When fighting on foot, the armor will not deform much after being slashed with a knife. However, when fighting with cavalry, being slashed by a knife will be like being struck by an iron mace. The armor will be directly bent and curled up.

The cavalry seems to have extra protection against impact attacks, and to protect against impact attacks, the bigger the armor, the better.

After analyzing this point, the answer is there.

Smaller armor leaves for infantry are more cost-effective, while larger armor leaves for cavalry are more cost-effective.

Then consider the difficulty of production. Is it easier to produce a nail that is larger or smaller? It seems that it is not easy to produce if it is too large or too small. There must be a shape with the right size that has the best production speed. This

It is necessary to try the shape with the highest production speed. Li Mengxi estimated that the best shape can increase the production efficiency by at least 10%.

Regarding the weight, I don’t know whether the nail made of large nail pieces or the small nail pieces is lighter.

I took two kinds of nail plates, small and large, and prepared the same area of ​​the nail stomach. I weighed them and found that the smaller the nail plates, the total nail weight was higher, about 10 to 20% higher.

At this point, Li Mengxi suddenly realized an additional problem. He discovered that the total overlapping area of ​​the small armor pieces was larger, which meant that the total defense power was stronger.

From the perspective of wearing flexibility, there is no doubt that the smaller the armor leaves, the more flexible and comfortable the armor is.

At this point, the question of whether to produce large nail plates or small nail plates is no longer a problem.

If you want to pursue the ultimate defense against arrows, swords and guns, the smaller the armor piece, the better. The smaller the armor piece, the stronger the armor itself is against punctures and slashes. At the same time, the smaller the armor piece, the better.

The more overlapping, the more defensive power is further enhanced. At the same time, the smaller the armor pieces are, the more flexible they are, which is also an advantage in infantry combat.

In order to be able to defend against arrows, swords and guns while also improving the defense against impact attacks, the larger the armor, the better.

Also, small nails are too heavy, and large nail leaves will be stiff when braided.

The test on the variable [nail size] is over.

After understanding the relationship between armor plate size and defense power, more questions arose.

The question is, what size of nail plate has the highest production efficiency? This still requires a lot of testing.

In addition to the variable of [nail plate] size, the remaining variables include nail plate shape, nail hole, nail hole size, nail hole number, nail hole location, etc.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Different shapes of nail plates prepared for the test include circles, squares, rhombuses, rectangles, hexagons, and other shapes.

Based on experience, Li Mengxi intuitively felt that round armor would have better performance. The basis for his judgment was that the dome shape of turtle shells is round, eggs are round, and tank turrets are round. Round shapes seem to have the best effect.

Perfect mechanical structure.

In the test, in the first group, one armor piece is square and the other is rectangular. The two armor pieces have the same width but different lengths. They are tested in turn through three types of attacks: a big iron awl, a big iron axe, and a big iron ball.

.

It has been measured that whether it is a stabbing attack, a slashing attack, or a blunt blow, the more regular-shaped square armor pieces perform significantly better than the rectangular armor pieces.

Then compare the square and the four rhombus, the result is that the square wins.

Comparing a square with a regular hexagon, the regular hexagon wins.

Finally, when comparing hexagons and circles, the circle wins.

This is exactly as expected. The mechanical structure of the circle is extremely perfect, and from the test, the closer the shape of the nail plate is to the circle, the better the performance. The rhombus is better than the rectangle, the square is better than the rhombus, and the regular hexagon is better.

in the square.

The improvement of the defensive performance by the shape of the armor is a comprehensive improvement, which is an improvement in stabbing, slashing, impact, and all types of attacks.

Li Mengxi realized that round nail plates were the best shape.

Although this is theoretically the case, round nails have excellent performance, but it seems that round nails are difficult to process, but square nails are much easier to process.

Therefore, in the future, you can make a collar of armor with round armor leaves and wear it yourself at any cost, and give the soldiers armor with square armor leaves.

Thinking about it, Li Mengxi suddenly realized that the round armor leaves were not fish scale armor?

After going around in a circle, Li Mengxi found out that this was just the old wisdom of the ancients. Li Mengxi was a little dumbfounded.

However, the ancients may only have experienced making round fish scale armor, but Li Mengxi used testing methods to truly crack the secret of the shape of the armor.

Due to the variable shape of the nail plate, it is not easy to make special-shaped nail plates. The production efficiency of the simplest square nail plate is obviously lower than that of ordinary long nail plates. Therefore, special-shaped nail plates are best equipped only for elites.

The whole army is popularized, but it is beyond its capabilities.

For the rest of the test on the nail holes, the nail holes are the biggest flaw in the nail leaf itself. If the tip of a spear or knife is cut on the fragile nail holes, it is very easy to rupture the nail holes.

In addition, repeated tests have shown that the nail hole in the center will cause the greatest damage to the defense of the nail. Large nail holes will cause greater damage to the defense than small nail holes. Square nail holes are more likely to be damaged than round nail holes. Combined with the rope,

, except for round holes, any other shape of nail hole will easily break the rope.

Therefore, to sum up, it is best for the nail holes to be round. The smaller the nail holes, the better. The fewer the nail holes, the better. The nail holes can be punched in the middle or not in the middle. Furthermore, the nail holes are extremely easy to be damaged.

, the nail hole is a key part of the nail plate. It is not good for the nail plate to be too close to the corner. It is better to go slightly inward.

All tests on the nail plate are completed.

——

After recording all the test results, Li Mengxi assigned new tasks to the armor craftsmen.

Li Mengxi didn't know what size of armor pieces were easiest to produce and had the highest production efficiency, so he took a wooden ruler and added and modified it bit by bit, drawing a lot of shapes of various lengths, widths, and widths. He directly called the battalion

Half of the blacksmiths came to do the armor work.

Considering that there are too many variables in the manufacturing process of nail plates, the number of stack forgings is more and less, and the efficiency difference is huge. And the number of stack forgings must be strictly regulated, there are too many people, and there is no way to monitor, so we only need to build

The shape of the nail pieces is enough, and there is no need to forge it multiple times.

Anyway, the time it takes to shape the nail plate is also related to its size. The more time it takes to shape, the more time it will take to actually forge it.

——

After Li Mengxi completed various tests on the armor plate, one day later, the armor craftsman came to deliver the work.

The tasks previously assigned, the tests that need to be done for cold forged armor, the armor materials include pig iron, wrought iron, and steel, three types of cold forged armor materials, the forging hammers include flat-head hammers, ball-head hammers, and the hammer materials include wrought iron hammers, raw iron hammers, and copper hammers.

There are other distinctions, including the size of the hammer. Whether a big hammer hits faster or a small hammer hits faster is also something that needs to be explored.

The test results given by the craftsman showed that the material of the armor plate is steel, and the forging hammer can be hammered faster with a ball-head hammer. As for the material of the hammer, this made the armor craftsman hesitate. The armor craftsman said that the copper hammer is slower, but

It is not easy to break the armor plate. The hammer is strong, but it will crack the armor plate accidentally. As for the size of the hammer, the armorer said that he didn't feel it. It felt like a big or small hammer.

In all the attempts of the forger, it is easy to understand that steel is used as the material. Steel has both hardness and toughness, while wrought iron is too soft and pig iron is too brittle. The contact of the ball-peen hammer head is small and the pressure is strong, so the forging efficiency is high, which is also

As expected; but the material of the hammer is that if the armor is made of steel, the hammer will have to be harder to hit it fast enough, but if it is hard, it will easily crack the thin armor. Therefore, the armorer said,

The soft copper hammer and the iron hammer each have their own advantages. The copper hammer strikes slowly but steadily, while the iron hammer strikes quickly.

If Li Mengxi thought about it, "Then why not use a copper hammer first to make the armor pieces denser and stronger, and then replace it with an iron hammer. Wouldn't it be easier to break it?"

The armorer was stunned for a moment, thought again, and nodded repeatedly, "It seems so!"

For all the tests given to the armorer, the armorer gave answers. However, regarding the size of the hammer, the armorer alone has limited power and cannot give enough data, so he cannot determine how big the hammer is.

Cold forging is the most efficient.

Considering that before determining the size of the hammer, we must first determine the optimal armor shape. Before the blacksmith camp has tested the optimal shape, there is no way to start testing the impact of cold forged armor [hammer size on cold forging efficiency].

The armorer handed over three cold-forged armor pieces. This was the result of many days of cold forging while the armorer was testing various tools. When the cold forging started, there were more than forty pieces of armor. The result was,

It's either broken or cracked. There are only three of them in the finished product.

Li Mengxi took the three cold-forged armor pieces, and he saw at a glance that there were a few raised marks on both ends of the long armor pieces that had not been forged.

The armorer explained that when forging, you have to hold it with something, and it is difficult to hit both ends, so it cannot be beaten.

(This is Monkey A...) Li Mengxi smiled, very happily.

The technical difficulty of cold forged armor is indeed low, and the cold forged armor pieces are actually made just like that.

Li Mengxi couldn't wait to take the armor piece to test.

Go to the guillotine, take an ordinary nail piece, and test the ordinary nail piece and the cold forged nail together.

A large iron cone hangs two inches high and falls freely. An ordinary armor piece has a hole drilled through it. A cold-forged armor piece is semi-transparent but not yet transparent.

Although a quick comparison shows that the weight and size of the two armor plates are not exactly the same, and there is a slight error, it is clearly comparable and it can be seen that the cold-forged armor plates can really improve the defense power a lot.

Pick up a piece of armor in one hand, the iron armor piece in the left hand, and the cold-forged armor piece in the right hand. Look closely with your eyes. The cold-forged armor piece is much thinner than the ordinary piece of armor. In terms of hand feel, the cold-forged armor piece is no lighter than the ordinary piece of armor.

.

Asking the craftsman for more forging details, the armor-smith said, "As a military advisor, cold iron is not easy to strike. At the beginning, it took three or four hundred hammers from the front and back before it became thinner. After five hundred hammers pointed upward, it became thinner."

Once you see it is strong, hit it with 700 hammers and it will no longer become thinner. Keep hitting it downwards, and it will break with a bang as you hit it..."

The armor craftsman said that it takes five to seven hundred hammers to cold forge a piece of armor, plus adjustments and flipping and other details. Assuming that one hammer can be struck in an average of three seconds, five hundred hammers will take 1,500 seconds, that is,

It takes fifteen minutes to successfully cold forge a piece of armor.

Taking into account the finished product rate, the armor craftsman made more than 40 pieces of nail polish, and only three finished products were produced, so the finished product rate was less than one-tenth.

In other words, it takes an average of one hundred and fifty minutes, or two and a half hours, to forge one cold-forged armor piece. After all, one craftsman can only make five or six cold-forged armor pieces in one day.

A set of armor can have at least three to five hundred armor pieces. A set of cold-forged armor would take a craftsman a hundred days to forge.

This is just the labor cost. Among them, there are a large number of broken armor pieces. For every set of cold-forged armor, there are ten sets of damaged armor.

The manpower and material cost of cold-forged armor is at least ten times that of ordinary iron armor.

How could it be so expensive? Li Mengxi couldn't help but frown.
To be continued...