Ma Chao galloped with Pang De and others, dismounted at the lake, threw the reins of the horse to Pang De, and looked at the small boat waiting by the lake and Pang Tong on the boat, his face changed slightly. "Do you have to get on board?"

"No, you don't." Pang Tong smiled, took a leap, and went ashore. "Wait, the general is on discussion, I'll come later."

Ma Chao was relieved and smiled brightly. He looked around, leaned over to Pang Tong's side, and said softly: "I just received a letter from home, and my father specially picked two meek Xiliang horses, one for the three generals and one for Mrs. Zun, hoping to comfort Mrs. Zun's thoughts of the countryside." ”

Pang Tong understood. "Thank you, General."

"It should be, it should be." Ma Chao grinned and said, "In front of the general, I also asked Shi Yuan to say a lot of good words." Although my father has been in Xiliang for a long time, after all, he can't compare with Hanwen. ”

"Don't worry, the general knows it. Making friends is not just about power. ”

"That's, that's." Ma Chao laughed heartily. With Pang Tong's words, the big stone in his heart fell. He received a letter from Ma Teng, telling him how he had met Jiang Gan. Ma Teng only provided two hundred war horses, and Han Sui did not break the agreement between them, but he sent Han Yin to send Han Shaoying to Runan to complete the marriage at this time, and with five hundred horses as a dowry, he had already compared Ma Teng. In the name of giving marriage, Han Yin brought a thousand knights, which clearly meant that if he wanted to ask for a thousand sets of armor and ordnance, even if Sun Ce gave a discount, at least he would have to equip Han Yin's personal guard battalion with 300 horses. In this way, Han Sui's strength will be significantly improved, and Ma Teng will become the weakest one.

Pang De reminded Ma Chao of this a long time ago, so when Ma Chao wrote a letter back to Guanzhong, he specially mentioned two people, one is Sun Ce's sister Sun Shangxiang, and the other is Pang Tong's wife Zhang Zifu, Sun Shangxiang is good martial arts, Zhang Zifu is from Guanzhong, they all like to ride horses, Ma Chao asked Ma Teng to prepare two good horses, especially for these two people, not only to be strong, but also beautiful.

After all, women are different from men, their love for beauty is stronger, and their requirements for the appearance of their mounts are also higher, and they have never found a satisfactory mount. Pang Tong never mentioned that Sun Shangxiang had a good relationship with her, and often rode horses together, and talked about it when he came to the camp to select horses. Pound took it to heart.

"Calling me suddenly, is there an action?"

"What can you do on a hot day? There's something I want you to consult. Pang Tong said, beckoning, and two people came over carrying a box. Ma Chao looked at the two people a little familiar, and couldn't help but take a look at them, but he couldn't remember who they were for a while. When he was rolling his eyes and scratching his head, Pound broke through. "General, this is the craftsman of Nanyang Iron Official."

Ma Chao suddenly realized, nodded again and again, and his attitude immediately became a little respectful, and he didn't dare to put the score of the young general. Nanyang Tieguan is the current iron official with the highest level of iron smelting, and most of the ordnance sent to Guanzhong is the responsibility of Nanyang Tieguan, if he provokes these people, the ordnance issued to Ma Teng may be downgraded by one level.

Although those two craftsmen were just ordinary craftsmen, they were used to this kind of treatment. This is also one of the reasons why they are willing to serve in Nanyang Tieguan. Even though you are a craftsman, you can get the respect you deserve for your skills, which is more rewarding than simply making more money. Of course, the income of the craftsmen of Nanyang Tieguan is not low, and an ordinary craftsman can also earn 100 stones a year.

They put down the box, and with a slight pull, the large box opened like a trick and broke it down into several smaller boxes. Just this hand, this made Ma Chao and others breathtaking. But what surprised them even more was that the craftsmen opened the lids of the boxes one by one, and each box contained a piece of fine armor, but it was not a human armor, and the shape was very strange.

Ma Chao suddenly held his breath and shouted: "Outfit?!" "I pounced on one and picked it up, held it up in front of me to look at it carefully, just like a child who saw a favorite toy, and the more I looked at it, the happier I became. He said in a loud voice: "Ling Ming, look at you, how beautiful this pattern is, this is a costume, a real outfit." ”

Pound was also very excited, picked up one, checked it, and was a little surprised. "So light?"

Ma Chao also found out. "Well, it doesn't seem to be enough."

A craftsman smiled reservedly: "General, don't worry, although this suit is lighter than the usual fit, there is no problem with its sturdiness at all." We have experimented that unless we use special arrows, these equipment can defend against a one-stone crossbow at 50 paces, two with 80 steps, and a four-stone crossbow at 100 paces. ”

"Really?" Ma Chao will be skeptical. The fish scale armor worn by senior generals is just such a protective ability, and this outfit is not fish scale armor, how can it have such good protection.

The craftsman's voice is not loud, but he is full of confidence, even a little arrogant. "Nanyang Tieguan, never lies."

Seeing that the craftsmen were so confident, Ma Chao didn't dare to question it anymore, otherwise these craftsmen would turn their faces. "How did you do that?"

The craftsman smiled but said nothing. Pang Tong coughed and said with a smile: "General Ma, let's try it." ”

Ma Chao was a little embarrassed. He knew that he had crossed the line, and it was very taboo to inquire about the technical details, so he hurriedly beckoned Pound to unload the harness of a mount, assemble the equipment, and then he himself got on the horse for a test ride. The equipment is very exquisite, and the weight is lighter than expected, and the war horse adapts to it after running a hundred and ten steps. Ma Chao began to trot, armored cavalry does not need to run fast, even if it rushes into formation, it is only a trot, as long as the safety of the men and horses is ensured, the trot is enough to break through the defense of the foot soldiers.

Two craftsmen followed, one of them, while observing the running state of the war horse, while loudly saying terms that Ma Chao did not understand. With the lesson just now, Ma Chao didn't dare to say much, but just made various tactical moves according to their instructions. Sometimes the craftsman asks some questions, and he has to think very carefully before answering, and sometimes he has to repeat the action and carefully ponder the difference.

He knew very well that Nanyang Tieguan would definitely encounter many problems in trying to make equipment, and if he wanted to use the equipment in the autumn war, he must cooperate with these craftsmen to shorten the development process as much as possible and solve as many problems as possible. This is not only related to whether Sun Ce can repel Yuan Shao's attack, but also whether he himself can make new contributions.

Yuan Shao had 300 armored cavalry under his command, which was Yuan Shao's killer weapon. Sun Ce was unlikely to have the same number of armored cavalry, and he would almost certainly have to face a situation where he would have fewer enemies, and maximizing his technical superiority was one of his hopes of victory.

When Ma Chao and the craftsmen finished the experiment and returned to the lake, Sun Ce's boat had already docked. Sun Ce got off the boat and was talking to Pang Tong. Seeing Ma Chao coming back, Sun Ce raised his hand and said hello.

"Meng Qi, how do you feel?"

"Good, very good." Ma Chao turned over and dismounted, and he was overjoyed. "General, although there are still some minor flaws, it is not a big problem, how did they do it, they did it so well the first time? I think these people are too capable, and all of them are masters of the qualifications. ”

"You don't have to be a sycophant." Sun Ce couldn't help but laugh. How much effort he spent on these equipment, Ma Chao would not know, and he didn't need to know. The drawings, materials, and processing techniques of these armor will be top secret for a long time. Especially the materials, this is Huang Chengyan's latest achievement in metallurgical technology, and even includes the brainchild of some alchemy Taoists.

Ma Chao laughed.

Sun Ce laughed twice and asked, "Meng Qi, I want to ask you one thing, can you increase the spear to more than one zhang and five zhang?" ”