Chapter 471: Insufficient Weapons

Chapter 471: Insufficient Weapons

Chapter 471: Insufficient Weapons
The next morning, Xiao Xia arrived at the military camp, where 30,000 soldiers were training with weapons. The reason why the armies of Sui and Tang dynasties were so powerful was first of all their equipment. During the Sui Dynasty, the elite troops around the emperor all used halberds. In the Tang Dynasty, with economic development and the gradual strengthening of national strength, the regular army began to use halberds, and the border troops began to be equipped with the powerful Mo Dao.

Although there has been a saying since ancient times that one can learn to use a stick for a month, a sword for a year, and a spear for a lifetime, the spear is just child's play compared to the horse lance and infantry lance. The lance is powerful and extremely difficult to master. The two-handed Mo Dao and heavy sword are used in battle at the cost of life, and not only do they require higher strength and skills, but also a strong willpower that is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Xiao Xia's 30,000 troops were equipped with 10,000 horse lances and 20,000 infantry lances. This was one of the rewards they received after retreating from Hexi. Emperor Yang Guang agreed to Xiao Xia's request and equipped all his 30,000 troops with lances and Ming Guang armor.

The 30,000 troops of King Yang Ling of Qi did not have such treatment, as they had no military merits.

In addition to all soldiers being equipped with lances, each soldier also had short weapons, of which 20,000 were equipped with straight swords, and 10,000 cavalrymen were equipped with flails and straight swords. Each soldier also had a bow and arrow and a round shield. At the same time, each soldier also had his own horse, and the equipment was very elite.

"kill--"

The soldiers' movements were in unison and murderous aura was in the air. They were practicing lance techniques. Their lance techniques were also extracted by Xiao Xia from the Shan family lance techniques and integrated into the thirteen styles of sword techniques. They were very practical and powerful. There was no need to practice too much. As long as they practiced these thirteen styles thoroughly and combined with sufficient physical strength, they could fight one against five on the battlefield.

The horse lance is about four meters long, and the front blade is much longer and heavier than a spear. With the impact of the warhorse, it can easily pierce the enemy's armor, and can also chop left and right, easily cutting off the enemy's arms.
The infantry spear is about three meters long and relatively light, making it very suitable for infantry control. It can also stab and chop, and it has an iron hook on the front, which makes it very convenient to hook enemy cavalry off their horses.

At this time, the military chief Shi Peiwenan came over and asked, "Does Your Highness have time?"

Xiao Xia nodded, "Accompany me to the cook's camp first, and then we can talk in the big tent!"

Pei Wen'an accompanied Xiao Xia to the cook camp, which is the kitchen. Hundreds of cooks were busy preparing lunch. Two meals a day were for the lower-class people, but the army had to ensure three meals a day.

"How are soldiers' daily meals arranged?"

The logistics officer in charge of food bowed and said, "Your Highness, normally each soldier gets two and a half kilograms of food per month. Breakfast is mainly cakes and steamed buns, with a piece of bacon and a bowl of vegetable soup. Lunch and afternoon are the same, with one kilogram of rice, a portion of sauce, a piece of fish or meat, a vegetable, and a bowl of meat soup."

“Is the fish freshwater or marine?”

"We have both, but more sea fish. We went to Kuaiji County and Yongjia County to purchase a large amount of sea fish."

"What about the meat? Do you raise it yourself or buy it?"

“Most of it is purchased, and we also hope to raise our own sheep and pigs, which will save a lot of money.”

Xiao Xia nodded and said, "Starting this year, we will make full use of the river valley to develop animal husbandry, and the same goes for the military."

Generally speaking, the food is pretty good, but once the army grows to 80,000, it will be a bit difficult, so they need to find a way early and put military settlements on the agenda.

Xiao Xia followed Pei Wen'an to the central army tent. Xiao Xia sat down in her seat and said with a smile, "Shi Pei seems a little worried!"

Pei Wen'an smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness wants to recruit 20,000 new troops. The recruiting team has gone down, but there is no weapon or armor. Shouldn't I be worried?"

"No way! There are a lot of weapons and armor in the warehouse, and there are enough bows and arrows."

Pei Wen'an sighed and said, "The weapons in the warehouse are all spears and swords, the armor is leather armor and bronze helmets, and there are no extra horses. If Your Highness wants to equip 20,000 troops with such weapons and armor, I have nothing to say. But if you want to do the same as the 30,000 recruits here, where will the lances come from? Where will the Ming Guang armor come from? Is the court willing to give us another 20,000 sets?"

Xiao Xia said after a while: "I have talked to the emperor. You can apply for Ming Guang armor and exchange it with our leather armor. Each set of Ming Guang armor will be compensated with an additional five strings of money. That means 20,000 sets of leather armor plus 100,000 strings of money can be exchanged for 20,000 sets of Ming Guang armor. However, the lance blades must be made by ourselves."

"What about the spear?"

"It is said that there are 100,000 spears in the Chang'an Armory, all of which were seized from the Liang and Chen dynasties. Let's discuss this with the court and spend some money to buy them back."

"But making 20,000 halberd blades is a big deal! The craftsmen of the Chen Dynasty's military equipment bureau were all abducted by the court. We can't find craftsmen who can make halberd blades among the people. What's more, we don't have that much fine iron to make halberd blades." Xiao Xia frowned, "Don't Megan's warehouse and Yetang warehouse have it?"

Meigenjian and Yetangjian are the two major iron smelting centers in Jiangnan. Meigenjian is located in Qiupu County, Xuancheng County, which is the largest iron ore producing area in Jiangnan. Yetang is in Changshu County, Wu County, which has been a place where blacksmiths have lived since ancient times.

In fact, there is a closer Ma'anshan Iron Mine located in Danyang County, but it was not discovered during the Sui Dynasty. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that large iron mines were discovered here.

The two iron smelting offices in Megan and Yetang have always been directly under the imperial court. It was not until last autumn that the imperial court handed over the mining supervision, salt fields, shipyards, mints and other directly affiliated institutions to the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office.

Pei Wen'an shook his head. "I sent someone to check. There are only ordinary rough iron blocks in Megan Warehouse and Yetang Warehouse, no refined iron."

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "Let's go to the Iron Forge Camp and take a look!"

The Iron Forge Camp is located next to the military camp and is affiliated with the Ordnance Department under the Military Department. There are more than one hundred blacksmiths. They do not smelt iron, but mainly forge iron, hammering the rough iron into fine iron.

Xiao Xia and Pei Wen'an came to the Iron Forge Camp. As soon as they entered the camp, they heard the sound of clanging and hammering. The main task of the Iron Forge Camp at present is to melt the damaged weapons and make new weapons.

The head of the iron forging camp was Fan Lian, who was about fifty years old and from Yetang, Changshu County, Wujun. He was an experienced old blacksmith and was the head craftsman of the military equipment bureau of the Chen Dynasty. The smelting office invited him to be the head at a high price of thirty strings of cash per month and to teach disciples at the same time.

In front of the iron forging table, two young blacksmiths were waving their strong arms to repeatedly forge a red straight knife blank. Fan Jian stood in front of the iron shop and introduced to Xiao Xia: "The process of iron forging is very simple, that is, simply process the crude iron into pig iron, and then repeatedly forge it into wrought iron, and then add appropriate carbon and quenching technology to make high-quality refined iron. Here, it mainly depends on experience to control the temperature. One point more or one point less will not work."

Xiao Xia completely understood what the other party meant. The iron shop in the countryside bought crude iron and simply processed it into pig iron, which was usually made into farm tools directly. This was actually low-quality iron and contained too many impurities. Even poor-quality weapons were made in this way, with the main purpose of being cheap.

But the process for military weapons is much more strict. First, all impurities must be removed and the iron must be made into very pure wrought iron. Wrought iron is very soft and has excellent toughness. Then, charcoal is added to the wrought iron. This is a technical job. The carbon content must be neither too much nor too little, so that the toughness of wrought iron can be maintained, while the hardness and sharpness of pig iron can be maintained. Quenching technology is then used to maintain stability.

Only highly skilled craftsmen can create fine iron, or steel. This is how steel is made through repeated tempering.

Xiao Xia asked, "Has Chief Fan heard of Qi Wu Huaiwen?"

Fan Jian nodded and said, "Everyone knows about this military craftsman. The Su Tie sword he made is famous all over the world!"

"Do you know the method of pouring steel? Burn the essence of pig iron, make it heavy and soft, and it will become steel after a few nights."

Fan Jian nodded again, "My father was one of the three great craftsmen of military equipment during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang. At that time, Tao Hongjing demonstrated the steel pouring method that Your Highness mentioned in the Military Equipment Bureau. The reason why it was not promoted at that time was that high-quality pig iron could not be smelted. I have the secret method recorded by my father. If there is high-quality pig iron, I can try the steel pouring method."

Xiao Xia nodded silently, and then asked, "How long does it take to make a spear blade?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, two people working together can make a lance blade in two days, and a lance blade in three days. If it is a gun or a spear, it can be completed in one day."

Xiao Xia calculated in his mind and said, "That means we can make 750 lance blades every month?"

"About five hundred!"

Fan Jian smiled bitterly and said, "Not every one of them can be built successfully!"

Pei Wen'an smiled and said, "Your Highness understands now! Even if we go all out, it will take three years to make enough spear blades."

Xiao Xia felt a headache for a while, and said after a while: "Let's do this for now! I will discuss it with the court later. If it doesn't work, I will buy it with money."

(End of this chapter)