Chapter 2882: Equipment (3)

For the test the mare had been groomed to a gloss and fitted with a royal-blue saddle cloth edged in gold, complete with calfskin tack. She looked magnificent, every inch a warhorse, and drew every eye on the range.

Yu Zhiqian noticed at once that the horse was armored too—a face guard and chest piece.

"Well, you're advancing step by step, aren't you?" he teased. "First sabers, then the rider, now the horse..." His gaze slid to Dongmen Chuiyu, who said nothing.

"Hey, hey—all test articles I paid for myself. Whether they're issued is the General Staff's call." Yang Ning deflected smoothly, mounting with practiced ease.

Wang Ruixiang looked the getup over. "If the finish were a bit finer, every armorer in Milan would hang himself."

"Far from it." Jiang Ye pressed the strap of the horse's chest armor. "No engraving, no fluting—over there they'd call it rough-forged at best. But our plate is heat-treated. In materials and processing, it would make their eyes pop."

Yang Ning tested his arms and torso. "The weight is reasonable—I barely feel it. Should be fine on foot too. Only at full gallop it rubs the shoulders a bit."

"This set—chest, back, and helmet—twelve kilos. Horse face guard and chest piece, nine. Not heavy."

"About right. Twenty kilos is nothing—trading that for protection is well worth it. Hmm... has it been tested?" Dongmen Chuiyu asked.

"No problem. Against human and horse chest and face armor, cold weapons are basically useless. Xiao Ning and I tested bows—Ming and Qing bows at fifteen meters can't penetrate. Matchlocks at twenty meters: one penetration in ten. I'd call that finely armored." Wang Ruixiang spoke with full confidence; the horse armor was his process design.

The midday sun hammered the testing ground. Every exposed metal surface burned, and the heat made the onlookers drowsy. Yang Ning turned his horse, squeezed her flanks gently, and the fully caparisoned mare beneath him, as if reading his intent, began to move. He did not rush into a charge. First he held her to a trot, circling the grounds several times. Horse and rider moved as one, fluid and harmonious. He steadied his breathing, feeling the friction points where armor met saddle, left hand firm on the reins, right hand gripping the new saber. The blade caught the noon sun in a cold gleam.

After a few warming laps, he turned the mare toward the first target—an unarmored straw dummy. The horse began to accelerate, gait shifting from trot to a powerful gallop, hooves drumming like war drums, the faint clink of metal barding ringing between strides. Yang Ning leaned low, weight forward, pressed close to her neck, the blade in his right hand rising slightly. In the instant he swept past the target, his wrist flicked. The blade traced a clean arc; with a soft snick, the dummy's head flew free, the cut neat and clean. The whole motion was crisp and efficient; neither horse nor rider lost speed.

"Excellent!" Wang Ruixiang burst out. "That horsemanship, that cut timing—takes years of hard practice."

"The horse accelerates smoothly, and rider and horse move as one at impact. A slice, not brute-force hacking. Efficient and economical."

Next came the cotton-armored target. Yang Ning circled back and accelerated again. This time he changed technique—at the moment of crossing, he led with the point, combining the horse's forward momentum with a precise, powerful thrust. The tip punched through the cotton armor and sank deep into the stuffing. As he withdrew, he twisted his wrist, tearing open the exit wound. The motion was fluid, full of controlled power.

"Thrusting demands more mastery of distance and angle than slashing. That entry was true, the force deep—more than speed. He's clearly practiced the lance thrust a great deal."

Bai Yu added: "The withdrawal was textbook. Pulling straight out risks sticking. He added a twist, enlarging and disrupting the wound channel, making extraction easier. That's a real combat technique."

The third target was a cloth-faced iron-armored dummy, the heaviest of the day. Yang Ning's expression sharpened. He took a longer acceleration run, pushing the horse to top speed. As he approached, he abandoned the thrust and channeled the charge's furious momentum, pouring his whole body's strength into his right arm, and brought the blade crashing down in a sweeping, full-power diagonal stroke from overhead. Blade met iron armor with a sickening metallic screech. Despite the cloth facing and inner lining, the finely forged plates were cleaved open with a deep gash, and the wooden support pole beneath groaned under the strain.

"Momentum fully utilized, impact point precise, and the blade didn't chip. Even if the cut didn't go all the way through, the force alone would break bones and put a man out of action."

Dongmen Chuiyu had watched in silence. Now he spoke slowly, addressing Yu Zhiqian and Wang Ruixiang: "Given the blade's performance and his horsemanship, how do you rate the effectiveness against the armored targets we know?"

Yu Zhiqian considered. "Against unarmored and cotton-armored targets, highly efficient. Against this cloth-faced iron armor, still somewhat laborious. If the enemy, as records suggest, wears three layers of armor, neither thrust nor slash would reliably breach it. But under a full-power charge, even if a one-strike kill is difficult, the shock is more than enough to make enemy soldiers abandon the fight."

Wang Ruixiang focused on details: "His force generation is sound. That final heavy slash especially—it combines waist, arm, wrist, and the horse's charge, not just arm strength. That ensures power while staying economical, suitable for sustained combat. The blade's design seems matched to this approach."

Yang Ning's performance was not finished. He spurred the horse toward the second set of targets—slashing at the straw and cotton-armored dummies, cleanly knocking off their helmets. Against the cloth-faced iron armor, he used the thrust instead. This strike was ferocious, toppling the weighted dummy to the ground. The thrust penetrated just beside the heart-protecting mirror plate, and the mirror itself cracked under the tremendous force. The onlookers clicked their tongues—such power.

Yang Ning wheeled his horse and trotted slowly back. He was panting slightly, sweat beading at his temples, but his eyes were bright—clearly pleased with himself and his equipment. He dismounted with light agility, the armor apparently no hindrance.

"Well, gentlemen, what do you think?" He wiped his sweat, expectant. "The blade's decent, right? And the armor isn't too bad to move in."

Jiang Ye stepped forward to inspect the edge. "Edge is fine—after that heavy strike, the rolling is very minor. How does the armor feel, especially the shoulders?"

Yang Ning rotated his shoulder joints. "At full gallop it rubs a bit, but acceptable. Joint movement is largely unaffected—bending, swinging, all smooth. The horse doesn't seem tired, just hot and restless."

Dongmen Chuiyu walked over to the slashed cloth-faced iron armor, examined the savage gash, then looked up at Yang Ning and the magnificent warhorse behind him, snorting through its nostrils. Cost and utility seemed to shift a little in his mind. He turned to the group.

"Record the data carefully. Yang Ning, write up the standard attack maneuvers you demonstrated today, with the force-generation essentials, in detail for the training manual. Equipment alone is not enough—men who know how to use it, and use it well, are the key." He looked at Yu Zhiqian and Jiang Ye. "Saber production can be accelerated. The armor-piercing straight thrust is significant; it must be promoted throughout the troops."

Yang Ning's fair cheeks flushed slightly. "This kind of armor-piercing straight thrust demands a great deal of horsemanship and body coordination—it needs targeted training..." He paused, his gaze falling on the two Ming-armor dummies—one pierced, one slashed open—and his eyes regained focus. "But at least it proves that our blade, paired with the right tactics, can handle existing heavy-armor targets. That is decisive for morale."

Wang Ruixiang crouched before the pierced cloth-faced iron armor, poking the edges of the hole with his finger, and nodded. "Xiao Yang is right. Our biggest headache fighting Ming and Qing troops has always been these armored elites. Firearms are good, but in close melee, if the weapon in a soldier's hand isn't up to the task, his nerve fails. This saber—its design is right, and the material and heat treatment are things they couldn't catch up to in a thousand years. Then there's protection..." He stood up and patted the cavalry cuirass hanging on the rack, producing a dull metallic clang. "This thing—forget bows and arrows, even a three-eyed hand cannon at twenty or thirty paces would struggle. It's just..."

"Just too heavy? Or too expensive?" Jiang Ye picked up the thread—mass production was his chief concern. "Man and horse armor together come to just over twenty kilos. For a trained warhorse and cavalryman, that burden is acceptable. The key is cost and labor hours." He turned to Dongmen Chuiyu. "Hand-hammering and fitting a set of plate armor takes time. To mass-produce, it must enter the production plan, with tooling and processes set up. Otherwise, relying on skilled craftsmen hammering away—not only mass production impossible, but even equipping a two-hundred-man squadron would take the better part of half a year. And we don't have such craftsmen."

"There have been many European immigrants lately—perhaps an armorer among them," Dongmen Chuiyu said. "Wu Nanhai even hired a Frenchman as a winemaker."

"Damn—foot-stomped wine is not my thing!"

Xiao Bailang, who had said little, snorted. "I told you—all flash, no substance. With this time and resources we could make more Nanyang rifles and train more infantry lines. What iron can wouldn't be stopped? Do we have to copy foreigners and have our own iron cans charging at theirs?"

"But their iron cans actually work." Yang Ning's reply was sharp. "And barded cavalry is not unique to foreigners—the Northern and Southern Dynasties had iron-can cavalry charging each other too."