The so-called Three Treasures of the Horse refer to the Takahashi saddle, the horse's iron hooves, and the bilateral stirrups. After Ao Lie drew the drawings, he handed them over to a hundred craftsmen who had been secretly gathered to speed up the construction.

In the past few years, the development of Wantong Commercial Bank has been very rapid, with the three fist products of West Wind Spirits, Golden Silk Leaf and Liuyang Snow, it has gained a firm foothold in the north. In just a few years, the branches have spread all over Youzhou, Jizhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Bingzhou, both in terms of credibility and financial resources, have been among the ranks of first-class chambers of commerce. In the north, the Zhen family in Yinyin and Jizhou formed a trend of resistance, occupying half of the northern chamber of commerce. Through calculations, Ao Lie was surprised to find that his grandfather, Ao Laozhang, was really a big expert in business, and in the past three or five years, he had accumulated wealth that Ao Lie could not have dreamed of.

Of course, these riches are not entirely Ao Lie's, according to the rules set by Ao Laozhang at the beginning, Ao Lie can only dispatch half of the money at most. Even though it's only half of it, it's a lot of money. If it were in the later generations, converting this wealth into the currency of the later generations, Ao Lie would now be a billionaire with a net worth of more than a billion.

After getting the accurate figures from Ao Laozhang, Ao Lie became more confident in strengthening the armament of the elite soldiers under his command. Ao Lie has ideas that transcend this era, and now with the huge wealth accumulated by Wantong Trading House, it is no longer a problem to replace the soldiers under his command with more sophisticated equipment. The only thing that makes Ao Lie a little dissatisfied is that the skills of the craftsmen and blacksmiths of the Eastern Han Dynasty are really a little rough, and often Ao Lie racks his brains to come up with things, they either don't know why, they don't know what Ao Lie is expressing, or because of technical problems, they can't create it at all.

Old man Ao seemed to see Ao Lie's thoughts, and pulled Ao Lie to the back garden, saying as he walked: "Lie'er, what are you worried about?" ”

Ao Lie nodded and replied: "Grandpa, your old man doesn't know, the child is worried about armaments, and the craftsmen recruited by the child are no problem for them to create some ordinary objects, but if you want them to create something with high technical difficulty, they are often disappointed more than hopeful." ”

After listening to Ao Lie's distress, Ao Laozhang said with a smile: "Hehe, Lie'er is talking more and more like a prince. ”

Ao Lie smiled bitterly and said, "Grandpa, don't tease the child." ”

"Okay, grandpa won't block you. But have you ever thought about it, the situation you mentioned may be caused by our lack of first-class iron smelting masters? Uncle Ao continued with a smile: "Your grandfather and I have been walking the rivers and lakes for most of my life, and I know an excellent ironsmith, and he is also an excellent forger, I believe that with his help, your troubles will no longer be troubles." ”

Ao Lie asked in surprise, "Who is Grandpa talking about?" ”

"Guanzhong Wang Hun!"

"Is that him?" Ao Lie exclaimed. Ao Lie, who is familiar with history, of course, knows that there are two major blacksmiths today, one is Pu Yuan of Sichuan and Shu, who once created 3,000 war knives for Zhuge Liang in history, and each knife is sharpened like clay; The other is the Guanzhong Wang Hun in the mouth of Uncle Ao! Wang Hun is not only good at forging, but what is even more commendable is that he is also an excellent iron smelter, and the iron he smelts is harder and more malleable than ordinary iron. Later generations called the iron smelted by Wang Hun as muddy iron.

Uncle Ao stroked his beard and smiled: "That's right, it's him, my grandfather will repair a book and send someone to send it to him." ”

Ao Lie thought for a moment and said slowly: "Grandpa can add a sentence to the letter." The child plans to set up an armaments department, which is specifically responsible for building a variety of weapons and equipment for our Youzhou army, and the child intends to keep the position of commander of the armaments department to Master Wang Hun. ”

Uncle Ao glanced up and down Ao Lie in surprise, and then his laughter became more cheerful: "Okay, good, Lie'er is decisive and resolute, and he can really be called a hero." ”

On the same day, Ao Laozhang wrote a letter, persuading Wang Hun to come to Youzhou as the commander of the armament department, the letter stated that the salary of the Youzhou army is twice that of other places, not to mention the good treatment, and the new state pastor Ao Lie knows how to make good use of people, if Wang Hun is willing to come, he will definitely show his ambitions and carry forward the iron-smelting industry.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, people were divided into three, six, nine and so on, and the people at the top were the scholar class, who were often court officials and held the power of life and death; Second only to the scholar class, that is, the learned Confucian, some of whom are particularly outstanding, known as Hongru, Cai Yong belongs to this class of people, these Hongru because of their extensive knowledge, so they are very respected by people, often a word can determine a person's future; A little later, there is the landlord class, who own a large amount of land in their hands, only less official than the scholar class, and live by sucking the blood and sweat of the people, this kind of people are all hated by the people; Followed by the merchants, the status of the merchants in the Han Dynasty was infinitely degraded, generally people with status are looking down on the merchants, but no one can deny that a large amount of money is held in the hands of the merchants, in recent years, there are more and more princes trying to win over some rich merchants, in order to expand the armament, so the status of the merchants has been improved; Merchants were followed by people like Wang Hun who made a living by a special craft, usually called craftsmen, and this ranks included blacksmiths, medical officials, cooks, and so on. The last and lowest are the vast majority of peasants and poor scholars.

Wang Hun is a craftsman, a relatively low-level kind of person, except for a skill, there is no other strength. When Wang Hun saw Ao Laozhang's letter, he couldn't help but be overjoyed! Wang Hun is not Wang Yue, he is not an official fan, Wang Hun is happy that his craft can finally be passed on brightly. Therefore, he didn't let Ao Lie wait long, and just over a month later, Wang Hun went all the way north from Guanzhong and came to Jicheng.

When Ao Lie saw Wang Hun with his own eyes, he couldn't help but be slightly taken aback. In Ao Lie's impression, anyone who can be called a master in a certain aspect is always a little older, and Wang Hun does not look like he is more than thirty years old, whether he looks horizontally or vertically or obliquely. Especially after Wang Hun washed up, washed away the dust along the way, and shaved off his messy beard, he became a good son of the turbid world, not only beautiful in appearance, but also far from the blacksmith's usual powerful image of Kongwu.

After some detailed discussion and investigation, Ao Lie determined that Wang Hun's craftsmanship was really outstanding, at least the top craftsmen of this era. Therefore, Ao Lie relieved to give Wang Hun the position of commander of the armament department, and arranged for Wang Hun to have 1,000 craftsmen and blacksmiths as apprentices. These thousand apprentices were prepared by Ao Lie a long time ago, and at the beginning of Ao Laozhang's letter, Ao Lie had already asked Lu Su to start recruiting. For the sake of these thousand people, Lu Su took great pains to gather almost one-third of the craftsmen in Youzhou. After taking office, Wang Hun directly asked Lu Su for all the materials he needed, and he could hand over his armaments regularly. Except for Lu Su, the top boss, Wang Hun does not have to report his work progress to anyone.

Wang Hun also seemed very satisfied with Ao Lie's arrangement, so that he could concentrate more on smelting iron and manufacturing various weapons and tools, and there would not be so many external factors to disturb him. In the initial work, Ao Lie and Wang Hun agreed to focus on military supplies for the time being, and later to manufacture agricultural tools and other items.

Just three months later, Wang Hun handed over the first batch of supplies and armaments. These armaments were all made of muddy iron specially made by Wang Hun, and in addition to broadswords, spears, and bows, there were also 20,000 pairs of heavy armor. These heavy armors were made according to Ao Lie's drawings. Ao Lie borrowed the armor style of the later Sui and Tang dynasties, and with some appropriate modifications, finalized the framework of this armor. In the process of forging, Wang Hun pondered the various pros and cons of the armor itself while forging, discussed with Ao Lie several times, and finally created this batch of heavy armor. The heavy armor is divided into three layers, and the innermost layer is cooked cowhide and breathable cloth mixed and bound together, which plays the role of warmth, breathability and impact mitigation; The middle layer is an alloy wire made of copper and iron poured together and then twisted, which can not only play the role of fixing the inner lining, but also play the role of differentiating the impact of external forces; The outermost layer is the shape of the armor made of muddy iron, this layer of muddy iron is three inches thick, this thickness is already the limit of the armor casting process in the Han Dynasty, and it is impossible for anyone to make thicker armor. The three-inch-thick surface of the armor is engraved with the shape of fish scales, which is not only beautiful, but also increases the resistance of the armor. Wang Hun also had the craftsman paint a bright varnish on the surface of the armor, which played the dual role of highlighting the identity of the armor and maintaining the humidity resistance of the armor.

If it weren't for Ao Lie's death order to Wang Hun and let him make 20,000 armor as soon as possible, Wang Hun didn't want to be unable to fulfill Ao Lie's requirements as soon as he took office, so he worked hard day and night, otherwise 20,000 pairs of armor might not be completed. In the end, the 20,000 pairs of armor were named Hun Tie Mingguang Armor by Ao Lie, and they were equipped with 20,000 elites of the Blood Killing Battalion and the Tiger Ben Battalion.

In addition to the iron and bright armor, Wang Hun also according to the style of the Ji Du chopping knife, carefully rushed out of nearly 10,000 Hun iron knives, although not as sharp as the Ji Du chopping knife, but it is not much different, each chopping knife on the handle, as usual carved on the word "Jidu". Ao Lie also equipped the elite of the Blood Killing Battalion and the Tiger Ben Battalion with nearly 10,000 horse chopping knives with a high degree of simulation, so that the elite of the two battalions had a horse chopping knife.

As for the equipment replaced by the Blood Killing Battalion and the Tiger Camp, Ao Lie distributed the fish scale armor that was originally the equipment of the Blood Killing Battalion to the cavalry troops, of course, it could not be one per person, only the leader above the team leader level could get a fish scale armor. The willow leaf armor originally equipped by the Tiger Battalion was distributed to the infantry army, of course, only those who were in the position of team leader and above could get it. However, with the passage of time, Ao Lie believes that with the financial support of Wantong Commercial Bank, as well as Wang Hun's superb skills, the Youzhou army will sooner or later make these equipment popular, and the thought of a piece of iron armor for each of the 150,000 troops in Youzhou in the future makes people look forward to it, when 150,000 people are dressed in neat iron armor and hold an iron weapon He stepped on the battlefield, what a shocking scene it would be. In a few years, maybe this scene will really appear in the Youzhou Army.

The armor and weapons made of muddy iron made by Wang Hun can be said to be the most sophisticated armament in the world today, and the 20,000 elites of the blood killing battalion and the tiger camp have all praised Wang Hun after using the muddy iron armament, so that Wang Hun has become very respectful. This made Wang Hun's heart very comfortable, and his skills could be recognized by 20,000 elites, which was a higher reward than anything else. Since then, Wang Hun has been more energetic and attentive in smelting iron and building armaments.

There is also good news, that is, after several months of building, immediately the three treasures have been manufactured in large quantities, every cavalry of the regular army under the command of Ao Lie, its war horses are equipped with horse three treasures, after the test, not only the cavalry praised, even Zhao Yun, Ma Chao these generals are also very happy. The Takahashi saddle makes the knight sit on the horse more securely, and it is not easy to fall off the horse; The bilateral stirrups not only made it easier and faster to mount the horses, but also freed the knights' hands and feet, so that they no longer had to clamp their legs on the belly of the horse at all times, nor did they have to hold the reins with one hand at any time; The iron hooves of the horse increase the toughness of the horse's shoe, so that the horse will no longer be scratched when walking on a rough road. With the application of the three treasures on the horse, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry under Ao Lie's command suddenly increased by three percent!

PS: Speaking of which, because of the needs of the plot, Da Kun moved Wang Hun out in advance, and whether Hun Tie was Wang Hun's first start, Da Kun didn't find the information, so he simply crowned Wang Hun in his name.