Chapter 561: Shell Shield
Zhou Xu was shocked when he learned this fact through the project's details page.
In the old civilization period, the positioning of this armored dragon was similar to that of a livestock that was raised in captivity and was specifically responsible for producing resources. This was far beyond Zhou Xu's expectations.
But on second thought, considering the various performances of the Ankylosaur, it feels very reasonable.
Take their Great Zhou for example. With enchanted crossbow arrows and three-bow crossbows, slow-moving and huge units like the Ankylosaurus are simply living targets seeking death.
If they engage in battle again, it will basically be impossible to pose any effective threat to them. Instead, it will greatly slow down the Lizardmen's offensive efficiency. It is better not to go.
Putting this issue aside, as an important unit producing military resources, Zhou Xu is now quite interested in how the armored dragon's shell is processed into shield armor.
Regarding this, the lizard man who is in charge of this work will naturally tell you everything he knows.
"In reply to your Majesty, the strength of the armored dragon's shell will decrease to a certain extent after it ages and falls off."
"Under this premise, we will soak these shells in a softening liquid specially used to soften the shells of Scutosaurus for seven to ten days. The shells will become relatively soft and can then be polished."
"That's it, right?"
Listening to the other party's words, Zhou Xu's eyes fell on a large pool built of rocks not far away.
"Yes."
The lizardman craftsman nodded quickly and led Zhou Xu towards the pond.
As early as when he approached this area, Zhou Xu had already smelled a faint pungent odor. Now he finally found the source, which was coming from the pool where the armored dragon shells were soaked!
The closer he got, the more pungent the smell became. However, in order to find out what was going on, Zhou Xu still endured the discomfort in his sense of smell, walked closer and looked into the pool.
I saw that the pool was now filled with dark green liquid that was so thick that it was similar to mud.
According to the lizardman craftsman, this is a recipe passed down from the old civilization. The raw materials are all available near their tribe, so it is not difficult to collect and mix them.
"Your Majesty, please step back."
As he was speaking, the lizardman craftsman came over carrying a long wooden stick.
He just inserted the wooden stick into the pool, stirred it a few times, and then pushed out a shell that was soaked in it.
"This batch of shells has been soaking in it for about eight days."
As the lizardman craftsman spoke, he fished the shell out of the pool. After rinsing off the softening liquid on it with clean water in the bucket, he pinched the shell hard with his fingernails, leaving an obvious fingernail mark on the shell.
"That's about right."
The lizardmen in charge of this work are all green lizards with more dexterous hands. They are not very strong themselves, but even they can easily leave marks on the shell with their fingernails, which means that the shell has indeed softened to a certain extent.
After making the confirmation, the green lizard craftsman quickly called a group of helpers and asked them to take the shell away for processing.
At the same time, he did not forget to explain to Zhou Xu.
"After the carapace is fished out, its hardness will slowly recover over time, so we usually fish it out and process it piece by piece, and we have to work as quickly as possible, otherwise the hardness will be restored in half a day."
As the green lizard craftsman spoke, he took out another polished shield.
[Looking at the shield style, it should be a round shield, but the polishing is not very regular. This should be due to the limitations of its own technology and material characteristics. ]
With this thought in mind, Zhou Xu reached out and took the shield.
The moment he got it, Zhou Xu was shocked.
The weight of the shield was unexpectedly light.
"Shit! Is this plastic? Why is it so light?!"
Unable to hold back, Zhou Xu burst out swearing, shocking both Boleyn and the green lizard craftsman.
But Zhou Xu ignored them and just held the round shield in his hands, looking at it over and over again.
He was wondering how the green lizard could easily fish out such a large piece of shell given its strength.
So that thing only looks huge, but it's actually not heavy at all! "Is this carapace so light?"
As Zhou Xu spoke, he couldn't help but weigh the shield in his hand.
Given the same size, it really is like a thicker piece of plastic.
The green lizard craftsman can also give an answer to this question.
"To answer your question, my king, this shell is quite heavy when it just falls off. At this time, we usually leave it there and ignore it. After a day and a night, its weight will begin to become lighter. We don't know why exactly."
Zhou Xu guessed blindly that there might be some component in the shell that evaporated after falling off the armored dragon, which caused the shell to become lighter.
He had no interest in finding out the truth about this issue. It was enough for him to know that it existed.
Holding the shell shield, Zhou Xu also became interested at this moment.
"Let's go and try out the strength of this shield!"
The one-handed round shields used by the sword and shield soldiers in the Great Zhou are currently made mainly of wood, with a layer of iron sheet wrapped around the outside to enhance defense.
In this way, the weight of the shield can be reduced while reducing manufacturing costs.
But this carapace shield is a bit lighter than the one-handed round shield of their Great Zhou. This feeling is very obvious. He now wants to know whether the strength can be compared.
He didn't choose any other place, as the space here was large, so he directly found the trunk of a big tree and fixed the carapace shield on it.
There was no intention of proceeding step by step, mainly because he had no other weapons at hand except the crystal iron weapons.
He pointed to one of the accompanying personal soldiers, who understood and drew out the crystal iron sword from his waist, aimed at the shell shield and chopped it directly.
With the help of the enchantment effect, a shallow cut was left directly on the surface of the shell shield. This personal soldier of his was also selected from the army and basically represented the normal level of their Great Zhou soldiers.
Judging from this performance alone, Zhou Xu could confirm that the defensive strength of this shell shield exceeded that of the standard one-handed round shield of their Great Zhou.
However, Zhou Xu also noticed some problems with the shell shield.
For example, this carapace shield is most likely not repairable. Once it is broken, it will be directly destroyed.
Unlike the standard iron round shield of their Great Zhou, even if it was chopped to pieces on the battlefield, it could be recycled and remade.
Under this premise, manufacturing efficiency is also a problem because the production of the carapace shield requires a long period of processing.
There is plenty of time in peacetime to stockpile equipment, but once war breaks out, equipment reserves cannot keep up and manufacturing efficiency becomes a fatal problem.
[Well, these problems cannot be ignored, but it would be a waste if we don't use such a strong shield. We can try to equip a small number of elite troops. Of course, we need to conduct durability tests before that.]
Thinking of this, Zhou Xu directly assigned this task to his personal soldiers, while he himself went to take care of other things first.
After all, this is a time-consuming job, and he can't just do nothing else and wait here.
(End of this chapter)
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