In the next half a month, Jingzhou was calm.

With the convergence of the armies of the imperial courts, the total strength was close to 200,000, with Pingjiang Marquis Luo Yanxiong as the main commander, and Wu Zhence and Chen soldiers confronted.

Battles of this level begin with small-scale tentative engagements and last for a long time, usually for several months, leading to a final decisive battle.

Zhao Yuanjin concentrated on training the new army and prepared to send troops again. With Qin Feng's unsparing support in logistics and materials, and sharp weapons such as the Mo knife, the three-bow bed crossbow, and the return cannon, the war must be overwhelming.

Qin Feng, who was temporarily idle, went to the main world to purchase the things he needed.

When he returned twenty days later, he ordered Zhu Yuntai to call ten guards.

In the heavily guarded courtyard, ten sets of dark armor were neatly arranged on the shelves, the fish-scale armor leaves were dense and neat, and the matching inner armor and blades shimmered in the sunlight with a faint and cold light unique to metal.

"Childe, the workmanship of these armors looks very fine and meticulous, and the cost must be not small, right?"

Zhu Yuntai looked at it for a moment, his face couldn't hide his surprise, he had been working in the army for a long time, so he naturally understood how precious and rare such armor was, and if it could be equipped in batches, it would form a huge advantage......

"This armor is called 'Iron Floating Slaughter', Mr. might as well take it in his hand and take a look." Qin Feng said with a smile.

The advisor hesitated for a moment, tried to remove a set of armor, and was surprised to find that the armor, which seemed to be quite strong in defense, was incredibly light, so that it was not very difficult for him to hold it, let alone those strong guards.

Armor in the Cold Weapon era was extremely heavy, as it was made of iron leaves connected with strips of leather or nails, which was bulky and unsuitable for wearing.

The average weight of medium and light armor is between ten and twenty-five kilograms, and the weight of heavy armor is between thirty and fifty kilograms. Among them, the more representative ones are the Jin Guo Tiefu Tu during the Song Dynasty, the Song Army's Buren Armor, etc., and its protection scope covers the whole body.

Under the conditions at the time, the defensive performance of these heavy armors was very good, but the flaws were just as obvious. It is expensive, too cumbersome, a heavy burden on the physical fitness of the soldiers, and the flexibility is greatly limited.

Qin Feng already had a general understanding of the cost of ordnance in this world, a set of full-body armor with good defensive performance, weighing about eighteen kilograms, and costing one hundred and fifty taels of silver, belonged to quite expensive military equipment. If it's better heavy armor, the cost will increase a lot.

Even the elite of the Beijing camp of the Great Qi Imperial Court could not all be equipped with such armor, and most of the soldiers only had relatively simple half-body light armor or leather armor available. Unless it is the Praetorian Guard, the Yulin Army, etc., everyone can be equipped with full-body iron armor.

As for the feudal princes of the secession side, the economic strength is even worse, except for some of the more elite pro-army, ordinary soldiers do not have such treatment at all.

Of course, there is another better option, which is paper armor. The Book of the New Tang Dynasty records that during the reign of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Xu Shang invented paper armor in the middle of the river. There are 13 kinds of armor in the Tang Dynasty, such as chain mail and vest, among which Mingguang, Guangyao, fine scales, Shanwen, Wuxuan, and chains are iron armor. The rest of the armor is made of cloth, silk, wood, etc. In the Tang Dynasty, the armor of the soldiers was not only strong and lightweight, but also gorgeous and beautiful, and the appearance of the armor was generally painted with gold paint and various patterns, which was dazzling, and was used to equip the army, showing that the lineup was strict and majestic.

Paper armor began to be used on a large scale in the Tang and Song dynasties, and even became one of the standard armor styles of the Song and Ming armies, with more than 30,000 sets customized in one go. Historically, there have been records of magistrates applying for 100 sets of iron armor for 50 sets of high-quality paper armor, and the "New Tang Dynasty Book" recorded that "the arrow cannot be holed", which shows that the advantages of paper armor are strong and lightweight. In particular, the use of non-commissioned officers of the navy is more common.

Now Zhao Yuanjin's army also has paper armor, and there are quite a few of them. The disadvantage of this thing is that it has low durability and is easy to decay after passing through water. Of course, in this chaotic era where human life is as cheap as grass, even soldiers are cannon fodder consumables on the battlefield, so this defect is nothing.

It's just that Qin Feng is not short of silver now, so he didn't plan to make do with it like this at the beginning, and found a European metal handicraft processing and manufacturing company in the main world, and after sending the drawings to them, he quickly received a positive response.

If there is business to the door, the merchant will naturally not refuse at will, not to mention that with the modern level of industrial technology, there is no pressure to process and produce this ancient armor.

The material of the armor is made of high-strength tungsten alloy steel that has been quenched, which is lightweight, flexible, strong and durable.

The matching inner armor is a custom-made stab-proof suit, consisting of a jacket and a soft protective liner, which is connected with hook and loop and can be flexibly adjusted according to the user's body type. The jacket is a waterproof and breathable fabric, and the soft inner liner is composed of tungsten steel sheet, PVE stab-proof composite fiber, EVA shock-resistant cushioning cotton, etc., which has an excellent protective effect on cold weapons.

"These are just samples, let's put them on and see." Qin Feng finally said.

So the ten guards put on the inner and outer armor together, and suddenly ten armor soldiers shaped like iron towers appeared in front of them, with the same face armor on the helmet, the throat and the back of the neck were protected by armor leaves, and even the eyes were inlaid with transparent high-strength composite materials.

Due to the age, no one now knows how the defense ability of the Iron Floating Massacre of the Jin Kingdom is perverted, but such an invincible Iron Army was finally defeated by Liu Qi and Yue Fei's army, which shows that it still has weaknesses.

Qin Feng felt that this kind of armor made with modern industrial technology would not be inferior to the Iron Floating Slaughter in terms of defensive ability, but it would not have the shortcomings of the Iron Floating Slaughter, and his performance on the battlefield would not disappoint him.

When Zhao Yuanjin's power extended to the north, Qin Feng could buy a sufficient number of high-quality war horses from the Hu tribe on the prairie and equip them with special battle armor, and the lethality of these guards would be quite terrifying.

Zhu Yuntai took another sword and inspected it, the blade had a fine snowflake-like texture, the brass hilt, the scabbard was made of ebony, and the outside was wrapped in shark skin, and the workmanship was equally fine.

"Childe, how much does it cost to spend this full set of armor and blades?" He asked, frowning.

"Six hundred taels of silver. If you also count the repeating crossbows, steel shields and long weapons that will be equipped in the future, it may be no less than a thousand taels of silver. Qin Feng said casually.

"This ...... Isn't it too expensive? Zhu Yuntai was obviously a little difficult to accept this price.

A guard costs thousands of taels, and two hundred people are two hundred taels, not counting daily training, salaries and accommodation costs, no matter how you look at it, it is not worth it, I am afraid that even the guards of the palace are not so luxurious.

"It's nothing, my son is not short of silver taels, so it's decided." Qin Feng didn't care at all.

In the name of craft collections, he ordered a set of such equipment from that company for more than 200,000 Huaxia coins, and if he ordered in large quantities in the future, there would be discounts in terms of price, and he could afford it.

In the future, it will be necessary to recruit a sufficient number of martial arts masters and veteran generals who have been disarmed and returned to the field, and teach these guards the art of fighting against the enemy and marching and fighting. He has no shortage of resources, and he is fully qualified to train these people into a first-class elite army.

"Continue to select suitable guards, and the number of the next batch will be set at about five hundred." Qin Feng said again.

The two talked for a while and went back indoors.

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Zhu Yuntai finally couldn't help but ask, "Childe...... How many such guards are ultimately planned to be formed? ”

Qin Feng smiled faintly: "The rules set by the Great Qi Taizu back then, the king of the Zhenbian domain can be in charge of the three pro-armies, and the soldiers of the first mansion are 5,500 people, if I help Zhao Yuanjin to lay down this land in the future, how can he also make me a prince, right?" ”

"The soldiers and horses of the vassal king are all from the army of the Son of Heaven, and the military salary, grain and grass are allocated by the household department of the imperial court, so I don't have to break the bank for the future emperor, I pay this money myself, and he won't say anything if I think about it."

Zhu Yuntai: "......"