"Horseshoe?"

Hearing this word come out of Xu Yun's mouth.

Wang Bing was momentarily stunned:

"Is that a nuclear weapon?"

Xu Yun thought for a moment and took out a piece of paper and a pencil from his belongings.

This was a pencil he had made in his spare time not long ago, simpler than those in later generations, made of a wooden stick + a lead core.

Although the writing effect is not as clear as the industrial pencils of later generations, it suffices for emergency use.

At least in terms of efficiency and convenience, it is far superior to ink brushes.

He first drew a diagram of a horse on the paper, and then drew an arrow extending out from the horse's hoof.

Indicating an enlarged view of this area.

Then he drew a simple diagram of a horseshoe at the end of the arrow and pushed the paper in front of Wang Bing:

"Captain, this is a horseshoe, also called a horse hoof."

"It's a smooth iron plate, bent into a ring at each end, which fits perfectly under the horse's foot."

"It not only protects the hoof but also makes the hoof grip the ground more firmly, preventing slipping."

Wang Bing took the diagram and glanced at it, thoughtfully saying:

"Horseshoe, that's an interesting name..."

Seeing this, Xu Yun cautiously asked:

"Captain, have you never seen this in the military?"

Wang Bing shook his head, his tone very certain:

"I've never seen it."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yun was somewhat baffled:

Could it be possible?

The Song Dynasty didn't have horseshoes?

This is the 12th century AD.....

If he remembered correctly, Rome had invented this thing as early as the 1st century BC.

Actually, Xu Yun didn't know.

Since the hoof is a keratinous layer, similar to human nails, it doesn't really cause obvious pain.

In the soft soil and grasslands of the Central Plains, hoof wear is not particularly severe, and thus it was relatively neglected throughout successive dynasties.

Therefore, historically.

It wasn't until after the Yuan Dynasty that horseshoes began to be officially popularized locally.

Of course.

In later generations, a horseshoe was unearthed at Ancient Anshan City, and after dating, it was calculated to be from around the 2nd century BC.

This timeline was around the establishment of Lelang Commandery in the Western Han Dynasty, and can be said to be the earliest traceable finished horseshoe.

But like some other special inventions in history.

The early appearance of an item doesn't mean it was accepted and applied by people at that time.

Let alone universally applied on a societal level.

Here's a simple example:

Back when the Han Dynasty was launching northern expeditions against the Xiongnu, horses were sent out seventy to eighty thousand strong and returned three to four thousand.

During battles, horse losses even exceeded those of soldiers.

For example, records in the "Comprehensive Canon" state:

(Emperor Wu of Han) had four hundred thousand horses in his stables. When the Xiongnu invaded, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing led an attack with one hundred thousand cavalry and fourteen thousand private horses, pursuing and heavily defeating the Xiongnu. Ten thousand Han horses died, and although the Xiongnu retreated sickly afar, Han was also short of horses and could not continue the pursuit.

And among these horse casualties.

The vast majority of Han horses lost their combat effectiveness due to hoof wear and eventually fell to the desert.

If horseshoes had truly been popularized during the Western Han period, such vast losses of horses would undoubtedly not have occurred.

To be honest.

Huaxia has always had vast lands; it's quite normal, perhaps even inevitable, for some border regions to have come up with horseshoes.

But due to their isolated nature, they couldn't achieve large-scale popularization, which is an unarguable fact.

Some things were invented and used by us, and we must not yield an inch, as they are the toil of our ancestors.

For example, traditional Chinese medicine and traditional festivals.

However, from the perspective of the times, we lagged behind in some things, and there's no need to stubbornly claim them forcibly.

If we constantly claim that everything is our invention, wouldn't we be just like the Stealing Country?

Thus in the present era.

Individual tribes in mountainous areas may possess horseshoes or similar hoof protectors.

But within the ranks of the Western Army in the Song Dynasty, horseshoes are indeed a rarity.

Of course.

Just because they haven't seen it doesn't mean it's nonexistent.

Yet, as a promising talent to oversee Taiyuan's defenses in the future, Wang Bing almost immediately realized it was a good thing upon Xu Yun's introduction of the horse iron hoof:

Most battle horses' hooves are damaged because they first soften in cold, damp environments before getting worn down by hard mountain rocks.

Leading to excessive wear or hoof disease.

If horseshoes could truly be made and popularized.....

Claiming it could change the tides of war might be an exaggeration, but reducing military horse loss significantly is certainly feasible.

However, soon, Wang Bing's expression calmed down:

"Xiaowang, your idea is good, but it has a fatal flaw."

Xu Yun blinked:

"What flaw?"

"Let me ask you, what's the weight of a single horseshoe you designed?"

Xu Yun thought for a moment; most later generation horseshoes are made of aluminum, with a single one weighing about 1.5 jin.

Since theoretically, the density of steel is three times that of aluminum, a single horseshoe would weigh around...

"About four jin."

Wang Bing nodded, this figure was about what he expected:

"A single one weighs four jin, a horse has four legs, a set of four would be sixteen jin."

"Currently, our western front has over twenty thousand warhorses, and covering them all requires 320,000 jin of refined iron."

"It wouldn't be difficult for the Court to produce 320,000 jin of refined iron, but how long will these iron shoes last?"

Xu Yun couldn't help but raise a question mark on his face:

"What?"

Seeing he didn't quite understand, Wang Bing further explained:

"Take, for example, the standard eight types of swords for the Imperial Guard. The so-called eight types refer to the hand sword, curved sword, crescent moon sword, halberd sword, eyebrow sword, phoenix beak sword, and pen sword. The Western Army mainly equips with the hand sword."

Wang Bing, in casual attire today without any weapons, gestured a virtual sample about fifty centimeters long:

"The hand sword is two chi and one long, forged from refined steel."

"Generally speaking, assuming you survive multiple battles, a hand sword can accompany you through about three great battles of a thousand people each before it develops a break."

"If that's the case with the hand sword, there's even less to say for horseshoes. When the western front truly employs horses, a campaign's journey to and fro won't be less than 500 li."

"With such a scale of wear, how long can a pair of horseshoes last?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Yun suddenly laughed—he knew where the problem lay.

Indeed.

He had forgotten one thing:

Before the Bessemer Steelmaking Method was invented in 1856, both the East and the West could hardly address the issue of impurities in steel.

For instance, sulfur, and phosphorus.

In steel smelting, the lower the sulfur and phosphorus levels, the better. If it's high, the steel becomes brittle.

Moreover, increasing by one ten-thousandth significantly impacts mechanical performance.

Modern steel requires very low levels of sulfur and phosphorus. For example, ordinary steel requires sulfur content below five ten-thousandths, and phosphorus below four-point-five ten-thousandths.

High-quality steel demands stricter standards.

Sulfur below four ten-thousandths, phosphorus below four ten-thousandths.

High-grade steel is even higher:

requiring sulfur below three ten-thousandths, phosphorus below three-point-five ten-thousandths.

Although during the same period, domestic refining techniques were generally ahead of the West.

But that was only a lateral comparison.

From the perspective of later generations.

The mass production techniques of steel at that time were quite mature, but the quality was indeed not great.

Because, in ancient times, there was no concept of trace elements, naturally, there was no desulfurization or dephosphorization process.

They only knew that northern iron was more brittle than southern iron, but they didn't know why.

At this period.

Craftsmen mainly relied on the mechanical performance differences during folding and hammering to "knock off" impurity slags, which is the so-called refined steel.

Imagine it like this:

You and another person both have a large maltose sugar block mixed with a lot of sand.

You have advanced techniques, you can dissolve the sugar block, filter out the sand with cloth, then evaporate the water to recondense the sugar block.

The other person can only pull the sugar into long strips and pick the sand with tweezers.

After one round, fold the sugar and stir it, exposing the inner layer of sand and picking it again.

Round after round, even if he picks a hundred times, it still falls far short of your level.

Picking a thousand times might achieve a slightly gray color, but no visible sand to the naked eye.

If you ask him to pick more, he can't do it.

And these sand particles are the fracture points in the steel. Although invisible to the eye, they shatter upon impact during use.

Therefore, Wang Bing's concern is quite reasonable:

320,000 jin of steel equals 160 tons, not a small number to be taken lightly.

There is a rumor in later generations that during the reign of Emperor Shen Zong of Song, steel production reached 150,000 tons annually, comparable to 17th-century Europe as a whole.

But in reality...

This number is incorrect.

This number originates from Robert Wright's "Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny":

["Like a typical market economy, large-scale production began showing its strengths in medieval China. Factories with up to 500 looms and ironworks with thousands of workers had appeared. By the late 11th century, China could produce 150,000 tons of iron annually, a capacity Europe only reached by 1700."]

According to the more detailed "Iron Coins and Iron Production in the Song Dynasty" research, the usual iron production in the Song Dynasty was about fifty thousand tons.

Further refined steel was around three to four thousand tons, not exceeding five thousand tons.

A considerable portion of the remaining iron was used to produce iron pots.

On such a production basis.

If it were possible to ensure that horseshoes could be replaced every few years or even once a year,

Then the Court might bite the bullet and allocate such a resource.

But if horseshoes cracked without running a few trips, the Court wouldn't play the fool.

In reality.

The reason the Yuan Dynasty could popularize the use of horseshoes was related to better steel smelting techniques in that era.

Even before the Yuan Dynasty, not all European armies would adopt horseshoes.

Looking at the worried expression on Wang Bing's face, Xu Yun couldn't help but sigh slightly.

Darn it.

If only I was someone unknown.....

Then he took a deep breath, looked at Wang Bing, and said:

"Captain Wang, to tell you the truth, in the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect, there was once a blacksmith named Kobe.

"Every day at the hour of Yin, he would rise early and spend decades deeply researching, eventually developing a technique to further refine steel."

"This technique is not difficult, and the cost is not high, yet it can make refined steel ten times more wear-resistant....."

Clang——

Just as Xu Yun finished speaking.

Wang Bing couldn't hold it and the wine cup in his hand fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Yet, he didn't care a bit about the fragments underfoot but instead stared straight at Xu Yun:

"Xiaowang, is what you say true?"

......

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