Chapter 911 It’s Better to Have Something than Nothing! If I Don’t Seek Benefits for My Soldiers, What Kind of General Am I!
After receiving the personal certification from the hero Yang Duanhe, the battle report that should have been completed long ago finally came to an end.
Hundreds of messengers rushed out of the Yishui Great Wall and rode their horses westward!
December 10, the 16th year of Qin Wangzheng.
Daqin, Xianyang, Imperial Study.
Li Si sat in the audience, smiling and bowing: "On November 19th, Huang Chang, a powerful man in Jiyang County, knew that the coalition army sent more than one million troops to attack our Great Qin, and thought that our Great Qin must have relaxed its internal defense, so he gathered hundreds of former servants to rebel."
"The next day after the rebellion, six servants shouted the name of Chang'an Jun and violently killed Huang Chang, and most of the servants followed in response."
"Now Huang Chang has been imprisoned in the Jiyang County Prison, awaiting judgment."
Ying Zheng nodded with a smile: "Good! Very good!"
"Jiyang County has made great contributions to education, and all officials will be rewarded."
"Call the six righteous men to Xianyang, I want to see them in person, and then reward them generously!"
Although the Great Qin has always supported bravery and spontaneous killing of bandits, Jiyang County is in the old Wei land!
The old Wei servants, in order to protect the Great Qin country, brazenly killed the old Wei dignitaries, which was simply unimaginable in the past.
But now, this thing has really happened!
What does this mean?
The people's will!
Ying Zheng might even wake up laughing in his dreams tonight!
As for the fact that the servants were shouting Chang'an Jun instead of the king, does it matter?
It doesn't matter at all!
Zhao Cheng, the Minister of Works, followed closely and bowed, saying: "Your Majesty, the weather is cold now, and it is not suitable to continue to build Qin Wang Zheng's 15-style blast furnace."
"Before winter, I will build 27 Qin Wang Zheng's 15-style blast furnaces in Guanzhong, Yiyang, Daliang and other places, which can smelt more than 32,000 stones of iron every day!"
"When the weather continues to turn cold, I don't know whether these 27 blast furnaces can continue to produce. I still need to ask Chang'an Jun for advice."
Ying Zheng's pupils shrank visibly, and he praised with emotion: "More than 32,000 stones of iron! More than 32,000 stones of iron!"
"How many farm tools can be cast! How many tools can be cast! How many armors can be cast!"
"My brother disdains this Qin Wang Zheng's 15-style blast furnace, but this Qin Wang Zheng's 15-style blast furnace is indeed a weapon for the prosperity of the country!"
Ying Zheng hated him for not fighting for it!
When Ying Zheng discovered the Qin Wangzheng's Type 15 blast furnace, it was already autumn and the temperature had begun to drop.
Otherwise, with the infrastructure capacity of the Qin Dynasty, more than a hundred blast furnaces could be easily built within a year!
In this way, the Qin Dynasty could get hundreds of thousands of stones of iron every day! How much more iron could the Qin Dynasty get in a year!
Thinking of Ying Chengjiao, Ying Zheng immediately asked: "How much iron armor can the General's Office produce per month now?"
Hearing the string sound, he knew the elegant meaning.
Zhao Cheng certainly understood that although Ying Zheng was asking about the production capacity of iron armor of the General's Office, he actually hoped to send more armor to Ying Chengjiao.
Zhao Cheng hurriedly replied: "The General's Office has ordered all blacksmiths in the counties around the blast furnace to make iron armor."
"With the current strength, more than 4,000 sets of iron armor can be obtained per month."
With sufficient iron materials and sufficient craftsmen, the production capacity of the General's Office exploded!
Nurhaci started his army with only thirteen sets of armor.
But the current Qin Dynasty can forge more than 4,000 sets of iron armor every month!
Given a year, the Qin Dynasty can gather nearly 50,000 sets of iron armor, and in just ten years, the Qin Dynasty can have 480,000 armored warriors.
Although the armor worn by these 480,000 warriors is only raw iron nail armor, not the copper nail armor of the Qin Dynasty, it is still armor!
If Bai Qi could be given 480,000 sets of raw iron nail armor, I am afraid that Qin Shihuang would not be Ying Zheng, but Ying Ji!
However, Ying Zheng frowned slightly when he heard this.
Only more than 4,000 sets of iron armor can be forged every month?
This number is indeed very amazing, but for Ying Chengjiao now, it is probably just a drop in the bucket!
Observing Ying Zheng's expression, Zhao Cheng continued: "The day before yesterday, Gongsun Qian (Ying Qian) offered a plan."
"Cast thicker iron plates into an arc shape, with holes on both sides. When the battle is about to begin, let the soldiers cover the two iron plates on their chests and backs, and then string them together to form a piece of armor."
"Pour the molten iron directly into the helmet-shaped iron mold, make holes in the lower part, and tie it with a rope to form a helmet."
"The defense of this armor is inferior to that of ordinary armor, but it is easy to cast."
"If the strength of the General Works and the Minister of Works is gathered to forge such armor, more than 60,000 sets can be obtained every month!"
"The General Works and the Minister of Works have already cast several finished products, which are available for the king to judge at any time."
Ying Zheng became interested and immediately ordered: "Show them!"
Soon, ten sets of cast iron armor were moved into the imperial study.
After two breaths of silence, Ying Zheng looked at Zhao Cheng and asked in a deep voice: "My dear, you said this is armor?"
You told me that this is armor?
Are you deceiving me that I don't know how to fight!
These are clearly twenty curved iron plates and twenty iron bowls!
Zhao Cheng was not embarrassed at all, but said with certainty: "This is armor!"
Wang Jian took the initiative to pick up the two iron plates and looked at them, weighed them in his hands, knocked them, and gave his own evaluation carefully: "Compared with the Qin armor, this armor is more than twice as heavy, which is not convenient for soldiers to travel long distances."
"Even though it is heavier, this armor can only protect the front and back of the chest, and has no defense against the shoulders and arms. If you want to protect the shoulders and arms, you should cover it with leather armor."
"This armor cannot be bent at all, which is not convenient for soldiers to bend over, and cannot be assigned to crossbowmen."
"Moreover, this armor cannot be adjusted according to the height, weight and size of the soldiers like a zip-up armor. Once it is damaged on the front line, it cannot be repaired and can only be transported back to the rear for recasting."
"Although I have not tested it myself, I am afraid that the defensive power of this armor..."
At first glance, this armor looks a bit like the common plate armor in Europe, especially the breastplate of the French cuirassiers.
However, European plate armor is forged with the pursuit of defensive power as the starting point, while this iron armor is cast with the pursuit of cheapness and easy availability as the starting point. The starting points of the two are very different, and the raw materials, processes and technologies used are essentially different.
The key designs such as the dome structure and inclined corners that allow European plate armor to dominate the battlefield are also the same!
This directly leads to the fact that although this armor looks like a plate armor, it has few of the advantages of plate armor, but it has all the disadvantages of plate armor, and it also has many disadvantages and problems that plate armor does not have.
Wang Jian just mentioned more than ten shortcomings of this iron armor in succession, and each of them can sentence this iron armor to death!
But in the end, Wang Jian changed the subject and looked at Ying Zheng sincerely and said: "If the armor that the court distributes to my troops is all this kind of armor, and the king does not give me an explanation, I will live in front of the door of this imperial study and will not leave!"
"But if the court can give me tens of thousands of such armors after distributing the armor that my troops should have, I will kowtow to the king!"
"This is armor after all!"
Although cast armor has many disadvantages and few advantages, the advantage of being cheap and easy to obtain is enough to cover all the disadvantages!
No matter how bad the iron armor is, it is always safer than not wearing armor, and no matter how bad the iron armor is, it is more solid than black cloth.
It's better to have it than not to have it!
Ying Zheng was a little surprised and asked seriously: "General, do you think this armor is worth casting?"
Wang Jian bowed his hands firmly: "It's worth it!"
"I advise you to use all the iron materials obtained by Daqin this year to make this armor."
"Use all the strength of Daqin to make all the soldiers of Daqin wear armor!"
Han Cang said with some distress: "But the iron consumed in this way will be extremely huge."
"And this armor is cast. If it is damaged, it can only be smelted in the blast furnace again, which is very wasteful!"
Such a set of iron armor weighs more than 40 kilograms!
The iron used to make a set of iron armor can easily make 60 to 70 hoes and 40 to 50 Chang'an plows.
If all these iron materials are used on farm tools, how many more farm tools can Daqin get this year, and how many more wastelands can be reclaimed next year!
Wang Jian said in a particularly strong voice: "There is a world of difference between the morale and combat effectiveness of soldiers with armor and soldiers without armor."
"Although this armor is simple, it may save a soldier's life at a critical moment!"
"I know that making this armor will definitely consume a lot of iron materials, but the soldiers of my Qin are worth it!"
Wang Jian is ready to fight alone in the court.
If I don't seek benefits for the soldiers, what kind of general am I!
It just so happens that I slept for a long time during the court meeting, and I am full of energy!
However, before Wang Jian started to play, Ying Zheng had already made the final decision: "Build!"
"Chang'an Jun only led 700,000 troops to fight against the coalition army of more than one million, with nearly half of the coalition army's strength!"
"At this moment, Chang'an Jun must be under great pressure!"
"The court should do its best to help Chang'an Jun, instead of being stingy with the iron materials."
"The iron materials were originally obtained through the blast furnace developed by Chang'an Jun. It is only right to use them to help Chang'an Jun win."
"Moreover, the victory or defeat of this battle is directly related to the survival of our Great Qin. If we don't plan for today, how can we plan for eternity!"
Wang Jian excitedly bowed his hands: "The king is wise!"
Wei Liao, Lu Buwei and others thought for a moment and bowed their hands: "The king is wise!"
Even Han Cang endured the pain and bowed his hands and shouted: "The king is wise!"
Han Cang was just afraid of poverty, but he knew the importance.
If the Great Qin lost this battle, what sustainable development would we talk about!
Ying Zheng nodded happily: "Good!"
"Show me the armor."
Thinking of Ying Chengjiao's joyful look when he received the armor, Ying Zheng couldn't help but smile slightly.
Stroking the rough surface of the cast iron armor, Ying Zheng asked thoughtfully: "Is this armor developed by Gongsun Qian?"
"I remember that Gongsun Qian especially loves to study the law. Now he is the guard commander. How come he suddenly studies the art of craftsmanship?"
Zhao Cheng smiled and said: "It's not just Gongsun Qian. Since Chang'an Jun developed Chang'an paper, many royal princes have visited the General Office."
"Since February of the eleventh year of Qin Wangzheng, the royal princes have presented 386 craftsmanship skills."
"Except for 302 of them, which are the techniques that my General Office has already kept records of, the rest are all ingenious, and this iron armor is the most dazzling craftsmanship among them!"
The reward in February of the eleventh year of Qin Wangzheng and Ying Chengjiao's deliberate guidance finally planted a seed in the hearts of the children of the Qin royal family.
After nearly four years of difficult growth and waiting, the seedlings broke through the soil, presenting a scene that is tender but thriving, and also produced the first fruit that, although not good in appearance, is sweet and thirst-quenching!