Lan Yuanzhen, who was working hard, was ordered by Zhao Ji, and hurriedly took people down the city and went to Xingguofang. Seeing Han Gang standing alone, but surrounded by a circle of banquets, Zhao Ji thought about it and gave him a banquet.

After Han Gang resigned twice, Xie En sat down, and Zhao Ji asked again: "Han Qing, you talk about your plate armor first." ”

"Obey the order!" Han Gang arched his hand and said loudly: "The weapons produced by the Ordnance Prison, no matter how big or small, must have specifications and styles. Now there are 51 works in prison, all of which are made according to the rules, and they dare not violate it in the slightest. Therefore, in recent years, the excellent weapons have greatly defeated the past, which is the contribution of Lu to participate in politics and Zeng Ducheng. ”

Zhao Ji glanced at Lu Huiqing, "Han Qing is right. ”

Lu Huiqing owed a salute, but she didn't even laugh. Since Han Gang spoke like this, it was clear that there would be a turning point below.

Han Gang knelt upright and looked at Zhao Ji: "According to the prison custom." A pair of armor, that is, the infantry armor, has a total of 1,825 armor leaves. It is divided into four parts: the shawl, the armor body, the leg skirt, the falcon's tail and the curtain leaf. The number and weight of the nail leaves vary. Eight catties and three taels of armor, five hundred and four nail leaves, two dollars and six cents per leaf; The first body is nine pounds and twelve two and four points, and the nail leaf is three hundred and thirty-two, and each leaf is four dollars and seven points; The leg skirt is nineteen pounds and one two and a half dollars and five cents, and the nail leaf is six hundred and seventy-nine, and each leaf is four dollars and five cents; The curtain leaf is four catties and thirteen taels and five cents, and the nail leaf is three hundred and ten, and each leaf is two dollars and five cents. There is also a cup with eyebrows weighing one pound and one tael, and the leather thread knot weighs five pounds and twelve taels and five dollars, with a total weight of more than forty-eight pounds. [Note 1]

Han Gang blurted out the numbers one by one, tirelessly, letting the Son of Heaven see his familiarity with his own work. Zhao Ji nodded unconsciously when he heard this-how long has Han Gang been in office?

"To make such a pair of armor requires a hundred and fifty labors [Note 2]. If it's a crossbow or archer, it's a little less. Han Gang looked at Lu Huiqing, "This system is determined by Lu Zhengzheng, and it should be the clearest." ”

At the gaze cast by the Son of Heaven, Lu Huiqing nodded a little reluctantly, "Han Gang is right, the crossbow armor uses one hundred and twenty workers, the archer armor and the spear armor one hundred and forty, and the step armor uses the most labor, one hundred and fifty workers. ”

The standard for one person's daily workload is ten jobs. That is, it takes twelve to fifteen people a day, or ten days and a half a month for a craftsman to create an iron armor. And the leather armor is not as time-saving and labor-saving as the iron armor, which is the armor provided to ordinary forbidden soldiers. If the nail leaves are smaller, the production of finer fish scale armor, or even mountain armor, will require more labor, more time and labor.

Listening to Han Gang tell the details of the armor, the anger in Zhao Xuan's heart somehow gradually began to dissipate. I couldn't help but ask: "Then Han Qing, how much is the plate armor you made?" ”

"Wechen mobilized craftsmen to start building plate armor, after getting the forging hammer. It was only on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, that is, two days ago, that the production began. It took a total of six craftsmen and two days to make eight pairs, which is exactly a pair of fifteen pairs. ”

'This can't be! Lu Huiqing almost screamed. And Feng Jing, Wang Qi and others also changed their faces suddenly. Wu Chong was even so shocked that he pinched the golden cup in his hand and deformed: "One-tenth!" ”

Zhao Ji leaned forward and asked, "Han Qing, is this true?!" ”

Han Gang arched his hand: "The minister doesn't dare to deceive His Majesty." Because the craftsmen selected by Weichen are all senior workers in prison. If it is an ordinary craftsman, it will probably take a little longer, but it will never exceed twenty work. ”

There was a moment of silence at the feast. For the same amount of raw materials, the less labor is used, the cheaper it is. If what Han Gang said was true, it would not be surprising that he was so confident.

Lu Huiqing bit his lower lip, he didn't believe that Han Gang could create a suitable armor. With his eyes and ears in the weapons prison, Han Gang's every move could not be concealed from him. But if it was in the name of trying out the forging hammer, mobilizing five or six craftsmen to close the experiment, it would not be difficult for Han Gang, the judge of weapons, to hide it for a few days.

Whether this hasty result is suitable or not remains to be proven. But the few people present already had a premonition of failure when they looked at the faint smile on Han Gang's face.

The plate armor was delivered, Xingguofang was very close to Xuande Gate, and it only took Lan Yuanzhen two quarters of an hour to go back and forth. He also brought two craftsmen who stayed behind.

The so-called plate armor, as the name suggests, is just a few wide iron plates, which are piled up on the ground with a clang.

Zhao Ji asked someone to take a pair over and look at it carefully. There is no decoration on it, but the surface is somehow glowing copper, smooth to the touch, and polished well.

"Wechen's plate armor is divided into four parts, the breastplate, the back armor, the shoulder armor, and the skirt armor. The scarf has not yet had time to be made. Han Gang stood up, found a moderately built Ban Zhi, and asked two craftsmen to help him put on the plate armor on his body.

Ban Zhi wore armor and spun around in front of the Son of Heaven. The armor reflected the bright moon in the sky and the torch on the city's head, and at first glance it looked much more beautiful than the iron armor worn by ordinary soldiers, not inferior to fish scale armor, and even comparable to the bright light armor. However, at the junction of each piece of armor, there are holes and tightly tied with leather ropes, and it looks like a rough and cheap goods.

The crowd shouted in their hearts, no wonder it was so easy to build, the structure of the plate armor was much simpler than the Zai armor. It is to bend the iron plate into a suitable shape and put it together, which is like a piece of armor, which needs to be polished, punched and woven piece by piece.

Zhao Ji pressed the nail piece hard, but he didn't move, and asked Han Gang, "I don't know if this armor is strong?" Can you block arrows? ”

"Weichen doesn't dare to say anything, please ask Your Majesty to order someone to try it with the Divine Arm Bow."

How could Zhao Ji endure it, he ordered someone to take the divine arm bow and experiment on the walls of the imperial city.

"Han Yukun is full of confidence, presumably the plate armor is far superior to the armor." Cai Ting said to Wang Shao with a sideways face. He doesn't occupy either side, and he also has the intention of watching Han Gang's affairs. Looking at the situation now, Han Gang is probably going to win.

Wang Shao smiled slightly: "As long as it's about the same as Zajia, you will definitely be able to win." ”

"The plank road is repaired in the light, and the plank road is in the dark. Han Yukun's hand is really beautiful. ”

"Incidentally! Didn't you hear Han Gang say that it was just incidental? Wang Shao laughed and drank all the wine in the cup.

Pig iron is very cheap, and even wrought iron, which is obtained by forging pig iron repeatedly, is not expensive. Raw materials such as iron and leather goods account for only a small part of the cost of armor, and labor costs are the majority.

It's too hard to create a deck of armor, and the trivial procedures are too grinding. First, more than 1,800 pieces of nail leaves of different sizes have to be created, and then they go through the processes of beating, coarse grinding, perforation, wrong hole and cutting, wrong graining, and fine grinding. After the armor leaves are made, they are woven into a complete set of armor with leather strips.

The armor institutes in the local military states build no more than 100 armor a year, but the labor cost is like splashing water. The cost of armor was so high that even the incomparably wealthy Great Song felt unbearable.

It was replaced with the plate armor that Han Gang took out. It is the breastplate, the back armor, the left and right shawls, and the four skirt armors, although the iron used is not much less than the armor, but the working hours have dropped to only one-tenth of the level. When it comes to the cost of a pair of armor, it is only 20% at most.

If it is an ordinary business, if the cost of new goods is reduced by one or two percent compared with the old goods, they will definitely say: 'This business is done', if it drops to one-fifth, then it is not an understatement of 'done', but have to desperately rush to do it.

It can be manufactured in large quantities in a short period of time, and the cost is only one-fifth of the past, as long as the plate armor can be guaranteed to have a similar degree of strength as the previous armor, then Han Gang said that it is not inferior to the Divine Arm Bow, which can deny it?!

"According to the law, those who secretly possess five crossbows will be beheaded, and the same punishment is enough as long as they secretly possess three collars of armor." Wang Shao picked up the empty gold cup, signaled to the inner attendant behind him, and said to Cai Ting with a smile: "Armor is more expensive than a crossbow!" ”

Stepping on the pedals, he pulled the crossbow string to the tooth hair, put a wooden feather short arrow into the crossbow groove, and Zhang Ruoshui raised the divine arm bow.

He was the chamberlain who was holding the Divine Arm Bow to do experiments in front of Zhao Ji. Piercing the iron armor at a distance of seventy paces not only tested the power of the Divine Arm Bow, but also proved his archery skills. After a few years, he once again raised his Divine Arm Bow in front of the Emperor, but it was no longer the heavy crossbow in his hand that he tested, but the armor that was used as a target.

In the light of the fire, the glittering plate armor was placed fifty paces away, and the bow of the divine arm was raised, and the arrow pointed slightly towards the target. After adjusting his breath, he snapped his fingers, and the short arrow of the wooden feather that was less than a foot long flew out.

There was a soft thud from fifty paces away.

"How?" Zhao Ji asked anxiously.

The plate armor was brought back, and the appearance was not damaged at all, but only when you touched it carefully, you could find that there was a shallow pit in the middle. This is a complete increase in past results.

Zhao Ji's hands trembled, the cost may only be one-fifth of the past, or even one-tenth, and the sturdiness is far superior, this is an invention that makes China's military strength better than that of the Northwest Eryu!

There was disappointment in the eyes of many people around, but Zhao Ji's eyes were only excited, this is the best gift for Shangyuan Festival!

Note 1: For these data, see "History of the Song Dynasty: Chronicles of the Soldiers XI". In addition, in ancient times, one catty was sixteen taels, please refer to the idiom of half a catty and eight taels.

Note 2: See Zhu Xi's "Matters with Zeng Zuosi": "To build the iron armor of the Buren archer, a year is 300 days, two days a pair, and yesterday it was completed to 150 pairs...... The theft of the upper piece of iron armor was calculated by a leather blacksmith of 18,000 and a salary of more than 5,200 yuan. 'One hundred and fifty pairs of iron armor, employing eighteen thousand, an average of one hundred and twenty workers, equivalent to the current twelve working days, and the labor cost alone is more than thirty-four times.