"Lao Feng, why is the iron used so quickly? I haven't got any equipment for my soldiers yet...... Have you hidden all the iron? ”

As soon as Liu Ce entered the blacksmith shop and saw Feng Ying, he was bombarded indiscriminately, which frightened some craftsmen around him at a loss.

Feng Ying put down the work in his hand and glanced at Liu Ce: "Private collection? I'm a fucking shit, can I use my brain to speak?"

Liu Ce hurriedly said: "No private collection? So why is the iron running out so quickly? I've heard a long time ago that you have a lot of complaints about the idea of installing iron armor in my whole battalion on weekdays, tell me why this fine iron plus wrought iron and pig iron are hundreds of thousands of catties gone so quickly? ”

Feng Ying was anxious when he heard this: "I said general, do you know how to make iron tools?" I won't say anything about your knives and guns these days, but even the soldiers' boots have to be inlaid with iron blades, of course, even if this is to reduce the bloodshed of the Jingwei battalion, I know this, but remember the armor and cavalry, right? ”

"A riding outfit?" Liu Ce was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Didn't I say that it would be postponed for the time being?" ”

"Yes, you mean to put it away for the time being, but I don't know which bastard told Qin Mo that they could build a light vest for the transition, or did you personally agree, you won't disagree with it, right?"

"Uh......" Liu Ce was stunned for a moment, "This, it is indeed my nod, according to estimates, the armor leaves required for a war horse are only forty catties, and I only need a hundred sets to ...... so fast."

"Not really? My general, do you know how much iron it takes to make a set of iron armor? Do you think it's forty pounds, and the raw materials are also forty pounds? One hundred sets of vests are four thousand catties of finished products, at least six thousand catties of iron, and one horseshoe I count him two catties of fine iron, this one thousand and one hundred horses is two thousand two hundred catties, and the materials are two thousand five hundred catties, as well as riding armor, ring head knives, riding spears, spears, throwing spears, waist knives, arrows, ......."

Watching Feng Ying's lips keep turning and reporting a string of numbers, Liu Ce was choked speechless. Glancing at Liu Ce Tieqing's face, several craftsmen around him sweated for Feng Ying in their hearts, his foreman was really too bold......

"So, do the math on how much iron you have left? Do you still say that I don't have it privately? Feng Ying finished speaking in one breath, stared at Liu Ce and asked, feeling that his mouth was a little dry, he picked up the porcelain pot on the side, poured some water into the bowl and drank it in one go.

Gao Laohan saw Liu Ce's embarrassed expression, and hurriedly came out to play a round: "Okay, okay, Feng Ying, you don't say a few words, the general is not doing this for the sake of the soldiers' lives, and besides, the general was not born in a craftsman's household, so it's normal to be in a hurry and not understand the reason." ”

Seeing that Feng Ying and Liu Ce's expressions eased slightly, he said to Liu Ce again: "General, although Feng Ying's words are a little rushed, but what he said is right, the old man can guarantee that what he said is true, and it is impossible to hide iron materials privately......"

In fact, of course, Liu Ce knew that Feng Ying could not hide iron materials privately, but he didn't understand the loss that needed to be caused in the manufacturing process of finished ironware, so he said something heavy to Feng Ying in a hurry, and after thinking about it, he bowed slightly to Feng Ying and hugged his fist, and said softly: "Old Feng, it is indeed me who is abrupt, don't take what you said to heart just now......

Feng Ying saw that Liu Ce took the initiative to apologize to him, and he couldn't say anything more, so he sighed: "It's no wonder that the general, in fact, although the general was not born in a craftsman's family, he was able to design so many practical weapons and objects, and I admire it from the bottom of my heart, and the general treats us and other craftsmen preferentially, which is diametrically opposed to those scholar officials, and we also remember it." ”

Feng Ying's words were said by everyone present who couldn't help nodding. Yes, the young general in front of him not only designed something whimsically designed was eye-opening, but also treated himself no worse than the Jingwei Battalion. You must know that the craftsman has a humble status in this world and no one pays attention to it, so it is better than a beggar and a homeless person, no matter how exquisite his craftsmanship is, he will still be looked down upon by the officials and the court, and he will have to accept continuous exploitation, and most of the ends will be bleak, and he may not even be able to eat a few times for the whole family after a lifetime of hard work.

"But......" Feng Ying was stunned and continued, "I really haven't seen you practice the art of war like this, general, of course, I mean the equipment for soldiers." Let's talk about this weapon first, the spearhead knives are all made of fine iron, you go to look at the system of the officers and armies in other places, the entire flag regiment of one or two hundred thousand people can't do thousands of weapons made of pure iron, and then this iron armor, now there are 700 people wearing iron armor in the Jingwei battalion, and the rest are all leather armor inlaid with iron nails, just ask a sentence about this kind of battalion of more than 4,000 people all wearing armor Looking at the whole Zhou, a few people have done it, I don't know the Thunder Army, he Zhao Yuanji's local army, a battalion of two or three thousand people has a hundred pairs of iron armor is already considered elite, most of them don't talk about iron armor, There are not many pieces of leather armor, find a piece of clothing, and a few pieces of broken copper and iron inlaid in it are considered a set of cloth armor, I really don't know what the general is dissatisfied with? It is necessary to put this blood on the iron armor of all people, not to mention the materials required, just to say that this manpower is a huge number, there are still only a few thousand people, if tens of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of people in the future, will everyone wear iron armor? ”

Liu Ce knew that what Feng Ying said was right, but the Jingwei Battalion in his heart should be an iron-blooded army armed to the teeth from the inside out, as long as there is excellent armament as the backing, the soldiers can shed less blood and are not afraid of life and death, and always maintain high morale to destroy all enemies who stand in their way. If there is no blood and bravery, and there is no piece of armor to meet the enemy with flesh and blood, no matter how brave a soldier is, he will eventually die in vain under the blade, without showing his due value. A well-established set of armor and a qualified weapon are respectful for the life of every soldier, even if you want to die, you will die with dignity! Courageous!

Thinking of this, Liu Ce said: "Old Feng, I know you're right, but have you thought about it?" The soldiers saved their lives on the battlefield because of the weapons and armor you made, until they defeated the strong enemy, you won't think so, you must know that the skills in your hands directly affect the performance of the soldiers of the Jingwei Battalion on the battlefield, Lao Feng, do you understand what I said? ”

Old Feng never expected that Liu Ce would have such a strict attitude towards craftsmen, and put their status directly on the line of life and death of soldiers, and he couldn't help but be moved in his heart, and other craftsmen or apprentices were also deeply touched when they heard Liu Ce's words. Many people no longer feel inferior to their own identity, and a warm current swells in their hearts, secretly vowing to strive for excellence and make better weapons and armor to repay the weight of the young man in front of them.

Liu Ce said this, half of it came from the bottom of his heart, and the other half had his own considerations...... In the previous life, before the death of the Song Dynasty, the iron casting technology was world-famous, but unfortunately the status of the craftsman has been very low, and the soldier armor made over the years is basically based on the armor, even if the famous step armor of the Song Dynasty is still made of the armor, and due to the low status of the craftsman, the life is embarrassing, a set of armor from the production to the completion of the often several months, it is really caused by slackness. The high-end armor such as Shanwen armor and Mingguangkai recorded in the history books are tailor-made for leading generals or honor guards, and cannot be installed in the troops on a large scale, so they have no practical significance for large-scale wars. In addition, due to the meager salary of craftsmen, eating is a problem, how can there be an innovative spirit to think about improving the level of craftsmanship? Moreover, the weapons in the hands of the soldiers are mostly made of pig iron, which is hard and brittle, and often after a battle, no matter whether they win or lose, most of the weapons in the hands of the soldiers must be scrapped......

By the Ming and Qing dynasties, Europe at the same time gradually surpassed the East in blacksmith craftsmanship. As the status of the craftsman increased, the armor alone was greatly improved, and all aspects of knowledge were involved. At the beginning of the 16th century, 26 skilled craftsmen in a European country completed the production of 1,800 sets of iron armor in five months, and the price of iron armor gradually became like cabbage due to factors such as marketization and the systematic popularization of forging technology. Weapons have also become targeted reforms, and the popularization of steel technology has created the most intuitive manifestation of Europe's comprehensive overtaking of the East.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties of the same era, the sensational artisan household system led to no progress in the armor manufacturing process for nearly a hundred years, and even showed a retrogressive trend. The price of a set of armor requires at least a soldier to buy it for a year and a half without eating or drinking, and it is necessary to prevent the boss from deducting it, and iron tools are still the mainstream of casting, and the iron-smelting process is far behind compared with Europe. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a large number of shoddy and rotten munitions in the north because of the deduction and corruption, and as a result, the Qing Empire was defeated, and in the Qing Dynasty, the situation did not get fundamentally improved, and even a more regressive situation, and Europe further widened the gap and eventually led to the Opium War in the situation of being violently beaten by the foreign powers, all of which is the evil result of the failure of the rulers to pay attention to the potential of craftsmen......

Fortunately, it can also be said that it is a pity that Liu Ce's current world is the same as in his previous life, and the craftsman has the same humble status, even more serious than the original world cognition. But this also gives me a chance to change, improve the status of craftsmen, and encourage the spirit of innovation, so that one day Jingwei Camp will become a torrent of steel, sweeping all directions.

Of course, these are all my own inner ideas, and at this stage, I can only draw bread to satisfy my hunger. At present, the most realistic problem is to solve the problem of insufficient iron, which makes Liu Ce frown, and after saying hello to Feng Ying, he left the craftsman shop and went back to the room to find a way......

In the lobby of the mansion, Liu Ce, Qin Mo, Ye Bin, Feng Chounian, Yang Kaishan, and Sun Cheng were discussing the issue of iron materials.

Feng Chounian took the lead in saying that he couldn't help this problem, he only led the troops to fight, and didn't care about anything else.

Liu Ce shook his head, thinking that he had known that he would not be called, so he looked at Qin Mo.

Qin Mo pondered for a moment, but still shook his head, saying that he couldn't help it this time. Sun Cheng and Yang Kaishan naturally didn't have any ideas, although they wanted to solve this problem for Liu Ce, but they were powerless.

Seeing Liu Ce's embarrassed face, Ye Bin nodded secretly and said, "General, the generals and soldiers in the Jingwei Battalion are already wearing armor, why bother so much?"

Liu Ce said: "Mr. Ye doesn't know, the lack of iron is not only because the armor is not complete, but also that the cavalry is equipped with only 100 ring swords, which is only 30% of the expectation. ”

Ye Bin sighed: "I only sigh that I am now in Heyuan, if I walk out of this territory in Quanyang Province, I know some merchants who sell illegal iron, and may be able to solve these problems for the general." ”

Qin Mo also said: "Although there are many iron ore mining fields in the Heyuan region now, most of them are in the southern border, and Ganzhou is a plain here, as far as I know, there is no copper and iron production, even if most of them are in the cave, they cannot be mined at all......

Sun Cheng said: "Actually, the armor ratio of my Jingwei battalion is already very high, I think the general should not worry about this matter for the time being!" ”

Everyone still didn't come up with a solution, Liu Ce couldn't help but have a headache, no matter what, all the staff must be put on iron armor, at least the people in the war camp must be put on.

A pair of infantry iron armor weighs eighteen pounds, plus shoulder armor and armor skirts, with a total weight of twenty-three pounds. Now there is a shortage of more than 2,000 sets of war barracks, and more than 57,000 catties of refined iron are needed in addition to iron consumption, not counting other weapons...... After careful calculation, Liu Ce gasped, and finally understood the deep meaning of Lao Feng's sentence "Wait for you to have a mine...... It's ridiculous that before I was still arguing about armor and riding equipment, I really felt that I could do whatever I wanted with hundreds of thousands of catties of iron, but now I was woken up by a slap in the face of reality, Liu Ce paced back and forth, extremely tormented.

"I don't think you'll be sad! What's the big deal? Isn't there a shortage of iron? Wouldn't you have everything if you grabbed it in Gaoyang City? Feng Chou Nian said with a big grin.

Liu Ce was taken aback, looked at Feng Chounian and said, "What did you say?" Say what you just said again! ”

"I ......" Feng Chounian saw Liu Ce looking directly at him, and couldn't help but sigh unlucky, just don't interject, so he kept silent.

"Say!" Liu Ce saw that Feng Chou Nian did not react, so he shouted loudly, his eyes were full of light.

Feng Chou Nian was so uncomfortable that he had to scratch his head and say, "Gaoyang City has everything, why don't you just grab a handful?" ”

Liu Ce suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Feng Chounian's shoulder: "You're right!" How did I not think of that? Crazy man, give you a credit this time! Hahaha! ”

Feng Chounian looked confused, he didn't know what Liu Ce was talking about, Qin Mo Yebin behind him was so frightened that he almost jumped up, and hurriedly stopped: "General think twice!" Gaoyang City is not as good as Meihe Town, the city is high and thick, and there are hundreds of thousands of thieves guarding it, my Jingwei Battalion currently does not have the ability to take down Gaoyang, the general must not be angry! ”

Liu Ce turned a deaf ear, and said to Qin Mo Yebin with a smile: "Mr. Qin, how long has the thief and the official army been confronting in Wuliang Town?"

"Counting the time, it's almost seven months, and it is expected that in a month at most, the big war will break out." Qin Mo was puzzled for a while, why did he go to Wuliang Town again?

Liu Ce and the others: "Gaoyang City is well defended, how can I, Liu Ce, be stupid enough to take a few thousand people to fight more than a hundred thousand people?" What's more, there are high walls blocking it, but the millions of thieves at Liudaokou have to eat, right? Because the war is about to start, a large number of weapons will be needed, so where will these things be transported from? Goyang City! ”

"Is the general trying to hijack the rogue baggage team?" Sun Cheng suddenly understood.

Qin Mo nodded and said: "This method is feasible, firstly, the iron problem can be solved temporarily, secondly, it has dealt a blow to the arrogance of the thieves and given the Wei Yi of Wuliang Town a chance to breathe, and thirdly, it will ...... Uh......"

Speaking of this, Qin Mo wanted to speak and stopped, but he still couldn't help but not say the third most important one, he knew that now was not the time.

Liu Ce didn't think much about it, and said: "Wei Yi has nothing to do with me, send someone to call Han Feng and Han Qi, I have something to say!" ”

"Another war? Great, hehe! When Feng Chou Nian heard that he was going to go to war, he couldn't stop rubbing his hands excitedly, and Sun Chengyang Kaishan on the table was also full of fine eyes.

"By the way, let Chen Qing come over, doesn't he have no chance to make meritorious contributions? I'll give him a chance! "Liu Ce is determined to bring Chen Qing's cavalry as the main force this time, and see the results of the drills during this time......