Chapter 292 Interest Groups (1)

Gu Sansi, who could find no fault with the appearance, held the knife in his hand and swung it vigorously. He soon realized the difference of the knife...

"Sir, a normal waist knife should be three feet and two inches long, with a handle three inches long and weigh one pound and ten ounces. But if I'm not mistaken, this knife should only weigh about one pound and eight ounces." Gu Sansi handed the knife back to Ye Mingsheng and said:
Ye Mingsheng smiled slightly when he heard that, took the knife from his hand, then called in a personal soldier from outside the study, took the sword from his waist, and then in front of Gu Sansi, he held a knife in each hand and chopped down with force.

"boom!"

With a crisp sound, Ye Mingsheng's sword was intact, but the blade of the sword of his personal soldier was damaged.

Gu Sansi's eyes lit up immediately when he saw this, and he bowed to Ye Ming and said:
"I congratulate you on your precious sword!"

"Eh·······"

Ye Mingsheng smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Congratulations to the Zhenwu Army for obtaining the precious sword!"

"Sir, can this precious sword be mass-produced?" Gu Sansi asked with some surprise, trying to figure out what Ye Mingsheng meant.

"That's right! The craftsmen in the Artisan Camp have done a good job recently. They have used the steel-making method to increase the output and quality of steel, and thus greatly improved the quality of weapons. This knife is a sample. After three days, when the Artisan Camp is ready, we can start mass production of this knife!" Ye Mingsheng introduced with a smile:
Ye Mingsheng was very satisfied with the performance of the artisan camp. It was worth it for him, Ye, to give these craftsmen such good treatment and spend several thousand taels of silver.

As a general commanding troops and a cavalry general, Ye Mingsheng certainly understood what the appearance of this knife meant...

It doesn't just mean that the soldiers' weapons become sharper and can kill more enemies.

The soldiers under Ye Mingsheng basically wore cotton armor because of the cold weather in Liaoyang. Although cotton armor played a significant role in the soldiers' defense, greatly reduced casualties, and had the effect of keeping out the cold, it had many advantages, but it also had a disadvantage, that is, it was very heavy and greatly consumed the soldiers' physical strength.

Don’t think that cotton armor is light just because it has the word “cotton” in its name. In fact, the cotton used in cotton armor is only about 7 or 8 kilograms, and various iron sheets are placed inside for protection. Therefore, the actual weight of cotton armor is generally around 30 to 40 kilograms.

Wearing such heavy cotton armor to fight, or carrying such heavy cotton armor to march, consumes a lot of physical strength of the soldiers. In high-intensity combat and marching, they often cannot hold on for a long time...
Now that the Artisan Camp can reduce the weight of the knife and increase its hardness, it can naturally also reduce the weight of the iron plates in the cotton armor and improve the defense of the cotton armor. In this way, the weight reduction will reduce the physical consumption of the soldiers, the combat time will be extended, and the marching speed will be faster.

Not only that, this innovation in steelmaking technology can also greatly promote the development of firearms, reduce the probability of firearms exploding, and provide a solid foundation for the advent of better firearms.

After listening to Ye Mingsheng's story, Gu Sansi finally realized why Ye Mingsheng dared to sell military weapons to the Khitans.

With the emergence of these new weapons, the old weapons currently equipped by Ye Mingsheng's subordinates are useless. They can be used to exchange them for war horses from the Khitans. This way, they can maintain their weapon advantage over the Khitans, and also obtain war horses to enhance the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, which is most in short supply in Fengzhou!

As one gains strength while the other loses strength, the current power gap between Fengzhou and the Khitans will be greatly narrowed!

Thinking of this, Gu Sansi couldn't help but sigh in his heart, Ye Mingsheng was really shrewd to the extreme...
At this time, Ye Mingsheng put down the knife in his hand and continued to speak:
"Mr. Gu, this winter I will have the craftsmen's camp work at full capacity to produce new swords and cotton armor. From now on, these old weapons will be gradually eliminated from our army." "It's a waste to seal these things, so see if you can use them to exchange for war horses from the Khitans?"

Gu Sansi pondered for a moment and nodded, "It should be possible. I will handle this matter as soon as possible."

Ye Mingsheng said:
"There's no rush for this matter. It will take some time for the army to change their uniforms. You should first deal with these Khitan prisoners of war and establish good contact with Yelu Peng."

"I understand!"

After talking about these things, seeing that it was getting late, Ye Mingsheng asked Gu Sansi to stay in his house to have a bowl of wonton as a midnight snack, and then let him go back to bed.

Although Gu Sansi went back to sleep, Ye Mingsheng himself picked up the knife that was sent as a sample by the craftsmen's camp and observed it again under the candlelight...

Although he was looking at the knife, Ye Mingsheng was thinking about other things. As he thought about it, his eyes gradually became deeper.

Wanting to sell military equipment to the Khitans was not a sudden idea of ​​Ye Mingsheng. He had been thinking about this for a long time.

Ever since he taught the steel-frying method to the craftsmen in the artisan camp, Ye Mingsheng knew that with the help of the new technology, Fengzhou's steel industry would usher in great development. As one of the results of the great development, the improvement of the quality of Fengzhou's weapons was an inevitable result.

Although he told Gu Sansi that he wanted to exchange weapons for war horses because he didn't want to waste these weapons that were about to be eliminated, Ye Mingsheng actually had a deeper plan...

The Khitans are the biggest threat to Fengzhou at present, and this has become a consensus among the military and civilians in Fengzhou!

Thanks to the implementation of the land policy, Ye Mingsheng's financial situation has been greatly alleviated, which also means that Ye Mingsheng is no longer so dependent on the share of the caravan given by An Zhirong.

If possible, Ye Mingsheng would rather not have the share, and also wants to close the trade between An Zhirong and the Khitans!

The iron that An Zhirong gave to the Khitans can be said to have greatly improved the Khitans' combat effectiveness and posed a very severe challenge to the security of Fengzhou!

Money or safety? Ye Mingsheng can still tell the difference!
Although he had such an idea in his mind, Ye Mingsheng thought about it and weighed the pros and cons before finally giving up this plan.

During this period, as Ye Mingsheng's cavalry troops recovered their combat effectiveness, they were all sent by Ye Mingsheng to Xiangshuiyuan to escort the caravan. With Ye Mingsheng's protection, Dong Jianchuan was finally able to let go and send large brigades of supplies to Khitan via the wide roads in Xiangshuiyuan.

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(End of this chapter)