Chapter 348 Opening

Li Er's strategic vision in military affairs is definitely one of the best. After learning about the cost and performance of this armor, he immediately realized the significance of this set of armor.

The weight of the cotton armor is less than 30 kilograms. Compared with the lamellar armor used in the army now, the cost is greatly reduced while the portability is improved. At the same time, the thick cotton cloth is used in later generations to defend against firearms and lead bullets, and the protection against arrows is also quite good, so it has considerable practical significance.

With this cotton armor, the weight of the cavalry's attack is much lighter. This is undoubtedly a great blessing for Li Er, who is good at cavalry raids. After all, the weight of a set of armor is almost as heavy as two sets of cotton armor. He even thought about how to use this to increase the cavalry's raiding ability, which will definitely have a good effect in future battles against the Turks.

As for Goguryeo and Liaodong, the weather was cold, and this cotton armor was just right for them.

Fighting in winter is difficult, largely because armor is not only heavy to wear, but also feels like ice. Wearing armor for long periods of time consumes a lot of energy.

With this kind of cotton armor, the Tang army's ability to fight in winter can be greatly enhanced.

Most importantly, it's cheap.

The cost of making iron armor is very expensive. The armor is made of leather strips, and many small holes are chiseled on the armor plates for the strips to pass through. The large and small armor plates are stacked layer by layer. Not only does it take a lot of materials, but it is also time-consuming and labor-intensive. The manufacturing cost of the entire set of armor is very staggering.

The essence of cotton-iron composite armor is still a type of iron armor, but it is not simply made of thin fabric connecting the inner armor plates. Instead, the armor plates are built inside and covered with thick cotton cloth on the outside. The lining serves as a connection and even a defense against primitive firearms.

Li Yuanhui just proposed a concept, and did not actually participate in the entire research, development, manufacturing and production of cotton armor. However, over the past few years, the craftsmen in Jianghuai finally did not eat in vain.

In fact, the widespread popularity of cotton armor in another time and space was due to changes in the battlefield situation. Its main defense target was firearms. Cloth armor, which had existed since the Yuan Dynasty, was greatly developed in the Ming Dynasty. In addition to being able to defend against firearms, the cotton-iron composite armor was also promoted due to the climate of the Little Ice Age and the financial difficulties of the Ming Dynasty. The built-in armor plate can effectively keep warm and prevent rust.

In addition, the iron sheets hidden under the cotton cloth do not need to be made using the traditional lamination method. Instead, they can be connected with larger iron sheets without the need for punching and joining, thus saving material and labor costs.

So after learning about the cost and production process of this cotton armor, Li Er and Li San both realized that once this armor could be popularized, it would have great significance for the Tang army.

Therefore, Li Er and Li San took Li Si to write a letter to Li Yuan, requesting that the Guanzhong and Luoyang Directors of Works also start to imitate cotton armor, and at the same time dispatch some experienced craftsmen from Jianghuai to Guanzhong and Luoyang to provide technical guidance.

Even in the Tang Dynasty, only 30% to 40% of the soldiers are wearing armor. This is because the Tang Dynasty has taken over almost all the military equipment stockpiled in Luoyang and Chang'an of the previous dynasty.

As for the Yan army, their armor-wearing rate was also not low, thanks to Emperor Zhaowu of Yan. Zhuo County was the gathering place for supplies for the eastern expedition to Goguryeo at that time.

A large number of military equipment and weapons were gathered in Zhuo County. Later, they were all taken advantage of by the Youzhou Army, which was the most elite force of Liu Xuanji in Northern Yan.

The current promotion of cloth and cotton armor is actually of no significance to this war. If we want to start equipping them on a large scale, it will take at least three years after the Wude era.

The battle in Jinyang is getting closer and closer to the decisive battle between the two sides.

The weather was getting colder and colder, and the Guodong River and Wen River had already begun to freeze over. But Jinyang City was still holding out.

Liu Xuanji was vaguely worried. He didn't expect Jinyang City to hold out for so long. The current situation was a bit difficult to back down.

Because they had to guard against Tuoba Jun in Jinyang City, the army that could fight against the Tang army was about half of the enemy's army. If they defended the river, they still had some chance of winning. But if they waited until the river froze, it would be easy for the Tang army to cross the river, and they would have no advantage at all.

Under such circumstances, Liu Xuanji also had some thoughts of withdrawing his troops.

Of course, even if he had the idea of ​​retreating, he couldn't say it casually, because it concerns the morale of the army, and the commander-in-chief must be extremely cautious in his words and deeds.

But when his main advisers Li Yuanzhong and even Xing Luan began to advocate withdrawal, he was really shaken. At the most critical moment, Wang Sizheng, who had just joined his army, tried his best to dissuade him from retreating.

If the Tang army is driven back, they will be able to enter Hebei directly from Hedong. At that time, the people of Youzhou and Jizhou will have trouble sleeping soundly. Moreover, if an army of 200,000 goes out to fight in vain, or even retreats without fighting a single battle, it will be a great blow to your prestige as the King of Han.

The ownership of Jinyang may mean the ownership of the whole world. If we don’t fight hard at this time, are we just waiting for the Tang army to invade Hebei?
After saying this, Liu Xuanji finally came to his senses, reaffirmed his confidence, and "if anyone says to retreat, he will be executed."

At the same time, Wang Sizheng offered another suggestion. The siege had lasted for nearly half a year, and the food in the city was probably almost gone. Tuoba Jun did not have any prestige behind him in Jinyang, so it would be better to let Tuoba Tianbao come forward and persuade Tuoba Jun's followers to surrender.

If this move was used at the beginning of the siege, it would have had little effect. But now at this point, it did have some effect, but not much.

As a result of Tuoba Tianbao's persuasion to surrender, civil strife broke out in the city.

But in the end, it was a failure.

Although Tuoba Jun was not a very talented person and was only a mediocre fighter, his 50,000-strong army was defeated by the thousands of cavalry led by his brother Tuoba Tianbao.

But he was good at intrigue and calculation, otherwise he would not have gone to Shangdang to meet his father before his brother Tuoba Tianbao, and finally succeeded. In addition, Li Sanlang sent someone to sneak into the city in advance to tell him to beware of the rebellion of the Yan army.

Therefore, he had already placed some spies around the generals. After Tuoba Tianbao sent people to sneak into the city, he knew the news.

As a result, a fight broke out in the city that night. Several generals who wanted to capture Tuoba Jun and then open the city to surrender to the Yan army were arrested and then executed for colluding with foreign enemies.

As Wang Sizheng had calculated, the food in the city was almost gone. In response, Tuoba Jun released the food-deficient people out of the city in batches and let them find food on their own.

This was also the advice Li San gave him.

Liu Xuanji was also a farsighted man, knowing that Jinyang was not only valuable as a city, but also because of its people's value. So he arranged for these people to live in the counties north of Taiyuan.

Although there was unrest in the city, Tuoba Jun quickly pacified it, causing the Yan army to miss the opportunity and fail to respond in time.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed.

As time approached December and the weather continued to cool down, the ice on the rivers in Taiyuan area finally became more than one foot thick and could withstand the trampling of people and horses.

After Li Er personally rode his horse around on the ice, the Tang army also began to prepare for battle.

The Yan army was also preparing for the upcoming war.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of Wude, although the sun was shining brightly, the weather did not feel warm at all.

Hundreds of thousands of Tang troops crossed the Guodongshui River and Wenhe River and attacked the Yan army.

The decisive battle begins.

(End of this chapter)