"Will it work?"

In May, in the Qingzhou Assassin Mansion, this sentence pattern became a popular word.

But any staff member with a certain status, when they meet in their leisure time, after a few words of greeting, they must ask each other such a question.

"It's really hard to say, the lord has always acted wildly, since he said it so firmly, maybe ......" out of confidence in Wang Yu, most people are skeptical, after all, the lord has completed so many miracles for more than a year, and there are not many of them.

In order to find a footnote to their words, these people also put forward evidence: "Don't forget, when the yellow scarf was collected, the lord led people to fly down from the top of Mount Tai!" ”

"So, it's different, isn't it?" Skeptics are not so easily convinced, "Carrying people with a big kite, in the final analysis, is not much of a novelty, the key is to be bold, isn't my lord the most famous is bold?" But now this ...... After all, it still doesn't work, right? ”

"If it doesn't work out, what's the use of just talking? When something is made, why don't you see it yourself? ”

"That's right. However, the use of paper to make armor is really confusing, and I don't know how the lord came up with it. ”

"What's so strange about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things? Speaking of which, isn't the improved Qingzhou paper also made by the lord himself? At that time, the princes of the shogunate were supposed to be named after the princes, but they were resigned by the princes, saying that with the help of the craftsmen, they could not live alone, so they named it Qingzhou paper. With the foresight of the lord, maybe he would have ...... long ago"

"Makes sense."

Similar discussions can be heard everywhere in the Assassin's Mansion. Wang Yu's idea of making paper armor surprised everyone.

Believe it or not, what everyone is discussing is not the specific situation of paper armor. Rather, it is inferred from Wang Yu's various deeds. This is one of the effects of the Confucian concept on the world, a good person with ability. Everything makes sense; Otherwise, there is a problem with everything.

This reaction made Wang Yu a little helpless.

If possible, he prefers to keep the R&D and production process completely secret, and then surprise the trump card on the battlefield to catch the enemy off guard.

But the problem is, don't look at the fact that he confidently proposed the concept of paper armor, but in fact, he doesn't know much more about the relevant details of paper armor than others. So. It can only be done in the form of brainstorming.

Paper armor was a more controversial topic in later generations.

Some people hold paper armor to the sky, thinking that paper armor is simple to make, cheap, and has higher defense than iron armor, and is a first-class magic weapon.

They also cited an example, when Zhendexiu of the Southern Song Dynasty was the governor of Quanzhou, the Privy Council said: "All the weapons of the village are slightly sufficient, but the navy needs paper armor." There are 100 pairs of iron armor in this village, and half of them should be preserved today. and exchanged fifty pairs for paper armor for the army. ”

Exchanging a hundred pairs of iron armor for fifty paper armors, if there is no unknown inside story, such as the fact that this real adult has a brain disease, it can only be explained. Paper armor is indeed stronger than iron armor.

Some people are dismissive of this equipment, believing that this thing is the name of the corrupt officials in ancient times in order to get their hands on the military spending, and take it out to cheat money. There is some truth to this statement. It is also very in line with the style of the Chinese bureaucracy, and it is more in line with the world's perception of 'paper'.

Break with a single stab. It is the characteristic of paper that describes what is fragile. It would also be said to be like papier-mâché. Using this thing as armor is purely a cheat, not to mention comparing it with iron armor, even if it is leather armor, it is impossible to compare.

Paper armor first appeared in the middle and late Tang Dynasty and was popular in the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty's almost deformed social atmosphere of emphasizing literature and ignoring martial arts, paper armor may indeed be a divine weapon touted by the literati. Is it important?

Because there are many theories and contradictions, Wang Yu is not an archaeologist, so naturally he is not interested in pursuing it to the end.

However, when he got Cai Yan's prompt to improve Cai Hou's paper, he did already have the idea of producing paper armor. At that time, it was not implemented, firstly, because the research and development had just begun, and the output of paper was still limited; In addition, he has no idea about the specific properties of paper armor.

Now, in order to resist the superiority of the Jizhou army's equipment, especially in long-range attack power, he had to put this matter on the agenda.

Before making it, he first had to verify the feasibility of the paper armor.

"Everyone saw it, what do you think?" On the school field, pointing to the three humanoid targets in front of him, Wang Yu asked a group of henchmen.

"Well, that seems to make sense." Jia Xu was the first to walk up, he pinched his chin with one hand, groped back and forth on the target with the other, and his eyes were bright.

Wang Yu used the test method of covering the scarecrow with iron armor, leather armor, and a stack of thick paper, and then shooting with a bow and arrow and a strong crossbow at different distances, and verifying the defensive power of these three armors according to the results of the shooting.

It turned out to be interesting.

At a distance of thirty paces, the iron armor can withstand the bow and arrow fire of ordinary archers, but it can't block the bow and arrow of a fierce general like Tai Shici, and it can't resist a strong crossbow; Leather armor can't stop anything; And that stack of paper was like iron armor, blocking the shot of an ordinary infantry bow.

Although the arrow eventually pierced the stack of papers, the one that was exposed

The silk is sharp, but it is far from causing harm to the people behind the paper.

The firing distance continued to extend into the distance, fifty paces, eighty paces, one hundred paces......

The end result is that the performance of the iron armor is the best. Fifty paces away, the iron armor can effectively block the damage of the crossbow; Eighty paces away, as long as the arrow just happened to shoot through the gap in the armor, the iron armor could resist the strong crossbow; A hundred paces away, the lethality of the strong crossbow against the iron armor was almost none.

The performance of leather armor is much worse, and within a hundred steps, it can't even weaken the killing of the infantry bow, let alone a strong crossbow that is several times more lethal.

And the performance of the thick paper, that is, the paper armor, is much more than everyone expected. Although its defense is not as good as that of iron armor, its performance is far better than that of leather armor, even if it is compared to iron armor, it is not much worse.

If you take into account the cost and construction period, the paper armor will be compared with the iron armor. Can paper and iron be the same price?

"What's so special about this paper? It's as easy to use as ironclad? If you can really build it, then why do you need iron armor? Tai Shici also felt very novel. As a military general, everyone knows that armor is a good thing.

Such as Wang Yu and Sun Jian, who like to take the lead. Why do you keep jumping around? High martial arts are one thing, and the good armor on their bodies is a very key factor.

Xu Huang's heavy infantry is the best proof of this, the swords in their hands are sharp, the armor on their bodies is strong, as long as they have enough physical strength, they can keep rushing and killing, invincible. Everyone knows why Xu Huang's heavy infantry is powerful, but few princes can copy it. It's not that the vision is not good, it's just that everyone has no money and can't afford to build so much armor.

Thinking that the whole army was armed with this kind of paper armor that was similar to iron armor, and that kind of scene where armor was like a forest, Tai Shici became excited and laughed: "Now Yuan Shao is going to be finished, look at what else he compares with us, smash the pot and sell iron, he can't get tens of thousands of iron armor." ”

Everyone else gathered around. Mi Zhu was even more excited than Tai Shi Ci, Tai Shi Ci only thought about things on the battlefield, and Mi Zhu thought much farther than Tai Shi Ci.

Although he said it with confidence in front of Wang Yu, in fact. The promotion of Qingzhou paper did not go as smoothly as expected. After all, it is a troubled time, and the turbulent situation in Xuzhou has greatly reduced the attention of scholars to literary affairs. At present, the largest amount of paper is used in Qingzhou itself. It relies on the academy and the Thorn History Mansion.

You have this kind of exclusive and promising product, but you can't sell it. For Mi Zhu, a wealthy businessman, it can be regarded as a double blow of spirit and substance.

It doesn't matter now, although the cost of making armor from paper is far inferior to that of iron armor, the amount of paper must not be small. What you have to consider is not where to sell the paper you make, but whether you can make enough paper to meet your needs!

You know, now is a troubled time, Qingzhou is one of the whirlpools of fierce battles, to fight, can the amount of armor be less? That's a steady stream of sales!

If you think a little further, wait until the paper armor is no longer exclusively owned by Qingzhou and becomes popular, then ......

"Brother, big brother?" Brother Mi Fang's cry woke Mi Zhu from his reverie, and when he looked up urgently, he just glanced at Wang Yu's smiling eyes, he was a little flustered, only to feel that those sharp eyes seemed to see through his thoughts.

"Oh, lord, Zhu ......"

"Mr. Zizhong, how many ......" Wang Yu ignored Mi Zhu's careful thoughts, he smiled gently at Mi Zhu and the craftsmen of the Mi family, and asked, "What do you think about the manufacture of paper armor?" ”

There were tailors, carpenters, and those who specialized in handicrafts, but there were no papermakers. They were all wondering what paper armor had to do with their own people, but after watching the demonstration, everyone understood a little.

"In the opinion of the little old man," said the tailor who spoke first, "this paper armor is actually similar to cloth armor, and if you stack a few more layers of silk cloth, it can actually block arrows." But if you encounter a knife and a gun, you may ......"

"Even a strong crossbow can block it, but it can't block a knife and a spear?" Tai Shi Ci was surprised and interrupted the tailor's words by interjecting.

"General Taishi, don't blame, Xiao Lao'er also guessed......" The old tailor shrank back, obviously hearing of Tai Shici's murderous name.

Wang Yu smiled and handed over a short knife: "Just try it." ”

Tai Shi Ci took the knife, and when he tried it, after a few knives, he peeked into the doorway: "This is ......"

"This paper armor isn't as powerful as you think, but it should be okay to be in a hurry."

Before putting forward the idea, Wang Yu had already tested it and had a conclusion. The defensive power of paper armor mainly lies in the fact that paper can absorb the impact force and play a cushioning role.

For example, if you pierce a thick book with an awl, if you stab it hard, a person with little strength may not be able to pierce it at once. And the same person, if he the book with an awl, will be able to pierce it sooner or later.

This is exactly how paper armor works.

In terms of defense against ranged attacks, paper armor has defense close to iron armor, and if it is close combat, paper armor is not much stronger than leather armor. Therefore, the evaluation of this thing will be polarized, and the application of this thing has limitations.

"There are a few people who work on the specific production, first make a sample out, and then we will study it together to see if there is room for further improvement and brainstorming." (To be continued)