Dapan Fort.

After Liu Yan led everyone back to Dapanbao, he arranged for the small flag official Wang Yue to prepare a meal, and set up three tables of wine and food in the general flag official hall, accompanied by the small flag officials Miao Shao and Wang Yue, and Liu Yan also specially called Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Yan to eat and drink with Xu Le and other craftsmen.

At this time, it was cold and windy outside the General Flag Office, but the atmosphere inside the house was warm.

Xu Le and the other craftsmen looked at the table full of wine and meat dishes, their eyes widened, and they couldn't wait to pull their heads off and put those delicious foods directly from their necks!

Miao Shao, Wang Yue, Tan Xiaoda, Zhao Yan and others kept toasting, especially Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Yan, who had a good conversation with Xu Le, and the three of them sat together talking and laughing, like old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

After everyone ate and drank for a while, Xu Le burped, wiped the corners of his mouth with his cuffs with satisfaction, and said with a little embarrassed fist: "After eating this meal, it is worth it even if I die!" If there is anything to do, please ask the commander to give me! ”

Liu Yan picked up the wine glass and said to everyone: "It's just a meal of wine and food, as long as you do a good job, I can guarantee that you can eat such wine and food every day in the future!" ”

Xu Le and the others were even more excited, such a day was a fairy-like day for everyone, and everyone couldn't think of it before.

Everyone was a little scared in their hearts, Liu Yan treated everyone so well, will there be any traps waiting for everyone in the future?

However, Xu Le and the others immediately smiled dumbly, they are all like beggars now, what are they trying to set traps for themselves?

After Liu Yan made a promise to everyone, he said: "Okay, now that we have eaten wine and meat, let's also use this wine to talk about business." ”

Xu Le and the others cheered up one after another, waiting for Liu Yan to give orders.

Liu Yan said: "Although the dun army of our Dapan Fort is also equipped with a lot of armor, such armor is at best an iron vest, and the number is insufficient. So I carved out a mansion in the fort and set up a armor superintendent to make iron, blades and armor for the fort. At this stage, it is mainly to build armor, supplemented by blades. ”

Speaking of this, Liu Yan looked at Xu Le and said, "The main thing of this blade supervision office is you, Xu Le, Xu Le!" ”

Xu Le stood up in shock when he heard this, he couldn't believe his ears, Liu Yan actually used himself so much, how could he repay him!

Xu Le said tremblingly: "The first chief values the villain so much, the villain will definitely do his best to create enough fine armor for the first chief, if he can't do it, the villain will apologize with death!" ”

"Haha!"

Liu Yan laughed out loud and said, "It's serious! In this way, let's eat and drink to our heart's content today, and tomorrow morning, I will take you to the armor supervision office, and then talk about the armor in detail. ”

Early the next morning, Liu Yan took Xu Le and more than 20 craftsmen and apprentices to the door of the armor supervision office.

The courtyard of this armor superintendent is next to the firearms superintendent, and it is a two-entry courtyard.

After Liu Yan brought everyone in, Xu Le saw that more than 80 military men had already gathered in the courtyard.

Liu Yan pointed to those military men and said with a smile: "These people were selected by me in advance, and I will follow Master Xu to build armor in the future." ”

"All of them are assigned to me?"

Xu Le was a little excited, but at the same time a little nervous, worried that he would not be able to do well, after all, his temperament was like this, he couldn't get along with the top and bottom when he was in Wangjiazhuang before, and now Liu Yan has handed over so many people to himself, can he really manage it well?

Liu Yan naturally saw Xu Le's worries, and said: "Don't worry about Master Xu, you just need to build excellent armor and blades, and as for other things, you don't need to be distracted." If you have anything, you can come to me directly, and I will make the decision for you! ”

With Liu Yan's assurance, Xu Le was so excited that he almost cried, although he was stubborn, it didn't mean that he didn't know what to do, so he swore and made a promise that he would definitely create a good armor for Liu Yan.

Later, Liu Yan asked the rest of the craftsmen and apprentices to settle down first, and the backyard of the armor supervision office was the residence of everyone, and the front yard was the blacksmith shop and other places, as well as supporting facilities such as warehouses.

The more than 80 military men also went to the backyard to settle down, and everyone had to wait for Xu Le's arrangement for what they would do next.

After settling everyone, Liu Yan called Xu Le to the office in the front yard, which will be Xu Le's office in the future.

"Alright, now let's talk about the armor."

"Yes."

Xu Le clenched his fists and asked, "I don't know what kind of armor the armor the armor commander wants to create?" ”

Regarding the issue of armor style, Liu Yan has his own considerations.

The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that transitioned from the era of cold weapons to the era of mixed use of cold weapons and firearms, so the style of the Ming army's armor gradually changed.

In the early Ming Dynasty, cold weapons were the mainstay, and the armor style was mainly metal armor; In the middle and late periods, firearms were used more and more, and armor was dominated by light cloth armor and chain mail.

Since the armor of the Ming Dynasty could only be made by the government and stored by the official arsenal, it was a great crime for individuals to secretly possess armor and was suspected of rebellion. Therefore, the armor and equipment of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty could only be uniformly deployed and distributed by the national arsenal in wartime.

However, now that it has reached the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has been overwhelmed with the army of thieves and Jiannu, and it can't control the matter of the Ming army's private armor making in various places, so Liu Yan will not worry about this.

At this time, in the Ming army, due to the heavy metal armor, only cavalry would be distributed. Infantry officers who need to march long distances are still mainly cloth face armor and chain mail, and ordinary soldiers only have a number coat or a simple cloth cuirass.

With the current financial resources of the imperial court, it is basically impossible to equip armor for ordinary soldiers, at most it is to equip armor for the family members in the army and some people who dare to die.

That's why Xu Le has this question, if you only build cotton nails, it's better to say something, after all, the production is not difficult, that is, it takes a long time, after all, cotton needs to be constantly beaten, soaked, and dried, and it takes time.

But if you want to build iron armor, you need Xu Le to show his housekeeping skills.

In fact, Liu Yan's original intention is to create a straight armor in the style of a brocade guard, and it is equipped with a hat helmet, which not only has a dazzling military appearance, but also has considerable defensive power.

In addition, Liu Yan also knew that there would be problems with the straight armor equipped with the brocade guard, first, such armor was too conspicuous, which was estimated to cause unnecessary trouble, and second, such armor was too expensive, although he had some money, he couldn't help but consume it like this.

So after careful consideration, Liu Yan proposed to let Xu Le build an ordinary half-body iron armor and a Ming iron helmet, and wait until the future development is bigger, and then build a full-body armor for the whole army.

After listening to this, Xu Le thought for a moment, and then said: "It seems that the commander is well thought out, and he is also very familiar with the various armors equipped by our army. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Le's words changed and said: "It's just that my subordinates feel that this half-body iron armor is not suitable, so it should still be a full-body armor." ”

Liu Yan asked suspiciously, "Why?" Isn't it more difficult to build full-body armor? ”

Xu Le said with a smile: "The first chief doesn't know, in fact, compared with the half-body armor, the difficulty is not much different, and the cost of the half-body armor is not too much saved, so the advice of the subordinates is better than directly equipping the full-body armor." ”

Liu Yan thought for a moment, then patted his thigh and said, "Okay!" It's going to be a full-body armor. ”

Then Liu Yan and Xu Le summed it up and decided to follow the example of the Ming border army and equip the armor.

This kind of armor is not the kind of mountain armor equipped by the generals of the Ming army, but the all-iron cowhide mixed armor equipped by the elite equipment of the border army.

Of course, this kind of armor is rare in today's border army, after all, the current imperial court simply can't support the consumption of such equipment.

"The armor proposed by his subordinates is composed of skirt armor, cover, arm guards, iron breastplate, shawl, cloth waist, cloth shawl, and hat."

Although Xu Le is stubborn and taciturn, once he talks about the production of armor, he becomes a talker.

"The various parts of this armor are strung together by a tough string supported by leather, and then fixed to the corresponding size of cooked cowhide, which not only has higher defense, but also can play a certain degree of warmth."

Liu Yan listened to Xu Le's explanation, and this style of armor also appeared in his mind, which was the traditional armor of the Ming army that could often be seen in later generations.

"This kind of armor can already be regarded as heavy armor, at least thirty pounds in weight, right?"

Xu Le thought for a while and said, "It should be around thirty-five catties." ”

Liu Yan shook his head when he heard this, and said, "It's too heavy!" This will affect the mobility of the army, and it will be too expensive. ”

Xu Le thought for a while, and then said: "In this case, the subordinates can change the arm guards and covers from iron to leather, so that the weight can be reduced by a few catties, and the weight of a pair of armor can be controlled within thirty catties." If you have to reduce the weight again, the armor's defense will be greatly reduced, and your subordinates will think that the gains outweigh the losses. ”

Liu Yan said: "Okay, let's do it." Also, how much does such a suit of armor cost? ”

Xu Le calculated while writing and painting on the side, and then said: "A pair of armor products weighs about thirty catties, but the refined iron consumed to build it should be around forty catties, and now the refined iron costs four taels or five dollars of silver per hundred catties, and the cost of iron for a pair of armor is about one or two or eight dollars." ”

"In addition, plus the cost of leather and other materials needed to make a pair of armor, it will add about one tael, plus the craftsman's wages, and the subordinates calculate that the cost of a pair of armor is about five taels of silver. If the armor made is to be painted with lacquer, the cost will be increased by eight pieces of silver. ”

Liu Yan nodded, the cost of armor is far higher than he expected, a few taels of silver can make a pair of armor, and ordinary people must think that it is very cost-effective.

But that's not how the ledger calculates.

Take Dapan Fort as an example, after the expansion of the Dun army, there are more than 1,100 people, and all the equipment is more than 6,000 taels of silver, which is already a large amount. Moreover, this is still peacetime, once in wartime, the armor will be damaged at any time, which means that the armor in the supply army must be produced in a steady stream, which is a consumable, and the pressure on the finances is also quite huge.

Liu Yan thought for a long time, and then said: "The style of the armor has been decided, and as for the raw lacquer, it should also be brushed, otherwise the armor is easy to rust and damaged, and the silver will still be lost inside and out." ”

Xu Le said: "A Chang Mingjian. ”

Then Liu Yan asked: "In Chief Xu's opinion, how much armor can the Armor Supervision Office create every month?" ”

This is what Liu Yan is most concerned about.

Xu Le said: "That's right, those craftsmen and apprentices who came with their subordinates are all proficient, and each of the other eight craftsmen can make armor independently, and each of them can bring them to the apprentices to make a pair of armor every month." ”

Liu Yan was a little dumbfounded and said, "In other words, it takes a month to create eight pairs of armor?" ”

Xu Le was also a little guilty, and hurriedly said: "The subordinates will spend about two months teaching the skills to the more than 80 men, and these more than 80 people can make various parts such as nail pieces and leather linings, and the craftsmen will be responsible for the splicing production and quality control, and the subordinates will also let all the apprentices out as soon as possible." After two months, you can guarantee that at least seventy armor pairs will be built every month. ”

Liu Yan originally set up an armor workshop and a blade workshop under the armor supervision department, but now it seems that it is better to put all the people in the armor workshop first.

The output of seventy pairs of armor in a month, based on the current shortfall of nearly nine hundred pairs of armor, it will take at least thirteen months, that is, more than a year, to complete.

Although Liu Yan is not very satisfied with this speed, considering that the armor is not easy to make, it can only be like this at present.

"Alright, that's it. In addition, Director Xu only needs to remember one thing: in the armor supervision office, the production of armor is the first priority, whether it is people, goods or silver, I will agree to everything, as long as I can make a large number of excellent armor as soon as possible. ”

Xu Le said solemnly: "Please rest assured, my subordinates will go all out!" ”