411 206 Worries Part 1 (1/2)
Saleen then took out a stack of drawing papers from his drawer and spread them on the table. Aini took a glance and figured that those were the blueprints and all of them were weapons equipment.
”This is the cavalry armor? Is this pattern from a thousand years ago?” Aini felt odd and he took up a blueprint to ask Saleen. Then thought to himself, ”This is too heavy and it costs too much to produce so it would not be easy to maintain. If Saleen were to build a cavalry troop that only consists of two hundred of them, it would be understandable. But he wanted to build a mercenary regiment in a large scale, this kind of armor would be meaningless.”
Such heavy armor would have to go with good warhorses as a normal horse would not be strong enough. Calvary in such armor could only get on the horse before charging against the enemy. Normally, they could only transport the armor on the war chariot and depended on the auxiliary soldiers to help them put it on before war.
A good warhorse would be expensive, it might be even more expensive than some of the magic beasts. If Saleen did so, building just one regiment would use up all his money.
Back then, there was still knight ranking. The fourth dynasty was extravagant, so the design of the armor was expensive and luxurious but impractical. The fourth dynasty owned the entire mainland and it was easy for them to put together a few thousand strong calvaries. Saleen could not. Although there were a few places in the north that produced horses, good horses that could transport such armor were limited.
Although Caucasusians' magic wolves could carry a heavy load, once such calvary got on top of them, magic wolves would lose their advantage. The advantage of such calvary was the powerful attack, it could even hurt the heavy infantrymen. If the number of infantrymen was insufficient, the calvary that was wearing a few hundred pounds of armor could tear apart the formation of the heavy infantrymen.
Saleen smiled, ”Why would I make such armor? Even if I have skeleton warhorses, I wouldn't waste such money. This is a magic armor produced with alchemy skill, the weight is only about a dozen pounds.”
”Magic armor? Doesn't it cost more?!”
”Magic armor is expensive, that was because we need to make magic attributes and magic defences. My armor only has one, which is a Tough spell. This thing can't even prevent a fireball.”
”The cost wouldn't be very low either!”
”Regarding cost, I realized that the seashells are good alchemy material and they could be cultivated. It is very easy to make such armor. There are a few hundred low level mages under Lex and a few thousand magic apprentices. Even to produce ten thousand sets wouldn't be difficult.” Saleen's smile implicated another meaning, ”Those mages have to practice on a normal basis, I would considered myself providing free materials.”
Aini was left speechless, Saleen wanted to fully utilize Lex too.
”But this can't defend against heavy weapons, right?” Aini was really from the Clyde family. Even though he did not participate in weapon design, he could tell the armor's weakness in one glance.
Saleen laughed, ”This is not for the general, the enemies were just normal swordsmen, or not even a swordsmen. If the enemy was so strong, like Jola when he holds tears in his hand. A holy armor couldn't even defend against it, right?”
”That is true.” Aini blushed.
”The main function of the armor is to defend against bow and arrow and light weapons. They were best to fight against the enemy's cavalry. Even if our warriors lost their warhorses, with the armor, they could be strong infantrymen. A dozen pounds of armor, of course could not be considered as a heavy infantryman, but it will not affect their movement.”
”What is this thing?” Aini took up another blueprint, but he did not understand.
”Spearhead, it could be used as a dagger. The soldier would bring along a piece of fire glue. With suitable wooden pole, they could make a long spear within a minute.
”I know about that. I am asking about this one on the side.”
”This is a fire barrel.”
”What does it mean?”
”Element mages use magic powder to make a burning agent. Take the magic powder without dilution, then add in some sulphur and some magic beast bone powder. The power when it is lit up is strong, but it is hard to control so it could not be used to make metal. This is a double layer ceramic barrel and there is a magic array at the end, even a magic apprentice could activate it. The fire shot out would burn for at least a minute. Within the distance of five meters, there would be nothing left.”
”Five meters? That doesn't seem to be suitable for war.”Aini mumbled. He knew that Saleen would not design things that were useless, but on the battlefield, the worst arrow could shoot for dozens of meters in distance. Some infantrymen even held spears that were more than seven meters long.
”This isn't a wild war. The item is to put on the city wall. When the enemy charges forward, it would be a great fire. It's a pity the powder isn't stable and can't be controlled. It would be great if we could control the explosion.”
Aini looked at the blueprint on the table and asked, ”Did you design all of these?”