Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 131 Armor Craft

  Spear and shield have always been the eternal theme in war.

However, Fei Qian looked at Huang Chengyan's preserved slips, and it seems that the "spear", that is, the scroll of soldiers, is more abundant now, and the "shield", if it is the scroll of armor of protection, it is more abundant. It looks a little thinner.

  Of course, this is only in the eyes of Fei Qian. In the eyes of other people, the Scroll of Armor is still extremely rich, from the armor materials to the production method are very detailed.

According to the records of Jia Zhijuan, armor is mostly made of cowhide, painted on it, and only metals such as copper and iron can be called armor. It also explains the composition of armor in detail, and even the pressing and weaving of armor pieces. There are clear instructions...

  There are two types of armor popular in the Han Dynasty today, one is "Zha Jia" and the other is "Fish Scale Armor". Both of these have iron pieces, but the former is slightly less and the latter is slightly more.

"Zhajia" is generally used by ordinary soldiers. The lowest grade is fixed and woven with large pieces of Zhajia like a large vest. Protects the chest and back. The more advanced ones are based on this, adding a row of medium-sized armor plates to protect the waist, and adding shawls on the shoulders.

  The "fish-scale armor" only became popular in the late Western Han Dynasty and lasted until the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since it is called fish scales, it is naturally made of small pieces of iron, and compared with the "Zhajia" which only protects fewer parts, it also adds a "basin collar" to protect the neck and arms to protect the arms. "Bracket", "magpie tail" and "leg skirt" to protect the legs, etc.

  Of course, the production process and cost of "fish scale armor" are much more than that of "zhajia", and generally only senior generals will own it.

   And then next...

   is gone.

   No chain mail, no plate armor...

  Although these also belong to the category of heavy armor, at least Fei Qian didn't see it in Huang Chengyan's letter.

   After all, there are many such things in various movies and TV shows in later generations, and even in games, Fei Qian still understands a little bit. For example, plate armor is indeed a model of armor. At that time, European noble knights wore it like an iron can. It is said that even the lead bullets of arquebus guns may not be able to penetrate.

  But these two kinds seem to have higher requirements for metallurgical technology, and it is reasonable that they did not exist in the Eastern Han Dynasty. But is there anything that can be simplified a little, so that this kind of armor with relatively higher protection power will appear earlier? Or is it less expensive?

  Thinking of this, Fei Qian said to Huang Chengyan: "Master Yue Zhang, do you know if there is any craft for making iron wire or iron sheet?"

"Iron wire and iron sheet?" Huang Chengyan had seen what Fei Qian was thinking about before, but presumably Fei Qian would not be aimless, so he replied, "Iron sheets are generally forged, what about iron wire, my son-in-law?" Are the short wires still long? If they are short, they are generally forged directly, and if they are long, they are made by drawing iron bars overheated."

   Huang Chengyan is quite familiar with the making of utensils.

"All rely on manpower?" In this way, whether it is forging or pulling, the current Han Dynasty is mainly based on manpower, and if it is all relying on manpower, the output will not be high. It's impossible to work twenty-four hours, right?

   "What does your son-in-law think?" Huang Chengyan also asked with interest. Huang Chengyan expressed his satisfaction with Fei Qian, who often came up with some ideas. After all, this was one of the reasons why he made up his mind so quickly and was willing to marry Huang Yueying to Fei Qian.

   "It's hard to say for a while, why don't you go to the workshop and have a look?" Fei Qian felt that he seemed to have some thoughts, but it was not easy to describe, so he suggested.

After all, let’s take a look at how the iron wire was made in the Han Dynasty. If the production can be increased, there are naturally some improved solutions that can be used. After all, the most important thing about armor is that it is limited in cumbersome production. If it can be simplified A little bit or save a little labor, then you can reduce the cost...

  As soon as she heard that she was going to the workshop, Huang Yueying, who was obediently at the side, couldn't sit still, and looked at Huang Chengyan with big blinking eyes.

  Huang Chengyan knew what Huang Yueying was thinking at a glance, coughed and blinked towards Fei Qian, without speaking. After all, Huang Yueying is a married person now, and some things cannot be decided by the Huang family, so it depends on Fei Qian's opinion, right?

  Huang Yueying immediately understood what her father meant, turned her head around, and gently pulled Fei Qian's sleeve.

Fei Qian, who was still immersed in the idea of ​​how to improve the armor, turned his head and saw Huang Yueying's pitiful eyes, felt his heart soften, and said to Huang Chengyan: "This...Master Yuezhang, how about Yueying... go together too ?”

   "Haha, okay, together, together!" Huang Chengyan was naturally happy as a father when he saw Fei Qian paying so much attention to Huang Yueying's emotions.

   Arriving at the workshop, Huang Chengyan found a craftsman and asked him to demonstrate the craftsmanship of forging iron sheets and making iron wires.

   It is said that there are quite a lot of craftsmen in the Huang family, and I haven’t seen Huang Chengyan choose them on purpose. It seems that he can do such a thing by pulling anyone at random...

  The iron sheet is similar to Feiqian's impression. After heating, it will be fine after a while of jingling.

However, pulling the iron wire is obviously much more cumbersome. First knock out a very thin iron sheet, then cut it into thinner iron bars with large iron scissors, heat it again until it turns red, and pass it through the iron with holes while it is hot. plate, pull out with pliers…

  It takes a lot of work and effort, and there is too much instability.

Fei Qian understands why there is no chain mail and plate armor like Europe. According to the current metallurgical conditions, it is too time-consuming and manpower-consuming to make a set of chain mail or plate armor. You can make a dozen or even dozens of other types of "Zha Jia"...

The problem now is that manpower is too difficult to guarantee. It is impossible for a craftsman to swing a hammer continuously for more than an hour, and then he must rest. A person's physical strength is also limited in a day. Even if the working hours are prolonged, the output will be low A limited quota cannot make a big breakthrough, so the only way to increase production is to use external forces...

   Among all external forces, the cheapest and most stable is hydraulic power.

Fei Qian shifted his attention to the water saw that he made with Huang's craftsmen before. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that the working principle was actually the same. Forging is a repeated operation up and down, and drawing is a repeated operation horizontally. The hydraulic circular motion can be converted mechanically...

  The only difference is that forging requires high-speed striking, while drawing requires stable power, and these can be achieved through the same thing...

   There are a lot of black technologies in the Han Dynasty...the guide car and the drum car...then they were invented, and then they were thrown aside...

  (end of this chapter)