Entering November, the weather has become significantly cooler, the locusts that have ravaged all parts of the Central Plains have died down, and the feedback of various news has also proved that the locust trend has gone, public opinion has also begun to be optimistic, and more people have begun to prepare for next year's spring ploughing.

In December, the temperature further decreased, and some new things quietly appeared in Guangxin City, both cheap and expensive, and the common characteristics are from deserted villages.

After the winter, all parts of the country affected by the autumn grain harvest, Beihai County has been reported bandits, but it is still far from Guangxin, considering that Guangxin is free from locust infestation, it is not excluded that the displaced people go to Guangxin to "beg for a living" after falling into the grass.

Bailiyan (also known as Wei Xian) immediately ordered Sikong Nan to send scouts and more than 20 people to Lincheng, Pucheng, and Dingyang to find out the news of the bandits in the mountains to prepare for the spring famine to suppress the bandits.

The first month of 626 years of Sheng Yuan was destined to be an unquiet year, first the Taiwei Zhong Zan died of illness, and the Marquis of Ding Yang got his wish to fill the position of Taiwei. Theoretically, the power of the soldiers and horses of the Xian State was in the hands of the King of Xian and the Queen Mother.

Immediately after the outbreak of the "annual rebellion", because of the new policy caused by the soaring prices, and was invaded by locust plagues, the people of Qiunan and Xianxi counties were extremely poor overnight, although all taxes were exempted, but the family was poor, the disaster relief was slow, and the soaring prices caused public indignation.

Because the two counties of Xianxi and Qiunan were the hardest hit areas of the people's uprising that year, the regional economic recession was serious, and in the early years, many of the fiefdoms of the feudal elites were in the two counties, and there were the most "feudal monarchs" of all kinds, as many as more than 30 people, the original intention was to hope that these feudal monarchs could run the two counties of Xianxi and Qiunan to develop the economy, but in the end they failed to fulfill their wishes.

Now that they can't harvest their autumn grain, and all their taxes have been reduced or reduced, these vested interests naturally have to pick them back from other places, such as the additional tolls and bridge tolls, and the seedling tax for raising chickens and ducks, etc., which can be described as extremely cruel and exploitative.

Just after the first month of the new year, February was warm and cold, and the workshop rumbled, and the craftsmen were busy with their work in an orderly manner. Bai Liyan held a piece of palm-sized chain mail in her hand and asked a man next to her:

"Yang Gongzheng, what is the gross weight of a piece of chain mail?"

"Back to my lord, according to the guidance of the adult, the eight sizes of chain mail weigh the heaviest seventeen catties, the lightest thirteen catties, and the gross weight of the heavy armor is estimated to be more than twenty-five catties."

"Well, how is the monthly yield?"

"Eight skilled women or craftsmen can make two pieces of chain mail every fifteen days."

"It is necessary to produce mass production as soon as possible, and give priority to recruiting women to work in all necessary manpower, and recruit men if there are no manpower."

"No, raise this matter as soon as possible."

Yang Gongzheng's real name is Yang Dun, and Gongzheng is an official position of a craftsman, specializing in technical manufacturing.

Yang Dun was the mandala ordnance supervisor in his early years, responsible for the manufacture of bow and crossbow machinery, after the mandala was broken by the rebels, Yang Dun fled to other places, and was later caught by Huo Xing, making a strong crossbow for Huo Xing. After being saved, he was afraid that he would be convicted by the Mandala government again because he returned to his hometown, and finally stayed in the deserted village to serve Bailiyan.

Nowadays, all kinds of armor can not be made privately by private individuals or magnates, but chain mail is no longer among them, the reason is also very simple, there is no chain mail nowadays, and people naturally have no concept of this, even if it is found, this armor is not the other armor, you can not admit it, and even be laughed at.

Part of the iron needed for chain mail comes from the bandits, and part of it comes from Zhao Xun's doctor's privileges, which can be purchased from the Salt and Iron Division, and even some benefits can be obtained from Jiang Min.

With the iron material, the existing kiln is modified, and the fireproof and high-temperature resistant coating is added on the basis of the original design to strengthen the strength of the furnace, that is, the steelmaking method can be filled with steel, and lime is added at the same time to adsorb the impurities in the reactive iron to obtain carbon steel with better purity.

And steelmaking needs coke, nowadays most of the coal or even charcoal directly iron, the iron quality is inferior, the refined iron can only be softened, and even the molten iron is not opened, so the pig iron output of the countries is huge, the refined iron is very little, there is no concept of steel, and the steelmaking technology of thousands of tempers has not yet appeared, let alone frying steel.

Coke is needed to make steel, and Yang Dun and others have to be taught to simmer coke, and then use coke to make steel, limited by the furnace, only about 300 to about 300 molten steel can be smelted each time, and finally processed into iron wire, which is used to make chain mail.

Chain mail is almost immune to blade defense, and the most equipped crossbowmen are flat arrows, long diamond arrows, and shuttle arrows, and have the worst defense against conical arrows, especially the conical arrows used in strong crossbows, even if they are steel chain mail, there is still a greater risk of piercing at very close distances.

The most lethal force is the needle arrow, this kind of arrow is poor in accuracy, and the effect on scale armor and copper armor is not good, because the arrow of the needle arrow is too thin, and the arrow is easy to break when it hits the whole piece of metal and loses its piercing ability.

However, it is an excellent type of arrow for dealing with chain mail, but it is not easy to produce, it requires quenched steel, and such slender needle arrows do not appear today.

In addition, chain mail has almost no defensive effect on blunt weapons, so after wearing chain mail, you still need to wear light leather armor to defend against blunt weapons, such as Tang Zhao, a hammer in one hand and a sharp axe in the other, which can kill you with a hammer at will.

A piece of standard chain mail with a sagging thigh-hem and a single-layer light chain mail with four buttons and braids weighing more than 10 kilograms, which puts great pressure on the shoulders and is prone to shoulder disease when worn for a long time.

Heavy chain mail with double buckles and eight braids can weigh 16 to 20 kilograms, and if you wear light leather armor, the total weight will exceed 24 kilograms, which is difficult for normal people to bear.

In order to reduce weight and improve production efficiency, according to the characteristics of current weapons and arrows, Bailiyan only plans to produce a single-layer light chain mail with a buckle and four braids, and cancel the hem and only make half-body chain mail.

The parts of the waist that are usually covered by the arms are replaced by cowhide sheet armor, and the shoulders are also replaced by cowhide armor, which can reduce the weight, and secondly, the arrow in the shoulder will not be fatal, unless the shoulder is directly removed.

The exposed area of the waist is much less than the front and back of the human body, and it is not worth configuring the heavier chain mail.

Considering the size and cost, the size of chain mail is standardized, divided into four sizes: small, medium, large, and extra-large, and two specifications. One is mainly equipped with soldiers, and the other is equipped with generals.

The difference is that the metal ring of the soldier's chain mail is slightly larger, and the defense is slightly weaker, and it is easier to be pierced by the conical arrows of the strong crossbow at close range, so the strong top charge needs to be equipped with a shield.

The general's chain mail ring is small, the defense is high, especially the defense against arrows is higher than that of the infantry chain mail, and it can even resist the puncture of needles and arrows, in addition, the former has two days less production time than the latter, which is more suitable for mass production.

The development of chain mail began at the end of October last year, and it took two months to make steel and coking, and during coking, "lignite wax" and coal tar were stumbled upon for the production of candles and some fuel oil.

At the end of mid-December, 80 women, more than 30 men and craftsmen were organized to start production. The first piece of chain mail took fifteen people and ten days, the style is barely improvised, after four process improvements, it now takes eight people and seven days to process a soldier chain mail, and after proficiency, it may be possible to reduce the working hours by one-third, and the general armor will take more than ten days.

The deserted village guards and the transfer of the two hundred soldiers are only equipped with light leather armor, the defense is weak, and the spears and swords that are mainly used for assassination can be easily pierced, and can only be used for the cutting damage caused by the chopping of ordinary bronze blades.

Bailiyan put on a medium-sized general chain mail, obviously a little tight, the helmet of the head chain mail leather could not be covered, and the landing was replaced with a large size, the slightly wide chain mail was tightened with a belt and just fitted, due to the cancellation of the hem, the chain mail only hung down to the abdomen, considering the safety of the small egg, a piece of chain mail hung down from the crotch to enhance the protection of the crotch.

"Yes, this armor fits perfectly, and is much lighter than the existing heavy foot scale armor."

"What my lord said is extremely true, this large general's chain mail weighs no more than seventeen catties, which is more than half lighter than the heavy armor of the infantry, and it is really shocking for the adults to create this armor."

Yang Dun complimented, and Bai Liyan waved his hand:

"Without Yang Gongzheng's efforts with you, how could there be such a treasure armor."

"Your Excellency is serious."

"Yes, it's not serious. By the way, how many pieces of this armor have been made now? ”

"Back to my lord, there are a total of twenty-three pieces of soldier chain mail of various types and sizes, and four pieces of general chain mail."

"That's so little."

I was somewhat disappointed in my heart, although the chain mail defense was good, the defects were also fatal, and they could only be processed by hand. Even in the later generations of technological overdevelopment, it can only be processed by hand and cannot be automated.

As he spoke, the sound of horses' hooves outside the workshop was loud, and Sikong Nan galloped over and stopped in the workshop compound, and hurriedly found Bailiyan:

"Your Excellency!"

As soon as Sikong Nan entered the house, he looked at Baili Yandian in a daze and wanted to laugh, but he couldn't help it. At this time, Bailiyan saw the clue and said:

"Do you want to laugh at the official?"

"No, no. What is this, my lord? ”

"It's chain mail."

"Armor?" Sikong Nan was taken aback: "The government strictly prohibits private armor, but what adults wear is an iron ring, if you want to say that it is armor, you can't do it." But if it is violated, it may be a crime of killing the head. ”

Bai Liyan waved his hand and said with an indifferent face:

"There is a decree in the law, and the so-called armor is light leather armor, leather armor, leather armor, iron armor, and scale armor. However, bamboo armor, wood chip armor, and rattan armor are not included in this list, and chain mail is naturally not included in this list. If you want to avoid it, you will not mention the word armor in the future, and it will not hurt to call it an iron cloth shirt. ”

"Iron Cloth Shirt?! When the adults say this, it is true. It's just that this armor is weird, and the combat power is doubtful, so adults must not take risks. ”

At this time, Yang Dun smiled:

"General Sikong can rest assured, this armor is made of high-grade fine iron, and the Lord shoots it with a strong bow of one stone and does not wear it at twenty paces, which can be described as hard as iron."

"Really?"

General Sikong Nan was suspicious, and Bai Liyan said at this time:

"Brother Sikong, don't worry, you can also find a well-fitting piece to bring with you later, and it is extremely convenient to wear it at any time during wartime. Now tell me, come to me in a hurry, what is the matter? ”

"Oh, someone from the Guangxin Mansion is here, so that the Lord will go to the Mansion immediately."

"Deliberations?"

Bai Liyan turned her mind and thought about whether it was Jiang Min's eldest son, Jiang Gan, who rushed back from Xu State.

Last year, Jiang Gan went to do something, but he didn't know him, and he never thought that Jiang Gan would be gone for a year, and when he came back at this time, he must have done everything.

took off the chain mail and returned to Guangxin with Sikong Nan, just as Bailiyan expected, Jiang Qian really returned to Guangxin from Xu State.

"Mr. Wei is also here, come and sit."

"Wei Xian has seen the lord."

Baili Yan saluted, and Yu Guang glanced at the four faces on the right side, among them, the handsome man who was quite similar to Jiang Min and Jiang Rong should be Jiang Qian, and the other three middle-aged people didn't know each other, two of them were stubborn and stubborn, and the other was a little older, with a gray robe and a straight coat, and should be a staff member.

I had heard Chen Yunfeng mention that there were three people accompanying his son, Jiang Qian, the most relied on by Luo Songting, the staff member, and Song Ping and Hu Mo. Luo Songting should be a middle-aged man in a gray robe and straight jacket, and the other two are the other two.

After he sat down, Jiang Min introduced:

"Mr. Wei has been in Guangxin for less than a year, and he still doesn't know Qian'er." When the words fell, Jiang Min turned to Jiang Qian: "Qian'er, this is Mr. Wei Xianwei, who made miraculous achievements in the Battle of Jiangdong that year, annihilated the horse thief Huo Xing, and burned the locusts." ”

Jiang Qian and the others cast their eyes and looked at Bailiyan, Xu is Chen Yunfeng and Jiang Min had already said before, Jiang Qian was very polite:

"Jiang Qian has seen Wei Gongzi."

Jiang Qianxu was reluctant to call "sir", and when he saw Bai Liyan's bookish face, he reluctantly called Gongzi. Baili Yan stood up and saluted and said:

"Wei Xian meets Childe."

"I have heard of the name of Gongzi Wei for a long time, and I heard my father and Mr. Chen talk about Gongzi Wei's talent, and I hope that Gongzi Wei will give me more advice."

"Childe's words are serious, how dare you be."

Bailiyan only regarded Jiang Gan's polite words, and would never think that Jiang Qian would really ask shamelessly, and his ears would just hear it.