MLMD – Chapter 21 The Armor Problem

A black Mercedes was driving along a badly bumpy, long-neglected country road. Yue Yang followed closely behind it, driving a small cargo truck. The vehicles continued all the way to the end of the road before stopping. After the cars came to a halt, Yue Yang and Zhao Santong got out.

At the end of the road stood a compound of about eight hundred square meters enclosed by red brick walls, inside which several single-story factory buildings had been constructed. Standing at the factory gate, Yue Yang could faintly hear the roar of machinery coming from within.

Zhao Santong smiled and said to Yue Yang, “Brother Yue Yang, this is the place. Don’t be fooled by its small scale—the equipment inside is all there. What do you think? Want to go in and take a look?”

“Sure,” Yue Yang replied readily.

Just as they were about to knock on the gate, it opened. A middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in oil-stained clothes, strode out. As he walked toward Zhao Santong, he laughed loudly. “Brother Zhao, you busy man—what brings you to my little factory today? No wonder I heard magpies calling at my door this morning!”

“Cut the crap, Old Ma!” Zhao Santong laughed and cursed back. “Every time you come to my place, you’re there to freeload food and drinks. Today it’s my turn—I’m eating it back. If I don’t eat my money’s worth today, I’m not leaving!”

“Fine! If I don’t drink you under the table today, I won’t let you go!” the man laughed heartily. After laughing, he turned his gaze to Yue Yang, a questioning look in his eyes.

Seeing this, Zhao Santong hurriedly stepped in. “Old Ma, I’m here today on serious business. Didn’t you say last time that you planned to sell this factory? I have a little brother here who happens to be interested, so I brought him over to see if you’re willing to let it go.”

Hearing this, Old Ma pondered for a moment, then carefully sized up Yue Yang before smiling. “So that’s how it is. May I ask this young brother’s name? Are you truly interested in my factory?”

Yue Yang smiled. “Brother Ma, no need to be formal. My name is Yue Yang—just call me by my name. To be honest, I’ve always been very interested in ancient armor and weapons, and I like making strange things myself. But always relying on others to make them is too much trouble, so I thought I’d just buy a factory and do it myself. This is pretty much my only hobby—please don’t laugh at me.”

After hearing this, a hint of amusement appeared in Old Ma’s eyes. He nodded and said, “Alright, then follow me.” With that, he took the lead and walked into the factory.

Zhao Santong, who knew Old Ma well, could tell that this deal was already half done. Smiling, he tugged Yue Yang along and followed Old Ma inside.

Once inside the factory, Yue Yang looked around. Although the factory wasn’t large, both the environment and the equipment were quite good, and everything was very neat. Even discarded materials were neatly stacked in the corners. It was obvious that Old Ma had put real effort into managing this place.

As they walked, Old Ma said, “I bought this land myself back then and built the factory brick by brick. It’s not big, but it contains five or six years of my hard work. Lately, though, my wife has been urging me to go to the U.S. to reunite with her, so I started thinking about selling it. Since Brother Yue is interested in taking over, I won’t beat around the bush. If you’re truly interested, I’ll give you a straight price—eight million. What do you say?”

As he finished speaking, Old Ma stared intently at Yue Yang, waiting for his answer.

Yue Yang smiled slightly. “Brother Ma, you’re too polite. Since you’ve already named a price, how could I possibly bargain? Eight million it is. I’ll buy the factory—I’ll transfer the money to you later.”

“Good! Brother Yue is truly straightforward!”

Not only Old Ma, but even Zhao Santong showed an expression of admiration. Unlike Old Ma, Zhao Santong had known Yue Yang since the beginning, when Yue Yang looked like a complete nobody with no money at all. Yet now, when it came to money, Yue Yang was so decisive and unhesitating—it really made Zhao Santong see him in a new light.

While they were talking, they arrived at the largest workshop. As soon as Yue Yang stepped inside, he saw dozens of workers operating several machine tools. Old Ma waved over an elderly man in his fifties wearing a blue work uniform and said to Yue Yang, “Brother Yue, this is our workshop director, Jia Wenmao—just call him Old Jia. Don’t underestimate him. He’s the only senior fitter in our factory. If it weren’t for his lack of formal education, he’d probably be a senior technician by now. If you want to make something, you definitely can’t go wrong coming to him.”

Then Old Ma turned to Jia Wenmao and said, “Old Jia, from today onward, Mr. Yue Yang here is the new owner of our factory. Follow him and work hard—I believe he won’t treat you or the brothers unfairly.”

Jia Wenmao had probably known for some time that Old Ma intended to sell the factory, so he didn’t seem surprised by the news. He turned to Yue Yang, smiled honestly, said, “Boss Yue,” and then said nothing more.

Seeing Old Jia like this, Old Ma sighed softly. If it weren’t for Old Jia’s naturally honest and blunt personality, his prospects would surely have been much better than they were now. Hopefully, Yue Yang would treat him and the brothers in the factory well in the future.

The transfer procedures were handled quickly. A few hours later, Yue Yang had several transfer documents and certificates in his hands, proving that the factory now belonged to him.

After receiving the money, Old Ma and Zhao Santong left. Yue Yang, as the new owner, naturally couldn’t leave so soon. He gathered the factory workers for a brief meeting, informed them that he was now the boss, that wages and benefits would remain unchanged for the time being, and told everyone to work with peace of mind. Then he dismissed them back to work—but kept Jia Wenmao behind.

Yue Yang took out a pack of cigarettes, handed one to Old Jia, and said with a smile, “Old Jia, I’ve heard you’re the most experienced master in the factory—if you want to make something, coming to you is always the right choice. I just want to ask you one thing: can you make ancient armor?”

“Armor?”

Jia Wenmao took a deep drag, blew out a smoke ring, and asked curiously, “Boss, do you like collecting armor?”

“No,” Yue Yang smiled and used the explanation he had prepared long ago. “Old Jia, I don’t really have any particular hobbies—just like tinkering with ancient equipment, like weapons, armor, even firearms and the like. I also have some channels to sell the things we make, so I can earn a bit of money and not starve. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Oh, I see,” Jia Wenmao nodded with a smile. Having been in the trade for so long, he understood that there were quite a few people nowadays with unusual hobbies. But society is realistic—hobbies don’t put food on the table. In order to survive, many people try to turn their interests into a way to make money. This new boss was probably the same. After all, even though the steel factory wasn’t big, supporting dozens of workers and covering operating costs would still run at least two or three hundred thousand a month. Without making money, even a mountain of gold wouldn’t last.

Thinking this, Jia Wenmao smiled at Yue Yang. “Boss, whatever you want to make, just tell me—I can start making it for you right away.”

“Hmm…” Yue Yang thought for a moment, then asked, “Old Jia, are you familiar with Ming dynasty armor?”

“Ming dynasty armor? People collect that?” Jia Wenmao thought for a bit and said slowly, “Boss, Ming armor is relatively complicated to make, and its protective performance isn’t that great. If we’re talking about the best protection, Western plate armor is still superior. Times have changed—some wealthy people nowadays like to collect Western armor. For example, Gothic plate armor is widely recognized as one of the best in terms of protection.”

“What about our own ancient Chinese armor? Is its protective performance really that bad?” Yue Yang, with a bit of an indignant streak, retorted somewhat unconvinced. “Our Mingguang armor, the Song dynasty infantry armor, the Ming dynasty mandarin duck battle coats—aren’t they all quite protective?”

Seeing Yue Yang’s displeasure, Old Jia smiled. “Boss, speaking objectively, our Chinese armor does have decent protection. But there’s one undeniable fact: Chinese armor is generally made from a large number of small metal rings or small metal plates. This not only makes it very costly to produce, but its protection also can’t match that of plate armor, which is cast in large, one-piece sections.

“Take the Song dynasty infantry armor, for example—it consists of 1,825 armor plates and weighs sixty jin. The heaviest heavy-infantry version weighs as much as a hundred jin. The protection is strong, sure—but can you still move? So if we speak objectively and consider overall performance, plate armor is still the best. It weighs only twenty-five to thirty kilograms, yet can already provide excellent full-body protection.”

“Alright, plate armor it is then,” Yue Yang said reluctantly. Though he felt a bit uncomfortable inside, he knew he couldn’t act on impulse—this kind of thing had to be left to the experts. He continued gloomily, “Old Jia, since you say this Gothic plate armor is so good, can you first make one thousand sets of Gothic armor? And matching sabers and longswords as well?”

“Cough, cough…”

As soon as Yue Yang finished speaking, Jia Wenmao began coughing violently, as if he had suddenly come down with pneumonia…