Daqin Engineering Corps

Wei Wei was a little surprised. The Mengshan camp that Shen Bing mentioned was the prison camp where the Wei army prisoners were held. Because it was located in the Mengshan col, it was called the Mengshan camp.

If it is said that the navy army must be formed by the captives of the Wei army because of the order, but the personal guard Shen Bing can be selected from the Qin army and should be selected from the Qin army.

Because the personal guard should be the most trusted subordinate, of course you can't just order it casually.

Shen Bing noticed the doubt in Wei Xi's eyes, he was puzzled at first and then thought of it.

So he laughed:

"Lieutenant Zuo is too worried."

"Shen Bing can trust Captain Zuo, but also the sailors."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't be the captain of the navy."

"Lieutenant Zuo, just feel free to order!"

Wei Wei was so moved that he burst into tears.

You must know that when he was under the Wei King's false appointment, even though he was a general, he had all kinds of suspicions, all kinds of anger, and all kinds of chills...

Even though he is just a little Captain Zuo, he can gain such trust and respect.

Looking back on the unbearable past, Wei Wei secretly thought that in the future, even if there is another general, he will never do it again.

So Wei Wei didn't say much, just bowed his hands to Shen Bing, and then ordered soldiers.

Of course Wei Wei didn't know that Shen Bing was put to death and reborn.

If possible, Shen Bing would not risk his own life, after all, this is a personal guard, and he can kill his own personal guard at any time.

But if you think about it further:

What's the difference even if soldiers from the Qin army serve as personal guards?

The navy has 3000 people, and will go out of the city to fight in the future.

If Wei Wei and his subordinates had the intention to rebel, three thousand against three hundred would be just a trick.

That being the case, why bother?

Using the Qin army as a personal guard seems to distrust these surrendered soldiers, and estrangement in command will be inevitable in the future.

It's better to use all Wei soldiers generously...

But Shen Bing was really scared.

I hope these Wei soldiers don't think carefully, otherwise it would be wronged if they died in their hands.

Chapter 174 Division of Labor and Cooperation

The first set of rattan armor was weaved a month later.

At this time, the red vines have only been soaked in the sun for a month, but the surface layer is fibrous, and the vine flesh is still inside.

It can be imagined that the more you go in, the harder it is to soak in the sun, and the more difficult it is to fibrillate.

More than 300 basket weaving artists were recruited there. If it takes ten days to weave a set of armor, then it will take [-] days or about three months to weave [-] sets of armor.

Shen Bing calculated:

It is obviously unrealistic to wait for the red vine to soak for a few months before starting work.

Because at that time, in the spring of next year, the Chu State Navy will also start its activities. Once the battle starts, the enemy can't let the enemy wait until our navy armor is ready before fighting, right?

Therefore, the armor should be edited as early as possible.

As for the red vines that haven't reached the standard for armor... It's not difficult to solve this problem, and the armor that has been compiled can also enter the soaking process.

It's just that it's not as convenient to soak in the sun as rattan.

For example, rattan can be stuffed into a big bucket to soak, and there is no need to worry about a certain place being blocked from the sun.

After the armor is made, it needs more space to soak and worry about deformation, and it has to be turned over to make it even.

But what Shen Bing lacked was time, not manpower, so of course he had to choose to do so.

If there is any impact, it is that the rattan shell will shrink as a whole after being soaked in the sun due to the rotting away of impurities.

Shen Bing asked Jing and other craftsmen to increase the weaving by one size according to the standard, so that after it shrunk, it would almost reach the standard armor size.

Shen Bing tried on the armor and felt quite satisfied with himself, mainly because it was light in weight and breathable, and it didn't feel as heavy as bronze armor.

What's more important is that it can have a cape, a helmet and even a mask with only half the weight, which almost protects all vital points.

Shen Bing put the armor on the wooden man and tried it out. There was no problem with the bow and crossbow protection, and the sword only scratched a few marks on the surface.

Shen Bing believes that this is not only related to the fibrosis and hardening of rattan armor, but also its flexibility: because it is flexible, it can be cushioned and there will be a process of unloading force.

But this is not as good as the defense against piercing weapons such as spears and halberds.

Shen Bing asked Ren to try with the gun, and at least one-third of the spear tip could penetrate.

But having said that, even the bronze armor is also unable to withstand puncture injuries.

So Shen Bing didn't hesitate any more, and Mingjing immediately made armor in this style.

In addition, Shen Bing also asked:

"Can you speed up the armoring process or recruit more people?"

"The navy can't wait."

No wonder Shen Bing was anxious.

As the saying goes, be prepared, no one knows when the battle will start, and of course the sooner the armor is equipped, the better.

Difficultly replied:

"The captain doesn't know something."

"Weaving armor is not like weaving baskets. The warp and weft must intersect and be tightly fastened, otherwise flaws will be left."

Shen Bing understood this.

Basket weaving can take the vertical as the main structure to weave horizontal lines, that is, vertical and horizontal density.

After all, the baskets are used to hold soil, so they don't need to be too tight.

Armor can't do this. For example, the horizontal lines are dense and the vertical lines are sparse. The enemy only needs to flatten the blade to penetrate the human body from the gap between the horizontal lines.

Therefore, it must have the same latitude and longitude and be tightly intertwined to form a dense net, so as to better disperse the force somewhere and keep the blade out of the armor.

Jing went on to say:

"If Xiaomin summoned all the basket weavers in Daliang, there might be more than a thousand of them."

"But armouring is a matter of military and national importance, and ordinary people dare not neglect it, so only those with superb skills."

"If you want to speed up, Xiaomin can't guarantee everything is fine!"

It is not unreasonable to say so.

In particular, armor is also related to soldiers' psychology and morale.

If a few pieces of armor are pierced by the enemy's crossbow arrows... it will cause everyone to disbelieve the protection of the rattan armor, so there will be psychological pressure and even affect morale.

So it makes sense to keep quality before quantity out of prudence, otherwise there is no point in quantity.

After thinking about it, Shen Bing asked:

"Old man, are different parts of armor different in difficulty?"

Answered with a nod:

"It's different."

"Among them, the hat is the most difficult, because it has an odd shape and has two upper and lower layers, and it must be waterproof."

"Then there are masks and shawls, of which the half-moon shape of shawls can be rolled up if you are not careful."

"The armor and vine shield are much easier..."

This is easy to understand. The shape of the armor and rattan shield is regular, and there is not much technical difficulty. It is more repeated over and over again, so although they are large in size, they are easier to edit.

This is also one of the reasons why most of the bronze armor equipped by the Qin army did not have shoulders.

In addition, cloaking does not add much protection, but consumes no less labor and time than armor, which is obviously not cost-effective.

After thinking about it, Shen Bing asked again:

"Since this is the case, why didn't the old man hand over the armor and shield to an artist who is not skilled."

"And the [-] artistes you have specially edited helmets, capes and other things?"

Hearing this, he let out a "huh", then nodded and said:

"This method is feasible, but Xiaomin never thought of it..."

Unexpectedly, it is not surprising that most of the craftsmen in this era are small handicraft workshops, no matter how difficult or easy they are all done by one person.

If there is a division of labor and cooperation, and the difficult ones are handed over to skilled craftsmen, and the easy ones are handed over to beginners, wouldn't it be possible to maintain both quality and quantity?

However, there are still concerns:

"Captain, if I finish weaving these three thousand armors in a short time, wouldn't it be..."

He didn't finish the next sentence, and his expression was a little embarrassed.

However, Shen Bing still understood the meaning of these words.

It turns out that Jing still has a little selfishness:

If all the artists in the city were recruited to work together to make armors on the assembly line, it is estimated that [-] sets could be produced in just over a month.

But what about after these [-] sets of armor are produced?

Are these people unemployed?

Are you going back to weaving baskets again?

Although weaving armor doesn't cost much more than weaving baskets... three kuai more per day.

The problem is that weaving armor is stable, but weaving baskets has today and no tomorrow.

So from his point of view, he hopes to extend the time, and it is best to let them do all the work slowly.

Shen Bing couldn't help laughing:

"Old man, please be at ease."

"Armor and the like must be worn out in every battle. In addition, the navy must also have some inventory."

"What's more, this batch of armor is only for emergency use."

"The official equipment is still the rattan armor that has been soaked in the sun for a year."

Anyway, for Shen Bing, money is just a matter of making a few sheets of paper, so why not prepare a few more sets of armor?

Eyes immediately lit up:

"The captain is saying that the follow-up maintenance, repair and production of these armors are all left to Xiaomin?"

Shen Bing replied:

"Of course."

Then added:

"But the old man must ensure the quality, otherwise..."

Hastily answered:

"You can rest assured, Captain."

"It's about the life and death of the sailors, so Xiaomin dare not ignore it?"

"If the captain has any dissatisfaction, he can actually blame Xiaomin."

Chapter 175 Rattan Armor