Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 143 Standard Armor
In the next few days, Lu Jin stayed at the Feixi Iron Factory, helping them plan the factory construction and also moving a number of craftsmen from Luzhou to start making weapons and armor.

Today, the Feixi Iron Factory can stably produce more than 4,000 kilograms of iron every day. Although this output is not much, it is enough to start production.

In addition, he also helps guide the casting process.

Centrifugal casting is a cylindrical hollow mold. The outer shell can be made of steel or wood for the time being, but a thick refractory layer must be filled inside. The mold is then placed horizontally on rollers to make it rotate rapidly, and molten iron is poured in from both ends. The molten iron will adhere to the wall of the tube under the action of centrifugal force, forming a hollow seamless iron pipe with uniform wall thickness and a very round inner diameter.

This type of centrifugally cast seamless iron pipe is still widely used in modern times, but it is usually used to make small-diameter sewer pipes. A layer of cement is usually sprayed inside as an anti-rust material, or used to cast engine cylinder liners. In any case, don't even think of using this method to cast a cannon.

However, there is one thing that needs to be noted in centrifugal casting, and that is that the inside of the mold must be preheated in advance. Otherwise, when molten iron is poured in, the shock of cold and hot temperatures can easily cause the mold to explode.

Lu Jin had someone make a bellows and a small stove, burning charcoal and blowing fire from the side, and then using a human-powered turntable to rotate the mold through a canvas belt. Finally, he managed to make an experimental product.

The ironworks happened to have some molten iron, and they cast a one-meter-long, 85-mm-diameter, 10-mm-thick wrought iron pipe on the spot. When the red-hot iron pipe was taken out of the mold, the group of craftsmen were stunned.

“It’s actually possible to cast a hollow iron pipe!”

Shen An had already understood the principle that Lu Jin said, and immediately demonstrated it with gestures.

"This is what the Marshal said about centrifugal force. If you stir the water in the water tank with your hands, the water will rotate along the tank wall. This molten iron is also water. As long as it rotates quickly, it can also rotate along the mold. When it cools down, it will become a hollow tube. The Marshal's method is really amazing."

Lu Jin smiled but said nothing. These are the most commonly used casting techniques in later generations. Although centrifugal casting is good, it can only be used to cast seamless pipes at present, and the technology still needs to be improved, such as preheating device, rotating device, mold shell, etc.

He pointed at the iron pipe that was gradually cooling down and turning dark red, and asked Shen An, "With this iron pipe, next time you can just pour molten iron into it and fill it up, you can make a solid iron roller, right? You will cast the remaining three rollers, is there any problem?"

"No problem, Marshal, don't worry, I will take care of the rest." Shen An immediately agreed with full confidence.

Sui Gu and Xue Gang looked at each other at this time, and Xue Gang immediately asked Lu Jin.

"Marshal, since this method can be used to cast iron pipes, can it be used to cast gun barrels?"

It's no wonder they think so. The barrel of a musket is so thin, and it is made by rolling and forging iron plates. There will always be a gap in the barrel. If a seamless iron pipe can be directly cast, the risk of explosion at the joint can be greatly reduced.

"No." However, Lu Jin shook his head and firmly denied it.

"Why?" Xue Gang still didn't give up. If he could really do that, he could reduce a lot of workload.

Of course, Lu Jin also wanted to make seamless steel pipes, but he knew very well that it was impossible to do so with the current technology, especially now that time was tight and there was no time for him to upgrade his technology, so he could only explain to the two of them.

“Cast iron pipes are not strong enough, white cast iron is too brittle and will definitely explode, grey cast iron is annealed to become malleable iron, and the quality is slightly better, but only to a limited extent.

"Although this kind of iron pipe has no gaps, it is actually more prone to explosion. If you just want to save trouble or don't want the iron pipe to have seams, you can actually use wrought iron to cast a slightly thicker short and thick pipe, and then forge it to lengthen and reduce the diameter. Only this kind of quality can be used to make a gun barrel.

"Remember, the gun barrel must be forged!"

Sui Gu's eyes rolled around, he thought about the method Lu Jin mentioned, and asked again.

"Marshal, since iron rollers can roll iron sheets, why can't they roll iron pipes?"

As soon as he said this, everyone looked at him. Even Lu Jin was very surprised. Rolling seamless iron pipes? How could this guy have such an idea? !
Seeing that even Lu Jin was so surprised, Sui Gu scratched his head and explained.

"I was also inspired by the Marshal. He said that rolling pins can be used to press dough, iron rollers can be used to press iron sheets, and grooved grinding wheels can be used to grind iron balls. So I thought, if I press a semicircular groove on each of the two iron rollers, wouldn't I be able to roll iron pipes?"

He gestured excitedly as he spoke, "We can carve grooves of different depths on the two rollers, from large to small, and thin it out step by step, just like drawing wire, drilling different holes and drawing it out step by step."

Lu Jin was stunned by this guy's idea. It seems that the ancient craftsmen were not stupid either. When they saw a new technology emerge, they immediately began to draw inferences. Xue Gang proposed to use centrifugal casting to make gun barrels, and Sui Gu proposed to make a pipe rolling machine. The speed of progress of these two people's ideas was simply surprising.

After Sui Gu finished speaking, he saw Lu Jin still looking at him straight, and immediately said nervously, "I was just talking nonsense. If the Marshal thinks it's not okay, forget it."

"No, why not? You haven't tried it, so how do you know it won't work?" Seeing that this guy was about to back down, Lu Jin quickly encouraged him, but still said.

“Your ideas are all good and are all for improving production efficiency, but don’t expect to achieve everything in one go. These new methods can be gradually improved, but the most important thing now is not to affect the construction period.

"Now that we have the iron materials, we have to make the muskets. Start by hammering them by hand. Once you can produce them stably, you can try casting, forging, and stretching them. Once this step is completed, you can try the pipe rolling machine.

"Also, the rollers of the pipe rolling mill should not be what you said."

"Well, what should it be like?" Sui Gu thought Lu Jin would scold him for giving a blind idea, but he didn't expect the general to discuss with him what kind of roller he should use.
Lu Jin took out a pen and paper and casually drew two conical rollers, one big at one end and one small at the other. The big and small ends were facing each other and the rollers were crushed at an angle, which surprised everyone.

Lu Jin then said, "This is what I thought, but it may not be correct. A pipe rolling mill cannot have only one type of roller. You can try it when you have time.

"The hardness of the clay is very high. When you come back, you can use the clay to simulate the iron material, use wooden rollers to make a model, and use a wooden rolling mill to roll the clay first. If you think there is no problem, then replace the components with iron. This can save research and development costs."

Several people nodded when they heard this. They had all attended classes at the Marshal's Mansion before. Lu Jin had specifically taught them the methods of mechanical research and development, material replacement, and the principles of size scaling.

For example, when making a watch, if the parts inside are too small and difficult to process, you can first make a wooden model the size of a washbasin. Once you have figured out the parts inside, you can then scale it down to the size of a real watch.

If it is a large-scale machine, make a small model first, create a principle prototype, and then switch to a larger one after the test is successful.

Making small models with large machines and making large models with micro-precision machines. This was the most reliable and economical research and development method for mechanical engineers in an era without industrial design software.

"Yes, we understand." Several people agreed immediately.

Speaking of mechanical models, Lu Jin casually drew a spring-powered forging hammer, which imitated the structure of a punching machine. The punching head was changed into a free hammer and anvil, and an eccentric wheel was installed on it to control the lifting and lowering of the hammer head.

This forging hammer can be driven by water power, and its effect is similar to that of the modern air forging hammer, but its structure is simpler than that of the air forging hammer, and it is more advanced than the water-peel forging hammer in the West.

The most difficult part to process on the entire forging hammer is the spring, the rest can be made of wood.

Lu Jin took out the thing and said to the others, "This is a forging hammer. When you have more iron, you can try to make it. With this, you can save a lot of effort. You don't have to swing the hammer manually."

Sui Gu and Xue Gang both became interested. This general was worthy of his Gongshu family background, as he had many wonderful ideas.

It is said that there are three hardest jobs in life: rowing a boat, forging iron, and grinding tofu. If Lu Jin continues to do this, I am afraid that the blacksmith will soon be the one with the easiest job.
In the next few days, as more and more craftsmen moved in, the work of the ironworks gradually got on track. The craftsmen began to divide into three groups, respectively forging weapons, armor, and muskets. As for cannons, there was still too little iron, so they had to wait a little longer. In this era, if you want to increase the output of weapons and armor, you can only rely on piling up people. The more craftsmen there are, the greater the output, but there are not many qualified craftsmen, and many skilled craftsmen are unwilling to pass on their skills, so Lu Jin proposed a reward system.

He directly brought over the modern hierarchy system, dividing all craftsmen into seven levels: apprentices, junior workers, mid-level workers, senior workers, technicians, senior technicians, and engineers. Different levels correspond to different welfare benefits, increasing gradually from salary to housing.

Apprentices live in a large dormitory with food and accommodation provided, but no salary. Junior workers are allocated land, receive salary, and save money to build their own houses. Intermediate workers are allocated brick and tile houses, senior workers are allocated single-courtyard houses, technicians are allocated two-courtyard houses, senior technicians are allocated three-courtyard houses, and engineers are allocated three-courtyard houses with a two-story building. The factory pays for the construction of their houses, so they don’t have to spend a penny of their own money!

As soon as this reward policy came out, the craftsmen worked with all their might, not only to work quickly but also to work well.

In addition, extra points will be awarded for making suggestions for improvement. If you want to get a title above technician, you must not only do a good job yourself, but also teach ten mid-level apprentices. Similarly, senior technicians also need to guide senior workers, otherwise how can they be called "teachers"?
If you want to get the title of engineer, you must also have significant technical and process improvements.

In short, the reward is very tempting, but it is not so easy to get a professional title. First of all, you have to be willing to teach your skills to others. Not only teach, but also teach well!
At that time, the rating assessment will not test the master, but only the apprentice. If the apprentice does not meet the standards, you, the master, will forget about getting promoted.

The saying that a master can only lead you to the door but practice depends on yourself does not make sense in Lu Jin. If you can't be taught, it means you are incompetent.

"Marshal, this is a sample of modified armor. Please check it." Sui Gu spent three days modifying a new set of armor. If there are no problems with it, it will be used as a model and designated as the standard armor of the Shengwu Army.

The standard armor style that Lu Jin chose was, of course, cloth armor. Cloth armor is also called hidden armor, which means that the armor plates are hidden inside the clothes. In contrast, there is visible armor, which is the traditional armor with iron plates on the outside, such as fish scale armor and barbed armor.

The advantages of cloth face armor are many. First, it does not reflect light at night, does not easily get hot during the day, and does not easily stick to the iron sheet when licked by the tongue in winter.
Another thing is that it is easy to put on and take off, especially the straight-breasted armor. Putting on the armor is as simple as putting on clothes and does not require assistance from others.

Third, it is light in weight. Due to the large area of ​​the armor plates, compared with the lamella armor, a large number of leather ropes and leather edges are eliminated, and only a few rivets are needed to fix the armor plates. Compared with the heavy lamella armor during the Song and Jin Dynasties, the whole set of cloth armor is generally ten to twenty pounds lighter.

During the Ming Dynasty, cloth armor generally weighed around 30 kilograms. Lu Jin planned to make it a little heavier, so he cut the material for each set at 40 kilograms.

Finally, cloth armor actually has another advantage, but few people notice it, which is that it is highly recognizable and makes it easy to distinguish between friend and foe on the battlefield.

Don’t think this is nonsense. How to effectively distinguish between friend and foe on the battlefield is a problem that has existed since ancient times.

Not to mention the medieval knights in Europe, after the formation of professional armies, from green jackets to lobster soldiers, and then to modern times, the whole world wears camouflage uniforms. In the case of general difficulty in distinguishing between friend and foe, the only thing they can do is wrap blue and green tape around their bodies.
In ancient times, if both sides wore iron armor and were at a distance, it was actually very difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. Zhu Di had such a real combat case. The enemy cavalry approached wearing iron armor, but the scout thought they were friendly troops and did not take them seriously. When the enemy approached and accelerated the attack, it was too late to react. Zhu Di also suffered a small defeat.

From then on, Zhu Di ordered the production of red helmets with the word "Yong" on them, paired with black armor, to distinguish between friend and foe. This is how the famous red lacquered helmets with the word "Yong" on them came about.

In history, the cloth armor of the Ming army also came in many colors. They were generally made according to the colors of the five elements and five directions. There was the Azure Dragon on the left, the White Tiger on the right, the Vermillion Bird in front, the Black Tortoise behind, and the Yellow Dragon in the middle. The left, right, front, and back armies all used five colors of cloth respectively, which made it easy to distinguish them when they were in formation.

But Lu Jin did not use this kind of formation, so the colors had to be changed. He planned to distinguish the colors according to the types of troops.

The infantry soldiers of the Shengwu Army use red armor, the auxiliary soldiers use indigo armor, the cavalry use white armor, and the close combat soldiers use black armor.

The imperial guards led by Lu Jin wore yellow armor, the artillery wore red clothes and yellow armored vests, and the internal guards stationed in various places all wore blue cloth armor.

In addition, a small amount of high-end armor will be produced as a reward for generals.

Of course, cloth armor does not have all advantages. Its disadvantages are also obvious. That is, if the armor plate inside is broken, it cannot be seen from the outside, which makes it easy to fool people. Qi Jiguang mentioned this situation in his new book on performance.

For this, Lu Jin can only hope to solve it through the system. For example, armor cannot be made privately, but must be manufactured uniformly and then replaced regularly to reduce the burden and maintenance costs for soldiers.

This was also done in the early Ming Dynasty. Later, the task of unified manufacturing of weapons and armor was delegated to local garrisons, which made their own weapons and armor. This gave local military officers an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, causing them to withhold manufacturing funds. The armor was difficult to replenish, and the soldiers could not maintain it, so it became increasingly deteriorating.

However, Lu Jin was not particularly worried. Once he built the factory and improved production efficiency, the cost of centralized manufacturing would be lower than decentralized manufacturing. If the technical level of firearms was further improved, it would not be impossible to directly eliminate armor, and he would not have to worry about armor in the future.

Lu Jin took the newly made red double-breasted straight-body armor and two iron arm armors, put them on and tried them out. He felt that there was no problem, so he called Zhu Shou and Ye Sheng to try them out.

Zhu Shou didn't have any objection. After putting them on, he picked up the spear and practiced for a while, then picked up the sword and cards and played with them, then came back and said.

"Marshal, this armor is very good. It is easy to put on and take off. One person can put it on by himself, and it does not affect the movement. I think it is okay."

"Then give Ye Sheng another try."

"it is good."

So he took it off again and let Ye Sheng try it on. Ye Sheng immediately praised the ease of putting on and taking off the cloth armor, then climbed on the horse, performed some tactical moves, and when he came back he frowned and made a suggestion.

"Marshal, this armor is not suitable for cavalry."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Lu Jin asked in surprise.

Ye Sheng immediately said, "This straight armor does have a large protective area and is easy to put on and take off, but it is too long. It is one piece at a time, so it is very awkward to turn around while sitting on a horse, and it is inconvenient to twist your waist. I think it should be made into two separate pieces."

Lu Jin raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and asked him to take it off. He put it on and tried riding a horse himself. The result was exactly the same as Ye Sheng said.

Only then did he suddenly understand a question that had always been in his mind: why, from the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, cloth armor gradually changed from a straight armor that was one piece to a cloth armor that was separated into two parts. It turned out that it was because of the cavalry.

But think about it, wearing a set of straight armor, with the whole body tied up like an iron barrel, it would be strange if he could turn around flexibly on horseback.

Moreover, the cloth armor of the cavalry in the marching pictures of the Ming Dynasty was also divided into upper and lower parts, which shows that the Ming cavalry was aware of this problem since the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty only developed the split cloth armor one step further.

Since the problem has been found, it needs to be corrected. Lu Jin immediately asked the craftsmen to make improvements. In the future, the infantry will still use straight armor, while the cavalry will use split armor.

Just as Lu Jin was supervising the making of weapons and armor, good news finally came from Luzhou.

"Marshal, we won a great victory in Lai'an. The two armies from the northeast joined forces to capture Lai'an!" Feng Guoyong personally ran from the city to report the news.

"When did it happen?" Lu Jin asked as he took the battle report.

Feng Guoyong immediately replied, "It was a few days after the Marshal returned, on the 24th of this month."

Lu Jin nodded when he heard this. He came back on December 20th, and Yu Tongyuan conquered Lai'an on the 24th. He had to run for a few more days to deliver the letter, so it was about this time.

Lu Jin counted the days and found that he had been in the iron factory for about ten days. Today should be the third day of the first lunar month. In the blink of an eye, it was already the twelfth year of Zhizheng.

(End of this chapter)