Wuliqiao Camp is located at the northern foot of Baoding Mountain, which is a wide camp temporarily enclosed by a wooden fence.

The military tents in the camp are extended, the watchtowers are lined up, and there are all kinds of battle flags and order flags everywhere, and the 20,000 guards of Zhu Dadian, the governor of Shandong, and the two guard battalions of Chen Yingyuan, the governor of Denglai, are stationed in it.

The tall temple built on the side of the camp against the mountain is the command center of Zhu Dadian.

Chen Yingyuan, the 46-year-old governor of Denglai, was a native of Nanchang, and successively served as the director of the Camp Department of the Ministry of Industry, the deputy envoy of the Xi'an Prefecture and the Shaanxi Provincial Governor, the political envoy of Shaanxi Province, the envoy of Huguang and Sichuan, and the political envoy of Shandong Zuobu and the right deputy capital of Yushi.

Zhu Daolin knew that he was a protégé of Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of Wanli forty-one Jinshi, so he was very defensive of him, but he did not expect Chen Yingyuan to be very enthusiastic, not only respected Zhu Daolin, but also took the initiative to invite Zhu Daolin's 1,300 soldiers to temporarily stay in his camp, and readily offered to provide meals and horse feed.

Zhu Daolin didn't know where to live tonight, and immediately thanked him when he heard the words...... He didn't believe that Chen Yingyuan dared to pit him!

Chen Yingyuan smiled magnanimously, and instructed the generals behind him to lead Zhu Daolin's cavalry into the camp and make proper placements, and then welcomed Zhu Daolin into the charcoal fire of the Chinese army hall with Zhu Dadian, humbled each other, and sat in order according to their ranks.

Zhu Dadian, like more than a dozen civil and military officers in the hall, was very interested in the pitch-black steel helmet inlaid with silver military emblems on Zhu Daolin's head, and after sitting down and drinking half a cup of tea, Zhu Dadian asked curiously:

"The attire of General Zhu and his soldiers is very rare, the style of the green placket and the big cotton jacket is quite strange, the luxurious fur collar and two rows of copper buckles are very exquisite, the wide belt around the waist is novel, and the black helmet of all colors is very different from what is commonly seen, I don't know what material it is made of?"

Zhu Daolin immediately unfastened the clasp. He took off his helmet and handed it to him with both hands: "Please take a look." ”

Zhu Dadian took the helmet, carefully looked at the shape of the steel helmet and the shining military emblem, praised the texture, style and manufacturing process of the military emblem, reached out and pulled the leather lining a few times, and carefully looked at the exquisite leather buckle. Finally, he knocked on his helmet and listened to the sound, and suddenly asked in surprise: "This thing is cast of stainless steel?" ”

"It is indeed made of stainless steel, but the manufacturing method is stamping, that is, making a steel mold in advance, putting a thin steel plate on it, driving a round steel hammer by gravity to repeatedly stamping, and then using a crimping machine to extrude the incision, and then apply black paint and lining." Zhu Daolin explained in detail rather laboriously.

The full hall of civil and military people was amazed after listening to it.

Ding Sihou, the deputy commander-in-chief at the bottom right of Zhu Dadian, asked curiously: "May I ask General Zhu, how is the defensive power of this stainless steel helmet?" ”

Zhu Daolin replied truthfully: "It can resist a powerful crossbow shot within five steps." Resistant to ordinary sword slashes. ”

For a while, the hall was full of civil and military doubts, and the bold Beijing battalion chief soldier Wang Laicheng immediately took off the special silver helmet on his head, brought it to Zhu Dadian, and compared it with Zhu Daolin's steel helmet.

The gleaming silver helmet is exquisitely carved and exquisitely crafted, with a round brass ornament on the front and lifelike eagle wings on the side ear guards.

The small silver gun on the top of the silver helmet, which Zhu Daolin called a lightning rod, and the red tassel decorated with it are very beautiful. All of a sudden, he compared the black steel helmet that was not wearing a wolf mask and looked unpretentious.

The civil and military forces were full of interest and heated discussions with each other, and Zhu Dadian also felt that the well-made silver helmet was better than the unadorned steel helmet. Only Wang Laicheng saw the fame after careful comparison, and his confident smile was quickly replaced by astonishment and solemnity.

Wang Laicheng obtained Zhu Dadian's consent, brought the two helmets to Zhu Daolin, and humbly asked Zhu Daolin for advice: "General Zhu, the thickness of the steel helmet is only slightly thicker than the copper coin, and the weight is twice as light as the silver helmet. Is it the super-hard steel that gives it the defensive power to resist crossbows and swords? ”

Zhu Daolin has a good impression of the frank Wang Laicheng, who is from a family of Xingwu in Beijing like Xu Wentao, and overwhelmed the crowd in last year's martial arts assessment and became the martial champion appointed by Emperor Chongzhen. He was a rare young general during the Chongzhen period.

Three months later, he would lead his soldiers to break through Dengzhou City by detonating gunpowder, and rushed into the gap in the city wall, but died under the volley of the rebels, which was very heroic and heroic.

Therefore, Zhu Daolin humbly stood up and gave a salute, explained to Wang Laicheng the texture of the steel, how to use the annealing and quenching process to multiply the toughness of the steel helmet, and finally saw that he didn't seem to understand, so he simply put his steel helmet on the threshold of the lobby and asked him to test a few arrows with a strong bow.

Zhong Wenwu liked such a lively scene very much, and immediately stood up and surrounded him.

Zhu Dadian and Chen Yingyuan stood on Wang Laicheng's left and right with great interest, staring at the steel helmet five steps away from the threshold with a smile, waiting for Wang Laicheng, who was bending his bow and arrow, to shoot a sharp arrow.

Wang Laicheng is burly, born with divine power, holding a rare three-stone strong bow, and the matching arrow is also a cone-shaped arrow made of fine iron, when he bends the bow and arrows, the "buzzing" sound of the bowstring makes people palpitate, and all the civil and military officers hold their breath, waiting for him with their eyes wide open.

"Boom-dang-"

Two sounds sounded almost simultaneously.

The vibration of the bowstring was still buzzing, and the steel helmet that was shot by the sharp arrow had already flown out of the door several meters away.

The two colonels who were hiding outside the door hurriedly ran to pick up the steel helmets and trotted to Wang Laicheng.

Wang Laicheng picked up the steel helmet, carefully inspected the black paint peeled off on the left side of the military emblem, only saw a slightly dented trace, couldn't help but widen his eyes, turned around and sent the steel helmet to Zhu Dadian, who was full of concern, and praised Zhu Daolin:

"It's really extraordinary, extraordinary! Brother Zhu, can you give your little brother such a steel helmet? ”

Zhu Daolin nodded happily: "In two days, the new army's baggage battalion will arrive, and I will go down to get one and give it to the general...... However, the white steel badge on the front of this steel helmet cannot be sent, which is the symbol of the Jiangnan New Army, and its effect is the same as that of the army's special flag. ”

Wang Laicheng laughed: "The little brother likes this beautiful and majestic badge very much, since Brother Zhu said so, the little brother is satisfied as long as the helmet is satisfied, haha!" ”

Zhu Daolin quipped: "Do you still want to try?" You can use your treasure knife to slash a few times, and you can probably cut it. ”

Unexpectedly, Wang Laicheng immediately agreed, turned around and shouted loudly to the civil and military forces who were surrounded by Zhu Dadian who were amazed, and soon obtained Zhu Dadian's permission.

All the civil and military forces immediately scattered, and all eyes were on Wang Laicheng, who took over the steel helmet. (To be continued.) )