"Chieftain, is... is this the new equipment you mentioned? These armor plates are far too thin, and they're so light. While they do look exquisite, once you're on the battlefield, I'm afraid they won't even stop bone arrows from the Xiongnu. They look good, but they're useless."
As an old general who had rolled around and fought in the mud of the battlefield for over a decade, Sun He had the most intuitive judgment regarding the quality of equipment. In his eyes, armor was always better the thicker and heavier it was, and this new set of armor was no different from a mere showpiece.
Qian Hu and Hu Lei also nodded in agreement.
"Looks good, but useless?" Wei Zhe smiled. "Whether they're useful or not, you'll know once you try."
He had Qian Hu step aside and place a set of the finest infantry heavy armor issued by the military onto a wooden dummy. Then, he fitted this new fish scale armor onto another wooden dummy.
With that done, he took up a three-stone strong crossbow—the most powerful weapon in the military—from the weapon rack and handed it to Sun He.
"Sun He, you have the greatest strength. You shoot."
"Chieftain, this..." Sun He hesitated. Testing armor with a three-stone strong crossbow was the real deal; what if it got ruined?
"I told you to shoot, so shoot, stop running your mouth. Shoot that heavy armor first, and use your mother-given strength!"
"Understood!"
Sun He hesitated no longer. He took a deep breath, the muscles in his arms bulging as he slowly pulled back the three-stone strong crossbow. He aimed at the chest area of the infantry heavy armor and abruptly released the trigger.
Hum—
The bowstring emitted a violent, trembling hum!
Whoosh!
A specially crafted armor-piercing arrow whistled out like a black flash!
Clang!!!
A deafening crash of metal rang out!
The armor-piercing arrow slammed fiercely into the chest of the heavy armor. A deep dent was pierced into the sturdy plates, surrounded by spiderweb-like cracks; although the arrowhead did not completely penetrate, it had already sunk in by more than half an inch.
"Such immense force!" Qian Hu could not help praising.
Sun He was also quite proud. With this arrow, he had used ten tenths of his strength, which was enough to pierce a layer of iron-clad shields within fifty paces.
"Now," Wei Zhe pointed to the thin-looking fish scale armor on the other side, "shoot that one."
"Chieftain, this... do we really have to shoot it?" Sun He hesitated once more. "This armor looks so thin. With the way I shoot, I'm afraid it'll just get shot straight through, and that would be too..."
"Stop chattering, shoot!"
"...Understood!"
Sun He gritted his teeth and pulled the strong crossbow back again. This time, he actually felt a bit reluctant in his heart, feeling that it would be a real pity to ruin such a beautiful set of armor just like that.
He took aim and let go.
Whoosh!
The same armor-piercing arrow sped toward that black fish scale armor at the same speed.
Yet the scene that unfolded next made everyone present, including Sun He himself, pop their eyes wide open.
Ting!
A crisp sound, clear as jade stones striking each other, rang out!
The armor-piercing arrow, which was powerful enough to crack the heavy armor, burst into a string of sparks the moment it contacted the fish scale armor, and then... then it simply collided with an unshakeable mountain cliff, bouncing straight away and skewering at an oblique angle into the distant mud!
As for the plates of the fish scale armor, they unexpectedly... unexpectedly left only a shallow, almost negligible white scratch!
"Th... Th... How is this possible?!"
Sun He threw away the strong crossbow in his hand, rushed to the set of fish scale armor like a madman, and touched the undamaged plates hard with his hands, his mouth open wide enough to fit an egg.
Qian Hu and Hu Lei also crowded around, the expressions on their two faces looking no different from having seen a ghost.
"Is this fake? Did my eyes play tricks on me?" Qian Hu rubbed his own eyes.
"Is this armor... forged from dark iron?" Hu Lei muttered to himself.
"Not dark iron, just ordinary refined steel." Wei Zhe slowly walked over, explaining in a calm tone, "It's just that the forging method and quenching craft are a bit different from ordinary weapons."
He pointed to the overlapping layers of armor plates: "This special arrangement can deflect most of the impact force along the surface of the armor plates. Coupled with my self-created Thousand Refinement Force and quenching technique, the hardness and toughness of every single plate have reached an extreme. Therefore, let alone a three-stone strong crossbow, even a five-stone bed crossbow would never dream of piercing it from thirty paces away."
The three men listened in a blur. What impact force, what hardness and toughness—they did not understand any of it. But they understood the result.
This set of armor was insanely awesome! Awesome to the extreme!
"Chieftain! With divine armor like this, wouldn't our Tiger and Wolf Army... wouldn't we be invincible under heaven?!" Sun He was so excited his face turned completely red, and his speech stuttered slightly.
"This is only the first part."
Wei Zhe led them over to the adjacent weapon section.
Two new types of weapons were placed there. One was a familiar, lengthened and reinforced version of the triangular armor-piercing awl, extremely sharp and specially used for close-quarters combat.
As for the other, it was a batch of oddly shaped long halberds. These new long halberds were slightly shorter and lighter than the standard military halberds, but the design of the halberd head was extremely exquisite, integrating stabbing, hooking, pecking, and chopping into one. The tail of the halberd shaft was also fitted with a heavy armor-piercing spike, making it both offensive and defensive with countless variations.
"This... this halberd..." Sun He picked up one shaft, casually spinning it into a flower, feeling that the weight and balance in his hand were just right, with a stable center of gravity that made it smoother to handle than any long weapon he had ever used.
"Good halberd! Truly a good halberd!" he could not help praising.
Just as the three of them were still shocked by these divine weapons, Wei Zhe walked up to a forging table.
He took off his upper garment, revealing a physique that was well-proportioned yet contained explosive power. He picked up a piece of glowing red steel billet from the side, placed it on the anvil, and then lifted a sledgehammer weighing a full eighty catties.
"Watch closely."
The moment his voice fell, he moved.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Hammer blows as dense as a rainstorm instantly echoed through the entire workshop!
The heavy sledgehammer seemed to have no weight in his hands, transforming into a blurry afterimage. Every time he brought the hammer down, he struck the most critical parts of the steel billet with absolute precision. His strength, speed, and rhythm were as perfect as a passionate battle song.
Sparks flew in all directions!
Before the completely sluggish gazes of Sun He, Qian Hu, and Hu Lei, that piece of steel billet, which had previously looked oddly shaped, was elongated, flattened, folded, and forged at a speed visible to the naked eye...
A mere stick of incense!
When Wei Zhe stopped his movements and casually tossed the sledgehammer in his hand aside...
On the anvil, a new halberd head gleaming with cold light and already taking initial form had taken shape!
The entire workshop quieted down.
All the blacksmiths stopped the work in their hands, gazing with the eyes of those looking at immortals at the bare-chested youth steaming with heat all over, who looked like a heavenly deity descended to earth.
Sun He's Adam's apple rolled up and down with difficulty. He had spent half his life amidst the drums of war and considered himself knowledgeable, but the scene before his eyes completely exceeded the limits of his understanding.
He finally understood how those divine weapons had come to be.
With a trembling voice, he asked a question that also caused a violent shock in the hearts of Qian Hu and Hu Lei.
"Chie... Chieftain... Are... are you also a... Grandmaster of forging?"
Wei Zhe picked up a cloth, wiped the sweat from his face, and grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
"I said it long ago, follow me, and as long as you're willing to work hard, you'll have everything."
He cast his gaze toward the mountain-like piles of iron materials and timber, his voice becoming incomparably stirring.
"Now, the first mission of our Tiger and Wolf Army has arrived! I want the three thousand tigers and wolves among you to be entirely refitted with this new equipment from head to toe within the shortest possible time!"
"Sun He, you hold the highest rank; you're responsible for supervising all personnel and coordinating production! Qian Hu, you have an active mind; you're responsible for the scheduling and procurement of all materials! Hu Lei, you're the most meticulous; you're responsible for the quality inspection of all finished products—throw any unqualified items straight back into the furnace for me!"
"Starting tomorrow, the three of you will follow me to learn this Thousand Refinement Force. I will personally teach you the core forging techniques!"
Sun He, Qian Hu, and Hu Lei looked at the mountain of raw materials before their eyes, then looked at the blacksmiths around them trembling with excitement, feeling a surge of burning hot blood rush straight from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads!
Before you continue