GBP Chapter 605: I have been waiting for a long time.
Chapter 605: I have been waiting for a long time.
About three years ago, when the newly-minted Zhang Shikang led the old, weak and sick soldiers of the Beijing camp to defend the capital for the first time against the invading Jianlu, he was severely beaten by Dorgon's heavy armored soldiers.
It was also from that time that forming a heavily armored force became Zhang Shikang's top priority.
But the Ming Dynasty court at that time was so poor that even if the former Minister of Revenue pawned his underwear, he could not afford to buy him several hundred sets of heavy armor.
The cost of heavily armored soldiers was so high that even during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, the number of heavily armored soldiers was only around 6,000 at most, and they were scattered across the various banners.
At the end of the previous year, in view of the improvement of the court's finances, Zhang Shikang finally got his wish and announced the formation of a heavy armored battalion consisting of 3,000 people.
Thanks to Zhang Shikang's attention, this heavy armored battalion of the Guards has achieved excellence in everything from soldiers' combat capabilities to weapons and equipment.
The 3,000 soldiers of the Heavy Armor Battalion were selected from the 100,000 soldiers of the Guards. These soldiers were not only required to be proficient in horsemanship and archery, but also to be first-rate in dismounted close combat. Most importantly, they had to be strong and have great endurance.
Mao Yuanyi, who was in charge of the weapons bureau of the General Manufacturing Administration, personally participated in the establishment of this heavy armor battalion. He learned from the strengths of heavy armor from past dynasties and combined it with the existing armor of the Ming Dynasty to tailor-make 3,000 sets of heavy armor for this heavy armored soldier.
Each set of armor weighs 46 kilograms, including armor, armor skirt, helmet, mask, neck guard, shoulder guard, heart guard, wrist guard, heart cover, and arm guard. The cost of each set of armor is 21 taels and 3 qian of silver.
The armor of ordinary soldiers is silver-black overall, with the charm of Ming Guang armor and the thickness of Shan Wen armor.
Mao Yuanyi once tested the armor's defensive performance and flexibility, and it was as good as any other heavy armor he had ever seen.
In order to make it easier for soldiers to distinguish, the armor and helmet of the sentry chief of the heavy armor battalion were inlaid with blue edging, the captain chief was light purple, the captain chief was green, and the battalion officer Cao Bianjiao of the heavy armor battalion was red.
Each heavy armored soldier was also equipped with two war horses, which were also equipped with vests and weighed up to 64 kilograms, with a cost of 18 taels and 6 cents.
When wearing armor during battle, the warhorse will also be armed to the teeth.
Yes, that's right. This is a heavily armored cavalry corps. The total weight of the armor and vests is 110 kilograms.
This weight is quite explosive compared with the famous armored cavalry in all dynasties. It is 30 kilograms heavier than the 80 kilograms of armor and vest of the armored cavalry at the peak of the Guanning Iron Cavalry.
It is only ten kilograms lighter than the iron buoy.
Of course, as a mobile human chariot and heavy tank in the era of cold weapons, this legion, called the Black Armor Army by Zhang Shikang, was also equipped with other luxurious equipment.
This mainly includes a long spear, a short spear, a long bow, a horn bow, a waist knife, and 200 arrows...
If we only count the weapons and equipment, the cost of a single heavily armored soldier is about forty taels of silver, which seems acceptable.
But this is only the cost price, which is the factory price in later generations. In fact, making heavy armor is particularly time-consuming, labor-intensive and material-consuming. Just one set of heavy armor for the Black Armor Army requires three skilled craftsmen for a month to make.
The cost of iron materials is equivalent to dozens of sets of leather armor for ordinary infantrymen.
It was also for this reason that, even with Mao Yuanyi's supervision, it took nearly a year to make these 3,000 sets of heavy armor and vests.
Moreover, the cost of heavily armored soldiers is not calculated in this way. The soldiers' monthly salary, food, and the consumption of war horses must also be taken into account.
Especially the latter, a warhorse consumes five times more supplies than a single soldier.
This is just one of the reasons. A large-scale armored cavalry regiment not only consumes several times more supplies than ordinary soldiers, but also needs to be equipped with more craftsmen to repair human armor and vests in real time.
Calculated based on the value of equipment and supplies, that is to say, if the enemy uses ten ordinary soldiers to kill one heavily armored soldier, it is a small profit.
If five soldiers could kill one heavily armored soldier, the commander would wake up laughing in his sleep.
Of course, it is very difficult to kill a heavily armored soldier. Ordinary swords, spears, bows and crossbows cannot break the defense of heavy armor.
The charge of heavy cavalry against infantry is devastating and is the key to breaking the enemy's formation in a field battle.
Before the development of firearms, the only force that could restrain heavy cavalry was light cavalry. The reason was simple: light cavalry ran fast enough, while heavy cavalry had very poor endurance.
Once surrounded by enemy light cavalry and without help from other arms, the fate that awaits the heavy cavalry is basically annihilation.
Many dynasties have thought of ways to deal with this shortcoming, and ultimately it was the nomadic peoples of the grasslands who provided the best solution - one person and multiple horses.
During the peak period of Mongolian armored cavalry, each man had four horses, making it possible for the armored cavalry to travel thousands of miles a day.
Although the Ming Dynasty's current foundation is much better than it was two or three years ago, and the food and grass can be maintained, and although the gold and silver in the treasury have been spent like water by Zhang Shikang, there is still a large amount of silver in reserve.
However, the problem of war horses has not yet been solved. Even though more than 30,000 war horses have been obtained through Ombu and Li Zicheng in the past two years, only 12,000 horses have been distributed to the Guards.
The rest of Zhang Shikang was handed over to Lu Xiangsheng's Huben Army, which was the border army.
As for the Yongning Army of the Ministry of War, what? You are a branch of the army responsible for public security in the border area, what do you need a bicycle for?
The border troops suffered from the cold weather and their combat effectiveness was acceptable. However, the reason why they suffered more defeats than victories in the battles with the Jianlu was not only because of their poor armor coverage, but also because of the lack of war horses.
There were only four or five thousand Guanning Iron Cavalry left, and their situation was truly miserable.
Including the 12,000 war horses looted from outside the Great Wall, the Guards now have a total of more than 26,000 war horses available.
Nearly half of the three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers were selected from the fifteen thousand cavalry of the Guards.
But after the Black Armor Army was formed, the Guards became even more short of war horses, so much so that the total number of cavalry even decreased.
But Zhang Shikang felt that it was all worth it, because according to the previous firearms tactics, the Guards were very good at defending in field battles, but they lacked active offensive means with high mobility and high defense.
The Black Armored Army can make up for this, making the Guards a strong army with both offensive and defensive capabilities. When combined with the Ming Dynasty's large-caliber bronze cannons, it can be said that it has almost no shortcomings.
Armor is the life of a heavy armor soldier, so whenever they have time, the soldiers of the Black Armor Army will learn to maintain their armor themselves.
Seeing Zhang Shikang coming, everyone put down their work, saluted Zhang Shikang with their right hands on their left chests, and shouted "Grand Marshal".
Hearing this, the commander of the Black Armor Army, Annan Marquis Cao Bianjiao, also came out of the barracks. When he saw Zhang Shikang, he said happily:
"Commander!"
Zhang Shikang waved his hand and said:
"We will set out tomorrow. Are you ready?"
Upon hearing this, Cao Bianjiao replied excitedly:
"Everything is ready, Marshal. I have been waiting for this day for a long time!"
……