Chapter 582 Why did you join the army? (Please vote and subscribe)
Luo Chong hurried back to Hanyang City. Although the order to recruit soldiers required that they be recruited and sent over within a week, it would take some time for them to come. It would take at least half a month to gather the new soldiers from all over the country. However, Luo Chong had to prepare a lot of things in advance.
Where should the military camp be set up? Where should the training ground be set up? There were more than 4,000 people, so a large area was needed. There were also food, weapons, carriages, officers, and a lot of things that needed to be arranged. It could be considered a regular army, but this thing was good, but it was really expensive.
The first thing to solve was the military camp, which required a large open area, but it couldn't be too far away from the Han tribe, otherwise it would be inconvenient to contact. After thinking for a long time, Luo Chong decided to set up the military camp outside the valley north of Fuma Pass. There was open land there, and it was relatively close to Fuma Pass and not far from Hanyang City. It was a relatively suitable place.
But that place is still an empty wilderness, without even a barrack, so it needs to be rebuilt. There is no shortage of manpower for this, just let the big soldiers do it.
In addition, there are military uniforms and armor, which need to be prepared now. As for the clothes, Luo Chong directly arranged for his mother-in-law to do it. She will prepare the cloth, and Shu Da will recruit women in Ruyang County to sew them. There are many people there, so it is easy to do this. The flags are also made by Ruyang County. Now the largest brocade textile center of the Han tribe is there. If they don’t do it, who else can do it?
Of course, Hanyang City can’t be idle. They have to play their respective advantages. In this way, the matter of making military equipment falls on Hanyang City.
Luo Chong is actually most concerned about the batch of bows and crossbows that were made last year. Now nearly a year has passed, and I don’t know what they look like.
Walking into the woodworking workshop of Hanyang City again, it is still in full swing. The biggest project is shipbuilding. Hanyang City builds small boats and Liuyang County builds large ships. It has always been like this. In addition, there are the batch of bows and crossbows.
As the saying goes, wood is made in winter, horns are made in spring, tendons are made in summer, and harmony is achieved in autumn. Now that autumn has arrived, this batch of bows and crossbows has come to the point where everything is ready except for assembly.
The masters who specialize in making bows are assembling each bow in full swing according to the bow racks and special tools designed by Luo Chong.
There are 2,500 composite recurve shortbows, which are shortbows specially equipped for cavalry. They are easier to pull than hardwood longbows, but their range is higher than that of longbows. The longest throw distance of light arrows is 300 meters, which is easy. The killing distance of heavy arrows for unarmored targets is 150 meters, and the killing distance of heavy arrows for armored targets must be within 100 meters to ensure that they can be shot. Although it is the same bow, there are too many uses. Different arrows are used in different situations. It is a science to choose armor-piercing arrows or killing arrows.
Of course, the Han tribe didn't have that many cavalrymen at the moment. To arm 2,500 cavalrymen, at least 10,000 qualified war horses were needed. Luo Chong had no idea where to get them. So it was better to wait until he had a foothold in the grassland and had more cattle and horses before considering this.
Since there were no cavalrymen, there was no need to rush for the short bow for the cavalrymen, but the crossbows for the infantrymen had to be made first.
The craftsmen skillfully fixed the oak bow tire on the bow frame, brushed a layer of fish bladder glue on it, and then glued the wooden carved bow tip and bow handle on it, and then glued the sawed ox horns on it, and then used a rope winder to tightly wrap the two parts together with hemp rope, and then put them aside to dry.
There were also craftsmen nearby who took out a batch of semi-finished products that had been glued to the horns. These were already dried. Then, the same steps were used to fix the semi-finished products on the bow frame. Fish bladder glue was applied to the side of the bow frame that was not glued to the horns. Then, a layer of tendon was applied. After pressing firmly, another layer of glue was applied, and another layer of tendon was glued, until the entire bow body was patched and leveled with tendon.
This step is crucial, because the so-called tensile strength of the bow body is determined by the thickness of the tendons, so a vernier caliper is used to measure the thickness of the tendon layer.
It is not enough to glue the horns and tendons on both sides of the wooden frame. After they are completely dried, they must be glued again and wrapped with a layer of birch bark. One is to make the appearance beautiful, and the other is to prevent water, moisture and wear.
The bow wrapped with birch bark is very smooth and flat, but it is not finished yet, because the outside needs to be painted, further modified and waterproofed. Finally, the finished product after painting is radiant and looks seamless. If you don't see the assembly process of the bow with your own eyes, no one will believe that it is made up of many things.
After the composite bow is made, sit in front of the crossbow arm prepared in advance, and then take a 'D'-shaped foot pedal iron ring made by the metallurgical workshop, and finally fix it all with pins and mortise and tenon joints.
The only thing that makes Luo Chong feel very familiar is that this crossbow arm is Luo Chong's favorite. The crossbow bed with a comfortable feel in the front is made into the shape of a rifle's handguard, and the trigger at the back uses a round trigger ring. The crossbow tail is also made into the shape of a curved stock of a modern rifle. If you only look at the back, you might think it is a well-known rifle in World War II.
After all these are installed, the remaining thing is to hang the string. However, the workshop will only hang the string temporarily for a few test shots to check whether the arrow groove is smooth, whether the trigger is normal, and whether the measured distance of the "sight" is deviated. After all the inspections are qualified, the bowstring must be taken down and will not be re-stringed until it is distributed to the soldiers to prevent the elasticity of the bow arm from declining and reducing the service life.
Luo Chong took a crossbow that had just come off the production line and test-shot it a few times, and then asked the wooden barrel beside him.
"How long will it take to complete this Shenbi crossbow?"
"To report to the leader, this time we will make a total of 2,500 recurve shortbows and 3,500 Shenbi crossbows. Now 600 Shenbi crossbows have been completed, and the remaining number can be completed within a month, and the shortbows can be completed before winter."
Luo Chong nodded. This speed was within his expectations, and he couldn't say they were slow. After all, this thing is different from swords and guns, and it really can't be rushed.
"Well, the subsequent weapons must also ensure this quality. It doesn't matter if they are a little better, but they must not be worse than this batch.
In addition, this crossbow must continue to be made. Starting from this winter, make another 10,000. In the future, every city in the Han tribe must have some." Luo Chong instructed Mu Tong again.
"You still need to make so many? But, but we don't have much material. Our tribe doesn't kill cattle, so we don't have so many horns and tendons." Mu Tong was shocked when he heard that Luo Chong wanted to make so many more crossbows.
"Don't worry, you can prepare the wooden frame and crossbow frame first. You won't be short of horns and tendons. Next year, our tribe will increase trade with the grassland, and this thing will never be short of it again."
"Then I have no problem. This thing is good. Although it is a little troublesome to wind it up and the speed is slow, it doesn't require so much practice and it is faster to learn. Every city has some. If something happens, even women and children can pick it up and use it. Don't worry, leader, we will do it well."
When Mu Tong heard that there was no shortage of materials, he had nothing to worry about. With more weapons, the Han tribe would be stronger, which was a good thing. Besides, if the craftsmen made bows, they could earn more money. But making wooden boats and furniture could not afford such a price. The wages were different, and the craftsmen were willing to do more such work.
After arranging the bows and crossbows, Luo Chong thought of something else again, armor. This time, so many soldiers were recruited at once, thousands of people, and they could not be as casual as before. Leather armor was impossible to use. The Han tribe did not have so much cowhide, and the defense of leather armor was limited after all, but the weight was not much lighter than iron armor. It was better to get it all in one go and equip some iron armor directly.
Especially the metal stamping technology that the Han tribe developed for coin casting. Now that so many coins have been stamped, this technology has long been mature. It is not difficult to use it to stamp some steel sheets. The principle is the same as that of making coins, but the shapes are different.
After all the armors were replaced, wouldn't he feel uncomfortable using the saved cowhide to make two more pairs of shoes for the soldiers?
This is the most correct use of cowhide. Little did they know that the most expensive thing in the army was not the weapons, but the shoes. They didn't know how much they would be worn out by those who often marched and fought.
As soon as he said it, Luo Chong went home and started drawing the drawings of mountain pattern armor, fish scale armor and bar armor, marked the specific sizes, and then handed them over to the metallurgical workshop to make them.
However, they didn't have to be so troublesome. The workshop only needed to use the plate rolling machine to press out the steel sheets of appropriate thickness, then change the die head for the punching machine, and finally punch out the required steel sheets.
As for the problem of braided armor, it could be handed over to the women who sewed clothes, or even let the soldiers do it themselves. Anyway, if the size is not suitable, it will have to be revised again after it is handed over to them, so it is better to get it right at once.
All preparations were carried out in an orderly manner. Finally, a week later, Hanyang City welcomed the first batch of soldiers, but they were not from Liuyang County and Weishan County. They were far away, so they had to wait a little longer. The soldiers who were able to assemble and arrive in Hanyang City so quickly were all from Ruyang City, Danshan County and Matan County. Since the barracks were set to the north of Fuma Pass, Luo Chong, a soldier from Fuma Pass, simply did not let them come, but ordered Ying Rui to organize them to transport supplies to the garrison first.
Although there were not many soldiers in these three places, there were about a thousand people in total. They did not stop at all when they arrived in Hanyang City. Thousands of new recruits received vehicles, livestock, food and grass, tents, tools and other items in the warehouse here, and went directly to the garrison under the leadership of Xue Tu, where they would set up temporary tents first.
After these people left, they waited for another five or six days before a team of 3,000 people came from the east of the Rushui River. At this time, even if all the soldiers were present, Luo Chong began to personally lead them to the camp north of Fuma Pass. The team of 3,000 people
was magnificent. Although they all lined up and marched forward, they still looked undisciplined. However, Luo Chong did not care. After all, they had not been trained yet, so they could not rush.
The later batch of recruits escorted the vehicles of the brigade and continued to follow Luo Chong to the military camp, but they did not know what was on the vehicles. The boxes were full and extremely heavy to lift, and they did not know what they were.
The recruits whispered while hurrying on the road, and most of them had different reactions.
"Hey, brother, where are you from, and how long have you been in the Han tribe?" A young man in his early twenties took out a handful of fried beans from his pocket and handed it to the person next to him and asked.
"I'm new here, less than three months old." The person being asked was a sturdy-looking boy of eighteen or nineteen years old, who spoke in a muffled voice and looked a bit silly.
"You're from Weishan County, right? Are you used to the Han Tribe?"
"Not bad. The county gave us a brick house with a fire in it. My wife and children can live in a warm house this year, so we don't have to worry about being cold anymore." Tiehanhan answered again in a simple and honest way.
"Well, the houses in our Han Tribe are really great. You probably haven't spent the winter in the Han Tribe yet, so you don't know how comfortable it is to sleep on a heated bed in winter."
"Oh, if I could have come to the Han Tribe earlier, the heavy snow two years ago, one of my newborn children froze to death that winter. If I had been in the Han Tribe, maybe he would have survived." Tiehanhan sighed deeply, unable to help but miss it.
"Tsk, what a pity. Do you have any children now?"
"Yes, the one who froze to death was the third child. Now there are three alive, two girls and one boy."
"That's not so bad. But since you just settled down, why did you come to join the army again?"
"Hey, I was a famous hunter in my previous tribe. There were few people in the tribe who could beat me when it came to hunting. But when I came to the Han tribe, I don't have to hunt here. If I want to eat meat, I can just buy it. If I don't have money, I can only raise it myself. The tribesmen either farm or work. If they really can't do it, they can run errands and do some business. But I don't like this kind of life.
I'm still young and can hunt. I don't want to stay in the fields digging the soil all day. Isn't this recruitment to recruit soldiers? I can make money and fight at the same time. What kind of job is it? So I came. What about you? Why did you come?" Tie Hanhan smiled and asked a question after he finished speaking.
"Me? To get a title for military merit. I don't have any great skills. I'm not smart enough. I can't learn to be eloquent like others. I don't know any useful medicinal herbs, and I can't write. When can I get a title by farming at home? There is no chance at all.
Didn't the recruiter say that you can get a title by performing functions? Even if you die in battle, you can give the title to my son. There are not many such opportunities. After all, our Han tribe is so big, and there are not many people who dare to provoke our Han tribe. So I thought I couldn't miss such a good opportunity, so I came."
"Is that title important?" The new Tiehanhan asked in a daze, obviously not understanding the title system of the Han tribe.
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These days, it's too hard to be a monster. You can be beaten by Ultraman, by Magical Girls, by Card Face, and even by ordinary people!
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Then...
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(End of this chapter)
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