The Frontier Prince: Starting From Scratch - Chapter 51 - Armor

“Tunnel!”

Zhao Xu’s blueprint depicted a complete diagram of tunnel excavation.

The deep tunnels connected household to household, crisscrossing each other, with some tunnel entrances even located in wells.

Moreover, the tunnels contained storage for food and convenient spaces.

One could say that living inside for ten days or half a month would be no problem.

“Beidi’s strength lies in their cavalry, so we use tunnels to neutralize their advantage. These tunnels can hide not only civilians but also soldiers,” Zhao Xu explained. “If Beidi uses reconnaissance forces to raid villages, the villagers can store food in the tunnels and use the tunnels’ secrecy to attack dismounted cavalry.”

Liu Fu was dumbfounded; he had never seen such a method of warfare.

Zhao Xu continued, “Furthermore, Beidi is a nation where everyone is a soldier, and Yan Prefecture can do the same. This time, besides supervising the excavation of tunnels in each village, you need to establish a militia system in each township, provide them with weapons, and train them. When Beidi comes, civilians can be transformed into soldiers.”

“Brilliant, brilliant indeed.” Liu Fu grew increasingly excited as he listened.

Now that the land had been distributed, most of Yan Prefecture’s people relied on the Prince’s Mansion, making this plan entirely feasible.

Implementing this would turn each village into a fortress.

No longer would Beidi people be able to slaughter at will.

The next day, at noon.

Zhao Xu was in his study, drawing designs for armor.

In his mind, there were several types of armor to choose from, such as mail armor, scale armor, lamellar armor, and plate armor.

Ultimately, he decided to select scale armor and plate armor based on the soldiers’ combat targets and the advantages and disadvantages of the armor.

Scale armor, a traditional ancient Eastern armor, was named for its resemblance to fish scales.

The surface had slightly curved armor plates layered and sewn onto an inner lining.

Scale armor offered good defense against swords and arrows, but its drawback was low coverage, with armor plates prone to falling off during combat.

Plate armor, on the other hand, was a product of the contemporary Western post-cold weapon era.

Made by riveting large armor plates together, it had high coverage, encasing the wearer like an iron barrel. It also provided good defense against swords and arrows, but its drawbacks were high cost and complex manufacturing.

Therefore, it was generally custom equipment for Western knights and couldn’t be widely equipped for soldiers.

Moreover, plate armor was heavy, primarily used for heavy cavalry and heavy infantry in the contemporary West.

Currently, Beidi possessed a large number of light cavalry, and if his cavalry were fully equipped with this, they might be vulnerable to Beidi’s cavalry using kite tactics.

After consideration, he decided to produce some scale armor for light cavalry and light infantry, and some plate armor for forming heavy cavalry and heavy infantry.

In this way, the advantages of the armor could be fully utilized.

However, due to his enhancement of Yan Prefecture’s smelting capabilities.

He believed that whether it was plate armor or scale armor, the Armory Office in Yan Prefecture would produce armor that would undoubtedly surpass the quality of other Armory Offices in the Dasong Dynasty.

Moreover, since he could mass-produce iron and steel, the cost of plate armor was not very high for him.

The only thing he needed to do was to build a water-powered forging hammer along the river to forge large armor plates.

After completing the disassembly diagrams for the two types of armor, he was about to send them to the Armory Office.

At that moment, Feng’er walked in.

Since she had taken on the role of the butler of the Prince’s Mansion, all the miscellaneous affairs, big and small, within the mansion were under her management.

However, this little girl was full of energy and handled everything with ease.

“Your Highness, General Chang has woken up.” Feng’er said with a smile.

She knew Zhao Xu would be pleased to hear this news.

“Is that so?” Zhao Xu stood up, “Let’s go and see.”

Feng’er nodded and accompanied Zhao Xu to Chang Wei’s courtyard. On the way, she remarked with surprise, “Your Highness, you are truly amazing. You saved General Chang with just a pile of garlic. Dr. Hu called it a miraculous medicine and asked Your Highness to grant him some.”

Zhao Xu felt a slight sense of pride.

In just one day and night, Chang Wei had improved, which proved that Chang Wei’s physical condition combined with this natural antibiotic was effective.

In this way, he not only saved Chang Wei but also created a Dasong version of antibiotics.

And that was impressive.

In future battles, the number of soldiers dying from wound infections would be greatly reduced.

Most importantly, even if others knew it was made from garlic, they wouldn’t be able to produce it.

Because each step had its requirements, such as letting the crushed garlic sit, and if this step wasn’t done well, the effect would be greatly diminished.

Moreover, only he could produce high-proof baijiu.

Arriving at the courtyard where Chang Wei was.

Zhao Xu entered the room, and Chang Wei was sitting up, leaning against the bed.

Upon seeing Zhao Xu, he struggled to get up and salute.

Zhao Xu directly pressed him back onto the bed, smiling, “Your injuries haven’t healed completely, so there’s no need to worry about these formalities.”

Chang Wei heard this, and his eyes suddenly became moist, speaking with a sorrowful voice, “Your Highness, I am incompetent, unable to save the people and losing soldiers, deserving of death.”

“Victory and defeat are common in warfare; you need not blame yourself. If it were I, I might not have done better than you,” Zhao Xu comforted.

It was Chang Wei’s first encounter with Beidi, and the cavalry he brought was cobbled together; surviving was already commendable.

Chang Wei still felt guilty, sighing deeply, “Your Highness, with Beidi’s autumn hunt this time, I don’t know how many troops they will send. From what I see, Your Highness is extremely dangerous in Yan Prefecture. It would be better to hide in another prefecture and let me stay to fight Beidi to the death.”

“I am not one to fear death, and Yan Prefecture is my fief. There is no reason to abandon my people and flee. Do not mention this again,” Zhao Xu rebuked, “You should also gather your spirits. If we are to die, we will die together on the battlefield.”

Chang Wei felt as if he had been struck by a thunderbolt, staring blankly at Zhao Xu.

Previously, he only admired Zhao Xu for his diligence and care for the people.

Now, seeing him again, Prince Yan was also a man of iron and blood.

In his heart, he increasingly felt that Prince Yan was a rare wise ruler.

He nodded, “My life was saved by Your Highness, and from now on, it belongs to Your Highness. When Beidi comes again, I will risk my life to protect Your Highness and Yan Prefecture.”

Zhao Xu laughed, “That’s more like it. For now, just rest and recover. When you’re better, I’ll show you something.”

“What is it?” Chang Wei asked curiously.

Zhao Xu spread the blueprint before Chang Wei, “It’s this.”