After a few days, everything was calm, the recruits continued to train, and the big families in the city did not react. Li Yan just collected a little money from them, and he only collected it once during the summer tax, and he didn't harass them at other times. Maybe they feel it's bearable, maybe they're brewing a bigger conspiracy.

There is also news that Chen Yongfu has finally begun to go out of the city to suppress bandits. Maybe it was because of the pressure of the imperial court, maybe it was the rich people in Suizhou City who met some of his requirements, in short, he went out to fight the thieves. However, Chen Yongfu's luck was too good, and a few days after he first started fighting the thieves, the seriously injured "One Dragon" died.

The team of "One Dragon" quickly split, and "Yuan Laoshan" did not want to face Chen Yongfu's attack alone, so the subsequent battle was more like an escape. Chen Yongfu has now successfully recovered most of the lost territory around Guide City and Xiayi County, and the thieves only control Yongcheng County. The good news of the past two days was sent to Kaifeng one after another, which made Li Yan feel that the combat effectiveness of Chen Yongfu's troops was still okay.

Li Yan went to the artillery test site, but this time he didn't go to see the artillery test, but to test the defensive ability of chain mail.

I've been tested with knives and spears before.,The defense ability of knife slashing is not bad.,It's basically not thorough.,But it's not good to hit the body when it's too strong.。 The defense against spear stabbing is much weaker, as long as the force is strong enough, it can basically be pierced. However, for his troops, there are artillery in the distance, and there are crossbow arrows in the middle, and it is still difficult for the enemy to rush to the distance where the spears can pierce each other, so it is not a problem.

Today's test is the defense against bows and arrows, especially against long-range dashes. When the two armies are engaged in formation, it means that the opposing archers can inflict some damage on his troops.

He got ten pieces of full-length chain mail and put them on the scarecrow's body. In addition to the chain mail all over their bodies, these scarecrows also wore eight-petal iron helmets on their heads, and the feet of their boots were also covered with a piece of chain mail. This is the standard configuration of his troops in the future, just to test it comprehensively.

Blacksmith Zhou stood beside Li Yan and said distressedly: "Childe, it's good to use one piece to test, why do you use so much?" It takes seven days to compile a piece of chain mail, and it's a pity to destroy it. ”

Li Yan explained: "In this way, you can see whether you can produce in large quantities. If you take only one piece and test it, you will work hard and the quality is high, and the effect will definitely be very good. But can you make every single piece of such good quality? Or take a few more out and see how your average is. ”

Blacksmith Zhou immediately said: "Every process is assigned to someone, and we have a record. Each piece of chain mail has a number on its buckle, and if something goes wrong, you can find out who did it. ”

Li Yan said with a smile: "This kind of management is very good, not only there should be punishment, but naturally there should also be rewards." If there are many things in a row that have not gone wrong, then it should be rewarded. Otherwise, after a long time, the craftsmen will not have that enthusiasm. ”

"Yes, when you go back to your humble position, you will get a reward and punishment system." Blacksmith Zhou hurriedly agreed.

Sun Sifu came over to report and said that the straw man target in front of him had been prepared. So Li Yan nodded and ordered, "Let's start." ”

At this time, more than 100 archers gathered from the whole army stood in three rows at a distance of 100 steps from the target, and they all used bows with a tensile force of 80 catties to 100 catties, which was also the average tensile force of the Ming army.

"Ready, open!" The soldiers squeaked and pulled their bows apart as they were ordered, pointing diagonally to the sky.

"Put!" Command loud commands.

"Boom", "boom" sounded a few times, and the feathered arrows in their hands flew out into the air with the rebound of the bowstring. A moment later, the feathered arrow whizzed down from the sky and landed in the area around the target.

"Ready, open!"

……

The commander continued to command, letting the archers fire their bows again and again, projecting round after round of arrows into the target area. It has been done twelve times. This is also the limit of these archers, by the time the twelfth salvo is fired, there are very few feather arrows that can fall into the target area, and most of the feather arrows fall in front of the target area.

Li Yan and the others waited for the archers to sit down and rest, and then went to the target area like a wheat field where the feather arrows were inserted to observe. One by one, they looked at the feather arrows that landed on the straw man, and they found that the feather arrows could only go about half an inch deep, and they were blocked by chain mail.

Each ring of the chain mail is fastened with the four iron rings around it, and the diameter of the iron ring is less than three points, so the gap between the iron rings is very small. The wires are all forged, the hardness is very high, and the joints are welded after being burned red, which is very strong, so there is no way for the feather arrows to continue to penetrate.

Li Yan nodded with satisfaction and said, "Yes, the quality is very good, and the defense capability is also good." After you go back, you will be given fifty stone of grain, and you will give everyone one cent according to the size of your workmanship. ”

"Xie Gongzi reward." Blacksmith Zhou said happily: "It just so happens that the craftsmen can exchange these grains for some things they need. ”

After that, Li Yan instructed his soldiers to help, and turned the back of the target over to prepare for the next test. This time it was a test of the chain mail's defense against crossbow arrows.

Or those archers, all replaced with crossbows. The operation of the crossbow is much simpler than that of the bow and arrow, and the waist force is also used when the crossbow is opened, and the requirements for arm strength are not very high.

The archers lined up in three rows, firing their crossbow arrows at a distance of thirty paces in succession, under the command of the commander. The huge force knocked all the fixed straw men backwards, and some even broke the wooden poles inside the straw men.

Li Yan: After the shooting of the crossbow arrows was over, they went over to check it again. It was found that some crossbow arrows were able to open the interface of the iron ring, thus penetrating the chain mail. But most of them can only penetrate about half an inch, but the force is much greater than that of feather arrows, and the impact on the human body should be quite strong.

"Well, that's good." Li Yan said with satisfaction: "Our armor has to achieve such protection. Our bows and crossbows also have to achieve such lethality. With these equipment, our troops will suffer fewer casualties in the future, and victory will be easier. ”

Li Zhong opened his mouth and said: "Is the cost of this chain mail too high?" It costs twenty taels of silver, can we equip them all? ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "The cost is very large, but the defense capability is really good." Even if you can't equip all of them, you need to reach at least half of them. With a good defense, soldiers can fight without fear of losing stones. ”

"That's not necessarily the case, the careful protection has made those officers and soldiers more and more timid." Li Mu said contemptuously.

"There are still other measures, if you are afraid of the enemy and cowardly, you will be punished once, and you will be directly dismissed twice, and your family's fields will be recovered. In this case, it is estimated that no soldier will dare to disobey the order and hesitate. Li Yan said.

Li Mu nodded and said, "Well, that's a good idea." ”