30, A ride
"This ...... This is the armor? "I'm not sure about it.
"Not bad!" He nodded in the affirmative. "This is it, but I've wasted so much effort?"
"Really?" I looked at the inconspicuous armor again. This is a predominantly Chinese-style, slightly Japanese-style black leather armor, which is nailed with golden copper nails that are "full of stars". On the left and right shoulders, there is a one-horned shoulder swallower made of black iron, and the front and rear heart goggles also have a ghost face with Yang Wen protrusions, instead of the usual smooth style. Although the design is a bit original, it is not clear that it is worth 3,000 kan. "Sir, is there anything else new?"
"Your Excellency is really sharp!" He nodded in satisfaction, turned around and picked up a short gun from the weapon rack and handed it to me. "Your Excellency can stab it with this gun!"
I took a closer look at the short spear, and the tip of the spear was not the usual Japanese style of short sword, but a real three-fluted armor-piercing cone, with three deep blood grooves on the sides, and the tip of the spear shone with a cold light. "Is this okay?" I hesitated.
"It's okay! You spite the sting. "He looks like he's relieved." Push harder! β
I took two steps back, picked up the spear, took a deep breath, and lunged forward. "Ding!" With a soft crisp sound, I only felt the short gun in my hand flick, and my body slid from the side and hit the wall. If I hadn't seen the opportunity quickly, I would have almost hurt myself.
"Be careful, lord!" Masuda Nagamori hurriedly ran over to help me, and because of the urgency, he didn't say "taboo". Chiyo Tsuru also immediately came to my side to take a closer look, only Keiji Maeda stood aside indifferently, just staring at the suit with his eyes.
"Invulnerability?!" I was shocked, and the words popped out along with the thoughts in my head.
"How is that possible!" Song Haitian shook his head and laughed. "There is no such thing as 'invulnerability' in this world, even Western plate knight armor can't do it, how can leather armor work?"
"What's going on here?" His words and the facts in front of me confused me at once.
"Actually, there's nothing mysterious about it, come and have a look!" He led me to the suit of armor again. "Look here!" Following the direction he pointed, I saw that the black surface of the armor was not the usual pattern of leather, but a delicate scale armor with a dull sheen. "Look here again!" He turned over the inside of the armor, which was a stretchy leather about a centimeter thick.
"Double leather armor?" I asked tentatively.
"Not bad! Double leather armor, but it's not all! With that, he took me to the table and picked up a few bits and pieces, first handing me a dark gray piece of scaled leather. This is the outer material, the skin of a giant four-legged snake (I guess a Comodo dragon) from a small island in the South Seas, which has been specially nitrated to become like that. The scales are extremely tough and slippery, and the tip of the spear is not easy to pierce after some oil! Look at this again......" he picked up something like a rubber mat again. "This is the meat pad on the sole of the elephant's foot, and putting it inside can not only block sharp weapons, but also slow down the possibility of internal injuries caused by a huge impact!" He picked up another piece of "screen" made of steel wire the thickness of mung beans and handed it to me. I'm in Laos, and it's very resilient. "That's my ingenuity! Sandwiched between two layers of leather, and then fixed with a 'starry sky' copper nail, the gap in the middle is no more than the size of a soybean grain, even if the tip of the gun pierces the outer armor, it is difficult to break through! β
"Isn't that invulnerability?!" I exclaimed, and at the same time understood why it was worth three thousand!
"I can't do it yet!" He explained to me, "The reason why I chose you to try it is because I see that your martial arts are not good, whether it is strength or skill!" If it's him......," he said, gesturing to Keiji Maeda next to him. "The Zama style should be able to pierce this armor, but of course if it's on a horse, it's a hurry, then it's hard to say! However, with the kind of broken bow that is now commonly used in Japan, it will definitely not be able to shoot through. β
"Sir knows so much about cavalry!" My heart suddenly moved, it was better to discuss with him my plan to build cavalry.
"Lord, can I also order a set of this armor?" This is what Keiji Maeda said suddenly.
"If you pay for it yourself, I'm not against it!" I robbed him of a word.
"That's stingy......" he muttered.
"Mr. Song......" I ignored him and said to Song Haitian: "I want to build a heavy cavalry, can you help me design it?" β
He thought for a moment and asked, "Even there are many kinds of hoplites, Western knights, ironclad chain horses, and Arab camel cavalryγ...... Wait, what's your general idea? β
"For example, the ...... of 'Iron Float'"
"Iron Float?" He asked rhetorically, frowning. "This kind of cavalry has been proven to be unworthy of its name, it is too demanding on the battlefield environment, and it needs the cooperation of other arms to be used independently, which is really not very effective compared to the huge cost spent. In addition, not only people have to wear iron armor, but even horses have to wear heavy horse armor, which is an unrealistic requirement in Japan for both people and horse breeds! β
"I'm not going to equip too much, and I'm not going to use it on my own!" I explained to him, "I need a force that can give a devastating assault on the infantry phalanx in a large corps battle!" You must also know that the Japanese are short in stature, and it is impossible to establish the kind of heavy spear infantry in the West, even the thick leather armor infantry of the Ming Dynasty can't do it, and the bow and arrow are even more miserable, even if there are spears, they are generally very fragile, so there is still a certain market for heavy cavalry here! β
"So...... Then use that kind of armor! He pointed to the "sky-high" gear on the side of the wall. ββ¦β¦ Although its defense power is not as good as that of Western knight plate armor, it is better than Ming-style iron sheet fish scale armor and chain chain mail, and the anti-impact function is even better than that of plate armor! The most important thing is that it is lightweight, only one-fifth of the Western plate armor, and one-half of the fish scale armor, not only can people but also horse armor ......"
"Wait!" I stopped him from playing, and I felt my temples jump hard. "I need such a cavalry very much, but there are many other things to do, and I can't just go bankrupt all at once, right?"
"Ha, ha, ha. You are mistaken! He laughed. Of course, the standard equipment can't be so fine, such as the iron mesh, you can't use black gold wire or you can use stainless steel wire! β
"Leather can also be made of cows?" I was immediately inspired.
"Not bad!" He nodded. "But I recommend using buffalo leather on the inside and boar skin on the outside!"
"Boar's?" I was stunned, I had never seen pigskin products in Japan at this time.
"Wild boar skin is extremely tough, but it is not easy to make nitrate...... "Song Haitian picked up another piece of leather from the table and handed it to me." In the mountains of Kanto and Western China, many hunters have mountain boar skins that they have accumulated in their homes, but no one knows how to make them, so they cannot sell them. At this time, if you send someone to buy a large number of them, the price will not be very high, and I have an exclusive nitrate secret method! β
"Okay, that's it!" I was very excited, but suddenly I remembered something, and I described to him a hypothetical battle modeled after the Battle of Nagashino. Finally I said, "...... Now iron cannons are pouring into Japan in large numbers! I think that in a possible war in the future, the cavalry that has been built up with great effort will not be left defenseless, so please take care of this matter! β
"It's hard to do!" He thought about it for a long time and finally said to me: "As you said, even plate armor cannot block the projectiles of iron cannons, so it is really difficult to defend against them!" β
"Really?" I nodded. "There's no rush in this matter, please take your time and think of a way!" I also know that it is not easy to hold back the pace of history.
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Note 1 * Fujido Takatora: Born in Omi, a local tyrant family, a famous wise general of the Warring States, he served seven lords in his life, and there was great controversy in later generations. Personally, I don't think it's his responsibility for the decline of the main family, and he doesn't seem to have done anything to eat and crawl outside.
Note 2 * Gamo Township: The son of Kamo Kenhide, the lord of Hino Castle, a heavy minister of the Rokkaku family, was named Tsuru Chiyo as a child, and used to be known as Gamo Fuxiu. As a teenager, he showed extraordinary talent and was later called by Oda Nobunaga as his eldest son-in-law. Fought countless battles in his life, most of them led hundreds of people to raid and charge, and once won the head of the four ministers of Takeda in the Battle of Nagashino, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was awarded 920,000 koku of the Mutsu Aizu Domain after unifying the world, and died young at the age of 40. In this book, his abilities are slightly changed, and as the last of the three military divisions of the protagonist, he forms a think tank team combining the old, middle, and young with Nagano Yoshimasa and Takenaka Hanbei.
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