"Dangdangdang......"

Amid the beating of the hammer, there was the sound of the rushing of the water, and the turning of the chain was incessant.

The weather on Fujian Road has turned cooler, the Mid-Autumn Festival has long passed, and it is still quite hot here in the southern part of the Eastern Domain, Fu Qian looked at the forging hammer intently in the workshop, sweating profusely, and the official robe on his body was already wet.

The large crowds of workers were shirtless, placing wrought iron embryos under heavy hammers, constantly turning and forging.

"It's formed, my lord."

This type of forging armor is a standard cold forging method, in which an iron embryo of fine iron is placed under a hammer, constantly forged to remove impurities, and gradually beaten into shape.

Cold-forged armor is stronger and more stable than armor made directly from wrought iron, and of course the stronger the defensive ability.

Fu Qian looked at the cuirass presented by the craftsman with an excited expression, his expression was full of excitement and pride, pride and other colors.

"This is the cuirass." There is a group of young people between twenty and thirty around Fu Qian, most of them are also proficient in miscellaneous science, or are interested in miscellaneous science, and they are quite intelligent, these people did not hold specific official positions after passing the assessment, but have been following Fu Qian's side around, learning the various skills of this master.

"Congratulations, sir."

"My lord has solved another problem for the Eastern Domain."

Many of the apprentices were overjoyed and stepped forward to congratulate Fu Qian.

Fu Qian waved his hand and said with a smile: "The whole idea of using the flow of water to drive the gears, the gears to drive the chains, the chains to drive the hammers, the hammers to forge, and the whole piece of wrought iron into a concave cuirass was put forward by His Highness." The official is just responsible for perfecting the details, constantly designing, testing, and if you want to say the first credit, this time it is not the official, it is the king himself. ”

"Then you won't get the highest level of reward."

Fu Qian's personality is much more easy-going than Li Yi, Kong He and others, not to mention Fang Shaoqun, who is arrogant and ignores idlers. As for the generals of the military, they have their own murderous aura, but no one dares to joke with them casually.

Someone laughed with Fu Qian, but Fu Qian didn't care, waved his hand again, and said: "There are already a lot of looms, and there are also shares of the firm." All of you will have a share. ”

"Shares of the comptoir?"

"That's right." Fu Qian said: "The king established the Nanyang Commercial Bank, in fact, it also includes the East and the West, the king said that the general name of Nanyang can be lowered, and we Fujian people are commonly known as Nanyang, so it is convenient and easy to understand." ”

The Nanyang Commercial Bank has been quietly established, Xu Zixian of course has the largest share, and the second share is some powerful people and gentry businessmen, including the Marquis of Changwen.

Thirdly, the civil and military officials of the Eastern Domain were given a certain share of the shares of the commercial bank.

Xu Zixian gave his subordinates a top stock, which was actually a dividend share, even so, all the officials and soldiers including Fu Qian were quite satisfied.

The cotton business, flax, beans, sand gold, oil, and, in the future, tea, raw silk, sugar, and iron, were all co-ordinated under the name of the firm.

Including in the future, some ships will be placed under the comptoir to seize territory and compete for maritime power, and the benefits obtained are also under the comptoir.

One can imagine how great these trades and the prospects for the future will be, and how amazing, even terrifying, the wealth that each person will gain!

Xu Zixian wanted to set up this business bank a long time ago.

In this era, it was originally the beginning of the Great Voyage, the Great Wei was already a little backward, the Tianfang people had been laying out inland, and they were sluggish at sea, but also because the Tianfang people were not good at naval warfare, and their ships were also lagging behind. At sea, the European countries have taken the initiative, and they are beginning to reap handsome rewards in Africa, South America, and now they are extending their tentacles to Asia.

In Asia, neither the Spaniards nor the Portuguese had colonies, but as the power deepened, it was only a matter of time before they wanted to acquire colonies.

The Celestial Ones sent out Pu Xingfeng, trying to seize Malacca and other choke points in their hands before the Europeans.

The Great Wei was deeply attacked by the Eastern Hu in the north, and was unable to deploy in the South Seas.

Within a few years, Xu Zixian estimated that he would not be able to control the entire Great Wei, and it would not be appropriate to use the official name of the Great Wei to seize colonies, enslave the locals, and rob the local wealth.

When Chinese people do these things, they will feel morally indebted.

It has nothing to do with the Great Wei Dynasty to do these things with the merchants of the trading house, even if they burn, kill and loot, the merchants can do things that violate morality in the hearts of the Chinese people, and they will not cause much disgust.

In this era, whoever grabs it first will have the first opportunity.

The Queen of England, the nobles, reaped handsome returns on their investments in pirates who specialized in robbing the Spaniards of gold ships, as did their investments in the East India Company.

In the Netherlands, aristocrats and large merchants formed shareholders' councils, and in the name of the Dutch East India Company, they plundered wealth and seized colonies in Asia, which were also richly rewarded.

These things cannot be done by the court and clan nobles of the Great Wei Dynasty, but the merchants of the trading house can.

The Great Wei Dynasty, commonly known as the East, the West, and the South Sea, will be turbulent in the next 100 years, and whoever takes the lead will be able to obtain the dominance of millions of square kilometers, hundreds of millions of people, and even a large amount of wealth.

All kinds of materials, including the grain brought by the land, will be continuously transported back to the mainland to feed the mainland, and China will usher in a period of rapid development.

Moreover, active colonization will collide with heaven and Europe, and acquire new ideas and skills, which is much more important than obtaining wealth.

For Fu Qian and others, participating in it can be rewarded handsomely, and a large amount of wealth will be given to them in the form of dividends from commercial banks.

It is impossible for Xu Zixian to be like the Han and Tang dynasties, giving meritorious heroes the title of marquis and giving tax revenues to states and counties, so as to redeem the effectiveness and loyalty of meritorious heroes.

This method was good in antiquity and medieval times, but at this moment, it is no longer suitable.

A large number of heroes became new landlords, they would divide the fertile land, restrict the movement of people, and hope that the people would work for them, industry and commerce were only a means for the magnates to increase their wealth, industry and commerce could never form a chamber of commerce, and all kinds of craftsmen would not form guilds, and a large number of guild organizations appeared, and then there was banking, finance, and finally developed into parliaments, which was a redistribution of power and the cornerstone of social stability.

From the small-scale peasant economy to the work of individual craftsmen, to the emergence of mutual aid monopoly guilds, then to capital industry and commerce, and finally to the big capitalists themselves or supporting agents, interfering in and influencing state affairs, and finally forming a capitalist society.

This is the inevitable way, and it is also the result that Xu Zixian hopes.

Wealth and talent are no longer confined to the land, but look far away.

In order to redeem the loyalty of the heroes and generals, they will be more willing to expand, so as to achieve the path of the empire.

That's the right thing to do.

Fu Qian said to everyone: "Of course, you will have a part in the future." ”

Many apprentices and officials have excitement in their eyes, and it seems that a good future is just around the corner.

"These cuirasses can be processed in several batches." Fu Qian's face turned serious, and he said to the officials who would be the commander of the armor staff bureau: "The iron cavalry will wear this cuirass in the future, the front and back are compatible, weighing thirty catties, plus the iron helmet and net boots long saber, the weight does not exceed forty catties. There is also protection, and it does not affect the speed of the horse too much. ”

Everyone nodded, and one of the little officials raised a piece of his breastplate, bent his fingers, and flicked it.

Everyone heard a "dang" sound, followed by a slight humming sound.

"This armor is quite thick." All of them looked satisfied.

The military is also represented here, and the thickness and iron of the cuirass are also seen.

Of course, the iron quality is very good, the cold forging armor was originally the highest peak of the Great Wei armor, the infantry armor of the forbidden army, known as the iron man after wearing, is just a scarf, a don't item, plus iron scale armor, wearing arm guards, heart guards, shin guards and net boots, a body weighing seventy pounds, not including weapons and sundries.

Such a forbidden army cannot be done unless it is strong and strong, and the general's armor is the best for cold-forged scabies, and it is not easy for ordinary generals to get one.

The unibody-forged breastplate, one on both sides, weighs thirty catties, and its protective ability is not above the iron scale armor and piercing armor, but only on it. Connected by a lacing and an iron helmet, it can be used to protect vital points.

The key point is that the iron cavalry needs to engage the nomadic cavalry, not only the heavy cavalry that charges into battle, so the armor cannot be too heavy, once it is too heavy, the heavy burden of the war horse is not suitable to maintain horsepower, and the nomadic cavalry can use the kite to consume the strength of the man and the knight, and then calmly return fire, which eventually leads to a crushing defeat.

"The heavy cavalry has two breastplates and an iron helmet, plus a tun item, arm guards, heart guards, shin guards, iron mesh boots, and iron masks, all of which are similar to heavy infantry." Fu Qian said to the officials and craftsmen: "The gaps in the armor are connected by chain mail iron rings and formed in one piece, so that the soldiers will not be lined with another layer of chain mail, which can reduce the load." ”

The head sent by the cavalry battalion said in a deep voice: "Even so, the heavy cavalry, including sundries, backpacks, and weapons, not including the weight of the soldiers, is afraid that the weight is nearly 100 catties." ”

Fu Qian nodded and said, "Yes, together with the soldiers, the weight is about two hundred and forty or fifty catties." ”

Cavalry officers and soldiers who are short and underweight are of course not likely to be selected, and those who are too tall and overweight are not suitable for cavalry.

Moderate height, well-proportioned body, explosiveness, and toughness, and the ability to ride horses and rush for a long time is a qualified cavalry seedling.

The general heavy cavalry should be more burly and taller, the weight is too light to bear the heavy armor, wearing the heavy armor soldiers will not be able to fight with the enemy, but the weight will not exceed one hundred and fifty pounds, plus armor, swords or long guns, bows, crossbows, and arrows, the weight of the war horse is about two hundred and sixty pounds, if the short sprint to kill the excellent war horse is no problem, but the long-distance drive to hurry, even if there is concentrate, the war horse can not carry the weight for a long time.

The head of the cavalry camp said: "A battalion of iron cavalry, at least more than 500 war horses, and a large number of horses." If it is a heavy cavalry battalion, at least one cavalry is equipped with two war horses and two horses, and a battalion of cavalry will get 2,000 horses. ”

Fu Qian nodded and said, "If not, Great Wei would not have only tens of thousands of cavalry, and there would be no heavy cavalry. ”

The head of the cavalry battalion showed excitement on his face, and said: "That is, our king has such courage, and he wants to build a heavy cavalry battalion, and he has changed someone else, and he has never made such a decision." ”

Everyone nodded, and their faces showed respect.

A battalion of heavy cavalry, 500 cavalry, with about 1,000 cavalry, to help take care of the horses, and even take care of the knights before going to the battlefield to save their physical energy. Coupled with 2,000 war horses and 2,000 miscellaneous horses, a heavy cavalry battalion, the money, food, and materials spent were more than enough for ten infantry battalions.

"It's still worth it." Fu Qian said: "Although I don't know the soldiers, but the last time I fought on the coast of Nan'an, the iron cavalry battalion can be described as the final word, and the final victory was determined. ”

The expression on the face of the cavalry was immediately quite proud, the battle by the sea was indeed the battle in which the Iron Cavalry Battalion proved itself the most, before that, they had been training and killing the natives, although everyone could see that the cavalry soldiers were elite, they themselves were eager to prove themselves in a real battle.

The battle by the sea is the best proof of this!

"Heavy infantry armor, the same as heavy cavalry. Archers wear chain mail, and ordinary foot soldiers wear armor. Fu Qian finally smiled slightly and said: "The king originally planned to give all the scale armor to the soldiers, but the scale armor is too time-consuming, and it is inconvenient to search for raw materials, so the foot soldiers should still use the armor." However, if the production of chain mail increases, ordinary foot soldiers can wear armor and chain mail inside, which is also very good. ”

"It's also very good to pierce the armor, if the nail leaves are large and thick, you can prevent slashing and stabbing."

"If you add another layer of chain mail, of course the effect is not below the scale armor."

In addition to the mountain armor and Mingguang armor worn by generals, ordinary iron scale armor is the best. The scales are stacked, the protection is strong, and they are not afraid of damage, and the scales can be removed separately to repair and replace, so it is both excellent defense and economical. However, the disadvantage of scale armor is that it is to forge iron pieces piece by piece, and then use cow tendon to wear armor, not to mention the time-consuming, raw materials are also rare, and of course it is quite expensive.

An iron scale armor is worth at least more than 100 yuan, and the manufacturing cycle generally starts in half a year, which is not a short time compared to making a good bow, which is still too slow for the current situation of the Eastern Domain.

The protective power of the cuirass is far above the scale armor, and the disadvantage is that it is formed in one piece, once it is pierced on the battlefield, the entire armor will be completely wasted, so the cost of the cuirass is much lower than that of the scale armor, and it is definitely more expensive to use than the scale armor.

For the Eastern Domain, this problem does not exist, hydraulic transfer and hammering, can produce cuirass around the clock, and the increase in efficiency represents the reduction of costs, for the Eastern Domain, the manufacture of cuirass does not need to consider the expensive cost at all, you can give iron cavalry and heavy cavalry, heavy infantry are all equipped with iron armor and chain mail equipment, this is the real wealth.

In addition to the hydraulic hammer, Fu Qian also made a complete set of tools for manufacturing chain mail according to Xu Zixian's prompts, which saved more than twice the time before.

First, the wire with a wire drawing plate with a uniform thickness is pulled, and then the wire is wrapped around the big roller, one side is connected to a small runner with a thick thumb line, when rotating, the wire is forcibly incorporated into a certain fine bayonet, and after forcibly turning a number of circles, the lock ring that is closely connected together is obtained, and then the lock ring is cut open with iron tongs, and the lock ring of manufacturing chain mail is very easy to get to hand.

This whole set of craftsmanship is not complicated, as long as one person can make a large number of iron rings in one day, this is the craft of Europeans, because of this excellent process, Europeans can make a large number of chain mail in the Roman period, and in the Middle Ages, it was mainly chain mail, the kind of stuffy jar plate armor is actually the equipment of noble knights, ordinary archers, infantry, most of them are leather armor or chain mail.

The Eastern Domain has a complete set of equipment for manufacturing chain mail here, although it is still hand-drawn and manufactured, but the efficiency has also been improved, and it is not difficult to manufacture chain mail in large quantities.

Fu Qian's face showed arrogance, waved his hand, and said: "As long as the iron mines in the central part can continue to provide wrought iron, before the end of the year, it should not be a problem for us to equip all the soldiers with iron armor." ”

"And the bed crossbow...... Fu Qian continued: "The king ordered that the bed crossbow on the ship before be dismantled and another part should be built, and it should be able to catch up with this big battle!" ”

"Is it an eight-ox crossbow, or a three-ox crossbow, or a single-ox crossbow?"

The bed crossbow is the weapon of the Great Wei Town, the eight-ox crossbow is generally used to defend the city or be installed in the warship Shanghai war, in fact, most of the naval battles are three-ox crossbows, that is, two stacks of bows, this crossbow is still very powerful, the arrows shot are spears, manpower can not be pulled, and the three-ox crossbow also has to be more than ten or twenty people to quickly control, and more than ten people can turn the winch at the same time to pull the bowstring.

The single ox crossbow is the most widely used bed crossbow, which can be used in field battles and sieges, and can be controlled by five or six people.

The Great Wei bed crossbow is generally only equipped with the forbidden army, and the box army of the city garrison can also control the bed crossbow, which is generally a heavy crossbow and bow that is not easy to move.

Because of its manufacturing difficulties, complex craftsmanship and high price, there are only eight crossbows in an important city like Fuzhou, and there are no more than ten crossbows.

"It's all a single bullbow." Fu Qian said: "Many ships have been dismantled before, and there are many old ships that have been eliminated, but there are a lot of crossbows. Originally, it was said that it was intended to be repaired and loaded on various ships, but the king ordered it to be transported directly to the army. ”

Here in the Eastern Domain, it was quite difficult to build a crossbow a few months ago, thanks to Wang Yue's nonsense, a large number of craftsmen fled from Jianzhou, among which some iron fields were originally responsible for the production of divine arm bows and bed crossbows for the imperial court, this time the technical strength has been strengthened, Kong He also knows that the hard crossbow is a weapon to break the enemy, although Xu Zi first heavy cavalry, but it does not mean that he will refuse the powerful crossbow.

It may be decades, hundreds of years later, artillery and flintlock pistols will appear, and crossbows and bows will be completely eliminated, but in this era, the crossbow of the Great Wei is still a formidable weapon to kill the enemy.

"Hardwood, bowstrings as thick as thumbs, these things are easy to obtain, they are cut and made, and all kinds of ingenuity require skilled craftsmen, and if there is a slight mistake, they will break after a few pulls."

Fu Qian had been on the tour and took everyone to another crossbow-making workshop, and proudly pointed to a bed crossbow that had grown up in human size, and said, "Do you see the difference? ”

A group of young craftsmen stepped forward and began to observe, and some even crouched down to carefully observe the difference in the crossbow.

Finally, someone said: "Master Fu, it seems that some wires are added to it?" ”

Fu Qian was greatly pleased, glanced at the young craftsman, and said, "What's your name?" ”

The young man hugged his fists and said: "Under Huang Ziqian, the craftsman is the first-class official of the Sijia Staff Bureau." ”

"It can be seen that you work hard, and you are already a first-class official." Fu Qian said: "You observe very carefully, and you will be transferred to the bow and crossbow bureau from tomorrow." ”

Huang Ziqian was overjoyed, hugged his fists and said, "Thank you for your help and cultivation." ”

Fu Qian nodded and said: "My Great Wei's crossbow machine is getting bigger and bigger in order to launch power, and the Eight Bull Crossbow can't be pulled purely by manpower, so it needs to be transported by ox power and hinge machine, and dozens of people can control a crossbow." This is also secondary, and the more important thing is that the mortise and tenon joint is not easy to match, the bowstring requirements are required, and the wooden part is also high, so it often takes several months to get a crossbow when a crossbow is manufactured. The king ordered us to pull the wire chain mail, and incidentally mentioned that if iron parts are used on the crossbow machine, and then the iron spring is added to increase the torque, then the requirements and standards for the crossbow machine itself can be lowered, and the manufacturing time is much shortened. The officer tried it, and sure enough. ”

Fu Qian pointed to the iron spring on the crossbow machine and said: "This is an iron spring drawn from iron wire, which is elastic and can increase the tension of the bowstring when twisting, so that the crossbow machine can be made with half the effort." ”

Everyone looked at these crossbow machines and felt excited.

Someone even said: "If this method had been known to the imperial court, I am afraid that more bed crossbows would have been made long ago." ”

Bed crossbow siege, city defense, water warfare, field warfare, all have the rare advantages of ordinary weapons, single bow bed crossbow, easy to use in field battles, powerful, long range, is a sharp weapon to suppress the impact of cavalry.

The defect is that it is not easy to fiddle with, and it takes a long time to manufacture, and it is particularly expensive.

With the wealth of the Great Wei court, at its peak, each battalion was equipped with one or two single-bow bed crossbows at most, which was already at the limit.

The number of bed crossbows was insufficient, the suppressive power of the cavalry was weakened a lot, and it was too expensive, so the main generals and officials were careful for fear of damage, and later there were few records of bed crossbows being used on the field battlefield.

And Fu Qian revealed that in this battle alone, the bed crossbows prepared reached about 600 bodies, and if there was one crossbow for 100 people, this density was quite amazing, and you can imagine how terrifying the lethality would be.

"Master Fu is really the mainstay of my Eastern Domain."

"Of course, he is also the king's minister of the humerus."

"A role model for my generation."

Among the many high-ranking officials, Fu Qian likes to listen to some welcome words the most, and the people present also like him, anyway, he doesn't lose money by saying good things, of course, he sends them in a steady stream.

Fu Qian listened, his eyes were slight, and his face showed a look of enjoyment, but he also knew in his heart that the King of Zhongshan might soon go into battle to fight the thieves, and he had to grasp it tightly, not waste time, he needed to make more armor as soon as possible, and if he received more armor, he might sacrifice less soldiers, in the heart of King Zhongshan, the value of a veteran was far more than an expensive iron armor.