Doctor of the Great Song Dynasty: In the beginning, Li Qingzhao and Li Qingzhao made a private decis

Chapter 193 Iron Buddha and Kidnapper Horse

"Come here, follow me to announce the good news to the official family!"

Immediately after Fan Zheng cashed in the one thousand guan, he immediately led the military supervisors and craftsmen, picked up the armor and rushed to the palace.

"What, the military inspector cracked Xixia's cold-forged armor!"

As soon as Zhao Xu went to the court, he got a report from Tong Guan, and he couldn't help being pleasantly surprised.

Tong Guan nodded and said: "Fan Taicheng has already been waiting outside the palace with his cold-forged armor."

"Hurry up, please, no, let Fan Zheng take the cold-forged armor to the martial arts arena in the palace immediately." Zhao Xu said impatiently.

It has only been ten days since Fan Zheng reformed the Military Supervision. In the past ten days, Fan Zheng has rectified the Military Supervision, weeded out the old and the weak, and recalled the craftsmen who were expropriated by high-ranking officials. There was already an uproar in the court, and all kinds of impeachment and gossip continued.

However, as soon as the cold-forged armor came out, all voices of doubt were immediately suppressed.

Throughout the ages, the dynasties of the Central Plains have always outperformed the prairie dynasties with the advantage of armor, but in the Song Dynasty, it was extremely miserable. Not only the bows and crossbows were inferior to Xixia, but even the armor was inferior to Xixia.

The wart armor worn by Xixia iron kite is cold-forged armor, which has a strong defensive power, and often a single charge can disrupt the Song Dynasty's army formation!This made Da Song a headache. If Da Song could also forge cold forged armor, it would be enough to fight the Xixia iron kite.

Inside the martial arts arena.

Zhao Xu came in a hurry, and saw that Fan Zheng led a group of military supervisors and craftsmen who were already waiting there.

"Reporting to the officials, my minister was ordered to reform the Military Weapons Supervision, fulfilling his mission, and came here to report the good news to the officials." Fan Zheng continued.

With a wave of Fan Zheng's hand, Mo Yue led a group of craftsmen to present the cold forged armor and cotton armor that had just been built.

And Zhao Xu's eyes automatically ignored the cotton armor, and stared at the cold forged armor all of a sudden.

"Is this Xixia's cold-forged armor?"

Zhao Xu couldn't believe it. Once upon a time, Da Song was gnashing his teeth at Xi Xia's cold-forged armor, but there was nothing he could do. Xi Xia's biggest trump card was finally controlled by Da Song.

Mo Yue solemnly said: "The officials don't know that the method of cold forging armor is not difficult, but the biggest difficulty is the iron material. After Mr. Fan served as the military supervisory order, he gathered a group of blacksmiths, brainstormed, and finally forged a method that can be cold forged. of iron."

Artisans had a difficult life, and five hundred guan was a huge fortune for them. Under the stimulation of five hundred guan, almost all the artisans were jealous, and even forged cold forged armor in one fell swoop.

The corner of Zhao Xu's mouth twitched. Fan Zheng immediately offered a thousand guan as a reward for the military supervisor just after he took office.

However, no one thought that Fan Zheng's one thousand guan would have such a miraculous effect. In just ten days, the craftsmen of the Military Weapons Supervision actually made cold forging armor. If you can buy the method of cold forging armor for one thousand guan, Why was the Great Song Dynasty under the control of Xixia for decades.

However, the irony is that Da Song would rather give Xixia an annual coin worth 30 guan, rather than give a mere [-] guan to the craftsmen.

Fan Zheng introduced to the side: "The infantry armor of the Song Dynasty uses hot forging technology, and the full set of [-] armor pieces weighs [-] kilograms, while the armor forged by this cold forging method is less than [-] kilograms."

"Really?" Zhao Xu said in disbelief.

Xixia's iron kite is extremely powerful, but Da Song has never been able to form a heavy armored cavalry to compete with it. The biggest reason is that Da Song's armor is too heavy!It is difficult for a war horse to bear such a huge pressure!Finally can only give up.

If Da Song has cold-forged armor, the weight of the armor will be greatly reduced, and it will not be difficult to form an elite heavy cavalry that can compete with the iron kite.

Mo Yue had already prepared for this, so he took out the scale and measured the weight of the cold-forged armor himself.

"48 pounds!"

Zhao Xu's eyes froze, and the stepman armor weighed a full 22 jin, while the cold-forged armor lost a full 20 jin. This is a great blessing for soldiers who have been on long-distance raids to reduce their weight by more than [-] jin.

"Although the weight of the cold-forged armor has been reduced, its defensive power is still higher than that of the infantry armor!" Fan Zheng said solemnly.

At the moment, Mo Yue put the cold-forged armor and stepman armor on the dummy in the martial arts arena.

"God Arm Crossbow!"

With a big wave of Zhao Xu's hand, ordinary bows and arrows are not very useful to infantry armor and cold-forged armor. If you want to test the defensive power of cold-forged armor, you must go to the god arm crossbow!

Tong Guan immediately stepped forward and handed over the divine arm crossbow that had already been wound.

"Buzz!"

Zhao Xu personally picked up the divine arm crossbow, and took the lead to shoot at the infantry armor at a distance of twenty steps!

"Ding!"

There was a sound of metal and iron clashing, and the arrow pierced deeply into the infantry armor.

"One inch into the armor!" Mo Yuelang said.

The god arm crossbow is the most powerful at a distance of twenty steps, and the infantry armor can block the strongest god arm crossbow, and it is already a great achievement to only penetrate an inch of armor.

But Fan Zheng shook his head, one inch is more than three centimeters, such a deep wound is enough to cause severe trauma to the human body.

At that moment, Tong Guan re-stringed the god arm crossbow and handed it to Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu raised the god arm crossbow, aimed at the cold forged armor and pulled the trigger.

"Ding!"

The sound of Jintiejiao reappeared.

This time, Zhao Xu missed the shot slightly, and the cold-forged armor actually directly bounced the bolt of the God Arm Crossbow, and the cold-forged armor only lost two pieces of armor.

"Come again!"

Zhao Xu was overjoyed when he saw this, and raised his crossbow again to shoot at the cold forged armor.

"Ding!"

This time, the arrow of the divine arm crossbow did not miss, and was nailed straight to the cold-forged armor.

"Half an inch into the armor!" Mo Yue said excitedly.

"Half an inch!"

Zhao Xu said in surprise.

This is the most powerful god-arm crossbow in the Song Dynasty. The cold-forged armor is hard-resistant and the god-arm crossbow only penetrates half an inch.

Fan Zheng nodded slightly. Half an inch was less than two centimeters. Although the divine arm crossbow still pierced the armor, the divine arm crossbow in the cold forged armor was not fatal, at most it was considered a minor injury!
At that time, under the city of Pingxia, Xixia iron harriers relied on the protection of cold-forged armor to rush up the city wall abruptly. If the Song army was not afraid of death, and the thunder that shook the sky blocked the reinforcements, it would be difficult to hold Pingxia city.

Zhao Xu stepped forward to personally verify that it was only about half an inch into the armor.

Zhao Xu couldn't believe it, he raised the divine arm crossbow and shot several arrows in succession, but the cold-forged armor always blocked the divine arm crossbow steadily, without causing serious damage.

"The cold-forged armor is the strongest armor in the world, and it is enough to create the armored cavalry belonging to the Song Dynasty." Fan Zheng said solemnly.

Right now, Fan Zheng is coming up with the idea of ​​building the Iron Buddha.

"Iron Buddha!"

Zhao Xu couldn't help being startled when he heard this, Buddha means pagoda in Buddhist language, iron pagoda is iron tower, a cavalry man and horse are all wearing cold forged armor, standing like an iron tower.

"Okay! Da Song will build an iron pagoda belonging to Da Song at any cost!" Zhao Xu said solemnly.

Although the Song Dynasty's horse administration was not prosperous, it was still possible to find [-] of the most elite war horses. Xixia had [-] iron kites, and the Song Dynasty must build [-] iron pagodas to compete with them.

"The officials are wise!" Fan Zheng bowed and said,

"The iron stupa is expensive and cannot be mass-produced. If the Song Dynasty wants to revitalize the cavalry, it needs the second type of armor that I donated today, the cotton armor!"

"Cotton armor? Cotton can also be used as armor?" Zhao Xu frowned, looking at the armor covered with a layer of cotton cloth in front of him.

Everyone knows that cotton is the softest thing in the world, and armor is the most defensive thing in the world. How could the two be confused? If Fan Zheng hadn't just presented the armor with the strongest defense, he would definitely think that Fan was talking nonsense Gossip.

Fan Zhengzheng nodded and said: "Although the cold-forged armor is lighter than the walking armor, it still weighs fifty catties. The biggest advantage of cotton is that it is light, and the advantage of cotton armor is also light!"

"light?"

Zhao Xu was puzzled, what's the use of being light?No matter what kind of armor, the most important thing is protection.

Fan Zheng explained: "The cotton armor wets the picked cotton and beats it repeatedly to make a thin cotton sheet, and then embroiders the cotton sheet into a thick and solid cotton cloth. Between the two layers of cotton cloth is an iron armor, which is used internally and externally. It is fixed with copper nails, and the full set of armor only weighs about thirty catties."

"Thirty catties?"

Zhao Xu couldn't help being startled. Even the lightest cold-forged traditional armor weighs only about fifty catties. Most ordinary iron armor weighs around sixty catties, while cotton armor only weighs thirty catties. It is the lightest armor.

Fan Zhengzheng nodded and said: "The war horses of the Song Dynasty have a slight gap compared with the war horses of the Liao and Xia. To make up for the gap, the war horses of the Song Dynasty must be lightened, and the cotton armor is the best armor for the cavalry of the Song Dynasty."

"How is its defense?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Better than paper armor, slightly inferior to iron armor!" Fan Zheng said solemnly.

"Better than paper armor, but slightly inferior to iron armor?" Zhao Xu frowned.

Paper armor is another type of armor in the Song Dynasty, but iron armor is expensive. There are 120 million troops in the Song Dynasty, and it is too expensive to make iron armor. Poor, the only downside is that it is easily damaged.

At that moment, Zhao Xu picked up the god arm crossbow, aimed at the cotton armor and pulled the trigger.

After a muffled sound, the arrows of the god arm crossbow also pierced into the cotton armor.

"One and a half inches into the armor!" Tong Guan stepped forward to check the damage of the cotton armor, with a serious expression on his face.

"An inch and a half!"

Zhao Xu's face changed. Although he is not a doctor, he also knows how terrifying the injury that penetrates an inch and a half is.

Fan Zheng said calmly: "The officials don't know that the army that needs to be equipped with cotton armor is light cavalry. They will not go hand in hand with the enemy unless necessary. The Liaoxia cavalry only have bows and arrows, and cotton armor is enough to defend against the enemy." , coupled with the advantage of the light weight of the cotton armor, the gap between Song Dynasty and Liaoxia in cavalry has been equal."

Zhao Xu nodded slightly. Da Song lost to Liao Xia on horseback, but the cotton armor, which was half lighter in weight, had the upper hand. Da Song's cavalry might not be without the power to fight.

Fan Zheng said again: "Cotton armor is cheaper than paper armor, and it's also lighter than paper armor. Its defense is better than paper armor. Although its defense is slightly inferior to iron armor, it has an advantage that other armors can't match. It keeps warm! "

"Keeping warm is an advantage?" Zhao Xu asked puzzled.

Fan Zheng didn't answer, got up and recited: "The north wind blows the ground and the white grass breaks, and Hu Tian blows snow in August. Suddenly, like a spring breeze overnight, thousands of trees and pear trees bloom."

Zhao Xu's heart skipped a beat, what Fan Zheng was reciting was "Song of Bai Xue Sending the Martial Judge Returning to Beijing" by Cen Shen, a frontier poet of the Tang Dynasty.

"Scattered into the bead curtain and wet curtain, the fox fur is not warm and the brocade quilt is thin. The general's horn bow can't be controlled, and the iron coat of the general guard is cold and difficult..."

"It's too cold for the guard's armor?" Zhao Xu's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood the benefits of the cotton armor for keeping warm.

Both the Liao and Xia borders are located in the north, and the winter is extremely cold, while the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms live in a bitterly cold place all year round and are extremely cold-resistant, while the Song Army is located in the south, and the winter combat is miserable and often falls into the disadvantaged.

Cotton armor is lightweight, warm, and defensive. It is the best thing for defending Liaoxia in winter and even counterattacking Liaoxia in the future.

"How much does the cotton armor cost?" Zhao Xu asked solemnly.

"It's only [-]% armored." Fan Zheng replied.

Zhao Xu's breathing was stagnant, except for his weak defense, the cotton armor was almost impeccable.

Once the cavalry of the Song Dynasty were equipped with light cotton armor, the speed of the cavalry increased greatly. Whether it was a long-distance attack or a roundabout side attack, they could come and go like the wind. Coupled with a strong bow and spear, it was enough to fight against the Liaoxia elite cavalry.

Fan Zheng introduced the combat ideas of the kidnapper horse in later generations.

He is going to follow the path of Jin Jun, leaving Jin Jun with nowhere to go.

"A kidnapping horse!"

Zhao Xu was full of passion. For a long time, the cavalry was the pain of the Song Dynasty, but with the cold-forged armor and cotton armor, Zhao Xu finally saw the hope of the rise of the Song cavalry.

At the moment, Zhao Xu personally tried on the cold-forged armor and the cotton armor, and sure enough, compared with the traditional armor, both have great advantages.

"It is indeed much better than traditional armor. Fan Aiqing has made great contributions!"

Zhao Xu was full of praise immediately, he did not expect that Fan Zheng would give him such a big surprise in just ten days.

Fan Zheng said modestly: "I dare not take credit for it. This is the work of the military supervisor craftsman, and this is not the strongest armor. As long as the craftsman perseveres, there will be stronger armor and lighter cotton armor in the future."

"Decree, the Military Weapons Supervisor will reward you with a three-month salary!" Zhao Xu said generously with a wave of his big hand.

"Thank you, the officials!" Mo Yue and the others were overjoyed. First, Fan Zheng was rewarded with a thousand pennies by the military supervisor, and now the officials are rewarding him with a three-month salary.

Fan Zheng exhorted: "Where there is a spear, there is a shield. The military inspector should not only study the strongest shield, but also the strongest spear. Contradictions can be restrained. Only by going back and forth like this can the soldiers of the Song Dynasty shake the world."

"I obey orders!" Mo Yue solemnly said.

"The Western Xia iron kite is the number one enemy of the Song Dynasty, and the Military Weapons Supervision must find a way to crack it as soon as possible." Fan Zheng ordered again.

"As ordered!"

Mo Yue and the others took orders, and then withdrew.

After all the craftsmen of the military supervisor left, Zhao Xu stroked the cold-forged armor and cotton armor, and couldn't help but excitedly said: "I want to form the Iron Buddha and Kidnap Horse, does Fan Aiqing have a suitable candidate?"

Fan Zheng thought for a while and said: "In the battle of Pingxia City, General Zhongpu was brave and resourceful, he is indeed a good general, and he can be the leader of the Iron Buddha!"

Zhong Pu's death in the later generations was plotted against. If he could wear cold forging armor, he might be able to escape the catastrophe.

"Can!"

Zhao Xu thought for a while, and finally nodded.

"The Kidnapper Horse needs elite cavalry, and the most elite cavalry of the Great Song Dynasty is Xihe. The leader of Xihe, Yao Xiong, can try to train the Kidnapper Horse."

"Yao Xiong!"

Zhao Xu nodded slightly.

He originally thought that Fan Zheng would recommend Yang Weizhong, the deputy general of Pingxia City, but he did not expect that Fan Zheng would recommend Yao Xiong, the general of Xihe!

"Yang Weizhong is better at defending the city! Pingxia City poses a great threat to Xixia. If I don't expect it, Xixia will definitely attack Pingxia City next year. With Yang Weizhong in Pingxia City, you can rest easy." Fan Zheng explained. road.

"allow!"

Zhao Xu waved his hand and immediately ordered.

(End of this chapter)