which was the same as the dagger in Li Shimin's hand, "Father, the cavalry is equipped with one more, which can be used as a spare."

"Well, you don't need to talk about the steel crossbow. I can see that it is much better than the wooden one, and it is easy to maintain."

"Father, its advantages are not only as simple as it looks, but the first is the range. It can shoot five arrows at a standard range of [-] paces, and it can shoot five arrows in a row. Secondly, it only needs to change the arrow box, and there is no need to add one by one. The traditional continuous crossbow is very different, which greatly saves the time of changing arrows, and the pulley on it can also save the time of winding. The most rare thing is that all steel crossbow parts can be replaced with each other, and soldiers can carry out simple maintenance on the battlefield .”

"Oh, according to what you said, it's really a good thing. Let's try it later and see if it has the range you mentioned."

You must know that in ancient times, an excellent bow could shoot 150 steps. Of course, the requirements for archers were not low. According to Li Chengqian, wouldn't it be possible to train a large number of high-quality archers.

"Father, don't you look at the plate armor?"

Hearing Li Chengqian's words, Li Shimin curled his lips: "What's so good about those broken iron pieces and rags?" In Li Shimin's eyes, it's good to have these three things, as for those few broken iron pieces, forget it.

"Father, this is composed of armor and a deck. Come here, Gan Yun, and put on this armor." Li Chengqian explained to Li Shimin while inserting the armor for Gan Yun. After Li Chengqian installed it, Li Shimin surrounded Gan Yun. Yun installed two laps.

"Father, the advantage of this kind of armor is that it can be disassembled and carried at will, and it is light in weight. It can protect most of the vital points of a person well, and retain a certain degree of flexibility of the body. The most important thing is that it saves the time for making armor. and materials."

After listening to Li Chengqian's introduction, Li Shimin began to look at this set of plate armor seriously. In ancient times, armor was the most difficult to make, the most time-consuming, and the most wasteful material. Some special armor would take a year or even longer to make. .

Li Chengqian's plate armor seems to have solved all these problems. It is self-evident how important this is to the Tang Dynasty who is in a state of perennial warfare.

"I'm satisfied with my curiosity. Now let's talk about your problem. Duan Lun said that you sent [-] catties of steel. He didn't dare to mass-produce it for you without an order.

Don't hate Duan Lun, he's really doing it for your own good, if the officials know that the prince made weapons privately with the intention of rebelling," Li Shimin looked at Li Chengqian playfully, of course he knew that Li Chengqian would not rebel.

"Um, father, you should tell father first, but the weapon manufacturing is done in the Ministry of Industry, so I didn't sneak around. My son originally wanted to equip the East Palace Six Rates for trial use.

After it is perfected, it is recommended to the emperor to gradually equip the sixteen guards. Reckless replacement may reduce the combat power of the sixteen guards. At present, the imperial court is accumulating strength and preparing for the Northern Expedition. The combat effectiveness of the troops cannot be ignored."

Li Shimin rolled his eyes at him: "Avoid the important and take the light. Will the officials listen to your explanation? In their eyes, it is wrong for you to do so."

"Father, there is a common saying among the common people, and my ministers deeply believe it. I am afraid that I won't be able to plant farms anymore." Li Chengqian's words amused Li Shimin, and he pointed at him and cursed vulgarly.

When Li Chengqian came out of Chengqing Hall, he was holding the imperial decree to the Ministry of Industry in his hand. From then on, Li Chengqian would use this imperial decree to block their mouths whenever the prince was impeached to study strange tricks.

Li Chengqian's wine sold well in Chang'an, and became the darling of wealthy families for a while. If there are not many jars of such good wine in Chang'an now, you would be ashamed to entertain your relatives and friends.Looking at the gains during this period, Changsun Wuji's heart blossomed.

But soon he couldn’t enjoy it anymore. The Changsun’s family was in the steel business, which was purchased by the court to make weapons. Li Chengqian took away [-] catties of steel from the Changsun’s house two days ago. The reason is very simple. Craft weapons and armor.

When Changsun Wuji heard the words weapon and armor from the housekeeper, his head grew dizzy. Doesn't this young master know how to avoid leisure?

The prince makes weapons, what are you doing?But Li Chengqian didn't care about his uncle's worries. What the craftsman did was not secretly doing it for fear of anything.

(End of this chapter)