Please ask me to be the emperor

"King Shun, please see, this is the bright armor worn by my generals. It includes armor, helmet, iron arms, iron shoes, etc., weighing a total of forty-five kilograms." Du Hongyu couldn't help but offer a complete set of armor.

"Isn't it Zha Jia?" Zhang Shun grabbed a corner of the armor and opened it to see that there was cotton cloth attached to the back of the armor. He couldn't help but be startled.

"This is Ming Jia!" Du Hongyu quickly explained, "Unlike dark armor, the cloth surface of this armor has been removed to prevent craftsmen from substituting shoddy armor for good quality and thin armor for thick armor, and to prevent soldiers from being lazy and allowing it to rust."

Zhang Shun looked through it for a long time and then realized that despite the dazzling appearance of the armor, it was actually just cotton armor without a cloth cover.

The way the nail pieces are connected is not like a piece of armor worn together with cooked cowhide, but rather nailed to the cloth surface with copper bubble nails.

One of the advantages of doing this is that the armor pieces can be made larger, which reduces the overlap of the armor pieces and can achieve the same defensive effect with a lighter weight.

For example, infantry armor in the Song Dynasty used 1,825 pieces of armor, weighing a terrifying fifty-eight kilograms, which seriously affected the mobility of the soldiers.

Tang Shunzhi in the mid-Ming Dynasty also mentioned the Ming army with armor as its main equipment: "The mail armor, battle skirts, arm shields and other equipment worn by the sergeants on each side weighed a total of forty-five kilograms, and the helmets and headbands weighed seven "The Xiang protects the heart and protects the ribs weighs five kilograms," making a total of fifty-seven kilograms.

And Wang Ding's set of body armor, iron arms, iron shoes and helmet only weighed forty-five pounds, which was really quite convenient.

"These iron shoes." Zhang Shun looked at a pair of worn-out cotton boots in front of him. How did they look like they were made of fine iron?

"Ouch, they're quite heavy!" He grabbed it and prepared to take a closer look. He couldn't help but find that the shoes were so heavy. "Are they clamped with iron?"

"Yes!" Du Hongyu couldn't help but laugh, "King Shun, please don't think they look like ordinary cotton boots. In fact, they are like cotton armor inside, with fine iron pieces sandwiched between them. The sword is indestructible!"

"Can you guard against fire blunderbuss?" Zhang Shun nodded, feeling quite satisfied.

"If you encounter a three-coin bird gun, you can't break it within twenty steps; if you encounter a Lumi gun, you only need to wear a battle coat to stop it!" Du Hongyu couldn't help but laugh.

"You are not afraid of ordinary swords and spears. Only Western cannons, axes, and hammers can defeat them!"

"Not bad!" Zhang Shun nodded, feeling that this armor was pretty good and basically enough for the rebel army to fight in melee.

It turns out that after Li Jiyu raised the three questions, the latter two were relatively easy to solve, but the heavy armor issue was a bit troublesome.

Although we have now entered the age of firearms, hand-to-hand combat is still a key factor in the decisive victory between the two armies.

In fact, not to mention this era, even in the Korean battlefield in later generations, the heroic volunteers sometimes had to fight with the American bayonets to decide the outcome.

Hand-to-hand combat is the last bottom line for an army, and it is also the most critical blow in this era that determines the outcome of a war.

War in this era is always on a two-dimensional level, so no matter how both sides arrange their troops, an inevitable problem is "occupying position", or "seizing position".

No matter what it is called, it ultimately requires face-to-face contact between the two parties, with one party driving the other party out of its original position.

As long as an opponent with a little bit of fighting will cannot be captured or dispersed in a hurry, then the two sides will inevitably encounter a situation of hand-to-hand combat. This is "hand-to-hand combat."

People do not like death but hate life. It is human nature to seek benefits and avoid harm.

Therefore, the elite soldiers for "hand-to-hand combat" must first be carefully selected, secondly, they must be brave and fearless of death, thirdly, they must have complete protection, and fourthly, they must have sufficient food and pay.

In addition to selecting and training soldiers and ensuring logistics, the final important thing is weapons, armor and other equipment.

In the past, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty once said: I compare one to ten, there is no other but strong armor, strong soldiers and sharp ears!

Only when equipped with good equipment and good material conditions can soldiers be courageous and confident in hand-to-hand combat, and fight bravely without fear of death and move forward bravely.

Zhang Shun got Du Hongyu's fine armor, so he took it with Wukong and went to find Wang Zheng.

When Zhang Shun and others rushed to the craftsman's workshop, Wang Zheng, who had a white beard, was directing several people to carry a large cabinet.

Seeing Zhang Shun, he hurriedly came forward to pay homage and said, "Where did King Shun come from? I was about to go and visit him, but unexpectedly I saw King Shun here."

"That's right. I want you to help me take a look. Can such fine armor be made and how much is each pair worth?" Zhang Shun couldn't help but ask Wukong to present it.

"This...could it be that King Shun wanted to imitate Hou Jin?" Wang Zheng was stunned and couldn't help but asked in shock.

It turns out that Houjin originally belonged to the Jianzhou Guard of the Ming Dynasty, and its equipment, organization, and tactics were almost the same as those of the Ming Border Army.

However, due to productivity limitations, the muskets and firearms were slightly inferior to those of the Ming frontier army. They could only train elite soldiers with heavy armor, and then push shield carts to approach and fight the Ming army in hand-to-hand combat.

"More or less, different paths lead to the same goal!" Zhang Shun explained, "In today's battles, firearms are too fierce. Without fine armor, I'm afraid the soldiers' lives will be in vain!"

"If you are talking about resisting firearms, I have something to offer to King Shun!" Wang Zheng heard this and quickly asked someone to bring out an object and explained.

"This object is a Far Western full iron armor..."

"Plate armor!" Zhang Shun couldn't help shouting without waiting for Wang Zheng to finish.

"Okay, actually it's not a bad idea to call it that." Wang Zheng couldn't help but laugh.

"This thing is difficult to penetrate even with ordinary firecrackers..."

Without waiting for Wang Zheng to elaborate, Zhang Shun couldn't help but stretched out his hand and touched it.

This so-called "plate armor" is actually a half-length plate armor, which is very thick and heavy. Zhang Shun picked it up and weighed it, and found that it weighed almost fifty kilograms.

It turned out that after the missionary Gao Yizhi suffered a setback at Zhang Shun's side, he saw that the rebel army was getting stronger and stronger. He couldn't help but watch it and became anxious in his heart.

He couldn't help but write to other missionaries to buy telescopes, chime bells, iron armor, handguns and other rare items, trying to use them to please Zhang Shun in exchange for missionary work in the rebel areas.

As a result, after obtaining these things, Zhang Shun happened to lead his troops to invade Shaanxi, and missed the opportunity again.

It's just that the east is not bright but the west is bright. Gao Yizhi's efforts failed. He didn't expect that his church friend Wang Zheng would have a fierce fight with Zhang Shun.

So at Wang Zheng's request, he sent this thing over and asked Wang Zheng to give it to Zhang Shun.

That full-body plate armor was just a plaything specially customized by nobles in Europe. Where could missionaries like them find one to give to Zhang Shun?

So I searched around and finally had no choice but to buy a better quality half-plate armor from a Portuguese officer in Macau.

Zhang Shun studied it carefully for a long time and found that the breastplate was actually thicker than the iron armor sent by Du Hongyu, but the iron quality didn't seem to be very good.

"Isn't this quality not good enough?" Zhang Shun knocked on the breastplate and asked doubtfully.

"Ahem...Well, it's hard to find quality things for a while, so I have to make up for it..." Wang Zheng didn't expect that Zhang Shun was an expert and immediately noticed the problem.

It turns out that according to the technological level of this era, it is difficult to carry out complex heat treatment on large pieces of metal.

Therefore, except for the gorgeous and sophisticated full-body plate armor customized by a small number of nobles, the quality of the breastplates worn by ordinary soldiers is not very good.

Even early breastplates, many of which were made of wrought iron, could only rely on thickness to increase their defensive effect.

Later, with the advancement of iron smelting technology, middle and low-level officers could also afford low-carbon steel-level half-body armor, and the situation was slightly better.

But compared with the refined small pieces of nails, the quality is still inferior.

If compared with the loud cold-forged armor pieces, the difference is incomparable.