Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

On the white road, there is a winding black belt in the middle, which is the charcoal (coal) slag that fell from the cart. Along the way, you can also see Dingfu pushing a wheelbarrow or driving a donkey cart, continuously delivering things to a house in the south. Those carts were loaded with iron ore, iron lumps, wood, coal, charcoal, and so on.

There was an endless sound of "ding, ding, ding, ding" in front of us. Guo Shao sat on the carriage and opened the curtain to enjoy the scene in the snow with great interest. The quaint buildings, the white snowflakes, have a certain artistic conception, but the little black smoke from the chimney on the roof and the loud jingling noise completely destroy the poetic and picturesque feeling... Maybe the ancient poets would not like such scenes, but Guo Shao felt that there was an inexplicable kindness.

"Guo Du inspector." "Guo Du inspector is here, and we are welcome..." Officials from the Jiafang Administration, craftsmen and other people came to the door and greeted them one after another.

Guo Shao got off the carriage and waved his hand. An official came forward to praise him, and Guo Shao said loudly: "From today to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the officials and craftsmen on duty will be paid three times. In the future, when you ask for money from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, you can write down what I mean."

He deliberately spoke loudly, and the craftsmen who were working all looked sideways. Guo Shao walked up to a man dressed in black who was adding charcoal, and said: "Although there is no rest during the Chinese New Year, if you earn more money and go back to buy new clothes for your family, everyone will be happy, right?"

"Yes, yes..." the officials hurriedly nodded and bowed.

"Bang!" Suddenly there was a loud noise, which startled the inattentive crowd. When Guo Shao turned his head to look, he saw that a heavy forging hammer had just fallen and smashed it, and he could hear the friction sound of the chain at any time. The "door" part on the top of the forging hammer crashed into the "V" connecting piece, and was pulled up by the chain again.

A craftsman hurriedly picked up the object on the anvil with iron tongs, and then picked it up with his hands. It was a helmet. Guo Shao also walked over, reaching out to have a look... A thin wrought iron plate was stamped into a hemispherical helmet; but because the iron plate was slightly larger, there was a brim on the hemispherical plane.

"It doesn't look the same as the helmets worn by the soldiers. This is an iron helmet with a wide brim." Guo Shao looked back to the left and right, and thought for a while. "If the ear protectors are made of movable mail on both sides, the protection of the head will be quite good."

The official of the Jiafang Department said: "What Guo Du said in the inspection is very true. The sides of the hat can be pierced and strapped to the chin to stabilize the helmet... But we are not good at making chain mail. We don't have enough manpower. We have to ask the master craftsman of the military department to make it."

Luo Jiye, the head craftsman, took over the topic: "The most skilled armor maker can only make a piece of chain mail bigger than a palm in a whole day's work. That work can't be done without craftsmanship. You have to punch out iron wire, burn it red and beat it into a ring, hammer it flat; then punch holes and connect the ring with rivets to form an 'iron cloth shirt'."

Guo Shao nodded after hearing this: "Customize some chain mail ear protectors for generals and elite soldiers, and replace them with hard leather armor to save trouble."

He turned his head and saw some annealed and hardened helmets on a door panel, so he went up and took one, and handed it to Dong Er who was accompanying him to take it away.

They went to another workshop, where the breastplates were made. The forging hammer and anvil are cast and polished into a radian shape and become a mold; just like the stamped iron helmet, it becomes a piece of plate armor... However, it is more troublesome to process the thin iron plate. The wrought iron has to be repeatedly folded, stamped and forged dozens of times, and later forged and carburized (increased hardness), and then the blacksmith manually forged the corners. It is easy to process an iron plate of a certain size, put it on the anvil mold and smash it into one piece; if it is not pressed well, press it again.

Guo Shao took a pair and inspected it over and over again, and found that it was almost in line with his design intention, and the appearance was different from what he imagined, but as long as it had defensive power, it would be fine.

Luo Jiye said: "Only the front and side can be protected, only the chest and abdomen, and the back is empty, so we have to wear short leather shorts. A breastplate has three parts. One side is the front breastplate. After pressing the shape and then using a hammer to beat the edge and wrap it, it can protect the side waist; the user can also knock and adjust the size by himself. Chains run through the breastplate, making the armor tighter."

Guo Shao said with a smile: "It's enough to defend the front, and you can't attack the enemy with your back in battle; if you are defeated and flee, no matter how thick you wear, it will affect the speed of escape if it is heavy, and you will not be able to run fast."

After hearing this, everyone laughed for a while.

The design of this breastplate is also considered simple, it is actually an iron vest, but the back is empty.

The shoulder armor is a little more complicated, because the shoulders need to move, so several pieces of curved iron armor are inlaid with iron rings to achieve the purpose of movement; even so, when the arms want to be raised, there is still resistance, and it is really difficult to move like a swallow while wearing iron armor.

This batch of "plate armor" has a total of four sets of armor. The last one is the simplest arm armor, a semi-cylindrical iron plate with a large top and a small bottom, with holes on the edges. When using it, you only need to tap it to get used to the size, and then bind it on your arm with a hemp rope... There is still a part of the inner side that is empty.

The head, chest, shoulders, and arms are all protected by plate armor, which can avoid most of the killing. Guo Shao himself started as a pawn and fought on the battlefield for several years, so he is very experienced in this. These four places are particularly vulnerable to injuries. The head and chest are fatal, and the chest and abdomen are stabbed; the shoulders are protected from chopping; the arms are also vulnerable to attacks when using weapons.

However, it is not enough for generals to use plate armor, because for the sake of simplification and efficiency, the protection is not comprehensive; qualified generals and wealthy soldiers must equip mail armor inside, especially the movable parts, so that the protection power is quite high... But for ordinary soldiers, who do not even have a few pieces of armor on their bodies, having such protection will definitely increase their courage, because it is not easy to be killed.

Guo Shao walked around, most of the workshop facilities were still under construction, only the forging hammers in two or three yards had been put into use. The noise is quite loud. If the workshops in this entire city start to operate in the future, I don’t know how much noise it will be... But Guo Shao doesn’t bother to care about it, anyway, he doesn’t live here.

A group of people walked out of the workshop, only to see a cart carrying half of the pigs in. Guo Shao called out on a whim, "Chop the pork into two pieces."

Immediately, he asked Dong Er to take off his chain mail, wrap it on a piece of pork and hang it under the dead tree in the yard; he also asked someone to take out a breastplate, tie it with a rope inside the breastplate, and hang it on the tree together.

After Guo Shao moved around a bit, he asked people to take two stone bows.

Everyone finally understood what he wanted to do, and an official said flatteringly: "I have heard for a long time that Guo Du checks his archery skills like a god. Today I can wait for an eye-opener. It is really a blessing for three lives!"

Luo Jiye said solemnly: "Back then, Guo Du inspected and shot Zhang Yuanhui on the battlefield. He became famous with one arrow. It is by no means a vain reputation." Another person said: "Tsk! Two stones are strong bows, most people can't even draw them, let alone archery..."

Guo Shao didn't pay attention to them, but it sounded pleasant to the ear, not to mention compliments, everyone knew it was useless, but even if it sounded good, he couldn't avoid it.

Now draw the bow and set the arrow, draw the bow to the full within fifty steps and shoot "crackling" at the two pieces of armor, of course the arrows are not in vain. Everyone shouted: "Good good good! Guo Du's inspection is really good at archery."

Guo Shao drew his strong bow a few times, and was indeed exhausted. He dropped the bow and arrow, and said calmly: "Piercing Yang with a hundred steps is not a problem, but in order to increase the power of piercing the armor, it is close. It is nothing to hit a big target at such a close...Go get that thing and check it."

The officials of the Jiafang Department rushed over to carry the things in person, and everyone helped to pull out the arrows and take out the pork inside. Seeing this, Guo Shao said: "Sure enough, the plate armor has better defense!"

After all, it is a steel plate that has been repeatedly forged and carburized, and within fifty paces it was shot with a two-stone strong bow, but a pit was sunk, the top of the arrow cluster pierced a little, and the pig's skin was pierced; it can be imagined that the eight-dou bow that is often used in battle has almost nothing to do with this kind of plate armor, even the skin can't be broken.

He looked at another piece of pigskin protected by chain mail, which had been completely pierced by heavy arrows, and there were still broken wires left on the wound. He pulled out the dagger from his waist, and looked carefully through the pork. The arrow completely pierced through the skin and fat, and had already penetrated into the lean meat. The chain mail's defense against arrows is not bad, but Guo Shao is close and has strong arms, so he shot through the armor.

The people around saw it, and congratulated him one after another, praising Xinjia a lot.

Guo Shaodao: "As soon as the surrounding workshops are built, they will be on duty day and night to rush to make armors! Prepare items for the required money, food, and raw materials, and submit them to the imperial court. I will send someone to help you approve them."

An official immediately took out a booklet and presented it, Guo Shao smiled and put it directly into his sleeve pocket: "The court is very tight now, and the money has to be spent on the bright side. I will check the account carefully, there must be nothing wrong with it?"

The official quietly glanced at Guo Shao's expression, unexpectedly Guo Shao was staring at him with a smile. The official looked melancholy, finally bent down, looked at Guo Shao's sleeve and said: "Guo Du checks, I haven't checked the accounts carefully for a while, there may be some omissions in the account just now, why don't I give it back to the official, and check it again..."

Guo Shao showed a hint of a smile, but it looked a bit like a smirk: "I have given everything, and it is not good to take it back. You make a new copy, and I want both."

"this……"

Guo Shao stepped forward to caress his back, and said kindly: "It's okay, just now you went to fetch pork, look at your hands, there is still oil on your hands, isn't it?"

Guan'er stretched out his hand to look at his palm, Yintang turned black, nodded and said: "Yes, yes..."

Guo Shao said: "It's just human nature, I can't see that you have oil on your hands, so I cut off your hands?"

"General Guo, please forgive me." Guan'er suddenly fell to his knees.

Guo Shao helped him and said, "I told you that you can't cut off your hands, but it's better to add a pair of gloves. Wang Shuling deserves the credit for his hard work, why can't I remember?" He immediately turned around and said, "Come here, cut half of that piece of pork and give it to Wang Shuling. What's the point of putting some oil on your hands?"

Guan'er said thoughtfully: "I understand, I understand..."

!!